Summary We have been given a very special invitation by God to be part of His Kingdom. What will you do with your invitation? Will you respond? Download Link Right click and "Save as..." to Download

 

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 How many of you have ever been invited to the Queen's garden party? Nobody? I am sure glad nobody in this congregation is named Queen, or that could have been a problem! I could have had a few hands go up and I would have been flustered. I kind of expected that none of you had been invited to the Queen's garden party. How about the Presidential inauguration? How many of you got a personal invitation to the Presidential inauguration? Now in one sense we all got one — we could all show up on the mall with the other two million people, if you want to make the trip, but did you get a personal invitation to the party or maybe invited to one of the private balls or the luncheon in the capital building right after the inauguration took place? Nobody, either?

More likely most of us had been invited at some point or another to a very special occasion put on by somebody we were a little bit more familiar with or a little bit closer to or whatever the case - Maybe a wedding; maybe a very special social event in the community or something of the sort; maybe on the job with the employer, the company, the corporation. Often these invitations include a card that says: RSVP. Now that of course is English initials for French words. It basically means: respond if you please. I can't pronounce the "respondez s'il vous plait" but it is something like that and Mr. Angelo is not here so I'll risk it; but anyway the point is that there is a card that says, if you really want to come to this event, we require a response. We need to know who is coming. We need to make plans accordingly and of course we want you to make a commitment to show up at the event and once you've sent back that card, what do you do?

Well, you mark it on your calendar. You begin to make special preparations; make sure you have the right clothing or the right combination of whatever it takes to show up in the right style and according to custom. You want to be there appropriately and that is as it should be. Christ gave the parable of the wedding and made it clear that the person who came in without the wedding garment - just casually took it for granted and thought he was good enough to be there in whatever his particular style was, was rejected. So we want to go and do the right thing. Sometimes social custom and circumstances have gotten beyond reason but there are social customs and standards and expectations that are perfectly acceptable and right and those that we should meet. So when we send back the card we start to make preparations.

I actually have a good friend — I haven't seen him now in many years. He lives in England. He worked for the Church and the College in Bricket Wood for many, many years. He is an attorney and an accountant and a minister and he was invited to the Queen's garden party. He was invited partly because he was considered to be somebody. Not because he worked for the Church, per se, but because he had very high contacts in social circles among the barristers of London. He is fairly well known in certain circles of the Guilds and so forth that exist in Britain. He was even the Master of one the Guilds now sometime ago — I can't remember even which one it was but he was very well connected in that sense and he got an invitation to the Queen's garden party. Well, it caught him a bit by surprise and of course he was a bit flustered but he thought: Wow, what an opportunity! Very few people ever get invited to the Queen's garden party and if you don't know what that is, it basically is an annual affair in which the entire grounds of Buckingham Palace are set up to host this very high level, sophisticated social luncheon — tea actually, and you don't just turn down the Queen. So, he wanted to go.

He started making his preparations. He happened to be a rather dapper gentleman to start with so it probably wasn't a real challenge for him to get ready except that his standards are rather high, and then he came to — I believe it was Mr. McCullough at the time as the Deputy Chancellor of the College — and he said, how would you feel about me taking the Rolls Royce to go to the garden party, or the tea? Now at that time we had ourselves lots of contacts in the capitals of the world and Mr. Armstrong had secured a reasonably priced Rolls Royce for the campus and the work in Britain and often used it himself to go visit dignitaries in that part of the world and this gentleman said: Is it okay if I take the Rolls Royce? You know driving up in my old whatever might not be quite the standard that should be used to go there and so thankfully he was given the okay to do that and was able to arrive in the acceptable style and not look like some backwoods person who somehow sneaked in under the fence and ended up at the party.

That is just the way the social circles are. You are expected to be at a certain level and arrive in a certain style and he was able to do that and that is appropriate. That is as it should be. There are times when we are expected to rise to a particular level or standard that we might not be normally accustomed to in our own personal lives.

You haven't been invited to the Queen's garden party and you haven't been invited to the inauguration. You just said so by not raising your hand. You probably have been invited to some such occasion where you had to RSVP but all of us here today have received a very special invitation, haven't we? We are all here with a very special invitation. It is in effect a gold engraved or embossed invitation from the royal palace. Not the palace at Buckingham Square — it comes from the King of the universe and He has personally invited you and me. You know, even when you get an invitation from the Queen to the tea it really isn't personal unless you really are somebody at a very, very high level and I doubt it even is then. It is done by the social secretaries and the functions of government or of the royal house.

