Because We All Have Been Called

I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23; Psalm 27

Psalm 27

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

⁴ One thing I asked of the Lord , that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord , and to inquire in his temple.

⁵ For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock.

⁶ Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord .

⁷ Hear, O Lord , when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me!

⁸ “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face, Lord , do I seek.

⁹ Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation!

Matthew 4:12-23

¹² Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³ He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴ so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ¹⁵ “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— ¹⁶ the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” ¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

¹⁸ As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

I Corinthians 1:10-18

¹⁰ Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. ¹² What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” ¹³ Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)

¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. ¹⁸ For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The Sermon

Because I was called, that’s why.

Because I was called, and you were called. And Crispus and Gaius were called. And Stephanas and his family were called. That’s why.

And a lot of people have been called who I don’t even know. And a lot of people have been called who are people that I wouldn’t choose to hang around with if we were the last people on earth.

But a lot of other people, who are some of my favorite people in the world, have also been called, that’s why.

Something holy happened for each and every one of us when Jesus came by and said, “Follow me, and I’ll have you fishing for people.”

That’s why.

That’s why I can disagree with you, but we can all still be in one church.

Because he called you, and he called me, and he has called untold millions, to “ repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near;” and to follow him; and that we were invited to be part of his work of caring for everyone and everything in God’s creation. That’s why.

His call to me is no better than, or more important than, or more interesting than his call to you.

You have your own story. Where were you, what were you doing, when you first heard his invitation? Were you in the middle of a work day, like Simon and Andrew casting their nets into the sea?

Were you shuffling papers, or making phone calls, or laying concrete? Were you running to make a connection in an overcrowded airport? Were you wondering what you and your family were going to do if you didn’t get a few more customers coming in? Were you waiting on someone whose life goal was to abuse as many waiters and waitresses as humanly possible?

Or were you at home when you heard his voice? Or in a waiting room at the doctor’s office? Or on the phone in the middle of a difficult conversation with the person in your life whom you’ve never been able to see eye to eye with?

Or, when he called, were you in church, or in Sunday School, or on a retreat—a little girl hearing Bible stories from a dedicated teacher; a strapping teenage boy for the first time feeling like he’s ready to give his life to Christ; a middle aged man finally realizing that all those church people aren’t any different from him and they really mean it when they say he’s invited to join them; a woman with a lot of years, finally coming to know her Maker when, for the first time in a long life, she experiences a health crisis?

We all have our call story. For some it’s as powerful and profound and immediate as an explosion; for many, it’s not one moment, but a lifetime’s accumulation of thoughts and prayers and doubts and quiet triumphs.

But one way or another, we’ve all been on the lakeshore when he walked by and said, “follow me.”

And because your call is no less meaningful or less important or less definitive than mine, that tells me that God’s church is big enough for both of us.

Your theology may be different than mine; we may even find our belief systems repugnant to each other.

Your politics may be the polar opposite of mine; we might vote for different people and stand for different ideals.

Your personality may be all but incomprehensible to me, and my idiosyncrasies may be profoundly irritating to you until we learn to understand each other and our motivations better.

But you were called, by name, by Jesus, and so was I.

That’s why.

Always there will be voices calling for the split of denominations. Always there will be voices claiming moral authority based on differing views of the Bible, or even how to read the Bible. And they will say that those who think, pray, and read differently than themselves need to reform themselves, or get out.

They are wrong.

Because I was called, and you were called, and Crispus and Gaius were called, and Stephanas and his family were called.

Because something holy happened when Jesus came by and said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

That’s why good, faithful, intelligent people can disagree with one another about any number of things, and still be united in the same mind and the same purpose. Who am I to question whether this church is suitable for you, or you are suitable for the Church?

Because we are individuals made in the image of God.

Because we all have been called.

A prayer by Ted Loder:

O Lord,

in the turbulence

and the loneliness

of my living from day to day

and night to night,

keep me in touch with my roots,

so I will remember where I came from

and with whom;

keep me in touch with my feelings,

so I will be more aware of who I really am

and what it costs;

keep me in touch with my mind

so I will know who I am not

and what that means;

and keep me in touch with my dreams,

so I will grow toward where I want to go

and for whom.

O Lord,

deliver me

from the arrogance of assuming

I know enough to judge others;

deliver me

from the timidity of presuming

I don’t know enough to help others;

deliver me

from the illusion of claiming I have changed enough

when I have risked only little,

that, so liberated,

I will make some of the days to come different.

O Lord,

I ask not to be delivered

from the tensions that wind me tight,

but I do ask for

a sense of direction in which to move once wound,

a sense of humor about my disappointments,

a sense of respect for the elegant puzzlement of being human,

and a sense of gladness for your kingdom

which comes in spite of my fretful pulling and tugging.

O Lord,

nurture in me

the song of a lover,

the vision of a poet,

the questions of a child,

the boldness of a prophet,

the courage of a disciple.

(Ted Loder, “Keep Me in Touch with My Dreams” from Guerillas of Grace. San Diego: LuraMedia, 1984; pp. 90-91).

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Keith Grogg

Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church

Carolina Beach, NC

January 27, 2008