What does it mean to be called by God?

The Apostle has shewn how blessedly the Holy Spirit works in us by the new life in Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit, producing spiritual experiences. Now we learn that not only is God the Holy Spirit in us, but that God is for us in "all things" that are taking place around us. In regard to all the circumstances of life, the trials, the sorrows, the conflicts and the difficulties, we may not know how to pray as we ought; but this we do know, "That all things work together for good to them that love God". We may not always see how this loss, or that trial, is working for our good, but faith knows that good will be the result in time and eternity. To understand the way in which all things work for good we may have to wait, even as the Lord said to Peter, "What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter". Another has said, "The sorrow may not be remedied, but the sorrow is blessed".

To assure our hearts that all is working for good, we are reminded that we are "the called" of God; and, if called, God has a purpose for us. God saves us because we need saving; God calls us because He wants us. All God's ways with us in the present have in view the fulfilment of His purpose for us in the future.

It must be remembered there is the deeply serious call to the sinner, of which we read in the story of the Garden of Eden when "the Lord God called to Adam … Where art thou?" (Gen. 3:9). This was calling a sinner to account for his sin. Then again there is the important call to the servant as when the Holy Spirit said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:2). Both these calls have their place in the ways of God, but it is neither the call to the sinner, nor the call to the servant to which we refer, but rather the call to the saint. That great call is the common portion of all saints, however slow they may be in responding and entering into the blessedness of it.

The call of God came to us in the Gospel by which we were saved (2 Timothy 1:9-10), though it may be at the time we but feebly, if at all, realized that God had called us. Naturally our first concern was salvation from the judgment of God, and rightly our souls were filled with gratitude for this great salvation. Little did we realize that God had something far greater before Him than the salvation of our souls, that God had a glorious purpose for us, and in view of the accomplishment of that purpose He had called us. Yet so it was, for, while the salvation of God has in view our deliverance from judgment, the call of God has in view the accomplishment of God's purpose. Thus we read in Romans 8:28, of the "called according to His purpose."

Power is in itself a cold impersonal thing. In this passage however the warm personal touch is given to it by verses 9 and 10. The God, whose power it is, is known to us as the Author of both our salvation and our calling. These two things ever go together, for they give us what we may call the negative and positive sides of the matter. We are saved from that we may be called to. We are delivered from the misery and peril into which sin has plunged us in order that we might be designated to the place of favour and blessing which is to be ours according to the purpose of God.

Thus predestinated of God, the Christian is also called of God (verse 30), — called with an effectual calling, — spoken to by a voice which quickens the dead. The believer is called in a double sense. As a quickened sinner he is called from darkness to light, from death into life. Again, regarding him as the foreknown vessel of God's pleasure, he is called forth from the secret of the Divine purpose into the manifested light of His glory as revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. The called believer answers to the call. Listening to the word of God he obeys that call. For a contrary reason, the natural man, though addressed in the Gospel of God's grace, does not respond to the call. But our business now is with the proper workmanship of God. The calling of the Gospel is to believe in Jesus. The quickened soul hears and obeys. But the effect of faith is justification, as we have seen. Now justification is an act, not of him who is justified, but of him who justifies. The called believer, then, is justified of God: "whom He called He justified." And does the record of the work of God cease with this completed preparation of the vessel of His grace? Nay, inasmuch as the subject in hand is the display of the Divine glory which pertains to God as the fulfiller of His own purpose, the end must be stated as well as the beginning, and so it is added: "whom He justified, them He also glorified."

It is to be noticed here that “those who are called according to purpose” are only “those who love God”: it is not the same call as in Matthew 22:14 — the call of grace to all, which is refused by many. Here it is rather the call of divine purpose, that cannot be refused — nay, which “the called” would not think of refusing. There is marvelous blessing and comfort in these following truths concerning the perfectly sovereign work of God in grace — that is, for those who have trusted in Christ. The order is of course worthy of God Himself, and all is calmly deliberate, for it has been settled before ever the earth was.

