1/20/08 - Epiphany 2 - 1 Cor. 1:1-9

TO THE CALLED SAINTS:
- You are called into fellowship with Christ
- You will not be called to give an account

“Hey, mom’s calling for you.” I never liked when one of my brothers told me that. Because whenever I was told “Mom’s calling for you,” I immediately thought to myself, “Great, now what? What am I going to have to do now? What kind of job am I going to have to drop everything for and get done?” I was never thrilled to hear that my mother was calling for me. If someone comes to you and says, “Pastor is calling for you,” your mind suddenly goes into a panic mode in a way, doesn’t it? You start shuffling through all the possibilities: “What did I do? Was I supposed to give him something? Did I miss a meeting? Was I supposed to call him about this or that?” Now if I call for you that’s not necessarily a bad thing, you just might be a little curious about why I called for you and not somebody else. Of course we’re called on all the time in our lives for many good things as well. We’re called into the doctor’s office after sitting in the waiting room, we are called on by the captain of the kickball team at recess, by the personnel department about a job application, by the hostess at a restaurant when our table is ready… It’s usually a good thing to be called for in this life.
Today we will spend some time talking about our name being called. Not in an earthly, trivial sense, but a spiritual sense. The apostle Paul uses this word “call” and different forms of it five times in 1 Cor. 1:1-9. This morning we will focus on three of those instances: He writes this letter to us, the called saints, to tell us that we have been called into fellowship with Christ, so that we will not be called to give an account on the Last Day. It’s not a coincidence or a mistake that the Holy Spirit emphasizes this word through the pen of the apostle Paul so strongly. He wants us to realize exactly what the Lord has done for us and what that means.
And to understand what God has done for us, we will start where our text ends: “God… has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” You have been called into fellowship with Christ! And this calling is nothing like you’ve experienced in this life. You weren’t waiting for it. It’s not as if you filled out an application and were waiting for a call back. The Lord called you out of his grace. He called you when you didn’t want to have anything to do with him! He grabbed you by the soul in the water and Word of baptism, or he pulled you to his light by the spoken or written Word itself. And by doing so, he called you to fellowship with his Son. You didn’t have anything to do with it. You didn’t have an impressive resume, you were not approved by a Triune board of directors because of your conduct or personality. You were simply called because of the Lord’s love. Because he is merciful and wanted to call you who is imperfect. You were called despite you lack of qualifications.
And this fellowship with Christ into which you have been called is something very special. It’s a communion, a bond, an intimately close relationship with Christ your Savior. It is Christ in you through faith, Christ on you at baptism, and Christ working through you by his power. You share in everything that he has accomplished in his life, on the cross, and out of the tomb, and you are guaranteed everything he has promised to do for you in the future. And all this because God, for some reason, loved you. He loved you enough to call you into this special and unique fellowship with his Son. He called you to faith. He called you as a saint.
That’s what you are. You are a saint. Do you consider yourself a saint? Someone might say that about their dear old grandma now passed away, “Oh, she was a saint.” We often times call the apostles “Saint Paul” or “Saint Peter.” Maybe we even know of a person in our lives who is so nice and so helpful and so giving that we would consider that person a saint. But you are a saint as well. Paul says that you are a called saint - that’s who he writes this letter to. If you look at that verse on your bulletin it’s really translated, “and called to be holy.” But when you get out your Bible at home today or right before Bible class this morning, turn to 1 Cor. 1:2, underline that phrase “called to be holy” and write in the margin: “called saints.” That’s really what Paul calls you. And that’s really what you are. You are a saint. You are made holy because of that fellowship with Christ. You are sanctified by faith. And you are just as much of a saint as those saints already in heaven!
And if you don’t normally think of yourself as a saint, there’s probably a pretty good reason for it. Because when we think of “saints” we think of someone who is an outstanding Christian, right? A person that seems to lead a spotless life. A believer who gives so completely of him or herself that you can just tell Christ lives in and on and through them in everything they say and do. And so when we compare ourselves to those kinds of people, we don’t seem to measure up. We aren’t as kind, we aren’t as giving, we aren’t as solid in our faith as those people seem to be. We aren’t as Christian. How sad. How sad that we have been called as saints because of God’s mercy, but even we admit that we don’t live up to the group into which we’ve been included.
