J. N. N. Ng’ang’a – Meditations for 26h Dec , 2011-1st Jan 2012 …….God’s 7fold call to every Christian professional
Day 1
1Samuel3:10
The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
I would like you to remember that God wants our Christianity to affect your professional area. You should not be a Christian in church and a non-Christian in your work area. My appeal to you and to myself is that we should live integrated lives.
In my book, A leader Source of Influence, I argue that when God calls us, its not just to preach only. His call is actually many calls summarized into one. As shown elsewhere, a lot of us regard God’s call as something only pastors get. In fact when we hear pastors talk they say, ‘after being a businessman for five years, the Lord finally called me to his work’. In other words earlier he was working without knowing whether he was doing what God wanted him to do, but now he is actually doing what he is called to do. As we saw earlier this view is so common in church that actually a pastor some time back asked me, when I will answer God’s call, meaning my professional job cannot be in answer to God’s call. We were flying from Kisumu to Nairobi with this nationally known pastor, and he was telling me that only pastors have a call. I asked, ‘what do we think other professionals have?’ It was an hour flight and I spent the one hour trying to show him from the scriptures, that no Christian is allowed to be in a job he is not called into.
So for you as an engineer, you must tell us when the Lord called you to engineering. For you as a doctor you must tell us when God called you to be one. Remember ,whatever you do must be done for the Lord. So how do you do something for Him if he has not asked you to do it. So how do you ever end doing engineering and claim to be a Christian if you are not doing it for the Lord? That’s an issue we need to deal with because until you understand clearly that every job(including every business) must be in answer to a call we shall not do our role as professional they way the caller, God, wants it done. We tend to do church ministry conscious it is God’s work and hence we have to seek how he wants it done, but our daily work is done the way we feel like doing it.
Day 2
Colossians 3:17New International Version (NIV)
17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Currently I am working as a business and leadership consultant. I believe this is what God has called me to do in his service at this time . I am doing various consultancies. I have to keep asking myself as I am asked to tender for business, does God want me to do that job I am invited to tender for? It is true they want me to tender, but does God want me to tender? So I don’t pick any contract just because it is financially attractive. I need to be able to say the reason I am consulting for this particular company is because the Lord has called me to do it. This is what Col 3:17 is telling every one of us. We must only do what we can do in his name.
So just like a pastor I can say,’ when the Lord called me to do this project I obeyed’. I am trying to remind you what we saw earlier, that if you check the scriptures, you will see that people , not the bible ,came up with the idea that only pastors are called. It is not scriptural.
Day 3
Exodus31:3
… I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts
Anything a man of God does must be because of God’s call whether it is crafts work or prophesying. So , if you are not called to do what you are currently doing, please come out of it. Seek God’s guidance. The earlier you resign the better.
It could even mean going back to college and beginning a career in the area of God’s calling. If you are living in disobedience, then you may have no business whatsoever saying you are born again. You need to check that what you are doing is on the basis of God’s call on your life.
However young , the call is not for what you will do into the future. Even today, what you are doing needs to be in line with His call. A lot of people are waiting to serve the Lord one day in future when they are called because in the meanwhile they do not believe they are called since they are just engineers .We must serve the lord at all times and in all we do.
Day 4
Mark 3
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons
I still remember the time in the late 1970s when I went for a retreat in the Nairobi arboretum forest ,seeking God’s direction professionally. As seen earlier, my first job was in a development bank. As I said yes to that appointment, I was not saying yes to the Executive Director of that bank, I was saying yes to what I believed was the call of God.
One week later I got another appointment from a place I had wanted to be more than the bank. But I had told God earlier that ‘ whatever first appointment I get from the places you have allowed me to apply , I believe it will be you opening it ,and will stay there till I got enough experience’. So I had to say no to the other appointment in order to be in what I believed was God’s call. And that was way back as a young man in my mid twenties. So what I am saying is not a new matter.
It will not be possible for you to be the catalyst in society until you stop taking jobs that God has not called you to. Whether it is in law or in medicine or in engineering or in business, you must start talking to God one on one, so that whatever you enter into, it is not just in service of men but in service of God.
My understanding of the bible is that when God calls a Christian, it is not just one call, but He calls them into what I am calling the seven fold call. In other words although it is one call, He actually is calling you in seven ways but in one call.
