Article linked to TLW Bible study post for January 24, 2021 and based on these set readings:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 — Jonah, called as a prophet, is sent to Nineveh
Mark 1:14-20 — The call of the gospel and the first disciples
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 — Called to live in the urgency of the last days
Last week’s theme was about the young Samuel’s call to a prophetic ministry and the sense of call carried by the first disciples and early church to live differently. This week links the call to our sense of joining in God’s mission and being sent.
Jonah called and sent
The story starts with Jonah, whose call as a prophet made Him all too aware of what joining God’s mission would mean. His mission was to go into Nineveh, the capital of Israel’s most bitter and meanest enemy, Assyria, and preach the city into repentance and faith in the Living God.
As we know he was not the shining example of responding to God’s call. He did his best to get as far from Nineveh as he could, but through a storm and a miracle, he ended up there anyway.
Some characters in the Bible are hard to emulate — they set such a high bar that we feel their lives are on another level to ours. Jonah, on the other hand, is like us. He hears God, and he has a problem with what he hears (and, we might say, who wouldn’t). But God has a way of bringing us back to the situations we try to avoid — as He did with Jonah, showing Jonah what He is really like. Jonah had a great story of a second chance, and a miraculous response he certainly had not earned through his not-very-enthusiastic ministry.
First disciples called and sent
The next people we meet who are called, and also sent, are four of the first disciples of Jesus. He is now back in Galilee after the wilderness testing and some initial ministry – the encounter with Nicodemus (John 3:1-21), and baptising people along with his cousin John.
The story now finds a new focus in Jesus proclaiming that the kingdom of God had come near. He told His hearers to have a change of heart, and trust God for what He was doing at this time, and they would see God’s rule and order working in their lives. Simon and his brother Andrew are impacted by this message, and so are James and his brother John — so much so, that they leave their fishing business to respond to Jesus’ call for them to follow Him.The headline message of the kingdom of God is simple and direct — repent, a change of heart, a turnaround; believe by trusting God and trusting who Jesus is; and follow, not necessarily by giving everything up like those first disciples, but certainly by making a priority of learning, listening and being available.
Disciples in the early church — urgent mission
The last part of the story introduces a note of urgency, now in the early church setting. Jesus.
The focus is different when we read the letters. This is a post-resurrection perspective, following Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was bestowed on believers in a widespread way — not just the particular anointed prophet, priest or king of the Old Testament. The hearers (or readers) of this message are the ‘new priesthood’ under the risen and exalted Jesus. Each one has been spiritually reborn into new life, each one has had an experience of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and each one knows that they have been called by God — and are part of His mission.
If that wasn’t enough, Paul writes to them with a sense of urgency.
“What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on…”
1 Cor. 7:29
And he continues with a list of the pressures, priorities and urgencies of everyday life — the things we would, naturally put first. What we need to do right now for our spouse, or attending to a family funeral and the bereavement of someone who has passed from this life, or a celebration of a special event, or perhaps a significant purchase or a move to a new property.
All these things are important. Paul agrees, but the main thing we must make the main thing is living each day as if Jesus is going to return, because He might. Paul writes as if the promised return of Jesus could be within the lifetime of those believers in Corinth.How would he write to us? Quite a long time has elapsed. And so it is difficult to keep that sense of being prepared, of living for Jesus in a way that is ready for Jesus. This is Paul’s challenge that comes down to us.
Jonah was one particular person who the Lord chose and anointed… and sent. And as we know, he didn’t do very well with the ‘being sent’ bit but he got a second chance. God brought him back to the original call, and He will often do that with us as well. We get distracted, and we although get fearful when God shows us a mission field that looks like cruel, pagan Nineveh looked to Jonah. But where God calls us to be, is where we are called to be.
The twelve disciples were particular people who the Lord Jesus called and trained and anointed — as apostles, as ambassadors of the kingdom of God, sent out to spread its good news and also its culture of values about loving God and loving others. They were disciples of Jesus who, after He had ascended, changed into being disciples who made others, disciples of Jesus — wherever they went.
We can see where this story is going. In the church (Corinth is our example) everyone was a disciple, everyone knew they were called by God and everyone was engaged in encouraging others to become disciples of Jesus, too. This is what the Holy Spirit was doing and really they just had to join with Him and allow Him to work through them.And us? We have the same Lord, the same Holy Spirit and if we have given our lives to Jesus, the same call. And the urgency is the same. Someone has estimated that there are 2.3 billion Christians worldwide. That’s a lot.. but it leaves a whole lot more, out of a world population of seven billion or so, to tell about God’s love for them before Jesus returns. Churches can often get distracted into other concerns. The devil is clever that way. Not enough money, not enough members, not enough young people, not enough diversity… For some people, it might even be not enough familiarity or not enough tradition!
But the only true ‘not enough’ is not enough urgency in accepting our own God-given call and mission, and joining the Lord in what He is doing. When we commit to us doing what the Lord is doing, the money and attendance and everything else comes right.
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