Living Worthy of Your Call | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

If you have your Bibles today, I want you to

look in Ephesians chapter 4. This is our key

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

verse here, chapter 4 verse 1. The message that

I had felt the Lord give me for today, we're

gonna land there. But with everything that has

happened this week, I have altered it a bit.

With the assassination of Charlie Kirk this week,

this verse has just been resonating within me.

And that is, as a prisoner for the Lord then,

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling

you have received. I urge you. He's not saying

I'm hoping you will he's saying I am urging you

as a prisoner of the Lord To live this life of

yours Worthy of the calling you have received

With the With the death of Charlie Kirk who was

31 and I feel that a little because it's just

a little older than my oldest son And if you're

not familiar with him, I'm sure you've been seeing

it all over the place this week. But he was a

conservative political activist. He was an author.

He was a media personality. He was a voice in

politics. He was a leading voice in politics.

Interestingly, he had no college degree. Sometimes

we sit there and we disqualify ourselves because

we don't think we have some kind of adequate

certification. One of the most influential men

in the nation had no college degree. He lived

his life out loud, his faith out loud, regardless

of the consequences which we saw this week. And

while you may or may not agree with his political

stances, he undoubtedly loved his country and

he worked hard to empower the next generation.

This is a person that has lived his life worthy

of the calling he received. Even as I was thinking

about his life, the death of it I was recalling

another young man Dietrich Bonhoeffer great one

of the greatest theologians of our time and He

was 39 years old when he was hanged For his work

against the Nazi regime regime He was a pastor

and he also, I find the similarities interesting

because he also worked greatly with the next

generation of his time. He loved his country,

Germany, to the point of being hanged. He was

one of the last group of people, prisoners, to

be hanged before the Nazi regime collapsed, one

of the final few, and then it all ended. That

was after a one and a half year prison sentence.

And today, his voice is one of the loudest within

especially the world of spiritual formation,

discipleship. 39 years old. And we look at that

and we see, okay, we have this young man, Charlie,

which I find interesting that just a few months

ago when asked the question, what happens if

this all goes away? And he says, if I die, what

do I want to be remembered for? The courage of

my faith in Jesus. And we look at this, a 31

-year -old with such influence. We look at Dietrich

Bonhoeffer, 39 years old. He had immense influence

in his nation as well. And we are like, what,

Lord, is going on? There is this mystery of it

all. And in our human logic, we don't understand.

There is this thing called the mystery. But what

I do know is that the ways of God are different

than the ways of this world. And what I do know

is that the God that these two young men served

is not a god of waste. Right? What I do know

is that the way the kingdom of God works that

is unless a seed dies and falls to the ground.

And so what I know is that their deaths are not

the end. Their deaths actually cause their voice

to be even louder, their message to go even further.

And so today I want us for a few moments to look

at these lives. then to take a moment and to

look at our life because what these two men understood

even at these young ages is that we do live in

a battle. We do live. We have not all died and

gone to heaven yet. There is a kingdom of darkness

and there is a kingdom of light and there is

a battle for souls that is happening today. And

so I want us to reread our text again, and this

time I want us to read it in the Amplified. So

I want you to listen closely to this. So, and

this is Paul. The Apostle Paul is writing to

the church of Ephesus. So I, Paul, the prisoner

for the Lord, I appeal to you to live a life

worthy of the calling to which you have been

called. That is to live a life that exhibits

godly character, moral courage, personal integrity,

and mature behavior. A life that expresses gratitude

to God for your salvation. What I do know is

that these two young men are in good company

with the Lord Jesus Christ who at the age of

33 died upon a cross. He was one of the most

controversial men of his time and died at the

age of 33. Listen. The ways of the kingdom, we

cannot put these things into a box of our own

earthly understanding. What these two young men

got is that the Lord Jesus at age 33 died for

them. And because Jesus died for them, Their

response was to live a life worthy of that death.

This is the calling. This is the living with

gratitude. My life is defined and lived as an

offering of gratitude to my Savior. To live this

life worthy. What that actually means is... is

what we were saying. It's to live in a manner

that is honoring. And so the way I live my life

either honors the sacrifice of Christ or it dishonors

it. That is what it is to live worthy of the

calling. This life that I have I only have because

of Him. And so when I live it, Worthy unto His

sacrifice, I'm honoring the sacrifice. And let's

think about this word, calling, because we use

this word when we're talking about like calling

to ministry. But Paul was writing to a church.

