New Thoughts (12/29/02-12/31/02)
2Ti 1:9 - He saved us; called us with a holy calling. This was not a reaction or reward for our good deeds, but a matter of His own purposes, given us by the grace granted us in Christ Jesus, and that grace was established toward us from the very beginning, before anything was yet created.
Two things jump out at me from this verse. First, it was He who called. This thought is also on Paul's mind as he opens this letter to Titus and the Cretan church. He made the first move. There was never any hope that we might somehow earn our passage into heaven. There was never any hope that we could, under our own steam, attain to righteousness. He called. His grace, extended to us in Christ Jesus, is the only reason we are able to call upon Him today. What a wonderful thing that that grace was planned out from the very beginning! Before I was, before anything was, He had already determined to show His grace towards me. Nothing in all of history changed His purpose in this. Nothing in all that has yet to occur can change that purpose!
Notice this, though: When He called, He called us with a calling, a holy calling. While it is only His generosity that has caused this calling to be given to us, it was not given to us solely to show His generosity. He called us with a purpose. He has a reason in mind for our salvation. It is a holy calling. Remember what these words mean. We were called: chosen from among many, selected as the one preferred. It is holy: set apart for God's use, consecrated, devoted to Him. He has selected us to be set apart for His use in His purpose, chosen because in His plans, we are the preferred means for achieving His purposes.
One primary purpose that we know He has for all of us is the proclamation of the gospel. This is one of the overarching mandates of the Gospel: go and preach, go and make disciples, let the world know that all might hear and be saved. Yet, this is more than just a calling, a task assigned to us. It is a trust. We, the servants of God's house, have been entrusted with the proclamation of His word. If we are faithful servants, we will be doing our utmost to ensure that His word is made known to one and all. This is our purpose, established by His command, the reason behind our calling, the reason behind our growing in faith and in knowledge. It is all to one purpose: to increase His kingdom here in this time, and thereby to magnify His glory.
That purpose is twofold. Amongst those still lost in darkness, the mission is to make His mercy known, to make clear the availability of this gospel of joy. Whether our words amongst them will be effective or not, we must speak. God has already determined who among them will hear and respond, just as He had determined our own calling from the beginning. We are not unique in that. It is not for us to decide whether it's worth our while to speak to a certain person. We do not know enough to determine whether our words will bear fruit or not. That's God's work. He knows. He has known all along. He has simply chosen You and I as the means of making that decision known to His chosen, that they may come into His glorious light.
But the purpose is also for our behavior amongst those already saved. There, too, we are called with a purpose, with a mission. Our mission in that place is to build faith and establish true knowledge. Here, we work among the chosen, we work among those who have heard the call and responded. Yet, that response alone is no guarantee of understanding. Paul came across those who had been part of the Church for some time before he met them, yet they did not understand the full scope of what they had been called into. They were only aware of the baptism of John, not having learned of the baptism of the Spirit. They needed one to teach them the full and true knowledge of the Gospel.
The church is no different today. Large portions of the body are walking in spiritual illiteracy, not knowing the full glory into which they have come, not knowing all that is theirs in the economy of God. Many are brought in by evangelistic outreaches, and then left to figure it all out for themselves. This is where false doctrines and fanciful interpretations slip into the church, and if we are not faithful to our calling, if we are not working to establish these newcomers (and old-timers) in the truth of God, then these fanciful understandings can become so entrenched that those holding to them will depart the church. Great damage has come to the Church by just such means. Because we do not water the seedlings God puts among us, Satan is able to distort the growth of these young plants, and one who started well on the path of salvation will wither and die because of our failures.
