Ephesians 4:1 - The Call

"Therefore, I am urging you, I the prisoner in [the] Lord, worthily to walk of the calling of which you [all] were called..."

-It’s all about our calling, a high calling.  How high?  We have been summoned by almighty God Himself, called into His family, into His very household, into an assembly consisting of gathered peoples out of every nation, Jews and Gentiles, and we/you all are being built into a holy temple, a dwelling of God in the Spirit, a place where He dwells and shows off His breathtaking goodness to and through His people.  This is what Paul was talking about before he got sidetracked in Chapter 3 (Ephesians 2.13-18, 2.21-22).  Our calling to salvation was not in isolation, it was not only about me and my fire insurance, about me-myself-and-I getting my sins forgiven.  Our calling was about a joining of peoples, the assembling together of the nations, about removing dividing walls and enmities and about creating a body, a holy temple of united worshippers who will be known by the love they have for one another, the body of Christ, brought together through the blood of Christ.  One group, one new man, one body, one Spirit.  Our calling is not simply out of the world and into heaven, it is into a new nation, a new family.  Brothers and sisters.  Compatriots.  Where peace reigns.  Love.  Forgiveness.  Reconciliation.  Tremendous sacrifices have been made in order to bring this about, by God Himself as well as by His servants like Paul who have endured extreme hardship and persecution and even martyrdom for the sake of this Body of Christ, this assembly of called-out-and-called-together ones which we call the Church.

-And there are multitudes still to be gathered into this assembly.  The stakes couldn’t be higher.  The cost has been incalcuable.  Because of this it is absolutely imperative that those who are now alive on the earth and who belong to this Body conduct themselves in a way that is in keeping with the call, upwards and outwards.  We are talking about both a holy household which does life together like a family and in doing so increases the knowledge and celebration of the breathtaking goodness of God, and we are also talking about an ongoing rescue mission, full-on all-in commitment to loving and serving and getting the Good News about Jesus to a lost world and to the lost souls around us who are stumbling headlong towards a huge spiritual cliff, a horrible and irreversible fate awaiting them if we fail to intervene with the Good News.

-And actually the first step here is to begin with manifesting God’s goodness within the body....