Don’t Just Sit There, Be Something!
Writer Author Phillip A. Ross
Christian Article
:
Christian Living
- Fiction No
Paul called attention to the fact that he was "called by the will of God" (1 Corinthians 1:1). He was called to be an apostle, to fulfill a specific role in the early church. We need to take care that we don't dismiss the nature and reality that all Christians are called into the church for particular reasons, and that every Christian has a particular role to play in the church. It is true that all Christians are not called to be apostles, all are not called to be deacons or elders, but all Christians are called to be something.
I am referring to the doctrine of vocation. Martin Luther is credited with reasserting the doctrine of vocation as a foundation stone in the Reformation of the church.
"Therefore I advise no one to enter any religious order or the priesthood, indeed, I advise everyone against it -- unless he is forearmed with this knowledge and understands that the works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone" (Martin Luther, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, 1520).
All Christians are called by God Himself to play a particular role, fill a particular office, and/or accomplish a particular task, job or function within the body of Christ. However, it also needs to be noted that the body of Christ is not coterminous with any particular denomination or 501(c)(3) manifestation of a local church organization. Rather, the body of Christ includes what has been traditionally known as the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant. The church of Jesus Christ is in time and beyond time at the same time.
Just as we are members of the church on Sundays when we gather for worship, we are still members of the church during the week when we are scattered for service. We gather for encouragement, instruction, fellowship and worship. Then we scatter throughout society for service in the name of Jesus Christ. The church is not a static institution, but a living being, with a complex and dynamic identity -- a Trinitarian identity in that Christians are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).
What is commonly understood as the church in contemporary society is a mere husk when compared with the church in Scripture. The church of the New Testament was a vibrant fellowship of people from diverse backgrounds, traditions and ethnicities who celebrated, not merely their human diversity, but their unity in Christ. They shared a common vision and purpose, communicated by Paul and the other apostles -- not perfectly or without struggle, of course. But the power of their common vision and purpose overcame their differences.
We note several things of importance in this first verse. God calls all Christians to faithfulness where they are, in the midst of their current job, family, and neighborhood. And at the same time all Christians are called out of worldliness and into godliness. We are called to abandon the immorality of the world and to practice the morality of the Kingdom, and to do it right where we are -- in our current job, family and neighborhood. We are not called to create a Christian ghetto or to remove ourselves from our current obligations. Rather, we are called to be transformed people right where we are. We are not to run from the world, we are to be transformed in the midst of it.
Paul recognized the Christians in Corinth, those who were the immediate recipients of his letter, as people who were "sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1 Corinthians 1:.2). All Christians are called by the will of God to be saints. The Greek word translated as saint is hagios. The word means sacred, physically pure, morally blameless or religious.
Hagios is used throughout the New Testament to refer to God's holiness. Christ is the Holy One of God. Scripture refers to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Father, holy Scriptures, holy angels, holy brethren, and so on. The secular and pagan use of the word pictured a person separated and dedicated to the idolatrous pagan "gods" and carried no sense of moral or spiritual purity. The pagan Greek gods were as sinful, deranged and immoral as the people who worshiped them. There was no sense of morality or righteousness associated with pagan worship. The worshiper of the pagan gods celebrated and mimicked the character of the pagan gods and the immoral religious ceremonies connected with its worship. We know that the Greek temple at Corinth housed and employed a large number of harlots who were connected with the worship of the Greek gods. Thus, the character of the Greek worshiper was licentious, depraved, and abandoned to the celebration of raw emotion.
Paul's use of the word hagios (saint) represented something filthy that had been washed and set apart for a completely new purpose, different from it's original purpose. The traditional idea of a saint provides a picture of salvation. Those who were filthy with sin had been washed in the blood of Christ, and set apart from sin to serve God's purposes. The common understanding down the ages has been that saints practice a superior morality, that being a Christian or being called by God resulted in moral growth or refinement. That common understanding is not wrong, but more often than not it is misunderstood and misrepresented.
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About the Writer Author
State:
Ohio
Country:
United States
Email:
philrosspilgrim@gmail.com
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www.pilgrim-platform.org
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