Pursuing The Christ Life

In the past couple blogs we've been looking at the issue of how the LORD disciplines his newborn children in Christ. We've been reminded of the sometimes harsh nature of that training and the resulting growth in faith and life it brings. Having explained this the Hebrews writer draws a couple conclusions, a couple therefores. Here's the first:

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. - Hebrews 12:12-17 ESV

Sounds like some football coaches I know. When the team is exhausted by the drills, with sweat pouring from every pore, he yells, "OK, sissies, ten more laps around the field!" That's what the LORD does with us at times. He pushes us beyond, making demands upon us to do things we absolutely are convinced are impossible.

"OK, sissies, weaklings, sinners! pick 'em up. Straighten those knees. Stand up and walk on you own two feet. It hurts? So what? Work through the pain. That's the only way to maturity, to wholeness, to becoming the man or woman you are called to be. 

"So you don't like that person with whom you've been quarreling. So she's mean, childish, narrow-minded. So? Get with the program. Your task is the pursue, chase after and grab hold of harmony, oneness with everybody, yes even with her. If you believe you are more mature than she is, act like it! Grow up! 

"And quit acting like the baby you once were. Remember how you used to pout and cry when things didn't go your way? Remember how you started a fight or crawled off into a corner to feel oh so sorry for yourself? Well, that was childish living. It only leads to more trouble.

"Holiness! That's the aim, the goal, the program. I want you to be holy, just as your heavenly Father is holy (Lev. 19:2). Consider again the words of the Apostle: 

'I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.'" - 1Cor 1:10 ESV 

Here's the secret. When you pursue the LORD's manner of living, when you submit to a life of forgiveness, forgiving even as we are constantly forgiven in Christ, then an amazing thing opens up. We begin to see God's grace at work. This business of love and mercy generates new life and love in the hearts of others. Getting even, running away, feeling sorry for yourself, etc., etc. only does the opposite. It only plants what the writer calls a "root of bitterness" that springs up, grows and causes even more trouble. Want an example from the Bible? Consider Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:1-34; 27:1-28:10).

These two brothers, fraternal twins, never seemed to get along. Their talents and interests went in different directions from childhood. And they quarreled. And their parents chose favorites. Mama chose Jacob. Papa chose Esau. Stupid way to parent. Only caused more trouble. And Jacob lived up to his name, the trickster! He was smarter and sneakier than his brother. Mama encouraged him. And it led to more trouble. Read the story. Consider the example. Consider what happened to Esau and how he threw away his one chance for his father's inheritance and blessings.

That's what happens in life. The LORD gives us an opportunity. We waste it. It never comes again. Your choice. You allowed your sinful nature to take over. Think about it.

There's more in this chapter. We'll consider it next time.

My Vocation

Tomorrow the congregation of believers I have assisted during the past several months, the congregation to which we recently transferred membership, will gather in a voters' assembly to discuss their need for expanded pastoral care. The pastor who has served them will continue, but neither of us is able to devote our full time to this task. Yet we both sense the calling and guidance of the Holy Spirit to serve them in this manner. This leads me to a brief discussion of my vocation.

Here's a definition from Wikipedia:

The idea of vocation is central to the Christian belief that God has created each person with gifts and talents oriented toward specific purposes and a way of life. Particularly in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, this idea of vocation is especially associated with a divine call to service to the Church and humanity through particular vocational life commitments such as marriage to a particular person, consecration as a religious, ordination to priestly ministry in the Church and even a holy life as a single person. In the broader sense, Christian vocation includes the use of ones gifts in their profession, family life, church and civic commitments for the sake of the greater common good.

The Catholic Encyclopedia has a rather ponderous definition that I will not quote here. Suffice it to say the emphasis is upon what that part of the Christian community calls serving God in a religious or ecclesiastical state.

Over the centuries the temptation has been to make the vocation to serve God in the church as a pastor or church worker as somehow a higher calling than serving as a lay member of the Body of Christ. I often hear the phrase, "I'm only a layman." This was an issue in the Reformation of the church led by Martin Luther in the sixteenth century. The matter is discussed in detail in many places in the official confessional writings growing out of that period, The Book of Concord.

It is given particular attention in Article XXVII of the Apology (defense) of the Augsburg Confession. Following are some relevant comments by Dr. Paul McCain on this matter.

"The insight that Luther and his fellow Reformers brought to light once more is the teaching that all of life is an opportunity to serve God, in whatever a person's place/station and calling in life is. Modern Lutherans would do well not to think that monasticism is an issue that is of no immediate application, or relevance, to the church today. There has arisen a new kind of monasticism among us: the view that a person is really only engaged in "church work" if he, or she, is a member of a church committee or taking part in some church-sponsored activity. It would be tempting to regard Sundays as our time to be "religious" while the rest of our week is in the "secular" world, regarding Sunday as the time for sacred things, while the rest of the week we must live in the profane world. This article extols the Christian virtues lived out in all of callings and stations in life: mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter, employer, employee. Specifically rejected and condemned in this article is the imposition of lifelong celibacy on a person who does who truly does not have the gift of chastity. Forcing chastity on those without the gift is a horrible sin against God's good creation and led many in Luther's time to think that their standing before God depended on the degree to which they could imitate the "holy life" of the monks and nuns."

While I view the tasks that I am about to assume as a calling from God and while I further assume that serving Him in this manner is my vocation, this does not in any sense make me more religious or more deserving of His grace and mercy. This does not make me more holy. As Dr. Melanchthon says in this Article, "callings vary. . .Callings are personal, just as matters of business themselves vary with times and persons; but the example of obedience is universal."

Like you, I have other vocations as well. In all of them I am called to follow Christ. I have been called by Him to be husband to my wife, father and grandfather to my children and neighbor to the people and friends He places before me. In the instance of this Blog I follow His calling to serve you in this small manner with His Word. So we all have various callings to believe and obey. Quoting Article XXVII again, "So it is perfection for each of us with true faith to obey our own calling."