Preacher: Josh White

Well how many of you remember your of ever. Most of you we should remember our first job is kind of I know some people here probably never had a job yet they’re looking for that I know for and I’m realizing now that whenever I mention my first job I’m really dating myself I’m aging myself because my first job was a paper route people these days do not know their first job being a paper route but I have a people route growing up in Spokane Washington and it was on Wednesday only it was the valley Herald and so it was a once a week paper delivery and so I would deliver it to responsibilities. Papers I pick them up on Wednesday I would package them and I get them ready then I would deliver them handle live or them on my bike to all the people in my paper route and then once a month I would go knock on right to collect a dollar. At this paper the valley here old was a free paper yet when they charged a dollar on it was basically for my delivery fee the other money after advertisements and so what happened is I would go knock on the door once a month

telling.

Us for why they didn’t have a dollar.

A day I don’t know there was a job description for delivering the valley here old but if if I could rewrite it I would say this is the job description pick up a pair and deliver papers to customers every Wednesday and once a month knock on listen to all the excuses people come up with for why they don’t have a dollar in their dollars that was my first job.

You know sometimes there’s a difference in a written job description comparing what the job really entails Have you ever experienced that in your own life maybe you had a job as well as a job description says this is a well no it’s not the real job description him across some funny job descriptions and so I want to share a few of those with you today and so what I’ll do is all read the job description and these are considered real job all reading for you and I’ll give you just like a couple seconds to see if you can figure out what the real job is OK this is kind of fun all right so if your job to read things that don’t matter then write papers saying they do matter for points that don’t matter in order to get a job doing something totally unrelated.

You are a student.

For a steward are years I got a few of these are pretty good if your job is to take numbers on pieces of paper rearrange them and put them on different pieces of paper. Then your job is a tax accountant now bad all right if your job is to show innovative ways to burn the money in the spirit of patriotism.

You are a firework stand manager.

Who want to blow your money.

If your job is to supervise the good guys and gals who try to protect the good people from the bad only to be hated by the good people and the bad people you are a police sergeant Yeah you got that one. Pretty good this one this was a funny one I don’t know if you get this one but if your job is to manage urban renewal and pest control you are a B. fifty two bomber pilot.

Controlling a lot of us are there’s a good one if your job is to ensure that stupid people stay in the gene pool. You are a lifeguard.

If you’re just here just getting that OK. If your job is to spend most of the day looking out the window then you are an airline pilot.

Mike’s Now here is you know he’s in for a look out the window if you and I don’t like this one because this one’s very true but if your job is to take pictures of the unlucky and the stupid. You are an X. ray technician. That’s very true the couple times I’ve been an X. ray technician is because I was very unlucky and got a few more of these OK if your job is to have people spend far more than they estimated then you are a building inspector is naturally building is very is always good to do that if your job is to run away and call the police. Your job as a security guard that’s all he can do you call the police if your job is a stand on a field and get yelled at for hours. You’re a baseball umpire you know you got that one come or disc a couple more if your job is to make food that is as healthy before it goes in your body as when it comes back out of your body you are. A fast food worker. Last one last one.

