Does Need Constitute a Call?
By John Zumwalt

As the taxi paused in the traffic of Mumbai, I turned to see the face of a beggar lady pressed close to my rolled up window. Though the cab moved on, her leprous hands and face are still pressed into my memory. Outside the window of my cab, a world of need rolled by. I was in India visiting the work of my friend Dwayne Weehunt and his ministry Sower of Seeds International. We drilled wells, loved on orphans, ministered in filthy slums, and there always seemed to be more than we could do. We left one slum only to find another worse. We drilled one well and drove past miles of parched and desperate villages. Which slum do I pour myself into? Which pile of abused and abandoned children do I try to save? What family in the whole ocean of humanity do I start with, what unreached people should I go to?
Lucretia Smithers, the Director of HGM’s orphan workers training program, was constantly affected by what surrounded us. It was quite normal for her to be weeping with her head in her hands. Another India veteran turned to her and off the cuff chided her as being “one of those soft hearted ones.”

I suppose we have only two options—stay sensitive or lose sensitivity. Something happens to so many of us. We grow callous. Like rough, leathery hands, we become insensitive. We stop feeling the pain of others. We hardly are aware of the spiritual struggles of those all around us.
Leprosy takes away sensation. You lose feeling. In India I found myself fighting the temptation to turn off all the overwhelming needs around me and grow numb. But I wonder, as I let my heart harden, am I becoming like that leprous lady on the inside? Unfeeling and blind to those around me, as I resist Him, my spiritual ears, mouth, eyes, hands and feet grow numb. I wonder if they don’t actually begin to become disfigured, and I slowly lose the ability to use them. I stop seeing the world He loves; I stop hearing their cries and His voice telling me to go. Even the ability to minister like Jesus, to speak the words of life in season, to be his hands and feet, are numb and disfigured, and like the disease, I lose them over time.

Need doesn’t constitute a call
I have a friend who is considering being a missionary. He has looked at the needs of the world and his own abilities and feels like he could do something, and he is interested in going. He did not have any lightning bolt from heaven or vision of Jesus, just a deep recognition of their need and his desire to go. As he shared some of his heart for the unreached peoples of the world, someone rebuked him with, “Need doesn’t constitute a call!”
Although there is a kernel of truth in that statement, the fruit it produces is not of God, but of the devil. Is the real crisis of the Church in America that too many people are rushing overseas to minister to the unreached, or isn’t it the tendency that two thousand years after Jesus commanded us to go, we are still dragging our feet in disobedience?

Jesus, Our Example
When it comes to the philosophies of life, there are lots of ideas, however, we must let the example and teachings of Jesus be our model. Either we follow Him and submit to Him, or we are following after our own flesh and the compromise of the world.
In Luke 4:40-43 we see Jesus meeting every need that knocked at His door, all the way through the night. Early in the morning He went away to seek the Father’s guidance. What is He asking? “Should I heal the sick, set free those in demonic captivity?” No. He had already announced His intention to do that (vs. 18). He was first and foremost looking for fellowship with the Father—to not just be busy about the Father’s business, but to sit at the feet of the Father and enjoy Him!
Then out of that came His marching orders. He was reminded and strengthened in the Father’s desire, direction and destination of His ministry. He knew He was called to go where the kingdom had not yet been proclaimed. “I must go and also proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God to the other cities, for this reason I have been sent.” (Luke 4:43)
We must seek the Father’s desire as to where we are to labor, not if we are to labor. Like Jesus, the focus of our time with the Father is not so much asking if we should preach the kingdom of God, release the captives and recover the sight of the blind, but where we are to go (He already knew that to be His job description [Luke 4:18], and He tells us that we are sent for the same purpose. [John 20:21]. That we should minister is a foredrawn conclusion.
There will always be more than you can do. So we must know that we are doing what God has given us to do—but it will be doing something! It will be a busy life, filled with adventure and late night ministry. Any concept that this kind of ministry is for a few “called” ones is not biblical. The need to know where we are to pour out our life is great.
He will guide us to where..., but He has already told us that we will.

