Did You Get The Summons?
Did You Get The Summons?
Isa 43:1
D. Robert Chance
10 January, 2010
Introduction…
But now, this is what the Lord says –
He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel:
Fear now, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
For I am the LORD, you God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior…
Today’s scripture is one my favorite scriptures in the whole Bible. I used to have a beautiful little cross with the letter “C” on the front and etched on the back the words from the scripture for today, “I have called you by name”. I’ve mis-placed it at best, probably lost it but I loved that little cross. It reminded me of God’s call in my own life and to whom I answered and am answerable.
“I have called you by name.”
What an absolutely great scripture for today, as a new year is fresh and clean in our experience.
“I have called you by name”.
What a great scripture to read on the day when we remember Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:21)
When was baptized he felt a deep and abiding sense of God’s call in his own life – and that “call” made the total difference in his life.
Jesus heard God’s call in his life, he answered God’s call in his life, and because of that one faithful answer millions of lives have been changed – the world never again to be the same.
“I have called you by name”.
This beautiful verse is one of, if not my favorite verse in the whole bible.
I’ve always loved it. It’s etched on the cross necklace that I often wear and dearly treasure.
I. God doesn’t just “call” us – he “summons” us – and there’s a big difference.
I have always loved this verse but for the first time in my life I read it and heard differently when I read it and came to understand it as “summons” more than just “call”. More than “call” we need to understand that God “summons” us.
I’ve always loved this verse but I’ve always read the translations that used the word “call”. I’m not one to obsess over a particular word in the various translations but sometimes the actual word makes a huge difference.
Maybe, because of where I am in my own life I saw this scripture differently and more clearly than ever before in the past.
The church is in hard times. The culture and the world around us isn’t friendly or helpful or even understanding of the church. The world around us is actually hostile to the church and to God and to what we are about.
Additionally, we are in times when the harvest is ripe but the workers are few.
I see it more clearly than ever before. God doesn’t just “call” us – he “summons” us.
God’s doesn’t “call” you; he “summons” you.
God doesn’t “beg” you to come, he “summons” you.
God doesn’t “invite” you to respond to him – he “summons” you.
God doesn’t “entice” you, he “summons” you.
I think you get my point. I hope you get it.
God has summoned you.
This past week the church went to court with a contractor who hadn’t fulfilled his obligations to us. We hated to have to go to court but after two years of trying everything possible and imaginable to get the contractor to respond and being ignored we went to small claims court.
The defendant was issued a “summons” to appear in court.
He wasn’t issued an “invitation”.
He wasn’t issued a “would you please come”.
He was issued a “summons”.
Summons means “come”. Summons means “respond”. Summons means “be there”.
When I was a boy my dad would “call” us – we didn’t even know the meaning of the word “summons” but in reality dad’s “call” wasn’t an invitation, it was a “summons”. Dad had the ability to whistle so loudly and so shrill that is sounded like a high pitched train whistle in full steam. When dad whistled it “come” and “come now” and PDQ. To this day, I hate the sound of loud, shrill, high pitched whistles.
But we need to know that more than just calling us, God summons us.
I I God summons us to come and to be his people, to follow him, to love him above all else and to serve him.
God summons us to in much the same way as he called to his people of old. He calls us as he has called to men and women down through ages, in every time and place and language.
He calls us to as he called to Jesus.
1. God summons us first to come and to be his people.
One of the great lessons that Jesus tried to get across over and over was that any people who hear God’s call and who respond to God’s call in their lives are in fact God’s people.
The Hebrew people had come to think that they and only they were God’s people. They began to think they were privileged – without responsibility. They began to think that they and only they were blessed. And they became lazy, apathetic, and unresponsive – and God called new people.
In the parable of the Great Banquet Jesus made it crystal clear that those who responded to the invitation were the ones who enjoyed the feast.
2. God summons us to turn our lives over to him.
He isn’t satisfied with being “one of our priorities” He demands to be our first priority. He calls us to make him first in our lives. He calls us to love him – more than anyone or anything else in life.
3. God summons us to love him and serve him.
We love God and we serve him by loving our fellow man and serving others. We love God by loving each other. We love God by loving the stranger on the street, the poor man who needs help and a chance to do better. We love God by loving the children. We love God by loving the old people. We love God by loving all people – not just the ones who look like us or believe as we believe.
4. God summons us to live our lives in faithfulness to him.
We are faithful to God when we live with a passion for justice and with a concern for others and with the spiritual qualities and characteristics of what people who love God above all else should look like and should live.
5. God summons us to be a part of his people and to love his church.
We love his church by caring for it. We love his church by being a part of it. We love his church by serving his church. We love his church by serving it. We love his church by giving, faithfully, generously, joyfully in every aspect of our lives to it. We love his church by being here, faithfully and with open minds, open hearts and willing hands. We love his church by telling others about it, bringing others to it and doing everything in our power to grow it.
God summons us to be his people; to turn our lives over to him; to love him and serve him, to be faithful and to love his church.
III. When we respond God’s summons our lives are changed forever.
While in Chicago a few months back I stayed at a place called “Techny Towers”. I had never heard of Techny Towers before. I stayed there with the Regional Minister, Lari Grubbs because we were sharing in some mission work together. The story behind Techny Towers was amazing to me and is a perfect example of what happens when someone hears God’s summons and responds in faithfulness.
Techny Towers Conference & Retreat Center is owned and operated by the Society of the Divine Word, an order of 6,000 Catholic missionary priests and Brothers who serve the poor in 67 countries. The abbreviation for our name, SVD, comes from the Latin Societas Verbi Divini. They are popularly known as Divine Word Missionaries.
The Society of the Divine Word was founded in 1875 in Holland by Father Arnold Janssen. Some brothers emigrated to Shermerville (now Northbrook) in 1897 and purchased Russell Farm in 1899. In addition to farming, the brothers were extremely skilled in the building trades. By 1901, they established St. Joseph Technical School, the source of Techny’s name.
Countless lives have been helped, unnumbered poor lifted up, 6000 priests dedicated to missionary work serving the poor in 6000 countries – all because one person in 1875 in Holland heard and responded to God’s summons.
That story is inspiring but it is repeatable millions of times over.
When we respond to God’s summons we come to him and we respond to him and life is never again the same.
Because long ago I felt the personal and personal summons of God in my own life I took a turn that not only changed me forever but also has been the great source of meaning and joy in life. The path of my life was altered forever because I responded to God’s summons.
Because I read of people who felt that deep and personal summons of God and as a consequence their lives changed forever and they changed the world around them.
Because I have known people who felt that deep and personal call of God and I have witnessed firsthand the love and the power and the difference it made to them and those who knew them.
Every one of us here who professes to be a disciple of Christ has received a personal summons of God for our lives.
Every one of us here who profess to be a disciple of Christ has felt, heard, sensed, known, or otherwise experienced the summons of God in our life.
Every one of us here who professes to be a disciple of Christ has had our life shaped, directed, molded, touched by the call of God. At least that’s the idea.
God has summoned me,
God has summoned you,
God has summoned all of us.
What about it? Have you heard the summons of God?
By the way, if you got the summons, I’d suggest you respond! You think my dad was tough/ you think the courthouse is tough – their summons nothing compared to God’s
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine.”
Isa 43:1
P.S.
O, by the way, there is a part two to this message – come next week and I’ll share it with you.