To What We Were Called

1 Thessalonians 4:7

God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

G

od saved us … but why? There is no question but that God has saved us so that we may glorify Him. Throughout eternity the redeemed shall be trophies of His grace. Having saved us, why has He left us here in the midst of this fallen world? In a previous message I spoke of practical Christianity, that is, how the doctrine of sanctification is worked out in our lives. In this message I intend to focus more keenly still on the issue of why sanctification is so very vital in the life of the child of God.

Each Christian is now declared holy in the sight of God. Paul has written that [God] chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight [Ephesians 1:4]. We Christians are now declared faultless, perfect, holy in the sight of the Father. Writing the Colossian saints, the Apostle restated this same issue in beautiful language which serves to encourage us: [N]ow [God] has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation [Colossians 1:22]. The issue of holiness before Holy God is already settled for the Christian, and because the child of God has been declared to be without blemish he stands before the Father free of all accusation. Child of God, though Satan may slander, his accusations have no power. We need no longer fear such lies.

This truth is the basis for the exultation provided in Romans 8:31–34: If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is He that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. The teaching has practical implications in setting us free from fear and guilt. Though I may not be perfected in this life, before God I am even now holy in Christ. I need not fear the accuser of my brothers. What slander can he bring against Christ … or me?

Despite our standing before God, we nevertheless live in a fallen world where we are responsible to serve as examples of His grace and where we are to glorify His Name. Therefore, it is not surprising that we should be instructed to live lives pleasing to God, to be holy in our actions in this world. Peter wrote: [J]ust as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy' [1 Peter 1:15].

We shall yet be saved from the presence of sin. Again, in the Ephesian encyclical, Paul writes of the Church: [Christ shall] present [the Church] to Himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless [Ephesians 5:27].

We are now declared holy in the sight of God; that is positional sanctification. We are to be holy in the lives we now live; that is progressive sanctification. We shall be made holy at the return of Christ; that is prospective sanctification. Despite the importance of positional sanctification and the glory of prospective sanctification, the message this day focuses on the life we presently live and the importance of struggling against sin now. The message seeks to answer the question of why we should be concerned about the call to sanctification in this life. To address that matter we consider one verse only and three propositions which are presented in those few words.

The First Proposition – God Does Call Us — Throughout the whole of Scripture is presented this one stunning truth: God calls us. Such knowledge challenges us to think not that we choose to be saved but rather that God chooses us for salvation. It is true that in time we speak the temporal language of this present world. Whenever I preach I issue a call for those listening to repent and believe. This is what each of us is called to do. Each one must believe the Gospel. There is a definite moment in the life of each believer when he begins to believe, even though he may not be able to define that moment.

Yet, having been saved we are able to look back discovering that God did call us. It is God who initiates salvation. We have read that marvellous statement in Luke’s Gospel concerning Christ’s ministry: The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost [Luke 19:10]. It is not Christ who is lost and who must be found, but it is we of this fallen race who are lost and in need of being found … and Christ seeks us. What mercy is this!

Perhaps someone says, “But, Preacher, what of the message the Lord has given through Isaiah’s prophecy? Seek the LORD while He may be found, call on Him while He is near [Isaiah 55:6]. Is this not a clear call for man to be the initiator of salvation?” The language is precise and definite, it is while He may be found that we are to seek Him and while He is near that we are to call on Him. He reveals Himself to us, seeking us and extending to us His mercy, and we dare not trifle with that revelation of grace. We are responsible to respond when He calls us and while He seeks us.

Nevertheless, having believed, having been born into His family, we look back and realise that He pursued us for our good and called us when we were yet dead in sin. Many of us love those verses written in the Ephesian letter. Remember this revelation? Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will [Ephesians 1:3–5].

Again, in that same encyclical, Paul states of the Christians’ former condition that you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we ere dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved [Ephesians 2:1–5]. The dead are not able to initiate a search for life. For a corpse to seek life it must be energised and animated by power from without. In retrospect we realise that it is God who animates and energises us while we are yet dead sinners.