Need Does Constitute a Call
The pattern we are to imitate is very clear. Though we find exceptions to ministering whenever a need crosses your path, it is the exception to a rule. We are to be people who lay down our lives for our brother, giving sacrificially for others, ministering whenever we can.
“But whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother having need, and shuts up his bowels from him, how does the love of God dwell in him?” (1 John 3:17)

Shutting your bowels: it means “refusing to show him compassion.” In other words, you know that you are able to help, but you do not. I like what The Message says here: “If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it, but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love?”

“Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17

John Wesley wrote, “This knowledge (of the good) does not prevent, but increases, his condemnation.” I worry over those who feign ignorance of the plight of the unreached and justify their lives of ease and casual ministry. Filling our homes with unneeded purchases like towel warmers, while people rush toward eternity. Buying another Christian CD, while millions have never once had the invitation delivered to worship Jesus. Even justifying ministering in the more comfortable and established environment of the States, while entire languages have never had a preacher.

“When it comes to helping the lost, some people stop at nothing.” – Unknown

We Are Our Brother’s Keeper
To simply hope the best for them is not good enough. “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and if one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them those things which are needful to the body, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16) No. We are told that their need is our calling!

“I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.” (Rom. 1:14) Not just some that he felt comfortable with, but to every class—to all who needed the Good News. A debtor is one who is under obligation to do something. The love of Christ was compelling Paul to share with everyone! “To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22) Not only those who are like me or near me, but everyone! If they need, then I am obligated to give it to them!
Jesus answered the question of who is my brother and who is my neighbor when He told the story of the Good Samaritan. It is not just who is a Christian or who is near me... it is a cross cultural neighbor, “sinners” who are in need, beaten and left for dead. This is what Jesus told us and modeled for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and so we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Do we need a call?
It has always seemed strange to me that people will become very strong and dogmatic on the need for one to have a call to become a missionary, but seem perfectly at ease with the many young people left and right of them who are “volunteering” to become salesmen and accountants, etc. I hear comments like, “It suits my temperament,” or “I was always good with numbers.”
This has made it acceptable to slide into a backward state in the Church, where legions slip into civilian jobs while claiming to be soldiers of Christ, and those who actually want to go to the frontlines of the Gospel are made to feel like they are anomalies.
Some insist you need to have a clear call from Jesus before you step out and go. Others insist that we already have a call to “Go” in the Great Commission and command of Jesus to all His Church—that we need a call to stay! I will solve this great debate: Volunteer!


Volunteer
We do not understand that volunteerism is at the heart of everything essential in the Kingdom of God. James Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, knew that, “Devotion to God is still a voluntary thing; hence the differences of attainment among Christians. While salvation is a free gift, the ‘winning Christ’ can only be through the unreserved, consecration and unquestioning obedience. Nor is this hardship, but the highest privilege.”

Nazarites
Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, when a man or a woman shall vow a vow, a vow of a Nazarite, to be separated to Jehovah, he shall...” (Num. 6:2)
Nazarites were volunteers to serve God. Anyone could take this vow. Though the Nazarite vow was expressed in specifics of not cutting their hair and limiting what they ate, it meant they separated themselves from normal jobs and pleasures, so that they might entirely consecrate themselves to God’s service, and this either for their whole lifetime or a defined amount of time. What I find so exciting is that though there were those professional Priests and Levites who have the official calling of ministering to God and man, the Nazarite vow shows us that ANYONE can volunteer!
Many of God’s choice servants were volunteers, because they were motivated by a heart of love. As we recognize the greatness of our God, as we fall in love with our Savior and Husband, we will want to volunteer, and we can!

