The Christian's Calling

Introduction

It was a cold January Saturday in 1997. The place was Graefenburg, Kentucky. My dad grabs me and says we are going on a surprise trip, which to a 10 year old, sounds amazing. We drive about an hour away from our home, grab some food, and all of the sudden I’m surrounded by people. Dad tells me to hold onto his hand tightly as we weave through the people and ultimately find our seats. I remember being in awe of the energy in the room, the clapping in unison, and ultimately the cheers that erupted anytime someone wearing white put a rubber ball through a orange circle.

Yes, the place was Lexington, Kentucky and this was my very first Kentucky basketball game. I remember that Kentucky was very good, coming off of a national championship in 1996 and they looked ready to go for another one. They ultimately didn’t win in 1997 but they did come back and win in 1998. This was the start of my Kentucky sports fandom. Ever since then, I have been a die hard Kentucky fan and have been blessed with all sorts of blue clothing, but it has to be the right shade of blue unless you get confused with some fake basketball schools in North Carolina. Even as a kid, I remember that I would wear blue and avoid all shades of red or orange. However, I like the red around Bowling Green a lot more than the red I see up in Louisville.

That memory in 1997 is etched in my brain because that started me on a trajectory to be passionate about all things Kentucky Sports. So passionate that even my new bride new that I would love to go to a game this past year for her first experience in Rupp Arena. I’m a big sports fan in general. And my rule has always been, whichever team I see in person first, is who I will be a loyal fan of. So, I love the Kentucky Wildcats. I love the Atlanta Braves. I love Tampa Bay Buccaneers (pre-Tom Brady). I love the Orlando Magic (which if you know your NBA teams, is exceptionally difficult). I love the Nashville Predators. I don’t have a soccer team yet because I haven’t been to a game yet but I could find myself cheering for Nashville SC pretty easily.

Maybe you’re a sports person and maybe you’re not but I bet you can relate to this statement: things we are passionate about create a temptation to be our identity. There is a temptation for me to be primarily defined by my sports teams. There is temptation for me to be primarily defined by status as a pastor. There is a temptation for me to be primarily defined by my relationship status. For some of you, you may be tempted to be primarily defined by your popularity or career or bank account or board game collection. Okay, that last one might be me again.

Want me to get a little more personal in my introduction? For some of you, you may be tempted for your identity to be in your looks and how often you go to the gym. For some of you, you may be tempted for your identity to be in your grades and intellectual accolades. For some of you, you may be tempted for your identity to be in family, specifically your kids. Taking that a step further, I was a student pastor for 10 years, sometimes parents can be tempted for their identity to be in their kids accolades, either academically or through sports.

This morning, I want us to think about the idea of the Christian’s Calling. Above all else, our identity and purpose in life should not be driven in the things I’ve already mentioned, but what God says in His Word a Christlike life would look like. If you have your copy of God’s Word and I hope you do, turn with me to 1 Peter. We will hit some highlights in chapter 1 but we will mainly be walking through 1 Peter 2:1-12.

Body

As you are turning there, let me give you a little bit of context for the book of 1 Peter. This was written to church communities in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey, that were facing major persecution. The Christians that Peter is encouraging were believed to be Gentile Christians. This letter was written sometime between AD 60-62. This would line up with the reign of Emperor Nero, who if you didn’t know, has been associated with using Christians as torches to light the way to Rome. Needless to say, the persecution was immense for these Christians and they needed to be reminded of their identity in Christ. However, these weren’t just ordinary Christians, they were Gentile Christians. Gentile Christians always felt like they were on the outside of the group. Some Jewish Christians believed that they were a little more pure than the Gentiles because their lineage can be traced.

Peter’s word here was timely for the Gentile believers and it is timely for us today. I believe that we live in a culture that is shouting for our attention and shouting for our identity. Be identified by what team you cheer for. Be identified by what type of education you have or what type of career you have. Be identified by who you voted for in the last election. Be identified by you who are supporting in the trial of Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp.

However, you and I are called to something so much greater than the concerns of the culture today. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” This means that once someone puts their faith in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior, they have a new identity. If you just consider the political definition of an ambassador, you might remember that an ambassador is a representative of another kingdom, they speak the words that leader has given them to say, and they interact with whatever society they are living in differently because their allegiance belongs to someone else.

This is just a mediocre explanation of what an ambassador is. If we consider all of these elements and then consider what it means to be an ambassador for Christ, I believe that should radically impact us.

So, Christian, there are 5 truths that should shape your calling and identity as an ambassador for Christ:

The Call to Life

What does this mean? If we look down at 1 Peter 1:3-5 we can see what type of life Peter is talking about (READ).

