One of the most impactful, convicting messages at the Worship Together Conference 2017 was delivered by Cassandra (Cass) Langton. Cass is pastor of the creative team at Hillsong Church, comprising thousands of creative staff and volunteers around the world.
We decided to make the whole message available on our Worship Together Podcast this week. Here is an excerpt:
A yes to Jesus actually means no to a whole lot of other things. When Peter said yes to Jesus, he said no to his family business of fishing. He said no to stability and security. No to financial well-being. Actually, he said no to a whole lot of things.
Sometimes I think when we hear the call of God, we think we can have it all. We think we can hear God talking to us and we can say yes to the call of God and yes to everything else. But the moment that you hear the call of God, and you choose to respond to it, to take up your cross and follow Jesus, all of a sudden we have to make a decision to say no to the world.
Sometimes I wonder if when we get called, we actually want to turn a blind eye and not pay the price, but get all the benefit. The Bible never said that following Jesus would be easy. It said that it was a narrow road. But it says that it leads to life. Pursuing the call of God is actually something that will ground you for the rest of your days. It is one of the answers to longevity.
We lived in Melbourne for a number of years. And I remember the Lord calling us to Sydney. I felt like it was really clear and I often don't feel like things are very clear. But we had so many crazy things happen. So many people would come and read the scriptures and talk to us, that it was evident that God was moving. I remember going, “God I don't really want to move to Sydney. I've never wanted to live there.” But as a little girl I stood on alter calls saying, “God use me. Use me God to do whatever you want to.” And sometimes I feel like he claims on those moments. He comes back and says, “Do you remember that night at the Worship Together Conference when you were in worship? Chris Tomlin leading and you went, ‘God I'll do anything. I'll lay anything down. I'm your guy. I've got this. Here I am. Send me.”
And then he goes, “Go home and keep doing what you were doing.”
You say, “No, no, no. I said, “Here I am send me. Let me be in Chris’ band. I’ll go to Australia with that girl. Send me God to the nations.”
He says, “Just go home. Be faithful to your wife. Love your children. Serve your local church. Do what the pastor is asking. Stop getting offended. That's what the call of God looks like. Represent me well where you find yourself.”
And I think as creatives it's interesting because the call of God is very clear –– to lay down our lives, to follow Jesus and to catch people.
It's the great commission, right? Go into all the world and make disciples. Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. If you sit here tonight and go, “I wonder what my call is?”, that is your call. I don't think it gets any better or worse for any of us. I think we are all given the same call, to make disciples.
How we do that looks different. Some of you will be in business, some of you in ministries, and some of you will be at school or an university or college. But we can work out that call wherever we find ourselves. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we get to work out the call to make disciples.
But the beauty is you're creatives. I think that adds whole other exciting dimension to the call. Because I actually think that God commissions you to reimagine His story, to actually take it and spin it in a hundred different ways and help society to see it like they have never seen it before. I don't believe that creativity is for the church alone. I actually think it's for the world. I think they're meant to see and be amazed and astounded at the story we tell our stories better than anybody else's story. Our redemptive story is beautiful and magnificent and vast. I'm always amazed because I think God is so much better than what they ever would tell you. I think when you encounter God for yourself He takes your breath away.
This article was taken from the Worship Together Podcast and edited for clarity. To listen to Cass Langton’s full message, please visit your favorite podcast provider or listen to the Soundcloud embed below.
