The Calling

Sometime in the 90s A.D. (not the 1990s, just the 90s) a guy named Clement wrote a letter on behalf of the church of Rome to the church in the city of Corinth. He wrote the letter because there was a division among the church that was, in the words of Clement, "...stoked by a few reckless and headstrong persons to such a pitch of madness that your venerable and renowned reputation, worthy of everyone's love, has been greatly slandered." (Taken from Bart Ehrman's book The Lost Scriptures. pg. 168).

There were a few people speaking negatively and slandering the reputation of a church that really was worthy of love. Clement wrote this letter to address this situation and said, "Why are there conflicts, fits of anger, dissensions, factions and war among you? Do we not have one God, and one Christ, and one gracious Spirit that has been poured out upon us, and one calling in Christ? Why do we mangle and mutilate the members of Christ and create factions in our own body? Why do we come to such a pitch of madness as to forget that we are members of one another?"(Erhman, 168).

I said last week that if we are going to forge our future in ministry, it must be done together. There are so many ways to "do church." There are so many ways that things could look or feel or sound, and they could all be effective at reaching different types of people. But the fact is, while there are many ways to do things, there is only one God, one Christ, one Spirit, and one calling."


Paul says in Romans 8:28, "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." We have a calling! Regardless of what things look like and what things sound like, we have a calling! And that calling is what unites us and drive us to move forward together, committed to each other, committed to this church, and committed to the purposes of God.

In life and in church there can be all kinds of sufferings. But "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." You and I have been called by God to a purpose. It is a purpose that involves an abundant life and abundant worship. It is sharing life together, growing in our faith, and reaching out. These three things make up a healthy spiritual and church life. Live...Grow...Reach.

There will always be corporations that can spend millions on marketing and looks. There will always be million dollar productions put on by our favorite bands. There will always be a church somewhere that has a cooler pastor, a cooler worship team, a better building, or website or whatever. But that is not what we are about! We are about pressing in to God to grow in faith, and pressing into each other to share life, and pressing in to the world to reach out.

This is what we see happening in the early church. We read about the church in Acts 2 having all things in common so that no one had need, and devoting themselves to the apostles teaching, prayer, breaking bread, worship and all that. And the Bible said that the Lord added to their number daily!

So together we united under the calling of God, to share life, grow in faith, and reach out. Live, grow, reach. And as we do these things together, the more we will experience breakthrough in our lives and in our community.

Praise God!

It was great worshipping with you on Sunday.

See you next week at the Gathering!
-Tim