Church Sermon - August 17, 2003

LIVE A LIFE WORTHY OF YOUR CALLING

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Old Testament Lesson; Exodus 24:3-11
Gospel Lesson; John 6:1-15
Sermon Text; Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16

Today with my sermon I hope to accomplish these two things: One is to look at our calling in life. And number two is to specifically look at the Divine Call received by Mr. Ryan Rathje, into the teaching ministry here at Holy Cross Lutheran School.

How perfect it is that our epistle lesson for today, from the Book of Ephesians, touches on these two things. It talks about our calling as Christians, as believers, but it also talks about the call of those who are in the preaching and teaching ministry.

Before we look at our text, I want to give you a background of what the Book of Ephesians is all about, and the way the Book of Ephesians is laid out. The Book of Ephesians is six chapters long. The apostle Paul spent the first three chapters reminding us what God has done for us. This is ‘justification’; that God has called us His own and declared us to be not guilty of our sin, because of Jesus’ perfect life, His death on the cross, and resurrection. In the second half, the last three chapters, he tells us what we should do with what He has done for us. This is ‘sanctification; that He wants us to live a holy life, or as our theme for this sermon says:

The sermon text for today is the second lesson recorded from Ephesians, chapter four.

As a prisoner of the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make very effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – 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 has been given as Christ apportioned it…

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

With our text for today, the apostle Paul tells us who he is. He reminds us that he was called by God to preach the Gospel. He has carried out this task to the extent of being arrested and imprisoned for his efforts. And, he wants us to know that he is a prisoner. Paul wanted to remind that wonderful congregation in Ephesus, and these words now trickle down to us, through the ages. He wants us to always keep before us who we are – that we are called by God to be believers, to be Christians, but keep in balance with that, live a life worthy of our calling and to live a God pleasing life. But even being a prisoner doesn’t stop him from helping his beloved Ephesians. As their spiritual father and mentor, Paul wants to see a balance between their Christian calling and their daily conduct.

Notice that right away, Paul reminds us that he is a prisoner. Listen again to what Paul says,

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then,

I urge you to

you have received."

That is important for me to see how Paul said that on one hand, but then how he lived that out, on the other hand. Paul’s words ring with authority, because he is living them out! He was in jail, because he preached about the resurrection of Christ. And, earlier in his ministry, Paul was also in prison. That time he was in prison with Silas, in Philippi.

"About midnight

Paul and Silas were praying and

singing hymns to God,

and the other prisoners were listening to them."

Acts 16:25

That’s important to me, because I don’t want to hear somebody tell me what to do or how to do it, if they aren’t living it themselves! To put that into a more modern day illustration, we can think about it this way. Many people don’t like going to the dentist. It’s not high on people’s list of things they like to do. But, when we do go to the dentist, we are careful to choose a dentist who not only tells us what we should do with our teeth, but who also does the same thing with their own teeth. We wouldn’t really appreciate it and would not be too comfortable with a dentist that tells us we have bad breath, when his breath could wipe out an army. People are not too excited when a dentist is lecturing them on poor dental hygiene, and he’s missing 3 teeth and the rest are falling out.

Why? Because we want to follow someone that does what they say, someone who practices what they preach. We should follow what Paul says here, because he has lived in Jesus, to the point of imprisonment.

So, why is the theme ‘Live a life worthy of your calling’ important for us to remember? Why is this text important for us, still today? The reason is this.

Are we

living a life worthy of our calling?

Recently, some statistics came across my desk that stated this question. Are today’s young people living a life worthy of their calling? The answer, unfortunately, is "not many!" Listen to these statistics…

Who cheats on tests?

74% of Christian Youth

76% of Non-Christian Youth

Who lies to their parents?

93% of Christian Youth

93% of Non-Christian Youth

Who physically hit someone when angered?

