Worthy of Our Calling

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on January 7, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 4:1-16.

            We talk sometimes about how we should live our lives the way the Lord told us to.  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 do.  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 I are 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, sometimes it seems like everywhere we look, we see 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 me 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.”