The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on June 5, 2022. The Bible verses used are Ephesians 1:1-16.
We talked last week about
how we should live our lives the way the Lord told us to. We should do
that, not because we’re trying to earn our way into heaven, but because God
deserves that from us. As I was reading the Bible this week, I realized
that the Apostle Paul had said that much better and much shorter than I
did. He said, “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
That’s an awesome phrase: “a life worthy of the
calling you have received”. You know, pastors love to talk about how
they’re called to be pastors. In fact, one of the things you have to do
to become a pastor is to write your “call statement”, a statement of when and
how you felt God calling you to be a pastor. Actually, you have to write
it, and discuss it, several times, for several different groups of
people. You write it so many times that, after a while, you start to
wonder if it’s even real. It starts to feel like someone else’s call
statement, rather than your own, just because you’ve had to go over it so many
times.
But the truth is that calling is not just for
pastors. Each one of us is called by God to do something. Probably
a variety of things, as we go through our lives.
Sometimes we get a little scared of that idea. We
think, what if God calls me to do something I cannot do, or something I don’t
like doing? But it’s not likely that God would do that, because God knows
us better than we know ourselves. God was not going to call me to be a
professional basketball player, because God knows I have no talent for
that. God was not going to call me to be an airline pilot, because God
knows I don’t like to fly. God was not going to call me to go and be a
missionary in Africa, because God knows I would be no good at that.
Now, God
may sometimes call us to stretch ourselves a little bit, to take some risks and
try different things. But if God is calling us to do something, God will
provide us with the means and the ability to actually do it. God would
not call us to do something we simply are not capable of doing.
But God
will sometimes call us to do things we don’t realize we’re capable of
doing. Because the only way we can really find out whether we can do
something is to try it. I did not know if I could be a pastor until I
became one. They teach you some things in seminary, and they’re good
things to know, but the fact is that the only way to learn how to be a pastor
is to be one. To jump in, make some mistakes, hopefully learn from them,
and hopefully make fewer mistakes, or at least different mistakes, as time goes
on.
But the
point is that each of us is called to do something. That’s true for all
of us, no matter who we are and no matter what age we are. Everyone, from
kids in school to people in the nursing home to everyone in-between, is called
to do something. What it is may change over the course of our lives, but
everyone is called to do something. If God did not have a purpose for us
to be on earth, we would not be. As long as we’re here, there is a reason
for us to be here.
And when
you think about it, that’s a pretty awesome thing. To think that God, the
almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-everything God, would call
on us–puny, weak, little old us–to do things for Him.
Because,
when you think about it, there is nothing we can do for God that God could not
do without us. In fact, God could probably do things easier without
us. God allows us to “help”, but the truth is that you and are I probably
no help at all for God. Most of the time, we probably just get in the way
and make things harder and more complicated than they need to be.
When we
think of it that way, we realize what an honor it is that God would call us to
do anything. It is a privilege to be allowed to serve God in some
way. We really should be kind of humbled to realize that God, as
powerful and awesome as God is, would love us enough to let us serve Him, and
in fact would love us enough to call us to serve Him.
But while
a calling is an honor, and a privilege, it is also a responsibility.
Obviously, we have a responsibility to do what God has called us to do, and to
do it to the best of our ability. But we also have a responsibility to,
as Paul says, live a life that is worthy of the calling we have received.
How do we
do that? Paul tells us that, too. He says, “be completely humble
and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every
effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
That
sounds good, of course. We probably agree with it. But agreeing
with it is one thing. Doing it is something else.
The world
is in a lot of conflict right now. Our country is in a lot of conflict
right now. In fact, the United Methodist church is in a lot of conflict
right now. Everywhere we look, there seems to be conflict.
And when
there is conflict, you have people who are one side and people who are on the
other side. And that’s not inherently wrong–it’s okay to have
opinions. But when we’re dealing with conflict–when we’re dealing with
people who disagree with us, sometimes quite loudly and strongly–it can be very
hard to do Paul tells us to do. It can be hard to be humble, and gentle,
and patient. It can be hard to bear with others in love. It can be
very hard to keep any unity of Spirit through the bond of peace, especially
when it seems like the people on the other side have no interest in having
unity or peace with you. Our instinct, when we’re challenged, is to fight
back. Our instinct is to give as good as we get. Our instinct is to
treat others, not as we would like them to treat us, but as they actually do
treat us.
Paul
understands that, but he does not give us an excuse for it. What he says,
basically, is that that’s what children do. Kids are ruled by their
emotions, “tossed by the waves, blown here and there by every
wind.”
Paul
tells us that, if we want to live lives worthy of our calling, we need to grow
up. And how do we do that? By speaking the truth in love. If
we do that, not only do we grow up, we become like Christ. Paul says,
“speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature
body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
Speaking
the truth in love. That has two components to it, you know. The
first is to speak the truth. Paul does not say that we should compromise
in order to get along with people. We are to keep the unity of the Spirit
and the bond of peace, but not at the price of truth. And when we speak
about truth, in this context, we’re talking about God’s truth. The truth
that Jesus Christ is the Savior. The truth that Jesus is the divine Son
of God. The truth that Jesus is the only way to heaven, that we cannot
come to God except through Him. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth,
and the life.” We cannot compromise the truth of Jesus Christ. If
we are to live lives worthy of our calling, we must speak that truth.
But how
we speak that truth is what makes the difference. If we follow our basic
human instincts, if we fight back when we’re challenged, if we give as good as
we get and treat people the way they’ve treated us, rather than the way we’d
like them to treat us, we’re probably not going to be patient, or gentle, or
humble. And we’re probably not likely to speak the truth in love, the way
Paul told us to.
So, if
we’re going to do this, we need to overcome our basic human instincts. We
need to not respond like children, ruled by our emotions. We need to
respond as the mature body of Christ. Speak the truth, yes–again, we do
no one any favors when we compromise the truth. But speak the truth in
love.
How do we
do that? I think we need to focus on it. We need to put some
thought and effort into it. And we need to do that ahead of time.
If we wait until we’re in a conflict situation, it’ll probably be too
late. The only way we can overcome our basic human instincts is to
prepare and get ready ahead of time.
And for
me, that means calling on God’s help. If you can do this without God’s
help, more power to you, but I know I cannot. My emotions will get in my
way. I need God to help me focus on this. I need God to take
control. I need God to show my how I can respond patiently, and gently,
and humbly. Again, still speaking the truth. But speaking it in a
patient, gentle, humble way that shows the maturity of someone who is at least
trying to be worthy of the calling God has given them.
God has
given each of us a calling. And God wants us to live lives worthy of the
calling God has given us. So let’s focus on that. Let’s ask God to
help us be humble, and gentle, and patient. Let’s ask God to help us
speak the truth in love. Then we can, as Paul says, “become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
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