He was writing to you and to me. To just whoever

so heard these words this calling is a calling

to a lifestyle That is marked by the Lord Jesus

Christ And so today my call to us is to examine

our lives and say, am I living in a way that

is honoring the sacrifice of Christ? Am I living

in a manner that is worthy of the calling that

I have stepped into when I said yes to Him? It's

just not a matter of us showing up at church

on Sunday mornings. There's a lot of people in

this world that do that. And they know nothing,

really, of walking worthy of the calling of Christ.

Charlie and Dietrich are men that lived this

verse out. They, to me, are people of inspiration.

They are, I love people. of inspiration. And

so my question today is, what does it look like

for you and for me to live this verse out? What

does it look like for you and me on Monday morning

to walk worthy of the calling? What does it look

like for you and me when everything is falling

apart in life? It feels like your life is just

one crisis after another. Can I say to you that

these are men that were not living a life of

ease? Paul himself is a prisoner. And he's saying

this is not about what is going right or wrong

in your life. This is in the midst of what is

going right and wrong, living worthy of the call.

And so, are we living? What does it look like

for us to exhibit godly character? What does

it look like for us to exhibit moral courage?

Because we need moral courage today. What does

it look like for you and I to exhibit personal

integrity when it's more important now than ever

that the world sees us living in integrity? We

are behind closed doors who we are in front of

everybody. What does it look like for us to exhibit

mature behavior? to maybe finally grow up in

the Lord. What does it look like for you and

I to live a life that expresses gratitude to

Him? This is our question for today. And so I

want us to take a moment and look in Philippians

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. This is one of my all -time favorite

chapters, one of my life verses, one of my life

chapters. And Paul is also writing this to the

church of Philippi. And so I hope you have your

Bible because I want you to really get into this.

In chapter 3 verse 12, Paul says, now Paul is

a very gifted guy. He's very well educated. And

he says in verse 12, not that I have already

attained or am already perfected. But I press

on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ

Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do

not count myself to have apprehended, to have

grabbed hold. But one thing I do, and this is

what you need to hear. forgetting those things

which are behind and reaching forward to those

things which are ahead. And listen, Paul had

a lot to forget, didn't he? He was killing the

Christians. That's what he did before he had

his Jesus moment. And he's saying, I can't imagine

having to carry that. knowing that you had overseen

the people dragging Christians out of their homes

and watching them be stoned to death. Can you

imagine that kind of guilt that you would bear?

And yet he says, listen, this is not him just

being callous. He understands the cross. And

so because of that, he's able to say, I forget

those things which are behind and I reached forward

to those things which are ahead. I press toward

the goal for the prize of the upward call of

God in Christ Jesus. This is an upward call.

Let's lift up our eyes, friends. We are pressing

on. toward this upward call. There is something

in us, and I love that the word says that the

earth is waiting for the sons and the daughters

to be revealed. There is something that has been

deposited in you when you were created that is

made for this upward call of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It should pull some kind of string inside of

you that says I am not for the mundane of this

earth. I'm not for the common things of this

earth. I have a higher call. I have been called

upward in Christ Jesus. There is a more that

he has called me to. There is a life he has called

me to. But it's he won't just do it for you.

He won't just drop it in your lap He's waiting

for you to put those things behind you and to

begin to press forward onward toward that call

and in verse 15 he goes on to say Therefore let

us as many as are mature I think we would all

like to say, I'm growing in maturity. This is

the goal, right? We don't want our babies, Sabrina,

to remain a baby forever, do we? You would like

to sleep at night, right? You would like them

to start feeding themselves a little bit, wouldn't

you? We don't want them to remain babies forever.

The goal is spiritual maturity. And so he says,

have this mind. And if in anything you think

otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already

attained, so whatever maturity you've already

attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us

be of the same mind. Okay, this here is our transitional

moment. There is this call to live your life

worthy of the calling and It rests our ability

to do that rests right here in these passages

To begin with what we have attained to to begin

to walk it out By the same rule and by the same

mind. What is a rule? We hear the word rule and

some of you like if you're like my husband or

like I don't like rules Rules were made for me

to break I'm giving him a hard time because he

threw me under the bus with a bunch of pastors

this week. So He has it coming They told me that

Yesterday he kind of threw you under the bus.

