INTRODUCTION
We have entered a new year and a new
decade. It is a good time to reflect, review and refresh or revive our dreams
and plan our road map for the next 10 years.
Do you have a goal in your life? Or
does your life look like this – Eat sleep work, eat sleep work, eat sleep
work…?
At the beginning of 2019, we asked
ourselves what will the future say about us. What commentary did Dec 2019 have on
Jan 2019? What changed or what growth happened in the months between Jan –Dec
2019?
God has a destiny over each of our
lives. We need to remind ourselves of this truth so that we do not drift but
grab hold of our calling.
TEXT
2 Tim 1:5-6 Paul encourages Timothy: 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first
lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am
persuaded, now lives in you also.6 For this reason, I remind you
to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my
hands.
I am
not going to do an exegeses this text but am going to share around this theme
of a gift/calling God has placed inside you.
This
fanning in flame requires commitment. You have to take a hold of that for which
Christ took hold for you. You see the purpose in that statement.
What is
the “that for which Christ took a hold of you” in your life?
SOME THOUGHTS
Calling
is not about a pulpit ministry. It is about being Christ’s ambassadors in the
world wherever we are. It is about being an apostolic people. What is
that you might ask?
Apostle is not a biblical term but a common
day Greek term, which means Ambassador.
In the
same way, we are Christ's apostles or ambassadors. Wherever we go, we are
to be the aroma of Christ. Salt and light. Salt and light are useless gathered
on a Sunday, if that is all it does.
Light is supposed to shine in darkness not where there is light
already.
Salt is needed where there is no salt.
We bring influence and the wisdom of God to the world.
So what
is the “want to” in your life? Do you have a ‘want to’ that drives you,
that makes you wake up each day?
In life
we go through many cycles of ups and downs but each cycle ought to be in
an upward direction. Those crises points could be God’s pruning- he is
cutting off things that are not bearing fruit in our life.
In
order to fulfill our calling we have to do something. It will not happen
by magic. It is not God’s responsibility to make it happen. We have to partner
with HIM.
Curved
balls may come at you but you have to take a swing at it or it can knock you
down.
Some sit like victims and feel powerless. An indicator
that you have a victim mindset is when you say things like:
“I
can’t help it”,
“It’s
all happening only to me”,
“Why
me?”
“What
have I done to deserve this”?
“No one
is helping me”.
“I’m
all alone “.
“They
did this to me”.
Victims do not take responsibility therefore
cannot change the atmosphere around them because they do not believe they have
the solution.
We are
going to look at 2 people today who could have fallen into this trap and no one
would have blamed them if they did. But they did not.
The two
people I am talking about are Joseph and Paul.
They
had a choice before them – to sink under the weight of circumstances and injustice
or to rise above it.
If you
wait for circumstance to be perfect before you start pursuing anything or going
after our calling, you will be waiting forever.
“If
you can’t flourish in the fire, you won’t flourish at all” T D Jakes.
If you have understood your calling, and are committed to it;
it will begin to reflect in the choices you make.
Dreams do not just happen. Neither do they happen overnight,
they happen over time! Someone said overnight success takes 20 years!!
. He
saw himself as a prince. But he landed up becoming a prisoner and slave for
about 13 years!!! Do you have what it takes to hold on for over a decade, to a
dream when life is completely in the opposite direction?
Are the choices you are making just for that moment or
keeping in mind your long-term plan.
Fulling
your calling requires character. Character is displayed in, commitment,
consistency, and communion
1. Commitment – Luke 16:10-12 . 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little
can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will
also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not
been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true
riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy
with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
Another
word for it is stewardship. Some of us hold out on our commitment when
we have to serve under someone else. It takes character to serve someone else’s
vision well.
Joseph served Potiphar faithfully.
Joseph
could have given up and just existed and given in to a victim mentality. He
was victimized, but he did not think like a victim.
Joseph true to his character stays committed even in crises. He serves
faithfully in circumstances contrary to his calling.
2. Consistent –Joseph was
consistent in his character. He rose to be in charge of the other inmates.
What does this tell you? Circumstances did not dictate or shape his
responses. He served faithfully in the prison, therefore got promoted to
the palace.
Had Joseph decided not to interpret the
butler’s dream do you think Pharaoh would have heard of him? Joseph would have
died in the dungeon, unknown and forgotten.
Remember in God’s kingdom, nothing is ever wasted. No pain or
trials is ever wasted.
Do circumstances dictate your consistency,
your commitment?
Consistency is an internal default position
Do you have the stamina
for the long haul?
There is a sowing and reaping. Grace does give us what we
don’t deserve. Even the reaping is a grace gift. But if you have not sown how
do you expect to reap?
Do not be deceived: God cannot be
mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to
please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever
sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let
us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a
harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we
have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believers. GAL 6:7-10
Paul was tested in this. Far from it. These are the words penned by a man in prison. For this reason I, Paul, the
prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— Ephsians 3:1
Now to him who is
able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to
his power that is at work within us, 21 to him
be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever
and ever! Amen. Eph 3:20
But whatever were gains to me I now
consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What
is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ9 and be
found in him Phil 3:7-9
God will only entrust the treasures of his kingdom to the
faithful.
Our lack of consistency causes our calling to fall away or us
not reaching our full potential.
3 Communion – Last but not the least by any long shot .
Joseph maintained his communion with God.
He never forgot what he learned in
his father’s house. He could have said I am in a strange land with its own
cultural norms and he could have changed his convictions to match the
circumstances.
I believe this came from a quiet strong faith and communion
with God. IT says in Gen 39:21 the LORD was with him; he showed him
kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
It is
his ongoing communion with God, that helped him interpret the baker’s dream,
the butler’s dreams; and then the Pharaoh’s dream.
God-given wisdom helped him plan for the famine and God
shaped character enabled him to forgive his brothers and have a right
perspective to all that happened in his life.
Without
God we are nothing. We need that daily communion with Jesus because part from
him we cannot produce lasting fruit.
CONCLUSION
Paul
had to endure many hardships, beatings, shipwrecks, and prison. Had Paul while
being in prison given into feeling sorry for himself or being a victim we
would not have his letters to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and to
Philemon. What a loss that would have been!
Reflection
What is
God putting his finger on today? Do you have the courage to rededicate
yourself? What has God called you to do in your career, in your Christian
calling, in your role as child or parent or spouse?
Are you
willing to fight for your calling?
· Some of you
have given up or given into thinking like a victim.
- · Some of us need
to renew our minds but a negative thought cycle or pattern.
- · Some of us need
a strong “want to” that drives us to stay committed to our calling.
- · Some of us need
to learn to say no to somethings in order to say YES to the right
things.
- · Some of us have
been plain lazy
- · Some of us have to burn some bridges and attachments to wrong ways of thinking, behavior, ways
of relating to circumstances, for some even relationships!!
- ·
Some of us have to work on our consistency because we are
too dictated by our feelings.
- Some have had goals
and have done really well last year. Well done!
What are you willing to sacrifice in order to co
labour with God to make your calling come to pass
Whichever the category you are in, God’s grace is available for a fresh start.
Let’s be Christ's apostolic people who will be committed to
our calling and be world changers!
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
