FOR THE SAKE OF THE CALL
Text: Eph. 1:1-2
Introduction
1. Illustration: We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call
Nobody stood and applauded them
So they knew from the start
This road would not lead to fame
All they really knew for sure
Was Jesus had called to them
He said "come follow Me" and they came
With reckless abandon, they came
Empty nets lying there at the water's edge
Told a story that few could believe
And none could explain
How some crazy fisherman agreed to go where Jesus went
With no thought to what they would gain
For Jesus had called them by name
And they answered
We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call
The sake of the call
2. We are going to take a walk-through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. During this walk we will learn who we are in Christ.
3. The first thing we learn about our identity in Christ is that we are called.
a. Usually when we think of a calling, we think about those called to fulltime ministry like Pastor’s or Missionaries.
b. But the reality is that we have all been called by God, and he has a plan and a job for us to do.
4. From Paul’s introduction in this letter, we learn…
a. We are called to be sent.
b. We are called to be holy.
5. Read Eph. 1:1-2
Proposition: God has called us to be his representatives in the world.
Transition: First, Paul tells us we are…
I. WE ARE CALLED TO BE SENT (1a).
A. Apostle
1. Paul begins his letter with, “This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.”
a. In general, you will find that all of Paul’s letters followed the classical Greco-Roman style of letter writing.
b. First, he indicated who he was, and then described who he was writing to, and then spoke a greeting or a blessing of some kind.
c. The first thing that he says about himself is that he was chosen by the will of God.
d. The will of God is an important theme in this letter and appears more often in the letter than in other of Paul’s letters.
e. The concern here is less upon our finding out what the will of God is, and more about God’s purpose for us.
f. Paul’s point here is that he was an Apostle because God wanted him to be..1 Snodgrass, K. (1996). Ephesians (p. 37).
2. Ok, so we know that God wanted Paul to be an apostle, but what’s an apostle?
a. Well, the word comes from the Greek word apostello and means “sent one.”
b. Now there is a specific sense of the word and a general sense of the word.
1) In the specific sense, an apostle had to be an eyewitness of the risen Jesus and had to be personally commissioned by Jesus.
2) They served as both evangelists and church planters. Paul met all of those qualifications to the letter.
3) He was saved on the road to Emmaus where he had a personal encounter with the risen Jesus who told him he had a mission for him.
3. So, that should cause to ask the question, “what does that have to do with me?”
a. Well, in the specific sense nothing, for the most part no one today can be considered an apostle in the specific sense because, as far as I know, none of us has seen the risen Jesus.
b. However, in the general sense, an apostle is anyone who is sent on a mission to preach the Good News of Jesus!
c. In that sense, all of us are apostles because we have all been called to be “sent ones” right here in Rome, GA.
d. You see, we too have been sent into our little corner of NW Georgia to be ambassador’s of the Gospel.
e. And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone (Mark 16:15, NLT).
f. So, we all have a mission to reach the lost for Jesus. If you think it is my job to fill these seats you are sadly mistaken, because it is all of our jobs to reach out to people that need Jesus!
g. We encounter people every day that need Jesus. It might be at the grocery store, or the gas station, or at work. But every day God brings people into our lives that need us to speak the truth about Jesus into their lives because we have been sent.
B. Ambassador’s for Christ
1. Illustration: Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, in a recent interview told of his most memorable occasion to share the gospel. "I remember as a young believer I felt impressed to call on a man who was a CEO of one of the great fortune 500 companies. As presumptuous as it sounded, he was very responsive and agreed to see me. I asked for 15 minutes of his personal time, and when I was ushered into his big beautiful office there was nothing on his desk... He was seated there waiting for me. He asked, "What can I do for you?" I said, "Sir, I've come to talk to you about your relationship with Jesus Christ." On the surface one would expect for him to call for a bodyguard and escort me out. He instead began to cry. Then he stopped and told me that at the age of 8 he had become a believer. He had become so ambitious, however, that he did not have time for God. Even though he had become one of the leading businessmen in the world he had not been to church in 30 years. He said, "God sent you. He sent you to help me. I'll be in church Sunday."
