WHAT IS GOD CALLING US TO DO: PART 2

A couple of weeks ago when we began this series called “What on Earth and I here for?” We are having this series because this question gnaws at us. Is there something I should be doing with my life? Is there something I am missing from my life? Or is life something I just make up as I go? Well, whenever I have a question about life, I go to the Creator of Life. I go to God. If I have a question about my new car I go to the Owners Manual, written by people who created my car, for life I go the Bible, inspired by God, the one created life. In our first sermon we answered the question, Is God calling me to do something with my life? We answered that with a yes. However, we also said that this calling is unique to you and your situation. I can’t tell you what it is because that calling is between you and God. However we also said that there are 5 things that God wants us to do with our lives. Last week we said that the first thing God is calling you to do is to be loved. God’s first calling for you is not to do something, not to offer something, and not to sacrifice something. The first thing God is calling on you to do is simply receive something … His love … and we spoke about how God’s love for you can transform your life. 

Today we are going to talk about the second thing God is calling us to do with our lives.

As you may recall from past weeks I was born a product of an adulterous affair. My father was married … just not to my mother. In order to avoid a scandal, my mother moved away from Glace Bay and the very fact I was even born was hidden from pretty much everyone. Because of the shame surrounding my birth and because I lived so far away from Glace Bay, I didn’t know any of my father’s family and, with the exception of my mother’s mother, I didn’t know any of my mother’s family either. In addition, my mother was an alcoholic. As such, we moved around quite a bit. I remember going to 7 different schools in 8 years. This meant that I was always the “new guy.” I didn’t have a lot of friends and there came a point in time when I just stopped trying because we would just move again. Even when classmates and such were friendly to me, I was afraid to invite over to my house because I didn’t know what condition my mother was going to be in.    

Because of all of this, I have always felt like an outsider. Whether it was in school, in social situations, or at family gatherings, I have always felt like I was on the outside looking in. However I remember one day when my grandmother sat me down and went through an old family album with me. It seemed that I shared a trait or mannerism with pretty much everyone in that book. I could sing like my grandfather. I laughed like old uncle Harry. I had uncle Tommy’s quick wit. That was a magical afternoon because it was then that I actually felt connected to something. I discovered that I was part of something larger than myself. I actually felt like I belonged on this earth … that I indeed had a family.

I bring this up because this is God’s second calling for your life … God is calling on you to belong. The Bible says this: Ephesians 1 “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”  John 1 says ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

God doesn’t intend for us to live life alone. We can’t fulfill God’s purposes for our lives on our own, so He has called us to belong to the family He created to love and to be with Him in eternity. The English word “church” in the Bible’s original Greek means “called out.” We are called out of the world into God’s family.

Church is not something you go to.  Church is something you belong to.  It is not an event and it’s not a location.  Church is a relationship. It is a relationship between us and God, between us and each other, and between us and the world. One person cannot be a church. The church is people who have a relationship with God and with each other.

God designed his church as the only way the deepest needs in our lives can be met. Now throughout the Bible the church is often called different things. It’s called the church is called a family.  The church is called a temple.  The church is called a body.  The church is called a flock.  And the church is called a garden. Each one of these have profound implications for your life.  If you understand the five meanings of these five metaphors you will understand how the church was designed, God’s family was designed, to meet your deepest needs in life. 

1.      In God’s family I learn my true identity.

Who am I? That is probably the most important question we can ask? Who am I? What is my place in this world? What is my role?  

Most of our identity comes from our relationships and the relationships we have with our parents and grandparents. As parents and grandparent what do we do? We try to instill in our children good values, teach them right from wrong, we try to show them love and affection so they know they are loved, we try to put them in sports and push them to join groups and encourage them to learn so they can build confidence skills and experiences that are fun and will help them along their way.  We tell them stories about our lives and our family’s lives so they are rooted in a history and they know where they came from. We help build a positive identity. And when they come home crying because of what some bully might have said, or come home broken hearted after a breakup, or dejected because they failed at something they really tried hard at what do we do? He hug them and build them back up … we repair their identity. And when they start hanging around with the wrong crowd or start doing things that will bring them to no good, we reach out and to them before they get lost.  Our family has a great impact on our identity, who we are and how we see ourselves.

