What if God is calling you... anyway?
What if the thing you've been using to disqualify yourself is not actually strong enough to disqualify you from God's calling?
What if your failure doesn't have the final say? What if your past doesn't have the final say? What if your insecurity, weakness, addiction, family history, disappointment, or spiritual failure doesn't have the final say?
What if God is calling you anyway?
That is where we begin our journey through the book of Romans.
Romans is going to show us where we fall short. It is going to expose our inadequacies and show us just how far we are from God's standards. And that's actually good news. We don't want a doctor who tells us we're perfectly healthy when we're sick. We want someone who will tell us the truth and then show us how to become healthy.
Romans does both.
It exposes our inadequacy, but it also reveals the grace of God—the grace that doesn't simply point out where we fall short but empowers us to become who God is calling us to be.
And that is the message we need to hear from the beginning:
God is calling you anyway.
God Doesn't Call You Because You Have It All Together
Romans begins with Paul introducing himself:
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God."
Before Paul talks about his ministry, his accomplishments, or his qualifications, he identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ.
The Greek word translated "servant" is doulos, referring to a slave—a person who willingly belongs to a master.
That matters because we often think God's calling comes after we've gotten ourselves together.
We think we need to become more disciplined, more educated, more successful, more confident, and more spiritual.
Maybe then God will use us.
But that's not how grace works.
God isn't calling you because you've perfected your personality. He's not calling you because you've finally gotten your finances together, started a business, gotten married, become disciplined, or figured out how to communicate perfectly.
God calls because of grace.
Grace is God's unearned gift. It isn't something you can achieve or deserve.
One pastor described grace as "God's riches at Christ's expense."
That means your weaknesses don't get the final word. Your insecurity doesn't get the final word. Your family's failures don't get the final word. Your past doesn't get the final word.
Grace does.
Paul's Past Should Have Disqualified Him
If anyone had reasons to believe they were disqualified from being used by God, it was Paul.
Before becoming the apostle we know from Romans, Paul was violently opposed to Christianity.
He describes his former life in Galatians:
"I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it."
Paul wasn't merely indifferent toward Christians. He actively sought to destroy the church.
He was present when Stephen was killed for his faith. He received authorization to capture Christians, have them beaten, and bring them to trial.
Then, on the road to Damascus, everything changed.
Jesus encountered Paul.
A light from heaven surrounded him, and Jesus asked:
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
The man who had made it his mission to eradicate Christianity became one of Christianity's greatest messengers.
Think about that.
Even the people who had personally walked with Jesus had to learn that God's grace could have the final say over Paul's past.
And Paul's testimony tells us something important about our own lives.
You may be on your own road to Damascus.
You may be walking away from the purpose God created you for. You may have spent years building a life that looks nothing like what you think God wants. You may have made choices you regret.
You may be carrying anger, judgment, self-righteousness, insecurity, or shame.
But none of those things are stronger than the grace of God.
Paul said that God had called him by grace—and that this calling happened before Paul had done anything to earn it.
God doesn't wait until you're perfect before He calls you.
Calling Isn't About What You Do—It's About Whose You Are
One of the most important distinctions in this message is this:
Calling is not primarily about what you do. It's about who you belong to.
We can become obsessed with asking:
"What is God calling me to do?"
"Is God calling me to ministry?"
"Is God calling me to start something?"
"Is God calling me to lead?"
"Is God calling me to plant a church?"
Those questions aren't necessarily wrong.
But they can cause us to miss the foundation of calling.
Before God gives you an assignment, He calls you to belong to Him.
It's not first about what.
It's about whose.
When you belong to Jesus, you don't have to fight your way into God's purpose. You don't have to manufacture your own significance.
You surrender to Him.
You become His servant.
And that surrender brings humility, freedom, courage, and boldness.
The question isn't simply, "What are you capable of?"
The question is:
"Whose slave are you?"
What has become your master?
Your insecurity? Your success? Your past? Your anger? Your reputation? Your desire for control? Your addiction?
Sometimes God has already brought us out of a prison, but we return to it because it's familiar.
Grace calls us to something different.
