THE CALLING
[p. 409] THE CALLING
It is helpful for the youngest believer who has an appreciation of Christ to know that the calling of God brought this about. The calling is entirely from God’s side, and an apprehension of this imparts stability to the soul.
In addressing even an unspiritual people like the Corinthians the apostle laid emphasis on the calling. They, like those in Rome, were “called saints”. It is “to those that are called” that Christ becomes “God’s power and God’s wisdom”. He counsels the Corinthians to consider their calling, and to see that it included “not many wise according to flesh, not many powerful, not many high-born” (1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 1:26). The divine calling itself dignifies the saints.
God calls men by the gospel. Paul said to the Thessalonians, “He has called you by our glad tidings, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2: 14). Whatever the instrument used, it is God who calls; it is not the preacher, but God. Paul also speaks of saints as “the called of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1: 6). It is very sweet to think that if I have an appreciation in my heart of Jesus Christ it is because I am one of His called ones. There has been a personal activity on His part in relation to me that has singled me out from amongst men to be for Him and for God. It was not the preacher — not the one who spoke to me about my soul — but Jesus Christ Himself. He has spoken in a direct and personal way to me, and the sense of that moves my affections.
The effect of His call is that the Lord Jesus becomes a personal reality. The most wonderful preaching in the world could not of itself bring that about. The Lord may use it, but it is His own personal and powerful voice that makes Him a reality to the soul. A person called does not always come to light in a moment, but he has a secret in his heart that is powerful enough to break through every hindrance eventually.
[p. 410] It has been known that a seed dropped into a crevice in a rock has had such power that even a huge rock has been rent by its growth. The call of Jesus Christ brings about in the soul something that must work its way out. We have examples in Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea. They were called ones of Jesus Christ, and the effect was that they came into view eventually as having an appreciation of Him in spite of every natural hindrance.
The calling is a divine one, and all the exercises and experiences of the soul stand connected with it. The effect of the call is that Jesus Christ is known in the soul as God’s salvation. The greatest good has been brought in by God for men by the “one man, Jesus Christ”. That Man “borne witness to by God ... by works of power and wonders and signs, which God wrought by him” (Acts 2: 22) is now made Lord and Christ in heaven. The message of the glad tidings on the day of Pentecost was, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2: 38). How blessed to think of the saints as being “the called of Jesus Christ”! To such He has become a great and precious reality — One to whom there could not possibly be a rival, for none but He could deal with sin and death so as to be God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. He is the One in whom God has met the whole situation that has been brought about by sin and Satan’s power, and the One by whom the blessing of God for men has come in. Every one who believes on Him thus, and knows Him, has been called by Jesus Christ.
That call separates one from all the schemes, devices and methods that men have for putting things right. Every sober person would admit that this is a world where there are many wrongs, and most would admit that they are wrong themselves, but the world is full of schemes to put everything right. When Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans there was much in the world, as there is now, which was thought to be of some value. There were moralists and philosophers, and [p. 411] an ancient religion that had been originally of God. But Paul stands out as a man separated from all these things, separated to God’s glad tidings. He has a theme, but it admits of no mixture. God’s glad tidings stand alone, and cannot be linked up with any other plan for the supposed good of man.
As subjects of the divine call we realise that everything centres in that one Man. The one called of Jesus Christ may have to learn many things, but he is assured that everything hangs on Him. The apostles, in spite of much dullness and ignorance, had the sense that all depended on Him; they said, “To whom shall we go?” The saints — called such by God — have the conviction in their souls that His Son, Jesus Christ, is the one Man who can bring in everything on God’s part for men. He can deal with everything that men are under by reason of sin. It is proved because He can bring people out of death, and if He can do that He can do anything.
Paul says to the Corinthians, “Jesus Christ is in you”; also, “Prove your own selves: ... that Jesus Christ is in you” (2 Corinthians 13: 5). They could not deny it. One called of Jesus Christ cannot deny that Jesus Christ is in him. This is not a thing that can be blown away by a gust of wind; the calling is a substantial, divine reality which all the power of Satan cannot disannul.
It is a call from heaven; nothing could be more effective than that. Every young believer should get a sense of the reality of it. If we have an appreciation of Jesus Christ, we have it as a result of His call which establishes a personal link with Him. The initial thing is the divine call.