But in our case we had been personally invited by the King of the Universe — not only to come here to Sabbath services but to come into His presence on very special occasions, this being one of those, but ultimately to come in to His presence in the greatest of all occasions. You and I have been invited. Well, we might ask ourselves, would I even be interested in going to the Queen's garden party if I did get a personal invitation or would I be interested in going to the inaugural ball even if I did get a personal invitation? We've all responded now that we are very interested in going to the special occasion to which we have been invited on a spiritual level. We are here today; we are here Sabbath after Sabbath; we're present before God on the Holy Days but our greatest anticipation and desire is to be present when the great event occurs to which we've all been ultimately invited.

Let's take a look for a little bit today, at this special invitation. Let's begin in the gospel ofJohn chapter 6. You probably know where I am going. Verse 43: these were basically the Jews asking Him hard questions.

John:6:43Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.

V.44 — No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draw him; - or invites him, or calls him, - and I will raise him up at the last day. That is the invitation that we are looking for; that opportunity to be there when they are raised up at the last day.

You and I have been given the opportunity to be among this group. Now He said, No man can come to Me unless the Father intervene and bring that person to Me. Why is that? Well, it is because as we know, man was cut off from God in the Garden of Eden. Remember the story - I don't have to review the story of Adam and Eve for you I am sure, or the tree of life — where the Cherubim placed at the east of the Garden of Eden to keep the tree of life protected from mankind so that mankind never had access from that time forward to the tree of life. He was not welcome in that sense, in the presence of God unless God intervened and brought him to that presence, which He did on a few occasions with special individuals, and ultimately He opened the door to His presence to some degree with the nation of Israel but they were never offered salvation. They were never offered an invitation to the same event that we're offered an invitation to. They were never offered that.

Man cannot come to God, cannot find God, cannot just search out God by himself and find God on his own unless God intervenes and opens the door. God even has to grant us repentance as the scriptures say. We are told to repent and yet we cannot even repent on our own. We've had to have God's help to repent. We have to be granted that attitude and that approach. Now God has sometimes recorded that he had a certain respect for people who tried to find Him, who banged on the door. In fact, He said through the prophet Isaiah: Seek Me while I may be found. He had some respect for people who tried. The gentile Cornelius for example, who was struggling to know God and God decided to open his mind and call him. But it isn't of us. It isn't our physical human capacity that brings us to God. God has to intervene and call us because man is totally cut off from God and Satan the devil, the god of the world, has built a strong wall in addition to the one that God put up to keep us from the tree of life.

Satan the devil has caused us all to sin and sin grievously in God's eyes which continues to keep us cut off from God even if God were available, but God is working in the lives of the few, a precious few - not very many. We are about a third of the, or maybe more than a third this morning of the entire membership of the East United Church of God in the Cincinnati area; Not very many of us here. We are twenty thousand or so in the world and even if you added all of those who you might presume to be also obeying and keeping God's ways — it is a pretty small figure - A pretty small number. It doesn't even make a blip on the screen as far as the world is concerned.

Some of us were looking at a video this week that was sent around in which it was pointed out that the nation of India has more kids in the honours group than America has kids. They have more honour students than we have students. I only say that to point out that we have a very small place in the world, even as a nation, and as a Church, as Christians, we have a much smaller place in the nation than virtually anybody else and so, compared to the world we are a very little flock as Christ called us. We could not come to God; we could not just show up; we couldn't just appear; we couldn't crawl under the fence; we couldn't just say to God, I want to do this therefore I am going to do it, and God says, Okay, you pushed your way in. No, we had to be invited — a very special personal invitation from the Creator God, from God the Father even, to bring us to the Creator God Jesus Christ, so that we can have a part in what He is doing.

Let's go back to the book of Acts now, Acts 2. On the day of Pentecost of course, in which Peter preached this very powerful sermon that dealt with the history of Israel - with the history of man to some degree, but especially with the history of Israel and brought them to the point of some of them being convicted that they had in fact killed the Lord of glory. They had in fact killed the Saviour of the world and because they were convicted they wanted to know what their response should be.

