Sunday, 4th June 2023
Pastor Joshua Cheung (Guest Speaker)
We all have a calling, there’s personal calling, call to be apostles, to be prophets, to be teachers… but there is also the call of the Tree of Life, this is a general calling and it’s for everyone. But not many Christian’s know that, they know there is a hope in the calling, but they don’t know what is it. This calling is revealed by God, and in the Book of Ephesians, it tells us what is the call of Tree of Life.
Ephesians 4:1 says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” It’s not an easy Book to read, it’s so precious and it’s so deep. We cannot understand the eternity with our limited understandings. First of all, we must know what is the hope of the call of the Tree of Life.
Ephesians 1:18 says, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Through the Holy Spirit, God wants to reveal the truth to us, to know Him better, and let our eyes of our hearts be enlightened so we know the hope to which He has called us. Not only we believe in God, we are saved, but we also must turn back from our wicked way, we holy and blameless. We are called and able to come out of the slavery of this world.
Secondly we can become the inheritance of God. Ephesians 1:11 says, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” It’s not that we have received it but we become it! We receive the call of the Tree of Life means we become God’s inheritance. He planted us as the Tree of Life and made us into His inheritance to glorify Him. Who are we to be lifted up by God? We may be born in a lowly place, we may be poor, we may be looked down by others… can we become the Tree of Life?
With the Holy Spirit all things are possible, and we are the Tree of Life, which was manifested in the body of Christ. We have received such grace, so we walk worthily in this calling. We are worthy to walk in this calling because we have become the Tree of Life. The five-fold walk in chapter 4-6 in the Book of Ephesians teaches us how to become the Tree of Life. Ephesians 4:1 says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” It tells us to walk in unity, to be gentle and patient as we walk in oneness.
What is oneness of spirit and oneness of faith? It is the Tree of Life, Jesus is the main trunk and we are the branches. On both sides of the river we become the trees, which are in oneness with Jesus. The Tree of Life is full of the presence of God, it’s full of power and glory. God calls us to become the Tree of Life.
The other walks show us how we can walk in the world. Ephesians 4:17 teaches us not to walk in the way the world does; Ephesians 5:2 tells us to walk in love; Ephesians 5:8 says to walk as the children of light; Ephesians 5:15 calls us to walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise; and Ephesians 6:10 talks about to walk in the Power of God. This is a holy calling, and He has taught us how to walk. We are light in the spirit, and we are the children of God, we can have strength in Him.