This living hope that we cling to. It is a right now hope for our lives. Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. Since that is a true statement, those who have repented of their sins, turned from them, and placed their faith in Jesus, now have a new life on earth and an eternal one waiting for them in heaven. If this is true of you, then you have an eternal inheritance waiting for you. This inheritance is undefiled and imperishable. This needs to be an encouragement for you. If you’ve placed your faith in Him, you’re His. It doesn’t matter if Christianity continues on a steady decline and biblical ideas are outlawed and we have to go underground. We’re His.

So remember your call to life and let it fill you with hope. Don’t mistake the power of a gospel-centered hope. This is something that can look despair straight in the eyes and say “those who are for me are greater than those who are against me.” Remember your call to life and let it fill you with joy. Psalm 51:12 says “restore to me the joy of your salvation.” The call to life should give us joy. One of my all time favorite quotes is from author and pastor Steve Brown who says “You ought to live your life with such freedom and joy that uptight Christians will doubt your salvation.” We should be a joyful people because we know the source of true joy and satisfaction. This is what a life filled with the hope of the resurrection brings.

Maybe you’re here today and you don’t know what this life looks like. Yes, you’ve been to church a time or two or maybe even you’ve been coming to church for a while but you’re just going through the motions. The call to life is an invitation for you. Everything else that I’m going to say this morning is a call for the Christian. However, if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and you don’t hear anything else I say today, hear this: He desires to have one with you. He is inviting you to life. This doesn’t mean you have to clean yourself up first. Not once you have your act together. Not fix what is broken. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says “today is the day of salvation.” So how do you receive his invitation?

1) Realize and admit that you’ve sinned against a Holy God and that has separated you from God forever.

2) Repent of your sin and turn away from it.

3) Turn to, then believe and trust that Jesus lived a perfect life that you would not live, he died on the cross the death you should have died, and he won a victory over death and sin that you and I could never win with his resurrection.

When you have repented, believed, and trusted, then you know that this inheritance is yours and you believe he is coming back for you one day. This gives you confidence in the living hope. If you have never accepted the call to life, don’t wait. Respond to this call and you too can know what this hope looks like, both the hope we can have on the earth and the eternal hope we will wait for one day.

The Call to be Holy

Let’s keep going, so the first truth about our calling and identity as ambassadors for Christ is that we have been called to life. The second truth is that we have the call to be holy. Look down at 1 Peter 1:13-16. (READ)

This call is for you to separate yourself from your sin. You are no longer enslaved to your sins. You have been set free. However, it’s more than just freedom from your former sins, its the call to not be associated with a sinful lifestyle from the first day you put your faith in Jesus. Look at the text, “preparing your minds for action and being sober minded...” This is letting you know the serious nature of this call. The call to holiness is not a suggestion. It is a command. As an ambassador for Christ, you are called to obey your King’s commands or else you will be in sin.

Sometimes I think of this in a similar light to speed limits. I don’t know about you, but I will tend to have a lead foot on the highway. That speed limit (which the word limit should give me a hint) is not a speed recommendation, but I will often treat it as such. There are times when the road is so wide open that 70 mph just seems too slow. That’s why I enjoyed my year in Texas. Did you know that in certain parts of Texas, the highway speed goes up to 80 mph? However, you would think with that extra space, I would be happy going a little faster. However, what happened as I got used to driving on the roads? 80 would often become 85 and I would just tell myself “I’m going with the flow of traffic.”

In the same way, I think sometimes we think the call to be holy is a suggestion. God doesn’t actually care about the type of media we consume or the discouraging words that come out of our mouths or the gossip we participate in or the lust we hide at night or the little white lies we tell throughout the week. We tell ourselves these things and then try to convince ourselves that God really only cares about the big sins like killing someone or stealing or sleeping with someone else’s spouse. As long as we aren’t like Hitler or someone on death row, as long as we are better than our friends, God is okay with a little sin in our life, right? Because that is what the text says, be holier than your friends and you’ll be alright.

No. It says, “Be Holy as I am Holy.” Do we know what holy means? Holy means perfection, to be set apart. Now, none of us can be perfect and so this is why we need grace. The text even says “set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” This living hope that called us to life, this same hope needs to be focused on Jesus in order to mimic the type of life he lived. Scripture is serious about this. Colossians 3:5 says “put to death what is earthly in you.” Jesus, in talking about lust in Matthew 5, says that if your hand or eye cause you to sin, it is better to remove them than to live with them and have them send you to hell. Jesus in Matthew 5 and Paul in Colossians 3 are not talking about hurting yourself but rather they are painting a vivid picture of how seriously we should take the call to holiness and my question is, when is the last time you thought about your holiness? How are you pursuing it?