In both aspects, God's purpose in us is a trust. The work has been entrusted to us. Knowing our natures, knowing our frailties and our fickleness, yet He has placed His trust in you and I. We dare not break that trust! Too much depends on it, not necessarily for ourselves, but for those we were supposed to reach. How many will not hear because we refused to speak? How many have we damned by our silence? How many will spend years in agonizing separation from the one true God because we failed to teach them, failed to correct them when their views wandered from truth? Look. If they are indeed among those called by our Lord and Savior, we can be assured that He will find another means to return them to Himself when they become lost. Our failures cannot cause the damnation of a soul He has chosen. Be that as it may, we can certainly make their lives far more miserable than they ought to have been. We can cost the kingdom years of faithful service on their part when we allow them to walk away unchanged.
Do I fulfill this trust? It's a question we each need to seek out the answer to, and as I said, it's a twofold answer. How do I behave among His own, among my brothers and sisters? Do I seek to promote their faith? Do I seek to increase their understanding of His truth? As one who teaches, I surely hope that I fulfill this part! I dwell in charismatic circles, and here perhaps as in no other part of God's church there is need for correction, for turning back the fanciful wanderings of the mind. Charismatic should not mean that anything goes. A belief in the supernatural nature of God need not leave us open to accepting every bizarre claim that comes along. That we are Spirit-led does not allow us to ignore the clear meaning of the words of Scripture in search of some more awesome hidden revelation.
Amidst the world, though, how do I fair? Am I proclaiming His promises to those who most need to hear it? Here, I think, I fall down. As my brother was visiting this week, I was bragging a bit on our church; speaking of the young men and women who have gone into foreign fields to work amongst the lost and hopeless. His question for me was, 'so, how come you're not doing something like that?' It stopped me in my tracks. There were any number of answers that I could offer. I pointed out our church's efforts in the local community, the work we are doing as a body to bring hope to the homeless in Lowell, to turn around shattered lives, to truly show the love of God to those most desperately in need. I could point to the need for support functions in order for these missionaries to do their work. Somebody must provide their means. I could speak on the fact that the body is made up of many parts, that not all are called for the same purpose. Not all are teachers, not all are pastors, not all are musicians. Many skills come together to make up this thing called the Church.
Yet, the nagging question remains: How come I'm not doing something like that? While all of these possible answers are true, there's a deeper, less lovely answer. The truth of the matter is that I'm too comfortable. I'm too attached to the lifestyle I have here. The idea of leaving this all behind to meet some greater need rather scares me. Perhaps this is simply a clear indication that I am not that particular part of the body. Perhaps. On the other hand, perhaps it is a clear indication that I am in need of growth myself.
Father God, what a message You have given us to deliver, what incredible hope we are able to offer in Your name! You, who are incapable of lying, for whom to lie would be to cease existence, have promised eternal life to us! We, who can never hope to be deserving of Your favor, find we have it in spite of ourselves. We, who were rebels from birth, find ourselves captivated by Your love, drawn to obedience by Your mercy. Oh, Lord, that I, who denied You for so very long, should be here this morning, contemplating Your word, contemplating Your purpose in my life, it is too wonderful for me. How is it, then, that I am so shy of sharing this hope? How can I look at my brothers - the one so dead set against Your existence, the other so ambivalent that nothing much matters to him - how can I refuse them word of the hope You bring? What can I do, Lord, that would convince them? Nothing clearly will not work. Will example be enough? Oh, Lord, I pray that You would find the means of saving them. The both of them are just as unworthy as was I, yet You called me out of this darkness into Your light. Will You not do the same for them? Use me, if You will. Use me as You will. But, Lord, I beg You to look upon them with mercy, to restore them to life as You have me. Draw them, call them. Please, Lord.
Your own Word declares that You will bring justice to Your elect, that You will not delay in answering the constant cries of Your children (Luke 18:7). I pray that I can remain committed to being one who cries out to You with such constancy, that I would cry out to You constantly for those sick among us, for those lost ones who are so dear to me. I will continue to hope for their healing, for their salvation, for their restoration, until and unless You clearly tell me that all hope is gone for them. Save them, Father. Your right hand is mighty to save, Your love is great beyond all understanding. Your mercy is life. Surely, You will redeem these whom You have preserved through so much!
