“Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”
That’s a powerful exhortation we hear from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians this morning.
Can I lead a life “worthy” of the calling to which I have been called? I see that phrase as a moral and spiritual “High Bar,” one I’m not sure I can attain… Certainly not on my own, I can’t!
As continue in our sermon series on Ephesians: Discovering Who we are in Christ, and we explore the first half of Chapter 4 this morning, I hope that each of us will discover how it is we can live a life worthy of God’s calling, and do that in a way that brings joy and openness to our lives, not a sense of oughts or shoulds or guilt.
Today we begin the second half of Paul’s letter. Here in Chapter 4, which we will explore this week and next, we have made a turn from the author’s description of the glorious truth of the mystery of the Gospel - namely that God’s love and salvation is available all people through Christ no matter ethnicity or background – to Paul’s description of the calling and purpose we have as followers of Christ. The riches of this letter expound on the glorious nature of the whole Church – the gathered people of God - as well as our individual roles in relationship to God and one another.
This letter, as we talked about in our first week, was written to the church, probably several house churches, gathered in Epheses, but was most likely also intended to be a circular letter, one that would be read by one house church, then carried on to other gatherings near and far and read aloud to the community.
This week we heard the word read that we hear at every baptism in our church, and that remind us of who we are in God:
There is one Body and one Spirit
There is one hope in God’s Call to us
One Lord, One Faith, on Baptism
One God and Father of All
Through our baptism, we have been brought together as one Body in Christ. This means we are brothers and sisters with every other baptized Christian on this planet – whether they are Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, or any other stripe of Christian. It means we are brothers and sisters with those who find themselves to the right and to the left of us politically and theologically. It means we are brothers and sisters with the youngest, the oldest, the richest, the poorest, the most athletic, and the most physically challenged Christians we could meet. It is the Holy Spirit which ties us all together.
The beginning of this 4th chapter of Ephesians shows us what is required to be the Church, the Body of Christ, both in the Global sense and also in the particular –
Namely,
We are shown our desired Outlook
How we’re Outfitted
And the expected Outcome of living in Christ.
Outlook, Outfit, Outcome.
So, What Outlook or Attitude does Paul point us toward?
“Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”
In other words, our life in this world should be marked by the Way of Love. There is no way any of us can be always patient, always loving, always bearing with one another, but this is our prayer and our hope, these qualities exemplify the way Christians intend to live. Paul’s list here reminds me of the list he gives in his letter to the Galatians, Chapter 5. He says the Fruit of the Spirit of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. This fruit is born by each believer as they live a Spirit-filled life.
Unlike the Gifts of the Spirit, which we’ll discuss in a minute, and which differ for each person, The Fruit of the Spirit is meant to be born out in the lives of everyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus. It’s not like I can just enjoy the Love, Joy and Peace, and let you take up the Patience, Kindness, and Self-control. In fact, it’s not as if we “do” these fruit, but rather, by being intentional in our spiritual lives, walking as disciples of Jesus, our lives will just naturally “Bear” this fruit. We can often see this fruit born out in the lives of good non-Christians as well. I believe that it is evidence of God’s omniscient presence and spirit working to draw all people to himself.
So our Outlook on life and our intention is meant to live a life Worthy of the calling we have as Jesus’ followers and marked by the Fruit of the Spirit.
I think I’ve shared the story before of a parishioner at another church who, during a newcomers class, declared “I could never put one of those fish on the back of my car…. My driving isn’t worthy to be called Christian. I don’t drive like a Christian. I don’t want people judging the faith based on my actions behind the wheel.”
We all laughed at this, but there’s a kernel of truth there…. We want our outward lives to reflect the nature of the Holy Spirit living within us, right?
So if God wants us to have this Outlook toward living in the spirit, how does God outfit us?
We are outfitted with Gifts of the Spirit. Paul says here, “We are one Body…Each of us was given grace (gifts) according to the measure of Christ's gift…. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.”
This is just one list of Spiritual Gifts found in the bible. Fuller lists are found in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and elsewhere. They include such gifts as Giving, Healing, Mercy, Speaking and Interpretting various tongues, Helping, Music, Craftsmanship, Leadership, and so on.
Unlike spiritual fruit, all nine of which every follower should exhibit, the Spiritual gifts are doled out by God in unique packages for each person. No one has all of them, everyone has at least one. And they vary in strength and effectiveness depending on what is needed based on your situation, and the extent to which you truly take out, unwrap, and use your gifts, building up your strength in those areas.
That said, it is also important to know that the life of faith is not measured on your production or work. We are all part of the body of Christ. As Paul says elsewhere, sometimes the stronger parts need to take extra care of weaker members of the body or those in need of healing. Sometimes you may need to exercise the gift of Faith that God will provide for you as others in the body exercise their gifts. Your gift may allow others an experience in God in simply being with or serving you.
But there are so many Spiritual gifts that go undiscovered and unused in their purpose of building up the body of Christ. It is a waste. Indeed, I believe even a sin, in that it is something that takes you away from the presence of God.
I’ve shared this story with some of you before, but I think it’s a wonderful one to illustrate why we need to use the gifts God has given us.
John Ortberg tells this story about his wife’s family.
His wife, Nancy's, grandmother had passed away a few months before, and her father was going through her things in the attic. He found some old boxes of dishes and called Nancy to ask if she wanted them.
"What kind of dishes?" she asked. "They're pretty, with blue, and since you like blue, I thought you might want them." Well, when Nancy came over to the house to look through the boxes, want she found both delighted and shocked her. The boxes were filled with china of exquisite quality. She had never known her Grandmother to use the china, and her father didn't seem to have any idea about where it had come from. Nancy did a little more investigation. Apparently, according to a great aunt, her grandmother had received some of the china as a wedding present back in the 1920's and had been collecting that china as anniversary gifts and birthday presents years afterwards.
It was delicate and hand-painted. It had been made in a workshop in Germany that later was destroyed by a bomb in WWII, so the china was literally irreplaceable and invaluable.
Her grandmother had been saving it for a special occasion.
But no occasion seemed special enough.
The most precious earthly treasure she had never made it out of the box.
The Spiritual Gifts God gives us are equally as precious. But if we leave those gifts unwrapped and unused, no one can enjoy them, and they serve no purpose.
Jon's wife Nancy took home those boxes of China, and as Jon puts it, “Nancy uses those dishes promiscuously!”
The Good News is that, unlike fine china, we don’t risk breaking or wasting our spiritual gifts when we use them. Just the opposite in fact. When we use our spiritual gifts and practice them, they actually get better in time; just like when we practice using a foreign language, we are able to communicate more effectively.
Another wonderful thing about Spiritual Gifts is that just like manna in the desert, God provides each gathered community of Christians the mix of Spirirual gifts they need to do the work and ministry God has appointed us to do. So there should be no comparison. We shouldn’t complain if we don’t have as many gifted musicians or healers as some other church, but we need to pay attention to the gifts God has given us at St. Michael’s to help us determine the ministries God has called us to.
We are called to a Spirit-Filled Outlook, and Outfitted with Spiritual Gifts, which leads us to a wonderful Outcome
‘The gifts he gave were given… to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ…. speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.’
This is the work of Spiritual growth and maturity… a life-long mission. As the church, we can live with the Outlook of humbly living into our Spirit-filled calling, bearing Spiritual Fruit in our lives. We can grow in understanding how each of us and all of us have been Outfitted for ministry through our Spiritual gifts. As we do so, we can expect more and more the Outcome of growing into the full measure of Christ, more fully knit together as one body in one spirit. Amen.