There’s a lot of more of these I could have done this all day but if your job is to be a human a napkin. You are a mother of three that’s where your job is that’s a job description of a mom of three kids being a human napkin you know job description the exist because it’s supposed to describe what a person is going to be doing how they’re going to be spending their time and what they’re responsible for and you know based on that. People might be drawn to certain jobs and many of you when you were looking for a career or a job you looked in the want ads and you thought well you know what I like to do this is this something that I’d like to spend my time doing or not and so that’s kind of an important thing to read however there’s something that goes beyond a job most people when they’re growing up they don’t looking necessarily for a job they’re looking for a career or another word for career is vocation and the interesting thing about the word vocation it comes from the Latin word for vox V O X which means voice and so vocation is basically the way that we express ourselves to the world and so if you have a a calling if you have a career or if you have a vocation it’s your way of expressing yourself to the world around you that’s how you make yourself useful to those around you so for those of you here I know many of you are you are retired but how many of you can say that you’ve truly found your vocation in life you’ve truly found your calling hopefully many many people are able to say that I want to kind of hold that thought for just a moment and ask you this question. If you were to have a conversation with someone this week and they would ask you Hey what did you do this weekend he said Well Saturday I did this and that but Sunday I went to church and then I moved the rocks out of the river bet my church and and they said church what what are you going to church what is what is church all about and and what would be the job description of a Christian how would you answer that question what is the job description of a Christian first of all you’ll never be asked that question because it’s a bad question there’s no job description for a Christian but maybe a better way to ask a question is what is God’s calling on the life of the child of God on a believer what is their calling How how should they voiced on who they are how are they to spend their time or do they to focus their energy on what is their voice in the world well that’s what Paul is about to talk about in our next passage so I want you to open your Bibles to go after five.

Galatians chapter five will pick up where we left off from last week which is verse thirteen.

Chapter five beginning in verse thirteen.

And oh yeah I’ve been should be for that soon as we get to go lation chapter five and six were in the practical section but I think that this these couple verses vs thirteen fourteen and fifteen are probably the most transitional passage in the entire book of Galatians up until this point Paul has been talking to the people in Glacier explaining to them how the law has been fulfilled how Christ has fulfilled the Law The Law was given to point us to Christ the law was given to show us that we cannot fulfill it we need Christ and now we’re free from the law and now Paul kind of transitions from the doctrinal portion into the so wide and so if you’ve been freed from the lot how does that make a difference in your life and he answers that question in these couple verses verse thirteen questions five thirteen it says For you were called to freedom brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another for the whole laws fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself but if you buy them devour one another watch out that you are not consumed by one another. In verse thirteen I think the most important verse or the most important word at least for this morning is the word for called The word called This is an important topic and in this sense the word called we can see this is used several times throughout Scripture calling has several different meanings one in the way that we’re going to look at it primarily today is when it says that you’ve been called the something it can mean in some sense is that you’ve been chosen to do something by in another words if you’re chosen to do something you don’t have much of a choice God or whatever the context is this chosen you for a specific project or a purpose but in this sense and many times where we see this word called that we have been called to something the word call really means more of an invitation that you have been invited to share in this you’ve been invited to free to. You’ve been invited to live in freedom what I want to do is I want to look at a few other places in the Bible where we see this word call and this says believers this whenever we see this word that we’ve been called to do something this is where we should really pay attention because this is where God is really giving us the purpose of being a child of God A few other times where a similar usage is is used for this word for calling first place is in the fish and I was on the train over there is just a couple pages over your bible glaciers efficiencies chapter four

he’s in chapter four beginning in verse one and here we have the same word used in the sim very similar sense meaning that we’ve been called to do something. If he’s in chapter four beginning in verse one

Paul writes I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patients bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call and so when here in this passage we see this word called recalling just a couple different ways the last one in verse four it says that we have been called to the one hope so what is this one the hope that God has called us to wellness passage especially it can mean the hope of being resurrected from the dead when you and I die we hope that we will be resurrected and we will spend eternity with Christ in Heaven a minute the very beginning it says because that is your call which you’ve been invited to walk or live in a manner that is worthy of that calling that God has placed on your life and so we see that here in efficiency chapter for another one I’ll just read this quickly for you first US one in four seven it says God is not called us for impurity but in holiness and so God has called us to be as children not so that we live impure lives he’s called us so that we live holy lives. Another one I want you to turn to these a couple of them are in first Peter so go over to first Peter chapter two.

First Peter chapter two and this is one that none of us like to read because we never want to be in the situation of first Peter chapter two.