Father, You ordain the times, You prepare the moments, You give us our days and our nights; and not one second goes by that was given us simply as a convenience. No, You have purpose in all You do. Every moment has its necessity, every moment contains the seed of that which must be done. It's that crossroads image all over again! You've called us as a people of purpose, You've called us to live intentionally. How shall I live intentionally if I cannot come to the place where I recognize the necessity in the moment, where I clearly see the crossroads crisis before me? Even today, Lord, allow me to see Your plan in action around me, allow me to address the need that presents itself. Where there is hurt, let me be a balm. Where there is sorrow, let me be a word of encouragement. Where there is pain, let me bring healing. The time for idle bystanders is gone. The day grows short, and we who claim to be Your workers must become busier still if the harvest is to be brought in. Strengthen us, my God.
We are declared servants of Christ. I have no doubt in my mind that Paul, in calling himself such a servant, had in mind that permanent attachment to household that was laid out in the law of Moses. There, the rule was that of Jubilee, servitude was for a time. Yet, a place was made for exception, and that place, that decision, belonged to the servant, not the master. When the servant was so blessed by his serving that he desired no other life, the law allowed that he could be marked by his own free will as a permanent servant of the household.
This is our state today. We have willingly taken upon us the mark of permanent household staff in the house of God. We rejoice to be counted among His servants. Yet, we also must bear in mind the duties that come with that mark. Servants are required to be constantly attentive on the needs and desires of those they serve. They are expected to become so attuned to their master that the command not even having been voiced, they have already leapt to the work of seeing it completed. This is our calling.
There are those to whom we clearly understand this role applying; pastors, teachers, deacons of the church. Oddly, we often seem to think that they are supposed to be our servants, not God's, and in some fashion this is true. After all, the assignment God has given them at present is to serve our church needs. Yet, we forget that we, too, are called to similar assignment. We ought to be serving them just as wholeheartedly as they are serving us, perhaps moreso. Still, there is that in the usage of this word 'bond-servant' that rather surprises.
It is said that the term is used of true worshippers. Well, what defines a true worshipper? A true worshipper is, in all reality, one who delights to do God's will. Singing, dancing, shouting and clapping are all wonderful expressions of joy, but none of these things declare us true worshippers. Devotion to the house of God does not declare us true worshippers. Deep and thorough knowledge of God's word, and the ability to expound upon it such that all who hear it are caught up in wonder does not declare us to be true worshippers.
In Ephesians 6:5-6, Paul tells us what does, and in doing so, he speaks of the servant's role. Be obedient in sincerity of heart, he instructs. This instruction was given to those who were not only slaves in spirit, but slaves in flesh. Yet, the instruction applies to us all. Serve in obedience, but not for fear of reprisal, not because you see no means of successfully shirking your duties. Even when nobody can see, serve in obedience. Why? Because it is those who do God's will from the heart, whose strongest desire is to do as He asks, who are showing themselves to be servants of His house. It is they who show by their actions that they are truly worshippers. Indeed, they may sing and dance and shout for joy, it's inevitable that they would, for they are experiencing the fulfillment of all they desire in what they do! But these outward expressions will never be the mark of true worship, they will be the expression of that worship which has already been expressed in truth.
The time will come, Jesus said, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:23). These are the worshippers God seeks, and the time for them to be manifest is now. We are called to attend not on just any household, but on the household of the King of all kings! There can be no more honorable service for a slave. Will we worship? Will we bow down our wills to His command? Will we have our eyes ever upon Him, looking for the slightest indication of His desire in the moment we have been given? Oh, that we might be found busy about the work of our Lord and Master when He comes! Oh, that we might live every moment in the realization that He is here already, that His eye is ever upon His servants to see if they will rejoice to do the will of Him to whom they have pledged themselves! Oh, the joy that fills His heart when He sees us doing so!
These are the worshippers God seeks, because these are the worshippers that seek God.
