You cannot control a phone call according to your own will. When the caller wants to make a call, it connects, and the recipient simply answers. This calling is called a calling in English. We have all received God#039s calling and the Holy Spirit#039s calling. I hope you remember today#039s message every time the phone rings. So today, let us reflect on the Holy Spirit#039s calling.
First, He calls us to a place of humility.
Because God made us, who were children of wrath, His children and called us, salvation comes through God#039s calling. That is why we can specifically speak of the calling of the Holy Spirit, and we must live lives worthy of this calling.
So how do we live a life worthy of the Holy Spirit#039s calling? First, we must accept one another in love. This means bearing with the other person#039s weaknesses and not repaying them in kind. In other words, it means doing it in love. True love, love that endures forever, is thinking about that person#039s salvation. For this, the most essential thing is longsuffering. We must endure and wait until the time God has appointed so we can accept one another in love. Another essential element for enduring is gentleness. The essence of gentleness is knowing one#039s place and not overstepping the bounds of kindness toward others. The most crucial part of grasping this theme is knowing that I am 100% a sinner, and this is precisely humility.
We cannot humble ourselves on our own, so the Holy Spirit helps us by calling us into humble circumstances. If you find yourself trapped in a prison-like situation now, I hope you will believe this did not happen by chance but is something done in the Lord. Though it is difficult, if you are well imprisoned and bound, believe that this is the best response to the Holy Spirit#039s call. Then the Holy Spirit who called you will surely take responsibility.
Second, He calls us to be one.
The Bible describes our state before receiving the Holy Spirit#039s calling as the old self. One of the most defining characteristics of the old self is division. Yet Jesus called us, who were divided, to peace. Just as a limb separated from the body dies immediately, each one of us spiritually dies when separated from the church.
When God calls us, He always calls us through the church. Therefore, apart from the church, we cannot fully experience the grace of salvation. Thus, the hope of the calling by which the Holy Spirit calls us is also one. Unity is not something we can create it is the Holy Spirit who unites us, binding us together with the cord of peace.
The shalom, the peace spoken of in Scripture, is the complete fulfillment of God#039s reign, where everything finds its proper place centered on God, establishing order. Being well bound together with the cord of peace means nothing else than receiving Christ#039s reign well, obeying according to the Word, and applying it. Paul believed his imprisonment was God binding him to the Word to lead him to heaven, confessing this was done in the Lord. Yet we constantly try to untie that cord. That is why today the Lord commands us to guard it #039with all our strength!#039 The world#039s calling highlights only the individual called. But the Holy Spirit#039s calling makes me one of them within this church, the body of Christ. Even if my physical circumstances seem utterly broken now, if I confess this is where the Holy Spirit has called me, I believe that place is heaven itself.
Third, the Triune God is with us.
Believing that Jesus is both true man and true God in one person is our Christian confession of faith. The conclusion of a life worthy of the Holy Spirit#039s calling is not me, but God. And the God we believe in is the One who created, governs, cares for, and redeems all things.
God is present with all things, and He speaks of this presence in three ways. 1. He is above all things. This is transcendence, meaning the Father God cares for us according to His hidden will and enables us to live the life He planned for us. 2. He unifies all things. This is the work of the Son Jesus Christ, fulfilling God#039s will to unite and restore our lives, shattered by sin, through the cross and resurrection. 3. He dwells within all things. This is the effective power of the Holy Spirit, who never abandons a single person and guides them all the way to heaven.
It is difficult for us to humble ourselves and preserve unity. Yet, because the Triune God is with us, we can do our utmost to respond to the Holy Spirit#039s call.
This communal confession is a testimony shared by a first-year middle school student during a Think Trip. This friend grew up caring for his sister with a disability, facing hardships from a young age. Yet he confessed that he now senses God#039s constant presence within his difficult circumstances. Meditating on the Book of Ruth, he believed that just as God brought Ruth together with Boaz, making her the great-grandmother of David, God would also use his own labor in serving his sister as a vessel of His grace. She also shared that she often fought with her younger sibling. Realizing the importance of obedience and sacrifice, she applied this by trying to treat her sibling kindly. But soon they fought again, and as her grades improved and she received praise, pride began to grow in her heart. Then, opening her devotional book after a long time, a testimony about someone who distanced themselves from God through pride and subsequently experienced failure in college entrance exams jumped out at her. She felt this was a word God was speaking directly to her.
Just as this student was called, the Holy Spirit#039s call makes no distinctions. As this student responded to the Holy Spirit#039s call and made a precious confession, may we also be blessed to live lives that respond to the Holy Spirit#039s call.
The Holy Spirit#039s call summons us to a place of humility and calls us to unity. The Triune God is with us. Now, in the Lord#039s name, I bless you, our saints, that you may be firmly anchored in every circumstance and place within the Lord, living lives worthy of the Holy Spirit#039s call.