Beginning in verse eighteen will read out for context first Peter chapter two beginning in verse eighteen there is another calling that is on all of us as believers if we will find ourselves in this situation it’s a servant to be subject to your masters with all respect not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust for this is a gracious thing when mindful of God one endure sorrows while suffering unjustly for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it you endure but if when you do good and suffer for it you endure this is a gracious thing in the sight of God for to this you have been call because Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps and for especially for the people who are reading this that Peter wrote this this book to they were suffering on behalf of their faith in Jesus Christ and I don’t know how much suffering we go through here in America especially this day and age but some people do suffer because of their faith in Jesus Christ and says this is what you’ve been called to do so if you’ve been called to represent Jesus Christ and you suffer live up to that calling in your life. I’m going over to chapter three here and first Peter beginning in verse eight.

First Peter’s three beginning in verse eight.

Says finally all of you have unity of mind sympathy brotherly love a tender heart in a humble mind do not repeat evil for evil or reviling for reviling But on the contrary blessed for to this you were called the Jew may obtain a blessing lesson this is telling us that you and I are called for many things were invited for many things but we are called to live in unity with each other and to seek. And to be purposeful in seeking out unity with each other it’s an invitation to participate in something that is good and this calling that we see in scripture it’s really it’s a choice that we have we can either do this or not do it another sense of the word call it like an invitation is used by Jesus in Luke five you can turn there if you like Luke Chapter five. This is the last example that will look at North about to a passage but in Luke Chapter five. Speaking of an invitation maybe a stronger sense of this word call can be used in it can be translated more like a. In the sense to rouse people or to summon people to action where you call people you’re really calling the the army to battle or to arms and this is how Jesus used this example in Luke Chapter five beginning in verse twenty nine.

Luke five beginning in verse twenty nine.

Says and Levi made him a great feast in his house and there was a large company of tax collectors and other reclining at the table with them and the fair season the scribes grumbled at His disciples saying why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners and Jesus answered them those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance so Jesus saying I have come to rouse him to summon those who know they need a savior I’ve called him calling them to repentance as opposed to the people who think that they are already righteous Well this is definitely a war whenever we see this in Scripture it’s definitely a word that we need need to pay attention to and this word called really reveals to us a purpose that we have in our relationship with God We are called to do this and so in Galatians go back to Chapter five when it says that we are called to freedom that’s exactly what Paul the same Paul says here in glaciers that we are called to be free and in the very next sentence. Paul tells us what this calling gives us if we’re called to be free called to Liberty exactly what does it give us it gives us choices too specifically look at verse thirteen again.

Says For you are called to freedom brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another so here this freedom that Paul’s talking about here in place and five gives us two basic choices you are free your free from the burden of the law and you can do with that freedom one of two things you can either turn your attention on yourself and looking create new ways to bring pleasure to yourself or you can use that freedom and use it to serve others and to love others you know before I was thinking about this before the people in Glacier especially the Jews before the wall was fulfilled how much freedom did they have you know that they didn’t have much the law gave them bondage in here’s a kind of a serious question I was wondering on the whole ever know the answer to this but I wondered for the people who were under the law and they were trying specifically to follow all the ceremonial aspects of the law like every week in every month and every year they had to do certain things and soon the law has been abolished and Christ fulfilled the law literally how much more free time did people have now over the law had been fulfilled and just just consider them I don’t know the answer that question but they literally had a lot more time on their hands now that they were not required to follow the law. Don’t all of us look forward to having a little more more time on our hands we all look forward to that we usually look forward to the weekends right you look forward to the weekends and you say when I’m not working I want to do this on the weekends we look forward to our vacation time and people especially look forward to retirement right yeah some of you are going to retire saying amen It’s funny I hear a lot of the people that are newly rich. Hired say they’re so busy in retirement they have no idea how they had enough time to do their job when they were actually working a very go something that all of us could look forward to hopefully someday. But this freedom from the law it actually gave them more time I mean literally it gave them more time so when you have free time what do you do I don’t want you to actually answer that question I want to think about this we have options right if you have free time and one thing is you might spend time working on a hobby right I mean if you like to go do that OK then I hear you got a hobby and work on a hobby some of you like like my wife will clean stuff around the house she looks forward to having time also she can get stuff done so I know some of you are like that some of you if you have more time on your hands what you want to do is you want to sit in front of the T.V. and waste way so we watching T.V. in movies or maybe spending time on the Internet right those are called teenagers right that’s that’s what they do but with this freedom that God has called us to he did not read the muscles so that we can turn inward and find more and better ways to please ourselves he freed us so that we can spend our time doing the only thing that can only be done in this lifetime that is trying to point others to a relationship with Jesus Christ and serve them that’s something that we will not be able to do in the life to come because everyone who’s going to be there will already have a relationship with them so let that let that sink in the one thing that we can only do in this lifetime is serve others in the hopes that they might have a relationship with Jesus Christ and so the big question of the day is this if we have been called to freedom are we supposed to use that freedom and we’re supposed to use our freedom to serve others then what is the one thing that we need in our lives in order to not misuse our freedom there’s one thing that we need to make sure is in our lives so we don’t misuse our freedom and the answer to that is in our past. As for today let’s read it again versus thirteenth your fifty.

