Discover Your True Self - You are Called, Part 2

Do you remember the first time someone hired you? They looked you in the eye and said you're the one we want. Or someone picked you and said we want you to be on our team. There's something powerful and affirming about being called out to be a part of a group. Well today you're going to learn what it looks like when God says I want you. You are called to be on my team.

You don't want to miss it. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge features the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram on this international discipleship program.

I'm Dave Drouie. And in this program, Chip wraps up his series, Discover Your True Self. It's been a great run and this message is a powerful finish to the journey we've been on over the last several programs.

If you've missed any of them along the way, the Chip Ingram app is a great way to pick them up later. Just before we get started, let me remind you that after the teaching, Chip's always with us here in studio to bring a final thought and his application. So be sure to stay with us for that. Now let's get going and let's join him for part two of his message, You Are Called from Ephesians chapter two.

Third, he called you. You'll never have to be alone into a new family. Chapter two verses 11 through 22. It's a new family. Now I can't read the whole passage, so let me give you the context. As you're looking at your Bibles, look at verses 11 and 12. Basically, Paul is writing to this Gentile church. And they've received the gospel. They're now followers of Jesus. But do remember Jesus was a Jew, the Messiah.

He fulfilled all those Old Testament prophecies. And so basically he says, look you guys, you need to remember where you came from. You were formerly haters of God, alienated from God. You had no hope, no promises.

You were on the outside looking in. And then he says, hey, and by the way, you Jews, get a life. Do you understand what Jesus did? He broke down the dividing wall.

In fact, if you look at your text, notice peace, peace, peace, peace, and the word unity. And so what he says is that Jesus came and broke down the wall and the barrier between Jew and Gentile, and he made one new thing. One new man. Then I pick it up. Follow along as I read this.

Notice what that one new thing is? Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, you Gentiles, but you're fellow citizens with God's people. You're members of God's household.

And then notice what he goes on to say. Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the cornerstone. In him, Christ, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple. What's a temple? Why do people go to temples? To worship. To experience God's presence. Jew, Gentile, one new family. In him, you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives in his spirit. God's presence dwells in you as a believer individually, but God's manifest presence when we come together two or more, three or more, he then dwells and manifests his power in his presence.

Now, here's what you need to get. Jew and Gentile, because our cultures, most of us don't have a clue, this would be like, there's hundreds and hundreds of years of not, I don't mean they don't like each other, I'm talking hostility. If I was a Jew, I would not walk into the house of a Gentile. If a Gentile drank out of a cup, I would not touch the cup or I wouldn't drink out of it.

Jews call Gentiles dogs. What he's saying is, Jesus now has taken all these people from different places and now there's unity in him. This is like someone from Hamas and the head of the Israel state saying, we are now family. This is like it's 1950 and the KKK and the NAACP, the two presidents come together and say, we are now family. That's how radical it was.

Here's what you need to get. Yes, we're multicultural here, but we're multicultural where by and large, Korean, Chinese, Indian, black, white, rich, not so rich, single, married, married again. Yeah, we're really, really, really diverse, but what happens in churches and ours is no different.

By and large, you stay in your affinity group. I hang out with these people. We all speak this language. I'm with people I like and so we have all these little silos of all these different people and you like each other and there's some exceptions.

Here's the deal. Being in a big room with people from all kind of backgrounds is not the same as being in a room where you get to know them. Where you learn to love people that are different, where you learn things that are different, where you hear words and backgrounds and hurts and where we actually, you know what happens?

What will happen here is what happened there. Can you imagine you're a Roman soldier or you're just a person in Judea or Galilee and all of a sudden these Christians, these wacko people that say this guy rose from the dead, there's a Jew and a Gentile, a slave and a rich person, a rabbi and literally they had the Hamas of their day. One of the disciples basically was a zealot. That's called a revolutionary and they're all arm in arm and they're walking into a stadium singing and that motley group of people that would hate each other apart from Jesus singing and praising God and asking God to forgive the people that are about to kill them. And God doesn't want you thinking following Christ is coming to weekend services, maybe being in a group, giving a little money and going your way. He wants you to get connected in community.

