Sermon: Responding to God’s Call
February 10th, 2019 Rev. Betsy Perkins
First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
Scripture passage: Luke 5:1-11, Isaiah 6:1-8
As I listened to the story of Isaiah’s call this week, it struck me as somewhat preposterous. Not because of the vision of a temple filled with smoke and flying seraphs and burning coals to clean his mouth out (I’m glad my grandma just used soap!). It seems bizarre because Isaiah’s response flies from one extreme to the other. His first response to the amazing sights and sounds is to yell out “Woe is me, it’s doomsday! I’m ruined.” And then, when God asks, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Isaiah’s suddenly the eager kid in the front row jumping up and down saying, “Oooh, oooh, choose me! Choose me!” There are no exclamation points in biblical Greek, but at some point a translator stuck one in, probably with the thought that it might be better if Isaiah sounded excited and enthusiastic. It might be more realistic, however, to picture Isaiah looking around that temple throne room and realizing that God was looking straight at him as God asked the questions. Perhaps a question mark would be more realitic, “I’m here. Send… me?” Especially given the conversation that follows, in which God will tell Isaiah that when he starts preaching, everyone’s eyes will glaze over, many will start to doze off. They won’t be interested, they won’t understand. In response to that, Isaiah asks, “So how long do I have to do this?”
God’s Call
Both of our passages today are call stories. They tell about God calling someone to follow or serve in some way. Because of the way the story about Simon is told in the gospels of Matthew and Mark, we often have the impression that Jesus just randomly stopped at Simon’s boat as he walked down the shoreline. We may have the notion that Simon just up and leaves everything when this stranger says, “Follow me.” But Luke paints the picture of a growing relationship between them. In Luke 4, Jesus was preaching at Simon’s hometown synagogue in Capernaum. After the service, Simon invites him back to his house for dinner. Simon’s mother-in-law is sick, so when Jesus gets there he miraculously heals her from the serious fever. Heals her so completely that she’s the one who serves dinner. As the sun sets, Jesus sits outside Simon’s house healing people from the entire neighborhood. The next verse starts, “At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place.” Probably to pray, Luke mentions that a lot in his gospel. But the way he writes that makes it very possible that Jesus spent the night at Simon’s home. So Simon has met Jesus; he’s heard him preach and seen his healing power. There is a growing relationship, such that Simon addresses Jesus as “Master”, though not the word that means “Lord” – more like “Sir” – it’s a term of respect. It is in the context of this developing relationship that Simon and his fishing partners leave everything to follow Jesus. But even so, Simon’s initial response is not to jump up and down and say, “Oooh, Oooh! Choose me! Choose me!”
Resistance to God’s Call
The Bible is full of call stories, from Abraham’s call to leave his home and go where God would lead, to the prophets, like Isaiah, who God called to speak specific messages to the people, to the disciples, like Simon Peter, that Jesus called to follow him. And it didn’t stop there. Jesus’ instructions, both while he worked with those disciples and after his resurrection, were that those first followers were to share God’s call with others. It continues right down to today, when God is still calling people to put their faith in Jesus and to follow and serve the Lord. We all have a call to be a disciple and to serve in the unique way that God has prepared for us. What caught my attention this week in these call stories wasn’t so much that there was a call – but how they, and we, respond to God’s call. I was surprised by the amount of resistance there is to God’s call!
Jesus doesn’t spring the discipleship question on Simon right off the bat in this story. Rather, he first asks to use Simon’s boat for a floating stage from which to teach. The crowd was pressing in so much, pressing him down to the water’s edge, so he steps into Simon’s boat and asks if he would push out a little. Simon apparently agrees, for Jesus sits down in the boat and from a short distance out is able to speak so more people can hear him. Simon is a captive audience.
Reluctance – “Do what?!”
After his teaching is done, Jesus says to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon expresses some reluctance, some skepticism. He’s the professional fisherman. He’s the one tired from a night of futile effort, repeatedly casting out the nets only to haul them in empty. He’s feeling discouraged. Without fish to sell, he’s anxious about how to feed his family, about how to pay the bills and taxes, about his fishing partners for they too depend on him. He was looking forward to just going home and getting some sleep. Simon admits this sense of failure and discouragement to Jesus as he says, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” We can almost hear his mind saying, “You want me to do what?!”