THE GOD-MAN WHO SAVES YOU IS JESUS
If the first point is that God calls people who don't have it all together, the second is even more important:
What qualifies you is Jesus.
Not you.
Jesus.
Romans calls the message "the gospel of God."
The gospel means good news.
And the good news isn't that humanity finally figured out how to reach God.
The good news is that God came to us.
Jesus entered a world that was broken, fallen, sinful, and dark.
And He wasn't afraid of the darkness.
John 1 says: "In him was life, and this life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."
That's what happened to Paul.
A great light entered his darkness.
And darkness couldn't overcome it.
Maybe you've experienced your own darkness.
Not simply a bad week or a difficult season, but the kind of darkness you can't seem to explain or fix.
You can't simply drink more caffeine and make it disappear. You can't entertain yourself out of it. You can't work your way out of it. You can't simply try harder.
The good news is that Jesus enters the darkness.
He comes as light.
And that light brings life.
Stop Trying to Clean Yourself Up Before Coming to Jesus
One of the greatest obstacles to experiencing grace is the belief that we have to get ourselves together first.
We say:
"Let me clean myself up, and then I'll start following Jesus seriously."
"Then I'll start reading my Bible."
"Then I'll get baptized."
"Then I'll deal with this sin."
But if you're waiting until you're clean enough to come to Jesus, you'll never come.
That's precisely why you need Jesus.
The gospel is initiated by God, carried out by God, and ultimately completed by God.
That doesn't mean sin doesn't matter.
It doesn't mean we're given permission to continue living however we want.
It means that we don't defeat sin by relying on our flesh.
God gives us the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit empowers us to live differently.
So when you come to Jesus, you don't come pretending you're incapable of failure.
You come knowing that you need Him.
You surrender and say:
"God, I can't do this in my own strength. But if You said it, I will trust You to empower me to walk in it."
That is grace.
The Resurrection Proves That Darkness Doesn't Win
Romans 1:4 points to Jesus being declared the Son of God in power through His resurrection from the dead.
Jesus was crucified as a criminal.
Religious leaders tried to silence Him.
Rome tried to kill Him.
But the grave couldn't hold Him.
Rome couldn't silence Him.
All of hell couldn't defeat Him.
And that means something for you.
Your crisis cannot dethrone Jesus.
Your weakness cannot exhaust His grace.
Your future doesn't surprise Him.
The One calling you is Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Romans 8:11 reminds believers that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in them.
The power that raised Jesus is not merely an interesting theological concept.
It is the power God gives His people to live.
Christian Life Is Falling and Getting Back Up
There is a simple picture of the Christian life:
You fall. You get up.
You fall. You get up.
You fall. You get up.
And one day you fall and they put you six feet under.
And then... YOU GET UP!
That's the Christian life!
Not because falling is the goal, but because grace teaches us that failure isn't the end.
Peter is a powerful example.
Peter denied Jesus.
Yet Jesus had already prayed for him.
Jesus didn't tell Peter, "If you come back."
He told him, in effect, "When you come back, strengthen your brothers."
Peter's failure wasn't the end of his calling.
Grace had the final say.
And the same grace that restored Peter is the grace that meets us when we fail.
God doesn't give you an assignment so that you can earn His grace. Grace comes first.
Romans 1:5 says:
"Through whom we have received grace and apostleship."
Notice the order:
Grace first. Assignment second.
That changes how we think about calling.
We don't serve God so He will finally accept us.
We serve because we've already received His grace.
We don't obey so God will decide we're worthy.
We obey because we've encountered the God who has called us.
First comes grace.
Then comes the assignment.
And God has given every believer gifts that can be used to serve others.
1 Peter 4:10 says that each person should use the gift they've received to serve others as good stewards of God's varied grace.
So what has God put in you?
What are you good at?
What do you enjoy doing?
What brings encouragement and light to other people?
Maybe your gift doesn't look like traditional "church ministry."
That's okay.
God is interested in your whole life.
Your home.
Your workplace.
Your kitchen.
Your family.
Your friendships.
Your everyday conversations.
Everything can become an opportunity to glorify God.
Your Calling Isn't About Building Your Own Name
Romans 1:5 gives us another important piece of the calling:
"For the sake of his name among all the nations."