“Thy people will volunteer freely (offer themselves willingly) in the day of thy power.” (Psalms 110:3)

Jesus wants volunteers
Volunteers make His heart glad. It is a repeated theme in scripture. People who of their own free will volunteer to serve Him in a self-sacrificial manner. Whether it is warriors for battle or skilled laborers for the temple, volunteers are cherished and desired! The idea that one needs a call is sadly perpetuated by those who enjoy the comfort of saying, “I do not have a call, and am therefore under no obligation to go!”
In scripture we see volunteers for military service:

“Amasiah son of Zichri, who had volunteered to serve the LORD, was third in command, with two hundred thousand soldiers under him.” (2 Chron. 17:16)

“We praise you, LORD! “Our soldiers volunteered, ready to follow you.” (Judges 5:2)

A volunteer soldier, because of deep conviction, is willing to take up arms and fight for his nation or cause against a perceived threat and enemy or great injustice. Is our lack of volunteerism in the Kingdom of God against the Kingdom of Darkness a hint of our lack of “patriotism?” Do we really not have great loyalty to His Kingdom? Do we not believe in the cause that led Him to lay down His life—and the disciples who followed Him? Are we not willing to suffer with Him as good soldiers of Christ?
Do we not perceive the enemy? Do we not hate our enemy, nor think his murder of the world’s peoples worth war?

The New Temple
We see volunteers for building the Temple:

“And, behold, the divisions of the Priests and the Levites are for all the service of the house of God. And there shall be with you every willing (voluntary), skillful man for every kind of workmanship, for any kind of service.” (1 Chron. 28:21)
Though they were volunteering for the temple of Solomon, we are told that there is currently a temple being built of living stones. Men and women from every tongue, tribe and nation make up the new temple. The glory of this living temple will be greater than the first. And we are allowed to volunteer for the building of this new temple!! You can volunteer!
“Who is willing (volunteer) to consecrate his service this day to Jehovah? And the chiefs of the fathers, and the rulers of the tribes of Israel, and the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king’s work, offered willingly.” (1 Chron. 29:5, 6)

Even the finances for the tabernacle were voluntary:

“Every man and woman in Israel whose heart moved them freely to bring something for the work that GOD through Moses had commanded them to make, brought it, a voluntary offering for GOD.” (Exodus 35:29; 25:2; 35:21)

I would even argue that God wants His temple to be built by volunteers and the financing by volunteer offerings! What joy is there in forcing people to give or serve? The Hebrew term for voluntary (nâdîyb) has the connotation of willing hearted. In other words, God wants our heart to be in it, and you cannot get that kind of service from drafted and forced service, labor and offerings. There is joy that we who have been given eternal life actually can give something back to God. What a wonderful thought—that we can give Him something is looking for and He desires.

Bond Servants
Apostles referred to themselves as bond servants. Bond servants were volunteers, servants of choice. They had the freedom to leave, but they volunteered to stay in the master’s house. Because of this, they were entrusted with great responsibility. Jesus is looking for men and women who will bond themselves to Him, not out of obligation but love.
There is a searching in God that is looking for those whom He does not have to force into military service. He entrusts His most important people-saving missions for His volunteers. I see Him in heaven, high and lifted up, asking this question throughout the centuries, “Whom shall I send?” And He longs for a Bride that will answer... no, that will shout back, “Here I am! Send me!” He is looking for volunteers. If you want to, you can.

“Those who know their God will display strength and take action!” (Daniel 11:32)

Sometimes we make serving Jesus such a mystery. But what if it is as easy as just seeing what He wants to do on the earth... overhearing the conversation in Heaven as you sit at His feet, and then volunteering for that job?

