Garry spoke this morning on the subject of confrontation. Some people relish confrontation, but the majority of us probably shy away from confrontantion, feeling intimidated and threatened by it. Business gurus tell us many strategies for dealing with confrontation (such as being prepared in advance, choosing carefully the time and the place, not reacting in the heat of the moment, not procrastinating, being prepared to listen to the other person’s needs and allowing them time to respond), but the Bible teaches us much more about this subjuect.

In Is 6:1-7, we see a confrontation between Isaiah and God. God announces things in advance, revealing to mankind the problem sin causes and talking of His solution to sin. He zeroes in to the problem, but always gives people time to respond to His words. Another example of confrontation is between Saul and God in Acts 9:1-9, when God confronts Saul over his murderous persecution of the church and transforms him into the apostle Paul.

God confronts people, but always gives them the choice on how to respond. In Matt 4:18-19, we see Jesus calling his first disciples, who heeded the call, but in Matt 19:21-22, we see an example of someone (the rich young ruler) who decides not to follow Jesus. God wants all people to repent (Acts 17:30-31) and uses us to be His messengers. He confronts us in order to bring us to conversion, but continues to confront us to change us and develop us, challenging us with a calling to service (Isaiah 6:8). We can choose to comply with God’s calling or we can say no.

In sports, the number of players involved is far smaller than the number of spectators; in the UK last year, the average size of a football crowd was 35,822, with only 22 players influencing any game at a particular time, for example. But church is not a spectator sport. We are all called to be involved and to serve God.

God’s general calling is to worship, witness, pray and have fellowship with other believers. But He also calls specific people to different kinds of service (this may change over the years, but what matters is that we do His will in His way and in His timing.)

God has created good works for us to do in advance (Eph 2:10); there is a ‘you-shaped’ job for each one of us to do in God’s service. Michael Card’s songThe Poem Of Your Life’ reminds us that God can craft amazing things from our lives. All He requires is our ‘yes’!