Calling Universal

Calling

Universal

Before we can understand our Specific Call we must understand our Universal Call

Our Universal Call begun as God called Adam and Eve to work

And care for the Garden

For all eternity we will continue that call in the new heaven and new earth 

We must realize how we handle our Universal Call to work

And how it will affect our Specific Call

As a pastor one of the greatest ways I got respect

Was setting up chairs and serving with my hands

If you do not like work pray for the understanding of God’s Universal Call to work

Ask the question

What is the purpose in what I am to do?

I have always hated painting but as I began to see the wonderful changes

It makes and the joy it brings to others

My heart could find enjoyment

Even though painting is still my least favorite thing to do

If we have a Universal Call to work and care for God’s Garden

How are we handling it?

What is your attitude toward work? 

What four letter word describes work for you, “HATE” or “LOVE”

Universal

Work for many is a bad four letter word.

Pleasures, entertainment, “me time”, are

words we love more than the word work.

When I worked for a company

I got a sick feeling in my gut

on Sunday night as I knew on

Monday I went back to work.

Friday nights have always been a celebrative night

because we are free from work for the weekend.

Work has stressed out many people.

The books on dealing with work

related stress fill the bookshelves.

In my life time, I do not remember a time

when there was more jobs, yet there

are so many people who are unemployed.

Employers have “Help Wanted” signs everywhere.

Many times the worker they hire don’t do the work.

I once hired a man to pick up sticks,

I checked on him throughout the day and

 each time I saw him he was on his phone.

At the end of the day, the stick were not picked

up and yet he expected to be paid.

The statistics tell us most people hate their job.

So did the hippies of the 60’s have it right?

I do not know many who would not want

to win the lottery or a large inheritance

so they would not have to work.

Somehow work has become a bad four letter word.

We have lost sight of something.

There is a universal CALL to WORK.

God placed Adam and Eve in the

Garden to work it and care for it.

 Genesis 2:15

Revelation 21:24 tells us

there will be work in heaven…

The nations will walk by its light,

 and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.

The productivity of the nations

will be brought into heaven.

Isaiah spoke of eternity and said…

They will build houses and dwell in them;

they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

No longer will they build houses and others

 live in them, or plant and others eat.

For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people;

my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.

Isaiah 65:21-22

If we see work as a bad four letter word…

 How will we handle being called

to work from creation to eternity?

God shows us work as something easy

as we see Him in the six days of creation.

God said "let there be..." and the work was done.

I can like that kind of work.

When my wife wants the walls painted or

furniture moved, I think it would be great

to just speak a word and it be done.

Some work is done and it

does not cost a drop of sweat.

But Jesus’ picture of work did cause sweat,

pain and suffering though the work of the cross.

You and I must understand before we can

understand the call to a specific job…

 We must understand the Universal Call to

care for God’s creation in earth and heaven.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes…

A man can do nothing better than to eat and

drink and find satisfaction in his work.

This too, I see, is from the hand of God

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

Whether your work is easy or

hard God wants you to enjoy it.

All work needs a purpose.

The purpose may be short lived or last forever.

The purpose may bring personal

 fulfillment or only fulfill others.

I remember working at Jeep and thinking

the jeeps I am building today will be

in a scrap yard in a few years.

Those thoughts did not motivate me.

Sad to say at times all I cared about was the pay check.

But when I could see the joy of

the person buying that jeep,

the fun they would have with that jeep,

I was glad to be an unknown part of their joy.

Just imagine going to work or anywhere

today and there were not cars.

Somebody worked so you would have a ride.

God gave us amazing abilities to work.

In many ways all those abilities are to contribute

to a better way of life for you and others.

Jesus said let others see your good works

so they may glorify your Father in heaven.

 We are also told…

                          “Whatever we do, do it in the name of the Lord.”

Imagine God getting the credit for everything you do.

How would that reflect on God’s image?

We must realize how we handle

our Universal Call to work,

and how it will affect our Specific Call.

As a pastor one of the greatest ways I got respect

was setting up chairs and serving with my hands.

If you do not like work,

pray for the understanding of

God’s Universal Call to work.

Ask the question…

What is the purpose in what I am to do?

I have always hated painting, but as I began to

see the wonderful changes it makes and the

joy it brings to others, my heart could find enjoyment,

even though painting is still my least favorite thing to do.

If we have a Universal Call to work and care
for God’s Garden, how are we handling it?

What is your attitude toward work?

 

What four letter word describes

work for you, “HATE” or “LOVE”?

Scripture Reading

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Isaiah 65:20-25

20 "Never again will there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not live out his years;

he who dies at a hundred

will be thought a mere youth;

he who fails to reach a hundred

will be considered accursed.

21 They will build houses and dwell in them;

they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,

or plant and others eat.

For as the days of a tree,

so will be the days of my people;

my chosen ones will long enjoy

the works of their hands.

23 They will not toil in vain

or bear children doomed to misfortune;

for they will be a people blessed by the LORD,

they and their descendants with them.

24 Before they call I will answer;

while they are still speaking I will hear.

25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

but dust will be the serpent's food.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,"

says the LORD.

Revelations 21:22-27

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.