63% of Christian Youth

67% of Non-Christian Youth

(Source: The Ethics of American Youth Survey)

If we were to also have statistics on adults, the percentages would probably be very similar. What is the point of all of this? The point is, whether it is adults or children, there is little to no difference between kids and adults who are called Christians and those who are non-believers! That is why we need to be reminded of the relevant message ‘Live a life worthy of your calling’.

At the cross, God called us to be His children. It was at the cross that God laid down the life of His only Son. He did that so that through Jesus’ death, through His resurrection, God calls us to repent of our sin, He freely forgives us of those sins and then He asks us to live a life in keeping with that. Now that we have been called to be children of God, how is that God wants us to respond? And, how is it that God wants us to act. In our text, Paul lists four things for us and he breaks them down into two separate categories. What kind of life does Paul – or rather, God – expect? Paul lists four qualities, divided into two pairs.

First Paul says,

He wants us to humble before Him, as we recognize our unworthiness and our sin. But, he also wants us to be gentle with other people. The realization of our own unworthiness and sin before God should humble us, and in that spirit we are to be gentle toward others, because they are in the same struggle. They are in the same boat that we are, struggling with their own unworthiness before God. These two are internal qualities, characteristics that we bring to the scene.

The next two qualities involve what God expects from us, when we have the irritations and aggravations from others in this life. Here Paul urges,

The key to having patience and putting up with each other is love. The Greek word used here is that one-way love that doesn’t look for anything in return. It simply reflects to others the undeserved one-way love we have received from a gracious God.

"For it is by grace you have been saved,

through faith

and this not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God

not by works, so that no one can boast."

Ephesians 2:8-9

What a gracious God we have, who has not only called us to be His own, but at the cross He has also forgiven us of our sin and saved us by His grace!

Mr. Ryan Rathje, today, is being officially installed to his call in the teaching ministry, here at Holy Cross Lutheran School. Let us hear the words of Paul again from our text, as it gives us an opportunity to look at the concept of the Divine Call.

"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13

Today, we are given the opportunity to understand the concept of calling. It might be bigger than you realize or even imagine. Many people believe that only pastors and teachers have a call. But that’s not entirely true. Pastors and Christian Day School Teachers receive a Divine Call, but every Christian has a calling.

Calling has to do with everything God has spoken to you. God calls us to repentance from sin, and to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. God calls us to live holy lives.

Mr. Rathje, you really have two calls. You have been called by God to be a believer. As a believer, you live a life worthy of your calling, in your own name, as an individual. And, you have been called by God, through this congregation, to be a teacher at our school. As a teacher, you have been called by God, under the name of this congregation, to live a life worthy of your calling in the name of Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School.

I don’t know how much of a scientific background Paul had, but he seems to have a great grasp of biology. Each cell of the human body has a specific function. Each body part works together for the good of all the others.

The same is true with the Body of Christ. We are called to give up our selfish interests and hand ourselves over to the greater good of the Body of Christ.

There is a story about the Special Olympics that were held in Seattle, Washington. Nine runners, all physically or mentally challenged, lined up at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the sound of the starting gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with the eagerness and joy to run the race, to finish, and win. All started out good, except for one boy, who stumbled and fell. He scraped his knee, turned over a couple of times and began to cry. The other eight runners heard the boy cry. They slowly turned around and paused. What did they do? They all turned and not just one but all eight of them went back, every one of them! One girl bent down and kissed the boy and said, "That will make it better." Then, all nine of them linked arms and walked together to the finish line, to the applause of the entire stadium.

Mr. Rathje, I look forward to working with you and the staff of Holy Cross, with linked arms, walking together to the finish line of Heaven, having taught God’s people to ‘Live a life worthy of their calling’.

May the love that you have for your Savior be seen at the white-board in your classroom, on the basketball court in our gymnasium, at home with your family, at church and at school with our staff and your colleagues! God grant you this, for Jesus’ sake.

As pastors and teachers, may we go forward, not only with the Devine Call in hand, but also knowing who we are, as individuals. We are Christians. We are believers, who have been called to repentance, repentance of our sin and to faith in Jesus, as our Savior. May God grant this, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

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