Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful. [1 Thessalonians 5.23-24]
If there is doubt about God's will for holiness in our lives, we find confirmation through Paul's words of instruction to the Church at Thessalonica.
But, there is more...
Paul lumps together spirit and soul and body as he declares blamelessness upon the whole. What does this mean? It means "without sin." It means forgiven. And therefore, it means redeemed, healed, and restored. The Good News really is good news!
Paul also uses the words "call," "calls," and "called" in his writings. All three are found in today's OYCB reading.
What is God's call?
God's call is found in Jesus' words, repeated more than once, to His disciples and followers:
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. [Luke 9.23]
The phrase "take up your cross" is a summation of all that Christ requires of our lives beyond faith to be saved. Although God's extension of grace to us to be saved is free (we can do nothing to deserve it), the cost of following Christ is notably high. So high in fact is the call of Christ that it requires as much from us as it did from Him: our lives given up completely so as to propagate the Good News of forgiveness of sins for all who repent.
Jesus was never unclear about the seriousness of following Him:
“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. [Luke 14.28-33]
Unironically, this passage immediately follows a second time in Luke's Gospel that Jesus made the demand, "take up your cross..."
And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. [Luke 14.27]
Jesus made His call crystal clear and indicated elsewhere that those who answered the call would not be the majority!
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. [Matthew 7.13-14]
In fact, Jesus was so focused on "the call" that He went so far as to say the following:
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” [Matthew 22.14]
Getting "the call" does not "get us in." What we do with the call is what gets us in. Sorry, Jesus' words, not mine.
If we are to be found pleasing to God, it will be in the faith that our life and efforts mean nothing, but that "Christ in us" (as can only be demonstrated on our own cross) is everything. If a person really believes in something, they are more than willing to die for it. That's what Jesus did, and that's what Jesus demands of us. That's what the cross is all about.
As heavy as this all sounds, we saw in Paul's letter to the Galatians just a few days ago:
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. [Galatians 5.13-15]
Until we see our cross as our freedom, we are likely to pass our lives on earth futilely wallowing in religion (in self focus) rather than pleasing God (in sacrificial focus on others) - all to the end of being passed over when the "choosing" begins (Matthew 22.14 above). Again, not my words, but straight from Jesus' mouth.
There is no time like the present to ask the Holy Spirit to make this real to us. Our self-will needs to be broken (crucified, made "dead") so that the life of Jesus might resurrect in us. This is critical, and not at all optional. We cannot do it ourselves. Paul said it best in the opening scripture above:
Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful. [1 Thessalonians 5.23-24]
Let's pray...
Father, forgive me for holding onto my life when Your Word clearly tells me to not just let it go, but to crucify it. Come, Holy Spirit and convict me for my self infatuation. I surrender my ways up to You so that Your way - Your calling - my cross - might be my freedom to help others on this journey of life. As You are faithful, may I be found faithful. So be it.
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