Acts:2:37Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? We break into the end of the story here: Now when they heard this, - meaning that they had crucified the Saviour — they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

V.38 Then Peter sad to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So at this moment, at this point in time, the message was laid out before them as Christ had laid it out: The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel, and they were given an opportunity to respond. Perhaps different ones at different levels because many did respond, of course there were three thousand people added to the Church that very day on top of the hundred-and-twenty who had been gathered together to keep the Day of Pentecost before this happened but notice:

V.39 — You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit - For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

Now notice it says: it is to you. You, who are willing to hear and repent. It is to your children, because once you know God they have access to God through you, but it is also to all who are afar off but that is qualified by the phrase: as many as the Lord our God will call. You see that? It is not to all who are far off. In one sense it ultimately will be, but at this time he says as many as our Lord will call.

So God even then wasn't making the invitation to the whole human population. He wasn't opening the door for salvation at that time to everybody but Peter was saying the promise was made and it is to you, your children and everybody, as many as God will call, and God's calling comes in various stages and various time-periods for different people.

What promise is he talking about? Now this promise contains quite a lot. This is a promise of receiving the Holy Spirit as he said here, because they are asking: what do we do? Some had just been converted with the Holy Spirit and this promise comes that if you will repent and believe the gospel you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. But receiving the Holy Spirit is part of the promise of salvation - being saved from your sins and saved from eternal death which is part of being redeemed to become spirit-beings, born into the family of God, which is part of the promise of the Kingdom of God.

So all these promises in a sense are rolled into this statement: the promise is to you and your children and all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. It is all there. The promise of a purpose; the promise of a reason for living; and the promise of hope at the conclusion of the matter; that there is something to live for; that God's purpose will stand and His plan will be fulfilled. It is not an empty promise. It is not an empty invitation. It is not an iffy invitation.

You know even when you get invited to the Queen's tea and accept the invitation and prepare, try as they might to plan it at exactly the right time of the year, it frequently rains in London and the Queen's tea can have to be postponed. The promise is that you are free to come and bring your invitation but if it rains the party is off. No guarantees. Too many people are invited to put into a banquet hall.

God's promise here is that this promise, this event, will happen. It is as sure as we say, as the rising or the setting of the sun. It is even more sure than that because this is going to happen even after the sun quits rising and setting in the way that we know it today. God's purpose will stand. This event is going to happen and your invitation, my invitation, will be honoured. We are going to be accepted as honoured guests carrying an invitation signed by the King Himself and God isn't going to cancel because of rain — it is not going to happen. We have been given a royal invitation to a very special position, a very special opportunity because it is more than just an event but ultimately it becomes a great event as well, does it not?

Back to Ephesians 4 - We have here now a statement about our responsibility.

Ephesians:4:1I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, I, therefore, (Paul says) the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, - now if you are reading in the Old King James it says the vocation with which you were called. I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling - it says here, and that is properly translated - with which you were called.

This particular word here in the Greek is klesis, pronounced klaysis, from a word kaleo, which means to bid or to call or even to incite by word like I am trying to do now. Maybe to provoke somebody; to do something that causes a response and a reaction; to send out an RSVP in other words; to incite by word; to stir up; to call; to bid. Figuratively it is an invitation, a very special invitation, a calling as the New King James says. In this case a calling that might be likened to a command performance if you will, or your attendance is expected.

You know there are certain social times and situations where you are invited and maybe you are not even really disposed to go as Christ put it in a prayer, or was that Paul. You are not even disposed to go. You would rather bail out but guess what: You are expected to be there. Maybe it is the boss's anniversary or birthday party or whatever. There are various things that people expect a response to and if you are known - not just one of a mass of people - but you are known and you are invited, you are expected to show up and if you can't show up you are especially expected to send your regrets in advance and make a very good excuse for why you can't be there.

In this case we have been called and invited but we are also expected to be there. It is a command performance; it is an invitation that has responsibility attached to it. So we have been invited. We have been called. Maybe the question today is: will we RSVP? Will we respond if you please? Will we get back to Him and let Him know where we stand and whether we want to come and how excited we are about it? Do you ever invite somebody to maybe something simple: Come on over. We are going to have spaghetti and salad and bread. We would like to visit - and you get back this answer: Wow! Thanks for inviting us. It sounds great. We are really looking forward to coming and to visit with you. That makes you feel really good. Now if you create a huge spectacle you might expect that kind of response but if you get that kind of response to a relatively simple invitation you feel really good.