Do you not see, then, if you are a child of God it was God who called you, for you had no strength or ability to provide for your own salvation. If you are saved it is because of God’s gracious call extended you from eternity past. ‘Tis mystery, I confess. Neither do I imagine that I shall explain the matter to your satisfaction. It is sufficient that I declare what is written in the Word that all who share in the Faith may draw encouragement as we marvel at the grace of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Imagining that we embarked on a search for life, it is always and ever after that we discover that He was always calling us. After entering into the salvation He provides we discover that He loved us and therefore sought us, calling us by name. What grace!

You who are members of this assembly, who have trusted Christ as Master of life and as Saviour of your soul, invite others to faith in the Risen Lord of Glory. Invite others to trust Jesus. Do not cease to call others. You do no injury to this great doctrine. Though God elects whom He wills we may nominate as many as we can. One of the great comforts to me in my evangelistic efforts is knowing that when I invite others to the Faith, some will respond. I know that when I issue an appeal, Christ has prepared some hearts to respond. Just so, you may be assured that He has prepared some someone to respond to you when you invite others to the Faith.

Before proceeding further, I must press the appeal to you who listen. I would be remiss to fail to invite you to trust Christ today. Do you say God has not called you? What is this today but the call of God for you to believe the Gospel? Your presence here today cannot be considered mere happenstance. Has not God arranged that you should be here today that you should once more hear the appeal of the messenger of Christ to believe the Gospel? That you should once again be urged to believe? This is nothing less than the call of God. To reject this call is to position yourself among the condemned. To fail to believe this call now is to accept the sentence of death.

Salvation – the forgiveness of sin and the adoption as a child of God – is offered to you even now. If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved… Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved. [Romans 10:9,10,13]. God’s salvation is offered to each one. In the time of My favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation [2 Corinthians 6:2]. Salvation is not an act or effort on your part; it is but the response to God’s call – and today He is calling you.

The Second Proposition – God Does Not Call Us To Be Impure — The second and third propositions speak to the purpose of God’s calling. We know the purpose of God’s call, or at least we suspect that we know why He calls us. The Apostle states the issue both in the negative and in the positive. Negatively, God does not call us to be impure. Those aspects of this life which contaminate the soul cannot lie within the will of God.

Paul has just been challenging his Thessalonian readership with several areas of potential impurity: sexual immorality; lack of control of one’s body; the tyranny of lust. All these are evidence of the life of a heathen, who does not know God. He has contrasted two lifestyles based upon one’s ethic. The heathen lifestyle, excluding God from rule of life, is characterised by impurity. The Christian lifestyle, submitting to the rule of God over life, is characterised by purity. If we know God, we are responsible to reveal that knowledge of God through a pure life. If we do not know God, it should be no great surprise that we reveal that also.

Permit me to become somewhat practical at this juncture. This second proposition teaches that we cannot excuse behaviour which dishonours God through appeal to His divine call. God’s call to salvation does not excuse our unrighteousness. In fact, the proposition implies that when we demonstrate behaviour dishonouring to God our life then denies that we have been called by God. Flowing from this consideration are two concepts vital to a successful Christian life: first, an impure life denies that we know God as Father; and second, should we be related to God by the new birth, an impure life invites His discipline. Consider these two thoughts for a few brief moments.

An impure life denies that we know God as Father. This is a most serious issue, for it means that deviant behaviour identifies the individual as controlled by a heathen ethic. For instance, some today claim they are homosexual Christians. This is a mutually exclusive condition if ever there were one. They aver they are born from above and related to God through faith in Christ, but they are homosexual. My mind is tempted to formulate a glib response to this strange condition. Those claiming to be homosexual cannot reproduce, so one suspects that the clan would die out quickly were there not an element of choice and a constant recruitment involved in the subculture.

How can we be so foolish as to think that impurity will be tolerated by Holy God? Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God [1 Corinthians 6:9-11]. Wickedness is an offence to Holy God and reveals that we do not belong to Him.

