God has no interested at all in taking responsibility for the decisions of human beings. We were created to run the world and we are obligated to do it on our own. The Holy Spirit came to live within us and give us comfort and insight and even wisdom, but The Spirit did not come to take responsibility for our decisions or the repercussions thereof. If one human being wants to kill another, that individual has the power to do it accept of course when God is protecting a particular individual for God’s reasons which only God understands for sure.
Have you ever been in conversation with someone when a decision was close and all of a sudden the conversation came to a close, because the other person said, “I have got to go pray about it?” That comment did a number of good things for the person who wants to pray. 1 It removed all pressure to make an immediate decision at that time. 2. It gave them time to think, pray or whatever they do under such circumstances. 3. It put them in control of the conversation. 4. It added another dimension (God’s Will) to the conversation.
The question is, was it fair? And was it appropriate? The implication of the person who took control of the conversation was that God, the Creator of the World, was willing to give direction and therefore take responsibility for the decision in question, which of course is not true, and I have to believe that God resents being used in such a manner.
From time to time an individual will make reference to their “call to preach.” There is no doubt that they are sincere and that they have had an experience with God, but the idea that God picked them out of the crowd and told them to go preach is not reasonable. Such a calling would make God responsible for their actions, and we all know of terrible things that preachers, etc. have done. If would be more appropriate to say that The Holy Spirit pointed out for them the opportunity to preach, probably along with several other opportunities. God does not jerk people around and tell them what to do nor does God take responsibility for their failures. At this time I know at least three people who were "called to preach" who are not preaching. Did God make a mistake? Of course not, and these people were not "called to preach." Let me quickly point out that all three of these people are marvelous Christians and I am sure have a strong relationship with God, but the word "call" is too strong to be used in this setting.
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4 comments:
I agree with you wholeheartedly about people who play the "God Trump". I had a dear pastor friend who was incapable of saying no. If he wanted to say no he said, "I'll pray about it". That always meant no.
I guess in fact if he did ever pray about it and God hit him over the head with a 2X4 to do thus and so he might have changed his mind. He seldom did.
As to the call of God. I have a teaching I have given about the call of God and how we can or should answer it. It's here.
Then of course there's Ephesians 4. Some ARE called to be, Pastors, Teachers, Apostles Prophets and Evangelists. Not all are called to that. But some are. We are all called to something. We are all responsible to do something in building the kingdom of God.
There is this.
Everyone is called to preach but not all are called as ministry gifted preachers. We are all called to prophesy (1 Corinthians 14) but we are not all called as ministry gifted Prophets. ETC.
God DOES pick some out of a crowd, usually unqualified and the least. Then he qualifies them and places them in places they can do what they are called to do. The good news is the longer we walk in the call of God on our lives the more certain the call is. I would hate to be in the Ministry without the call of God. The call is my anchor. I don't need others to affirm me to walk in the fullness of my call.
In fact, I'm not at the point where you will have to kill me to stop me from fulfilling the call God has placed on my life. I may not get it done, but I'll be faithful.
So will we all. So will you.
I strongly disagree. My reading of the Bible indicates that God is very interested in being involved in our lives. Is your philosophy based on any Biblical passage?
John
Earl, I found the whole teaching I gave on God's call and our work.
Your Work - Your Calling
Gene Redlin
What is a call? What does it mean? How does it help us? Can we be anchored in our calling? Our calling is most often understood by our work. But, it is much deeper and richer than that. Our callings in life are Holy unto God. When you do the work you do you are doing something Holy.
So the question is, what is holy about work. Is any work truly Holy? Is being a Pastor more holy than being a garbage man? Most pastors and many garbage men might say YES. They would be wrong. If we understand the concept of work we can grasp the meaning of the holy in what we do every day. All work is Holy when it is part of our call.
Work - Vocation - Employment was written about a great deal in Martin Luther's booklet called, "The Freedom of the Christian".
