In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle, Paul urges us to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1). This begs us to answer the question, “What is my calling?” This question has not crossed my path once or twice, but many times in my life. For many years, in my youth, I believed my calling was to be a worship leader. Yes, this is something that I am called to do, but it is not my “calling.”
Let me explain further, singing and leading worship is something that the Lord had gifted me with, but gifts can be taken away, the calling on our lives, however, can never be altered or demolished. Our calling is eternal, it will go on forever. I am not saying that missions or preaching or singing or ministry “a” “b” or “c” aren’t callings, in fact they are very important to the body of Christ and the Kingdom of God, I am merely saying that Paul is describing a deeper calling, one that is not dependent on our gifts or personalities, but a calling that every child of God is meant for.
So, what is our calling? What is God’s purpose for this world?
To answer simply, it is: “To bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).
Unity.
Firstly, by bringing salvation to us, Jesus “has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations” (Ephesians 2:14-15). Now, this scripture in context is referring to how the Gentiles, through the blood of Christ, were joined with the Israelites as citizens of the Kingdom of God, but even more so, that there would be peace between man and God because Christ had united us and reconciled us to God by His death and resurrection. We are now one body and through Jesus “have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18).
Unity.
Unity is our deeper calling. Unity with the body – unity with Jesus. It sounds simple enough, but outside of the Spirit, unity is impossible. Without the love of Christ overflowing from our hearts unity is unattainable.
We are “one body and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6). So why do we see divisions among us and thousands of denominations? The body of Christ has not yet come into the fullness of God. However, scripture says one day we will. We are all headed down the path to spiritual maturity and fullness of Christ when we desire that maturity and seek God.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he tells us that the church is unified by the bond of peace. And who is our Peace? Jesus, “For he himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14).
Just as the bones in our fleshly bodies are held together by ligaments, the church body is held together by Jesus, our bond, our peace. Without Jesus the body will crumble.
What is one of the biggest enemies of the Church?
Division.
With division comes selfish ambition, jealousy, pride, insecurity, fear, greed…just to name a few. The enemy knows this and, most assuredly, he will use it. How many times have we, ourselves, been guilty of feeding into these lies of division? Allowed division to take a foothold on our hearts? Too many times I would care to admit.
However, Paul gives us hope in combating this division:
“Be completely humble and gentle: be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:2-6).
The main thing I would like everyone to take away from this is that our “unity” is a “unity of the Spirit.” We must submit to the Spirit dwelling in us in order to accomplish this wholeheartedly. You must “put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds: and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 2:22-24).
We the Church must allow the love of Christ to overflow from our hearts and we can do this through obedience and submission to the greatest commands, to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
Again, I want to repeat what I had mentioned earlier, our calling, our ministries on this earth is very important, in fact it is being used to get us to our “deeper calling.” It doesn’t end with our gifts, it ends with our coming together as one body with Christ under God; this is our end goal.
My prayer is that I have broken this down in a way that edifies and inspires my fellow Christians to live and love like Christ in and through the Spirit that dwells in us. And I will end with this:
“It was he(Jesus) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).
Michelle Young
Trinity Christian Center Church
