SERMON: BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE

BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE
31 July 2011

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Ephesians 4:1-3

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

-- around the time that I was graduating high school, the Army rolled out a new slogan to highlight their new recruiting campaign -- “Be all that you can be”
-- this slogan was everywhere -- it was on posters around our school -- it was on t-shirts -- and it spoke to the men and women of our generation
-- to this day, I remember the TV commercial that the Army put out around that time -- a young man, in his late teens or early 20’s, was scaling the side of a mountain in a place that looked like it was in the Rockies -- he was struggling on that last little bit -- as he reached for another handhold, he lost his grip and you knew that he was about to give up
-- but he looked up at the top -- he saw the summit -- he knew where he wanted to go -- and that gave him renewed strength -- he reached out again and found a new handhold and kept going towards the top --and as the commercial faded, we saw him standing up on the peak of that mountain as the sun set, looking out over the view from the top as that slogan flashed on the screen -- “Be all that you can be”
-- the message was clear -- you could settle in life -- you could refuse to do the hard stuff -- you could take the easy way -- or you could accept the challenge and fight past the difficulties and push yourself to the limit and exceed where others had failed -- the choice was up to you and the Army was there to help you reach your goal

-- if you were to sum up the message of the Apostle Paul here in this passage in Ephesians, I can’t think of any better words than that old Army slogan -- “Be all that you can be” -- Paul is making the point here that God is calling us to be more than we are -- to do more than we are doing -- to live more than we are living
--so this morning, I wanted us to look at this passage to examine the challenge that God has issued for each of us as Christians and as members of His body to inspire us to go on to greater heights with Him -- God wants us to be all that we can be and to not settle for a life of diluted spirituality
-- so let’s look at this passage together and see what we can learn

II. Scripture Lesson (Ephesians 4:1-12)
-- if you would, look back at verse 1 with me

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.


-- Paul begins by describing himself as a prisoner for the Lord -- we know that when Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians, he was actually in prison in Rome, waiting for an audience with Caesar
-- some scholars have interpreted Paul’s words here to mean that the Ephesians should listen to him because he has been imprisoned because of his faith -- because he had given everything for the gospel of Christ -- even his very own freedom
-- and while that is certainly true, I think Paul’s words here reflect a deeper meaning than just that given by his physical condition
-- Paul was not only a prisoner in chains, but he was a prisoner in heart -- Paul had learned something through his life -- starting out as a Pharisee among Pharisees and as a persecutor of Christians, Paul had an experience with the living Christ on the road to Damascus -- and his life was never the same again
-- when Paul came face-to-face with the resurrected Jesus, his world was shaken -- his beliefs were shattered and his faith came undone -- at that moment, Paul rejected the falseness of what the Jewish faith had become and became a true believer in Christ -- as he would say in the Book of Romans, he had been held prisoner and captive by sin and death, but through the grace of Christ, Paul was freed to new life -- and, in turn, he became a slave -- a bond-servant -- a prisoner -- to the One who had freed him -- to the One who had saved him from his sins and given him eternal life with God
-- so Paul was bound to Christ -- not with chains, but with love -- not with bars, but with the freedom of choice that made him want to serve Jesus with all his heart and mind and soul
-- that’s what he means when he writes here that he is a prisoner of the Lord -- and he holds his position in Christ up as the ideal for all those who believe

-- he goes on to say, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” -- that word, “urge,” is telling -- when you urge someone to do something, you aren’t commanding them -- you aren’t telling them they have to do this -- you are offering them a choice
-- Paul is trying to get the Ephesians to see that they have a choice to make in their Christian lives -- they can continue on as they are going and just settle for an easy life of religion -- or they can choose to live a different life -- a life worthy of the calling that they have received
-- every time I read this passage, I am reminded of Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” -- I had to read that in school, but I never really appreciated it until I was much older and out in the real world where we are forced with choices everyday
-- let me read that to you right now -- it’s not a very long poem but I believe it makes the point that the Apostle Paul is trying to get across here