How unfortunate would it be if I, a called pastor, did not act like a called pastor? If I were irresponsible, vulgar, unloving? How disappointing that would be for a congregation. How unfortunate would it be if our called council members did not live up to that calling in their words or actions? How disappointing that would be for us. How unfortunate is it when a president does not act as if he holds that important title? How unfortunate is it when a parent does not act like a “mother” or a “father” is supposed to act like? And if not living up to those earthly positions and groups brings about so much disappointment in this life, how much more when we don’t act like the saints we have been called to be? We have graciously been given fellowship with Christ. We are spiritually the rich kids on the block, so to speak. The Lord has given us everything for this life and the life to come. We lack nothing. And then how do we thank him? How do we show our appreciation to our Lord in our words and actions? We let our sins get the better of us. And we revert back to our old ways of disregarding what God has said in his Word. We aren’t saints when it comes down to what we do and what we say and what we think. We are far from it. We aren’t anything close to what we are called to be.
But it is also important to know that our call into this fellowship with Christ is not dependent on how we act or what we say or the things we think. We are called into fellowship with Christ as saints, not to become saints. We were called as saints because that was the only way. We are called as saints because we couldn’t gain that title for ourselves. We couldn’t work our way up to it. We couldn’t earn a spot in that prestigious group no matter how hard we tried. That’s why we needed to be called. And that’s why we were called into fellowship not with any normal person, but with Christ, the Savior, the God-man, the victor of our souls. We were called into fellowship with Christ so that we won’t be called to account on the Last Day.
Look again at the sermon text for today. Verse eight says, “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” To “be blameless” is a good way of putting it. It’s a courtroom term. It’s a word that describes your innocence. Literally, the word means, “you will not be called to give an account.” You will not be called forward to give an account of your sins on Judgment Day. Many times in courtroom proceedings, the guilty party is called forward in the end to give an account of his crimes, to answer for the things he has done, to explain to the judge why he had done the things he has been convicted of. You will not have to do that. You will not be called forward. When the Lord comes again on Judgment Day you will not face a sentence. Because you will not be convicted. You will not be found guilty. Someone else has already been called forward to give an account in your place.
“They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together… Then the high priest stood up before them and asked, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer” (Mark 14:53,60-61). Jesus had done nothing wrong. He was falsely arrested, he was falsely put on trial, he was falsely accused, and of course, he was eventually falsely condemned. He was called forward to give an account of his crimes, but there were none. Not that it stopped the leaders in their quest to kill him. They did it anyway. But that trial in which Jesus was called forward to give an account was not the one that Jesus was concerned about. It was the trial before his Father that was on his mind. Because soon after he stood before the Jewish high priest, he stood before his Father as he hung on the cross. And there he was called to give an account for innumerable sins. And this time Jesus did admit it. He admitted his guilt. Jesus, our perfect Savior, confessed to the nastiest and the ugliest of sins: to rape, to murder, to adultery, to theft, to selfishness, to lying, to laziness, to atheism. He was called to give an account of those crimes, and he gave no excuse. “I am responsible,” Jesus’ actions said. “And I do not beg for mercy. I demand justice. I want to take the punishment.” And so Jesus was punished for those sins. For our sins. For the world’s sins. And then his Father, the righteous Judge who had called him forward to give an account, turned his back on him. He disowned his only Son because of the sins Jesus carried. He left him to suffer the real pains of hell alone while he hung there on the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Mark 15:34)? Jesus screamed. These words of our Savior still ring in our ears. The punishment that Jesus had to endure! The pain he must have felt! Because he was called to give an account for our sins. He was found guilty for our sins. He was punished for our sins.
But that trial is done. That death sentence has been carried out. And Jesus made sure everything was completed on that cross so that when he comes the 2nd time to this earth, we will not have to go through what he did. We will not be called forward to give an account. The account has already been read. The case is closed. The only reason we will be called forward now is to go home. That’s what we look forward to as called saints: a call home. And it’s a call that doesn’t need to make us nervous. It’s a call that we don’t have to worry about, because it’s our heavenly Father who is calling! A Father who called us into fellowship with his Son, a Father who calls us as saints, a Father who only calls us for our good. I pray that many will hear this call from the Lord. And I pray that we, the Lord’s called saints, will hear it soon.
Amen.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ… to him be the power forever and ever. Amen.” - 1 Peter 5:10a,11