Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (9)

 

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“…among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

The recipients of Paul’s letter were those among the nations for whom Paul and others had received grace and apostleship to bring about “the obedience of faith.” These men and women and young people were “the called of Jesus Christ.”

 

What do we think about the idea that we “are the called of Jesus Christ”? Is this the way we think about ourselves and other Christians? Consider the foundational premise that if we are called to something or someone, then we are necessarily called away from other things. In other words, if we are being called to Jesus then we are being called away from ourselves, from sin and death, and from this world system. Another way to think about this is that if we are called to one group or community or city, that we are at the same time being called away from another group or community or city.

 

We find this idea of “calling” in the Greek word for church, ekklesia, which means those called to an assembly; again, if we are called into something we are also called away from something. In the sense of Church, the assembly we are called to includes a transcendent community of saints that spans time and space and reaches into eternity. Therefore, when we gather as God’s People we experience ekklesia on a local level, on a global level, and on a cosmic level at the very same time (let us hope so anyway). We are where we are because God has called us in Jesus Christ, and hopefully we see this locally, globally, and cosmically; or in an immediate, intermediate, and a transcendent sense.

 

Consider Hebrews 12:18 – 24 which includes, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.” How do we relate to this passage? Is this theoretical to us or is it our experience? Are we living in an awareness that the Church, to which we have been called in Jesus Christ, is a definable and distinctive community both in the world and in the cosmic order?

 

Or, perhaps I should write that the Church ought to be a definable and distinctive community in the world – for where do we see the Biblical Church today?

 

Jesus calls us into the fellowship, the community, the communion, of the “called out.” I am called, you are called, we are called. Jesus calls to me, He calls to you, and He calls to us. Jesus calls to me and to you so that there may be an “us,” a “we,” an ekklesia.

 

There are some exceptional barriers to us understanding and experiencing the communion of saints, for we are more like Judah in Babylonian captivity than any other Biblical motif, we are estranged from our center of worship and community. Our self-focus mirrors that of the returned exiles in Haggai during the Restoration, we are taking care of our own houses, our self-interests, while the House of God lies desolate (Haggai 1:9). The very reason Judah was released from captivity was to rebuild the House of God and the Holy City, yet upon their return the exiles forgot their calling, they forget the purpose for their release from captivity.

 

So it is with us, we have been delivered from sin and death to serve God in righteousness, as the People of Jesus Christ, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit; and yet we twist our lives and preaching and teaching into a message that is centered on us, centered on man, as opposed to being focused on the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ.

 

If we are indeed called, then we belong to the One who calls us. If we are collectively called, then we collectively belong to the One who calls us. In Christ, our lives are no longer our own, they belong to Jesus Christ. Our failure to understand this is an exceptional barrier to us being the People whom God called us to be.

 

Consider the trajectory of 1 Peter 1:1 – 2:12, noting 1:18 – 19 and 2:9 – 10. It is because we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb that we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession…”

 

Is this how we are living today?