I want to say thank you to our music team. They really blessed me this morning. I know we dont take you for granted. Thanks for your commitment to excellence and leading us in worship through music every weekend like you do. We very much appreciate that. This morning were talking about Discerning the Call. How many of you read Chapter 3 in your book, by the way? (A few hands raise.) Its getting better. Not where we need to be though. We spent about 40 days talking about this not too long ago, didnt we, in our 40 Days of Purpose? We talked about the fact that all of us have a mission, so in a way, I feel like its a little bit of a rerun, but its important to talk about. Hopefully, well hit it from a different angle this morning. We all have a mission. We all have a purpose. Pastor Rick Warren reminded us that everything God created has a mission and a purpose. Even my dog has a mission and a purpose. We have a dog that loves to protect our house, and she sees that as her mission; so every time a bus will go by or a jogger will go by, shell jump on the couch and start barking until it passes. As soon as it passes, she tromps around the house like I just did something wonderful! I protected our abode. Arent you proud of me? Shes three-quarters border collie and one-quarter chiwawa, so when she gets up there like that and starts barking, we call that border patrol. Get it? Border collie…not that funny, but it is creative (congregation laughing). The Saturday night service, Im talking total silence. Dont say anything to those people if you know who they are. Im glad you can see the humor in that. Everybody has a purpose, everything God created. Just like you dont choose where youre born, you dont choose who your parents are, you dont choose your physical attributes, you dont choose how youre going to talk, how your voice is going to sound, so you dont choose your purpose. You dont choose your call. That is chosen for you by God as He pleases. Its our task to discover that calling. Its our task to develop that calling. Its our task to implement that calling, but its not our task to choose that calling. You can choose a lot of things: you can choose whom you marry, you can choose what your career will be, but you cannot choose a calling. Jeremiah was a great prophet of God. In the Book of Jeremiah, the first Chapter, he receives that call from the Lord. Lets turn there together. This is where were going to park this morning. Were going to do a little study in Jeremiah and find out how he handled his call. Jeremiah 1:4 (pg 746 in pew Bibles), The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you… Isnt that something? Before I formed you… Not while you were in the womb forming, but before I formed you, before there was even a cell that could be traced back to you, Jeremiah, I knew you. God knew you before you were born, God knew you before you were in the womb, and God has a purpose for your life. Thats an amazing thing, isnt it? …before you were born, I set you apart; and I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Thats going to be your call. You will be my spokesman. You will be my mouthpiece. You will carry my message to the nations. It continues, Ah, Sovereign Lord… (I said, I think you chose wisely. Im the correct man for this job.) Thats not what Jeremiah says. He said thats never how it goes in the Bible. Anytime God makes a call, it is usually met with feelings of inferiority, feelings of I cant do this. If youve sent a call from God in your life, and your natural inclination is to say, I must be off because I could never do that. Thats above my head, thats exactly right. Thats normal. You should feel that way. I know when I sensed the Lord calling me to be a senior pastor, I thought I would be a youth pastor forever. My first response was, I cant do that. Im too young to do that. I was in my 20s. I said, Theres no way I should be pasturing people that are older than me and some that had been Christians longer than Ive been alive. So, I questioned that, It must not be God. Thats exactly what Jeremiah says. He said, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child. The world child there in the Hebrew meant not a small tot, but a young man; it could be a teenager, could be a young man just starting off in his life in his early 20s, a young man, an older boy, but not a little tot. Jeremiah received his call as a very young boy, and as I look around our room, I see young people this morning. You dont have to be old to have a call. You dont have to be married, have children, or be out of high school or college to walk in your call. God has a call and a purpose for you from the time you are born until now. Your job is to discover that call and use it. How did God wire you? What did he make you? What are you about? God has equipped us all differently. Let me give you a little bit of a quiz this morning. Who can tell me what they think Billy Grahams call and purpose is? Whats his call? Shout it out! Evangelize the world, change the world. Thats what Dr. Billy Graham has been about, to bring the Gospel to the world. John Walsh, from Americas Most Wanted, whats his mission? To catch the bad guys, right? Because of what happened to his son, he has no fear. He will get up and talk about armed and dangerous criminals, hardened criminals that are on the lose. Hell look at a national audience, and hell say, This guys a scumbag! He doesnt care if he [the criminal] hears him. He gets death threats all the