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-- now as you think about Paul’s words here in verse 1, remember who this letter was written to -- it was not written to a group of people who didn’t believe in God -- it wasn’t written to convince them to turn to Jesus for salvation -- the choice that Paul is presenting is not the choice between accepting Christ or rejecting Christ
-- this letter was written to Christians -- to people who had already received forgiveness for their sins through the grace of God and the death and resurrection of Christ -- so, what is the choice that they are facing? -- to put it in the language of Robert Frost’s poem, what two roads are they having to choose from?
-- they’re having to choose between religion and relationship -- they’re having to choose between being Christians in name or Christians in deed -- they’re having to choose between being fans or followers of Christ
-- Frost tells us in his poem that the two roads he faced were entirely different -- one was well-traveled -- the other was not -- one was the path taken by most of the people -- the other one was selected by the few
-- that’s the choice that is before us as Christians today -- here in this passage, Paul urges the Ephesians to take the path that leads to a life worthy of the calling that they have received -- to be all that they can be -- to become all that Christ wants them to become
-- by implication, the other path leads to a lesser commitment to Christ -- it still leads to heaven -- it still results in salvation -- but it takes the easy way there -- it takes the path of least resistance -- the path of just getting by and not really doing or being all that God wants us to be

-- Paul urges the Ephesians to take the same path that he followed -- to become, like he, a prisoner for the Lord -- even if that means losing their freedom -- even if that means losing their life
-- I like the way Jim Elliot, the missionary who was martyred in Ecuador trying to bring the gospel to a native tribe in the jungle -- he wrote in his journal, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
-- what is it we lose if we choose this path? -- we lose ourselves -- we lose our comfort -- our wants -- our desires -- our goals -- our way
-- and what is it we gain? -- we gain eternity -- we gain life -- we become all that we can be -- we join with God in His work and we take back the ground that the enemy has taken -- we become prisoners of the Lord as He molds us and shapes us into the very image of His own Son

-- let me explain the choice that Paul is offering in a different way that may speak more to some of us -- it’s kind of like this -- last year, Auburn won the national title in college football -- those young men faced all types of adversity -- they faced challenges on and off the field -- they fell behind in most of the games they played, and they had to step up and fight back to get the victory -- they fought and they clawed their way to success -- and they ended up with a perfect season and with the crystal football trophy from the BCS
-- at work we’ve got fans from most of the SEC schools -- so there’s a lot of trash talk -- a lot of joking back and forth -- a lot of comparisons and jeering about how good or how bad your particular team was last year
-- we’ve got a couple of guys who were Auburn fans -- and for the last seven months, they’ve been strutting around the office like they owned the place -- they bad-mouth the other SEC teams and they’ve been talking about how good they are and how they were so worthy of the title
-- but here’s the thing -- they didn’t do it -- they’re not the ones who were out on that field in rain and shine -- they’re not the ones who put in the hard work in the weight room -- they’re not the ones who were out on the plains in 100-degree weather during two-a-days -- they’re not the ones who gave their blood and sweat and tears to win the national championship
-- they want all the glory, but they didn’t do any of the work -- they didn’t do the hard stuff that wins football games -- they want to proclaim “War Eagle,” but they didn’t earn the right to do so
-- that’s what Paul is trying to get us to see here -- that’s the choice that he’s urging us to make -- do we want to settle for comfortable lives and a seat on Sunday mornings or do we want to be all that we can be? -- do we want to join Jesus and follow Him with our blood, sweat and tears -- do we want to give all that we are and join the fight and become a prisoner of the Lord or do we just want to sit on the sideline and watch as others carry the Kingdom to this world?

