Living A Life Worthy of God

What does it mean to live a life worthy of the calling you have received? Are we living a life worthy of God’s calling? We have so many grand ideas of God’s calling, but are we handling the small stuff? Ephesians 4:1-3 says "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. "

I scanned a lot of pictures from our family photo albums over the last month. My parents are going to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary on December 20th this year. My sister wanted to have a slide show of some of the best photographs. I quickly realized that our family has changed and also grown over the years. All of my grandparents have passed away now. There was a time when I could not have imagined life without them. I thought about their lives and how God called them. I wondered if my life would stack up to the faithful path that they had walked in their lives. I also thought about how they had touched their church and their family and their friends over the course of their lives.

Are we being a good friend? Are we being a good spouse? Are we being a good son or daughter or parent? Do we give the time when someone needs us? I spent the week at the Boy Scout Camp Ottari this week. I am the Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 362. We only have a handful of boys, but it means a lot to them that I took my time to spend the week with them.

One of the boys told me that he hoped that his Dad would be with him next year. He hoped that his Dad could sleep with him in his tent next year. At that moment I realized that part of my calling from God is being a Dad. I took time this week just to be a Dad. The time that I gave was more valuable to Johnny than all of the money in the world.

I’ve had the scripture for this week’s sermon for a long time. I took the scripture and my notes to Boy Scout Camp. I would get out my Bible and my notebook to start writing with the intentions of writing my sermon. Every time, someone would start up a conversation about God or God’s calling on their life.

Scoutmaster Tom told me that he knew that God was calling him to be a pastor since he was about eighteen years old. Tom told me that he had zigged and zagged his way through life. He’s cross paths with what God was calling him to do, but he never would stay on course until about two years ago. He realized that God’s call on his life was too great to ignore any longer. He was starting on the process to be a pastor in the United Methodist Church. It was great getting to know Tom and hearing how God had touched his life.

A scout came up to be to me his belief in God and religion. He told me that he didn’t have too much faith in religion. I told him that Jesus didn’t either. I told him that Jesus upset the money changers in the temple who were part of the organized religion. He wasn’t sure about God because of his lack of faith in religion. I told him that he should look around him at the beauty of nature if he ever doubted the existence of God. God created the beauty.

Have you ever been seen someone working alone and realized that they needed help? I saw a scoutmaster cooking hot dogs on Thursday afternoon. I realized that I couldn’t just keep on walking and leave him to cook for all of those boys and their leaders alone. I cooked about nine hundred hamburgers for the outdoor festival. Afterwards, I needed to take a shower and cook off. Finally, on Thursday night I found a bench overlooking the lake to write the first few pages of this sermon. I felt God and had a sense of this sermon.

It rained almost every day that we were at camp. Our socks and clothes were wet. It was hard to get them dry so they were put into the dirty clothes bag a little damp. We loaded the truck in the rain and had to put all of the suitcases and dirty clothes in the cab. I didn’t notice the smell when we loaded the truck. I didn’t notice the smell until I had taken a bath and returned to unload the truck.

I smelled the wet and soggy truck with a new sense of smell. I tried to get the clothes washed as quickly as possible so that the rest of the family would not gag from the smell of a son and Dad who had been camping for a week.

We got back on Saturday morning from camp. I had dreams of getting home early, resting, finishing my sermon early in the afternoon, and having a peaceful birthday party for my brother-in-law. Jessica told me that she needed to shop for tennis shoes for band camp next week. We couldn’t find a pair a “Show Show” in Rocky Mount so we ended up driving to the “Rack Room” in Roanoke. I realized while I was driving Jessica that driving to Roanoke was the gift of my time to help Jessica have shoes to wear while she was marching next week. I was fulfilling my call to be a parent in a different way. I was ready to rest, but my calling was to give time to my daughter.

Susan was at Wesley Seminary last week learning about how God and the Bible is portrayed in Hollywood movies. I missed her. She didn’t make it home until Saturday afternoon. I realize that my calling as a supportive husband is being able to let go enough so that Susan can grow spiritually. Missy is also serving God at Project SPY (Summer Project Youth) in Christiansburg. I’ve missed her this summer, but she is really growing in her faith by preparing a place of middle and high school students to come to serve God. I’ve also had to let go of Missy so God could transform her spiritually.

I’m also learning that living my calling requires me to listen to God, Susan, and my children. They have very special things to tell me about how God is touching them. If I don’t slow down enough, I’ll never be able to hear their wonderful stories of inspiration and transformation. My call is to be an active listener.

My call is also being a good brother-in-law. My call is also being a good pastor by visiting David Smith in Franklin Memorial Hospital. My call is also being an encourager to people that cross my path – Whitney. Whitney remembered every word that I told her last year. She remembered my stories. She remembered my encouragement. I had forgotten the words that were spoken last year at Boy Scout Camp, but for her those words were words of hope and faith. I realized that my call from God is to encourage strangers as they cross my path. Those moments may make a bigger impact in someone’s life than we realize.

I received a call from Kofi Boakye. The windows and doors are in the Sagadugu Church. He said that missionary went by the church and was impressed with the new church. The missionary asked Kofi how the church was built. Kofi is ready to start work on the plaster job for that church. Kofi said that the people of Sagadugu are encouraged because they have a place to worship. I realized that my call is to serve God by helping people to worship God.

I received a call from a member of our church who wants to remember her baptism. She wants to rededicate her life to God. I realize that my call is to help people along their faith journey.
Living a life worthy of God’s calling is easy. We need to pay attention to the little things in our life when people need us. We need to lift them up. We need to encourage. We need to help people when they are down. We need to pray for the sick. We need to clothe the poor. We need to feed the hungry.

It is okay to think about the calling of Moses going to the burning bush or the mountain top. We may be called to part the Red Sea or we may just be called to live our life in a manner that people will say that they were touched by our love in such a special way. If someone opens the photo album fifty years from now, what will they say about our life? Will our lives inspire others to serve God and to be inspired to determine their life that is worthy of God’s call? As we go out those doors today, let us think about God’s calling on our lives and find the way that God wants us to serve.