Five versus thirteen to fifteen it says. For you are called to freedom brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another for the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself but if you buy it in devour one another watch out that you are not consumed by one another and so alternately what Paul is showing us are really reminding us because this is taught so many times in Scripture that this call on our lives this freedom that we have is a call to love and to love others the way that God has loved us when we are committed to loving each other then we are going to be using our freedom in the way that God is intended for us to use it and if we don’t love each other then we will be selfish and self-centered and then verse fifteen will happen in our lives or good versus team again but if you buy it in devour one another watch out that you are not consumed by one another so the answer to the question is how do we make sure we use our time wisely with the freedom that God has given to us we have to put love into our relationships and so let’s go to the passage of love First Corinthians thirteen I want to read this you know this is a passage that I call this the wedding passage it’s kind of like a good good passage should read it weddings and I have some of the weddings that I’ve done I have I have used this before but something that’s interesting about this description of love this is God’s definition of love not man’s definition of love but in this definition of love here in First Corinthians chapter thirteen we get to lists and if you’ve never seen this before maybe this will kind of bring to light what true love is in this list God gives us a description of what love does. And just as importantly what love does not do so let’s go ahead and let’s read this and kind of mentally you can put these things in the list of the things that we’re supposed to do and things that we’re not supposed to do so first Corinthians chapter thirteen verse four.

Says Love is patient and kind love does not envy your boast it is not arrogant or rude it does not insist on its own way it is not irritable or resentful it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth love bears all same’s believes all things hopes all things and endures all things. In those three verses there are seven things that love does but eight that love doesn’t do and so love is just as much what you don’t do to another person as what you do and you know the opposite of love may be the best word we could describe where does the opposite of love is the word hate and let’s look at this description again do any of these descriptions sound like the practice of someone who hates other people it says envy we boast were arrogant there is rude or insists on their own way someone is very selfish irritability resentfulness rejoicing at wrongdoing that is the action of someone who is doing the opposite of love and as we listed off those eight things that we’re not supposed to do Have you done any of those things but all of us are right probably this morning you can by think of a couple of things that maybe even you did today you know I look at this less and I wonder you know are any of these any of these things do they come easier to some of us or than to others you know all of these are definitely an opportunity to please the flesh you know how good does it feel when you are bitter and resentful towards another person sometimes it doesn’t feel good kind of. The flesh that’s why God tells us that we’re not supposed to do it and therefore not careful we can become people who are the opposite of the calling that we’ve received what we are called to do is this we are called to be patient with others we are called to be kind we are called to rejoice with the truth and that’s difficult these days because you don’t people like to do they like to invent their own truth right. But this as we rejoice with is the truth not in individual persons truth we rejoice with the truth.