The problem is when much of what Luther wrote about work which is so essential in today's world is lost in translation. For real. For instance, Luther wrote a paper called, "die Kichliche Gesamteausgabe" I speak enough German to know that those who translated that title into "Holy Orders" were not great German Scholars. The problem with language is that you can say things in one language that simply won't translate into another.
Holy Orders should have been translated "The totality of the missions and purposes within Christian pursuits that are callings and commands (Orders) of God".
OK, Holy Orders it is, but you see the problem. It doesn't translate.
When I lived in Germany a friend of mine (a Pastor) asked me "was ist ihre Beruf". Now in America we might ask, what do you do for a living? That isn't what he exactly asked me. Just as Luther was trying to help people understand the call of God in his writings regarding the work they did He was asking me what my Call was. He really was asking me, What is your calling, profession, occupation, work, who are you, vocation? Complex stuff.
Luther maintained accurately that God Calls and installs people to accomplish his missions on the earth.
I had an appendix attack. I believe in divine healing. God could have healed me on the spot. He did heal me.
The Doctor analyzed my problem
The Surgeon did an operation
The Anesthesiologist gassed me
The nurse helped me back to life
A prescription was filled by a pharmacist to waylay any infection
SO, in this case, God healed me, but he wore the mask of the medical community in doing so. He used the Beruf of the professionals in getting me well.
We pray in the Lords prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread”.
He does:
This morning I had Cinnamon Toast.
The farmer grew the wheat
The trucker hauled it to the terminal
The trainman drove it to the mill
The millers ground it
The Trucker hauled the flower to the baker
The Baker baked it
It was delivered by the Pepperidge Farm Guy
The checkout lady took my money
Then I ate my God Given daily bread
My daily bread was provided by the beruf of many people doing what God called them to do. God wore a mask providing it.
We are all called to particular berufs. That's how God cares and governs his created order.
God
Teaches thru Teachers
Protects thru Firemen and Police
Soldiers and Government control chaos
And he provides beauty thru artists and musicians.
He uses each person in the various callings in their life to accomplish his purposes.
Oh sure, we can SIN in our beruf. The crooked store clerk who steals from his boss, the used car salesman who lies about the miles on the cars he sells. Flim flam is sin. It's a misuse of your calling from God. It is taking the name of the Lord in vain.
We all have at least 4 berufs in our lives. I think of 4 in particular for me:
1.Family - Husband, Father, Son
2.Work - Worker, Boss, Employee, Businessman
3.Community - Citizen, Taxpayer, Voter, Candidate, Official, Activist
4.Kingdom of God - Church, Helps, Worshipper, Giver, Teacher, Caregiver, Leader, Participant and even Minister
If we keep our eyes open we can see God all around in our lives wearing the mask of people fulfilling the calls in their lives. It's God in a Mask. Think of the waitress that waited on you, or the guy who bagged your groceries.
They are angels unawares. How we treat them is how we would treat God.
And conversely God is in us. Hidden to be revealed in out callings.
But remember, we can sin in our beruf.
Parents can abuse children
Doctors might abort babies
Businessmen can be crooked
And Government can be corrupt (even in Illinois)
It is SIN. But God can and is always in it. He can even use the error of sinful men to accomplish his purposes or Romans 8:28 isn't true.
I remember the funeral of my Grandmother. The church was packed. She had lived a rich full life. She and her late husband had a lot of children. They were all there, with a slew of her grandchildren, and a passel of great-grandchildren. Add in the spouses of the generations, nieces and nephews and their children.
The church was pretty much filled with family, all coming before God to commend her back to him. I visited the grave at that little country cemetery a few weeks back. I stood and thought what if? This is the church our family built when they came from Germany and settled in South Dakota. It's closed now.
What if she had not met or married her husband in the late 1800s, what if they had not gotten married. Most of the people in that Lutheran Church would not have existed from the middle-aged grandparents to the little kids squirming in the pews. The union of those two has had consequences they could never have dreamed about, leading to untold lives down thru the generations, untold marriages and untold new children being born.
