I, therefore, the
prisoner of the Lord,
beseech you to walk
worthy
of the calling with
which you were called,
with all lowliness
and gentleness,
with long-suffering,
bearing with one
another in love,
endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4: 1 -- 3
I pray that
your New Year's celebration was a good one as you look forward to this new year
and look backwards at the old year and reflection. We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it, and by our
reflection upon the past we can plan for the future. We plan for the future, but we live moment by moment, day by day,
week by week, month by month, and year by year. I pray also that your plan will include the Lord Jesus Christ and
you're calling.
Let us
begin with an understanding that we are chosen to be a representative of the
whole human race, both within a narrow circle of chosen people that even with
all the variety within that chosen God has chosen you. There is room for all, and for all to be in
his service and to use your variety in unity.
It will be men and women with many different gifts and we must not
despise any man's gifts, but that does not mean that we do not examine what a
man does to ensure that they are gifted according to God's gift and not by their
own abilities that they call God's gift.
The first thing that must be required of anyone who has been called by
God is to become one of His disciples for if you are not a disciple you
cannot become a prince in His kingdom.
From your discipleship you'll grow to be an apostle, no, not as one
of the 12 who walked and talked with Jesus Christ, no, as one being sent forth
with a message, a delegate, a messenger who bears a commission and with that
commission comes with you God's authority.
Does this mean that you can go about trying to heal people and do all
the crazy supernatural things at some Christians believe that they can do due
to this authority? No! The message that you have been
commissioned to impart is the gospel.
God calls men of all walks of life, humble men, educated men,
non-educated men, and the call is that by this call the task given to you will
come in a variety of ways. What
contributions a call? Is it not made up
of a need and the ability to meet that need?
You were called to be sent. You
have not been called to have a life of ease and quietness, rather to be in
fellowship with His sufferings. There
is the calling and the sending and those two things are two sides of one
coin. Discipleship then ends in
apostleship. We are to follow Jesus
Christ and He would and will make you as all those before you have been, His
ambassador. Think upon this Jesus did
not write one single manuscript. Jesus
Christ made men and He will make you and this begins with discipleship and that
can only begin if you are forgiven and then and only then will you be
able to follow Him and be able to immediately respond to the call. Can you sing this hymn written by Philip
Doddridge: "Tis done, the great
transaction’s done, I am the Lord's and He is mine; He grew me, and I've
followed on, charmed to confess the voice Divine." It is Jesus Christ Who has saved us, and has
called us, and this with and holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9). Conversion proceeds to call. Service is not acceptable to God unless
there is first of all salvation. We
serve the Lord Jesus Christ because we have been saved. It is commitment that must come to the
claims of Jesus Christ before He will commit to us the Spirit's power for
service: "This is a faithful saying:
For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He
cannot deny Himself. Remind them of
these things, charging them before the Lord not to describe about words to no
profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be
diligent to present your self up proved to God, a worker who does not need to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babbling, for they will increase to
more ungodliness" (2 Timothy 2:11 -- 16).
Ambassadorship,
this is what all Christians are called to be and how much calling is activated
in a person's life is not up to that person, it is up to God. Ambassadors are not made out of nothing,
they are made through direct instructions and have a course of practical
training as apostles, and then they become ambassadors or messengers of Jesus
Christ and go and preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Unlike the early 12 apostles whose mission
was at first only with Israel after Pentecost has become a mission to the whole
world and the great thing is you been called to be part of that mission: Will
you accept?
Apostleship, the final stage in your growth and
calling. Jesus Christ is no longer
physically present on this earth and knowing that this was going to be the case
has given the Holy Spirit and this promise of the Holy Spirit is that the Holy
Spirit abides with us to give us a source of wisdom, comfort, and strength
(Acts 1:8). You are a friend of the
Lord Jesus Christ and you are a sharer of His thoughts, a partner in His
worldwide redemptive purpose.
We begin at home, our church, among
our brothers and sisters, and this means we bond with them in the unity of
peace and this is done in love, agape love, that is a God centered in
principled love. This is done in all
loneliness and gentlemen as, with long-suffering, and bearing with one another
in love. The new year has begun and I
pray that you take time to study to read God's Word, to critically think upon
that which is being talked to you and see if it actually aligns with the Word
of God, and then having been taught the truth, as a disciple, move forward into
apostleship for you have been called to be sent. This sending may mean only there at your secular work, but no
matter, you have been called to be sent.
Will you go?
But now, O LORD,
You are our
Father;
we are the clay,
and You our
potter;
and all we are the work of
Your hand.
Isaiah 64:
8
A New Year: Prepare to be sent
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