I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you, I beg you, I plead with you, that you
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. With all lowliness
and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace, there is one body and one Spirit even as you are called
in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all
and in you all." You and I have been looking at mainly verse
3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. And last week
we looked at the nature of this unity that is spiritual in nature. It goes beyond friendship. It goes beyond family, biological
families, or nationalities, or politics. It's a spiritual union. It's a heart union. Kindred minds. And this week I want to look
at the means of keeping unity. He gives the means here in verses
1 and 2. I want to limit mine this morning
to verse 1. But He makes us to know here,
He reminds us of this, that we are one in Christ. That's why
we have unity. It's not something that we've
accomplished. Unity and peace is not something that we've manufactured.
We're one because we're in Christ. He has taken and broken down
every wall of petition between the Jews and the Gentiles, between
all believers. There is nothing that can cause
division between believers that the Lord Jesus Christ has not
torn down, whatever those walls will be. If we are in Christ,
the Scripture tells us that we are one. He has taken two and
made them one in Himself. And we're told that He's our
peace. Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in this bonds of
peace, bound together by peace. And Christ is our peace. He's
the Prince of Peace. He has made peace for us through
the blood of His cross, and He has given us His peace in our
hearts, in our conscience, the peace of God which passeth all
understanding. And therefore, there is nothing
that should hinder this unity or break this peace. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is one church in Him, in spite of all
things, that could hinder this unity. I don't care what it may
be, the trials that we go through, the divisions that we may have,
nothing can hinder the unity that is among believers. Because Paul tells us here that
we're one. In verse 4 he says that we're
one body. We're one church. Not one denomination. Not one in nationality. Not one
in location. The universal church is one body. You may find her at Corinth.
You may find her at Ephesus. You may find her at Colossus.
You may find the church in the United States, in Mexico, Russia. But when you find the church,
the universal church, it's one. It's one body. There's just one
body, one church. A body is made up of many members. They live in many places, differ
nationalities, differ cultures. Males and females, wise and poor,
but they're still one body. By one Spirit are we all baptized
unto one body. It doesn't make sense for a body
to work against itself. It doesn't make any sense at
all for the body to have division in itself. It's one body. If the foot shall say, because
I'm not the hand, is it therefore not of the body? Of course it's
part of the body. If the ear shall say, because
I'm not the eye, I'm not part of the body, is it therefore
not part of the body? Of course it's part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, Where is the urine? If the whole
body wears urine, where is the smelling? But now has God put
every member in the body as it has pleased Him. There were many
members, but just one body. One body. And you know when the
body begins to work against itself, there is medical conditions like
that. Sometimes the body will turn
on itself. But that's not natural. It's
due to some sickness. It's due to some disorder in
the body. Nothing should cause divisions
or disrupt the unity and the peace in the Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Nothing should. And nothing can. But having said all of that,
how difficult it is to maintain unity, to keep unity in the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over here to your left in
1 Corinthians with me just for a minute. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, look
here how the Apostle Paul went right into the Corinthian church. He reproves them because there's
divisions among them. They're all saints. They're all
in Christ. But there was divisions in this
body. And he says here in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 10, this same word again, I beseech you, brethren, by the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same things,
and that there be no division among you. No divisions. No splits. No gaps and no rents. Have you ever seen a garment,
it was a beautiful garment, but someone had torn it? That's what
this word divisions means. It's been torn. There's divisions. But that you be perfectly joined
together in the same mind. And he uses this word perfectly
joined together in another place and calls it fitly joined together. Compacted together. It means
that you're very close. You're so close there is not
even a hair's breadth between you. You're one. You have such
perfect unity that you're one in mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared unto
me of you, brethren, by them that are of the house of Chloe,
that there are contentions, quarrels, divisions among you. Now this
I say, that every one of you who says, I am of Paul, and I
of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ, is Christ divided? No, He's not divided. Is His
body divided? No. He's made unity. He's made her one. Then endeavor. Be earnest. in maintaining and
preserving this unity. But you know it's not easy. If
it was easy, we wouldn't be instructed to endeavor. And if it was easy,
you wouldn't see all the churches of the New Testament with divisions
among them having to labor and pray and seek to keep this unity
that the Lord Jesus Christ has obtained for it. Back to my text. Back over to my text. I don't want to look at all the
things this morning that causes disunity, causes division, but
I want to look at the means. And I've limited it this morning
to this one means, and next week the Lord's will and will look
at verse 2. But I want to look this morning at this one means
by which will help us to keep unity. And Paul begins here in
verse 1, and he asks us to consider seriously our calling. Remember your calling. Consider
seriously your calling. He dealt with this in chapter
1, and we looked at it, but here he reminds them, and this is
the way he says it. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beg of you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called. Now there's two words here that
we need to understand before we begin. This word vocation,
it's calling. He uses the same word down in
verse 4. Called in one hope of your calling. I don't know why our translators
translated this word vocation, but I'm sure if they were here,
they'd give us a very good reason. Words change. Definitions change
over the years. And when you and I think of a
vocation, we think of a job, don't we? We have a job. What's your vocation? Used to
be, you wouldn't ask someone what his vocation was. You'd
say, what's your calling? What's your calling in life?
