Do I have a calling outside my local church? There are many common callings that each person must fill. If you are a parent you have a calling to be a father or mother. We all have seen the effects of a couple who has a child but does not fill their calling as loving father or mother. Another common calling that everyone has is with a career. We are all required to labor, and with labor means that God wants us in a specific type of labor for a specific time. To be called to be an accountant or math teacher is just as valid a calling as being called to be a pastor or Sunday School teacher. God has more callings for each person that these common callings. Each person has a more specific calling. Many times these callings involve ministry outside a local church. This often means working with other Christians for one goal. The unity God wants within the body of Christ goes above local church and above denominations. Too many times churches will only work with others within their denomination even when there is a church, of a different denomination, close by with a similar ministry project. This is far from the unity that God calls for. For example, if one wanted to build a house, would he get the different workers to keep their distance from one another? No, he would get the plumbers working with the foundation workers, etc. If the workers all worked separately there would be redundancy and errors made that would have to be corrected later, such as needing a certain hole in a wall for a pipe that wasn't put in the correct place. In the same way we must work, in love, with people or churches from other denominations who have similar callings to our own.
Do I have a calling outside my local church? God has given common callings such as parenting and a specific career. Many times our callings put us in service with other Christians from other denominations that we should be unified with, strengthening the body of Christ.
Interact with Scripture/QuestionsRead 1 Cor. 1:1-17. In what ways are we to be united (vs. 10)?
What unites us (vs. 13)?
Read 1 Cor 3:1-11.
What does God say our relationship to one another is (vs. 9)?
What are the two things God call us if we are divided (vs. 1)?
Is there any division between you and another believer?
How can your church work with other churches for ministry?
What is God teaching about himself in these passages?
Prayer: Ask God to help unify you in love with other Chrisitians you come in contact with.
Scripture References1CO 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 1CO 1:2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ--their Lord and ours: 1CO 1:3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1CO 1:4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. [5] For in him you have been enriched in every way--in all your speaking and in all your knowledge-- [6] because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. [7] Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. [8] He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1CO 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. [11] My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. [12] What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."
1CO 1:13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? [14] I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, [15] so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. [16] (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) [17] For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
1CO 3:1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. [2] I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. [3] You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? [4] For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
1CO 3:5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. [6] I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. [7] So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. [8] The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. [9] For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
1CO 3:10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. [11] For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
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