"I pray that . . . you may know what is the hope of [God's] calling" (Eph. 1:18).

The hope of your calling is grounded in God’s promises and in Christ’s accomplishments.

In Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul proclaims the blessings of our salvation. In verse 18 he prays that we will comprehend those great truths, which he summarizes in the phrase "the hope of His calling."

"Calling" here refers to God's effectual calling—the calling that redeems the soul. Scripture speaks of two kinds of calling: the gospel or general call and the effectual or specific call. The gospel call is given by men and is a universal call to repent and trust Christ for salvation (e.g., Matt. 28:19; Acts 17:30-31). It goes out to all sinners but not all who hear it respond in faith.

The effectual call is given by God only to the elect. By it He speaks to the soul, grants saving faith, and ushers elect sinners into salvation (John 6:37-44, 65; Acts 2:39). All who receive it respond in faith.

The hope that your effectual calling instills is grounded in God's promises and Christ's accomplishments (1 Pet. 1:3), and is characterized by confidently expecting yet patiently waiting for those promises to be fulfilled. It is your hope of final glorification and of sharing God's glory when Christ returns (Col. 3:4). It is a source of strength and stability amid the trials of life (1 Pet. 3:14-15). Consequently it should fill you with joy (Rom. 5:2) and motivate you to godly living (1 John 3:3).

As you face this new day, do so with the confidence that you are one of God's elect. He called you to Himself and will hold you there no matter what circumstances you face. Nothing can separate you from His love (Rom. 8:38-39)!

Suggestions for Prayer

• Thank God for the security of your salvation.
• Ask Him to impress on your heart the blessings and responsibilities of your calling.
• Live today in anticipation of Christ's imminent return.

For Further Study

Joshua's call to lead Israel was not a call to salvation, but it illustrates some important principles for spiritual leadership. You might not see yourself as a spiritual leader, but you are important to those who look to you as an example of Christian character.

Read Joshua 1:1-9 then answer these questions:

• What were the circumstances of Joshua's call (vv. 1-2)?
• What promises did God make to him (vv. 3-6)?
• What did God require of him (vv. 7-9)?

“Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

The unity of the Spirit must be earnestly maintained by humble, gentle, patient, loving Christians.

Today’s Scripture spells out the goal of the worthy walk: the unity of the Spirit. Jesus prayed for Christians “that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me” (John 17:21). Our witness to the world depends on our unity as believers.

The world is full of discord, animosity, bitterness, and resentment. If in the midst of the world there is an oasis of unity and harmony, people will wonder what we have. Then we have the opportunity to say, “This is what Christ can do.” The world needs to see that the church is not just another social club, but an institution of God, supernaturally born, supernaturally sustained, with a supernatural destiny.

Our unity depends on the virtues we have been studying this month: gentleness, patience, and forbearing love. Without them, unity is impossible. In addition, our unity requires diligence. The word translated “diligent” in Ephesians 4:3 carries the ideas of both zeal and urgency: “Let’s work on it, and work on it now.” We need full dedication. But don’t say first, “I’ll head the committee” or “I’ll make the posters.” This is a personal passage, and if you want to hurry and start working on unity, you need to start in your heart. Commit yourself first to walking worthy by matching your life with your theology.

I am grieved by all the disunity and discord in the church today. One of the main causes is the focus on denominational distinctives—what divides us. We should instead focus on biblical distinctives—what unites us. We need to humble ourselves and learn to love each other. That won’t happen by starting a global ecumenical movement, but it will happen when we become what God wants us to be. Working at unity is a full-time task that demands maximum dedication and obedience from every Christian.

Suggestions for Prayer

Pray that God would unify His church around the world, and that He would begin with you.

For Further Study

Read about the unity of the early church in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37.

• What characterized those believers?
• Which of their characteristics do you need to work on?