That's what this word vocation means. Walk worthy of the calling. Your calling. We're with your
call. And this word worthy, it's worthily
or appropriately. It means as becometh, that which
is fitting, that which is right. Paul uses this word in other
places, let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel
of Christ. How does it become a Christian
to walk? It doesn't mean that we earn
anything, that we merit anything from God. That's not what this
word worthy means. It means appropriately. None
of us could walk worthy of God. We're not worthy of Him. Jacob
said, I'm not worthy of the least of your mercy. John the Baptist
said, I'm not worthy to stoop down and loose the latches of
your feet. The centurion said, I'm not worthy
that you should come under my root. So when the Apostle Paul
says that you walk worthy, walk appropriately. Walk as it becometh
someone who is called to such a calling. Now I want to consider
this morning three things, and I want to quote three scriptures
to you concerning our calling. And if I asked you this morning,
what's the most blessed thing that could ever happen to any
individual in this world. If I asked you this morning if
you've got a dear friend, or you've got a dear relative that
you love dearly, or you have a neighbor or coworker that you
love dearly, and I asked you if you only had one desire and
one request of God on that person's behalf, what would it be? And
I'm sure when you thought about it, this is your answer that
you'd give me. That God would call that person
to Christ. That God would call that person
to repentance. That God would call that person
to peace and to salvation. Wouldn't that be your request
this morning? Ain't that often our prayer for our lost children,
our lost loved ones, our lost family members? that God would
call them. Call them to repentance. The
Scripture talks so much about calling. We've been called to
peace. We've been called to holiness.
We've been called to be followers of God as dear children. We've
been called out of darkness unto this light. No, this marvelous
light. It says so much about calling.
But I want to quote three Scriptures to you this morning. concerning
our calling. Paul asked us to consider our
calling and walk worthy of this calling. And I have these three
scriptures. I won't say very much about them.
I mainly want to quote them and comment on them just a bit. But
I want you to think about this. And then we'll see what is appropriate
for such a person. What is appropriate for you to
walk? What should you be like in this world? What should be
your attitude towards God and the church and others? When you
think of the calling, we're with your call. And the first calling
is found in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 15. If you want to mark
this, I'll quote it to you. They which are called receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. Now think about this. They which
are called receive the promise. They have the promise now. God
has promised them something. And they have the object of that
promise, the fulfilling of that promise hereafter. And what is
it? An eternal inheritance. They which are called of God
are promised an eternal inheritance. How in the world could I go about
explaining an eternal inheritance? We know what an inheritance is.
We know how we obtain one. We obtain an inheritance because
a dear friend or a dear family member has died. And they have
willed what they have or a portion of what they have to us. That's
the way we obtain non-inheritance. Well, when the blessed Lord Jesus
died, on the conditions of His death, all of those whom God
calls have the promise of non-inheritance simply by virtue of His death. It's His. And it comes to us
through the death of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter
tells us about this inheritance and how different it is from
all the inheritance we have here. When you and I receive that inheritance
here, it's always corruptible. If someone leaves us a house,
I assure you this, it won't be long, no matter what value you
put on it, it won't be long until that house begins to rot. It has to be kept up because
it's corruptible. But Peter says that this eternal
inheritance that God has called His people to is an incorruptible
inheritance. It has nothing about it that
is temporal. It doesn't decay. It's not subject
to rot or to waste. It's incorruptible. And he said
it's an undefiled inheritance. It's undefiled within itself.