He is actually calling you first to have private time with God, like He did in the book of Mark 3. You know He called the apostles first of all to be with Him. And so when God calls you, the first priority is not to do engineering, the first priority is to spend time with Him. And you will not play your role as a professional in your area of call until you learn that you are not just called to be a lawyer, you are also called to spend time with God so that your get instruction each day on how to represent him. This is the first part of the sevenfold call that God is calling you into.
Day 5
1 Timothy 5:8(New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Both as preparation to serve Him and also as part of the area you must serve ,the second part of God’s call to each Christian , is for you to have personal time with family and friends. He says if you do not feel like you are called to look after your family, then you have not even become a believer. So in my understanding the call of God (after accepting a call to be with him) includes a call to be helped by and have a ministry amongst your close relatives.
This is what I call the personal area which includes friends and family, those close people to you.
The third aspect of God’s call is a ministry in the church. Remember we are talking about the role of professionals. The call of God to all Christian professionals must include a call to serve in the church .The idea of being a professional who is churchless or a ‘church vagabond’ is not biblical. Do you remember the meaning of the word vagabond? A vagabond is a man of no fixed abode. There are people who are like that in terms of involvement in a local church . To them to be a professionals is to have no pastor. He thinks the pastor is a junior guy compared with him, not worth his respect . You need to understand that if you are really going to play your role as a professional, it will be important you are in church because God established the church, as pillar of faith. In other words faith must be supported by the church, a group of believers who are in fellowship with you. And yet we are aware that the church has a lot of crooks .You might not want to be part of a church because of these crooks. You may be still looking for one without any crooks. Then that church you want is a different church from the one Jesus founded. Jesus said, there will be tares and wheat in his church. It is his farm and He has allowed tares. Christ’s church will have tares till he returns. However He said there is a day of reckoning when He is going to uproot all tares. He does not need your help to do this.He says in the process of trying to help him uproot them earlier, you might uproot the wheat thinking they are tares.
So my brother, I am not asking a professional to be part of a church because it is perfect . Jesus already told us it will not be perfect. If not happy with the one you are currently in , go and look for a perfect church. When you find it, please do them a favor, don’t join it. Because you know, you, yourself are not perfect and from the day you join them, that church will no longer be perfect. So do them a favour, don’t join them.
You must ask yourself as a professional, what is your role in your church? Are you playing any role within your church? Remember our evangelism is not done in church. Church , is mainly for our doctrinal build up, the discipleship ministries that we do in the church. In church we do not do outreach, it is in-reach. It is important that you are able to allocate some of your time to the church to be involved in however a small way in these discipleship ministries.
Day 6
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth
2 Thessalonians 3:10
For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat
Fourthly ,as part of your call you need a ministry for outreach. What I call the church scattered is what Christians do in the six days of the week. In other words, you must ask yourself what kind of outreach are you doing? And as a professional God expects you to reach others for the kingdom of God. This is where your professional life becomes very, very important. Why? A professional ,unlike a pastor, almost ninety nine percent of your time you are with non-Christians. Am I right? And those are the people who need Jesus, in order to experience the joy of living. Can’t you see how much easier it is for you to do outreach ministry than even pastors. Your role is to be the salt within the crooks, isn’t it? Many people come to the Lord not just because of the sermons in church but because of watching your life. Watching your life brings them to the church where they finally hear how to be like you as pointed out elsewhere
Fifthly God is calling you to do the professional work itself . The word of God actually says, if you don’t work you should not eat. Professional work is what you do to earn your daily bread. And you know if the bible is saying don’t eat, it means every time you eat without working you are sinning, isn’t it? So you need to give your professional life a very important consideration.
I still get very, very surprised that some pastors call Christian meetings at nine o’clock on a Monday morning. I keep asking, what kind of Christians who are not on leave ,does he expect to attend if they are not employed by his organization? You want them to pull out of their office(steal employers time) and still be saved? You need to understand that as you steal your employer’s time, your better title is professional thief.
I was clear when I was employed by Shell, whatever Christian meeting you called me to, if it collided with Shell work, I didn’t even have trouble deciding . I just said, no, and I chose to work. After the day I signed the letter of appointment before God, I would be a liar if I did not do what he letter of appointment says. Of course if you are Christian employer you should also pay as per the letter of appointment.