So I'm throwing him under I'm going to quit doing,

we're going to quit doing this when we're both

in the same room together as Pastor Jack gets

moved over to Petersburg. But a rule is not a

bad thing. All a rule is, is a standard. That's

what a rule is. It's a standard for behavior,

right? If I had a household of four kids that

I was homeschooling and we had no rules, no standards,

I wouldn't have survived, it would have been

chaos. And I don't do chaos well. A rule is simply

a standard. It isn't, what is the standard? He

said it in Ephesians, live worthy of the calling

of Christ. He is the standard. These rules these

activities that happen in our sphere There are

things that enable us to press on to the prize

of Jesus If you are how many of you were athletes

here you competed in what basketball football

basketball Basketball football and baseball.

All right He's a true athlete. Wow, we have a

very athletic. Well, I know Kristen is a softball

player. I don't know by sight because she ditched

on me, but I've heard she's a softball player.

She ditched on my team. I'm not offended at all.

That was like a year ago. I need to move on,

let go of the past and move onward. Okay. I won't

ever refer to it again. I will. She has such

faith in me. Okay. So nobody else are athletes

in here? Okay. There we got a few hands. Okay.

Do athletes do whatever they want when they are

in training? No. Are there things that you do

not do? Are there things that you do do? Yes.

Because they help you to become a competitive

athlete. Nobody wants you on the team if you're

gonna not do the things you should do and if

you are gonna do the thing, not do the thing,

you know what I mean. If you're gonna do or not

do, they're not gonna want you on the team, right?

They want your team, once you engage in the rules,

the standard that the team sets to participate

and to compete. I've got a short clip. We're

going to hear about this in the words of Charlie

Kirk. And so I want you to turn to the screen

for just a moment. And did you catch in there

that one point of a device is set a rule for

yourself. What was he saying? Now, don't get

all religious on me. Oh, that's religious behavior.

That's the Pharisees. No. What we're talking

about today is setting a standard in your life.

Setting a rule. One of the people that I love

is St. Benedict, and he raised up a system of

monasteries and and he what is called is the

rule of st. Benedict and and what it was is he

wrote out to be a part of this here's what it

looks like to live here here's what it looks

like to work here here's what leadership is here's

our daily schedule here's what we're doing for

spiritual growth what was he doing he was setting

a standard I have rules in my life. Now see,

Darren gives me a hard time because at age 20,

at age 30, at age 40, and at age 50, it's like

I don't like those decade moments, but they truly

are evaluation points for me because I truly

try to live intentional. I want to make the most

of this one life I have been given. And so I

do, I have rules that I've set into my life.

I have rules of nutrition that I have set into

my life. I have rules about the kind of flour

that is allowed in my house. I have rules about

the kind of dairy that is allowed in my house.

I have rules about where my meat comes from.

I have rules about grains and them being sprouted

or unsprouted. I have rules about my nuts being

soaked and dehydrated before I eat them. Now

am I legalistic about this no if you invite me

into your home like Mike and Suzanne did a couple

of weeks ago I don't think about my rules. I

enjoy the beautiful meal that you with great

joy and A lot of times I'm eating food that I

don't normally eat and I enjoy that But it is

a standard I've set in my life. I Have rules

for our lifestyle I don't buy paper products

We don't eat off of paper plates and silverware.

I just don't even buy it because I don't want

the temptation in my house. I have a hard time

with my big laundry detergent jugs and all that

plastic, so I buy eco sheets. It's a rule for

me in my life. Reusable lifestyle. When we're

traveling, I have rules. If at all possible,

we pack it. We pack our food because I want to

know what I'm eating and I don't like to eat

at restaurants if I don't know where the food

is at. I have a reusable water bottle. We fill

a five gallon jug and we just keep refilling

our water bottles. I hate plastic water bottles.

What is that? That's a rule that I have set.

in my life. I have rules about my eye gate and

my ear gate, what I watch and what I listen to.

I have no problem with you looking through all

of my Netflix or all of my apps. I have no problem

with you getting on my YouTube and looking at

what I'm listening to and watching. It is an

open book. because I have a rule, I have a standard.

Now, I have rule of my devotional life, how I

engage with the Word, how I engage in worship.

I take communion every morning on my way to work.

These are all, I have no expectation for you

to do what I'm doing. This is the standard for

my life. You are free to do whatever you want.

