Called by God
Ephesians 4:1
January 26, 2025
I’d like to talk to 4 groups of people today.
Those of you who believe you were created by God to do something significant, something meaningful, something eternal, something that matters. You may be excited about that calling, but you don't know what it is and you're not sure where to start.
I’m also talking to those who are struggling to determine what God wants with you. You think you were meant to do something purposeful, and you’ve made attempts and nothing really happens. You’ve started and you’ve stopped ..... too many times. And now you want to give up.
Next are those who really don’t believe they deserve God’s grace and calling. You’ve messed up, you’ve sinned, whatever it is, you don’t believe God can forgive you and let go of your sins, so, when it comes to a purpose or calling . . . God has bypassed you.
The final group is for those who don’t believe. You don’t believe there’s a purpose other than to live life and enjoy it. Other than that, you’re on your own.
This message is for all 4 groups! Which I think is everyone!
I want to share a verse that I’ve shared before and I pray it helps build your faith to know that you’re uniquely created by God for His glory ---- ---- called to make a difference in this world. It’s what we’re talking about for the first part of the year. You and I - - - - - called by God.
And we’re going to look at this calling in an entirely different way than I’ve ever looked at God’s calling before.
Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesian church while he was in prison. In Ephesians 4:1, he wrote this passage which has so much richness to it - - - -
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, URGE you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
When you read the Greek of this verse, the first word in the sentence is URGE. It means more than saying “I want to encourage you to do something.
In this passage it means “to beg or plead to charge.”
It’s like when we plead with someone we love to get their act together, or we really want them to do something — we plead or beg with them. It’s saying it with passion, love and devotion for the other person.
Paul’s pleading with us to live our lives in a manner which is worthy of the calling we have received.
I love that phrase - - - - live your life in a manner which is worthy of our calling. Consider what that means.
Are we living life in a manner which honors and glorifies God in everything we do?
We’re called to live life in a manner worthy of the fact God sent His Son for us and died for us. We’re adopted into HIS family, and God now views us as holy and blameless and have a majestic inheritance we can’t lose or get cheated out of.
I don’t believe we place a lot of significance on the fact that we’ve been called by God. We really don’t think about it much. Yet, God does call us. Me, you, everyone!
If for a moment this resonates with your spirit, because you sense you were created for a reason, you have a calling, a purpose, a divine destiny because you know — — no matter what you achieve in this world, no matter what you obtain in this world, you long for more than just success. There's something in you that craves lasting spiritual significance.
It’s the thought that there’s more to this life than going to work, earning money to pay the bills, maybe having a family and friends. Not that those are bad. They’re all good, but I believe they’re all part of God’s plan, our calling.
BUT . . . . we struggle with that calling. I want to go back to what I was talking about 2 weeks ago when we were looking at the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.
I encouraged you to be 1% better each day, 1% today, 1% tomorrow and 1% the next day and so on. And that growth compounds and by the end of the year, you will be a different person.
But we run into a problem. We don’t see our progress as quickly as we would like. So, we give up.
It’s like going on a diet and we don’t see the weight loss. Start weight lifting and you don’t see your muscles getting bigger. Start playing the guitar, learning chords and you struggle putting them all together. So, what do we do? We get frustrated and give up.
Have you ever been there? Have you started something, and realized nothing is happening, so you give up!?!? Listen up!
James Clear has a phrase for this. And it’s in a chart. And it really resonated with me when we look at our struggles to continue to make changes.
It’s THE PLATEAU OF LATENT POTENTIAL. That’s a strange title, But I want you to work with me for a bit and I think, I hope, you’ll learn something about human nature and hopefully . . . . yourself.
And even though his book is not a Christian book, I see the principles very applicable to our walk with Christ.
I’m going to draw on this whiteboard, and what I draw will be the same thing which is on the screen.
Look at this chart. You see that line going up at a 30-45° angle. That’s the progress we expect to see. A linear increase. Never decreasing, never flat, always increasing, never a struggle. But that’s not reality. Intuitively, we know that!!
The “Plateau of Latent Potential” is the common response we have to stop or give up reaching for our goals because we fail to see immediate results. It’s human nature to desire our experience to demonstrate an immediate payoff.
We expect progress to be linear and quickly. Yet, we find ourselves in the “valley of disappointment.” And we feel discouraged after putting in weeks or even months of effort without any signs of improvement or success. During this period, we believe we’ve failed.
But progress is not linear. And that’s true with our relationship with God. We may not always feel the presence of God, even though we’re praying everyday and reading the Bible, and serving and tithing and worshiping.
So much doing, that we expect to see results. Yet, it often takes time to get there. To set up our system and work it.
When it comes to our calling, it’s easy to give up and say, I asked God what He wants me to do, and He has NOT given me an answer. I’m clueless. So, I’m done asking.
This thinking flies in the face of an immediate gratification society. We want instant answers. Just ask AI, ask SIRI, ask GOOGLE. We want our video to be the viral video with 1000s of views. We see them on Tik Tok doing some dance or whatever and they’re famous. I’m working on my moves.
We're called to go into the world. Called by God. We’ve been set apart by God. Chosen by God to go into the world and make a difference.
And somehow we feel God missed me!! Maybe I felt useful 30 years ago, but now that I’m older, I’m not sure anymore.
Or there’s nothing God can do with me.
If you believe God calls us, you might ask, “What if I miss my calling?” What if I was supposed to major in a certain subject in college, but didn’t. What if I chose the wrong career?”
“And what if I went to the wrong church and didn't hear the right message!?
What if I slept in and didn’t go to the church on that one day when I would’ve heard the message which would’ve changed my life forever?
