Conversion & Calling, Student Workbook, SW01

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C O N V E R S I O N A N D C A L L I N G

9. How does engaging in good works of service on behalf of the broken and the poor fulfill the calling of God on our lives?

This lesson focuses upon the breadth and the depth of the calling of God on the life of the person who hears and responds to the Word of God. The Word calls us to discipleship, to community, to freedom, and to engage in mission. The same Word that provides new life also calls us to life a lifestyle of radical obedience to Jesus Christ as his disciple, fulfilling our roles as ambassadors in this world. The Word that creates new life in us through faith also calls us to live as radical disciples of Jesus Christ, serving him and his Kingdom, being obedient to his will. The Father calls all who believe to make themselves unconditionally available to Jesus that they might love him supremely, that they might live for him solely as Lord above all. We have a new identity in Christ as aliens and sojourners in this world. We are to live as Christ’s ambassadors in the world, living as citizens of the Kingdom of God in the midst of an evil world, as representatives of Jesus. We are the servants, the bondslaves of Jesus Christ, living sacrificially to his glory. As his very own prisoners, as his servants, we are to joyfully commit all we are and have to glorifying him and accomplishing his will in the world, as he directs. Called to individual discipleship, we are also called to live and work in community, as members of God’s glorious family in the people of God ( laos ). Through regeneration and adoption, the Holy Spirit has caused the new believer to share God’s very own spiritual DNA, and through that, to become members of God’s own family and household. As members of the people of God, we are called to live in the freedom of Jesus Christ, to use our freedom not as a cover for sin but as an opportunity to love others (thus fulfilling the Great Commandment), and to give clear witness for the purpose of saving others for the cause of Christ.

Summary of Key Concepts

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