There's nothing about it that can be defiled. There's nothing
about it that can defile those who inherit it. How many families
have you and I seen that inherited a little of what dad or mom has? And it causes divisions throughout
the family. It takes a family that was close
and winds up dividing and defiling the whole family. It's not that
way with this inheritance. It is undefiled within itself
and it's undefiling. It cannot defile. And he says,
it fadeth not away. You cannot use it up. You cannot
abuse it until it's all gone. It fadeth not away. And why is
it like that? Why is it incorruptible? Why
is it undefiled? Why does it never fade away?
Because, he said, it's man eternal inheritance. The Scripture says that the children
of God are heirs of God. and join heirs with Jesus Christ.
Can you think of such a thing? To be an heir of a great rich
man in this world or a king? But what is it to be an heir
of God? To inherit all that the wise
and mighty God can make or create? God has laid up for His people
an eternal inheritance that He Himself has made. He Himself
has created, provided, it's reserved. Where is it? In heaven. It's
in heaven with Him. And it's for all of those who have
been called to it. There's but one way to get it.
You must be called to it. He has promised it to those whom
He has called. They which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. And the second scripture I want
to quote to you is this. It's found in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and verse 12. Listen to this. That you walk
worthy. There's that same word. You walk
appropriately. what worthy of God, who has called
you unto His kingdom." God has a kingdom, and He has called
you into His kingdom. Brother Larry was talking the
other day, and he was telling me about the great kingdoms that
mainly were in the Old Testament, the Babylonian kingdom, a great
kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, and the kingdom of the
Medes and Persians that conquered the Babylonian kingdom, and the
kingdom of those wise Greeks, the kingdom of Greeks, and Alexander
the Great, you remember him, and then the Roman kingdom, four
great kingdoms, and Daniel tells us about those kingdoms and his
writings. But right in the midst of telling
us about these kingdoms, he tells us about another kingdom. And
here's what he says about it. He says, I saw another kingdom,
and it was like a little stone cut out without hands. And it soon became a great mountain
and it filled the earth. And he says this, in the days
of these kings, these four great kings and these four great kingdoms,
shall the God of heaven himself set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed, neither shall it pass from one people to another,
but it shall break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms
of the world, and it shall stand forever." God's kingdom. And He set it up right in the
midst of all these other kingdoms, and it commits to break these
other kingdoms and to ground them to powder. This is the kingdom
of God. It's the kingdom of Christ. It's
the kingdom of God's dear Son, and it's called in the Scriptures
an everlasting kingdom. And I'm looking at it right here.
It's a kingdom of grace. It's a kingdom of peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. And you're in that kingdom, and
that kingdom is in you right now upon this earth. The kingdom
of God is here. It's in you and you're in it. And it's a future kingdom. The
saints are waiting for the manifestation of this kingdom. One of the most
confusing things to me sometimes, when the scripture talks about
the kingdom of God, sometimes it's hard to distinguish what
he's even talking about. Is it the kingdom that's within
us? The kingdom that we're in right now? Or is it a kingdom
yet to be revealed? But it seems to be both, doesn't
it? As you read the Scriptures. We
know the kingdom is in us. Christ said it was. We know that
we're in the kingdom because we've been born into it. But
we know that it's yet to come. The manifestation of it. Listen
to what the Apostle said. The Lord shall deliver me from
every evil work, and preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom. I charge you before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead,
and His appearing and His kingdom." When He appears, the kingdom
is going to appear. In the glory of it. Come, you
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom. We're in it now,
but there's going to come a time when we inherit that kingdom.
Paul said, flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of God.
No more than corruption inherits incorruption. He said, I show
you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. At the last trumpet, The trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. And we which are alive and remain
shall be changed from this mortal being and put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. If
we cannot enter the kingdom of God as we are now, then what
is going to have to happen before we can enter that kingdom? We've
got to be changed. That's an incorruptible kingdom.
That's a glorious kingdom. And these corruptible, vile bodies
cannot enter that glorious kingdom. Could you stand in heaven this
morning like you are before the eternal God? When John saw the
Lord Jesus, the Lord was so bright, He was so glorious, John fell
at His feet as dead. He has light dwelling in the
immortality we can't approach into. Before we enter that glorious
kingdom that's yet to come, we must be changed. This vile body
must put on immortality and be glorious. And he says about this kingdom
in Hebrews 12, this kingdom that we received
cannot be moved. We receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved. He endeareth forever. He don't
pass from one generation and to another. And he'll never pass
away. Where's the great British Empire? Where's the British Kingdom?