Neither can there be an appeal to Scripture to justify this wicked lifestyle. Throughout the whole of Scripture homosexuality is condemned without hesitation and in the strongest terms. It is not without reason that the sin of male homosexuality is known in our English tongue as sodomy, and that males who practise such acts are referred to as sodomites. This is a consequence of God’s fiery judgement of the cities of the plain for this wicked perversion. The glare of the judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah is reflected throughout the whole of the pages of the Bible serving as a constant reminder that God judges all wickedness. I point to sodomites as an example and not as the sole focus of divine judgement. An impure life denies that we know God as Father. All impurity admits exclusion from the fellowship of grace. What we confess with our mouth has no meaning ultimately except as it reflects truth … and truth is revealed through life.

The second concept is that if we are related to God, an impure life invites His discipline. Make no mistake, God does judge wickedness. Certainly He shall judge the wicked at the resurrection. That judgement is a formality when the Righteous Judge shall pronounce sentence which has been long delayed. It is not without reason that those outside of God’s salvation are referred to as lost. They are separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, and worse still, they are declared to be without hope and without God in the world [Ephesians 2:12]. This is an awful thing to say, but honesty compels me to warn sinners against daring to think that they can stand before that awful assize where they shall hear formal pronouncement of the divine and just and eternal sentence of death and separation from Holy God.

But those related by the new birth to the Living God may expect discipline, judgement on presumptuous and wilful sin … and that now. You may recall that sobering warning from the author of the Hebrews letter? He speaks of discipline in Hebrews 12:5–10. Having quoted Solomon [Proverbs 3:11,12], the author then makes application to each of us called by Christ’s Name. If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons… Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. An impure life invites God’s intervention if we are related to Him. He will not long permit us to ignore holiness.

The Third Proposition – God Does Call Us To Live A Holy Life — Positively, Paul instructs us in the truth that God calls us to live a holy life. Throughout Scripture we repeatedly confront God’s call to a holy life. Strong appeal occupies the apostolic writings. I recall Peter’s appeal to holiness. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who call you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy” [1 Peter 1:14–16].

I fear that we who are believers sometimes confuse holy with pious. In contemporary thought the word pious has achieved a somewhat negative connotation. It seems almost to speak of phoniness, describing a life marked by sham or hypocrisy. In part, such transition in popular thought from positive to negative connotation has occurred because of undue ecclesiastical emphasis upon the negative features of the concept to the exclusion of positive aspects whenever we speak of holiness of life. To be holy is to be separated; but we tend to speak of separation from the elements of this world. All the while we are forgetting that separation must not only be from sin but it must be separation to God. To be holy is to live a life separated to God. The holy person will in all likelihood be a pious individual, but the piety of their life will not detract from the beauty of their devotion; it will instead enhance the beauty of their life.

Permit me to illustrate that last statement by reference to two women I have known. In one neighbourhood in which my family lived for a period in days past, we had a neighbour who was at best hostile to us, and at the least was strange. I suppose the woman could be thought devout in her religion, daily attending prayers and carefully attending to the minutiae of religious requirement. She made an exaggerated and conspicuous show of her devotion. She dressed in a severe fashion and attended her church daily, reciting the prayers in a conspicuous manner.

However, this woman was hateful toward immigrants (which we happened to be), hateful toward those who did not share her religious conviction (which we thankfully happened not to share), and hateful toward people who rented accommodations (which we happened to do). She deliberately sought to find fault with our children, though she was craven and cowardly whenever Lynda or I confronted her or sought to work through difficulties she might have. The woman was pious, devout, religious, but her religion was not at all attractive to outsiders. Even members of her own religion living within our neighbourhood spoke harshly against her, deriding her showy display of pious fervour.

There was in our ken another woman, Mrs. Sue Dollin. She devoted herself to prayer and to service before the Lord. When we met Mrs. Dollin she was an elderly widow. On occasion I would visit in her home and she would speak of how she longed to again have strength and ability to serve the people of God. In years past she had served the church as a deaconess and she had greatly enjoyed personal work with those women responding to the invitation to faith. Now, as an aged woman, she had difficulty hearing and having grown somewhat frail she was proscribed in many activities she once loved. She devoted her days to prayer for the services of her church and to prayer for the souls of those attending the services and to writing poetry designed to exalt the Lord Christ.