The employers in turn must pay for services. I did another consultancy for a Christian but he has not paid me. When I heard he is doing well after using my advice I was happy that my consultancy helped him. Of course he will never want me to know it is doing well because he says the reason he is not paying me is because the business is not doing well.
But the point is, once I understand that my profession is a call from God, when I sign a contract to do a service for you, I will do a good job, whether you are good at paying or not. If I don’t work well because you are bad at paying , then both of us will end in hell and not serving God, you for not paying, me for not working well. I commit myself to work as expected of a professional to honor and glorify God. Your payment will not make me work better or its absence not make me work badly because my ultimate boss is in heaven.
This is true whether you are in employment or in your own business .It will be important to understand that if you are not a good payer your client may not even take you to court, he doesn’t have to, you have the Holy Spirit as your boss, and he will give you no peace until you pay.
So when you constantly refuse to pay your employees or suppliers ,it means you don’t have the Holy Spirit in you. If you have the Holy Spirit ,He will give you no peace .The reason why as a professional you work even for people who don’t appreciate your input, even for people who don’t pay you is because you fear God. But you know this aspect of the call is related with the earlier one of outreach. People will be attracted to your Lord if they admire your work or your business. It may take time but you know in Kikuyu there is a Kikuyu saying that says,bundi wa ma no kinyuthi. Let me say that in English, the only professional who tells the truth is the barber. Why? Because when the barber begins shaving your head he never leaves it half done. All other professionals, according to Kikuyus, are not to be trusted. Whether it is the one repairing your shoe, if you ask him ,’ when will this shoe be ready ?’He says ,’ Tomorrow two o’clock’. Come two o’clock and when he sees you is when he starts working on the shoe. They seem never to keep their word. Now, that is totally unchristian. So if you ever become shoe repairer who tells the truth, what will happen? As soon as people see you as a man of integrity, they will be drawn to you. Although you may not technically be necessarily the very best, they will come to you because they are looking for a man of integrity. If you are an employer, note that even different clients are looking for a man of integrity. It will then be easier to both change the standards of the shoe repair sector with new values and also ultimately influence the clients to Christ.
Day 7
Luke 10
35 The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise
Sixthly God calls you to spend time and help your community. It means you do all necessary to be a good neighbor. You know the story of the Good Samaritan, isn’t it? You need to be involved in the community. That’s why some of us need to be thinking of becoming politicians…to serve the comunity. We need to be thinking about the next general elections and whether we are going to stand for elections. God calls us to be good neighbors. Of course this will also ultimately make you outreach easier.
The seventh and final aspect of the 7fold call of God for each professional is to rest. I believe it is Christian to take time and rest. The scriptures say that physical exercise is profitable.
1 Tim 48 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
I know a lot of us just emphasize the fact that the spiritual one is more profitable. But begin with the idea that bodily exercise is also profitable. That’s what the word of God says , isn’t it? I remember somebody finding me in a swimming pool and he said, ‘haiya, Ng’ang’a you also have time to swim?’ In other words because I preach I shouldn’t take time to swim. They think it isn’t really Christian or they wonder , being so busy, ‘how can I ever have time to do something like that. But this is part of the call to be a good steward of God’s gift of physical health .That’s part of my 7fold call. When I don’t exercise, I don’t just have a problem with the doctor, I have a problem with God who has already told me that I will profit if I exercise .
Conclusion
Remember the call is a seven fold call. When you don’t obey God even on one the issue of physical exercise, you will not answer to the doctor, you will answer to God.
Thus, for a professional to fully play the role that God expects him to play ,it will be important that he looks at all of the seven aspects of the call. This way he will be in a position to really fully fulfill God’s mission of his life. Just concentrating on one aspect will not help you to fully realize your mission. If you are good at outreach ,but in your family life you are irresponsible, you are not fully fulfilling your mission. If you are good at your profession or business but you do not use it to impact others for the kingdom, you are still not fully fulfilling your call as a witness. If you are freelance evangelist who does not want to be involved with any church you will not be fully fulfilling your mission.
God does not call to be good in one thing at the expense of others that the bible requires of you. Seek his help to be an all round servant of God.