Exodus 3:1-15
Matthew 16:21-28

The Scriptures are filled with stories of God calling people. Most of them are ordinary people; all of them are flawed in some specific way. Nevertheless, God chooses to call us as partners in the work of caring for God's Creation. There is no part of Creation that God cares for more than we human beings. Therefore, many are called to help in the work of caring for the people God has created.

We cannot say with certainty when God called Moses. Most would believe it was the day Moses saw a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire. Upon closer examination Moses found himself to be in the presence of One who was holy and who was called "I am!"

We have to wonder, however, if Moses wasn't called when his life was spared by his quick-thinking mother who arranged to have the daughter of Pharaoh find him and take him into her home while all the other Hebrew baby boys were being slaughtered. Maybe the calling took place when Moses escaped into the desert after killing an Egyptian. Maybe the calling happened when he helped the daughters of a priest from Midian. Shepherds tried to drive them away from a well and Moses came to their rescue. Maybe God called while Moses lived in the desert learning how to survive on very little.

Like many who are called, Moses had all kinds of questions and excuses about why he should not respond. He had no power. He could not speak well. He had a blemished past. He was content staying where he was watching the flocks of his father-in-law.

God was patient but God insisted that Moses had to get on board. Moses was part of a family, God's family. His ancestors were God's people—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God also promised to be with him and in the end that is all any of us really needs even though it often isn't what we want.

God is always inviting us to receive what God offers. God is offering relationship and life even when it involves dying sometimes to our own desires and ways of doing things and in some instances even losing our physical life. God uses the circumstances of our life as training and preparation. Often the most difficult parts of our life are when the training is at its best.

Moses had to go to Egypt. He had to go to Pharaoh. He had to go to the desert. He had to go to the mountain tops to receive God's directions and he had to lead his people to a promised land in spite of their constant quarreling, complaining and disobeying.

Jesus is sometimes called the Moses of the New Testament. He, too, was called to lead God's people from slavery of a kind different from that experienced in Egypt. Like Moses, Jesus had to go places He didn't want to go. Jesus also experienced people who were rebellious and slow to learn.

In the end Jesus had to go to Jerusalem because of who He was and because of what He believed. Jesus had to stand up to a long-time sacred perception that was wrong and was preventing God and God's people from coming together. At one point even Jesus asked to have His calling taken away from Him only to remember God was with Him and His only true life was founded in His relationship with God.

Jesus understood He was a part of the family and His specific calling was to help make it possible for the family and God to be One. When His disciples started to discover He was someone special Jesus had to help them see what that involved. He had to help them see His Divine calling and it went against the grain of the calling His friends had in mind for Him.

That often happens to us as well. Family and friends often have their expectations of us. Sometimes the world seems to reach out and pull us in a particular direction. Sometimes we oblige because it seems so attractive and sometimes it seems easier like it would have been for Moses to stay in Midian or for Jesus to remain in Galilee with lots of people loving and respecting Him.

Part of realizing our potential is discovering where we have to go and then being willing to take the risks that are involved in getting there. We have to get past the excuses we offer for staying where we are because that is not where we are called to be or what we are called to do.

The church in America has a huge decision that it needs to make today. Are we going to respond to what God is calling us to do or are we going to listen to another calling that offers prosperity in the place of self-imposed poverty? Are we going to respond to a call to servanthood or are we going to attempt to join ranks with those who worship worldly power?

Sometimes we are like Peter. We know who Jesus is but we want Jesus to be something else. We want Jesus to travel on our pathway rather than our being willing to travel with Him wherever He leads. Richard Donovan writes, "Ministry that sells is not often ministry that saves." (SermonWriter.com, August 28) In this same article Donovan quotes Billy Graham who says, "We in the church are making a great mistake by trying to make Christianity popular and pleasant. We have taken the cross away and substituted cushions."

It is so tempting to just drop out and do our own thing and attempt to let the world get by without us, but that is not our calling. Together with Jesus the Christ, you and I are being called by God to make a difference by being a servant people.

The Nike Company has a well know slogan, "Just do it!" The Greek word from which Nike comes means overcoming or being overcome by evil. Either we get behind Jesus to help overcome evil or we become part of the evil itself.

This morning I am inviting you to "Get On Board!" I am inviting you to become part of the family of God—to be Jesus people. Make God, marriage, family and neighbor your priority so that you give the best of what you are to them and in so doing realize your full potential for our true calling is always from God.