Love bears all sayings it believes all things it hopes all sayings in endures all things and if we allow God to fill our hearts with this kind of love then we will fulfill our calling but we also need to notice when we are doing the exact opposite. I want to share the story of something to happen to me in fact I never thought that I probably share the story but this week as I was starting this coming came to my mind I feel like I’m a pretty easy going person I can get along with most people and in fact you know there’s not a list in my mind of people that I hate I got a hateful person yet during my years in college my second year there was a person that I didn’t like too much I didn’t I didn’t like it was a girl that I had dated OK.

We dated very casually just for a couple months it never got serious but I’m over the summer she did a couple things that I didn’t appreciate And so when we got back to college I just I didn’t want to have anything to do with her and so I was twenty years old and it’s kind of embarrassing to even say this but in my mind I just kind of made it so that she didn’t even exist like she didn’t even exist the problem is if you’re going to act that way on a small Christian campus with only one hundred students people are going to do notice the way they treat other people and a couple months into the semester. I find out an eye opening experience was kind of shocking a good friend of mine Geoffrey horse someone you know Jeff Arroyo your nephew and he came up to me one day and he gave me a book and the book was titled loving people we would rather hate

and you laugh and first I laugh of the what is this for and he says well when I saw this book I thought of you.

I’m a pretty happy go lucky person and it just dawned on me that as Jeff went to the Christian bookstore and he’s looking at books to read and buy for himself he saw that book loving people we’d rather hate.

And I was the first person that he thought of.

And so he bought me that book.

That was really eye opening and it was really hard for me to realize the way that I was treating another person everyone saw me as a hater of so and so and I didn’t want to be known as a hater of anyone and so I swallowed my pride and I made the situation a lot better but listen this is part of our calling God has not called us to be a hater of anyone no one people that we know people that we don’t know hate and resentment I’ve heard this is scripture that maybe you have to it’s really great when you hate or you resent or you’re bitter towards another person it’s like drinking poison hoping to hurt the other person that’s what bitterness does that’s what he and resentment does in our lives and listen Christ died so that we can be free from that prison and you and I we choose to put ourselves in that prison because Christ has set us free from that prison so Hating people is not part of the job description of a child of God and that goes for people that you know and also people that you don’t know putting politicians in the gutter what side of the aisle you go on one thing you know my soapbox here Christian should not be vocalizing hatred towards anybody that’s not what we’ve been called to do You can disagree with people but not show hate Well how do we fulfill this calling last verse that I want to look at today is Romans Chapter five chapter five.

Beginning in verse one

Romans Chapter five beginning in verse one.

It says this Therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we now we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God not only that but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame and here’s the passage right here this is the phrase because God’s love has been puir into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us is that a wonderful passage in fact I get a really good mental image God wants us to fulfill this calling in our lives to love others and so we can get this mental image of God taking this big pitcher of water or pitcher of Lebanese he’s pouring it into us and he’s wanting us he’s calling us to open our hearts to get rid of bitterness resentfulness and all those things that love is not so we open our hearts for the God’s love can be poured into our hearts so that it overflows so that we can share it with others that’s the calling that God has put on our lives you know if you’re a believer in Christ and hope that everyone here is today then you are free and so far up to this point in time Paul has shown us exceedingly well that we are free from the law we are free from the burden of following the ceremonial aspects of the law but most importantly we are now free to love. We are free to love everyone we are free to share the love of God and that happens when we give up our sinful selfish self-centered desires and we allow God to pour into our hearts His love so that we can share with those around us that is our calling and this is something that we can do while still holding on to the truth we can love others without compromising the truth but that is what we are called to do as. Share the gracious merciful love of God with the world that is your job description for this week that’s my job description for this week. So let’s get out there let’s go to work. This close and prayer

Dear Lord I thank you so much for this reminder that you’ve given us here in Galatians.

And how appropriate is it after you’ve called us and revealed to us that we are free from the law we’re free from those burdens and obligations in the next thing you tell us is we are now free to love we are free to act towards the world the way that you acted towards the world.