As I think about God’s call coming to each of us in the midst of our daily lives, I think there are many times when we too respond to God with a reluctant “Do what?!” We may have tried to be kind to the difficult neighbor over and over and have gotten discouraged by the lack of results. We may have tried to reach out to that family member who has fallen away in their faith without anything to show for it. We may have given generously, again and again, to programs that feed the hungry and help the poor, yet there seems to be no dent in the need. Yet in prayer or in worship we hear God calling us to put out into the deep waters again, to take that risk again, to put down our nets again.
Despite his reservations, Simon responds, “Yet if you say so, I will let the nets down.” And what a surprise! Nets so full of fish they start to tear, boats so full of fish they start to sink. God’s surprising provision! God’s amazing abundance! The greatest catch of their fishing careers is not a result of their expertise and skill, but the result of God’s power to use people who will trust and obey what Jesus asks.
Unworthiness – “Who me?!”
Standing in the middle of a heap of flapping fish, the echoes of Jesus’ teaching still filling his mind, we might expect Simon to fall at Jesus’ feet and say, “What power, what authority and wisdom you have! Please, let me follow you. Send me out to do your will.” Instead, what he says is the complete opposite. After hearing Jesus’ wisdom and after seeing his power and authority even over the fish in the lake, Simon tries to send Jesus away! Simon is overwhelmed by a sense of his own unworthiness, his own failures and inadequacy, his own brokenness.
Simon’s response is a lot like Isaiah, who says, “I’m a man of unclean lips and I hang out with people who talk rough, too.” In fact, there are many who have responded with a similar sense of unworthiness. Moses responds to God’s call to lead the rescue of a whole nation of people from slavery by saying, “Who am I that I should go?” (Ex.3:11). He was 80 years old, remember, and an ex-con. Jeremiah responds to God’s call to speak of judgment and hope in a time of national crisis by saying, “I don’t know what to say; I’m too young.” (Jer.1:6) It’s been discovered in letters written to her spiritual director, that even Mother Teresa told Jesus to find somebody else. She shared that Jesus told her she was “the most incapable person, weak and sinful, but just because you are that,” Jesus said, “I want to use you for my glory! Wilt thou refuse?” She described how she argued with the request, frightened of the hardship and the ridicule she would have to endure. She bargained, promising to be a good nun if only Jesus would let her stay put in her comfortable convent. But Jesus kept cajoling, challenging, and inviting, “Wilt thou refuse to do this for me?”
God’s response to our sinfulness and to our weakness and to our inabilities is not to see those as obstacles to calling us to serve. God’s call is not restricted to those who have a perfect record or those who are perfectly trained and ready. God calls imperfect people to do God’s work, people who are aware of their unworthiness and are often doubting and resistant to God’s call. God doesn’t wait till they shape up. God calls us as we are and then works on equipping us into faithful servants.
Fear – “What if…?!”
Mother Teresa’s reluctance and resistance to her call came from fear. We know that in front of that burning bush, as God spoke to Moses about what he was being called to do, Moses hid his face, “because he was afraid.” (Ex.3:6) Luke doesn’t tell us about Simon’s fears, but we know they were there, for Jesus says to Simon, “Don’t be afraid.”
I know when David and I responded to the call to mission service in India there were fears that we had and that our families had. What if your kids get sick? What if we can’t learn the language? What if? I’m sure there are fears as Lisa prepares to go on the mission trip to Honduras. What if it’s not safe? What if it’s dirty? What if the sadness of poverty is overwhelming?
Jesus’ promise to his followers is, “I will not leave you as orphans, but I will come to you… The Spirit of God will come to be with you and in you” (Jn.14:17,18). God provides the Holy Spirit to comfort and protect and guide. God promised, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you.” (Ex.31:8; Heb.13:5).
Responding to God’s call
Fear, reluctance, resistance is all normal, whether the call from God is for a large, daunting task or for a small, simple challenge. Jesus invites us, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Will you respond, “Yes, Lord. There’s a lot going on in my head and in my life, but because you say so, I will let down the nets.” I will go. I will try. I will share. I will speak.
Closing Song: “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” # 576
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