Recently, a pastor friend of mine related a run-in he experienced with a parishioner. It seems that one Sunday my friend had the audacity to challenge the congregation concerning their financial giving to God. A member of the congregation promptly let him know, “You have no right to tell me how I should give.” In my lifetime of forty years, I’ve seen the pastor’s role go from authority figure, to wise counsellor, to “It’s none of your business.” Increasingly, we observe the notion that “my faith is my business and I’ll do as I please.”

Where’s this coming from? You could say it’s one part syncretism, Christian faith mixed with contemporary individualism, and one part a misconception of God. Recently, I heard Stuart Briscoe speak about the idea of God’s call. He argued that calling possesses two parts. On the one hand, God’s call is an open invitation. The Bible declares, “Whosoever will call upon my name, will be saved.” When we focus exclusively on the invitation aspect of God’s call, we are reminded of God’s goodness toward us. We can mistakenly come to believe that God exists to make my life fulfilling and happy. He becomes the great “need-meeter” in the sky. However, the other aspect of God’s call is the summons. Take for example, an invitation to dine with Queen Elizabeth. Initially, a gracious offered is extended for morning tea at Buckingham Palace and you accept. Yet, soon you realise that the invitation comes with a summons. You are required to come at one particular time, dress in a certain manner, bow and curtesy, speak when spoken to, and whatever you do, “Don’t touch her.” And so on. Why is this? Because the call come from the Sovereign. We are not drawing near to a peer or equal. We don’t come to her on our terms, having said “yes”, she calls the shots. In the twenty-first century, the struggle will be to demonstrate the balance of both aspects of God’s call, a free invitation that comes with a summons to humble submission.