15 January 2012 Glorify God John 1:43-51

15 January 2012 Glorify God John 1:43-51

This morning we will install two session elders, Jeff Woodruff and Duane Hiller for the class of 2015. These two have heard God’s call to serve the church and they have answered that call. I know you will join me in thanking them in advance for their service to God, to this church, and to our wider world.

A day like today may bring memories of those times God nudged you to service in God’s kingdom. God’s serving community has so many faces. Why, our joining with family to be family may have been our very first call. As we grew older God had a way of nudging us on beyond our first family to school, from school to work and perhaps another family, from another family to community and yes, church. So many times we have found ourselves on our knees trying to understand God’s call, trying to discern God’s will.

Often lost in our prayer for discernment is God’s affirmation, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” We do not choose God, but God choses us. God reminds us this morning through John’s gospel this call business is all God’s doings. It is God’s doing that we are found by God and sent into God’s kingdom. It is God who equips us and chooses us for kingdom building. The call of God is to all believers, not just to these two good folks this morning.
The evidence is before us. All in these pews this morning are gifted and equipped by God. Now do not try and deny it! We know it to be true here at Genesis for each of you have unique gifts, a special calling.

Being so gifted by God began with those early disciples whom he desired. God desired to have them and gifted them with three special assignments: to preach the gospel, to heal the sick and to be with him. The first two assignments are task specific, preach and heal. The third, to be with him, is often overlooked.
To always be close to Jesus can be risky. Being with him means we have to be so close that we know where he is going and what he will do next, and with whom. Knowing Jesus took risks with people, places, and events makes us uneasy when we hear God’s call to be with Jesus in his ministry. Knowing Jesus’s ways we may hesitate, we may stand motionless, before we commit to let God use us where God leads. For where God leads we may not want to go.
In our hesitation, our motionless, we may truthfully and honestly wonder. How could this be God calling me to this way? Where did God come to know me so well God can direct my life? We know God know us. God is God after all. But how do we know when it is God calling and not our own desire or that of the evil one?

In our Gospel story this morning Nathanael sounds like us. He asks Jesus, “How do you know me?” “Who have you been talking to about me?” “We’ve never met, have we?” Jesus answers, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” How does Jesus know Nathanael? Jesus knew him before anyone knew him, even before he was born.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 139. It begins, “O Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.” God knows us before we know ourselves!

Jesus saw Nathanael under a fig tree before Philip found him. Jesus saw Nathanael before he was born. Nathanael now understands who this Jesus is. Nathanael has experienced the revealing of a deeper truth than he could have ever imagined on a regular day hanging out under a fig tree waiting for his buddies to come by so they could go and do what guys do. No, this will not be that sort of day.

Jesus spoke and it was revealed to Nathanael that his invitation to come and see for himself the one about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth, came not from Phillip, but from the Messiah himself. Jesus invited Nathanael, calling him to come and see, and Nathanael realized Philip was right, they had found the one who was to be Messiah.

With this new found knowledge, Nathanael quickly confesses, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.” Nathanael’s response becomes for us a powerful confessional confirmation of who Jesus is, the one coming to save the world. It also speaks in a real sense of the mutual recognition possible through Jesus, one of knowing and being known, seeing and being seen.
In our Old Testament reading Samuel also has a strange encounter of sorts. He is awakened from his sleep by the Lord calling his name, “Samuel, Samuel,” and he said, “Here I am,” and then thinking Eli had called him he ran to him there in the room where he was asleep. But Eli said, I did not call you, lie down again. This happens two more times before Eli finally realizes that Samuel is hearing the Lord call to him. Eli tells Samuel to go, lie down; and if he calls you again, you shall say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” This response, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” becomes our biblical response when we sense God is calling; first be open to God’s speaking, then listen and respond.

Samuel, like our newly elected and soon to be installed elders, is to be established as the rightful bearer of God’s word and authority. He begins, and we begin the same way, by learning to listen and then learning to respond.
First, to listen and be sure it is God calling and not our own personal messenger and then, to respond, to reach out and attach ourselves to the ministry God has for us. We all belong to God. God uses each of us. God uses our mind, our body, and our spirit in ways that are nothing short of a miracle, in ways that are clearly God’s freely given grace.

I read in a recent Christian Century magazine article that on their own neither Samuel nor Nathanael are able to interpret these strange encounters. Samuel doesn’t recognize God’s voice, and Nathanael is puzzled by Jesus’ origins, and then by his extraordinary ability to know and see.

But both of them are portrayed as truthful, and the childlike innocence in Samuel is reflected in a description of Nathanael as an Israelite in whom there is “no deceit.” No cunning, no spin, no dishonesty, just a purity of heart that helps open their eyes to see God.

The good news for us this third Sunday of the New Year is that in our innocence and with Jesus’ help our eyes have been opened to see God. On our own we are not able to know about these strange encounters. On our own we don’t know if God is calling us or it is some telemarketer or our own driven egos. On our own the competing voices pull us further from God and we lose our authentic Christian selves.

Jeff and Duane have responded to God’s call. They have recognized a kindred spirit in our Lord. They have prayed and listened and heard and believed and realized the risk of accepting a call to serve God’s church as an officer and member of session. A risk they enter into freely, I trust!

The New Testament tells us that when the apostles started churches they appointed elders to govern the congregations in their absence. Although it is not certain what the elders’ responsibilities were in the early church, their position was clearly one of honor. We do know from scripture they were expected to exhibit the highest moral character. Elders were to be compassionate, humble, and eager to serve the congregation like a shepherd, following the example of Christ.

The responsibilities of those we elect as elders is clearly stated in the Book of Order. They are to encourage the congregation in the worship of God, they are to equip the church in mission in the world, they are to comfort and care for the sick with special attention to the poor and the oppressed, and they are to serve in the higher governing bodies of the church.
Our session, with the exception of certain rights and privileges granted to the congregation and pastor, has virtual oversight of all the spiritual, educational, and practical activities of this church.

As Presbyterians, we believe that the Holy Spirit works best in our church through the will of the people as represented by these good folk we install this morning. They are good and faithful shepherds who are concerned solely with the health of our church and the work of God’s kingdom.
I imagine they have been surprised by their encounter with the living God, calling them to a leadership position in this church. We’ve all been there. Surprised and frightened and humbled at the same time. Encounters when God calls us are like that.

For his part, Nathanael was surprised to be invited to come and see for himself that Jesus was the chosen one. What frightened him was the realization he was known so intimately by Jesus. For his part, Samuel thought Eli was calling his name. Instead, it was God calling him.

We are called to come and see this Jesus who knew us before we were born and knows us so intimately know. We may think it is this church or the Nominating Committee perhaps that calls our name. It is God calling us. And we celebrate all those who come and see.
For we see who has called us to servant discipleship. We hear his call every day and we come. We come so we may be authentically who we are called to be, followers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of Israel!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever more. Amen

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