Discovering and Accepting God’s Calling

Ephesians 2:8-9

Jim Davis

Our world seems to be disintegrating. Things once considered unspeakable are now shouted from rooftops and billboards. Society is disintegrating with seemly no suitable thing to bond it together. We are forever building our sand castles on the shores of time only to wake up to the inundated storms sweeping them away as we look for someone to blame. Yet, we are almost insanely committed to the proposition that we have all the answers to our problems.1 

It was Aristotle who said, “Like archers, we shall stand a far greater chance of hitting the target if we can see it.” The question is, “What is the target?”2 We spend so much time defining the problems and their causes that we overlook the solutions. 

Living in a society like ours forces a question: What kind of man, what kind of woman, does it take to make a permanent impact in a perishing society?3  We are beginning to hear much about our self-absorb society. Many of our problems are the direct result of looking out for Number One. This makes society impersonal and taken to its extreme it leads to extreme cruelty. It is a kind of philosophy that makes each of us our own god as we use the world to fulfill our personal needs. 

Syncretism has taken over. Syncretism is a combination of different forms of belief or practice. I go through life accepting whatever works for me. We gather teachings from a variety of belief systems and come up with our own personal doctrine for living. We are much like the Athenians who were always searching to enhance themselves through the discovery of some new truth (Acts 17). Self-embellishment is usually the heart and core of syncretism. 

Christian living is much different; Christ turns us from the doctrine of me-ism. The call of the gospel is to transform how we see the world and interact with others for their benefit. 

Discovering Our Calling

Most move through life with this sense of a higher calling with no idea what it is. It is what God is calling us to do. It is about God. It is not about me, it is about God. 

Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Christian life is about engaging in the work God prepared in advance for us to do. Paul writes, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” If God prepared in advance to our being born work for us to do, shouldn’t his works should be the focus of our lives. God created us in Christ Jesus to do good works? You may look around and think, “Well what is the work?” It is the work God prepared in advance for us to do. 

Faith is not a magic formula for manipulating God to grant us the wishes of our hearts. Faith enables us to engage in the works God has called us to do so that we can gain wisdom from him as we bring his love and power to bear on human situations with lasting impact. 

The apostle Paul initially sought a life contrary to God’s call. He was like many of us. He was pursuing God on Paul’s terms until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Galatians 1:13-24
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. 

18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles — only James, the Lord's brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. 21 Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24 And they praised God because of me. 

Paul was born to do the work, which God prepared in advance for him to do before he was born. “There is a vast difference between your career and your calling. Your career is what you do to make a living. Your calling is what you are made to do.”4 Actors often in the beginning of their pursuit of acting have a job to sustain them while they are passionately pursuing an acting profession. Their job isn’t their passion. Acting is their passion.

You were born to passionately pursue God’s calling. We were created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Too many of us refuse to acknowledge God’s way. The call of the world separates us from God. 

Cyrus was conquering kingdoms God planned for him to conquer before Cyrus was born. Isaiah speaks of Cyrus before he was born. 

Isaiah 45:7
"This is what the LORD says to his anointed, 
to Cyrus , 
whose right hand I take hold of 
to subdue nations before him 
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 
2 I will go before you and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. 
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name. 
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me. 
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me, 
6 so that from the rising of the sun 
to the place of its setting 
men may know there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other. 
7 I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things. 

Two extremely important truths presented in Paul and Cyrus’ lives. The first is that God was at work in Paul’s life to reveal his specific purpose for Paul’s life. He was set apart from birth, but it took him awhile to discover his calling. It was impossible for him to discover God’s purpose as long as he sought his own selfish agenda. Living for Christ involves total dependence on God. It is where everything is coming from God and nothing is coming from me. 

Secondly, the world may not acknowledge the God we worship, but they don’t have to acknowledge him before God can use them to fulfill his will for our lives. Joseph’s brothers meant evil against their brother when they sold him into slavery. They were motivated by me-ism. Later Joseph tells them, “You meant for evil, God meant it for good. As I read through the Old Testament Scriptures, it is as if it was surreal world. God’s presence in our world today is just as real. Isaiah foresaw God would move the heart of Cyrus to bless the Israelites. The heathen king would refuse to acknowledge God. Daniel lived under the reign of Cyrus. I wonder what would have happened, if Daniel had of taken the scroll of Isaiah to Cyrus to show him that he was doing God’s bidding. There is no indication that Cyrus ever acknowledged the God of the Jews. 

Once we acknowledge God, it forces us to begin asking ourselves some serious questions. Can I really accomplish anything worthwhile without accepting God’s call? Even if God uses you to accomplish his purpose without you ever acknowledging him, what good will it do you? 

John 15:5-8
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you 
bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

We can do NOTHING without Christ—NOTHING—NOTHING. Our need is total. Our confidence is misplaced as we trust in ourselves. It is not about me. It is about Him. It is about becoming a part of what God is doing in our world.5  

Questions We Must Ask Ourselves

Is my life pleasing to God? God said, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” God found all of his pleasure in Christ. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus delighted to do the will of God. This is why God found all his pleasure in his Son. 

John 4:34-38
34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."  

John 5:19
19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

John 6:28-29
28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

John 14:11-14
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. 

Howard Hendricks said, “Another question we should ask is the work well done? The tragedy – I’ve faced it all of my life in ministry – is the large number of people, even on the mission field and certainly across America and other countries where there are many Christians, the average person doesn’t even have a clue that they have a gift. And if they do, it has never become their passion – the one thing they need to focus their whole life doing. So the result is that you will find a lot of people in the Christian community who are successful but they are not significant. We live in an age where a person can be eminently successful and a complete failure. They are famous but they’re not fulfilled. They’re wealthy but they are bankrupt because they have never discovered that they were created in Christ to do good works which God prepared for them to do.”6
You all know of Michelangelo, but do you know of Bertoldo? It’s a debate in art circles as to which one is the greater – Michelangelo the pupil or Bertoldo, the one who produced him. And like a great teacher, he recognized that often very gifted individuals often tend to ride on their giftedness rather than develop it and he warned Michelangelo constantly. One day he came into the studio and Michelangelo was piddling with a little piece of statuary that he was working on and accomplishing nothing. He went over, picked up a sledgehammer and batted that thing into a thousand pieces and as they ricocheted all over the studio Bertoldo was heard to say, “Michelangelo, talent is cheap. Dedication is costly.” 7
There is a direct cause/effect relationship. How disciplined are you? How dedicated are you? This separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. Because you end up with a mania of mediocrity in which anything is good enough for God. And it isn’t.8
The third important question is how well is the word of God used? We often dream of a higher calling, but we will never discover our higher calling without using to Word of God well. The Word of God is designed to focus our lives on God’s call. 
Living in a society like ours forces a question: What kind of man, what kind of woman, does it take to make a permanent impact in a perishing society?9 It may surprise us to realize that Christ’s sermon on the mountainside was about changing how we perceive and interact with our world and one another. This is the work God is calling each of us to do. Believe it or not this is also the call of the world. The world is forever seeking to change our perception and interaction with the world. There is a battle between the world’s view and God’s view. 

Acknowledging God’s presence is where it begins.
Pray for God’s word to come to fruition in your life as it is in heaven.
Praying for your enemies.
Doing good to those who persecute you.
Seeking your enemy’s highest good.
Treating others like you want to be treated.
Going the second mile with those who use and abuse you.
Controlling lustful thoughts.
Conclusion:

It doesn’t take much of a man to be a Christian; it takes all there is of him.

Are you willing to die to self to be joined to Christ?