God calls us, builds us, sends us – Ministers’ Conference 2025
Bishop Nkosinathi Ndwandwe
1. God calls us
Brethren may I greet you by saying Christ is Lord! He reigns! Christ is Lord! He lives! I want to express my gratitude to the organisers of the Ministers Conference who, in their planning considered including me in the program of this great assembly of God’s servants, and that I should speak about our calling by God.
When I pondered this topic, many things came to mind, as to how difficult it is for natural man to simply say: “Lord send me.” When I read God’s Word, there are many places where we hear of God calling His people and how difficult it was for them to answer by saying, “here I am, send me.” It is this that gave me the desire to start by emphasising that it is God who calls us and that He has a reason for calling us. Our part is that when our ears have been opened, and we hear God, that we answer accepting the call. Why is it important to emphasise this? It is important because there is the danger that you love doing something and think that your love for doing it means that you are called but it is not so. Usually a person who has truly been called does not run to that calling. The majority of those called of God tried every means possible to escape the call. Here are a few examples:
Moses: The Eternal God drew Moses to Him while herding his father-in-law – Jethro’s sheep, through the miracle of the burning bush which was not consumed. “When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am”. (Exodus 3:4) God calls Moses and he answers.
The reason: “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3: 1-11)
The excuse: “Who am I that I should go to Pharoah?” (Exodus 3:11)
Gideon: He too saw himself as unworthy to lead the LORD’S army, but God promised him that He would be with him. (Judges 6:15-16
The reason: To deliver Israel
The excuse: “Please Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” (Judges 6:15)
Isaiah: Isaiah was in the temple when he saw an amazing vision of God. We are not told whether he was busy praying or not, but I want to assume that he was praying. It is possible that many were in the temple at that time, but Isaiah alone saw this amazing vision. It is possible that while he was praying, he surrendered himself to God subconsciously and then he was drawn to this great mystery of God. His eyes were fully focused on that which he saw such that he was no longer aware of anything happening around him, but his eyes beheld this amazing revelation. He said with his own mouth, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings.” (Isaiah 6:1) He hears one calling to the other “Holy, holy holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3) Whilst they were singing this praise song, he says, “At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” (Isaiah 6:4) It is amazing, brethren, that mute objects, like doorposts, shook because of a voice exalting the holiness of God, whilst the hearts of his people, of Israel, were full of iniquity and untouched. May we not take after Israel in this, but rather that we learn to do as this Xhosa song says:
Let Him dwell in your heart so that He can make an end to all evil and sin. Make Him the ruler of your heart and when you are tempted surrender yourself to His will.
We hear God speaking to the Godhead saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah answers “Here I am! Send me!” (Isaiah 6:1ff).
The reason: He said to him “Go and say to this people…” (Isaiah 6:9)
What I am trying to emphasise through these examples is that when God’s call comes to us, there is a reason for it. The work we are sent to do is God’s work. Listen to what He says to Moses: “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3:8), but through whom are you going to do it? Through Moses. We people find it difficult to quickly agree, that is why we find many putting forward their excuses.
2. God builds us
When we look at the matter concerning Moses, we will see that there were some things he had to get rid of to be worthy to stand before God. The Word said: “Do not come near; take the sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5) I believe that these words do not only speak of the physical sandals on his feet but about things which were making him unworthy of standing before a holy God. He had to get rid of all those things to be worthy of standing before God.
Also, when we look at the prophet Isaiah, we hear him crying out “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) His seeing God in His holiness made him realize how bad he was and how bad the community was amongst whom he lived. Therefore he cried out until a Seraphim came to him with a burning coal which he took with tongs from the altar, and touched his mouth with it, saying “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7)
We are speaking of God who calls and builds us. Maybe you are asking yourself what do speak of when I say he builds us. What I mean is that He does not send us without ever preparing us that we may be worthy of propagating his wonderful news. He purifies us, as he did with Isaiah. God does work though people whom he has not been reconciled to.
That is what we see with the Lord Jesus Himself that when He started with His ministry, He proclaimed repentance – a change of mind (Matthews 4:17, Mark 1:15), similarly Paul emphasises the importance of transformation, a changed mind. We hear it plainly when he speaks to the Church in Rome where he says: “be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Why should our mind be changed? Because our mind is the centre which controls all things. It is in the mind where the Self of Ego normally rules, which does not like change and resists it. Our mind will do all in its power to resist change. That is why when Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”, he was trying to address this problem. And where we in the Gospel according to John we hear Jesus saying, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John12:24) God can do nothing through us without us having been transformed.
3. God sends us
When we speak about being sent, we must remember that “Mission must be understood as being derived from the very nature of God.” (David Bosch). We have seen Him send Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others of whom we spoke before. This shows us clearly that God is a God who sends, just as He sent His Son Jesus, and He and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. It is this God who reminds us today concerning this topic that we have been given. He never changes, he remains the same yesterday, today and forever – the God who sends.
We too are faithful servants if we know, and not only know, but also do everything in our power to carry out this work of being sent. Emil Brunner said “The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission there is no Church; and where there is neither Church nor mission, there is no faith.” If we like Isaiah accept our calling and say, “Here I am, send me”, we must know that we are called to reach God’s people, we must strive to bring overflowing life where there is no life. (John 10:10)
God calls us to be his men servants and maidservants, not to begin something new but to work together with Him in what He is doing on earth. It is His work, and He is the one who brings about change in each person’s life, not us. This matter of being sent Jesus Himself emphasizes in the gospel according to Matthews 28:16-20.
Therefore, answering to the call to missions is not something that originates from our own mind, but it is founded on the Holy Scriptures, as we hear from Matthew 28. We are not called to care for those who are well-off but all God’s people in whichever situation they find themselves. We are not to care for those who will give a lot of money, as if their money makes them into better believers.
As I draw to a close, may I reiterate that it is God who calls us, and who sends us. It is not we who need to invite God to cooperate with us but we are invited to cooperate with Him in His mission to his people. May our ears be open to hear God’s call into His work, and may we accept his call: Send me!
