The High Calling of the Christian Life

Church family: If God wanted to remind you of only one thing to pursue for the new year that begins this Sunday, what do you think it would be?

Would it be to reflect on His amazing love for you, in the gospel of Jesus Christ? Would it be to spend more time in prayer and communion with Him? Would it be to evangelize more? Would it be to earnestly pursue the gifts of the Spirit? Would it be to actively fight sin and make that your sole focus? Would it be to worship him in a deeper way?

The high calling of the Christian life is to live in a manner “worthy of the gospel of Christ”. Be worthy literally means “in equal weight to”. Our manner of life must be in equal weight to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Picture an old fashioned scale where the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ is on one side of the scale, and the conduct of your living is on the other side. The Gospel represents some very weighty truths!

• You were dead, but are now alive (Eph. 2:1-10)
• You had no hope, but now have a future and a hope (Eph. 2:11-22)
• Infinite God became finite man, so that finite man could become one with infinite God (Phil. 2:5-11; John 17:21-23)
• Perfect and holy God who cannot sin became sin for us so that we could become perfect and holy (2 Cor. 5:21)

The Gospel is a heavy matter of spiritual life and death. Do we live in a manner consistent with this weight?

What makes our conduct worthy of the gospel is our unity with one another. To balance the scale and live in a manner worthy of the Gospel is to be totally unified in spirit and with our minds, striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel. The aged Pastor Paul says to the believers in Philippi – “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,” (Phil. 1:27). His sole desire for them was that they be united – that their unity was not dependent upon his being with them, but that they would remain steadfast of one mind and soul. The believer’s life is not designed to be lived in a vacuum. The abundant life we have in Christ is not meant to be enjoyed alone and kept to ourselves. To walk worthy of the Gospel is to walk with one another. Alongside one another. In step with brothers and sisters to your right and to your left.

This Sunday we are going to be reminded of what God desires for us in 2023. That we would be united together and one with Jesus, even as Jesus is united and one with the Father. I’m looking forward to beginning the new year worshipping alongside each one of you.

Kyle