Worthy of your calling

Worthy of your calling; nv 9/18/05 pm (eph. 4:1-6)

OS: 1 I like the story of the 4 year old boy from Nashville who went with his grandfather into the woods to select a Christmas tree. They tramped all over, but the boy couldn’t find a tree that suited him. Finally, it began to get dark and cold, and the grandfather said they would have to quit looking. "We’ll have to take the next tree." he said flatly.
The boy looked up sadly and said: "Even if it doesn’t have any lights either?"
You see, for that boy, just any old tree wasn’t a Christmas tree… FOR HIM, the only tree worthy of being a Christmas tree was a tree with lights on it. That’s what he was looking for and he’d settle for nothing else. AS LONG AS he looked for such a tree, he wasn’t going to get real tree.

PS: What makes us a worthy pick? A desire to Please God…

I.       Bible passages on “worthy”

A.     2 Philippians 1:27, “Whatever happens conduct yourselves in a worthy manner of the gospel of Christ…”

B.     :Colossians 1:10, “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way.”

C.     :1 Thessalonians 2:12, “…Urging you to live lives worthy of God who calls you into His kingdom and glory.”

D.     Several things could be considered, but let’s look at one passage and see one thing as a church that we need to strive for in order to walk worthy of our calling.

II.    3 Question – What has God called us to do?

A.     Have we moved here to this location, built this building to hold services?

B.     Mission = know, grow, show

                       1.       Matthew 22 – Love God with all, and neighbor as self.

                       2.       1 Corinthians 10:31, bring glory to God.

                       3.       John 17:4, brought Him glory by completing the work.

                       4.       Matt 28:18-20 – Great commission.

III. Text – Ephesians 4:1-6 (What is an element of living worthy of the calling?)

A.     To live worthy as a church includes being unified. One.

                       1.       This bears witness of whether or not we are the church.

                       2.       Truly Christians. – Christianity is relational!

B.     Claims verses reality. – President, sports – more than title or uniform.

C.     If we are going to make a difference in this community it will be because we all use our diverse abilities as one to minister.

                       1.       It will be because of the way we live and interact with one another.

D.     Read Text – 4 Ephesians 4:1-6

TS] 5 Observations

I.       :Living worthy is something we do together.

A.     Why is unity the subject here?

                       1.       Disunity = failure! Unity = success in ministry!

                       2.       United we stand and divided we fall.

B.     Jesus understood the importance of unity.

                       1.       John 17 – final hours – unity was a part of His prayer.

C.     Why is it so important?

                       1.       Power.

                       2.       Illu – Rope, Team of mules, moving a pool table, Big trees are cut one piece at a time.

                       3.       United we stand and divided we fall – Illu – Devil and the poker stick.

D.     How could we possibly call ourselves the church if we were not unified? One Body, Spirit, Hope, Lord, Faith, Baptism, God and Father of all.

TS] How?

II.    6 Observation #2 – Unity is maintained by individual people who possess basic Christian characteristics.

A.     Humility – “O Lord its hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.”

                       1.       Most humble award

                       2.       Actor, “to much talk about me, now lets talk about you…how did you like my latest movie?”

                       3.       Phil. 2:3, count others better than yourselves – knowing ourselves, understanding our own shortcomings, being realistic and okay.

B.     Gentleness – Courtesy, considerateness, willingness to wave one’s rights for the good of the church.

                       1.       The mission is bigger than any one person!

                       2.       We all have to bend and yield at times.

                       3.       Galatians 5:22, Fruit of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control.

C.     Patient = bearing with one another in love

                       1.       Where people are involved there will be tension and conflicts. Some people are hard to put up with.

                       2.       Our patience varies – A man watching another fish for 3 hours, “why don’t you just get a pole and fish?” – “I aint got the patience.”

                       3.       patience with one another may be the most difficult. Love is the key, the absence of love always leads to the loss of unity.

TS] 7 Living worthy is something we do together, and those basic Christian virtues or characteristics enable us to be one.

III. The bible is filled with passages on unity – 8 Colossians 3 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

9 Imagine what we can do together?

Genesis 11 – Tower of Babel.