The pursuit of holiness isn’t something we do out of obligation or fear. The pursuit of holiness is totally based on the living hope we have already been talking about. Out of the overflow of our thankfulness to Christ, we pursue holiness. Even if it is a flawed attempt, any pursuit is better than no pursuit. You cannot passively follow Christ and be holy. This has to be an active pursuit that every Christian individually needs to pursue. Have you seen a family member or friend pursue the Lord and seemingly be on fire for God? That is a great thing and blessing from God, but that does not impact your holiness. You do not become more holy by association with a friend or spouse. Your holiness is dependent on your nearness to Jesus. I love this quote from Jerry Bridges in his book, appropriately named The Pursuit of Holiness, “In all of our thoughts, all of our actions, in every part of our character, the ruling principle that motivates and guides us should be the desire to follow Christ in doing the will of the Father. This is the high road we must follow in the pursuit of holiness.”

Now this could be a sermon on its own but let me point out one more thing. In order to be holy, we have to be plugged into a different life source. What is that life source? 1 Peter 1:22-25. You want to know how to live a holy life? Get rooted in the Word of God because there is only one thing that will remain forever. The Word. This is why someone stands up here week after week and by the Lord’s grace proclaims the truth from this book. Not because we are really smart and know a lot. It’s because we want you to look at this book. We want to get in this book and get this book into you. We should long for it like pure spiritual milk that by it we may grow up into salvation. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is God.” (1 Peter 2:3-4) And oh is the Lord good. His Word is good. The word of God brings holiness. It’s the Holy Spirit through the Word. Let’s long for it. Let’s taste it and see how good the Lord is.

The Call to be Together

The first truth that shapes our calling and identity as ambassadors for Christ is that we are called to life, second we are called to be holy, third is that we are called to be together. This idea of holiness continues from chapter 1 into chapter 2. However, let’s pick it up from 1 Peter 2:1-8. (READ)

I want you to notice the change from the singular to the plural. Verse 4 - “as you come to Him.” This is referring to personal holiness. Verse 5 - “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” Here is a truth that we all probably know but we need to be reminded of from time to time. We cannot do life alone. This is one of the reasons why the church exists so we that we can come together and function like a holy priesthood. However, you want to see how deep this imagery runs? Follow me here, Ezekiel 37:27 says “My dwelling place shall be with them I will be their God and they shall be my people.” In the Old Testament, God’s presence was represented by the Ark of the Covenant which was in tent of meeting. This is how God communicated, I am their God and they are my people. Then fast forward to the New Testament in John 1:14 where it says “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That word for dwelt in the greek means to pitch a tent and live there. So, John 1, referring to Jesus, is saying that he pitched his tent and dwelt with us. Jesus Christ is replacing the need for the Ark of the Covenant. So then, the dwelling place of God is not in the tent of meeting but wherever Jesus is. Going back to 1 Peter 1, we have this living hope inside of us, and now we are living stones that are joined together to make up the church. Not built upon our own effort but built upon the foundation of the cornerstone that was rejected.

This is why you need the church, not a digital form of church, not a half-hearted attempt of coming to church but really just scooting in and scooting out without ever getting to know anyone. We need the church because we are called to be together. We have a saying here, we believe everyone needs to know and be known. That means, connect with a group so well that they know whats going on in your life and you know whats going on in theirs. We need to help remind each other that we are ambassadors, called to a holy life built upon Jesus Christ.

The Call to be Separate

So, as ambassadors for Christ, our identity and calling is first shaped by the truth we are called to life and out of that living hope we are called to be holy and in order to help us in that pursuit of holiness, we are called to be together with other ambassadors. Fourthly, we are called to be separate.

If the call to be holy is the individual call to be spiritually pure morally, the call to be separate is the call for the corporate church to look different than the rest of the world. Look at 1 Peter 2:9-10. (READ). We are called to be different from the rest of the world. This challenge is similar in some ways to the call to holiness, but it is also different because it is a corporate call. How does our church look different than the world? Are we collectively pursuing Jesus and repenting of sin? Well, unfortunately, it is no longer shocking to hear of another church leader caught in scandal. How about social media? Does our presence on social media look and feel different than the rest of the world? Or do we have a tendency to get caught up in the same habits and behaviors that everyone else does?

There are key phrases used verse 9 that help us identify what it means to be separate from the world:

The church is a chosen people. This points us back to our living hope and God’s sovereign hand over our lives.

The church is a royal priesthood. The priests played an important role for Israel in the Old Testament. They had direct access to God. The beauty of the gospel and what Jesus did for us on the cross is that now every single one of us who are believers have direct access to God. We no longer need a priest to perform an animal sacrifice for us. Christ’s sacrifice one for all has opened the way into the most holy place. We can now have direct access to the King.