They used to brag that the sun never goes down on the British
Empire. Where's it at now? Where's Nebuchadnezzar
and his hanging gardens? Where's the Medes and the Persians
who said we've got a law that you can never make void? Our
law can never be disavowed. Well, it wasn't many years after
they said that till young Alexander voided them and their kingdoms.
But where's Alexander and his kingdom? Where's the kingdom
of wisdom that the Greeks loved to call themselves? Where is
the mighty Roman Empire with its soldiers that destroyed so
many nations? Where are they? Where are they,
brothers and sisters? They are gone. They have been
ground to powder. The wind has blown them away.
But where is the kingdom of God? Where is the kingdom of Jesus
Christ? Oh, He began there as a little
stone in Jerusalem with just a small flock. And it began to
spread throughout Judea and Samaria. It began to spread through Asia
and Greece and Africa and Rome and Europe. And there's not a
village, there's not a town, there's not a country, there's
not a dark path in the uttermost parts of the world that this
kingdom has not made its way to, enlightened every soul and
conquered every kingdom. and brought men into this glorious
Kingdom of Jesus Christ. And I believe it's not finished
yet. I believe it's not finished yet. It shall stand forever. And of the increase and the peace
of that Kingdom, there'll never be any end. Never no end. I like that passage of Scripture
that tells us over in Revelation, the kingdoms of this world are
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall
reign forever and ever. An everlasting kingdom. The kingdom
of God. And how does a man get into it? You can't put yourself into it.
You can't join up. This glorious kingdom. The kingdom
of God. And how do you get into it? You
must be called into it. Walk worthy of God who has called
you, who has called you into His kingdom. Brothers and sisters,
consider your calling this morning. Consider who's called you and
consider what He's called you to. A glorious kingdom. There's nobody here this morning
that's any prouder to be a citizen of the United States of America
than I am. I still get choked up when they
say, Pledge of Allegiance. Sometimes I cry when they sing
before one of their sports programs. I love my country. I love being
a part of this great nation. But nothing compares with being
a citizen of the Kingdom of God. And you've been called to it. The third scripture I want to
quote to you is this. It's found in 2 Thessalonians
2, verses 13 and 14. Paul had been reminding them
here that God had chosen them to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. And then the very next
verse says this, "...were unto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He called you to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to read sometime
those two epistles to Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians,
it's amazing because every chapter in both of those two books, the
Apostle Paul speaks of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the main theme of those two epistles. The coming of Christ. And our
gathering together unto Him. Him coming for us. Changing us. Glorifying our bodies. And he
says this in 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 7, When the Lord Jesus
Christ shall come, to be glorified in His saints. That's the glory
He's talking about. He's called you to the obtaining
of the glory. When Jesus comes again in the
clouds of glory, on that resurrection morning, we're going to partake of His
glory. His glory is going to be in us, and His glory is going
to be upon us. And here's the way it's going
to happen. He's going to change our vile body and fashion it
like unto His glorious body. We're going to be just like Him. John said, we don't know yet
what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him. How is He, brothers and sisters?
We've never seen Him. But the Scripture tells us that
He's glorious, that He's even glorious in holiness, that He
has this glorious body, that He's surrounded in heaven with
glory, and that He's coming again in that glory, and when He does,
that glory that He has, He is going to reveal in His people,
and He's going to reveal upon His people. And He's going to
look at them. And He's going to say, you're
just like Me. You're just like Me. Your glory
is just like Me. This is My glory. And I'm giving
it to you. I am partaking of what I have
and giving it to you. You know the Bible says that
the elect of God are predestinated to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And that begins here. There is
a new creature inside of every believer that is just like the
Son of God. He's a creature, but He's created
in righteousness and true holiness, just like Him. As He is, so are
we in this world. I don't appear to be like Him,
and you don't appear to be like Him, but there's a new creature
within you that's in the very image of God's Son. Ain't that
amazing? And He's not finished yet. Physically,
you will be just like the Lord Jesus Christ when He changes
you. He shall change our bowel body
and fashion it. And fashion it. And I tell you, it won't take
Him as long as you see these with their little clay pots on
their wheels, and it going around, and them fashioning it, and it
takes them hours. He'll do it in the twinkling
of an eye, in the moment. He'll change them. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awaken His likeness. And Job said, You'll call me.
