tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594466655926701168.post278530440931588529..comments2024-01-20T06:33:12.603-08:00Comments on Created to Give God Glory: What Is a Christian Calling?Created to Give God Gloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17298394573836878999noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594466655926701168.post-51880539274740185132012-10-09T03:50:38.745-07:002012-10-09T03:50:38.745-07:00COnt...
As to whether or NOT, to fulfill one’s ca...COnt...<br /><br />As to whether or NOT, to fulfill one’s calling or Christian calling, one must necessarily be serving in some full-time capacity or ministry or be engaged only in a certain profession, this thing, Ps Prentis has explained well, that it is NOT necessarily so. Ps Prentis also touched on, one cannot be doing everything and anything, too; the best is to come to the place of knowing the area(s) the Lord would like you to be working on; afterall, when it is service, it is to be as unto the Lord. While it is right that Christian calling is NOT MERELY living within a certain parameters of objective right or wrong (using Ps Prentis’ words), the Christian calling is a journey of redemption with a holy God, conforming to righteousness and justice of God is base. <br /><br />Another necessary understanding is that we have to know we are in a war between God and the Devil; there is the one side, the holy God, and there is the other, the evil Satan. Putting it in another way, there are 2 Kingdoms at war. It is either you are for God, or you are against God; and if you are against God, you are swinging over the other side. How you live tells on you, which side you are on. The base question is, are you, yourself, subscribing to the ways of your Kingdom; in other words, are you submitted to God’s rule in your living? The kingdom of the world is NOT to be taken by the Kingdom of God by force; it is to be taken through the revelation of Christ Jesus and God, and the Kingdom’s ways and rule. You may NOT be a preacher; you may NOT be a spiritually gifted healer, and you may NOT be great Christian leader, but if your life reveals Jesus and God, and the Kingdom’s ways and rule, you are, firstly, a true citizen of the Kingdom, and secondly, you are engaged in the advancing of the Kingdom, for people can see God in you. And so, your life, is a service unto the Lord, in His revealed desire that all men be saved or cross over into the Kingdom. In this sense, even a housewife, in what she does for the home and family, for the community she lives in, can be walking in a Christian calling, honored by God. If you live out that life according to the prescription in the Word (2 Pet 1:3), you can be counted worthy of His calling.<br /><br /><br /><b>Anthony Chia, high.expressions</b>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594466655926701168.post-3064464278079220992012-10-09T03:47:56.083-07:002012-10-09T03:47:56.083-07:00COnt. from above
That God wants to count us worth...COnt. from above<br /><br />That God wants to count us worthy, and He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, why was there still the big deal of Paul and his team interceding and praying for the Thessalonians or believers? <br /><br />There can be several reasons, but one I want to mention here, is that Man is with volition. You now appreciate why, I inserted the “you” into the second part of the 2 Th 1:11 verse. Paul was praying that the believers, by their volition, may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by God’s power. <br /><br />From here, too, we can see what the Christian calling looks like: to will to fulfill every resolve for good, and to will to do every work of faith, with the help of God’s powers. Yes, God is sovereign, which means if He wants, He can force you to it (Well, in a way, Jonah was forced to go the way God wanted, and to do what God had wanted him to do, to preach repentance unto the Ninevites), but it is the NOT the norm. The norm is still you have to, by your own volition, love God, and so, align your heart to that of God, embrace His holiness, and do only that which is good in God’s eyes, and work or serve Him, by faith, with love, and in righteousness.<br /><br />The context is important in biblical interpretation, and for this instance, we can see from the earlier verses, particularly, verse 3, how we live our lives, matters, and is visible to God and to men. 2 Th 1:3 – <br /><br /><i>We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. </i><br /><br />Paul said that they (Paul and his team) ought always to thank God for the Thessalonians brethrens, and rightly so, because the brethrens’ faith was growing more and more, and their love for one another was also increasing.<br /><br />Now, Paul was here revealing to us, that even in the early history of the church, when people entered into salvation, they were NOT immediately with “full” faith or that they were perfect, in that they immediately were at their full measure of love for one another. Paul clearly painted a picture of faith growing over time, and love, also growing over time. All those preaching by the overly grace preachers that upon entry into salvation, one becomes so perfect that he has the full mind of Christ, or that he becomes fully righteous that he does NOT need to sweat over the need to be living righteous, are too skewed. <br /><br />Here, we can see Paul was consistent with the other disciple apostles of Jesus, in believing that a believer need to grow over time, in terms of faith, righteousness and holiness, even as, in identity-wise, a believer is accorded as one with faith, one with righteousness and holiness. In short, the correct understanding to be derived from here (including the many verses from the exhortations by the other disciple apostles, like Peter and James), is “The test of the pudding is in its eating” applies. <br /><br />In other words, identity is NOT enough; one has to live it out. The right question to ask is: Where is it showing? It should be able to be seen or perceived by people; and this was what happened; people have seen and perceived such growth of faith and brotherly love of the Thessalonians brethrens, that news got to Paul; that the Thessalonians brethrens were true to the faith, and truly were a good testimony of the faith. The fervent walk of the brethrens proved it all, and for that, Paul expressed that they (he and His team) were thankful and ought to be thankful to God.<br /><br />Cont...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594466655926701168.post-31608178975089397922012-10-09T03:46:53.782-07:002012-10-09T03:46:53.782-07:00COnt. from above
