Called Out

Today in the United States it seems that being a Christian is not particularly difficult.  There is no strong cultural persecution, government opposition, or death threats.  Riots sometimes occur over sporting events but hardly ever harbor any religious origin or undercurrents.  Even in schools people are allowed to practice prayer times and Bible studies provided that students lead them.  The mood is one of tolerance and acceptance.  You believe what you want and I’ll believe what I want.  Yet, amidst such tranquility and poise the Christian life is one which is under heavy fire, and which becomes harder and harder to live as society becomes more and more “tolerant”.  It is in this mindset that to be a true Christian is most difficult.  We are the intolerant, the outdated, and the condemners in the modern world’s sunny perspective. 

Despite this view of Christianity, it is far from true.  The enemy has moved in a strong way against modern culture.  We can’t see him, but to those who look we know he is here.  Death, violence, lust, thievery, lies, hatred, and every other form of darkness are still alive and prowling.  It devours our families and preys upon the mind of the young and the innocent.  Yet, it ravages our nation unchecked because they fear even more the cure.  They fear the all powerful and loving enigma that is God.  They fear the revealing of that enigma in the person of Christ Jesus.  They fear love.

You however should not.  You were not called to live in fear.  You were called to fight.  You have been called out.  Paul writes that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities of this dark world.  The battle is real and you are being called to take part in it.  So what will you do?  Will you abandon the lost that live in dreary chains of bondage which saps their strength and darkens their minds, or will you be one of the chosen who stands and fights for the truth that we see alive in all of creation?  Will you run or fight?  Will you live in love or selfishness?  You’ve been called out!

During WWII soldiers were drafted as nations braced for war with an enemy that seemed to continually expand.  Aggressions intensified as men were called out to serve the people of their country in defending them against the oncoming enemy.  They could no longer be normal civilians; they had to follow specific codes of conduct and be disciplined to fit the vital roles that they would fulfill.  No longer could they live as they pleased, but for the good of their comrades, fellow citizens, and even themselves they surrendered their lives to a new calling which controlled nearly every aspect of their reality.  So it is with the Christian.  We have been called out to serve against an enemy who is killing souls in groves.  Billions have fallen under the darkness and we have been called to shine light into their world.  We can no longer act as we have in the past, but we must put off our past lives and live with discipline and truth as we seek to help in the saving of our fellow man.  We have been called to be a part of something that is greater than ourselves.  We have been called out to serve God.  We’ve been called to priesthood.

The apostle Peter wrote in his first epistle (1 Peter 2:4-12) this:

“4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a chosen and precious cornerstone,

and the one who trusts in him

will never be put to shame.”

7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, 8and,

“A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

The passage opens with the source of our understanding about truth and reality, Christ.  He is here painted as a living stone which has been rejected by men but specifically chosen by God to fulfill his purposes.  Indeed, the very one rejected by man is God himself.  We as Christians are also modeled as living stones within a spiritual house, called to live out and offer spiritual sacrifices before God.  Yet Christ is the foundation as well as the capstone in which all of our reality originates.  He is the model which we pursue and our path to God.  As we are redeemed and called out through Christ Jesus, he has made the body (that is the Church) into a holy priesthood.  This is our calling.  We are to be priests before God.  This is the call out!

What does it mean to be a priest in the priesthood of the Church?  Well, let us first examine the office of priest.  The priests in the Old Testament were those who stood before God on behalf of the people.  They offered sacrifices before God and lived out their calling within the tabernacle and the temple.  As they dwelt in the presence of the Lord they were provided for in their work as God saw fit to fulfill their needs.  They offered prayers and intercession, while acting also in a capacity which included leading Israel in matters of the Law of Moses.  In this sense they themselves were called out to be separate from the other people of Israel as they undertook their part in something which was greater than themselves and focused upon the true reality within the universe.

So it is with us as Christians.  We are called out to be holy, that is set apart for God.  We are called out to be a holy priesthood before men and God.  As such we are to take part in the waging of war on the gap between man and God.  Only Christ can fully fill the gap and rescue those who have fallen into the darkness of sin, but now we have been called out to follow his example and call to those who are lost that we have found truth.  While once we were steeped in sin and in need of Christ’s saving blood, so now are they.  Yet, God works in ways that are difficult for us to understand, and part of that great mystery is that he seeks to work through us by the hand of the Holy Spirit.  In this passage of 1 Peter we see that in our being called out there are two main points which define our mission as a holy priesthood before God.

The first and foremost call that we receive as we seek to serve God is that of our calling out from sin.  As Christians we are no longer to stand in the sin which entangles and destroys us, but we are to cast it off upon Christ and live lives of light amidst the darkness of the world.  Peter explains the struggle as a conflict which wars against your soul.  The evil desires which permeate our body are not the holiness which God called us to, but rather are the very workings of the enemy.  Only through Christ can we be made fully clean from them, but we are called out to action as we seek him more and more in effort to draw our lives closer to the perfection of His example.  It is in this that holiness begins.  Holiness is the opposite of the sinfulness that we see which has control over all of humanity.  C. S. Lewis wrote that in heaven not one shred of hell can be present, and so it is.  As we strive to serve Christ fully we cannot hold on to any lingering traces of our old self, as we are created newly in Christ.  We are called out of sin.

In following our calling out away from sin we see that God through Peter charges us with one more task.  Our lives are not to be merely lived in inaction which avoids sin, but we are live good lives which go directly against the past of sin which Christ saved us from.  Not only does this attempt of living out love and the goodness of Christ draw us closer to Him who called us, but we are also called to live in active goodness as we attempt to show the love of Him to others.  Peter states that we should live such good lives that those around us can do no other than glorify God when they see us.  Are you up to the challenge?  We can obtain holiness only through God, but will you take the first steps toward him or walk away?  Will you maintain discipline or slide into the inactive Christianity that so many are guilty of?  We are called to action.  Faith without works is dead.  Are you dead, or alive and fighting?  The choice is up to you.

We have most assuredly been called out, and all that is left is to choose.  It is true that if you choose to walk in true Christianity there will be opposition.  Christ was the stone that the builders rejected, and so will we be if we follow.  They hated him, and they will hate us.  Yet, Christ has become the capstone and now stands as the foundation of a holy priesthood.  Will you trust him and become a stone in the house of priesthood as well or will you walk away broken hearted?  Will you give Him all and forsake the world?  We have been called out.  The battle is raging and the final question of your allegiance rests with you.  There are only two sides, and you have been called out.  Will you be the chosen of Christ or the one who stumbles on him?  You’ve been called out.