Faithful to Our Callings

“Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them:

“’You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

“’And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.’” (Acts 20:17-24 ESV)

All of us who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives are to serve the Lord Jesus with our lives in ministry, according to the giftedness of the Holy Spirit within us, and according to God’s calling (his assignment) upon our lives, which will not all be the same. Now we are all called to die to sin daily and to walk in obedience to our Lord and to serve him with our lives, but he doesn’t call all of us to the same exact areas of ministry, although we are all called to be sharing the true gospel with other people.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]  

And we are all called of God to be faithful to those callings and to not be slack, and to not be neglectful to do what God has called us to do, both to these general callings of God to all of us who believe in him, and to our individual and specific areas of ministry to which he has called us. For we were all created by God for a specific purpose, and he has very specific areas of ministry which he has selected just for us to do. And as his followers, we are to learn what those are and to do them.

Like when Jesus interrupted Paul’s (then Saul’s) journey to Damascus where he intended to persecute even more Christians, and in order to call him to open spiritually blinded eyes, turning them from darkness (sin) to the light (God/Jesus Christ, the gospel), and from the power of Satan to God, so that they could receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And Paul then surrendered to the will of God and ended up writing probably half of the New Testament (see Acts 26:18).

And Paul didn’t serve the Lord in ministry, according to his calling, because it was easy or popular or because he got a lot of “likes.” He suffered much persecution and rejection and beatings and imprisonment and false accusations and abandonment, etc. – all for the cause of Christ and for the sake of his gospel message, and in order to win people to faith in Jesus Christ, and then to nurture them and to exhort them to walk in obedience to the Lord and to no longer walk (in conduct) in sin. Praise Jesus!

And if we are following the Lord Jesus according to his callings upon our lives, we are promised that we will be hated and persecuted as Jesus was, and that we will be falsely accused of wrongdoing, rejected, forsaken, forgotten, cast aside as unwanted, harassed, ignored, mocked, and falsely arrested and imprisoned. And even some of us will be put to death for our walks of faith and obedience to the Lord. And some or many of our persecutors may be others who profess faith in Jesus Christ, too.

But through it all we are to remain faithful to our Lord in obedience to his commands, in holy living, in dying daily to sin and to self, and in serving him in the specific areas of ministry to which he has called us, regardless of how we are treated in return, even from others who profess to know the same Lord as we do, and even from family members. For Jesus told us that if our lives are surrendered to him, to follow him in obedience, that we can expect our family members to reject and to persecute us, because they lack faith.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

And we must keep speaking the truth of the gospel to all who will listen. And the truth is that if we are to come after Jesus, we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in walks of obedience to his commands. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin (by the Spirit), and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, and in obedience to his callings on our lives, then we have the hope of eternal life with God (see Luke 9:23-26).

And the only way that we are going to follow through with this, and to remain faithful to the Lord and to his callings upon our lives, is if we do not account our lives of any value nor as precious to ourselves in such a manner as to prefer the approval of other humans over the approval of God, and as more valuable to us than the salvation (from sin) of other human lives. And we must be committed to finishing the course and the ministry that we received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

But this grace, which is bringing us salvation, and which is gifted to us by God, is training us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works, the works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them (see Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10).

Myopic  

An Original Work / August 19, 2013

Based off 2 Peter 1:3-11

Jesus has given ev’rything

Needed for life and godliness.

His great and precious promises

Free us from our sin and distress.

Add to your faith His goodness;

Knowledge; patience; godliness;

Brotherly love and mutual affection;

Kindness and unselfishness.

If you possess these qualities,

Growing in your maturity,

They will keep you from vanity.

You will bear fruit effectually. 

Nonetheless, if you lack them;

Forget you’ve been cleansed from sin,

Nearsighted are you; you can’t see Jesus.

You have closed your heart to Him.

Therefore, beloved, confirm, then,

Your calling and your election.

Do this by showing diligence:

Obey your Lord; be repentant.

Practice all these qualities

God provided on a tree.

He died for our sins so we’d be given

Life with Him eternally. 

https://vimeo.com/115839336