Reading for Today:

• Genesis 49:1–50:26
• Psalm 14:1-7
• Proverbs 4:20-24
• Matthew 16:1-28

Notes:

Genesis 49:1–28 With Judah and Joseph receiving the most attention (vv. 8–12, 22–26), the father’s blessing portrayed the future history of each son, seemingly based upon their characters up to that time. The cryptic nature of the poetry demands rigorous analysis for correlating tribal history with Jacob’s last word and testament. See Moses’ blessing on the tribes in Deuteronomy 33, ca. 1405 B.C.

Genesis 50:20 but God meant it for good. Joseph’s wise, theological answer has gone down in history as the classic statement of God’s sovereignty over the affairs of men.

Proverbs 4:21–23 heart. The “heart” commonly refers to the mind as the center of thinking and reason (3:3; 6:21; 7:3), but also includes the emotions (15:15, 30), the will (11:20; 14:14), and thus, the whole inner being (3:5). The heart is the depository of all wisdom and the source of whatever affects speech (v. 24), sight (v. 25), and conduct (vv. 26, 27).

Matthew 16:23 Get behind Me, Satan! The harshness of this rebuke contrasts sharply with Christ’s words of commendation in vv.17–19. Jesus suggested that Peter was being a mouthpiece for Satan. Jesus’ death was part of God’s sovereign plan (Acts 2:23; 4:27, 28). “It pleased the LORD to bruise Him” (Is. 53:10). Christ had come with the express purpose of dying as an atonement for sin (John 12:27). And those who would thwart His mission were doing Satan’s work.

DAY 25: Why was Peter’s confession of Christ so significant in Matthew 16:16?

To call Jesus the Son of “the living God” was an Old Testament name for God. Never before had He explicitly taught Peter and the apostles the fullness of His identity. God the Father had opened Peter’s eyes to the full significance of those claims (v.17), and revealed to him who Jesus really was. Peter was not merely expressing an academic opinion about the identity of Christ; this was a confession of Peter’s personal faith, made possible by a divinely regenerated heart.

Jesus said that “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church” (v. 18). The word for “Peter,” Petros, means a small stone (John 1:42). Jesus used a play on words here with petra, which means a foundation boulder (see 7:24, 25). Since the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Christ is both the foundation (Acts 4:11, 12; 1 Cor. 3:11) and the head (Eph. 5:23) of the church, it is a mistake to think that here He is giving either of those roles to Peter. There is a sense in which the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the church (Eph. 2:20), but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone, not assigned to Peter. So Jesus’ words here are best interpreted as a simple play on words in that a boulder-like truth came from the mouth of one who was called a small stone. Peter himself explains the imagery in his first epistle: the church is built of “living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5) who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Christ Himself is the “chief cornerstone” (1 Pet. 2:6, 7).

“The tempter came and said to Him . . . Then the devil . . . Again, the devil . . .” (Matthew 4:3, 5, 8).

Our temptations are similar in kind to what Jesus faced. First, Satan tries to get us to distrust God’s providential care and solve our own difficulties by our own strength and cleverness. Second, the devil will tempt us to presume on the Lord’s protection by having us willingly place ourselves in danger’s pathway, where we can meet all kinds of physical and spiritual harm. Third, he appeals to our selfish ambitions in hopes we might grasp after God’s promises in our own strength. The apostle John mentions these same temptations: “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” (1 John 2:16).

Those three major sources of temptation are all around us, so how do we resist? Consider the man who trained his dog by placing a piece of meat in the center of the floor. Whenever the dog tried to take the meat, its owner swatted it and said, “No.” Before long the dog learned to associate the swat with “No” and simply left the meat alone when it heard the word. Finally, whenever the meat was placed on the floor, the dog would not even look at the meat, but instead at its master, waiting for his word of approval or denial. In a way, this illustrates how we must deal with temptation—keep our eyes on the Master rather than the temptation, and wait for His command.

Ask Yourself

One of the grandest things about heaven will be the freedom of living without the burden of temptation or the inclination to obey it. Till then, what can you do to keep your “eyes on the Master,” resisting Satan’s attempts at deception and destruction? Pray for sharper, surer spiritual eyesight.