2. We have been sent by God to reach our community with the message of Good News!
a. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (2 Cor. 5:19-20)
b. Another way to think of the word “apostle” is the word ambassador. An ambassador is someone sent as a representative to a foreign country.
c. That is what we are, we have been sent by God as his representatives here in Rome, GA.
d. As his representatives, we have been given the responsibility of telling people about what Jesus has done for them on the cross.
e. We do this in a number of ways. The first way is to build relationships with people and earning the right to speak truth into their lives.
f. Another way is to show them the love of Christ by doing something nice for them.
g. But at some point, we have to be courageous enough to tell them about Jesus, and the fact that he died on the cross to save them from their sins.
h. That is what each of us have been sent to do.
Transition: We are also…
II. Called to Be Holy (1b-2).
A. God’s Holy People
1. Now that we’ve looked at who wrote the letter, let’s see to whom he wrote it. Paul says, “I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.”
a. He states that he is writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus. Now that phrase “holy people,” has traditionally translated “saints,” but it’s really a misleading term.
b. When we think of saints what do we think of? Usually, exceptionally God-like people. We think of people like Mother Theresa or someone like Paul.
c. However, the word holy means someone who is “set apart.” You see we are saved by grace through faith, and the only way we can achieve holiness is through God.
d. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor, but we receive it as a gift from God because we are in Christ.
e. The people that Paul was writing to were holy because God had set them apart to be his people. The focus is entirely on God’s action and the reference is to God’s saving work (Snodgrass, K. (1996). Ephesians (p. 38).
2. Another thing that Paul says about the people in Ephesus is that they were faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
a. In Paul’s letters he uses the term “of Christ,” or “in Christ” or “in him” or “in the Lord” 164 times.
b. In Ephesians he uses it around 42 times. So, it is a big part of this letter.
c. So, to consider ourselves “faithful followers” is not so much a reference to us, but rather a reference to Christ and our union with him.
d. In other words, we are faithful because we are in Christ. It is all about what Jesus has done for us!
3. Paul then concludes his introduction by saying, “May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.”
a. Finally Paul gives the blessing. In this greeting Paul wishes for them both grace and peace.
b. Both of these words play a key role in this letter. The term grace plays a big part in all of Paul’s writings. Although other NT writers uses this greeting, no one puts as much emphasis on it as Paul does.
c. If you look at Paul’s letter’s he begins and ends every one of them talking about grace, and in doing so shows us that our lives begin and end with grace.
d. It is, of course, God’s unmerited favor. As one person put it “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.”
e. Peace is also an important word in Paul’s theology, although not used nearly as much as grace, and it too comes from God.
f. Peace in the Bible doesn’t so much refer to an absence of hostility, but rather a state of being.
g. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27, NLT).
h. Paul wanted his readers, and us, to be filled with both of these wonderful gifts of God.
B. As I Am Holy
1. Illustration: “Always remember the essence of Christian holiness is simplicity and purity: one design, one desire: entire devotion to God.” – John Wesley
2. Our number one desire in life is to be like God: holy!
a. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16, NLT).
b. We are called to be God’s holy people. But we ask the question, “how am I supposed to do that when I’m a fallen and sinful human?
c. The key, in my mind, to personal holiness can first be seen in Peter’s words “be holy.” Notice that Peter doesn’t say “do holy,” he says, “be holy.”
d. The secret here is not trying to grit your teeth and try and do it all on your own power. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but he does expect us to be holy.
e. Well, preacher, how do we do that?
f. Again, the secret can be seen in what John Wesley said, “one design, one desire: entire devotion to God.”
g. The key to personal holiness is entire devotion to God. In other words, the closer we get to God, the closer we get to holiness.
h. The more time we spend in prayer, Bible study, and being in church, the closer we get to God and the easier holiness becomes to us.
i. I’m currently taking a class on United Methodist Doctrine, and to be honest, at first, I was a little intimidated. After all, it’s been fifteen years since I was in seminary, and there is a technology component to the class that I had to learn. So, I was a little nervous about taking the class. However, as I began to get into and do the work, I’ve discovered it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
j. The same is true of holiness, the closer we get to God and build our relationship with him, the easier it gets to be holy because God’s holiness rubs off on us.
Conclusion
1. From the introduction to Paul’s letter, we learn:
a. We are called to be sent.
b. We are called to be holy.
2. What’s the point? God is calling us to live out our life of faith as a witness to those around us.
a. We are called to live out a life of faith, and as we live it out, to live a life of holiness as a testimony of what Jesus has done in our lives.
b. As we do this, we need to tell those people we encounter of the saving love of Jesus.
