Equipped For A Purpose: Calling The Called

Is Volunteerism the Way to Reach the World?
Imagine if your brain began the day by meeting with your organs, telling them what it determined needed to be accomplished. "We need to cleanse this body today; who will do it?" After an awkward silence and a marked lack of eagerness from the group, the heart, feeling uncomfortable with the quiet but the apparent need, raised its hand and said, "I will do it; I will work on cleansing the body today." Suddenly, the organ meant to pump blood leaves vacant its post to meet another need.

However, rather than note the dilemma created by the heart's willingness, the brain praises the heart:

"I know body purification is not your first inclination, heart, but good on you for volunteering; availability is our most valuable ability. Thank you for having a servant's heart and being willing to meet this need."
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As the organs leave the meeting, they have learned the brain's value system, volunteer, and be available no matter what. Meanwhile, in the corner of the room, the colon quietly gets up and walks away, yielding the responsibility it was created for to the heart, which was made for a completely different function. How might a similar dysfunction develop if an emphasis on a servant-hearted response got out of balance in our spiritual body - the church?

Potential Misguided Mission Scenarios
Here's a scenario to consider related to missions. Missionaries are sought once a year at a mission conference, and volunteering is the pivotal component of the plan. When mission season arises, we might highlight the needs worldwide. At the end of our services, we give the Isaiah 6:8 hook, And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me." The soft-hearted person hears the need, hears the call, and responds. But was he or she meant to, or were they like the heart choosing to do the colon's job? Remember, Isaiah was willing, but he was also the right person for the job, already selected by God (Isaiah 49:1) for a task he pre-designed him for. God's question was not him casting a wide net hoping to find an undetermined person. Instead, his question was that of a spear fisherman piercing the heart of a specific person, Isaiah, and causing him to grapple with the call because he was the person God designed for the job. The problem is not the hook but to whom it is presented and how it is delivered.  

Reformatting our Body-Life Thinking
You may have met a person who needs to be more socially aware. Occasionally, I am that person. A person like this is prone to saying things that don't fit the context of the moment. Sometimes we as churches have this same confusion. We don't realize who God has made us to be as individuals or a unit; this lack of self-awareness negatively affects our body life at home and our mission's emphasis abroad.  
First Corinthians 12:11 notes how God determines our roles: All these are empowered by the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. Knowing that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to us as He wills and then unites people in our churches to carry out His missions might reconstruct our planning model and the communication of that plan. Perhaps instead of defining a strategic plan from the constructs of a board brainstorm that considers the most up-to-date, most effective programs and then asking people to get on board, we could seek to understand who God has made us as a diverse yet unified body and ask him what he intended to bring us together to do. The NT clearly defines items that should be true of every church, but could it be possible that God's design local church body with the nuts and bolts of how this plan will be carried out embedded in the spiritual DNA of the people he has united together? Perhaps carrying out God's plan is more about discovery and self-awareness. Could it be that while servanthood is about being available, servanthood is also about being willing to do the dirty job of cleansing the body if you are a colon and carrying out your own responsibility if you are a heart?

Reevaluating Our People's Purpose
Here's an idea. Begin with the foundation of what a church should always be. Then, consider asking questions that help you understand God's personal building plan in each of the lives of our church individually and then piece together how those people are intended to interact as a whole. Did he not say in Ephesians 4:11, "he gave some as" noting a specific plan for those individuals "to" carry out a particular purpose of "equipping the saints"?

• What are our people's spiritual gifts?
• What experiences has God built into their lives providentially that he intends to use for his glory?
• What is their education?
• What are their skills?
• What are their hobbies?
• What are the desires of our peoples' hearts?
• What is their background?

God is not random, so the answers to these questions will reveal his handiwork. Remember Ephesians 2:10,

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

God is painstakingly building individual believers from the day of their birth, forming them in their mother's womb with all their interests and idiosyncrasies for a specific purpose (Luke 1:15, Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 49:1, Galatians 1:15)? He continues that work in lives at their rebirth infusing each one with gifts from His Spirit to empower the work to which He called that person to and to prepare them for the next steps in which they are to walk. He does all of this in the context of a unit - the church. Every day the church identifies God's handwork in people and equips them for unique roles in a joint task.

If this is true, God's purpose for our brothers and sisters in Christ (and us) is not meant to be found by the empty slots of a signup sheet in the foyer. It is not revealed by a random plea in a service. Let's notice, prepare, and challenge people to do what they are called to, not just call them to be available to do the next thing. Let's teach that a component of servanthood is following Jesus in doing all that the Father has called us to do rather than everything that could be done (John 14:31, John 17:4).

Back to Missions
In Acts 13, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." God did the designing, the church did the sending, and the individuals obeyed God's directive. Perhaps one of the hindrances to reaching our world is built around a misapplied principle of servanthood.

• Do we send the willing to missions but do not challenge and equip the people God created for cross-cultural work?
• Do we create unhealthy gaps in our church and unhealthy missionaries abroad by failing to be self-aware?
• Are latent missionaries sitting in our pews because we are waiting for them to volunteer rather than equipping and directing them to go?

Elder and friend, let's not be the brain that asked the heart to volunteer and failed to engage the colon. The church and our mission will thrive as we understand how God works in and among us and use that knowledge to equip all body parts. After all, Christ is the true head of the church, and he already has a plan for each piece and how those pieces function together to accomplish the will of His Father. Let's yield to His plan

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