Call Waiting... (pt.2)

‘…Your Caller is on hold...’

"Vocation is responsibility and responsibility is a total response of the whole person to the whole of reality…The calling of Jesus Christ to belong wholly to him; it is the laying claim to me by Christ at the place at which this call has found me; it embraces work with things and relations with persons…"
-Dietrich Boenhoffer as quoted by Richard Broholm.

Last time we covered three really eye opening points, which I hope didn’t take you by surprise! It takes a while to open up to new ideas, especially if you’ve grown up with different ones. I believe that the main purpose of ‘theology’ is to set people free from difficult questions, to encourage us in our faith (no matter where we’re at!) and to ultimately draw us closer to God! And that’s my hope for this blog and all of the articles I write that you will be set free, encouraged and drawn closer to God.

I take it that most of you reading this blog, are working already, or intend pursue a career of some sort. Even I intend to do something I love someday. There are a lot of ‘feelings’ out there about work and they’re mainly sad ones! There are even negative ideas within the church! Lots of people quote; Genesis 3:17, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat…" And from this verse many people conclude that this is when work originated, because of sin! I disagree. Didn’t God work during creation week? He worked for six days and then rested on the seventh. And didn’t God place Adam in the Garden of Eden to "work it and take care of it"? Yes he did, Genesis 2:15 tells us that, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

You see in the bible ‘work’ isn’t such a bad word, in fact when the bible refers to work we see that it is part of life. So how would we as disciples of Jesus Christ approach work in the 21st Century? Let’s see:

God’s creation purpose and intention.

This includes the creation mandate. What was God’s intention for human beings when he created the earth? How do we carry this out today?
Some people might see the task of sustaining the world as part of the creation mandate. Put plainly, taking care of the world! While this ‘green theology’ might normally be seen as a hit with liberal theologians, there is no need to exclude it from an evangelical theology. Look at it this way, if we believe that what God created was and that he gave it to us for our continuing use, then (I believe) it’s fair to say that abuse and neglect are hardly appropriate response, wouldn’t you say?

God’s provision and gifting.

There are a number of passages which speak of the way God the Father has given to us a very diverse range of gifts to carry out our work and that He loves creativity in the way we do our work. The provision of gifted craftsmen in the desert to make the Tabernacle (Exodus 31) is one example. And God’s creativity points in the same direction!

Reflections on the nature, conduct and value of work.

There are many comments on how people perceive work (Ecclesiastes has some very pessimistic reflections!). In the New Testament Jesus uses a number of work parables (e.g. talents, rich merchant, labourers in the vineyard, wicked vinedressers). He meets people in their workplace and some He calls from it (Matthew, the four fishermen) and he also transforms the workplace behaviour of Zaccheus.

Paul uses his work skills to help support his ministry alongside Priscilla and Acquilla in tentmaking (Acts 18:1-4), he also comments on our attitudes towards work for example in Colossians 3:23, 2 Thess. 3:7-12 and some other places. He also restores a runaway worker to his master (boss) in Philemon.

Despite all this we need to develop a theology not just from a list of references to work but from our perception of the entire drift of scripture. One helpful way to do this is to take each of the major divisions of traditional theology and ask, "How does this inform and light up our attempt to draft a sound theology of work?"

Well, I guess we’ll have to find out next time! As I said in the last article this is a pretty big subject, so it might take a while! Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think about the article. I always wonder whether people read what I write, and if they do, do they agree or disagree? I don’t know maybe you could tell me? And that’s just another confession of a Jesus Freak…

Till next time,

-AndyC

...Call Waiting... (pt.1)

“…You have 0 messages…”

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time… -2timothy1:8-9

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been wrestling with the fact that you have ‘no idea’ where God is calling you! If not, well keep reading anyway!

“…So how do you know you’ve been called anyway? Does God always speak directly to us? How do I know if I’m doing what God wants me to do anyway? If I’m not doing what God wants me to do, does that mean I’m stuffed? Why is it so complicated?...”

I guess there is many more questions that could fit in their, but I won’t get into that right now. What does it mean to have a ‘calling’ anyway? Is it only for a selected few? (So there are more questions!J) Are only pastors and missionaries called? Are they the only callings? Well, because of some of the stuff I’ve been studying and some personal experience I can tell you that these questions are, to say the least, rubbish! As Christians we’re already called!

-The call to salvation
-The call to holiness, and
-The call to serve

This equates to belonging, being and doing! Basically, we’re called to follow Jesus. So what does that mean? Let’s see!

God’s call to the Christian is general before it’s specific.

As Christians, God calls us to himself first. Unless we’ve been called to follow Jesus, there is no way we’re gonna know what specific ministry we’ve been called to! Makes sense doesn’t it.
God calls all of us to discipleship, which is a relationship with Jesus/God that involves understanding, growth, and obedience. The disciples walked with Jesus and learnt from Him and grew into the effective apostleship that founded the Church.

God calls us to a whole-of-life response, not just a response in terms of our “job”

These days we tend to equate “call” with “vocation.” In others words, we think that if, God calls us to something, it is likely to be a “ministry” or career or major task. Yet he wants us first of all to “be” rather than “do”.

This means in practice:

-We cannot switch off who he has called us to be. Calling is not a role but a lifestyle.

-We cannot wait for a “call” to do those things which are simply a matter of obedience. In other words we don’t have to be “called” to love others. That is simply part of the whole package of being a Christian.

-We cannot rely on our role to prove we are followers of Jesus (disciples). It should be something that shows through whether we are carrying out tasks of a particular role or not!


Calling remains through our life a dynamic, fluid and relational experience.

Lastly, there is real danger in the belief that once we have received a divine call and mandate, then nothing at all can change that. Call is related to function rather than status. It is not hard to realise the dangers that arise when a person considers that God has given them a task and status to accompany that task and need, behaviour, the perceptions of others are all equally irrelevant for the rest of life. You see, I’m not saying that God doesn’t call people to specific positions but it is the attitude that accompanies that call. The person, with an attitude such as the one above, sees God’s calling on their lives more important than the next person’s, and this is clearly wrong!

I didn’t realise how much there is to write on the topic, so I’ll have to write a couple more articles on the subject in the coming weeks! I hope you enjoyed this insight into calling,if there is anything you disagree please let me know. I have to say that a lot of it has been passed on to me through my lecturers, and some of it is what I personally found through life…as a Jesus Freak!!!

Till next time
-AndyC

...my confessions...

Do you guys like the title? Anyway, i've got a couple of things i'm going to write about over the next few months, but i also thought it would be great if you guys could give me some topics too! That way we can explore issues together and learn from each other! I'm busy with an article at the moment it's called, ...Call Waiting..., I don't know if the title gives it away but I'm sure you'll enjoy it, it's due out by tomorrow night, so come back then to check it out!
-AndyC