It's your life These are rules that are subjective

They're not necessarily good or bad spiritually

speaking these are my personal choices However

There is a rule that is not subjective There

is a rule that I don't get to define and you

don't get to define. And that is the rule of

Rabbi Jesus. There's this beautiful saying and

it comes from an ancient Jewish text actually

before Jesus was ever on the earth. The text

is the Mishnah. This writing is a writing that

is describing the student of a rabbi. So this

blessing says, may you be covered in the dust

of your rabbi. Let's say that. May you be covered

in the dust of your rabbi. So that Jewish blessing

comes from an exact, I'm gonna give you here,

the exact writing from the Mishnah. And what

it truly means, and this is what discipleship

truly is, is that you are walking so closely

behind your Rabbi, your teacher. that as you

walk down the road following him, the dust that

he kicks up falls upon you because you're so

close to him. And so the full writing is this,

let thy house be a meeting house for the wise.

I love that. I'm just super, I gotta have continual,

I love putting inspiring people around me. I

love listening to people that are doing what

I'm not doing so I can learn and grow. And I

love this. Let thy house be a meeting house for

the wise. And powder thyself in the dust of their

feet. And drink their words. with thirstiness.

Can I ask, is our house filled with the presence

of Rabbi Jesus? Are we coating ourselves with

the dust? I think of Mary sitting at his feet

and Martha, come on, Martha, or Mary, let's get

busy. No, no, I'm gonna sit here at his feet.

I'm gonna learn from him. Are we drinking up

the words of Jesus with thirstiness? Are we hungering

and thirsting? There is one rule that is not

subjective. There is one rule that you don't

get to define and I don't get to define, and

it is the rule of Rabbi Jesus. I gave you two

examples today of modern men that have lived

out a life of obedience to the calling to which

they've been called. There are others though,

as I was writing this, that came to mind from

the Bible, and I'm amazed that almost all of

them are young people. In their early teen years,

almost all of them. I find that fascinating.

And I think of Daniel, a young man captured into

slavery. He had the courage to say, I will obey

the ways of my God. He said that to his captors.

He became a high ranking official in the land

of his captivity because he had the courage to

say, I will obey. I think of Joseph, another

young man sold into slavery by his brothers.

And in the face of his captor and then prison,

he had the courage to obey the ways of his God

in captivity. He became number two in the land

of his captivity. I think of Noah commanded by

God to build a massive ark to save his family

and the world from a flood. Noah obeyed God.

He persevered for decades in his obedience. No

experience building ships. No great floods had

flooded the earth. And he says, yes, he had the

courage to look a little crazy to the men and

the women. He was a prophet to the men and women

of his time. I think of Queen Esther, a young

girl who becomes just a young Jewish girl that

gets favor and becomes queen of Persia. And Esther,

in order to save the life of her Jewish people,

has to approach the king when she had not been

called on. And he could have said, she's gonna

die. And she had the courage to step up. And

she saved her people. Think of Mary the mother

of Jesus this young teenage girl when Gabriel

comes to her and Says she's gonna conceive the

son of God as a virgin. It wasn't like today

You're not gonna get you know pregnant at age

16 and have a baby shower thrown for you This

is not what was happening in her time She could

have been stoned to death by Joseph Mary humbly

and obediently says, behold, I am the servant

of the Lord. Let it be to me. According to your

word, I will obey. Here's the real heart of obedience.

And I think it is what gave these men and women

the courage to obey. And it's found in the words

of Rabbi Jesus himself in John 14. And it simply

is this, if you love me, if you love me, we just

sang about loving him. It sure is easy in this

nice air -conditioned room looking all pretty

to say, I love you, Jesus. But when he calls

us to obey him and his ways, he says, if you

love me, keep my commands. What I'm talking about

today is not some kind of religious outward behavior.