Businesses were created, political figures emerged, food was produced, communities were led, churches ministered in, all people called by God out of a family calling.
God could have done this by divine creation; he could have repopulated the earth each time a new generation passed without using humans. But he uses humans, procreation, and parenthood.
That’s why the fourth commandment exists. The foundation of all of the law regarding man to man comes from this. All authority roots from the concept of parenting. We have lost much of that in our society but it’s time to get it back.
We understand that Family Beruf is important. But what about the more mundane.
Can we understand a ministry of cleanliness as is executed by those who are called to that work?
Those who collect our thrash
Those who fix our plumbing
Those who clean our toilets
Those who clean up after you in hotel rooms
Those who maintain your school or church
This is the way God deals with your environment. Those people if they know it or not are called with a gift of work to minister cleanliness for you and yours.
Your Beruf is a GIFT from God. Unfortunately not everyone sees it that way. That happens because we don’t hear the call of God in our work. It happens because we are told:
1.Study Hard
2.Get Good Grades
3.Graduate from a Good College
4.Get a Good Job with a Good Pension
5.And LUMP IT. Hate every day of the drudgery they call work.
One of the greatest mental health issues psychiatrists deal with in the world today is people who hate the work they do. This is a crime. God wants so much more for us.
What God wants for you is that your heart sings in your calling, in your Beruf. It is your highest and best calling when the following are true:
1.It’s something you love
2.It’s something you are accomplished at
3.It’s something you know and understand well
4.It’s something you see thru the big picture purpose
5.It’s something you would do even if you weren’t paid to do it
That is your calling. And it will change over time. God will change the call on your life. He gives new calls for his purposes. When he does you will know it’s him and respond.
This isn’t about our immersion in Jesus. That NEVER changes.
But things do change:
Family calls change (Empty nest, divorce, widowhood)
Churches (you are always a member of the body but different churches)
Government and Community (Parties in power, laws)
And
Today’s 21st Century Graduates are now told to expect at least 5 career changes in their lifetimes. Not 5 job changes. 5 total new and different occupations.
I think I’ve had 10. Most people I know have had at least 3.
So, the idea that our call from God is static (Unchanging) is flawed.
The question we must ultimately ask ourselves is do I give Glory to God in my Beruf?
In my Family – do I operate as the face and hands of Jesus?
In my Community - Do I take part, do I vote, do I do my duty?
In my Church – Am I there, am I part of it, does it matter?
In my Beruf – How do I glorify God in what I do
I believe that scripturally we glorify God best when we exhibit 3 primary characteristics:
1.Integrity
2.Diligence
3.Focused attention on work
I am constantly frustrated by Christians who use the boss’s time to initiate Bible study on the job, have a big booming Bible on the desk, Fill their cubicle or work area with pictures of Jesus, crosses and scripture verses, They spend time they get paid for praying and not working (receive the Holy Ghost and pray in tongues, you can then do both).
Some Christians are so busy handing out tracts to fellow workers getting them saved they are a poor employee. I want to see us witness to others by who we are. An epistle read by all men.
The fact is, if we know our calling, if we know who we are, we will walk in confidence and authority. The phone should ring at churches across the nation by bosses asking for more Christians to hire.
There is an apocryphal story about a priest who lived in a small town a century back in Europe. It was a Jewish community. One day as this priest walked thru town he spotted a young man who was guarding a home. The priest asked him who he worked for. The young man explained.
As the priest walked away the young man asked him, “Rabbi, Who do you work for”. The Priest was flustered and said, “I don’t work for anyone” and walked on. A few minutes later the Priest returned and asked the young man if he would consent to go to work for him. The young man pondered and said sure.
Asking what his duties would be of the Priest, The Priest said, “To ask me every day who I work for”.
He didn’t want to ever again forget. Let us do the same.
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