Well, God and Christ feel really good when we respond that way to the invitation they have sent us. We are really looking forward to coming. I really want to be there. I am making some special preparations: dressing in all the right clothes; driving in the right car. Only, really that comes down to putting on Christ, doesn't it? To putting on what I need to be acceptable when the event occurs. Will we RSVP and then will we follow through with all that means in terms of preparation and anticipation and excitement in getting ready?

We have very little responsibility in this whole matter. We do have to do what we are supposed to do but God takes care of virtually all of the arrangements. He takes care of even getting us there and He takes care of getting us the right clothing because He really wants us to be there as well. No matter how badly we want to be at this occasion, He wants it more than we do. In that sense, as much as we love ourselves, God loves us more. He doesn't want us to be absent. He doesn't want us to be disappointed.

I originally called this sermon: Will you RSVP? But at the time I was asked for the title a couple of days ago, I went brain dead and so I called it: A precious calling, but it is the same thing. I don't really care what you call it as long as you get it. There is a pun in there somewhere. We are invited; we are called; we are given an opportunity. We are really talking about the value of our calling but that value only exists if we RSVP and then show up. God really wants us to do that.

Let's look at a few more characteristics of this calling. In Romans 8 — you know sometimes you get an invitation; you get excited about it; you lay it down for a while and then you go back and you look at it and it says: You need to arrive between this time and that time. You need to park in a certain location, let's say. There is a shuttle bus that will pick you up and take you to this location. That is often the case in big social governmental type parties. Somebody will get you there. You need to notify us by this date if you plan to come. There are all kinds of little information pieces attached to the invitation that could easily just go over your head if you look at the invitation and say: Wow! Hey honey, guess who invited us? If you lay the invitation down and talk about it — two or three weeks later you say: Oh! Were we supposed to get back to them? Then you pick up the invitation and you find all these little things. I know, because I've been there, I've done that and then when I picked it up I said: I am two days late or I am supposed to do such and such and I don't think I can do that or I have a conflict. All of a sudden you realize this is a wonderful invitation but you can't accept it or you can't fulfill the response.

We don't want to do that. We want to look at the details of what is expected. Romans 8 —this is actually one of the benefits as opposed to one of the requirements. You know this promise:

Romans:8:28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Here is another very encouraging part of being part of this event. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Now back when most of us were memorizing scriptures we tended to jump over the "the" in there and say: to those who are called according to His purpose. Well, that applies, we are called according to His purpose but the "the" in the definite article there in the Greek is important. It is the called. We are part of a specific special group who are identified as "the called" we are the invited. It is not only that we are invited — you see the subtle difference — it is not only that we are called, that we were invited, we are part of a special group that was invited because we are the called, we are the invited. We have been made a special group not because we were special in advance but because He chose to call us.

He chose to invite us and once He invites us we become part of the called.

That is what it says here: ..to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. So God called us for His purpose. He decided what the event was going to be; He decided what it was going to feel like; what it was going to look like; what it was going to be associated with and He decided who the guests were going to be. He decided that you are going to be one and I was going to be one and all of our brethren were going to be invited. We are the called according to His purpose — placed in a special group. The Greek here is slightly different in that the Greek here has to do with being appointed. Being appointed — being given a particular slot, a particular place.

There again, you go to certain events and maybe you have a ticket. If you simply go to the opera or you go to the concert or whatever, you have a ticket — or the ball game — let's go down to where most of us go. I don't go to the concert very often. I used to. I haven't done that in a long time but I do go to the ball game occasionally. I sit in the cheap seats and lust after those good seats over there. No, we don't lust after them, do we, but we recognize that there is a difference between the cheap seats and the very special seats. Now most of the time you can pay for those special seats but not when you are invited to a special event. The people who sit at the head table or the people who sit closest to the president of the people who sit closest to the Queen normally get there because they are known by who they are and their relationship to the host and the hostess.

We are appointed a place but all of us are appointed a place to be co-heirs with the Host. We are actually going to become part of what He is and what He is doing and that is a rather amazing reality. We are part of the called, we are appointed. We are not just invited. We are placed in a special category of those dignitaries who will see God.