He wants you to learn to love and experience the kind of things that people would say, gosh, aren't you both from India but in India these two groups don't get along? How does that happen? Aren't you from Taiwan and you're from mainland China and isn't there some rub with some of that stuff? Aren't you black and aren't you white? Are you ready for this? Aren't you a Republican and he's a Democrat and you pray together and love each other?

I'm not kidding you. That's what God wants to do. Now, you might be thinking, how would that happen? Oh, I'm glad you asked because I want you to think, do I really want to change? What if the problem is not the internet?

What if it's not lapsing back into the third or fourth or fifth drink? What if it's not anger management? What if at the heart of it it's not about how much you work or why? What if it's not about ego? What if all those things are symptoms and if you would ever come to the point where you could grasp in your head and your heart, I am secure and loved.

I don't need people to like me. I don't need all my circumstances to work out perfectly. I have all that I need in Him and I give my life away and as I give my life away, I do not understand in any way the mathematics of the kingdom of God. But every time I give my time, every time I give my heart, every time I'm willing to serve, God chooses to multiply that back and give to me far more than I gave. That's the call of God. He called you to a new purpose, to a relationship, to a new family and He called you to a new plan. Chapter 3 opens up and this is very interesting. The apostle Paul basically is explaining to this group of Gentiles, look, don't feel sorry for me. I'm a prisoner of the Lord but here's what I got to tell you. That's verse 1 and then the next little section is, look in your Bibles, look at the word mystery, mystery, mystery.

It happens either three or four times. The Greek word doesn't mean it's mysterious. It means something used to be hidden.

It used to be a secret but now it's not a secret anymore. And Paul is saying God had a secret. God had a secret in His eternal plan for all mankind and the secret is the church and the church is Jew and Gentile, all people becoming one new family.

And notice that this new family has an agenda. He says He has a plan and this plan has a purpose. Pick it up at verse 10. His intention with this new plan, the secret, Jew and Gentile, see, God's agent of blessing was Israel and they fumbled the ball. And so he says, you know what, I'm going to fulfill plans for you a little bit later but right now, I'm going to put someone new in the game and it's called the church.

And here's why. Look at verse 10. His intention was now that through the church, the manifold mystery of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. I know that sounds like sort of religion speak.

You know what that's saying? The angels, that's who the rulers and powers are. The angels are in heaven. And they're like, you know, whoa, I mean, we've worshipped you, you know, we cover our eyes, you're so holy. So these people who were angry and they did this and they... You forgave them?

You became a man? And then these two groups have been hating each other, they love each other and then angels don't understand grace. Part of our calling, are you ready?

You want to go? Part of our calling is to educate angels. To give them access into a side of the manifold wisdom of our God in His infinite wisdom and grace and power and glory. That this is what His heart is like by how He changes us and by what happens to us together. And then notice why.

Look right in your notes. He says, according to His eternal purpose, which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's just amazing.

It's just absolutely amazing. It's this new plan. You're a part of an eternal plan of God and you have a unique role. It's to give your life away. The plan is to go into all the world and make disciples.

It's Jesus' last words. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teach Him. Not to highlight their Bible, teach them to obey all the things Jesus says I taught you.

Help them be Christians that live like Christians. And by the way, I'll never leave you. You've got the power.

We've got this together. It's really hard to be discouraged, depressed and feel like it's meaningless. Life makes no sense.

No, no, no. I'm called to be His friend. I'm called to a new purpose. I'm called to a new family and I'm called to be a part of an eternal thing. In this tiny thing called time, in all of eternity, I am called by His name to be a part of that. Do you want in on that or not? We've got a whole world that looks at their navel. We've got a narcissistic consumer church. What did you do for me?