God's calling isn't about building our platform.
It's not about recognition.
It's not about having a title.
It's not about getting a bigger audience.
It's not about a career or a 401(k).
It's not about proving ourselves.
It's for God's glory.
How do you know you're walking in your calling?
First, you're relying on grace.
Grace is your fuel.
Second, you're not doing it for yourself.
You're doing it for God's glory.
God gives the gift.
God gives the opportunity.
God gives the strength.
And God gets the glory.
What God Is Calling You To Do May Be Bigger Than Your Reach
There's another pattern throughout God's calling:
It's often bigger than us.
God doesn't always call us to something we feel capable of accomplishing.
In fact, we may feel completely unqualified.
That's exactly how the beginning of this journey through Romans felt.
Teaching Romans is an enormous task.
The book is deep. Its theology has shaped centuries of Christian thought.
And yet the call is to teach it anyway.
Why?
Because what God wants to do is often bigger than what we can accomplish on our own.
Romans says the gospel is going out "among all nations."
That's bigger than one person.
It's bigger than one church.
It's bigger than one generation.
And that's the point.
When God calls you to something beyond your reach, He's inviting you to depend on His reach.
So when you feel lethargic, discouraged, or incapable, don't automatically assume that means you aren't called.
Instead, ask:
"Holy Spirit, empower me to go beyond what my body can reach, beyond what my mind can reach, and beyond what my brokenness can reach."
This Calling Is for You
Romans 1:6 makes the message personal:
"Including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ."
Including you.
Not just Paul.
Not just pastors.
Not just missionaries.
Not just people with theological degrees.
Not just people who have their lives together.
You.
Grace found you, but grace didn't find you to leave you where it found you.
Grace gives you a new identity.
Grace gives you a new family.
Grace gives you holiness.
Grace gives you a mission.
And the grace that transforms you is meant to move through you toward someone else.
Who Has God Put Right in Front of You?
It's easy to get distracted by huge dreams.
We can think:
"God, send me to the nations!"
And perhaps God is saying:
"I've already put someone in front of you."
Who has God placed directly in front of you this week?
A coworker? A family member? Your child? A neighbor? A friend? Someone you see every day?
Don't overlook the person standing right in front of you while dreaming about the person you'll reach someday.
The nations can begin with the person God has already placed in your path.
What Act of Obedience Have You Been Delaying?
Here's another question worth sitting with:
What act of obedience have you delayed because you feel unqualified?
Maybe you already know what God has been asking you to do.
Maybe you've been waiting to feel ready.
Maybe you've been waiting until you stop struggling.
Maybe you've been waiting until your faith feels stronger.
Maybe you're afraid you're going to fail.
But what if God is calling you anyway?
What if you take Him more seriously than you take your failure?
You don't obey to earn God's grace.
You obey because you've received God's grace.
Has Grace Stopped With You?
There's one final question:
Has grace stopped with you?
God's grace is meant to transform us.
But then it moves through us.
If you've truly experienced the love and forgiveness of God, there should be something in you that wants other people to experience it too.
You don't have to manufacture a testimony.
You don't have to repeat somebody else's words.
You don't have to pretend.
Let God write your story.
Let the reality of His grace become evident in your own life.
Then when you talk about Jesus, you don't simply repeat what someone else told you.
Your life tells the story.
Your Failure Does Not Have the Last Say
The journey through Romans begins here:
You are inadequate.
You are not enough.
Neither am I.
But that's not the end of the story.
Grace is.
God doesn't call you because you've earned the right to be called.
He calls you because of His grace.
Jesus is the One who qualifies you.
The Holy Spirit is the One who empowers you.
Your assignment is bigger than you.
Your calling is for God's glory.
And the grace you've received is meant to overflow into the lives of others.
So surrender.
Not to earn grace.
Surrender because grace has already been given.
Surrender knowing that the One who called you is faithful.
Surrender knowing that your past doesn't have the final say.
Your weakness doesn't have the final say.
Your insecurity doesn't have the final say.
Your failure doesn't have the final say.
The grace of God does.
What if God is calling you anyway?
Maybe the answer is simply:
Yes.
