Sermon Tone Analysis

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The Power of God’s Call 2

Jeremiah 1:1-5

 

 

*Wanted:  Faithful Workers*

 

       Early in this century a London newspaper carried an advertisement that read:  “Men wanted for hazardous journey:  small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, and constant danger.

Safe return doubtful.

Honor and recognition in case of success.”

The ad, signed by famous Arctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, brought inquiries from thousands of men.

Commenting on this in his book /Be Faithful/, Warren W. Wiersbe said, “If Jesus Christ had advertised for workers, the announcement might have read something like this:  ‘Men and women wanted for difficult task of helping to build My church.

You will often be misunderstood, even by those working with you.

You will face constant attack from an invisible enemy.

You may *not* see the results of your labor, and your full reward will *not* come till after all your work is completed.

It may cost you your home, your ambitions, even your life.’”

This call to service sounds strange in our day,

 

·        When values for service, hard work, perseverance and a higher calling are almost impossible to find;

·        When waitresses and waiters in restaurants think you are there to serve them;

·        When employees think they are doing you a favor by coming to work;

·        When modern parents think that children were given to serve them; and

·        When work consists of four eight-hour days, with an hour and fifteen minutes for lunch and four fifteen minute coffee breaks.

*/However, God is still calling some to special service!/*

Most of us desire a leader’s calling but there is *no* greater ministry than serving the Lord and your fellow man!

We come this evening to ordain, set apart to ministry, or recognize those whom God has uniquely gifted and called to serve.

The concept of ordination to a Church office does *not* play a major role in the New Testament.

However, there is evidence of a solemn ceremony marking the setting apart of individuals to specific church functions.

*/This ceremony or rite is called ordination./*

The fundamental idea of ordination is */identification/* and */representation/*.

Ordination identifies those so esteemed with the local congregation and bestows upon them the right to represent that congregation.

While the act of ordination is the acknowledgment by the church of its God-appointed ministers, it is *never* the basis for their ministry.

*/The basis for their ministry is the call of God!/*

 

/(Tonight, I want to briefly consider God’s call of Jeremiah, the prophet.

Turn with me please to Jeremiah 1:1-5.

Let me read this for us out of the NASB?/

/Here we see:)/

 

I.

Jeremiah’s Call (vv.

1-4).

In these words, Jeremiah states the basis of his call in the phrase, “to whom the Word of the Lord came.”

Every person who is licensed or ordained to the diaconate, i.e. the ministry of being a deacon, must */know/* that s~/he is called by God.  */However, beyond that, every Saint is called of God for some purpose./*

Nobody can say for sure what these words mean, but they probably denote some alternate state of consciousness with Jehovah God, through the Holy Spirit.

Throughout this prophecy, written by Jeremiah under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he constantly repeats the fact that the Word of the Lord had come to him.

*/He lives, moves and has his being within the sphere of the divine call of God.

In Israel, priests were priests by birth, but prophets were only prophets by calling.

Likewise, deacons should have received a call from God!/*

 

/(Now that we have looked briefly at his calling, let’s take a very brief look at Jeremiah’s commissioning.)/

II.

Jeremiah’s Commissioning (v. 5).

Jeremiah’s commission is covered in verses 5-10, but we only have time to look at verse 5.

       We see Jeremiah’s commissioning by the Lord, firstly, in the same words as his call.

His commission or charge begins with the words, “The Word of the Lord came to me.”

His authority to carry out the will of God is found in the words, “The Word of the Lord came to me.”

Likewise, the deacon’s commissioning, and every Saint’s commissioning is found in the Word of the Lord.

We shall cover that in a moment.

/(However, before we do that, let’s look at the credentials which God lists for Jeremiah.)/

A.

Jeremiah’s credentials (v.

5).

*/Jeremiah’s credentials entail more than formal education in one of schools of the prophets!

Jeremiah’s credentials are His calling!/*

       Like Jeremiah, whether we have an official position among God’s people or we are without a position, our ultimate credentialing is that we have been called and commissioned by God Almighty!

Ephesians 4:4 (NASB-U), “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling.”

In fact, we are the /ekklesia/, the “called-out” body of Jesus, the Christ.

Moreover, we also have credentials.

Let’s compare Jeremiah’s credentials to our credentials.

/(Well, God set Jeremiah apart, commissioned him, and credentialed him through His own divinely providential actions.

Those actions were:)/

 

1.

Precognition (v 5).

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”

*/We see here the sovereign grace of God./*  God calls whom He will and chooses whom He will, and God is *not* dependent upon time.

He knew Jeremiah before he was born.

Not only did God know him before he was born, but evidently He formed Jeremiah in the womb based upon that knowledge.

With God, there are *no* surprises.

With God, there are *no* emergencies.

God does *not* move from crisis to crisis.

God plans.

God had a plan for Jeremiah’s life.

God has a plan for my life.

God has a plan for the lives of those who are being ordained tonight.

And,

       God has a plan for your life!  */(/*/Even those of us who are called, but *not* being ordained tonight.*)*/

*/Therefore, the power of God’s call is that it gives us purpose, through God’s plans!  /*I need some people to praise God about this right now.

When we praise and thank God for something, we make it our own.

To help young people they must understand that they have been taught a lie and they must accept and live in the truth of the calling of salvation.

/(But we see something else in this verse.)/

2.

Preconsecration /(coining a new word)/ (v 5).

*/Based upon His foreknowledge, God formed Jeremiah in the womb of His mother, but before He did that, He consecrated Jeremiah./*

The word ‘consecrated’ comes from one of the most important words in the OT.

‘qadash’, “Holy.”

God consecrated, or sanctified, or set Jeremiah apart for His special use in the prophetic ministry.

*/This evening’s setting apart must be done by God.

We are setting apart deacons who have already been set apart by God!  We don’t really ordain or set apart, we only acknowledge what God has ordained or set apart./*

       */God has also set apart or sanctified every believer to serve Him./*

You don’t need an official license or ordination to serve God to do the stuff of ministry.

God has already sanctified you and sent you!  Go into the harvest and work, and whatever is right, He will pay you!

       */Therefore, the power of God’s call is to give us purpose and a reason for being, through sanctification, i.e. being set apart from the world unto God and His purposes./*

/(However, that is *not* all.

We also see here:)/

 

3.

Preappointment /(coining a new word)/ (v 5).

*/Based upon His precognition and preconsecration God preappointed Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations./*

The word ‘appointed’ means to decree, command, or ordain.

Here is the true ordination.

*/It is God that ordains a person to be a minister and all the Church does is recognize and identify with that ordination./*

Although the ordination is presented as happening in the present, it is—in a sense—a foreordination because God foreknew Jeremiah and /(coining a new word)/ fore-consecrated him.

*/The whole sequence of God is:  “I knew; I consecrated; I formed; I appointed/*/./”