But you know what, not everyone comes from families whose parents and grandparents are loving and caring. My family was broken. My family was almost non-existent. And you know what, even the best families can only take us so far on their own, but here is the good news, there is more to your family then just your Earthly family.  Ephesians 2:19 “You are members of God’s very own family… and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.”

When you belong to the church, when you belong to the family of God you begin to learn who you truly are. Through the scriptures that are read, through the sermons that are preached, through the messages in the music that we sing, through the sacraments that we engage in, through the Bible Studies we attend, and through the fellow believers, our brothers and sisters I Christ who surround us in the pews, we begin to learn how God sees us, we begin to learn who we truly are.  

Who are you? Who does God say you are?

You are a beloved child of God. Let that sink in. Regardless of how you were treated at home, regardless of how your parents made you fee, you are a beloved child of God. You are loved. You are cared for. Your life is important to God. You are not a stranger to God. You are not alone in this world. The heavenly Father loves you and sees you as one of his children:

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1, NIV)

You have a loving, protective Heavenly Father who keeps watch over you and is always ready to listen when you want to talk with him.

Who are you? Who does God say you are? You are forgiven.

I don’t know how many people I have met are staggering under a heavy load of guilt because of something they did, something they said, or someone they disappointed. I know people have been carrying around unfair expectations that other have put on them and are being crushed under the weight of being blamed by others for things that have happened in their life; when they look in the mirror they see themselves as a failure, or a burden, or an anchor around their families neck. But that is not how God sees you. God sees you as forgiven. God sees your life as a joy. God doesn’t see your past failures, God sees your future victories.  

"All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." (Acts 10:43, NIV)

Always remember that God didn’t make you to be perfect, He made you to be human. You don’t to earn His forgiveness or earn His love. It is already there. God sees you as forgiven. Your job is to accept that gift.

Who are you? When you belong to the family of God you are a person of hope. When tragedy hits and you feel as if life is closing in on you, God sees you as a person of hope. No matter how bleak the situation, Jesus is with you through it all.  Hope is not based on what we can muster up. It's based on the One we have hope in: Our Father in Heaven. If your hope feels weak, remember, child of God, your Father is strong.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

When you belong to the church, when you belong to the family of God you begin to learn who you truly are. Through the scriptures that are read, through the sermons that are preached, through the messages in the music that we sing, through the sacraments that we engage in, through the Bible Studies we attend, and through the fellow believers, our brothers and sisters I Christ who surround us in the pews, we begin to learn how God sees us, we begin to learn who we truly are.  When you see yourself as God sees you, it will change your entire perspective on life. It's not pride or vanity or self-righteousness. It's the truth, supported by the Bible. Accept the gifts God has given you. Live knowing you are a child of God, mightily and wonderfully loved.

A lot of families, to advertise their identity they have a symbol or they have a family crest.  Scottish families have a tartan that defines their families.  Do you know what God’s tartan is? It’s baptism.  Being baptized is the public symbol that says I’m not ashamed to say I’m a part of the family. If you haven’t been born again into the family of God I strongly encourage it.

That’s the first metaphor – I’m in a family and my family helps me understand my true identity. 

There’s a second metaphor that God uses to describe the church.  He says the church is like a temple.

It’s like a temple.  In other words it’s like a building that is erected for God’s glory.  It’s a building where God’s presence shows up.  Where God is loved.  Where God is honored and worshiped.  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:16 “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and his Spirit lives in you?”  He’s talking to the church.

Why did God choose a temple as one of the illustrations of what it’s like to be in his family in the church?  Because in a building, all of the connected parts support each other.  This is the second benefit that you get from being a part of the family of God. 

