Call or Be Called

We're still thinking about the online player who told us last weekend, "I don't do church."

In our last post, we noted churches can be groups that sit in judgment of disputes.  (Yes, we know - sometimes they also pass judgment on people and events.)  But a church can be other things....

I am writing to God's church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people.... - I Corinthians 1:2 (NLT)

Players "call" at the poker table all the time.  It's the minimum requirement for getting into a hand.  (You might get in trouble if you call someone else on the phone during a hand, but that's another topic.)

But a church is filled with "called" people.  The Greek word for church (the New Testament was primarily written in Greek) means "calling out."  Our verse shows God calls people out -- and unlike our modern slang, that's not a negative thing.

And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. - Romans 1:6 (NLT)

Belonging to Jesus might sound boring.  But if you heed it, that call results ultimately in something remarkable:

In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.... I Peter 5:10 (NLT)

You can live forever with Jesus -- and it starts with a call.  It's a call from God, to be part of what Jesus is doing.  It's a call to a church containing "his own holy people," as our first verse noted.

...Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. - I Peter 1:14-15 (NLT)

God may well be calling you to give up selfish desires for something bigger and better. If He's calling, it's your turn. How will you respond?