I Corinthians 9:16 - God's Will and The Internal Call

I Corinthians 9:16 - For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.

Message: God's Will and the Internal Call

Time: Not the first, but 2nd letter to Corinthians, but the first to survive and to be considered authoritative. Written in AD 55, it was penned after Paul had reports of quarreling in this church he had previously visited. Paul covers a number of subjects, but all focus on the Christian's life in the church. 

What the Lord is Saying: I have noticed that the manner in which people believe God speaks to people today is often the difference between religions and even other denominations. For example, the LDS church takes the position that God still speaks today through prophets and apostles. But most protestants are Cessationists, believing that God spoke for a time to prophets and apostles, but in these latter days, after their death, He speaks to us objectively via the Bible and rather than prophets and apostles we have pastors, elders, and deacons today in service positions to the Lord. 

Reformed thinkers often speak of the Lord's calling on our lives as an internal call and external call, especially in regards to pastors. The internal call is personal, while the external call is a confirmation by the visible church (the church of this day made up of people we believe are the called ones of God). 

I Timothy 3:1 - It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

Today's passage expresses Paul's call to preach the gospel voicing that this is call that he is under compulsion, meaning he must and really cannot not preach. I believe God placed a call on my life, a call to not go into full-time ministry, but instead to be a full-time layperson, working a job and ministering through that vocation and beyond it. 

I came to know the Lord at the age of 14, one month shy of my 15th birthday, on August 10, 1982 in the parking lot of Wendy's on Wyoming Blvd in Albuquerque, NM. I had handpicked a senior in the church youth group to help guide me through a prayer as we spoke in his car. Up to this point, different people had planted the seed in me, exposing me to the Gospel. People visited our home and shared the gospel to our family, a summer church camp experience, growing up listening to the pastor speak, and my mom, so at this point, I had understanding of the gospel, but I needed help sealing the deal. 

Looking back, I had grown up in church and yet my understanding of the gospel was limited. I always felt like people were talking about something that I only knew part of the information on. At that time, at that age, my fear was dying or not knowing what would happen to me when I die and seeing that Jesus had done it all for me was all I needed. Since then I have grown in my understanding of the Gospel and the truth of God. 

As I entered high school, the subject of "what do I want to be when I grow up" surfaced more and more. It was like I wanted a lightning strike on the wall to reveal the answer and yet I always went back to a message that the pastor at the time, Norm Boshoff, preached about knowing the will of God. He said that God has established parameters in our lives, or fence posts, and in that fence we have clues or rules that we must abide by in our lives, but within those fence posts there is freedom to determine what you need to do. And so the lightning strike or writing on the wall will probably not come, but I need to seek God, follow Him, and be guided by His truth. 

I would continue to wander down this path, even as I chose a major and then changed it when it got to hard and I failed too many classes. And even after I finished school and started working. I had a basic idea of what I should do - numbers and organizing information, but it took me a while to settle on it. I still feel like I'm evolving. I don't think I've ever really settled on anything as my career has been about numbers, but also consulting and organizing ideas. But through it all, I feel confident that I'm within the fence posts, not only at my secular job but even as I serve the Lord. 

Summary: God's call on a person's life does not have to only be a call to full-time ministry, but it is also a call for their vocation and to be a full-time lay person. 

Promise: Our desires, provided they do not contradict scripture, can help us discern the right course of action to take. 

Prayer: O Lord, I thank you for speaking to me all these years of my life, directing my path. It has not always been clear to me but I see now how you have confirmed my calling, an internal call most of the time, but also giving me confirmation of that call through teachers, pastors, aptitude tests, fellow colleagues, friends and other observers along the way. Thank you for the way you speak continually through your Spirit, through your Word, to me. Thank you for guiding my way and even now, continuing to illuminate my path in so many different ways.