Live Like a Champion – Week 11
The Promise of Calling!
Ephesians 4:1-7 (NAS95)
In this sermon series, we are learning how to live like a champion by learning how to live according to the victory of the promises of God. Our guiding image for this series is being a member of an NFL team who wins the Superbowl. We live like champions so that others will come to know the One who gave us His Victory—Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again!
The play of the week is the “Promise of Calling!” The memory verse for this promise is Ephesians 4:1, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.”
The foundational truth for this promise of God is that we are each called by God. This sounds simple, but it addresses a huge misunderstanding in the traditional church that must be addressed—the calling of God is not limited to being a pastor or missionary. The calling of God is for every single believer in Jesus, because the calling of God is about the health and functionality of the entire Body of Christ.
In fact, spiritual leaders in the church are commanded to equip you to fulfill your calling. Listen to this truth taught in Ephesians 4:11-16, from the same chapter as today’s promise:
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
The truth of God’s Word is that the body of Christ will not mature until every single member of the body is walking in maturity—“in a manner worthy of the calling.” My call as a pastor and fellow elder in this church is not to have power over you, but to empower you in your calling—to live a mature life as a member of the Body of Christ! For you to be living the life of faith, hope, and love.
[So please call on me to help you; this is a relational process that I walk with you in the way, not a program to be managed or service to be lead! I desire to meet with you and help you find out where you are in your walk with Jesus and then help you, with the Holy Spirit as our guide, in taking next steps in this maturation process. This is the way! My call is to help you mature in your walk in the Way of Jesus.]
You have been chosen by God and called to be a member of the Body of Christ so that we, as one mature body, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which each of us have been called!
Paul said in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
Every believer is chosen and called to be a part of God’s victorious team—God’s family! This is a team sport that requires each of us to train ourselves according to the promise and then be a healthy, cooperative, functional member of God’s family. Why? So that the world may know that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior!
There are so many illustrations that come to mind from sports, family, politics, in fact, every arena of life experience. We all know how one person can change the functionality of an entire workplace or family or sports team—for good or bad. Just like if your toenail gets infected—it may be “just a toe” in your mind, but in functionality the whole body suffers and limps and loses its well-being. What if you have “just” one nerve misfiring? Is it just one nerve, really? No, it either hurts badly or a part of your body keep misfiring!
You are called to be a part of something bigger than you—the Body of Christ, but it is dependent on you being a healthy, functional member. The key is that every member of the Body has to submit to the headship of Jesus Christ! What does a team look like when every member is doing their own thing? What would it look like if you were walking down the street with each limb of your body doing its own thing?
Listen to Paul’s thoughts from Ephesians 4:1-3, so that we can learn about our calling as fellow members of Christ’s body: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The calling of God is first and foremost about your spiritual formation! Paul teaches us in Romans 8:28-30,
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. [What’s His purpose that we are called according to?] For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
God’s will for each of our lives is that we reflect Him—that we walk in a manner worthy of that calling—to be “conformed to the Image of His Son.” This is your first calling and every other call is secondary to this first calling! Your first calling is God’s preeminent purpose for your life: to walk with Him in a manner worthy of His calling—to walk in the way of Jesus Christ! Everything else flows from this center!
As John explains this in 1 John 2:5b-6, “By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
Let’s look at three practical applications of our walk with Jesus from Ephesians 4:1-3:
Surprise, surprise, Jesus described Himself this way first, as being “gentle and humble in heart” in Matthew 11:29 and that, in fact, is the yoke we are to take on ourselves—Christian discipleship is the spiritual formation of our lives and character, so that we walk in a manner worthy of our calling.
Paul explains in Philippians 2:5-8, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Jesus is our example: we are to have the same attitude, but not necessarily take all the same actions: You do not need to die on a cross in order to be gentle and humble, but you do need to put aside our own selfish pride and vain ambition in order to serve others. Some examples of that are the following:
- At home by doing the dishes, being a team player, listening well, thinking of others first.
- In the store by letting someone go before you in line or helping a person get a high or low item off the shelf. Being considerate and thoughtful of the employees and other shoppers.
- At work or in school by helping someone with their assignment or project instead of just letting them fail in order to give yourself a better chance for promotion. Be an encourager, not a gossip!
I combined these two because the tolerance that is being spoken of here is the ability to endure or bear something—patience under the weight of stress and anxiety. The application to this is simply stated, but difficult to live: show love by being patient with people, including yourself. Some things only happen through prayer and fasting! Get in the easy yoke of Jesus, learn to be gentle and humble in heart, and patiently love people so that you yourself will not be tempted to sin or fall away. Pray and fast through it!
As Paul said in Galatians 6:1-2, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” And we learn from Jesus that the law of Christ is to love one another as Christ first loved us (John 13:34).
We have heard the call to diligence from the beginning of this sermon series (2 Peter 1). Every member of a Superbowl-winning NFL team is called to not only work hard as individuals, but also as a team—it’s both-and, individual training and team cooperation in order to live the Victory. This requires long-term diligence!
We have to know the playbook (the Bible), train ourselves with all diligence (a wholehearted commitment to our Christian discipleship), listen to our Coach (Jesus is Head so pray and fast!), and work as one team (a healthy member of Jesus’ body submits to His headship and mutually submits to one another!).
You are called to be a part of something bigger than you! Are you all in? Are you committed and submitted?
I ask you again: What does a team look like when every member is doing their own thing? What would it look like if you were walking down the street with every limb of your body doing its own thing?
With those images in mind, listen again to Ephesians 4:1-7 so that your memory verse will have the persevering power to help you live the promise of God’s calling:
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.