What if your failure doesn't have the final say? What if your past doesn't have the final say? What if your insecurity, weakness, addiction, family history, disappointment, or spiritual failure doesn't have the final say?
What if God is calling you anyway?
That is where we begin our journey through the book of Romans.
Romans is going to show us where we fall short. It is going to expose our inadequacies and show us just how far we are from God's standards. And that's actually good news. We don't want a doctor who tells us we're perfectly healthy when we're sick. We want someone who will tell us the truth and then show us how to become healthy.
Romans does both.
It exposes our inadequacy, but it also reveals the grace of God—the grace that doesn't simply point out where we fall short but empowers us to become who God is calling us to be.
And that is the message we need to hear from the beginning:
God is calling you anyway.
God Doesn't Call You Because You Have It All Together
Romans begins with Paul introducing himself:
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God."
Before Paul talks about his ministry, his accomplishments, or his qualifications, he identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ.
The Greek word translated "servant" is doulos, referring to a slave—a person who willingly belongs to a master.
That matters because we often think God's calling comes after we've gotten ourselves together.
We think we need to become more disciplined, more educated, more successful, more confident, and more spiritual.
Maybe then God will use us.
But that's not how grace works.
God isn't calling you because you've perfected your personality. He's not calling you because you've finally gotten your finances together, started a business, gotten married, become disciplined, or figured out how to communicate perfectly.
God calls because of grace.
Grace is God's unearned gift. It isn't something you can achieve or deserve.
One pastor described grace as "God's riches at Christ's expense."
That means your weaknesses don't get the final word. Your insecurity doesn't get the final word. Your family's failures don't get the final word. Your past doesn't get the final word.
Grace does.
Paul's Past Should Have Disqualified Him
If anyone had reasons to believe they were disqualified from being used by God, it was Paul.
Before becoming the apostle we know from Romans, Paul was violently opposed to Christianity.
He describes his former life in Galatians:
"I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it."
Paul wasn't merely indifferent toward Christians. He actively sought to destroy the church.
He was present when Stephen was killed for his faith. He received authorization to capture Christians, have them beaten, and bring them to trial.
Then, on the road to Damascus, everything changed.
Jesus encountered Paul.
A light from heaven surrounded him, and Jesus asked:
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
The man who had made it his mission to eradicate Christianity became one of Christianity's greatest messengers.
Think about that.
Even the people who had personally walked with Jesus had to learn that God's grace could have the final say over Paul's past.
And Paul's testimony tells us something important about our own lives.
You may be on your own road to Damascus.
You may be walking away from the purpose God created you for. You may have spent years building a life that looks nothing like what you think God wants. You may have made choices you regret.
You may be carrying anger, judgment, self-righteousness, insecurity, or shame.
But none of those things are stronger than the grace of God.
Paul said that God had called him by grace—and that this calling happened before Paul had done anything to earn it.
God doesn't wait until you're perfect before He calls you.
Calling Isn't About What You Do—It's About Whose You Are
One of the most important distinctions in this message is this:
Calling is not primarily about what you do. It's about who you belong to.
We can become obsessed with asking:
"What is God calling me to do?"
"Is God calling me to ministry?"
"Is God calling me to start something?"
"Is God calling me to lead?"
"Is God calling me to plant a church?"
Those questions aren't necessarily wrong.
But they can cause us to miss the foundation of calling.
Before God gives you an assignment, He calls you to belong to Him.
It's not first about what.
It's about whose.
When you belong to Jesus, you don't have to fight your way into God's purpose. You don't have to manufacture your own significance.
You surrender to Him.
You become His servant.
And that surrender brings humility, freedom, courage, and boldness.
The question isn't simply, "What are you capable of?"
The question is:
"Whose slave are you?"
What has become your master?
Your insecurity? Your success? Your past? Your anger? Your reputation? Your desire for control? Your addiction?
Sometimes God has already brought us out of a prison, but we return to it because it's familiar.
Grace calls us to something different.
THE GOD-MAN WHO SAVES YOU IS JESUS
If the first point is that God calls people who don't have it all together, the second is even more important:
What qualifies you is Jesus.
Not you.