What if I take a wrong turn and the train slows me down and my whole life is changed because of that.”
If God is calling me, He's chosen me for something special. What if I miss my calling? What is it specifically - if I'm called by God, what am I called to do?
So, let me pause here and tell you, the first part of the message was the basis, the appetizer for where we’re now going.
I believe we have to embrace the truth that our calling is about who you are before what you do. We miss this part. Because we want to do, to feel needed.
I’m not sure how to say it other than . . . when God calls you, and I’ve said this before - - - -
God is calling you to a who before He's calling you to a do. This is really, really important.
As Paul was encouraging Timothy. Reminding him of his grandmother’s faith, of his mom’s faith, and of his own faith . . . Paul tells him this in 2 Timothy 1:8-9 - - - -
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
9 who saved us and called us to a HOLY CALLING, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace,
which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. - 2 Timothy 1:8-9
God saved us and called us to a holy calling. It’s not simply a calling, but a HOLY calling! Isn’t that great! That wasn’t just for Timothy, it’s for us as well.
What’s important is that Paul didn’t give Timothy a specific job of what he was called to do. He didn’t say he needed to go to Africa and be a missionary. Was it to be a pastor?
And that may bother us. We want the specifics. Don’t leave me hanging God. Tell me exactly what I’m to do, so I don’t miss it. Maybe part of the calling is in your job, or in your family, or part of being in the church.
Paul didn't say you're called to a certain job. He said, “God saved us and then calls us to a holy calling — — because of His purpose and grace.” Again, it’s realizing - - - -
It's a who before a do.
Paul added, God did this not because we deserved it, but out of His grace. Because He has a plan for us before the world was created. God calls us to live a holy life.
In other words, calling is as much, if not more, about who you're becoming - - - - as it is about what you’re doing. You're called to be holy, to be set apart, to be different.
As you follow Jesus, you are NOT supposed to look like the world, you don't act like the world, you don't think like the world, and you don't behave like the world.
You're not driven by the things that other people are driven by, because you've been set apart by God, called by Jesus, infused with the power of the Spirit of God to live out a holy calling.
And that’s not always easy in a world which embraces uniqueness, but not Christian uniqueness.
The Bible talks about your calling to become like Jesus. It's a who before it’s a do. When we grasp, we should be asking who am I called to become? Who does God want me to be? Who am I in Christ? It’s about you’re character.
Calling is about who we are in Christ! Calling is about our faithfulness to Jesus. It's about who you are today, not just about what you do in the future. In Colossians 3:17, Paul makes a great statement that applies to us every second of every day - - - -
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him
Whatever I do, I am to do everything in the name of Jesus!
As I’m maturing, I’m finding myself resonating more to who I am in Christ, more than who I’m called to be. I’m not done yet, but it’s an interesting dynamic for me.
Let me explain - - - - And hopefully this will make sense. If I don’t know who I am in Christ, then how will I really know who I am called to be.
We want to be someone, we want to have a calling. No matter what it is, I can’t get there before I recognize who I am in Christ. That’s the key. The who will lead me to the do. It’s crucial!!
We hang our hats, and rightfully so, on our salvation. I am forgiven by God. And that’s great, but the next thing isn’t my calling, it’s my growing connected to Jesus. Maybe this is what Jesus had in mind in John 15:5, when He said - - - -
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. - John15:5
This is part of the calling. We’re called to remain in Jesus, to abide in Him, to be so connected to Him, that we can only bear fruit through and because of Jesus. It’s being a who, connected to Jesus, so I can now go out and be a doer.
Salvation isn’t a transaction where we get our ticket punched for heaven, it’s a transformation.
It’s more than getting into heaven, which is great, but it’s allowing heaven to dwell in us, that’s the who!!
Then it’s learning about our calling and making that holy calling, real and visible.
Eugene Peterson, who wrote the Bible paraphrase called the Message, once wrote, “The Jesus way, wedded to the Jesus truth, brings about the Jesus life.”
That’s a powerful statement. If we follow the way of Jesus, because of His truth, then we will ultimately live the Jesus life, which is, our calling.
So, this is really more of a theoretical application today. But I need to have a start to get us where I believe we need to go. It’s hard to walk away when it’s not as concrete as we would like the message to be.
So, let me try to put a little more teeth on the message.
God has called us to be His children. He loves us, He sacrificed for us. He’s offered us a place in heaven, a majestic inheritance. But there’s got to be more than following a bunch of rules to get us there.
So, God tells us --- as He did to the first disciples - - - - follow me! Follow me! More about that next week.
Follow Him, be His disciple. Participate in the journey that He has uniquely called you to. That means this week, especially today, look at who God has called you to be.
What’s your relationship with God like? Are you really His disciple? Are you learning from Him, following His example?
Or are you striking out in the world on your own? Who has control over your life . . . . you or God?
We have the privilege to be called disciples of Jesus! And as disciples we have an opportunity to make a difference in the world. We do it all in the name of Jesus.
But we must really be His disciples ... we’re His students, His apprentices, learning from the Master and following and doing what He does.
He is the way, the truth and the life. He’s our way to finding true life, but we must follow Him.
So, this week, take a look at your life . . . . are you following the Master? Are you seeking to grow in who you are in Christ?
That’s the most profound thing you may do this week.
Give it that 1%. Don’t do it on your own power. Call upon the power of the Holy Spirit as you draw nearer and nearer to God.
What does it mean to be a disciple and who we’re called to be.
Don’t get stuck in the VALLEY OF DISAPPOINTMENT - don’t get stuck there!!