What constitutes a need?
When missionary Hudson Taylor was seeking to establish his China Inland Mission, he spoke to 2,000 ministers from across Scotland. He began his address by telling of an experience he had while traveling from Shanghai to Ning-po aboard a Chinese boat.
Among his fellow passengers had been a Chinese man who was educated in England and went by the name of Peter. Hudson talked with him and acquainted him with the teachings of Christ, but Peter had not yet made a personal commitment to Christ. The two men talked extensively.
One day as the boat approached a particular city, Hudson went to his cabin, preparing to go ashore to preach and distribute literature. Suddenly he heard a splash, followed by a cry of alarm. Rushing to the deck, he didn’t see his new friend, Peter. “He went down over there,” said the captain of the boat, showing no signs of alarm.
Hudson jumped into the water and began swimming toward the sight, but he couldn’t locate Peter. Just then he spotted some nearby fishermen with a dragnet. “Come!” Hudson cried to them. “Come and drag over here. A man is drowning!”
“Vah bin,” the fishermen replied. “It is not convenient.”
“Come quickly, or it will be too late,” Hudson pleaded.
“We are busy fishing.”
“Never mind your fishing. Come at once and I will pay you well.”
“How much will you give us?” the fishermen wanted to know.
“Five dollars. But hurry.”
“Too little!” they called back. “We won’t come for less than thirty.”
“I don’t have that much with me, but I’ll give you all I have.”
“How much is that?” they asked.
“I don’t know,” shouted Hudson. “About fourteen dollars.”
They finally brought their net over, and the first time they passed it through the water they dragged up the missing man. But it was too late. Peter was dead.
As Hudson told that story, a wave of indignation swept over the audience, but the missionary looked at them and said, “We condemn those heathen fisherman. We say they are guilty of the man’s death—because they could easily have saved him, and did not do it. But what of the millions whom we leave to perish . . .eternally? What of the plain command, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’?”
If need does not constitute a call, think of all the unnecessary grief and effort this misguided missionary expended. Poor Hudson Taylor could have saved himself 14 dollars, energy and wet clothing, if he had only known that man was not his to try and rescue.
Jesus told the story of a “certain man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who stripped him of his clothing and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by coincidence a certain Priest came down that way and seeing him, he passed by on the opposite side. And in the same way a Levite, also being at the place, coming and seeing him, he passed on the opposite side. But a certain traveling Samaritan came upon him, and seeing him, he was filled with pity. And coming near, he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And going on the next day, he took out two denarii (about two days’ wages) and gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. And whatever more you spend, when I come again I will repay you.’ Then which of these three, do you think, was neighbor to him who fell among the robbers? And he said, ‘The one doing the deed of mercy to him.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’
“Having seen him, he was moved with compassion.” The path to action is first predicated by two things—looking at the need and allowing compassion to have way. Though the Levite and the Priest were the natural (obvious) answer to the man’s plight, they averted their eyes and moved away from the man’s need. “He who gives to the poor shall not lack, but he who hides his eyes shall have many a curse.” (Proverbs 28:27) The good neighbor saw the need and did not look away, allowing compassion to surface.
The model of the Christ is that we look at the need fully. Examine it, not run from it. “No eye pitied you... to have compassion on you. But you were thrown out into the open field, because your life was despised in the day that you were born.” (Ezek 16:5) Unless we look, we cannot have appropriate compassion. Ministry is not a job, as a task to be performed; it is an investment of emotional energy; it is responding in compassion.
As we gaze upon the need, compassion will well up in our hearts from the spirit of Christ and move us into ministry.

“And going out Jesus saw a large crowd. And He was moved with compassion toward them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34)

“And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep.” (Luke 7:13)

“But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)

Looking at the need allows the necessary compassion to well up in our hearts, that we might minister. If we have no compassion for the lost, it is simply because we are not looking. We are averting our eyes. We tend to focus on our own easily “overwhelming” needs—which all-you-can-eat buffet to go to, or when are soccer sign-ups, or a new car, or better seating arrangement for our church, or...
The unreached lay bleeding in a field without any to care for them. The lost and the needy lay beaten by demonic thugs along this road of life...Satan’s mission is clear: to steal, kill and destroy.
Is your mission clear? We must not pass them by. We must not find religious justification to turn our head. We must spend our energy, our resources, and rescue the perishing.

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”