The Charter of the Church (4)
Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling in which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love; being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3
Calling – Paul exhorts us to walk in a manner that is equal in value. But he is not speaking to everyone. This message is only for those who have answered the invitation.
Imagine you are rushing down the street to get to the party. You hear music. You smell wonderful food. There is laughter and excited conversation inside. You can’t wait to join the guests. But when you approach the door, a man steps forward. “Your invitation, please” he asks.
“I don’t have the invitation with me. I forgot to send back the RSVP. But I did get one. You don’t mind, do you? It looks like there’s plenty of room.”
“I’m sorry”, he says. “This is an invitation-only event. Unless you responded to the invitation and are on the guest list, you can’t come in.”
“But I got the invitation. I promise. I just didn’t have time to respond.”
“I’m terribly sorry, but this party is only for those who have answered the call.”
God calls. The invitation (the word is klesis in Greek) is sent out to the world. But only those who respond will find themselves on the guest list. All others will be turned away. Without a response to the divine invitation, you cannot enter.
This fundamental fact of the charter of the church is often ignored. We like to pretend that the church is for everyone. It is not! The church is for those who have responded to the call. Only they belong to the family. Only they are exhorted to walk equal to the character of God. And only they will enjoy the rewards. When a group of people who call themselves the “church” makes no distinction between those who respond to the call and those who were called but did not reply, all sorts of terrible compromises result. The church loses its uniqueness and its witness. It is useless to God because it contains unresponsive party-crashers.
We agree – at least until we see that the response to the call is not simply showing up. It is to walk in a manner equal to God’s grace and compassion. Sitting in the assembly on Sunday does not qualify you for the invitation-only guest list. That list is reserved for those who are committed to living like Jesus. And that is not as easy as you may think, as we shall see.
