Episode Transcript
What is our calling now? In short, it's to be faithful. It's to work, and by work I don't just simply mean vocation. I mean work in the building of God's kingdom: to serve, to give of ourselves for the good of our brethren, the good of our sisters, the good of our neighbor. It's to use what God has given us all for the building up of the body of Christ.
That's our calling: to use everything we have for the good of our brothers and sisters, everything we have for the good of our neighbor, to the praise of God's glorious grace. Beloved, we serve a great king, a great king. A king who has shown us grace in that he has given us what we don't deserve. A king who has shown us mercy in that he has not given us what we do deserve.
And a king who has showed us steadfast love, unswerving, always faithful. A king who has forgiven our iniquity and our transgression in our sin. The king who gives us all kinds of good gifts, the first of which is being a part of his kingdom in the first place. And upon giving these gifts, he says, now go and do business.
I trust that in your heart, you are thinking, "Amen. I want to serve him. I'm going to serve him. I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to use what God has given me for the good of the body of Christ and for the good of my neighbor. Like Zaccheus, who joyfully receives the Lord, and it says, I'm going to do good by people." I trust that's what you feel and what you think. And, real talk, there may be a part of you that's thinking, but man, this world has fallen and things just don't go well sometimes.
Our efforts can feel futile. Our labor can seem fruitless. You might also be thinking like, Bro, I'm a sinner. I don't understand my own actions.
Like Newton said, John Newton, I'm a riddle to myself. I don't understand myself. I want to serve the Lord, but yet often I find myself not doing that. So what can we say to those things? We can say that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.
We can say that he who calls you as faithful and he, the God of peace himself, will sanctify you completely. That he will surely keep your whole spirit and soul and body blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can say that the God of peace brought our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead who is the great shepherd of the sheep, and that by the blood of the eternal covenant, he will equip us with everything good that we may do His will and will work in us that which is pleasing in his sight.
We can say that God has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Knowing that, we press on, we work, we labor, we serve, we await and anticipate the return of the King.
And when he comes, he will come to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.
Amen.
Everyday Grace 056