time. He doesnt care! Hes relentless because of what happened to his boy. He wants justice, and his anger has driven out all fear, all fear, because the worst thing that could happen to him has already happened to him. He wants justice. Thats his mission. Its not just a job for him; its his mission. Now, Im going to give you a couple that arent so obvious. What about Bono from U2? Whats his mission? Some of you older folks are saying, Whos Bono? You mean Sonny and Cher? Sonny Bono? No. Bono, from U2. But if you said music, you would definitely be right. But, he is much more than music. His goal is to end poverty, to help the poor, to get countries to forgive Third World debt, to help bring relief to countries in poverty, people in poverty. He meets with heads of state; he meets with the presidents of countries, and he meets as an Ambassador to the poor. He uses his music as a platform, as a stage, to get across his message. Unless youve been doing some reading on this, this one will really throw you a curve, what is Bill Gates mission? Everybody wants to say computers, right? Until recently, that was it, but Bill Gates is a changed man. Did you know his charity is the number one charity in all the world as far as giving of money to stop diseases around the world? Hes attacking it like he attacks business. Before he allocates millions of dollars of resources to buy a certain vaccine or bring help to a certain country or region, he strategizes. He has a team, they meet, and they strategize to eradicate diseases. He now sees Microsoft as a means to fund these diseases, helping to eradicate certain crippling diseases in our world. Thats wonderful news! But even Bill Gates with all the billions of dollars he has, the need is still too great. We read in our book about a gentleman who was wealthy. He wanted to go from success to significance, remember that? His accountant said, Sell your business and give all your money away. He began to counsel with people, counsel with friends, and they said, Dont do that! God has given you an ability to make wealth. Keep your business and use that business as a means to fund the Gospel, the Lords work. Hazel Kjell, who spoke at our celebration event for the 40 Days, does the same thing with the Shell Corporation. She keeps that business going to fund the Gospel and sees that as her purpose, as her calling. Ephesians 2:10 (pg 1157), remember your memory verse? It said that God has made us His workmanship, his poema (thats the word we get poem from). That which has been made for a purpose, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God created before the foundation of the world, that we should walk in them. So Jeremiah hears his purpose. He hears his call. He accepts the call. What were going to look at now is what happens to Jeremiah after hes received the call. Hes no longer a rookie. Hes no longer a young man. Hes a seasoned veteran, a seasoned prophet. Lets turn to Chapter 20 of Jeremiah. The first point I want to make about the call is that the call costs. The call will cost. Underline it, know it, anytime you seek to follow the call of God, it will cost you. Always, always, it will cost you. Itll cost you time, itll cost you resources, itll cost you a job, itll cost you a location, itll cost you to be misunderstood, itll cause a loss of pay. I mean on and on the list goes. It will cost. Jeremiah preaches the Word of the Lord, and hes not making a lot of friends. God takes him in Chapter 18 to a potters house and says, Look at the potter who is making this pot. He says, Thats me. Im the potter, and Israel is clay, and I can form this nation. If this nation is not going to repent of her sin, then I can have this nation removed because Im sovereign. Im God. Then he has Jeremiah purchase a pot. He says, Use that pot as an object lesson, and bring it down to the town square and say, This is Israel. God says, Take that pot and smash it into all kinds of little pieces and say, If you do not repent of your sins, the great nation of Babylon is going to come in and judgment is going to be rendered upon you. Its going to be something that you cannot repair. Youre going to be smashed like this pot before you. You need to repent so that as a country, as a people, we can be spared of this wrath because of our sin. The message does not go over well. Its not well received. Those in high places demand that Jeremiah be punished. The chief officer in the temple, Verse 1, tells us he heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, and he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lords temple. So here he is, doing Gods business, doing Gods Word, and what happens? He is beaten. He is imprisoned and put in stocks, so he loses his freedom. Hes put in a public place, not downstairs in a dungeon somewhere, but where everybody can see you at the temple. And people knock him, people ridicule him, people look at him and think, Whats wrong with this guy? He must be a criminal. His only crime was to speak Gods word. Did Jeremiah pay a price? He paid the loss of his reputation. It was a huge price. People were looking at Jeremiah thinking, Boy, I thought he was supposed to be somebody of respect, and hes in stocks. He must not be a very good guy! He must not be the Godly man he claims to be! And they hurl verbal abuse at Jeremiah. There is a cost to pay. How many of you are familiar with Willow Creek in South Barrington? Let me see your hands. It is a church that has meant a lot to our ministry