Living Our Calling

Car Buying

If you buy a new car, what’s the first thing you do? Do you sit down for an hour and read through the manual, to make sure you know every little detail about it before you take to the road? Or do you at once get behind the wheel and go for a drive, enjoying all the things the car can do and not worrying about the details, at least for the moment? In the same way, it’s notorious that when people buy a new computer they tend to operate it first and read the instruction manual afterward.

The trouble is, of course, that things go wrong with machinery. They may go wrong even quicker if you don’t read the instructions. But most people will at least keep the instruction book handy and refer to it from time to time to see how the machine was meant to behave, what the fundamental instructions were and what needs to be done to ensure that it remains at maximum efficiency.

Open:

When you buy something that comes with instructions, do you read the instructions? Why or why not?

Ephesians 4:1–6 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

In this section, which opens the second half of the letter, Paul takes his readers back to the fundamental instructions on living the Christian life. He reminds them how they began and what it was all about. The Christian life begins with a calling. He isn’t referring to the specific “calling” or “vocation” that different Christians have—teacher, nurse, business leader and so forth.

What elements comprise that calling to faith Paul has in mind here (vv. 1-5)?

How can we “bear with one another in love” (v.2)?

Describe the unity that God has given us with other believers (locally or around the world) even when we have differences with them (vv.3-6)

What threatens unity in your Christian community?

How can we maintain and guard this unity we have with other believers?

It may be hard for Christians today to grasp just how central this unity was to Paul’s vision of the church. We have grown accustomed to so many divisions within the worldwide church. Sometimes customs and practices have grown up in churches which are so different that members of one have difficulty recognizing members of another as fellow Christians. Sometimes, indeed, the boundaries are blurred, and it may be possible for a church to wander off course so much that its claim to be loyal to Jesus Christ is seriously called into question.

But whatever position we take today, the one thing we can’t do is to pretend that this isn’t a central and vital issue. Unless we are working to maintain, defend and develop the unity we already enjoy, and to overcome, demolish and put behind us the disunity we still find ourselves in, we can scarcely claim to be following Paul’s teaching.

What is the “single hope” that goes with our call (vv. 4-6)?

At every moment, in every decision, with every word and action, Christians are to be aware that the call to follow Jesus the Messiah and give him their complete loyalty takes precedence over everything else.

Ephesians 4:7–16 ESV

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Some diversity exists with the unity Paul emphasizes in the previous verses.

What is this diversity (vv. 7,11)?

Why does God give some believers the particular leadership gifts mentioned in verses 11-12?

The list of offices in verse 11 is not exhaustive. Elsewhere Paul adds others. But these five were crucial to the establishment of the first generation of the church. Apostles were witnesses to the resurrection; since the resurrection is the foundation of the church, the testimony of those who had seen the risen Jesus was the first Christian preaching. Early Christian prophets spoke in the name of the Lord, guiding and directing the church especially in the time before the New Testament was written. Evangelists announced to the surprised world that the crucified Jesus was risen from the dead, and was both Israel’s Messiah and the world’s true Lord. Pastors looked after the young churches; teachers developed and trained their understanding. They did this not least by setting out the many ways in which believing allegiance to Jesus linked Christians into the whole story and life of Israel, building on the promises of the Old Testament.

It’s not the particular gift that matters; it’s using the gift that’s important. What are the results of using the ministry gifts God gives us (vv. 13-16)?

Based on the images Paul uses in verse 14, what seem to have been the main obstacles to his readers’ faith in Jesus?

Where does your church need to grow toward maturity?

How can you use the gifts God has given you to enable this to take place?

Prayer

Dear God thank you for your calling to faith and the body of believers you have put me in. Help us to maintain unity in this body and promote growth through the use of your gifts. In Jesus name amen!