I hadn't thought of this until this moment — I don't think it will take too much time to mention it - but every now and then I see somebody on television that I had shaken hands with because for a period of time when I was living in Pasadena, we were part of something that I may have mentioned this here before, we were part of something called The World Affairs Council. We would go down to downtown Los Angeles to hear people like President Reagan or the President of Georgia at that time, Shevardnadze, we go and listen to these people and every now and then I will see one of them on television. I remember shaking hands with C. Everett Koop, the Surgeon General. I remember shaking hands with Queen Noor of Jordan, King Hussein's wife. I remember shaking hands with lots of dignitaries who had no clue who I was. I even shook hands with Mrs. Reagan. I had my picture taken with her and have her autograph and it's hanging on my wall at home because if I brought it in here people will think I was trying to be somebody. But I had my picture with Nancy Reagan. Why? Well in this case because the Foundation was sponsoring some of the events that the World Affairs Council was holding and therefore we got special seats.

We had a nice round table for twelve — Oh, about back as far as Mr. Griffiths is sitting or somewhere there, maybe no farther than the camera from the speaker. So, President Reagan got up to speak and we are all sitting right there. You get special treatment if you spend a certain amount of money but you get far more special treatment if you know the people because in our case when we got to parade through and speak to the person it was an assembly line and you were shaking hands purely for vanity sake, so that I can stand here and tell you I shook hands with those people. You are shaking hands just for vanity's sake and you're moved on. It is not like they are going to say: Oh! How are you? Can we sit down and talk for a while later because I am really interested in what you think about something. No, it is not going to happen.

We are not given that kind of invitation. We can talk to the Host anytime. We can even call up the Host which you will almost never do in the social circles and say: I am not sure what to wear. Can you tell me? Now, you might call up and say, is this event formal or casual, if there has been no explanation. But we can talk to the Host. We can talk to the King Himself and we can say, I really want to be — in fact we are supposed to be doing that — I really want to be present at the big event but I am lacking something. I don't have appropriate shoes. How can I get there? Well, of course we had that answered in the Bible. We come shod with the preparation of the Gospel, right? That is what it says. Anyway, we put on the appropriate clothing and we show up but we had an opportunity to talk to the Host even in advance of the event.

Why is this? 1 Peter chapter 2 — Again, we know this scripture pretty well but in the context we are talking about, let's look at it again.

1 Peter:2:9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, - we've been set apart; we have been given a special appointment; not only an invitation but an appointment to function in a certain capacity in relation to God, our King and our Host — a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;

So we're already called into that marvellous light. We are special in His sight now. We will be even more special in His sight at the end when we are changed to spirit beings and become part of His family - More special in a sense that we will have arrived. We are probably just as special today. I can't speak for God but I think we are probably just as special today in one sense but when we actually become part of His family then it is no longer this question of, will we be there or will we not? We are a special people. We proclaim His praises because He called us out of darkness and into His marvellous light.

V.10 — who once were not a people — you and I weren't a people. We struggle now to become a people by closeness and fellowship and praying for one another and serving one another, and so forth. We become a people, we become the Church of God, we become the congregation of God, but we were not a people. We might have never met each other or had any idea each other existed had it not be for the calling of God, but we all have been invited to the same place — into His presence.

V.10 — who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Wow! We've obtained mercy because we had no right to be invited. He chose to invite us for His own purpose and of His own will and since we were not qualified to come into His presence He had to first forgive us, have mercy upon us and clean us up so that we could be in His presence because God wants it to happen. God wants us to succeed. He wants us to be present.

2 Timothy 1 — Many, many, many descriptions and comments about our calling - I have picked out a few.

2 Timothy:1:8Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,V.9 — who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, - called us with a holy calling — not according to our works, - no, we had to be forgiven; we've had to have mercy — but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

It was God's plan from the beginning. It was God's plan from the time He put Adam and Eve in the garden. Satan corrupted the creation - they were cut off from God. God's purpose didn't change. God's plan didn't change. It just took a huge detour that had to go through all of this time and effort to arrive where He intended it all along that it arrive — at the final decision of whether we will be in His family or not, and that was the plan from the beginning which is the reason He made us flesh and subjected the same in hope, as Paul says, in the hope that we would repent and come to Him and be responsive to the invitation. We are called with a holy calling. This is from God; it is of God; it is about God; it is about us becoming God.

1 Peter:1:13Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

V.14 — as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;

V.15- but as He who called you is holy, - there is that word again. He is holy, — you also be holy in all your conduct,

V.16 — because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."

So He has called us for a special purpose and that purpose includes becoming like Him, becoming holy as He is holy. We can't make anything holy of ourselves. We can't make ourselves holy. The Sabbath day is holy because God sanctified it and made it holy because God is in it, because He put His presence among us on the Sabbath day. When He calls us with a holy calling He has called us into His presence. That is why He talks about the revelation of Jesus Christ. The grace is here but we have to come to fully appreciate it when we finally arrive at that great event - at the resurrection into spirit life and the celebrations that follow.

