10th Sunday after Pentecost
July 29, 2018
Ephesians 4:1-16
“Live
a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”
I
did not grow up reading comic books or familiar with the stories of all these
superheroes whose movies are coming out. I knew Spiderman from the newspaper
comics. I knew Batman from the old 1960s TV show with Adam West and Burt Ward.
I knew vaguely of Superman and Wonder Woman. All the rest of these guys have
been new to me: X-men, Ironman, Ant Man, Captain America, the Black Panther.
It’s been a whole new world that my husband has introduced me to. The ones that
intrigue me most are the ones whose stories have biblical overtones, the ones
whose values are Christian virtues of honesty, integrity, trust, the ones whose
stories are about redemption, loyalty, and human frailty. Ironman is the
prodigal son, he’s actually called that in the first movie and there were so
many biblical references in that movie it was easy to craft a sermon around it.
In addition to movies, Marvel Comics is also dropping TV series on Netflix.
We’re currently in the middle of season 2 of Luke Cage. Luke went to prison for
a crime he didn’t commit and while in prison, voluntarily went through some
experimentation that left him with unbreakable skin and superhuman strength.
Season 1 is the story of after he gets out of jail and now in season 2 he is
reunited with his father, who’s a pastor. They have some great heart-to-heart
father-son conversations, and Luke’s dad tells him that his power is a gift
from God and that he has a calling. There are a few more details than that, but
it’s the first time where a superhero’s power is attributed to God and where a
superhero’s mission is called a calling. Luke has a calling, to use his power
for good, to help people, to help bear the burdens of pain and brokenness and
darkness, to free people from the oppression of the enemy.
We
read this morning Paul’s encouragement to the Ephesians to lead a life worthy
of the calling which you have received. This is what Luke tries to do. Live a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. God
graciously extended this calling to you. So, lead a life worthy of it. What
does that mean? Well, it helps to know just what this calling is.
First,
the first thing God calls you is his
beloved child. Before you were called
anything else, before your parents named you, before you received nicknames or
titles or labels, before you were told you were good at this and bad at that,
God called you his beloved child with whom he is well pleased. Before you
belonged to anyone else, you belonged to God. Before anyone else gave you a
title or a name, God said you were his beloved child. Before anyone else knew
your strengths and your weaknesses, God knew. Before anyone else tried to tear
you down, God was there, building you up. You are God’s beloved. You were
“intimately loved long before [your] parents, teachers, spouses, children, and
friends loved or wounded [you].”[1]
Listen to that voice that says, “I have called you by name, from the very
beginning. You are mine… my Beloved… I have molded you together in the depths
of the earth and knitted you together in your mother’s womb. I have carved you
into the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace… I have
counted every hair on your head and guided you at every step. Wherever you go,
I go with you, and wherever you rest, I keep watch. I will give you food that
will satisfy all your hunger and drink that will quench all your thirst. I will
not hide my face from you… You belong to me… Nothing will ever separate us.”[2]
That is your calling. You belong to God. You are named as God’s own. The seal
is placed on our forehead during baptism and nothing can undo it. Living into
that life of the baptized, the life of God’s people, that’s what Paul’s talking
about when he encourages us to live lives worthy of the call we’ve received. This
isn’t making sure we’re worthy of God’s love or worthy of our call; we’re not
talking about a burden of proof. This is worthy in the sense that our lives
match the call we’ve received, that we’re following the call God has extended
to us.
You
see, as God’s beloved, God sends us into
the world. God sends us into the world to show love, to bind the wounds of
the brokenhearted, to offer a kind word, to join God in his work of redeeming
and restoring the world. And it’s not so much a doing as it is a way of being
in the world. As Paul tells the Ephesians, we are to be “humble and gentle; be
patient, [and] bear with one another in love.”[3]
What a difference a gentle touch can make! What a difference a kind gesture can
make. Letting someone go in front of you. Sharing what you have. Smiling at
someone who looks like they’re having a rough day. And bear with one another in
love. It’s what we do here in the church. It’s what we do with our families. We
love each other, we’re in this together for the long haul, so let’s figure it
out. Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of this verse is to say “Walk—better yet,
run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting
around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that
goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in
fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of
love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.” Pouring
yourself out for each other in acts of love. That’s what it means to live a
life that matches God calling you his beloved. Remember, God, in the person of
Jesus, poured himself out in acts of love. God becoming incarnate, taking on
flesh, being born as Jesus, right there is God pouring himself out, long before
you even get to the cross. Jesus poured himself out in acts of love many times.
