S TRIANGLES AN UNDERSTANDING OF BIBLICAL GEOMETRY CAN HELP YOU HEAR AND RESPOND TO S CALL TO SERVICE. Photo Credit: IStockphoto.com Biblical Principles for Life and Service Written by Sam Doherty - Copyright 2013 All rights reserved
DO YOU LIKE GEOMETRY? What subjects did you like most during your schooldays? Was geometry one of your favourite subjects? Did you enjoy trying to solve problems about lines, angles and shapes such as circles, squares, rectangles and triangles? What is a triangle? There are three main types of triangles equilateral, isosceles, and scalene. The first group has three equal sides and angles, the second group has two equal sides and angles, and the third has three different sides and three different angles. But they are all triangles. Did you know that there are many triangles in the Bible? CALLS HIS CHILDREN TO SERVE HIM. God has a ministry or work for every one of His children to be engaged in. We are saved to serve. We are God s hands and feet in the world. He wants to use us to accomplish His plans and purposes. So He calls each of us individually to work for Him in the part of His vineyard which He has chosen for us. The Lord Jesus illustrates this call in His parable of the father and his two sons in Matthew 21: 28-32:- Son, the father said to each of them, Go work to-day in my vineyard. And the Lord Jesus then shows that there are two possible responses to that call; one is positive and one is negative. The big question is How can I know what God wants me to do and where He wants me to work for Him?
S CALL IS BASED UPON A TRIANGLE. The Bible shows us that God s call to His servants is usually based upon a triangle. We have already seen that a triangle has three sides and three angles, and each of God s triangles has three sides and three angles or corners. God is at the apex of every triangle. It is HIS triangle. He is sovereign; He is in control of every situation and He knows exactly what He wants each of us to do. First of all, SEES A NEED which must be met. That is the first side of the triangle which God uses to call His servant. God sees the place where He will send a person to meet a need. Secondly, SPEAKS TO THE PERSON He has chosen to meet that need. He shows that person the need and indicates that he (or she) is the person He has selected to meet that need. He could meet the need Himself without anyone being involved if He chose to do so. But that is not the usual way God works. God s plan is to use and work through people. HIS A SERVANT NEED So SPEAKS to the person. That is the second side of the triangle which God has planned for him (or her). SPEAKS SEES SEES A NEED
Thirdly SENDS the one He has chosen to the person, city or country to meet that need which He has seen and identified. He commissions the person He is sending and, at the same time, commits Himself to give that HIS person the ability, the strength SERVANT and the resources to meet that need. SENDS that person that is the third side of his triangle. In this way, God s triangle is completed. God meets the need He has SEEN, through the person He has SPOKEN TO (or called), and has SENT to do whatever is needed. God has a triangle for you perhaps several triangles! Have you asked Him to show you the person or place where you are needed? What has been your response? Do remember that this triangle is God s triangle not yours. He is at the apex. It is He Who sees, it is He Who speaks and it is He Who sends. YOU? He is the One in control. You are not to make decisions about your service. He decides what you should do and where you should go. Your responsibility is to obey whatever He has told you to do. SPEAKS SPEAKS SENDS SENDS SEES SEES A NEED
S WORD SHOWS US MANY TRIANGLES As you study the Bible you will see, over and over again, how God calls and leads His servants on the basis of a triangle. We have only space to consider three of these triangles. Jonah s call to go to Nineveh Moses call to return to Egypt. Philip s call to go to the Ethiopian eunuch JONAH S TRIANGLE Now THE WORD of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, GO to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it for their WICKEDNESS has come up before me (Jonah 1:1,2) SAW the wickedness and the great need of the city of Nineveh and He wanted to work in the hearts of the inhabitants. What did He do? He could have spoken directly to their hearts. But His plan was to work through a person to meet their need. So... SPOKE JONAH SENT SPOKE to Jonah. He was the man God chose to bring His message to that city and... SENT Jonah to Nineveh. His initial response was negative but he later repented and went. When Jonah arrived in Nineveh the triangle was complete. SAW NINEVEH
MOSES TRIANGLE And the Lord SAID I have surely SEEN the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows... Come now, therefore, and I will SEND you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt (Exodus 3:7,10) SAW the suffering and needs of His people in Egypt, and He wanted to bring them out of that land and into the land He had chosen for them. What did He do? SPOKE to Moses out of the burning bush and told him that he was the man to meet that need and then... SENT Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. Moses, after some hesitation and many excuses, did so, and the triangle was complete PHILIP S TRIANGLE...A man of Ethiopia... had come to Jerusalem TO WORSHIP, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit SAID to Philip GO near and overtake this chariot. So Philip ran to him (Acts 8:27-30) The third corner of God s triangle is often one person with a special need. It could be an unsaved person who needs salvation; or it could be a Christian who needs help and encouragement. God knows his need and calls His servant to meet that need. SPOKE MOSES GO SENT SAW Children Of Israel
SAW the spiritual need and hunger of this one man, who was returning from Jerusalem, with many unanswered questions. SPOKE to Philip, who was already experiencing much blessing on his ministry in Samaria. PHILIP SENT Philip to the right place (verse 26) and to the right person (verse 29). Philip went and the triangle was complete. TRIANGLES VARY Each of these servants of God was called on the basis of a triangle as were many more of His servants throughout Scripture. But there are obviously differences between triangles. Everyone has his own unique triangle. There are differences in the needs God s servants are sent to meet. Jonah was sent to a sinful city which needed the message of salvation. Moses was sent to an oppressed nation which needed deliverance. Philip was sent to a confused person who needed understanding. Sometimes God burdens a person for a country and sends him to it. Sometimes God sends a person to a city; and sometimes God sends His servant to a person to meet his special need. What a privilege it is to be part of God s plan and strategy. SPOKE GO SENT SAW Ethiopian
There are differences in the distance to be covered by God s servants. The base of Jonah s triangle was a very long one. Nineveh was far distant. The base of Moses triangle (Midian to Egypt) was not as long as Jonah s. Philip s destination was comparatively close-by. Sometimes God calls to a distant land; sometimes to an area not so far away; and sometimes He leads us just down the road. REACTIONS TO TRIANGLES VARY There are differences in the reactions of those whom God calls. Jonah s reaction was NO, I WON T (although he later changed that reaction and obeyed God). Moses reaction was NO, I CAN T (but he obeyed eventually and went). Philip s reaction was YES, I WILL and he ran in his eagerness to obey. YOUR TRIANGLE God has a triangle for you and your service. He might even have more than one triangle for you. He knows where you can, and where you will, meet a need. It may be in a distant city like Jonah; it may be in another country like Moses; it may be, as with Philip, to a person not too far away. Have you asked Him to show you your triangle? What is your response? Is it Jonah s response? - No, I won t. Is it Moses response? - No, I can t. Is it Philip s response? - YES, I WILL. He arose and went J O N A H M O S E S P H I L I P