For decades we have heard, “To the degree our hearts are involved in the Work of God is to the degree we grow spiritually.” Dr. Meredith has also said many times that the primary reason we have been called in this age is “to do the Work.” In a March-April 2014 Living Church News article, he wrote, “Many of you who are reading this will remember that Mr. Herbert Armstrong stated a number of times that Almighty God did not personally ‘call’ us in this present age just for our personal salvation. Rather, he stated, there are two primary reasons why God chooses to call us now—rather than allow us to come up later in the Great White Throne Judgment. The first is to do the Work. The second is to let us prepare ourselves to be kings and priests in Christ’s coming Kingdom” (“The Reason for Our Calling,” Living Church News, March-April 2014).
What is our primary calling? What does our calling have to do with the Work that Christ is doing through His Church? Why is it important that we participate in the Work of God? It is because that Work is our calling, and it is absolutely critical that we do everything we can to participate in it in order to fulfill that calling. The more actively we are involved in the work Christ is doing, the more we fulfill the reason we have been called.
We are not talking about the potential of humankind—the reason we were born. All of humankind was created to one day inherit eternal life and be given the opportunity to become a part of God’s Family. While Christians in this age will also one day become a part of His Family, our calling is different! We are called out of the world now for an entirely different purpose. We are created for one thing and called for something else.
In order to fully understand why the Work is the first reason for our calling, we need to answer two main questions: 1) What is the “Work of God?” and 2) How does the “Work of God” relate to our calling? Then we will see why it is so important that we actively participate in the Work.
What is the “Work of God”?
The “Work of God” that we have been called to is what Christ has been doing and is doing through His Church to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, feed the flock, and preach the warnings of end-time prophecies to the world. This is what God and Christ are accomplishing on earth today through the Church. This is the venture God is actively engaged in: God’s “Work.”
Christ was completely focused on this when He came to earth as a human being. He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). As soon as His ministry began, He immediately began setting the pace and the example for how to do that work. “Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14–15). From there, His life was completely focused on doing His Father’s work. Very early on, He began training others (v. 16–20) and told them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth” (v. 38).
Once He perceived that His original twelve disciples had enough experience under their belt, He put them to work on the same mission and, “He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick … So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere” (Luke 9:2–6). After a little more time, He sent out even more to do His Work—this time, “seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go” (Luke 10:1).
The New Testament also records several times that Jesus proclaimed the need for even more “laborers” (workers) because of the enormous amount of work that lay ahead of them! “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2). Jesus Christ was absolutely on fire and filled with zeal for the work He was doing!
Then after His death, glorification and return to omnipotent and unlimited power, Christ commissioned His Apostles, “saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18–20). Mark 16:15–16 also says, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.’” The resurrected Jesus Christ made these statements the day after His resurrection. This is what was on Jesus’ mind! He now instructed His Apostles, the human leaders of His Church, to continue doing the same work He had been doing, though now without His physical presence. Now, He would work with them in His glorified state and continue to work with them, “even to the end of the age.”
Then, after 40 days of teaching them about the Kingdom of God, the final instructions He gave—just before He ascended into heaven—were that, “you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This is what Christ concentrated on His entire life while on earth and taught and trained His disciples to do. Then, in His final words with them, He tells them to continue! This is clearly the job of the Church that Jesus Christ founded!
The Apostles took Christ’s example and His instruction very seriously and they had a strong sense of urgency about it. This is what absorbed them and drove them on for the remainder of their lives. The entire book of Acts is a written account of their evangelizing the known world at that time. The Apostles and the entire first-century Church revolved around the mission Jesus gave. They were looking for opportunities—“open doors” to preach the gospel (2 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 16:9; Colossians 4:3; Acts 14:27). They were continually busy doing the Work of God!
Christ told His Apostles that He would be with His Church, fulfilling the commission until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). He also told them that before the end would come, “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations” (Matthew 24:14). The only way for this to happen is for His Church to be doing the Work of God at the end of the age. This means that He would actively be fulfilling His mission through His Church in the end time to proclaim the gospel to the entire world!