He is holy. He wants us to be holy. That requires His presence in our lives. We cannot be holy of ourselves. It is not of works, as we read earlier. It can't be something that is worked up by us or prescribed by us or figured out by us. It is submission to the will of God. It is submitting ourselves into His hands and being completely yielded to what He tells us, what He shows us, what He inspires us to do, where He corrects us, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That is what becoming holy requires for us. We can't do it. We can let Him do it and we must let Him do it.

Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians again.

1 Thessalonians:2:10Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;

So Paul is starting to help them by helping them to understand that he has set an example with God's help.

V.11 — as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, So Paul acting on behalf of God and Christ took care of the congregation — encouraged and helped the people, as a father does his children which most of the time meant encouraging and teaching and educating but now and then meant correcting and guiding so that they stayed out of their own trouble. Paul often had to do that.

V.12 — that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

Now we are getting to what the invitation is all about - into His kingdom and glory. Paul used those same words remember, in the first scripture we looked at: Ephesians 4 — walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Here he says: walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

You can't get a better invitation. You can't be on a better list. We are the A-list here. We are the people who have been given the special opportunity to come into the presence of God. Only those who have died and gone to the grave and will be caught up together with us in the air, will precede us. The scripture says we will not precede those who are asleep but they will be caught up to meet Christ in the air. You can't therefore say we are the first, but we are part of the first. We are part of the firstfruits from the time that God began to convert people and Christ refers to Abel - righteous Abel. So we assume from Abel until the last Christian that is converted in this age will all be caught up together to meet Christ and then arrive on this earth to serve under Christ as His kingdom is established. His kingdom and His glory. We don't comprehend that but we can kind of imagine it if we work real hard at it. We can't do it of our own strength or our own wisdom.

Christ actually tells us how it gets done back in the book of Ephesians, chapter 5. We often talk about Ephesians 5 in the context of physical marriage, and rightly so. It is a lesson in physical marriage and specific instruction in physical marriage but it is more than that. Let's pick it up in verse 25 — a familiar section. This is definitely physical marriage instruction but it is also an analogy for something far bigger, as we see a little later.

Ephesians:5:25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, - loved the church so much that He died for her, and what is going to happen next?

V.26 — that He might sanctify — so He sets apart this body, this church, this group, for a very special, holy use. We are appointed. We are called. We are a special people, a holy people, sanctified — that He might sanctify and cleanse her — so we also have to get cleansed and we have to be willing but we can't really cleanse ourselves.

Most of us at one time or another, maybe not everybody in the room, but most of us who some time or another struggle with a little baby in the kitchen sink or a little tub of some sort, trying to wash the baby and get it clean and when the baby is thrashing about and kicking and screaming and so forth — that is a really tough job to do. I've done it with at least four and probably seven if I count some of the grandkids. Hard job to do if the baby is kicking and screaming and crying and splashing the water all over you and maybe turning something upside down, whatever, but when the baby is enjoying it and laughing and pleasant and you're able to wash the baby and clean up the baby and watch it enjoy being in the water at the same time, that is a delightful experience.

God is cleaning us up. Christ wants to cleanse the bride, the Church, so that it can be His bride. It goes on to say that in verse 27. I am sorry, I didn't finish verse 26.

V.26 - that He might sanctify and cleanse her (what?) with the washing of water by the word, - so we are being washed in the truth of God so that what is not true, what is objectionable, what is sinful, what is unholy, is purged and washed away and we are given clean hearts and minds and bodies, spiritually speaking.

V.27 — that He might present her to Himself a glorious church,- Remember we are called to the kingdom and glory and so we have to become a glorious church and the biggest job we have is to let Him cleanse us - not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. — holy and without blemish. That is what we are told we have to become in order to arrive at the big event.

Drop down to verse 32. Paul says:

V.32 — This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

He goes on in verse 33 to say nevertheless it applies physically as well, but I speak concerning Christ and the church, so the spiritual implication here is clear. Christ is cleansing the church in order that He might present it to Himself a glorious bride, a clean and purified, godly bride with whom He will live apparently for eternity.