We are called, we are invited, to do the same.
“God
not only says, ‘You are my Beloved.’ God also asks, ‘Do you love me?’ and
offers us countless chances to say ‘Yes.’”[4]
Did you say yes at the grocery store, when another shopper pushed past you? Did
you say yes, while driving, when another driver apparently didn’t know the
rules of a traffic circle? Did you say yes, when listening to a friend who has
made some very different decisions than you would have made? Did you say yes
when you got up this morning, or did you grumble at having to get up? I still
remember a retreat speaker I heard years ago talk about two different ways to
greet the Lord in the morning. You can choose to say, “O Lord, it’s morning!”
Or, you can choose to say, “O Lord! It’s morning.” How do you begin your day?
At every point along your journey there is a choice to say yes to God’s calling
and a choice to say no.[5]
At each step you can choose to testify to love, to what Jesus has done for you,
and act accordingly. Or you can say, no. In a few weeks we’ll read about
disciples who left Jesus and stopped following him because his teachings were
too hard to accept.[6] They
couldn’t do it. And the truth is we couldn’t do it on our own, either. We can
only accept God’s invitation to lead a holy life by God’s grace and with God’s
help. We need Jesus, too. Because with his help, then we can live lives that
are a fitting response to what God has done.
Then we can equip God’s people for the work of ministry and build up Christ’s
body, the church. We are in the construction business, not the demolition business!
We are here to help each other, to affirm each other’s calling as God’s
beloved, to lift each other up when they fall. Because that’s what God’s family
does.
Finally,
while all are called beloved, while all are called to love God and love your
neighbor, while all are to follow John Wesley’s three simple rules of do no
harm, do good, and stay in love with God, sometimes
there is a call within a call. You may have heard this phrase if you’re
familiar with the life of Mother Teresa. At age 18 she became a nun, joining
the order of the Sisters of Loreto and was sent to teach in the order’s schools
in India. Eighteen years later, she received “a call within a call.” She
discerned that God wanted something more from her, “to be poor with the poor
and to love [God] in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.” Her
order gave her permission to follow this call within a call and she moved to
Calcutta and replaced her nun’s habit with a white sari with blue border. At
age 40, the Vatican gave her permission to organize the Missionaries of Charity
and it was decades more before the world noticed her work. Mother Teresa followed her call and offered
the dying of Calcutta into her home to receive loving care and respect until
they died. Mother Teresa knew she was God’s Beloved and she knew this was how
God called her to share his love with the world.
Talking
about “the world” can be such a vague and unhelpful term. Yes, broadly, we are
called to share God’s love with the world. That’s the general call. Yet, there’s
also a specific call, we are to share God’s love with people here, in this
place, at this time. Here, where we’re planted. The description I find the most
helpful in figuring out the details is the way author and pastor Frederick
Buechner puts it, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep
gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” This is the intersection of your
gifts and passions with the world’s needs. What does our community need? What
does our church need? What are your strengths and gifts? How would you love to
serve the Lord?
God
calls you Beloved. God sends you into the world. How do you live so that your
life aligns with God’s call? How, specifically, do you build up the church? How
do your gifts intersect with the needs of our community? Who are you going to
choose to be, remembering that on that great day you’ll be called up and God
will ask what you did with the gifts he gave you?[7]
Live as people of peace, with humility, gentleness, and patience, pouring
yourself out for one another in acts of love. And God will say, “well done,
good and faithful servant.” You are God’s beloved, given to the world to bear
witness to God’s love, sharing that no one has to prove that they are worthy of
being loved, they already are.
[1] Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen, p.
36
[2]
Ibid., p. 36-37
[3]
Ephesians 4:2
[4]
Nouwen, p. 133
[5]
Ibid., p. 134
[6]
John 6:60-66
[7]
Matthew 25:19
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