Who Before Do Series

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.