October 5, 2008

"Called, Created, Crafted, Commissioned"

October 5, 2008

When I decided to become a teacher I was determined to do a better job than some of the teachers I had had.  My students wouldn't find my lectures boring.  They would sit at the edge of their seats hanging on my every word.  I would instil in them my passion for learning.  Well, that was the plan.   My moment of truth came already during my senior year in college.  I was student teaching U.S. History at a Christian high school in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area.  I can still recall: It was a lecture on communism.  I was really animated.  And then as I turned from chalk board and looked to my left I saw someone who took the wind out of my sails (or more correctly, my mouth.)  A boy was leaning his head against the wall fast asleep.  I couldn't believe it.  And as some of you might know, it wasn't the last time this happened. 

No matter how excited I was or hard I tried I couldn't live up to my hopes I couldn't become better than I am or change how sleepy people experienced me.  How does that serenity prayer go?  "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

I remember hearing those words when I was studying in my office at Roseland Church in Chicago.   The men downstairs in the AA meeting were praying them as they ended their meeting. 

There are many things in life we cannot change.  This last week's terrible economic news is certainly an example.  There was nothing we could do about it.  Or, think of the times when you gathered around the bed of a loved one who was dying.  You felt so helpless.  Again there was nothing you or anyone else could do. 

Not only me, but all of us have our limitations.  There are things about ourselves that we cannot change.  There are hurdles we cannot overcome and goals we may never reach.

For the last four weeks we have hearing about being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  For how many of us are being a disciple something that is beyond our ability?  I hear a lot. People have often said to me, "I'm not a very good Christian."  Do you ever feel that way?  You try, but the Christian life just isn't coming.  You try but, you know you're not a very good disciple.

One of the themes over the last four weeks has been that we are disciples only by the grace (underserved love) we have received from God.  Yes, we certainly must try to live as a disciple, but we do not do this in our own strength.  This morning we will further and more specifically examine how his grace God enables us to be Jesus' disciples.  As we do this, we will also see how God's grace also shapes how we understand our role as Jesus' disciples. 

This morning I must admit that the way I am approaching scripture is different from my normal approach. I usually examine a scripture and discover what it says in the context in which it was written.  And then I apply what it says to us today.  This morning, I am not going to do that. Instead I am going to examine four major ways that God's grace makes us disciples, show where those are found in scripture, and then apply those four ways to our lives today.  It's a little different technique, but I trust that Spirit will use it touch our hearts with God's Word.  The four major ways that God's grace makes us disciples are: 1. God in grace calls us to be disciples.   2. God creates us to be disciples.  3. God crafts us with the character and gifts needed to be his disciples.  4.  God commissions us to be his disciples.

Let's begin with the first:  God calls us to be his disciples.  Paul certainly speaks about calling in his exhortation in chapter 4, verse 1,

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 

How does the Lord call us?  In the case of the disciples the answer is clear.  Jesus walked along and called out to people to follow him. 

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. ¹⁹And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4: 19)

 That's how Jesus called his first disciples, but how does he call us?   For some of us that call came when we were too young to even understand it.  If you were baptized as infants your call came way back then.  In your baptism God promised that you belonged him.  At that time God charged your parents and the other church members to let you know what he had promised.  For some of you that call came when you heard the gospel proclaimed.  And then you were baptized after you heard the call and initially responded in faith.  Of course, baptism is not the call.  It is sign and seal of God's promise to cleanse us and make us alive in Christ.  But with promise comes a call to continue to believe and to follow Jesus.  And we must respond to that call.

Now it's important to note that our call is not a call to follow Jesus on our own.  Most of us were not baptized in a private ceremony, but in a public worship service attended by God's people.  In baptism, God declares that we are part of his people.  And then he calls us to join them in following him. He calls us to be one with others and one with him. 

Next week we will partake of Holy Communion.  Holy Communion reminds us of this call.  In 1 Corinthians 10: 17 we read these words,

Is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Paul certainly has all of this in mind when wrote Ephesians 4,

Notice what he says it means to live a life worthy of our calling.
Ephesians 4:2 - 6 (NIV) ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  ⁴There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called- ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Now, it's important for us to think our entire calling this context.  We are called to part of one body of Christ.  Within that body, each disciple has a ministry.  We are not all called to do everything.  Instead we work in concert with other disciples to fulfill the task that Jesus has left us to do.

I Corinthians 12 explains our relationship to the body and what we are called to do as part of the body.  Listen to verses 25- 30 of that chapter.

²⁵This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. 