-- Paul writes here that he wants the Ephesians to live a life worthy of the calling they have received -- we tend to reserve that word, “calling,” for special people -- we say that people are called to be preachers -- they are called to be missionaries -- they are called to special ministries -- the implication is that only some are called
-- but this verse says differently -- it says that all of us were called -- all of us were chosen by God to live out life as true believers of Christ -- fully and totally committed to Him in all our ways
-- Paul says that we have already received the call from Christ to live a complete life in Him -- we received this call at the cross -- we received it when we received the forgiveness of our sins -- we received it when we put our faith and trust in Him -- now, we have to choose to live it out

-- but, how do we do that? -- look at verse 2

2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
-- Paul says we live a life worthy of our calling when we live our lives as Jesus -- when our behavior and our character and our attitudes mirror that of our Savior
-- Paul says to be humble and gentle -- to be patient -- to bear with one another in love
-- here at Koinonia, we’ve taken the slogan, “Doing Life Together,” as our vision and our mission -- that’s the same thing that Paul is saying here -- you fulfill your calling when you live out your faith in relationship -- when you do life together by expressing the love of Christ in all circumstances
-- notice what he says here about love -- he says bearing with one another in love -- when you are bearing with another person, that implies that it is a struggle -- it’s not easy -- it’s something that you are having to work at
-- that’s the real difference between a disciple in name or in truth -- true disciples get their hands dirty -- they get involved in other people’s lives -- they get their feelings hurt -- they give everything in order to show the love of Christ to someone else -- whether that’s a family member that’s difficult to live with or a homeless stranger on the street
-- others give up when it gets hard -- they like things easy -- they don’t want to do work -- they just want to enjoy the good things of life while others are out there doing life -- that’s the difference here
-- it’s easy to love someone who loves you back -- it’s easy to love someone you like -- but it’s not easy to love the unloveable -- it’s not easy to live life someone that you don’t like or that doesn’t like you -- it is a cross that you have to bear

-- skip down to verse 22 and we’ll end there

22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

-- once again we see that we are faced with a choice if we want to live a life worthy of our calling -- we have to choose to put off our old self and we have to choose to put on our new self
-- we have to put aside our old way of doing life -- and we have to choose to be humble and patient and to bear with one another in love
-- we have to put off falsehoods and speak truth -- we have to put off sin and sloth -- and we have to work, so that we can share, not only our material possessions, but our very lives with others
-- we have to guard our tongues and put off bitterness and anger and rage and put on kindness and compassion -- forgiving others because Christ forgave us
-- we have to choose to do the hard stuff because this is the only way that we can live a life worthy of our calling -- this is the only way that we can be all that we can be -- this is the only way that we can become more like Jesus in our minds and our hearts and our spirits

III. Closing
-- when you think about people who have accepted this challenge from God to be all that you can be, you have to think of Bill Bright -- Bill was the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ -- he penned down the “Four Spiritual Laws” that have been used to lead people to Christ for over 25 years -- he envisioned the “Jesus Film” which has been seen by over 4 billion people in 660 languages around the world
-- he was an author, a scholar, a speaker -- I once heard him speak on prayer and fasting at a Promise Keepers event in Orlando, and his wisdom and his message impacted a crowd of over 20,000 men there that day
-- but, despite all of these remarkable achievements for the Kingdom of God, if you were to visit his gravesite, you would only find three words on his tombstone, ”Slave for Jesus”
-- Bill Bright lived out a life worthy of the calling that he had received -- he chose the path that was less traveled -- he chose to be a follower and not a fan -- a true believer and disciple of Christ -- and he became, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “a prisoner for the Lord”

-- as we close, let me ask you this question point-blank -- what kind of Christian are you? -- are you living a life worthy of the calling you have received? -- are you following Christ and living out His message in your life daily? Or are you trampling on His blood by receiving and receiving without giving back anything?
-- Paul said that the life of a disciple was a choice -- we could choose to truly live for Jesus -- to give our all for Him because He gave His all for us -- we could choose to be all that we can be in Christ -- or we can just be those who receive all the benefits and never share in the glory of victory
-- what type of Christian do you want to be? -- what type of life do you want to live? -- the choice is up to you
-- let us pray