It brings me joy to please my husband because

I love him. It brings me joy to please my children

because I love them. It brings me great joy to

please God because I love him. Where there is

love, there should be an auto desire. to please

that one. And in this case, it's to obey. And

he goes on to say in verse 16, and I will ask

the Father, and He will give you another advocate

to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit

of truth. I love that Jesus in this verse is

acknowledging That this is not always easy The

call to obedience is not always comfortable think

of that rich young man who said Jesus What do

I need to do to be saved and he said sell everything

you have give it to the poor then come follow

me Well, that was uncomfortable for him That

didn't make him feel good He he wanted to come

to God on his terms and when Jesus Said no, you're

gonna come on my terms. What did he do? He walked

away and Jesus loved him Jesus is acknowledging

that we need an advocate. We need a helper to

obey The spirit of truth the world cannot accept

him Because it neither sees him nor knows him

but you know him for he lives with you and will

be in you You have been given everything you

need to live according to the standard of rabbi

Jesus everything We have been given, it lives

and resides within us. And so when we look at

John 14, what we see are three things. That obedience

to God is out of a love relationship. We see

that the help of the Holy Spirit is given to

show the way to the truth and how to walk in

the truth. And we see that the source of courage

for walking out this obedience is that He lives

within and dwells within us. We have everything

that we need. I'm going to ask if the team will

come back up. We're going to finish here in Hebrews

12. In Hebrews 12 verse 1, it says this, and

Hebrews 12:1

this is profound because of the context, but

also because I think that the great cloud of

witness continually gets bigger and bigger. I

think that Charlie Kirk is now part of our great

cloud of witnesses that is saying, come on, come

on, finish your race, finish your race. And in

Hebrews 12 .1, it says, therefore, since we are

surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

Let us throw off everything that hinders and

the sin that so easily entangles. And let us

run with perseverance, the race marked out for

us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and

perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him,

he endured the cross, scorning its shame. and

sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such opposition from

sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose

heart. This is written right after, obviously,

Hebrews chapter 11, the great hall of faith.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

All of the men and women That by faith did awesome,

amazing things for God. That ran their race to

the fullness. And it's amazing to read those

stories. But there's a part in there that talks

about those that saw death. Those that paid great

consequences to walk out their faith obedience.

And you know, I find the most encouragement from

those. The ones that did not receive what they

were believing for. The ones that saw their sons

and their daughters killed, their husbands killed.

They are part of this great cloud of witnesses

that Hebrews 12 is referring to. And while we

honor the races of these men and women, However

long or short their lives were, we are not guaranteed

tomorrow. And when a 31 -year -old is killed,

I think that more than any other age, that reminds

us we are not promised tomorrow. You don't know

what your life is gonna look like tomorrow. However

long or short, what these people did is they

ran their race wholeheartedly. They ran with

perseverance to the end. And even now, they encourage

us to run our race. The cost of obedience is

worth the victory of finishing our race well.

And so, this morning, what is the race that has

been set for you? Your race? It's all a race

of faith, but what those races look like are

all different. Your race is different than my

race. And one is not better than the other. They're

just different. The only reason one is better

than the other is because one runs wholeheartedly

to the end. And so what is the race set before

you today? God is on the move. Holy Spirit is

doing something in the land. And this life is

so short. It's a blink of an eye. It's a shooting

star, and it's gone. And that, that just says

to me all the more, I gotta run wholehearted.

I gotta embrace this moment, because I'm not

gonna have it again. I have all of eternity.

But this moment on this earth is a flash and

it's gone. And so, is it worth the cost of disobedience?

Is it worth carrying a bunch of junk trying to

run this race for such a short moment of time,

of all eternity? My call is the call to fresh

obedience. My call is the call to fresh renewal.

to following in the ways of Rabbi Jesus, who

has set the standard. My call is for us to live

life worthy of the calling which we have received,

and we each have received it. And so this morning,

what I'm gonna do, we're gonna have a moment

of worship here, and I want you to just stand

with me. And listen, you may not be doing some

kind of big act of disobedience. You may be struggling

with some stuff. You may be struggling with some

addictions. You may be struggling with some sins

that have become strongholds. But maybe you just

have some attitudes that have been keeping you

in disobedience. Maybe you've been talking in

a certain way that is not up to the standard

of Rabbi Jesus. Maybe we've been engaged in prayerlessness.

It doesn't always have to be some major thing,

but what I'm calling us to is a fresh coming

upward to the standard of Jesus. So we can run

our races unhindered, full on out to the end.

And it'll kind of hurt. I've been doing sprints

and I was in pain the next day. Sometimes it

hurts to run the race, but the prize is worth

it. The prize is worth it. And so the team is

going to lead us in a moment of worship. Listen,

this is an all church moment. I want us to honor

this room is an altar. And so I want us to not

distract one another, but I want us to engage

in this moment of worship. If you need to make

your way to the altar, the altar is a beautiful

place to lay it down, those things. and to take

up the standard of Christ. And so in this moment,

let's just make this an altar moment of saying,

I'm hearing you, Jesus. I hear your call. I see

your standard, and I am rising up toward it.

I'm pressing on toward it. I'm pressing on toward

you. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. If you need

to come to the altar, come on while the team

begins to lead us.