It wasn't that interesting. The music went a little bit long. I think the numbers need to be a little bit bigger than the child care. Help us, Lord. God's calling is so big, so magnificent and so amazing. If you would lean into it and experience it. Have you ever pondered this?

I like to read history. Have you ever wondered why like mega, mega wealthy people, Christian or not, they've realized life's got to be more than just making money and wealth and houses and planes and cars. And so, whether it was Polzer or whether it was Carnegie or whether it was Ford or Gates, I mean, when you make billions and billions and billions of dollars and you can do anything, there's a void. Secular people understand. The only thing that delivers any sense of meaning is when your life is about helping someone else or a cause bigger than yourself. And the biggest cause in the world is what? It's the gospel.

It's the God who came to the planet and died in the place to pay for all men's sin of all time, who rose from the dead and said, here's the plan. Go get him, team. I'm with you. Don't you want to be a part of that?

I do. Finally, he says God calls us to make our hearts Christ home. He starts with relationship and then he ends with this amazing, amazing prayer.

Pick it up. This one we need to read together. Look at verse 14. He starts, he says, for this reason. In other words, in all of these callings, for this reason, he goes, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner man. In other words, you can't do this. I can't do this.

Everything I said, I know I can't do. Oh God, will you give me the power, the will, the desire to take these kind of steps in ways? And then notice, I put in your notes, why? So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Put a circle around dwell and above it write, be at home.

That's what it means. So that Christ could be at home in your heart. Yes, he's absolutely awesome, transcendent and holy, but he wants to be your friend. To be at home where you're driving the car and you're talking to him. You mess up with one of your kids, oh Lord, I'm sorry, you make it right. Something comes out of your mouth and he's not down on you, you don't have to, you know, Lord, he's at home in your heart. It's why the metaphor, the whole Bible, you walk with God. Walk has baby steps, walk has trips, walk has some skipping.

It's a journey. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, something we already have, may have power, notice this phrase, together with all the saints. Everything I've described is impossible by yourself.

It's not hard, impossible. There was a reason the early church met house to house. See, there's times where I thought, oh God, I want you to hug me. God, I want you to answer a prayer. God, I want you to give me wisdom. God, I want you to provide for me.

Guess what? By and large, apart from some very, very unique supernatural times, guess what? He hugs you through another Christian. He provides for you through the time, the energy, the gifts and the money of someone who goes, oh wow, I just, I just was with a guy two days ago.

And there's these orphans in Zimbabwe and there's people on the streets and he just said, you know, God gave me this money. God's going to provide through me. The way that he gives you wisdom, it's a conversation in a group and you're having a struggle in a marriage and guess what? Everyone has those, but someone in your group goes, you know, about seven years ago, that was our issue.

You want to get coffee after this group, maybe sometime this week. And pretty soon, someone talks to you and God gives you wisdom and all of a sudden, wow, now it gets even better. Because everyone here has been through some stuff. You get coffee with someone and you're sharing something and they go, really?

And you're thinking, I'm just a regular person. That wasn't that profound, but you made it. God spoke. He grew you.

See, that's the plan. His dwelling together and then notice that we would know the love that surpasses knowledge, not just intellect, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. He starts with, we're called into a relationship and here's the end. We all have these holes and we fill them with stuff. We're like this container and, you know, I filled it with work or fill it with TV or fill it with NFL or fill it with food or fill it with something or fill it with the third or fourth glass of wine.

We got to do all this stuff. And he goes, let me let you gaze down into your soul and if you could see yourself the way I see you and then I'm going to fill you with my love. I'm going to fill you with my love. I'm going to fill you with my love to all the fullness of God. So all those things that you tried to fill in will just be like, yeah, I don't need that stuff, but it's a journey and it's a process. Can I ask you a really personal question, even though there's a lot of you and just one of me?

Do you want that? You can listen to it. You can be inspired. I mean, it's amazing. Now, is that like pondering and reflecting on the magnitude of your calling? But is that just like, oh, okay, you know, hey, way to go, Chip. I think you had a good one. Or is that okay, God?