The church is a holy nation or a people for his own possession. This means that God has set us apart from the rest of the world to look different from them in order that we might display what it means to live for our King. I mentioned before that I am a big Atlanta Braves fan. Chipper Jones is my favorite Brave. When we lived in Florida, we went to a spring training game of theirs and I was able to meet some of the players and ultimately get his autograph. I actually couldn’t tell you where that signature is now, but what I do know is that permanent marker scratching has value because of who it belongs to. In a much grander expression, we are people who belong to God. We are His possession. Our value comes from the fact that we belong to God.

We can sometimes forget that we are pilgrims on a journey and that this place (Earth, the United States) is not our home. Our citizenship belongs to another kingdom. We are not just called to separate from something, we are called to separate to something or better yet to someone.

The Call to Proclaim

So, what does all of this mean? We are called to life, called to be holy, called to be together, called to be separate… now what? Let’s finish with this: 1 Peter 2:11-12. Peter here reminds us that we are sojourners and exiles. As Christians, our primary calling is to live out verses 9-12. Proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. This is the calling of an ambassador. My life is no longer my own. My words are no longer my own. I am supposed to be rung out for the sake of the gospel.

However, our proclamation is dependent upon our pursuit of personal holiness (vs 11) and our corporate holiness (vs 12) or being separate from the world. If we are doing what the rest of the world is doing and our lives look no different than anyone else, then why should someone intentionally make their life uncomfortable in order to follow Jesus when it looks like it doesn’t change anything?

How are you to proclaim? Where are you uniquely placed? Let me put it another way and answer the question with a question:

Where are you to be a witness? Where do you live?

Where are you to be a witness? Where do you work?

Where are you to be a witness? Where do you have fun in town?

Where are you to be a witness? Who do you live with?

Where are you to be a witness? Where do you get coffee? Where do you shop for clothes? Where do you get your groceries?

How are you supposed to proclaim? You are uniquely placed in this life. It is not an accident that you are where you are in May of 2022. That is exactly why we have had a heart for the waterpark area for years until God raised up a couple to spearhead a church planting effort, that we invested in last summer, before a tornado hit, which led to more intentional investment into the families of this community. We are uniquely placed for a purpose and that purpose is to be an ambassador.

Application

So wherever you’re living life normally, proclaim the gospel there and live as an ambassador. Let me ask you this: do they people that you live, work, and play with know that you’re an ambassador for Christ? Does your family? Do your roommates? How are they seeing and hearing that from you?

Our lives, as ambassadors are filled with calling. Things should look different after we encounter Jesus. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at some scripture.

Jesus and the woman at the well - she went away and told the town where they lived and they marveled.

Jesus and the Gerasene demoniac (Mark 5). Maybe you’re familiar with this story but maybe you’ve forgotten it. Jesus meets a man possessed by demons. Not one but many demons. He’s a crazy man who is living in the graveyard of this town. No one could chain him. He was always shouting and cutting himself with stones. He meets Jesus and Jesus casts out the demons and into some pigs who run into the sea and drown. Now the man is sitting down, clothed, in his right mind. The people of the town come to see what has happened and the pig farmers are upset. So the town begs for Jesus to leave. Jesus and disciples get ready to leave and the man who was possessed asks to come with Jesus. Jesus says no, which is odd because at every other turn Jesus was telling people to follow him. However, this time, Jesus says no…why? Mark 5:19 - “And he did not permit him but said to him, ‘Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Go and proclaim. Then they get in the boat and leave. Now the scripture shrinks the amount of time between Mark 5:19 and Mark 5:20 but some years later, someone finds this man and asks him what he has been doing and the man said… “I went home and proclaimed how much Jesus has done for me and everyone marveled.”

See some of you have been placed in Bowling Green for a reason. Go and Proclaim.

Some of you may be leaving Rich Pond to move elsewhere. Go and Proclaim.

But Drew, I don’t know what to proclaim. 1 Peter 5:9. Proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness.

But Drew, I have a lot of pain in my past. I have a messy story. If I told it, I don’t know how people will react.

Let me close with a quote I heard from Pastor Tim Elmore.

You’re supposed to go and proclaim, no matter what. No matter if your story is messy or not (let me give you a hint, they’re all messy in some way)

But Pastor Tim Elmore said this, “If you have wounds in your past, then show your wounds to share your savior.” Show your wounds to share your savior.

It doesn’t matter if your story is messy. That’s what happens when someone is called out of death into life, out of darkness and into light.

Do you think that the Gerasene Demoniac in Mark 5 had some wounds to show? Yes, physically and emotionally. However, he showed them in order that he might proclaim all that Christ had done for him.

Christian, you have a calling in your life. That calling is to step into the life that Jesus offers. That calling is to reject sin and pursue holiness. That calling is to join together with a local church. That calling, as a church, is to corporately strive to be separate from the world. However, we are supposed to be in the world but not of the world. So we go into the world and proclaim who Jesus is and what Jesus does, starting with your own story.

This is your identity as an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Let’s step into it with joy. Let’s pray.