Mrs. Dollin was instrumental in turning many to righteousness, and I frequently heard from those coming to the faith that it was through her testimony, her faithful service to the Lord, her loving devotion to Christ and His church, which first touched their lives. Eternity alone will reveal the impact of that one sweet life which made the Faith attractive to many.

Here are two women, either of whom could be said to demonstrate religious devotion. The one demonstrated devotion to her religion. Observers would likely conclude that she apparently was devoted for what she could selfishly obtain. The other lady revealed a deep devotion to Christ and was always seeking how she might serve Him. The one repulsed even those who happened to share her religious preferences. The other, attracted many people to Christ. The one was separated I suppose from what she identified as the world. The other was separated to Christ. The one was pious. The other was holy. No thinking individual would embrace the joyless devotion of that former neighbour who was so religiously pious, but any individual would find Mrs. Sue Dollin’s devotion to the Master attractive.

I would not for a moment discourage you from avoiding known sin – from separating yourself from wickedness and from impurity. You must do this if you would please God. But I would urge you to consider that without separation to God, separation from impurity is futile and meaningless. I would remind you that we who are called by the Name of Christ are responsible to honour Him through lives devoted to Him.

In the same sentence are the two issues. Negatively, God did not call us to be impure. Positively, God did … call us … to live a holy life. How may we fulfil this two-fold demand? To separate ourselves from that which contaminates and sullies life we must educate ourselves in the will of God. We do this through reading the Word, through becoming conversant with the revealed will of God which is provided us through His Word. Do not imagine that God will speak to every specific issue, but He will provide sufficient guidance that we will be equipped to respond to the directions of His Spirit given to each one that has been born from above. There will be no question as to the will of God for us as we meditate on His Word and seek to apply it in daily life.

For the most of us the issue is not that we do not understand the will of God, but rather that we do understand the will of God and refuse to obey that will. Thus separation from sin and from all impurity is not an onerous burden but a means to freedom from bondage to evil. It is only because we are yet captivated by our own desires that the call to separation from evil appears burdensome and heavy. Yet, we know right from wrong.

Positively, how do we fulfil the demand to live a holy life? We do so as we bring our lives under the rule of Christ. He is Lord, and when we are saved we confess Him as Master. Yet we too often live in the flesh and struggle against the downward draw of our own dying desires. There is need for conscious submission to Christ as Lord, not occasionally, but constantly. We are separated to God as we endeavour to implement His will in our lives daily. How challenging is that query which was uttered by our Lord! Why do you call Me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say [Luke 6:46]?

Let me speak for a moment to make this practical. When did you last ask Christ what His will was as you arose for the day? Do you seek His face daily in the tasks you undertake? Do you view your labours, whether in the home or in your employment, as offered to Him as a sacrifice? Do you ennoble your vocation, presenting your every task to the Lord as a source of honour to Him?

You no doubt will recall the encouragement Paul offered the Roman Christians. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is [Romans 12:1,2].

What would it be were you and I to determine that we would begin each day with the conscious decision to offer our very bodies to Christ to His glory? “Lord, here are my eyes. Let me see the world as You view it. Saviour, here are my ears. Let me hear the words of life which You have given and let me hear the cries of oppression as You hear. Here are my hands, O Lord. Let these hands serve another as You would serve. Here are my feet, Master. May they carry me to those places where You would send me. Here, Saviour, is my mind. Let me think the great thoughts You would think.”

Holiness is practical when we understand that first it is a separation to God. Holiness is attractive when we grasp the thought that it is positive. Holiness is powerful when once we have begun to live a holy life.

And that is my prayer for us: that each of us would determine daily, beginning this day, that we will live lives devoted to Christ and that His will shall reign supreme in our thoughts and in our actions. Who today says, “I take this wonderful and loving God to be my Saviour”? Who today says, “I shall, God helping me, begin today to live a holy life.” Come, confessing that which God has placed in your heart and seeking the prayers of God’s people for strength and ability. Come now, while we stand and while we sing. Amen.