And so, when it is about redempt...COnt. from above<br /><br />And so, when it is about redemption and redemptive works, (possibly) 3 dimensions of redemption are being addressed. The Fall affected Man spiritually, bodily, and his works/service unto the Lord. I have written an article on the works of redemption of our Lord; the link is this, if you want to read it: http://high-expressions.blogspot.sg/2011/04/works-of-redemption-by-our-lord.html<br /><br />The Christian calling that has to be looked at, from angle of what Jesus' redemptive works, is about. Essentially, when salvation call is referred to, the thing that comes to mind is that of being spiritually made vivacious (alive, from a greatly weakened state) – spiritual redemption.<br /><br />Is there redemption of the physical or bodily? Yes, that too, but full redemption of the bodily is NOT to be had in our mortal life or earthly life. In other words, Man must still die the mortal death; full redemption only comes after death, when we are resurrected to take on an incorruptible body.<br /><br />Works/service redemption is part and parcel of the Redemption, too. And so, a salvation call is with a service call. Eph 2:8-10 said this: <br /><br /><i>8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.</i><br /><br />Overly grace preachers often quote verses 8-9, but NOT verse 10. But verse 10 is part of the whole text, linked by the conjunctive, “For”. We are saved for works. The service call is in the salvation call.<br /><br />All of us are unworthy before entry into salvation, there is no issue or question of judging, for everyone is the same, and it was by grace every one of us enters into salvation, as said by Eph 2:8-9. However, God wants to count us worthy of His Kingdom (2 Th 1:5); and He has given us what we need, and wants to help us to so that He could count us worthy of His Kingdom (2 Pet 1:3). 2 Pet 1:2-11, putting it here, now, flows wonderfully with what I want to say:<br /><br /><i>2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the KNOWLEDGE of God and of Jesus our Lord.<br /><br />3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our KNOWLEDGE of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these {KNOWLEDGE} he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.<br /><br />5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed FROM HIS PAST SINS {Here is a verse supporting the understanding that at entry into salvation, only PAST SINS are forgiven!}.<br /><br />10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your CALLING and election sure. For if you do these things, YOU WILL NEVER FALL, 11 AND YOU WILL RECEIVE A RICH WELCOME into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.</i><br /><br />COnt...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594466655926701168.post-4024842295429751212012-10-09T03:34:37.981-07:002012-10-09T03:34:37.981-07:00This verse of 2 Th 1:11 is variedly interpreted. ...This verse of 2 Th 1:11 is variedly interpreted. One rendering of the verse is along the line as given in the ESV, as quoted by Ps Prentis. My rendering is this, that a "you" be inserted at the second of the verse, as is the case of a few translations, making it reads as follows:<br /><br /><i>To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and YOU may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power</i><br /><br />Without the "you", easily, it is interpreted as it is ALL God's part - God to make you worthy; God to fulfill every resolve for good; and God to fulfill every work of faith.<br /><br />The KJV (and a few other translations) uses the word, "count" instead of "make" (as in, make you worthy of His calling). I believe the intended word is the word, count. In scriptural interpretation, there is a defined meaning to the word, "count". <br /><br />Now, there is a difference between being worthy and being counted worthy. Foremost, no one is worthy of salvation. Entry into salvation is never about one’s worthiness; everyone is NOT worthy – all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no issue of judgment of God as to worthiness at salvation, since everyone is unworthy. The unworthiness of men, at salvation, is consequence of past action. The judgment in vv4-5 of this 2 Th 1, should be viewed with this in mind: Judgment is of 2 types; one, in deciding if something done or said, is right or wrong, and two, a judgment call, meaning it is deciding on a matter which has not come to pass; predictive in nature.<br /><br />Therefore, what is reasonable in exegesis, is that Paul had had indication from God that God was of the judgment (judgment call) that some of the Thessalonians would do good. In other words, in the way the brethrens live, NOT that they are worthy, yet in the way they lived, God qualified them or God counted them worthy of His Kingdom. To count here, therefore, is to mean that actually the brethrens were NOT worthy, but God considered them worthy.<br /><br />If now we can understand that Paul and his team were praying for God to count the Thessalonians worthy of their calling, what is the calling in the verse? Implicitly, Ps Prentis referred to that calling, as the Christian calling, by his asking of the question, as in the title of the entry, "What is a Christian calling?"<br /><br />Is there such a thing as a salvation call and service call? If there is, are they completely separate or detached? Or is it they, though, can loosely be viewed as such, but are nevertheless, inevitably bound together, in, if we like, a collective Christian calling? In other words, is it generally acceptable to have a salvation call, with no service call? <br /><br />When we receive the understanding that the works of Christ Jesus, with His death and resurrection, is one of redemption, we can better understand what the Christian calling is all about. Redemption is of the meaning to return to the initial or original state before corruption or giving over or The Fall. Revelation that I received is that the redemptive works of Christ cover spiritual, bodily, and works dimensions.<br /><br />Before The Fall, Man was spiritually whole, bodily capable of escaping decay (through taking of the fruit from the tree of life, which Man could have taken, had Adam and Eve NOT taken the fruit from the knowledge of good and evil which God forbade them to take, and which they took in that Fall), and he was with works/service unto the Lord (Man's assignment then was to look after the huge Garden of Eden).<br /><br />Cont...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com