Worthy of His Calling

The first request Paul mentions in his prayer for the Thessalonians is that God might count them worthy of His calling. This idea of worthiness is used several times in Paul's writings to indicate a transformed character. The believer has given equal weight to both calling and conduct. For example:
*In Ephesians 4:1, Paul exhorts the church to live a life worthy of the calling they had received. Then, he tells them to be completely humble, gentle, patient, forbearing, and to keep in step with the Holy Spirit's direction.
*In Philippians 1:27, our manner of life- how we conduct ourselves should be, Paul says, worthy of the gospel of Christ.
*In Colossians 1:10, Paul exhorts us to live a life worthy of the Lord so that we may please him in every way and bear fruit in every good work. Such fruitfulness is evidence that someone is a genuine believer.
*In I Thessalonians (2:12), Paul shares the urgency of developing true Christian character: Encouraging, comforting, urging us to live lives worthy of God. Why? Because He has a kingdom and glory planned for us.
*Earlier in II Thessalonians, Paul says that the perseverance and love that the church showed during times of persecution and trial proved that God's universal rule was just and that He counted them worthy of His kingdom (1:4-5)
So what does it mean to be worthy? There are three possibilities:
1. Merit- our efforts make us worthy. The problem with this position is we all fall short of the glory of God. Our efforts at righteousness in and of ourselves are as filthy rags.
2. Position- Paul may mean that we are only worthy when we have received the forgiveness of Christ and are brought into a position of peace and friendship with god. The question here is why Paul would speak in a positional way concerning worthiness to the Church.
3. Fitting or Appropriate- Here the idea is that our character and conduct are becoming what is fitting for the gospel, for Christ, and for His kingdom. John Piper illustrates by describing a newly-remodeled kitchen: Shiny faucets, new flooring, expensive cabinetry, and custom refrigerator. However, the stove is an olive green seventy's era appliance. It is totally out of sync with the rest of the kitchen. It's place in this kitchen is inappropriate. God's Spirit is working in us and through us now to prepare us for a new world where there is neither sickness or crying or death. No one wants to stick out like a sore thumb there. May God count us worthy of His calling.

Why Should I Obey God?

Why should we obey God? A Bible school student in our church had to write a paper to answer this question. She concluded that we should obey because God is your creator and because He is our loving Father. I told her I had some additional ideas and she wanted to hear them once she had completed her paper. So here they are.

• Growth in holiness (Rom. 6:19-22; I Peter 1:22; I Thes. 4:7)
• Maintain my freedom in Christ (Rom. 6:15-18)
• Gratitude (Col. 2:6-7; 3:15-17; Heb. 12:28-29)
• Character Formation (II Peter 1:3-11)
• Witness in the world (I Peter 2:11-12)
• Power (Eph. 3:14-19)
• Duty (Luke 17:7-10)
• Reward (II Cor. 5:9-10)

They all fall under Matthew Henry's category of "twisted interests." We obey God because He gets the glory and we grow in our satisfaction and happiness with God. The Christian life is not platonic. The highest virtue is not selfless love. It is a passionate love for God which recognizes in Him the greatest of all joys.
On this subject, we have to be careful not to be more 'spiritual' than scripture is. If scripture lists duty or reward as a motive, then we ought not to set it aside because it doesn't fit our template. God knows our frames. His enticement to reward is also a sign of his grace.