I think I need to have a good one. I have four questions to help you take the next steps. Question number one, if you really want to get rid of the angst, the struggles in your life in these areas, have you responded to Jesus calling you to himself? Realize I need Christ. I have sinned.

I'm not who I need to be. Please forgive me and in the empty hands of faith, come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Second, have you discovered Jesus' purpose for your life? Connie went from a Christian doing a lot of good things who narrowed it down and realized this is what I was made to do.

We have a course on the website called Your Divine Design that would help you. Third, are you an active, connected member of Jesus' family? Connected.

Are you connected? Do you have real community? And fourth, are you actively a part of God's plan to reach, teach, and serve others? Churches have helped people come to believe either explicitly or implicitly that being a follower of Christ is coming into a big room, hearing someone that is at least fairly interesting, having good music, your kids taken care of, and checking a box going, that's what a follower of Christ is.

It's called consumerism. Nothing could be farther than truth, but we've created that. If you're not teaching, serving, caring, giving your life away, you're not experiencing the Christian life.

And there's these pieces of the puzzle that are not there. See, are you ready for this? You are. No, this is not theologically correct, but this is practically correct. You are indispensable for God's ideal.

Now, you know what? You cannot do your thing. You think God's going to hold up his whole plan because you and I don't do what we're supposed to do? No. But you're indispensable to this body.

Indispensable, significant, needed. Read the truth slowly, profoundly, with a sense of God called my name. My life has an eternal purpose to fulfill.

Is that awesome? I have been created, equipped, and called by God in this moment of history to fulfill a unique role in his body that will demonstrate his mercy, love, diversity, and unity to the world. That's why I'm pursuing my holy ambition. I love what I'm doing, but I only get to live in this tiny thing, and here's eternity. I have to, like you have to, do whatever God calls you to do to make the greatest impact and the deepest impact on the most people with whatever he's given you.

And the reward will be beyond our wildest dreams, both now and forever. Lord, will you please, please open our minds and enlighten our hearts. Lord, I ask you for those that are sitting in this room or watching or listening, and they have never crossed the line, they've never confessed to you that they need you, that they're not perfect, that they've done things wrong. Lord, I ask that they could in this moment in their own words say, oh God, I'm sorry. Will you please forgive me based solely on Jesus' work on the cross and his resurrection? And will you come into my life?

Would you help me understand what it means to be your daughter, your son? And Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters that they've crossed that line, and you so long for them to see themselves the way you do, and they just need to take the next step. I want to give you just a minute as we close to just say to the Lord, call my name. Lord, would you call my name afresh?

Call me. Show me what part of this, whether it's friendship, whether it's community, whether it's family, whether it's purpose, would you just call my name and help me take just the next step. And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Chip's going to be back with his application, but just a quick reminder, this message, You Are Called, is from his series, Discover Your True Self. You know, at some point in our lives, most of us cut through all of the clutter to ask a very important question, Who am I? In this series, Chip opens the book of Ephesians to explain that the answer to that question changes when you become a son or daughter of the Most High God. Issues of worth and belonging take on a completely different meaning when we give our lives to his son, Jesus.

But if we don't know that, we tend to get bogged down in the doubts and struggles of our past. If you long to break free and truly live in the power of Christ, this series will help you do that. To check out your resource options for Discover Your True Self, just go to livingontheedge.org or tap Special Offers. Discounts are available for a limited time.

For more information, just give us a call at 888-333-6003. Well, Chip, your last application for this series is coming up, but we should take one more opportunity to talk about the Daily Discipleship sessions that go with this series. You know, a lot of people have heard about Daily Discipleship, but maybe they think, based on past experience, that they won't follow through or think the Bible is too hard to understand. Now, if somebody is out there thinking those kinds of thoughts, have you got a word of encouragement for them?

I sure do, Dave. In fact, I think there's two things that keep us from really meeting with God, hearing His voice, and drawing close to Him. Number one, when we start doing it, our motivation is really hot, but often we don't know how to read the Bible.