over the years. Its been very influential. Its one of the top three largest churches in America: Saddleback, Willow Creek, and Pastor Osteens church in Houston, large churches. There are 22,000-23,000 people coming through on the weekends in South Barrington near Chicago. But what you dont know is when that church began, the founding pastor who is still the senior pastor is a man by the name of Bill Hybels. He was going to school at Trinity. He was working with the Awanas Ministry, and he had a job as a part-time youth pastor at a church in Park Ridge. His father owned a produce company and was very successful, very successful in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was always understood that Bill would work for his dad when he graduated from school. He would work the company and one day run the company. Hed worked with his father in the company from a very young age. He knew it from the ground level up. He had the skills of a businessman, and there was a day when God called him from that into the ministry. Willow Creek did not exist at that point in time. All he knew was hed listened to his professor at Trinity, Dr. Bill Ezekien, talk about the dream of community, and he wanted that. What would it be like if the church of Acts, Chapter 2, was lived today? What would it be like if I could take my business skills and my know-how and apply that to the church? What would happen? So one day, he met with his father and told his dad that he would not be joining the company, which would have been the death to a dream of his father. He had to give up a lot of stuff. He had to turn in the company credit cards. He had to turn in the keys for the company airplanes. He had to turn in the keys for the company boats. His dad said, If you leave the company, youre on your own. You do what you need to do, but when you leave the company, you lose the privileges of the company. I think more than the boats, and more than the planes, and more than the credit cards and expense accounts, what hurt him the most was his father shaking his head wondering what in the world had become of his boy because he loved his dad and didnt want to disappoint his dad. Did obeying God and going into the ministry cost him? It cost him a lot. He gave up a lot to pursue his call, but when it was all said and done, he gained so much more than he lost. Im sure his father very soon would affirm that his son had made the right decision. Well, hows Jeremiah going to handle this? Jeremiah is a straight shooter. Hes a guy that doesnt hold back. He just bears his heart. Hes called the Weeping Prophet because hes very emotional, very authentic. Listen to what he says in Verse 7 (pg 770), O Lord, you deceived me, and I was deceived... (God, youre a con artist, and You conned me, and I fell for it. Tell us how you really feel Jeremiah) …you overpowered me and prevailed. (Youre a bully God!) I am ridiculed all day long; and everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. (What are the rewards I get for doing what you called me to do? Insults and reproach and a beating and ridicule.) He is ready to turn in his badge. Hes ready to turn in his prophet membership card and say, I want nothing to do with this. If thats the kind of boss You are, thats the kind of God You are, thats how You treat Your servants, then Im out of here. See ya! But, he reconsiders when he ponders this one truth. He says, But if I say, I will not mention Him, (which is what I want to do right now, because Im mad) …or speak any more in His name, His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. He said, Thats what Im made to be. Im a prophet. Im called, so I cannot stop fulfilling my call. The second point is that a call burns. How do you know what God made you to be? What burns in you? What if it was taken away from you? It would just hurt you so much because God made you to be that. If you take away the ability to draw or paint from an artist, you take away the ability to dance from a dancer, or to sing from a singer, or to preach from a preacher, to teach for a teacher, to run for an athlete, they just feel so empty inside. They feel like their purpose is taken away. Jeremiah says, Thats my call. The call burns, and its that burning that leads us to make those sacrifices. Its that burning that leads us to make those demotions. Ill date myself here. One of my favorite movies was To Sir, With Love with Sidney Poitier. Anybody ever see that movie? Great movie, very inspirational. He was one of the greatest actors of all time. Sidney Poitier plays a black teacher in an inner-city white school. The kids are vile, vulgar, and he insists they call him Sir. The transformation takes place with a lot of trials along the way, but by the end of the year, they grow to love and respect their teacher whom they now call Sir. They became proper gentleman and proper ladies. He, in the meantime, has accepted a position at a prestigious high school, no longer in the inner-city. Hes probably going to be in a more affluent suburb, more money, a dream position for any teacher. As hes packing up his briefcase for the last time, reflecting on the memories he has, two students come in the room [thinking he will be returning to the same school next year rather than moving on]. Immediately, they begin to ridicule him, We know who you are. You dont know whom we are, but youre going to know next year. Were going to make your life miserable. They are just rude and obnoxious, and they threaten him