Have you received a call from God? I’m not talking about a literal call or voice, but a real call comes when the power of the Holy Spirit opens your ears to hear, your mind to understand, and your heart to submit leading to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a call that is high, holy, and heavenly. Therefore, it should not be taken lightly, rather revered with great thanksgiving that the Sovereign God above has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) — 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Let’s consider the call first as a holy calling in that the call has come from God above.
2 Timothy 1:9–10 (ESV) — 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Just as God spoke the world into existence so He calls us from a state of being dead in our trespasses and sin to a resurrected state of being alive in Jesus Christ. Of course, consider the call of the Lord Jesus Christ as He spoke to Lazarus, who lay dead in the grave for four days and was beginning the decomposition process.
John 11:41–44 (ESV) — 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
As we consider our calling as holy from the sovereign God Who rules heaven and earth, we must realize that His thoughts and ways are far above our ways or thoughts, even as He calls whomever He wills for His own glory.
Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV) — 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
1 Corinthians 1:26–31 (ESV) — 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
That does bring us to the fact that our calling is a heavenly calling from God who is high and lifted up, even the One who dwells in heaven.
Hebrews 3:1 (ESV) — 1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
Wow! Just think about the God of creation having such care that He calls each of His elect individually. This indeed is a heavenly calling. But as the commercial says, “wait there is more!” This calling is a high calling.
Philippians 3:13–15 (ESV) — 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Isn’t that a great passage! Because this call from God is a high calling, we are instructed by Paul’s example to forget things in the past, good and bad, then strain for what lies ahead as a prize in the upward or “high” calling from God. As this call has been made from God in heaven, so our focus is to be on things above.
Colossians 3:1–3 (ESV) — 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
God has called us based upon His choice and determination before the world was formed and His call is for us to have a heavenly minded walk with Him every day, looking forward to the day He calls us home to be with Him forever in His presence. It’s all part of the calling from God. If He has called you to Himself, He also makes you willing to do what He says, which opens the way for even greater blessings along the way. In other words, “it doesn’t get any better than this” that the eternal God has thought of you and has called you to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker, Pastor
Christ Community Presbyterian Church
Clearwater, FL
Check out our podcast, The Power Break. Podcast, wherever you download podcasts or from our website: www.bobbrubaker.com.
