The Charter of the Church (5)

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

Were Called – You didn’t ask for the invitation. It was sent to you by someone else. That’s the first conclusion we draw from this verb (eklethete). It is in the passive mood. You and I a just the recipients. Someone else created the invitation that arrived at your door. It’s not your call.

There is no doubt about Who sends the invitation. It is not the church. The church is the recipient of the call. God issues the call. The church responds. Let us never be confused about this. The church does not “win souls”. We are not in the calling business. We are in the responding business. Our job is to walk in a manner equal to the God Who calls us. We are not the creators of the invitation. We are the responders. When the church really becomes the hands and feet of Jesus, responders to the depth and breadth of Jesus’ love, most of our promotional programs will be seen for what they are: human efforts trying to produce a divine call.

That’s not the end of the story. This verb is in the aorist tense. The aorist tense tells us that it is an action completed in the past. God called. Past tense. Finished. He didn’t keep on calling, sending out invitation after invitation, week after week hoping that someone might respond. He completed the invitation. His call is done.

What is this finished invitation? It is the death and resurrection of Jesus. God’s invitation is not rewritten, reorganized or revised for each new crowd. God’s invitation was written in blood, once forever. The church responds to only one call; the call of Christ crucified, buried and risen. Anything else presented as an invitation from God is plagiarism. It doesn’t come from God.

Donald Barnhouse said that the only message from God to the lost world is “Repent and return to Me.” Anything else is accommodation, not proclamation. There is also a single message to the church, the called-out ones. Walk worthily! Be the hands and feet of the Christ within you. Exhibit in your outward actions the Spirit that dwells inside. Anything else is the wrong response to the only invitation God issues.