There is a great similarity between the days of Samuel and our own. Then, as now, the primitive order established of God for His worship and testimony was set aside and human customs adopted in its place. Then, also, as now, unswerving obedience to His word in living faith was rare. In the case of this mother it was marked. She would not suffer maternal affection to come between her soul and the revealed will of God, and He rewarded her faith by giving her, what was so prized in Israel, a family, and above all by calling Samuel and revelling Himself to him. Under the law the sons of Aaron were much nearer to the Lord than this young Levite, but they were passed by and he was called. It was an act of sovereignty. Had the priests then any ground for complaint? Had the people? Surely not. How much had the Lord done for them all, and what return had they made? His sovereign right then was to choose and to call whom He would. The doctrine of election and calling may be repulsive to the pride of man, but it is essential to the glory of God and for the salvation of any. In the present day of salvation the "call" of God is to the whole world, and a man forsakes his own mercy for lying vanities if he will not respond to it. The testimony of Jesus however is made good — "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life," although on His part the call is universal, "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." There is no limit to the heart of Christ, but there is resistance in the hearts of men: hence, in the case of the many, the call is not effectual. God in His sovereignty therefore will make it so to some, or all would be lost. We may observe in the Gospels (especially in John's) the call is universal, while the Epistles are addressed to those in whom it is effectual. In the Gospels "the called" are all men. In the Epistles "the called" are the chosen. (Compare Rom. 8, 1 Cor. 1, Jude, Rev. 17:14, with Matt. 20:16, Matt. 22:14.)

This is the first part of the gospel, and with this the mass of God's people would seek to be content. Nevertheless, the gospel proclaims far greater blessings, for it tells us of the calling of God. Not only has God saved us, but we read He has “called us with an holy calling.” In this passage the calling is referred to as “an holy calling”; it is also spoken of as “the heavenly calling” (Hebrews 3:1) and “the calling on high” (Philippians 3:14). Salvation sets us free from our sins and the judgment-doomed world: the calling links us with heaven and all those spiritual blessings which God has purposed for us in the heavenlies in Christ. Therefore the blessings of God's calling are “not according to our works”, nor our thoughts, nor our deserts, but “according to His own purpose and grace”.

The universal principle is, that believers are to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called." Since, then, believers are "called to be saints," or "called saints" (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2), their ways should be such as are suitable for saints. So it is here. They are not called to become saints by a saintly walk, but are urged to a saintly walk because they are saints through God's calling. Hence the apostle says, "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient [or suitable]: but rather giving of thanks." (vv. 3, 4.) These believers had once walked in the lusts of the flesh, "fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind." But they were now saints, or sanctified; and having the life of Christ, they were to show forth this life in their, walk. How unfit for those thus sanctified to be walking in uncleanness! How unbecoming in the followers of Him who, though rich, for our sakes became poor, to be eagerly clutching at the riches of this world! Nor is it merely in deed, but in word, that believers are to act "as becometh saints." The light, foolish, and often filthy talk to which as heathen they had been accustomed was as little suitable to those "quickened together with Christ" as the deeds named in the previous verse, and must be just as completely put away. The lightness of heart which in the old man thus expressed itself, might now in the new man find a suitable expression in the "giving of thanks."

The apostle here, in a parenthesis, goes aside to consider for a moment how far this principle of abiding in the position in which God's call found its objects would stand good. The general rule was, and he ordains it in all churches, to abide wherever one could abide with God. There was to be no restless spirit of change, as if circumstances were the great consideration rather than God's control of circumstances, which ought to be realized. Thus, if any one was called, being circumcised, he was not to become uncircumcised. He was not, as it were, to ape the Gentile. So, if one were called in uncircumcision, he was not to be circumcised. Circumcision and uncircumcision were alike now on the same footing; that is to say, there was nothing in them. The keeping of the commandments of God was the whole matter. If a man were called even being a bond-servant, — and we can hardly imagine, perhaps, the bitterness of such a position oftentimes in those old heathen days, and especially for a Christian in bond-service to a heathen, — yet the apostle bids such an one not to care about it. If he could become free, by all means he may do so; but on the other hand, if be were ever so much a bond-servant and called in the Lord, the Lord had set him free in such a way as no bondage on the part of man could possibly affect. He could serve Christ in that condition; and the more painful the circumstances might be, the more acceptable even, we may be sure, would be such a service. His spirit was free, nothing could touch that, and He who was his Master was Master also of all else, so that this, as all other things, should work for good to him. If he were free as to circumstances, he would still be Christ's bond-servant. Christians are those bought with a price. They were not to be indeed the bond-servants of men. They were not to allow themselves to descend to a lower sphere of service. Christ was to be served, and His people, of course, in Him, but always, therefore, in the remembrance of that love which had at the same time bound him to Christ and set him free. The general rule, therefore, is, let each abide in the calling wherein he is called, if only he can abide there with God. If; of course, his position is such that he cannot abide in it thus, he is bound to leave it; but the restless spirit of change is not that which suits Christianity. It makes too much of the world and the circumstances, which are indeed nothing, but only a condition under which God can display Himself without possibility of hindrance.

Scripture makes it abundantly clear that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are both "saved" and "called." We read in 2 Timothy 1:9, God "has saved us and called us with an holy calling." But while every true believer knows something of the blessedness of God's salvation, comparatively few enter into the joy of the calling.