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SCRIPTURE READINGS: EXODUS 32:1-14, PHILIPPIANS 4:1-9, MATTHEW 22:1-14

REFLECTION
The theme for our reflection is obedience to God’s call. Obedient to God’s call is responding to God by hearing and acting upon His Word or will. We shall examine three ways to be obedient to God’s call
1. To be obedient to God’s call, we must be faithful to Him.
2. To be obedient to God’s call, we must be ready to work in unity.
3. To be obedient to God’s call, we must not habitually make excuses but be ready.

Firstly, beloved in the Lord. We must have faith in God if we desire to be obedient to His call. After God rescued and called Israel out of oppression and slavery in Egypt, they became unfaithful to God on their way to the promised land. While Moses was with the Lord on Mount Sinai,  “…. the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ 9 “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” (Exodus 32:7-10). Beloved in the Lord, those who are unfaithful can neither be obedient to God’s call nor have a relationship with Him. It takes a person of faith and faithfulness to respond to God’s call and do His will. It is for this reason Joshua admonished the Israelites after the demise of Moses, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14-15). Are you faithful to God since you became a disciple of Christ? Some of us may not be worshipping other gods as a sign of our unfaithfulness but for the mere fact that our minds, hearts and strength are more dedicated to money, work, and materialism, to the extent that some of us give little or no time and resource to glorify God, we have become unfaithful! Jesus warns us about unfaithfulness when said “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24). Again, He said, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62). Unlike the Israelites, let us be obedient to God’s call through by being faithful to him regardless of the challenges we encounter in life.

Secondly, God has called others just as we have also been called therefore to be obedient to God’s call we must be ready to work in unity with other co-workers of Christ. It is for this reason Paul appealed to the two women in the Church of Philippi and encouraged the church to help them mend their difference and be united for the sake of the Gospel, “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, to help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the Book of life. Philippians 4:2-3. Dear friend, we are not alone in responding or being obedient to God’s call. The mission of the Lord is vast therefore Jesus says to the disciples “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38). We are all co-workers regardless of the roles we are performing in the church or in the mission of God. We heed to Joseph’s advice to His brothers when he sent them back to his father saying “Don’t quarrel on the way!” (Genesis 45:24). Paul also admonishes that “in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,  for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26-27). Again in 1 Corinthians 12:12 Paul tells us that “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12). Without unity it is impossible for us to be obedient to God’s call and fulfil His will.

Thirdly, we can give excuses at work but when it comes to the mission of God we must be mindful of the excuses we give and always be ready. To be obedient to God’s call, we must not habitually make excuses. Again, we must take our call seriously and always be ready. Jesus said in Matthew 22:14, “For many are invited (called), but few are chosen” because many of the people who were invited or called made excuses with their work and business. Jesus said those who were invited to the wedding banquet “…paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. (Matthew 22:5). Again, some were invited but not chosen because they were hostile to the messengers of God. We are told  “The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (Matthew 22:6-7). In addition, some are called but not chosen, because they do not possess the identity or what is required to be ready to serve the Lord, ““But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend ?’ The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 22:11-13). Beloved in the Lord, we are greatly admonished by Paul to eschew excuses and be ever ready to serve the Lord when he wrote, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favouritism.” (Colossians 3:23-25).  Dear friend, God, the King of Kings is still inviting us, let us not be destructed by the things and activities of the world for “godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” (1 Timothy 6:6-7) Let us be obedient to God’s call and be saved.  

In summary, we have reflected on the theme “Obedience to God’s call” We have discovered that, to be obedient to God’s call, we must be faithful to Him, to be obedient to God’s call, we must be ready to work in unity, last but not least, to be obedient to God’s call, we must not habitually make excuses but be ever ready when duty calls. May the Holy Spirit empower us to be obedient to God’s call even as we await the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen. Shalom.