In Revelation 3:8 we see that, not long before He returns, He will be opening doors for a Church of God characterized by its Philadelphian attitude. That Church will be going through those doors to do the Work, and is praised for hanging on to the Truth and not denying His name. Because this body of believers is diligent to allow Christ to do His work through them, they will be blessed, and will be saved from the “hour of trial” (Revelation 3:10).
So we see that while He was on earth, Jesus Christ was completely focused on doing the Father’s work. He set the example for His disciples and trained them to lead His Church and continue His work. Then we see that He would be working through the Church of God in the end time to accomplish His work until His Second Coming.
How Does the “Work of God” Relate to Our Calling?
God the Father has called us out of this world to be part of accomplishing His Work! He has “drawn” us out of the world to Jesus Christ to become a part of His Church (John 6:44). The Work of God is our calling because we have been called to His Church and that is the mission of His Church. He ordained it to be so because the Church is, in fact, His very Body and He is the Head! He is now doing the Work through His spiritual Body—the Church!
1 Corinthians 12:12–14 explains: “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… For in fact the body is not one member but many.” Paul is saying that we all make up “the body”—the body of Jesus Christ! “Now you are the body of Christ and members individually” (v. 27). We are the body, and, “He is the head of the body” (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22–23).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). His entire life’s focus was, and still is, “to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). This was His lifework while on earth and the commission and instruction He gave to His body, the Church, of which He is the head! Just as He was when He was on this earth, He is still intensely focused on the Work of God—He has not changed.
So, God the Father has called us out of this world to Jesus Christ (John 6:44) and we have been baptized into His body (1 Corinthians 12:13). If we, then, are a part of His spiritual body then we must share His mission and purpose—which is the commission He gave to His Church—His own Body! Therefore, if we want to fulfill the very reason we have been called, we will be focused on what Jesus Christ is focused on and what He charged His own Body to do! We will individually and collectively do the Work of God.
God the Father has chosen us, selected us, named us, conscripted us, elected us—called us to work with Him and be a part of His team! This is to be our mission and purpose. To the degree that we make it so, we will be fulfilling the reason we have been called in this age.
Jesus Christ was “all in.” The Apostles were “all in.” Are we “all in”?
Why Is Our Individual Participation Vital?
The Church that Jesus Christ founded—the very Body of Jesus Christ—will be preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God at the very end of the age just before His return. This Church, characterized by its Philadelphian attitude, will be going through open doors provided by Christ Himself. “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name” (Revelation 3:8). So, clearly, there will be a Church of God on earth that will be focused on completing the mission Christ gave before He ascended into heaven.
We can either choose to be a part of that or not and we can choose it to varying degrees. The “Dead Church” and the “Lukewarm Church” will also clearly be around in the end time, but will be minimally focused on going through open doors and may even be focused on other activities they deem more important. We have a choice to fulfill the reason for our calling or not. We have a choice to bear much fruit in regard to our calling or not. Our calling can be compared to the “very little” we have been given to do business with now (Luke 19). How seriously do we take it and what will we do with it? How much fruit are we going to bear?
In any organization, the employees need to be headed in the same direction as the boss, in harmony with the company mission. Jack Welch was CEO of General Electric for over 20 years. In his book Winning he explained that, for employees to offer the most to their organization, they must “be an early subscriber of the mission and purpose of the company and the boss” (p. 288). In other words, get behind the mission and the purpose, and be one of the first to do so. How true! The person who helps fulfill the mission is helping the company—and all of its employees—move in the right direction. The boss can trust such a person with greater responsibility. On the other hand, any employee that is not helping to accomplish the company mission becomes a drag on momentum and hurts progress overall. The boss cannot trust such a person with greater responsibility.
In the Church, Christ is the Boss and we are His workers (Matthew 9:37–38; John 4:35–38). At the end of this age, He will be focused on the same work as when He was on this earth, which He commissioned His Church to do. This is what the Boss is engaged in and focused on. We need to be behind the Boss. To the extent we get behind Him, toe the line, and carry our weight in the work He is doing, the more we are fulfilling the very purpose for which we have been immersed into the Church of God. We will learn more lessons, learn more to think like God, know God’s will, and develop His character more and more! Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, and if we want to be in the middle of His will, we get behind Him. If we are focused on what the Boss is focused on now—even in the smallest matters—He will trust us in greater things! This is profoundly exciting!