Jesus.
Romans calls the message "the gospel of God."
The gospel means good news.
And the good news isn't that humanity finally figured out how to reach God.
The good news is that God came to us.
Jesus entered a world that was broken, fallen, sinful, and dark.
And He wasn't afraid of the darkness.
John 1 says: "In him was life, and this life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."
That's what happened to Paul.
A great light entered his darkness.
And darkness couldn't overcome it.
Maybe you've experienced your own darkness.
Not simply a bad week or a difficult season, but the kind of darkness you can't seem to explain or fix.
You can't simply drink more caffeine and make it disappear. You can't entertain yourself out of it. You can't work your way out of it. You can't simply try harder.
The good news is that Jesus enters the darkness.
He comes as light.
And that light brings life.
Stop Trying to Clean Yourself Up Before Coming to Jesus
One of the greatest obstacles to experiencing grace is the belief that we have to get ourselves together first.
We say:
"Let me clean myself up, and then I'll start following Jesus seriously."
"Then I'll start reading my Bible."
"Then I'll get baptized."
"Then I'll deal with this sin."
But if you're waiting until you're clean enough to come to Jesus, you'll never come.
That's precisely why you need Jesus.
The gospel is initiated by God, carried out by God, and ultimately completed by God.
That doesn't mean sin doesn't matter.
It doesn't mean we're given permission to continue living however we want.
It means that we don't defeat sin by relying on our flesh.
God gives us the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit empowers us to live differently.
So when you come to Jesus, you don't come pretending you're incapable of failure.
You come knowing that you need Him.
You surrender and say:
"God, I can't do this in my own strength. But if You said it, I will trust You to empower me to walk in it."
That is grace.
The Resurrection Proves That Darkness Doesn't Win
Romans 1:4 points to Jesus being declared the Son of God in power through His resurrection from the dead.
Jesus was crucified as a criminal.
Religious leaders tried to silence Him.
Rome tried to kill Him.
But the grave couldn't hold Him.
Rome couldn't silence Him.
All of hell couldn't defeat Him.
And that means something for you.
Your crisis cannot dethrone Jesus.
Your weakness cannot exhaust His grace.
Your future doesn't surprise Him.
The One calling you is Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Romans 8:11 reminds believers that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in them.
The power that raised Jesus is not merely an interesting theological concept.
It is the power God gives His people to live.
Christian Life Is Falling and Getting Back Up
There is a simple picture of the Christian life:
You fall. You get up.
You fall. You get up.
You fall. You get up.
And one day you fall and they put you six feet under.
And then... YOU GET UP!
That's the Christian life!
Not because falling is the goal, but because grace teaches us that failure isn't the end.
Peter is a powerful example.
Peter denied Jesus.
Yet Jesus had already prayed for him.
Jesus didn't tell Peter, "If you come back."
He told him, in effect, "When you come back, strengthen your brothers."
Peter's failure wasn't the end of his calling.
Grace had the final say.
And the same grace that restored Peter is the grace that meets us when we fail.
FIRST COMES GRACE, THEN COMES THE ASSIGNMENT
This leads to the third major truth:God doesn't give you an assignment so that you can earn His grace. Grace comes first.
Romans 1:5 says:
"Through whom we have received grace and apostleship."
Notice the order:
Grace first. Assignment second.
That changes how we think about calling.
We don't serve God so He will finally accept us.
We serve because we've already received His grace.
We don't obey so God will decide we're worthy.
We obey because we've encountered the God who has called us.
First comes grace.
Then comes the assignment.
And God has given every believer gifts that can be used to serve others.
1 Peter 4:10 says that each person should use the gift they've received to serve others as good stewards of God's varied grace.
So what has God put in you?
What are you good at?
What do you enjoy doing?
What brings encouragement and light to other people?
Maybe your gift doesn't look like traditional "church ministry."
That's okay.
God is interested in your whole life.
Your home.
Your workplace.
Your kitchen.
Your family.
Your friendships.
Your everyday conversations.
Everything can become an opportunity to glorify God.
Your Calling Isn't About Building Your Own Name
Romans 1:5 gives us another important piece of the calling:
"For the sake of his name among all the nations."