and run out of the room laughing. Sidney Poitier ponders for a moment, takes the letter of acceptance from the school, and he tears it up and throws it in the trash. Hes coming back next year. Why? Its his call. Look what hes made to be. He knows he made a difference in the lives of that classroom that he just had, and he knows he can make a difference in the lives of the students that are coming in. Jonanne Manogue, and I love all of our staff equally and appreciate them all equally, so I dont want any staff members to get upset when I tell this story and say, Why didnt you tell my story? Do you know who Jonanne was before she was our childrens pastor? Shes been our childrens pastor for nine years. She was the professor of kinesiology at University of Wisconsin, head of the department. That wasnt her call. Her call was children. She wanted to make a difference in childrens lives and in womens lives, so she left that position and came here, and were so glad she did. I bragged on her last night, too, even when she was here. I could brag on all of our staff. Im reading a quote now from page 68 of our book. The author is named Arthur Miller, and Pastor Ortberg quotes him. Arthur Miller says, It is wrong. It is sin... Remember sin is to fall short. Sin is to not reach your potential. Its not just the grotesque or repulsive or the dark and evil. Sin means to fall short. It is sin to accept or remain in a position that you know is a mismatch for you. Perhaps thats a form of sin youve never even considered, the sin of staying in the wrong job, but God did not place you on this earth to waste away your years in labor that does not employ a design or purpose for your life no matter how much you may be getting paid for it. I know Im stepping on toes, so Ill stop and well keep moving on. The third thing I want you to notice is that a call is affirmed. Turn to Chapter 38 of this book. A call is affirmed. As I said, Jeremiah did not have high friends in high places. He had friends who did not like his message. In verse 4 (page 791), there are some officials who go to the king to protest Jeremiahs message. One of them is the son of the man who had Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks. They said, This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in the city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin. In other words, hes not telling us things we want to hear. Hes telling us bad things, sad things. We want to hear him prophesy wonderful things, but because hes speaking these words we dont like to hear, therefore he must be a false prophet. Because he will not be quiet and go away, you, King, must make him go away. So what does this spineless king say? He says, He is in your hands, King Zedekiah answered. The king can do nothing to oppose you. Its not that he can do nothing. Its that he will do nothing. He says, Do with him what you will. So what they do is very cruel. So they took Jeremiah and put him in a cistern (like a man-made reservoir) …of Malkijah, the kings son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered him by the ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud, so no way out. He was going to be there until he died. Isnt that cruel? That was going to be his fate. A man named Ebed-Melech finds out about this, and he goes to the king and pleads his case. He says, Theyve acted wickedly. This is a prophet. This is a man of God. You must save him. You must rescue him. Theyve thrown him in a cistern, and hes going to starve to death. So the king changes his mind and says in verse 10, Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies. One thing I want you to notice is this phrase: Lift Jeremiah the prophet. Hes in there because hes a false prophet. The king realizes that Jeremiah truly is a prophet. Even though he doesnt like what hes saying, even though he doesnt agree with what hes saying, he recognizes his office and his authority. He recognizes hes made a mistake, and he affirms whom Jeremiah is. Pastor Ortberg talks about the fact that you need to form a team around you who you know and trust, and they know and trust you. If youre living Gods call, even those who are not your friends can affirm your call. He calls it the Clearing Committee. You know you can bounce things off of one another, people who can affirm a call in your life. They can deny a call in your life as well. If youre going to make a decision, pursue a direction, take a course of action, you have this team around you-people who care about you and love you. They know you can speak the truth in your life. I want to confess to you a guilty pleasure this morning. I have become a fan of American Idol. A few years ago, I didnt watch it. I would just watch the blooper part, and then when it got serious, I wouldnt watch it. Last year, for the first time, I watched it all the way through. So this year, Im hooked. My family is into it. I think weve all seen it. There are three judges. Theres Paula, who wants to be nice. She wants everybody to like her, so even if youre just awful, shell say, You tried really hard. You have a lot of energy. Thanks for coming in today. Then you have Randy who just wants to be cool. He still wants to be friends with you, and its like, Oh, you know, dawg, you tried, dawg, but you just didnt do it, dude. You know what Im saying, dude? Its not for you dawg. So you know even though he rejected you, you still like him. Then we come to Simon. Simons job is to speak the truth and not