Let's go back to Romans 8 where we read that all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose. There is another statement just a couple of verses down in verse 31 and again it adds to the promise and it is a very comforting, encouraging, helpful comment about what God is doing in our lives. There are plenty more in this section that you might want to read about how God works in our lives, but here it says:

Romans:8:31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? What then shall we say to these things? How do we respond to this invitation? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Now, that is in a sense not a rhetorical question about: is there anybody out there who would dare be against us? All kinds of people out there who would dare be against us. We are told that we are going to be persecuted and hated for Christ's name sake so He is not saying, don't worry, nobody will be against you. No, He is saying if you have God on your side it really doesn't matter who is against us. It really doesn't matter.

I did some research this past week into the life of Charles Darwin because I was preparing a commentary for the Good News Commentaries and I wanted to contrast Lincoln and Darwin because they were born on the exact same day two hundred years ago, as most of you know. I was doing a little research into Darwin and I was shocked to find — I was telling some of the fellows in the studio — I was shocked to find how vitriolic some of these sites are about what they call, Fascist Christian groups, who prevent true science from being taught in the schools and who prevent these educational celebrations and seminars to teach the children of the country the truth about evolution and they were really angry.

They have a website called Darwin Days Celebrations, and they are promoting these celebrations all over the country on February 12 to mark the knowledge that Darwin shared with the world and of course Darwin isn't completely responsible for this. He started the process but most of the thought has developed since his time and even some of his theories have been discarded but Charles Darwin is still in a sense their hero. Many scientists have used this quote: "If there were no Darwin there would be no science." Without Darwin there would be no science. It is a rather amazing thing but they are very angry about Christian Fascists as they call them. Christian groups who would like to prevent the teaching of evolution in schools and/or make sure that creationism is also taught in the schools and they are very angry about that.

There will be plenty of people angry with us. We're living in very dangerous times in the presence of the present economic crisis, whether it has touched us yet in direct ways or not, we are all going to feel it and we may all feel it very drastically if we do enter another great depression but we know that those things have to happen before the end of the age. We have to have society come apart at the seams because man is going to be preparing to destroy himself fighting perhaps over what little resources are left on the earth, when Jesus Christ has to intervene and prevent him from destroying himself, but if God be for us, who can be against us?

Christians will face persecution. That is part of the calling that we've been called to but that is the temporary process of getting ready for the actual occasion to which we have been invited. Christianity is our vocation. Christianity is our calling. We are preparing to be the spirit-born children of God. We are getting ready for that special occasion. We have been called. We have been invited. We have been appointed a place, a place of honour for all eternity.

Revelation 19 gives us just a little glimpse into that. Revelation 19 - It has been the subject of many discussions and even a number of sermons over the years that I have heard in which we try to speculate about how all of this will come about and when we get to the bottom-line, yes, it really isn't all that clear. We don't always know all the details when God describes something so spiritual and so fantastic that it goes beyond our human minds.

Revelation:19:5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!"

V.6 — And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent — all powerful — reigns!

V.7 — Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."

Now, that is a rather kindly remark in a sense because we had just read in Ephesians 5 that He has to cleanse us. He has to change us. He has to get us ready, but the wife has made herself ready by yielding to that preparation; by yielding to that work in our lives; by yielding to that mercy; by allowing the Spirit of God to work in us. The wife has made herself ready. The clue is here in verse 8:

V.8 — And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, - to her it was granted. It is given to us; it is added to us; it is that which we lack, that is added to us to make us ready for the occasion - clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Those righteous acts are done through the Spirit of God, the power of Christ in us, the hope of glory.

V.9 - Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'"

That seems to be sort of the final phenomenon that takes place when we are resurrected and changed to spirit beings — that there is a great marriage supper of the Lamb. We don't have a lot of detail about it. We can speculate all we want; we can draw time-lines and we can try to figure out and people try to figure out when it is and where it is and how it works — as far as I can tell from reading the scriptures, it doesn't specifically say. It just says the marriage of the Lamb is going to come and blessed are those who are called to that occasion.

Blessed are those who have an opportunity to be, not only in the presence of God, but married to Jesus Christ and living and reigning with Christ and finally grasping and understanding the value of the invitation that seemed to come so almost accidentally when we were called; when our minds began to be opened; when we began to see the truth. Maybe we were raised in the truth, reared in the truth by believing parents and it was so subtle we didn't even perhaps realize when we were called or how we were called but we have the invitation in our hands - A gold-embossed, beautiful invitation from the King of the universe. All we have to do with all that that entails is to RSVP.

What will you do with your invitation?