15) Wherefore
I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the
saints,
16) Cease
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17) That
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18) The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope
of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19) And
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according
to the working of his mighty power,
20) Which
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own
right hand in the heavenly places,
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od's plan of salvation is given to
us in the Scripture that we might have the opportunity to become children of
the Most High God.
Being humans, we have a most
irritating habit of thinking that most things are about us. Because of this, we
can even think that the calling placed on us by the Lord has something to do
with us.
What we must always remember is that
when we were called, we were called from darkness not for our purpose, but for God's. The reason that He went to so much
trouble and continues to do so is that He has a hope in calling us. The hope He had was not of our calling (that is, not in what we called ourselves to) but of His calling (what He called us to).
The "hope" that the Lord
has in calling us is that His "investment" will pay off and we will win
others to salvation. For if whatever life we live brings no one to salvation,
we are offering no hope of what we have been given.
The most unspiritual, visionless among us ought to be able to recognize that the only hope this world has is that offered by serving Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many saints don't really understand what "serving" the Lord means. To most, it means telling others that "I'm saved" while never really modifying one's behavior. To far too few does it mean a total spiritual "sell-out." Therefore, the significance of the spiritual birth and its accompanying overhaul is downplayed, if not lost altogether.
Though one may be baptized in Jesus'
name and filled with His Spirit, there is no hope in that calling for the
individual if he never learns to operate in the spiritual realm.
His fate is the same as that of the man who has experienced nothing but the
natural birth. The crucial point to escaping judgment is coming to the
realization that to enter heaven, one must be spiritual.
Far too much time is spent in the
church trying to perfect the natural man. All such efforts must fail, for
"that which is born of flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the
spirit, is spirit."
The key word in our title is
"hope." Salvation was never meant to be a series of "no-nos" and "can't do's," but rather, a plan
for living one's life in which God would be wholly loved and thereby supreme.
What would naturally grow from this would be a feeling of unconquerable
confidence born of trust. No one is drawn to joyless, hopeful denial; but we
are to draw all to the joyous, hopeful, happy way of life that comes from
dedication to God.
We must stop the lie that many
saints perpetuate in their walk and in their attitude toward that walk. It is
simply not true that problems which arise in our lives stop our blessings. In
fact, quite the contrary: the more that we are tested, the more blessed we
become as we pass the tests.
Too often, because we deal with
feelings (that is, how we feel about something or what we think of it), we
become ineffective or immobilized in our tasks. The beautiful thing about
salvation is that because it is a calling from God and initiated by Him,
nothing can impede our blessings or our work. God, fulfilling His promises, is
not dependent upon how we feel, think or what we want. The only thing which
substantially affects us how we act.
Saints, like it or not,
"salvation is for the duration." The duration of
the trial, the duration of the test, the duration of the work. As things
continue to fall apart, those whose paths are stable in the Lord shine
"...more and more unto the perfect day." What an exhilarating thought
the World will use as the "yardstick" which both "measures"
God and points others to Him. When one is blameless before Him (that is,
sinless) we can allow the light to shine upon us as often as He wants. We can
be proud representatives of our God.
The hope of the calling of God upon
us allows us the opportunity to love Him even more deeply. You see, those tests
about which we often speak should draw us closer. So, the more we go through,
the more we should love Him. Just as the more from which we have been saved,
the more we should love Him.
In calling us, the Lord has not
asked us to change our entire person without endowing us with the necessary
"equipment." If one comes to Him a homosexual, He gives the power to
fight the "habit." This is the hope. A God as benevolent as ours
would never bring us from our corrupt lives into His holy one and offer no hope
for a better day.
Particularly today, a personal
testimony consisting of nothing more than what we don't do anymore is just not
testimony enough. Man needs a way out. He must hear the plan of salvation—a
plan of dedication and holiness, offering him just the discipline he must have
to be able to overcome himself.
Popular (even humanistic) teaching
and preaching coming even from the apostolic church focuses on all that is ours
after accepting salvation. Yes, it is true that we are given much, but even
more is expected of us. When we accept Christ, we are granted an inheritance,
but more importantly, He has an inheritance in us. Just as the memory of the
natural grantor is honored by the good stewardship of his inheritance, so is
our Father properly honored when we work for a return on His investment and an
increase in our inheritance.
Once and for all, may we understand
that any work in this walk is Christ's.
Yes, we are called to work, but the calling is His to do with us in it, as He
pleases. Nothing we accomplish is to
speak of us (that is, who or what we are or have accomplished) but everything
in us should point to Jesus.
Saints, the time is upon us to fulfill
the hope of the Lord's calling upon our lives. Having been asked these questions
by the Lord, we must search ourselves to find the answers: Where are the souls
we are supposed to witness to? Where are the souls who we should be bringing
to salvation?