What are we called to be? Sermon Epiphany 2 2014

Over the next few weeks we will be looking together at the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.  Now when we think of 1 Corinthians I wonder what you first think about? For most people I bet chapter 13 the great hymn of love comes to mind.

But actually when we look at what Paul is saying to the Corinthian church it was far from a church that was very loving – it had made big mistakes, their were petty arguments going on over leadership.

Someone once said to me if you find the perfect church leave it because you will only mess it up. In other words no church is perfect we all get things wrong = and so I think we can learn a great deal from what Paul is saying here to the Corinthian church – because like that church in our church surprise surprise we don’t always get it right too.

So I want us to look at the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 1 in terms of how we see God’s calling to us as his people.

Let’s think about what we mean about calling for a moment or two to start with.

In Christian terms we talk a lot about calling,  our gospel reading this morning we see Jesus calling the first disciples to follow him.

When someone is involved in vocational work whether it be in the religious sense or in education, in health or social work we talk about it as that person having a calling to do that. So the language we use of calling is all about our vocation.

But are we actually right to do this?

Being ordained, or being a missionary or a monk or something like that, is quite secondary to the real, the central call we all have from God. Those two followers of John the Baptist who Jesus asked to “come and see” were called exactly as we are called. They were called to be disciples – just as we are called to be disciples. They were called to be disciples in their place and in their time, for the sake of their generation.

One of the things this means is that we don’t have to imitate Andrew’s, or John’s, or Peter’s actions in order to see, with some clarity, how their call is like the call of Christ to each of us, and to all of us.

The first thing to notice is that Jesus does not first, or primarily, call them to do a particular task or to fill a particular role. Indeed, he didn’t ask them to do anything. Our call as Christians is not initially for us – as it was not, initially, for his first disciples – a call to tasks.

It is, instead, an invitation to relationship. Jesus does not say, “Do this”; he says, “Come and see.” Only later does he give specific content and direction to where that might lead. There’s a big difference between a call to a task and an invitation to relationship.

To respond to a call for relationship, for intimacy, is a very different thing from signing up to do a piece of work – in the same way that falling in love is very different from getting hired. To set out to do a job requires some clarity about what is involved, it’s negotiable, it has its limits, you know what it looks like when the job is over, and so on. To be called into relationship – to be called in love – this is an invitation to enter a mystery; it’s to move out, blindly, into uncharted waters.

When Jesus says, “Follow me,” he is calling us first to himself – to a personal intimacy and a shared life. That’s what matters, that’s what is primary. Everything else is left behind; everything else becomes secondary.

Now, if we look at Jesus’ call from the perspective of what’s left behind, it’s a call to repent. But if we see that same call from the perspective of what comes next, then it’s a call to seek him first, to know him better and to move toward making that relationship the central focus of our lives.

So when we see calling in that way – we can see that each of us have been called by God to be in relationship with him.

Each of us have been called by God to grow in that relationship with him.

That is our primary calling in life – over our call to be in my case a vicar, or in someone elses case a teacher, or an it person or a housewife.

Our primary call – our primary focus in life is our calling to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

So seeing our calling in this way – how does Paul at the beginning of Corinthians help us to unpack this a bit.

What does that call mean to us?  and here Paul begins to give us some ideas.

Firstly it is a call to be holy.  We live lives as Christians in holiness.

When I type my name in on a computer keyboard often I end up making mistakes because the t is next to the y, and if you do this what do you end up with Lucy Holy.

Very apt some may say to do with my job – but I have to say most of the time I feel far from Holy – in how I live my life and the constant mistakes I make.

But Paul here says that we are called to holiness. Now this isn’t having a go at them telling them they are not living holy enough lives here.

But Paul is saying that actually because of what God has done for us through Jesus we live in holiness.

By God’s grace no matter what we do or say, or think, no matter how we act – if we come to him in forgiveness he will wipe the slate clean and enable us to come in holiness.

So because of God’s grace shown to us on the cross of Christ when all our sin was forgiven, taken away, washed clean we can come to  God now in holiness.

We have been called by God and made holy by him. What we must never forget is that this is not about what we do, how hard we try but it is all about the fact that God initiated this and gave us this gift through his own grace.

And then in response to this grace we are told elsewhere that we should try to live lives that are worthy of this calling – but this is in response.

So firstly we are called to be Holy.

And then Paul says we are called to be his church.

Paul addresses the church in Corinth as the Church of God in Corinth and reminds then that they are linked together with other churches too. Read verse 2.

In other words Paul might be saying here that they shouldn’t think they have the monopoly of God’s attention. He is urging them to see that they are part of a bigger picture.

We know that this Church is a church with problems. We can see that from just reading on into the verse 10 of chapter 1 when we see the divisions of the Church. Paul is writing to them to address these problems.

We all know that when we have issues in the life of our church or with other Christians  they can become all consuming. Somehow they can seem worse than issues you have in secular life, probably because we expect better of each other.

But what Paul is saying here is that your issues and concerns might seem as if they are that matters. But in reality, not only is God much bigger than your problems but the church of Jesus Christ also extends far beyond the border of Corinth's city limits.

Keeping the bigger picture in mind does not mean Corinth's issues are minor. Paul's passion to address the conflicts in church is evident throughout the letter.  However, severe conflict has the tendency to reduce our field of vision to a narrow tunnel. Paul seems to be declaring to the Christians at Corinth: You really are not that important! And...you are part of much bigger body.

We are called to be not only Holy says Paul but we are called to be part of the worldwide church of God.

And then I think thirdly Paul is saying that we are called to use the gifts for his purpose that he has given us.

For most of us involved in church life we hear ourselves say things like  - well if we could only have someone who would lead the childrens work then things would be Ok, or if we only had someone who could do this or that then we could really turn the church around.

But Paul here seems to be turning this idea on the head. Because here he is saying that God has given us all the gifts we need within our church… Paul tells us that we have all the spiritual gifts we need.

We have them here, and now, yes we could have more people but all the gifts we need are within the church already.

Eugene Peterson in the Message a paraphrase of the bible translates these verses like this:

Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.

We are called into a relationship with God and with that calling God urges each to play their part in building up His Church. He has equipped us with all the things we need, and he reminds us that he is with us all times.

Being in relationship with God – our first calling as Christians- means that God not only gives us the gifts we need but also that we can depend upon that relationship.

So if God has equipped us with the gifts we need to build up the church then it is our responsibility to use those gifts to do just that.

So today as we think about our calling as Christians perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether or not we are honestly using the gifts that God has equipped us with.

Today we have seen the call of the first disciples and we have been reminded that that call was not to tasks but to a relationship with the living God.

In that sense we are all have a calling from God too.

And that calling is to be holy – not because of anything we have done but because of what God has done for us.

That calling is to be part of the world wide church of Christ, and that calling is to use our gifts to build up others and our life as a Church.

How do you see your calling today and what difference is it going to make to you tomorrow?

Amen