God's calling isn't about building our platform.
It's not about recognition.
It's not about having a title.
It's not about getting a bigger audience.
It's not about a career or a 401(k).
It's not about proving ourselves.
It's for God's glory.
How do you know you're walking in your calling?
First, you're relying on grace.
Grace is your fuel.
Second, you're not doing it for yourself.
You're doing it for God's glory.
God gives the gift.
God gives the opportunity.
God gives the strength.
And God gets the glory.
What God Is Calling You To Do May Be Bigger Than Your Reach
There's another pattern throughout God's calling:
It's often bigger than us.
God doesn't always call us to something we feel capable of accomplishing.
In fact, we may feel completely unqualified.
That's exactly how the beginning of this journey through Romans felt.
Teaching Romans is an enormous task.
The book is deep. Its theology has shaped centuries of Christian thought.
And yet the call is to teach it anyway.
Why?
Because what God wants to do is often bigger than what we can accomplish on our own.
Romans says the gospel is going out "among all nations."
That's bigger than one person.
It's bigger than one church.
It's bigger than one generation.
And that's the point.
When God calls you to something beyond your reach, He's inviting you to depend on His reach.
So when you feel lethargic, discouraged, or incapable, don't automatically assume that means you aren't called.
Instead, ask:
"Holy Spirit, empower me to go beyond what my body can reach, beyond what my mind can reach, and beyond what my brokenness can reach."
This Calling Is for You
Romans 1:6 makes the message personal:
"Including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ."
Including you.
Not just Paul.
Not just pastors.
Not just missionaries.
Not just people with theological degrees.
Not just people who have their lives together.
You.
Grace found you, but grace didn't find you to leave you where it found you.
Grace gives you a new identity.
Grace gives you a new family.
Grace gives you holiness.
Grace gives you a mission.
And the grace that transforms you is meant to move through you toward someone else.
Who Has God Put Right in Front of You?
It's easy to get distracted by huge dreams.
We can think:
"God, send me to the nations!"
And perhaps God is saying:
"I've already put someone in front of you."
Who has God placed directly in front of you this week?
A coworker? A family member? Your child? A neighbor? A friend? Someone you see every day?
Don't overlook the person standing right in front of you while dreaming about the person you'll reach someday.
The nations can begin with the person God has already placed in your path.
What Act of Obedience Have You Been Delaying?
Here's another question worth sitting with:
What act of obedience have you delayed because you feel unqualified?
Maybe you already know what God has been asking you to do.
Maybe you've been waiting to feel ready.
Maybe you've been waiting until you stop struggling.
Maybe you've been waiting until your faith feels stronger.
Maybe you're afraid you're going to fail.
But what if God is calling you anyway?
What if you take Him more seriously than you take your failure?
You don't obey to earn God's grace.
You obey because you've received God's grace.
Has Grace Stopped With You?
There's one final question:
Has grace stopped with you?
God's grace is meant to transform us.
But then it moves through us.
If you've truly experienced the love and forgiveness of God, there should be something in you that wants other people to experience it too.
You don't have to manufacture a testimony.
You don't have to repeat somebody else's words.
You don't have to pretend.
Let God write your story.
Let the reality of His grace become evident in your own life.
Then when you talk about Jesus, you don't simply repeat what someone else told you.
Your life tells the story.
Your Failure Does Not Have the Last Say
The journey through Romans begins here:
You are inadequate.
You are not enough.
Neither am I.
But that's not the end of the story.
Grace is.
God doesn't call you because you've earned the right to be called.
He calls you because of His grace.
Jesus is the One who qualifies you.
The Holy Spirit is the One who empowers you.
Your assignment is bigger than you.
Your calling is for God's glory.
And the grace you've received is meant to overflow into the lives of others.
So surrender.
Not to earn grace.
Surrender because grace has already been given.
Surrender knowing that the One who called you is faithful.
Surrender knowing that your past doesn't have the final say.
Your weakness doesn't have the final say.
Your insecurity doesn't have the final say.
Your failure doesn't have the final say.
The grace of God does.
What if God is calling you anyway?
Maybe the answer is simply:
Yes.
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