Jeremiah 1:4-10
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
6 Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ 7 But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.’
9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’
If you have a phone, whether it be a smartphone, or a flip phone, or even a house phone, someone has called you. In the days of yore, we had party lines where several households shared one phone line and you had to pick up and see if someone else was on it, and your neighbor always seemed to be on when you needed to call someone. We had answering machine with those annoying cassette tapes to make sure we never missed a call and to begin screening our calls from annoying credit card salespeople. In today’s world the caller might be a spam risk or even a robocall, but we all have been called and we have become quite selective in who we answer.
But just as people and organizations have called us, so too has God called. Just as a salesperson reaches out to us to talk about our car’s extended warranty, so too does God reach out to us. In our text, God calls Jeremiah by reaching out to him, now the word of the Lord came to me saying. Your friend takes the initiative to call and invite you over for tea, your family reaches out to invite you to a Sunday evening fried chicken dinner, your boss calls you to ask you to work overtime. God always is the one to take the initiative to reach out, to move towards, and to begin the dialogue, the discussion, and the relationship. God always calls us, like God called Jeremiah.
But the purpose of God calling is not to invite your over for tea, nor to gossip about the latest Marvel movie, but to summon us to the purpose and plan that God has prepared for us, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ Before we were created, God had a purpose for us and for Jeremiah it was to be a prophet to the nations. For us we have been summoned to be disciples of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and all this before we were created. Before we were formed and before we took our first breath, God knew us and knew what he appointed and now summoned us to do for God’s sake. God always appoints us, like God appointed Jeremiah.
But just as you can ignore your phone calls, or screen out your spam calls, or even swipe your calls when you do not want to talk to someone, so too can you do with God. Jeremiah did so, when called he says, God I can’t, then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ Which of us when summoned to our callings has not answered with I can’t, if we even answer at all? No sooner than God calls us, and we reply with excuses and avoidances. I can’t be a minister I can’t speak. I can’t be an elder I have no time. I can’t be a deacon I don’t like people. I can’t be a teacher I hate kids. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. We quite often answer God’s call with refusal and disobedience, like Jeremiah refused God.
But even though we can refuse God, God never ceases to call, and God never accepts our excuses, But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.’ Every excuse offered by us to God, is met with a correction from God to destroy that excuse. I am only a boy how can I go; you can go because I am going with you. I do not know how to speak; you can go and speak because I will tell you what to say. I am afraid, how can I go; You can go because I am with you to deliver you. Every “I can’t” offered to God, is met with God’s reply of “why can’t you?”
The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God doesn’t just call us to impossible and unfulfillable tasks, but God also equips us with everything needed to do so, then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, ‘Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’ God not only summons us, but does and gives something to us, to empower us to success for God’s sake. God empowered Jeremiah. The challenge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in the power of God to obey as commanded. Jeremiah still had to go.
My friends, we all have a calling, and that calling is unique as you are. That calling is to a specific task appointed by God, before your creation, to you and to you alone. But while God may have called you, God also has equipped you with all the gifts necessary to fulfill it. But we must answer that call from God with the total devotion of our embodied souls. We must answer that call with the obedience of Jesus’ Christ as His disciples. Never ignoring God’s call, never screening God’s call, never swiping God’s call, and never giving excuses why you can’t, but always answering that call, with all that you have and all that you are, to the Glory of God. Amen.
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