An Authentic Calling: Representing Christ and His Kingdom through the Church

An Authent i c Ca l l i ng: Represent i ng Chr i s t and Hi s Ki ngdom through the Chur ch

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father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. [7] Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, [8] and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Periz zites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [9] And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. [10] Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

A. The prophetic call of God: An 80-year-old shepherd, a flame of fire in a burning bush, and a God’s desire to save a people for himself, Exod. 3.2-10

2 Cor. 4.6 (ESV) For God, who said,

“Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Gal. 1.15-17 (ESV) But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; [17] nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away

1. The sign of disclosure: the flame of fire out of the bush, Exod. 3.2

2. The address of the LORD, Exod. 3.4

3. The response of the called one, Exod. 3.4

4. The identification of God to the called one, Exod. 3.5-6

5. The Commission of God, Exod. 3.7-10

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into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Note: this pattern is repeated in many of the prophetic calls in the Old Testament ([i.e., apparition, double address, response, revelation, commission], cf. Gen. 22.1-2, 11-12; 31.11-13; 46.2-3; Exod. 3.2-10; 1 Sam. 3.4-14 see Gerhard Lohfink, The Conversion of St. Paul: Narrative and History in Acts . Chicago: Fransciscan Herald, 1976, pp. 61-69).