I sure didn't. And we don't understand what we're reading. And then pretty soon we feel like, what's the use of reading this if I don't understand it and I don't know what it means? The other thing is, sometimes we understand it and we get busy, and then, you know, it's just like working out physically. If you don't have a workout partner, most of us don't last very long.

It's just human nature. In fact, this four-week study that we're doing, Daily Discipleship with Me, it really works best if you do it with someone else. We did this in the fall of 2020, and Leslie wrote me and she said, Chip, I feel like after four weeks we actually know each other. First, I want to thank you for putting this study together and offering at no cost.

My prayer is that tons of people will take you up on your offer. My sister and I have done this together. It's been long distance. I live in Maryland.

She lives in Tennessee. It's been a growing opportunity for me. In addition, I'm planning to use this as the basis for our January Ladies Retreat. The group is about 10 to 25 women, and I can't wait for them to learn what I'm learning about how God sees me.

Let me encourage you. Find one other person. Maybe it's as a couple. Maybe it's with one of your teenage kids. Maybe it's just with a friend. Maybe you do it as a family.

I think if you find a partner and you do this together, you will develop a habit that will change the course of your life. As we wrap up today's program, and actually we're coming to the end of the teaching of this whole series, I want you to lean back, because this is very important. Let me ask you some of those vital questions that I ended this message with that remove the angst in our life. There's a lot of angst out there, and yet God says that we're competent, valuable, we're significant, we're secure.

Here's the question. Have you responded to Jesus' calling to Himself? Are you a believer? You've been listening.

You've been tracking. Have you crossed the line and asked Him to forgive you for your sins? Or as a believer, have you surrendered?

That's a separate step. Have you told Him, I'm all in. I really want to walk with you. I'm going to obey no matter what. Second, have you discovered Jesus' purpose for your life? He's made you special, and the greatest joys and the greatest impact are going to come as you discover that purpose and then fulfill it. Third, are you an active and connected member of the family of God? You know, we kind of live in a day where I read the Bible, and I'm spiritual, and I'm kind of doing my own thing. You are a vital part of a thing called the body of Christ.

There's this huge building, temple, puzzle, body. Choose the metaphor. And we need you, and you need us. That means you don't do it on your own. You're actually connected in real relationships where they know you, your joys, your challenges, and your hurts, and they have the freedom to encourage and to speak into your life. That's a part of what it means to be a follower in community. And fourth, are you actively a part of God's plan to reach and teach and to serve others? You know, it's so easy when we talk about, oh, I want to discover these things about myself, or I took this personality test, or this is my number on the Enneagram.

And you know, we can get so consumed with me, me, me, and this is what I'm like, and this is what will make me happy. And all of that focus completely misses the purpose for why you are in Christ and why you are called. You are called first and foremost to the Savior of the world because He loves you and wants an intimate relationship with you. And second, He has gifted you, prepared you, and prepared a purpose for you to make a difference. And so those lies like, I'm not wanted, and I'm not needed by anyone, and my life has no purpose or meaning, and I'm a victim and everything's unfair, is a lie.

Stop it. The truth is, my life and your life has eternal purpose to fulfill. We've been created, equipped, and called by God in this moment of history to fulfill a unique purpose that only we can. And as you look around the world, as I look around the world, has there ever been a time that you can remember where we need to step out and be followers of Christ, not just in word, but in deed, to love our neighbor as ourself, to care for one another, to model what it means to be light and salt, to be the Jesus in all the stuff that's happening in our world today. You matter to God, and He wants to use you like never before. You know, an easy way to share Living on the Edge or any of Chip's messages is with the Chip Ingram app. In just a couple of taps, any message you choose is on its way to your friend, someone in your family, or on social media to help others who could benefit from the truth of Scripture and its encouragement. And don't forget to include a quick note about how it made a difference in your life. Well, it's been great to be together. Until next time, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.