God the Father called us to Jesus Christ’s Body, His Church (John 6:44; 1 Corinthians 12:27). This means He has chosen us and given us a special opportunity to work on His team. He is actively accomplishing His mission through the Church of God with the Philadelphian Spirit. He has been excited about it (John 4:34) and is excited about it (Revelation 3:8; Matthew 24:14; Acts 1:8) and wants us to be excited about it!
Consider these exhortations from the ministry Christ is using today in the Living Church of God:
“Editorial: Do Not be Laodicean,” by Dr. Roderick Meredith, Living Church News January-February, 2013:
“Focusing on the “cares of this world” can easily distract any of us if we are not careful. That is one reason why Philadelphian Christians should spend much of their time, energy and resources in the crusade to proclaim Christ’s message to the entire world… The Philadelphians zealously desire to have a very active part in proclaiming Christ’s message. They personally work, pray and sacrifice so the magnificent message of Christ’s soon-coming Kingdom may be powerfully proclaimed to all the nations.”
“The ‘Fruits’ of the Church,” Dr. Roderick Meredith, Living Church News May-June 2015:
“We must look to Him to direct the Work, overall, and focus on doing with faithfulness that which is our own part—sincerely trying to support those who may have, at this time, a higher ‘rank’ in the Work of God. As we do this, Christ will see that we are willing to humble ourselves to be faithful in whatever position we are given, and He will be able to know that we will be His loyal servants throughout all eternity.”
“Self Examination: A Vital Key to Growth,” Richard Ames, Living Church News March-April 2009:
“How zealous are you for God’s Work? Our Savior expressed His commitment to fulfilling His mission on the earth: ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work’ (John 4:34). Are you totally committed to Christ’s mission? We whom God has called have been given His command to preach the Gospel of the soon coming Kingdom of God, to feed the flock and to preach the Ezekiel warning to the modern descendants of ancient Israel… Do you pray regularly for the Work, for open doors to preach the Gospel around the world? Do not underestimate the importance of keeping your heart in the Work.”
Mr. Ames goes on to quote Herbert W. Armstrong:
“And God has given us ‘the Work’ to do as the very means by which we may grow spiritually, so we may enter His Kingdom at Christ’s coming. In 47 years I have observed that only those whose hearts are fully in the Work continue to overcome and grow spiritually, and endure” (Co-Worker Letter, November 18, 1974).
Mr. Ames then concludes:
“Ask yourself, ‘How zealous have I been for the Work of God? Have I prayed for its success? Have I supported the mission of God’s Church?’ Every human being is precious in God’s sight. We all need God’s love to fulfill the mission He has given us.”
While we have all been called into the Church of God, we are not all called to be the same part of the Body. We each make up a different part of the Body. Each of us has something unique to offer the Work. Sometimes it takes searching, studying and praying to know where you can help the most. What is your part? Is it serving the widows? Is it praying for the leadership and for God to open more doors to preach the Gospel? Is it the ability to give powerful offerings in humility? Is it serving your local congregation? Is it being able to support the shepherds and the Church through being a solid pillar in regard to sound doctrine?
Whatever our gifts are, whatever strengths we have, the more we can hone them for the long-term journey of finishing the Church’s phase of God’s Work, and not growing “weary” in doing so (Galatians 6:9), the more we will be storing up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19–21) and investing in the Kingdom of God (Luke 19:11–27). For the relatively small efforts we make now we will receive eternal, glorious rewards beyond imagination. This is the best investment deal in the history of the universe, and the return on the investment is unfathomable. The deeper our appreciation for the Work of God and the more we contribute our gifts, the more Christ will be involved in our lives, the more we will learn the lessons God wants us to learn—and the more we will be preparing for our future Millennial reign with Him.
The Work that God is doing is inherently the most important activity being accomplished in the entire universe. Let us be as much of a part of it as we can!
For, “those who turn many to righteousness [will shine] like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). Let’s do His business till He comes and be in the middle of His will! Let’s put our lives into the Work that God is doing and make the most of our calling!