You'll call me. You'll call me. And I'll answer
you. You'll call me. How does a person come to hope
for such a change and to hope to be partakers of such glory
as this? He's called to it. He has called
you to obtain the glory of Jesus Christ the Lord. When poor saints begin to think
of such a calling, They are apt sometimes not to believe it for
the joy of it. So Paul writes to these saints
in the New Testament and he gives them assurance that God's calling
is effectual. It's effectual calling. He tells
them two things in his writings. In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 24,
he tells them this, Faithful is he that calleth you who also
will do it. He's been telling them about
their calling, about the Lord descending from heaven with a
shout and calling them out of the graves, and calling them
from their mortality to immortality. And then he turns right around
and he says, I want to give you something here that will give
you the assurance to know that he indeed is not going to go
back on his calling. His faithfulness depends upon
it. Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. He has called you. He is calling
you. Don't you feel it in your soul? Even in your coldest hours, in
your most backslidden moments, don't you feel in your soul Him
tugging you to Himself? That He's wooing you to Himself?
That He's drawing you? And He won't give you any rest
until you turn again to Him? Until you look again to Him?
He's still calling you. And Paul said, He'll yet call
you. He's begun a good work in you, and He'll perform it until
the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul says his faithfulness
depends upon it. His faithfulness is established
in the very heavens. You know, you and I are concerned
about the faithfulness of God, aren't we? I tell you, much is
at stake. Much is at stake. We must be
called, not only here, but what if we're laying in the grave? Much is at stake. Our resurrection,
our being changed into His likeness is at stake. How can we be sure
that He will indeed call us? That's our hope. Well, He's faithful. He's faithful. But brothers and
sisters, God's faithfulness is much more important to Him than
it is us. He won't let it fail. It's His
faithfulness. Thy faithfulness faileth not. He'll never fail. Therefore,
your sons of Jacob are not consumed. Faithful is He that calleth you.
And in Romans chapter 11 and verse 29, the Apostle Paul makes
another statement about this calling. He said, For the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance. The calling of God
is irrevocable. He will never change His mind. He'll never take it back. He
does not call someone and then says, I'm going to repent. I'm
really not going to call him. This calling springs from three
things. First of all, it springs from
His love. that never can change. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I called you. The calling
can't change because the love cannot change. This calling also
springs from God's fixed decree, and that can never be altered
or thwarted Listen to Romans 8.28. All things work together
for good to them that love God, to those who are the called according
to what? His purpose. His purpose. God has decreed He has purpose
to call His people. Can that ever change? Can the
decrees of the sovereign God change? No. Then He'll call you. He'll call you. And then lastly, the redemption
of Jesus Christ Himself that He has accomplished secures this
calling. Listen to Isaiah 43.1. Thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that farmed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Thou art mine. I have redeemed
you. And I've called you. I've called
you. If He doesn't call you to the
obtaining of this inheritance, then His love has failed, His
decree has failed, Christ as the Redeemer Himself has failed.
If He doesn't call you at last into this heavenly kingdom, the
manifestation of it, All of these things have failed. They're all
failed. I don't think it'll fail, brothers
and sisters. Do you? I don't think it'll fail. And
I ask you this morning, consider the calling wherewith you have
been called, and consider what kind of a walk is appropriate
for such a calling. How should you and I walk who have been called to such
a call? We have an old saying. I don't
know where it came from. Probably from the South somewhere.
Getting above your raising. We've got some folks that's down
in the hills of West Virginia and those hollers. And they come
north to one of the cities and get a good job. start making
good money, and they buy a big house and two or three cars,
and they start looking down their noses at everybody else. And
somebody said, boy, they got above the race. They got above
the race. You and I must never be that
way. We've been called to these wonderful
eternal blessings But what in the world have we got to boast
about or to be proud about in ourselves? Everything that we hope for,
everything we are now, everything we hope for in the future is
by the grace of God. We've not earned anything. It
wasn't because of our marriage. It wasn't because we worked for
it. It's because He called us to it. We were dead in trespasses
and sins. We were without God and without
hope in this world. And when we were there in a miserable,
perishing state, He called us. He called us. And such a calling demands our
humility. It demands that we cast contempt
upon our pride. and stay low and meek and never
promote ourselves, exalt ourselves over the dear brethren. But Paul
says to be long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that you walk appropriately worthily of
the calling wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and
meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love." Lord's willing, we'll look at
another means next week, how we should feel about ourselves,
lowly and meek, and what our attitude towards others should
be. longsuffering, forbearing one another.