in love. His job is to say what he is thinking, and he has no editing button. He just lets it go. The contestants will be looking at him smiling, thinking he or she is the next thing since Frank Sinatra, and hell say (in a Simon Cowell voice), That was simply dreadful. They are devastated. It sounds like you were pulling a cats tale. Meeoooww. He says what he thinks, right? You know weve got friends in our lives that just want to be nice. We could do anything or say anything, and they come back like Paula and say something nice. They just want to be our friend. I just robbed a bank. Yes, but you didnt kill anyone. Thats good. And then you have friends that just want to be cool, right? They just want you to like them, so whatever you do… But then, I think, and you might think Im nuts, but I think we need some Simons in our lives. I dont think we need a lot of Simons in our lives (congregation laughing), but to have some people in our lives who can be straight shooters with us and say, Thats a good idea or no, thats not for you, and heres why or what business do you think you have doing that? People like to walk on eggshells. Sometimes even the people closest to us will walk on eggshells around us. I had the privilege of marrying my sister-in-law to her husband in 1984. I performed the ceremony, and everything went well. We were looking at the wedding pictures afterwards. My hair looked nice, and my suit looked nice, and my smile looked nice, but my bowtie is doing this (looking crooked). In every picture, during the ceremony, afterwards where Im standing there, my tie is crooked. They are laughing at me, Look at the bowtie. Im like, You know, you could have told me. You could have embarrassed me for just a couple of seconds before the wedding and said, Your bowtie is crooked, so I wouldnt have to know that for decades to come, people are going to look at your wedding pictures and laugh at me. If somebody cared enough about me, theyd have straightened my bowtie. You say, Why didnt Brenda do it? She was at the hospital with Kari. Kari was very ill at the time. So apparently, my sister-in-law felt like she couldnt tell me my bowtie was crooked. You need people in your life who can say, Your bowties crooked. Somethings out of balance in your life. Something needs to be adjusted in your life. They might tell you the truth even if you dont want to hear the truth. Lets move on. That clock on the wall is ticking. Lets turn to Lamentations, Chapter 3 (pg 816). The call speaks, the call costs, the call burns, the call is affirmed, and the call lasts a lifetime. Lamentations, Chapter 3: This is the book really where Jeremiah gets the title the Weeping Prophet because hes crying all the time. He has good reason to because remember he prophesized Babylonians coming down, If you dont repent, youre going to be wiped out as a nation and please listen to me. Please heed my words? They dont, and Nebuchadnezzar does, and he ransacked the temple, pillages, and the city. People are taken captive, and those who are left behind are starving in the streets. Theyre sick and dying. Atrocity is being committed. This is the nation he loves. This is the people he gave his life to. Youd think that now that Israel is no more, that would be the end, right? Youd think Jeremiah would say, You know, Im going to close my briefcase. My prophet job is done. Im going to ride into the sunset. I did the best I could. It didnt work out, and Im done. But now Jeremiah looks back. Israel is scattered. He looks back, and hes lamenting that hes crying about it. Lets begin reading in Verse 18, So I say, My splendor is gone… (Thats the city; thats the temple. Thats his heritage.) …and all that I had hoped from the Lord. (Thats that Israel would repent and be spared. Thats gone.) I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall… (Hes angry at Israel. Hes a wonder. He thinks, Whats my purpose now? All Ive been doing is prophesizing and trying to spare Israel, and its too late.) …I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lords great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Even in the midst of despair, Jeremiah has hope. Even when it seems like his mission is over, Jeremiah continues to prophesize and write one of the most touching books in all the Bible, the Book of Lamentations. The calling of God is for a lifetime. Its not like a job where you put in your 30 or 40 years, get a watch and retire and go fishing. Its for a lifetime. As long as you are able, as long as you can, fulfill your call until the day you die. Lets pray: Father, thank you for the message of Jeremiah. Thank you for the example of Jeremiah, that the call costs, and he was willing to pay that cost. He was willing to hear that call. The call burned within him. Jeremiah was willing to listen to truth and proclaim the truth. I pray that we would be the same: Jeremiah served his call for a lifetime, that we also would do that. For those who need clarity as to what their call is, we pray for that clarity. For those who need perseverance as theyre fulfilling their call, we pray for that perseverance. For those who know their call and are not living their call, we pray that they would know its never too late to fulfill that call. Its like the disciples who were fishing, and they were willing to drop their nets to abandon everything to follow You. I pray we would have that kind of dedication as we get out of our spiritual boats and follow after your voice. In Jesus name, Amen.