2.      In God’s temple I’m supported by others. 

I’m not out there on my own.  I’m not a lone ranger.  I’m not by myself.  In the strongest structure of a building we support and we hold each other up.  In a building all the connected parts hold each other together. 

There are going to be some times in your life when you need other people to hold you together.  You’re going to need them to hold you together because you’re falling apart. That is what like being part of the church. If you’re not in the building of God, the temple of God, the family of God, the church of God what is going to help hold you up when the forces of life are tearing you down? You’re going to fall apart.

The Bible says in Ephesians 2 “In Christ the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in [Jesus] you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”  So together, we altogether form the family of God and we form the temple of God. Together we support one another and bring stability to our lives.

What is the temple of God?  A building.  A disconnected frame has no support, it has no stability.  Stability is the second greatest need in your life.  You need identity and you need stability.  You need to be a part of a family to understand your identity and you need to be a part of God’s temple to get the stability where we support and connect to each other.  You weren’t meant to go through life alone. 

Let me give you a third metaphor.  The third description of the church in the Bible is it is a flock.

It is a flock, like a flock of sheep.  We’re God’s family – we learn our identity.  We’re in God’s temple – we’re supported by each other.  And in God’s flock we’re banded together. 

Psalms 100:3 says this, “God made us and we are his.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” 

Probably you’re thinking, I’m a sheep in a flock?  That doesn’t sound too appealing.  Because we live in suburbia we’ve never seen a sheep and we have no idea how well sheep are taken care of.  So let me read you what Jesus said about shepherds and flocks and sheep.  John 10, “I am the good shepherd.  And the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.  A hired hand runs away because he cares nothing for the sheep. But I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and my sheep know me.  I lay down my life for my sheep.  They listen to my voice and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they will never perish.  No one will ever be able to snatch my sheep out of my hand.” That is a flock I want to be part of.

I’m God’s temple.  I’m God’s family.  And I am in God’s flock. 

Why did God choose a flock of sheep as an illustration of what the church is like?  Because…

3.      In God’s flock I’m protected and I’m cared for. 

I’m not on my own.  I have other people looking out for me.  I enjoy safety and security because I’ve got a shepherd.  And that makes me more confident.  And that makes me less anxious and less fearful.  I know that God is protecting me because I’m in his flock. 

When is that important?  When I’m being beat up in the business world.  When my family or my marriage is being strained to the breaking point.  When I’m facing a personal crisis or a terminal illness.  I need to know that someone is protecting and caring for me. 

Not just God cares and protects you but in the flock of God we help each other.  What you need in your life is you need some people who will step up to bat for you when you need them.  You need some people who walk into your life when everybody else walks out of your life.  Do you have anybody like that?  That’s what the church is for.  We are to walk into each other’s life when everybody else walks out.  I don’t know how many times I have heard “I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t for my church family. That’s what it means to be in the flock of God. Here’s what the Bible says, Galatians 6:2, “Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way you obey the law of Christ.”

What is the law of Christ?  Love your neighbor as yourself.  When you hear of someone going through a hard time and you pray for them, or you visit them in the hospital, or send them a note or call them on the phone with an encouraging word, or offer a drive to church, then you have just shepherded the flock. I have had people in this church come to me and tell me that they have felt your prayers when they have been in a crisis and that was such a comfort to them. There is protection and care in God’s flock.

You need to be a part of a family to understand your identity and you need to be a part of God’s temple to get the stability where we support and connect to each other.  We need to be part of a flock where we can band together and be protected.

God made you to love you, that is His first calling on your life, but He also wants you to learn to love Him back. How do you show your love for God? Well, you learn about Him, you worship Him, and you love the things that God loves – and does God love? People – Love your neighbour as yourself.

Where can we go to hear about God? The church. Where can we go to be surrounded by believers? The church. Where can we go to deepen our faith? The church. Where can we go to practice our faith? The church. Where can we go to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ? The church.     

We are called to be loved and the second calling in our lives is to belong to the family, the temple, the flock … we are called to belong to the church of God.