All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it. ²⁸Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:

first are apostles,

second are prophets,

third are teachers,

then those who do miracles,

those who have the gift of healing,

those who can help others,

those who have the gift of leadership,

those who speak in unknown languages.

Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not!

When you think about it, that teaching really is freeing.  Sometime some people feel guilty because they are not doing what another person in church does.  Or maybe someone in our body is going through a rather difficult time in their lives and because of severe distress she is not able to carry out the ministry she once could.  That's why you are in a body.  While you are healing others can take up the task.  Our God is certainly wise, isn't he!

As disciples we are not only called, we are created.  This too is evidence of God's wonderful grace to us.  Look at verse 10

For we are, created in Christ Jesus to do good works

When we say God created, we mean he made us-he gave us life.  We didn't just come together on our own like the natural evolutionists tell us. God made us.  Obviously, we cannot be Jesus disciples without this wonderful gift of life he gave us

But, God gave us life in another sense.  To understand this we must understand something else.  To be born in this world is to be born dead.  That's a strange concept isn't it?  It's almost a contradiction in terms. 

Look at the beginning of Ephesians 2:1,

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 

Because this is true, none of us can respond to God's call.  There is no way a dead person can respond anything

.  But God didn't leave us dead.  Verse 4 says,

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

The only reason we can respond at all to Jesus' call to be his disciples is because God made us alive through Jesus' death and resurrection.  That's another thing we celebrate when we are baptized-that we were made alive in Jesus Christ.

The same God who gives us life also provides for our needs. These two things go hand in hand.  And so Ephesians 2: 10 also says,

"For we are God's workmanship."  He crafts us to be his disciples. He continues to be at work in our lives enabling us to be the disciples he called us to be. How does he do that?  One way certainly is through the instruction of his Word and by his Spirit who helps us understand that Word.  But he also crafts us as he guides our path through this world.

I'd like to read verse 10 again, but this time I'm going to use a different English translation, The New American Standard Bible.  This translation does a better job translating the Greek word for word. 

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Disciples are those who follow Jesus down a pathway of good works that God has prepared for us to walk.  He is guiding our lives.  But towards what end?

Before I answer that question, I would like to read verse 1 in New American Standard Bible,

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience

Did you catch the contrast in those two verses?   And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked

 Before God made us alive in Christ, we walked the path of death, but now we walk a path of life.  The Psalmist in Psalm 16 puts it this way,

You have made known to me the path of life;

    you will fill me with joy in your presence,

    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

When we follow Jesus, we can know that no matter what happens our path will lead to life.  And that's why as disciples we can know joy, even through we might be walking through the valley of the shadow of death.  We can know that Savior is guiding us

And that he is using whatever comes our way to craft us into the disciples that he would have us be.  Let us not forget the words 1 Peter 1: 6- 9,

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Think of some of the people in the Bible and how God used their pathways to shape them into the disciples that he wanted them to be. That was even true of people he called in the Old Testament.  Think about King David.  God told Samuel to anoint David king when he was only a young shepherd boy.  But, David didn't become king right away.  Nor did God make him king after Saul invited David to the palace or after David killed Goliath. No, God waited to make David king until after David fled for his life from King Saul and lived for years a fugitive.  David could not become king until he was forced to leave his home and hide in caves for fear of his life. 

Think about the road that Paul walked.  God could have simply made him a successful missionary.  But he didn't.  He made Paul walk the road of trouble and hardship-the road of persecution and imprisonment.  Yet, in the end the Paul who walked that road was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write,

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV) 

Think of Corrie Ten Boom.  Jesus' road of discipleship for her went right through a Nazi concentration camp, where she suffered and lost her dear sister.  But, the God who led her down that road then used her to reach even former Nazi's with gospel of Jesus Christ.

Finally, those whom God calls, creates, and crafts, he also commissions.  He has a task for us in this world.  He has a pathway of good works for us to do.  He has a plan for us to follow.  The best description of that plan is found in Jesus words in Matthew 28: 19- 20

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Did you hear how Jesus ended the words of this commission?  He didn't say.  I taught everything I know.   It's up to you now.  The same Jesus that call them to service said,

"I am with you always, even to the very end of the age."

We are disciples only by his power and grace.  And as we seek to be his disciples this week, let us pray for that grace.  Earlier I mentioned the serenity prayer.  The words in that prayer were once part of a larger prayer by Reinhold Neibuhr.  I'd to pray for God's grace using the words from that prayer.

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

For Jesus sake, Amen.