COLUMN: Called Out...For What?

Every year, 32 pro-football teams in the U.S. draft 224 prospective team members from a pool of approximately 3,500 college/university graduates. At present, there are seven rounds in selecting prospective players. Each team calls out, or picks, one player per round, and the lowest-ranked teams get to pick first. The current Super Bowl teams pick last.

These called out ones are trained and tested to see if they meet the criteria of the team. If they pass, they proceed to the next step: competition for position. Each NFL team has 53 players on its roster, plus a five-player practice squad. Often someone will walk onto the practice field and ask to be given a chance to play. These are called walk-ons.

Before the regular season begins, the teams play pre-season games to evaluate the player's skills and abilities. Then each team reduces the number of players to 53 by the time regular season starts.

Business organizations basically do the same thing. Employees are hired or called out from the pools of university graduates, from Vo-techs, from other businesses, and walk-ons from the street. There's usually a trial or probationary period during which the company tests the new-hires. As in football, those who don't make the grade are released.

Now let's change the setting.

The Greek word for called out ones is ecclesia.

The Ecclesia or Ekklesia was the principal assembly of the democracy of ancient Athens. It was open to all male citizens as soon as they qualified for citizenship. The assembly, ekklesia, was responsible for most rules and regulations regarding their society, including declaring war, military strategy, electing magistrates, lawyers, and other officials. A typical meeting of the Assembly could have contained around 6,000 people, out of a total citizen population of up to 60,000.

Now, if that's what the ekklesia is all about, why does the Bible mention the word and its derivatives about 111 times? Let's compound the question by identifying the Spanish word for church -- Iglesia. It's a transliteration, which is the same basic sound in a different language. That's why it's spelled differently. (For example, we get our word church from Dutch kerk, German kirche, and Scottish kirk.)

So, we find that members of the church are also the called-out ones. But who is called out? Called out for what? Called out to what?

Second Corinthians 6:17-18, quoting from Isaiah 52:11 and Ezekiel 20:34, 41, gives us a clue. "Leave those people, and be separate, says the Lord. Touch nothing that is unclean, and I will accept you. I will be your father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

Before we get deeply into this, we should understand that God is not exclusive. Everyone is already excluded from His holy presence, but God has opened the doors to include anyone and everyone who will cooperate with Him. John 3:16 verifies this. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God will include everyone who chooses to live a holy life -- to the best of each person's ability and understanding.

So, what are we to separate ourselves from? This is the touchy part.

Just today, a friend said, "My daughter told me it's surprising what humans can do, and still be a Christian." The intent of the statement is that many -- if not most -- Christians act like, talk like, look like, and live like non-Christians. Those nominal Christians may honor the Lord with their mouths, but are dishonoring God by the way they live and worship.

But God called us out to live for and to honor Him by what we do every day: by how we think, how we talk, how we act, how we worship, and by what we worship. As the ambassador represents the king, president, or prime minister, God called us to represent Him.

I'm not going to itemize a list of stuff that dishonors the Lord. But does your life represent God's desires? Would God be blessed or happy with your activities? With where you go, what you do, what you watch? Even in church, are you there to be entertained -- or to be the entertainer -- or to truly come into the presence of a Holy God?

Have you ever stopped long enough to compare how you live with how God wants you to live?

Think about it.

--GENE LINZEY IS A TEACHER, AUTHOR AND MENTOR. SEND COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS TO [email protected]. VISIT HIS WEBSITE AT WWW.GENELINZEY.COM. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.