Tag Archives: the law

Calling

 

Deborah Joy Winans – The Master’s Calling

 

I remember the calling of Isaiah – he thought he was doomed..

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”[b]

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” – Isaiah 6:1-8  ESV

One thing about callings – does it seem that God chooses the least expected ones? What a blessing to know that no one is beyond the reach of God’s call, no one is too sinful to do God’s work. Just this thought alone keeps me going deep, and yet keep small. It allows me to work to build up the church, the people of God. I can express love and I can recognize what I need to throw overboard in my life. So I never stop studying, learning and practicing what Jesus taught. I have come into a place where I fear transformation less as I see my likeness to Christ show up.

The goal seems simple enough – stay consistent with God’s Word and in the power of the Holy Spirit – when God calls, He also provides everything necessary to accomplish His will.

I would say the danger does not lie with the call, it is what happens when we respond and become stronger and more confident. Somehow there is a temptation to become strong in our own conceit. Too the point where we credit ourselves with whom we have become when in fact it is due to the grace of God. Look at Uzziah’s life.

In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.

But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.  – 2 Chronicles 26:15-16  ESV

It happens to all of us I think and I know I find myself going back to the basics all the time.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. – Romans 3:21-27  ESV

There is no salvation in any other – my calling and works have no ground for boasting. So I enjoy my calling knowing that God continues to work in me and His work has made the calling what it is.

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Willing to repent and believe that it is safe

 

If we have been taught that there is safety in repentance then we can break through the dynamics that put issues ahead of our desire to seek the kingdom of God. One of those I mentioned earlier was how people think of me. If I do this, I will come to the point where I will not worry on how people think of me.

Now, I could do this or I could do what St. Benedict did when he was trying to erase the temptation of a woman. St. Benedict of Nursia (480-547 CE),  according to legend, cast himself into a thorn bush while naked.

I struggle staying away from the things that take me away from the kingdom of God but I also struggle to do the things that one would do if they were walking in the kingdom of God. Romans 8 I mentioned in an earlier post is the antidote for Romans 7. These truths help me follow Jesus in this area of struggle. Especially looking at my struggle to share the gospel, or an area in my inner life where I hope God does not want to deal with. Then I ask myself what I think it would look like for me to “go deeper” in my discipleship.

This was the promise from Jesus who walked a hidden life with God. He overcame sin and was able to fulfill the incredible plan of salvation for mankind.

 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:3-4  ESV

I conclude then that Jesus; taking upon Himself human nature, condemned the sin in human beings, so that I, His disciple, who has the same nature, can now follow Him in this way, regardless of my background, personality, or where I live.

Here are some other lessons I have learned from Romans 8.

  • There is a house analogy describing the Spirit living in us just as a person would dwell or reside in a home.

    • You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. – Romans 8:9-11  ESV

  • In the same verse above there is the Holy Spirit described as the key identifier, the essential possession of a disciple of Jesus.
  • There is an adoption metaphor where the Holy Spirit has put together a connection between us and God so that we are truly His adopted children, and thereby, heirs of all that is His.

    • For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.. – Romans 8:15-17  ESV

  • The verses above also reveal the Holy Spirit providing the inner testimony or the prompting that calls out to God in an intimate way – “Abba! Father!” and provides the assurance that we are His children.
  • The Holy Spirit makes alive our spiritually-dead spirits and connects us to God.
  • The Holy Spirit is the same as Christ’s Spirit and God’s Spirit. They are one and the same.

 

 

 

 

 

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