Something of First Importance
Introduction
In March, it was brisk outside in Grand Rapids, MI. However, inside it was cozy and warm. I was invited to speak to mostly an African American and African group of pastors and leaders. After my 10-minute talk to frame our discussion around the intersection of faith, work, and economics, these pastors and leaders were invited to ask questions. In the room was “Angela”, a sister who was distraught about her new post pandemic normal—working from home. Clearly, this was not her cup of tea. The more she talked it seemed like she was destined to add her name to the great resignation list. I remember her saying, “Ever since the pandemic, I have lost my purpose.” Angela is not alone in this as I have heard other Christians say, “I am trying to find my purpose.” Vocation may be in crisis because the general US populace assumes that their day job should fulfill their purpose.
Lisa Slayton has written this article, “The Big Quit: A Crisis of Vocation” (February 21, 2022). She believes the big resignation in America is driven by a crisis of vocation. I believe she is right for the general populace of the US. Of course, the reasons are varied and many. However, I think Christian believers are also suffering from a crisis of vocation, albeit for another reason. The reason for this crisis of vocation for the Christian? I believe there is a crisis of vocation because we have failed to frequently remind our people of their primary calling.
So important is this primary calling that Os Guinness writes, “Calling means that everyone, everywhere, and in everything fulfills his or her (secondary) callings in response to God’s (primary) calling” (The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life, p. 34). All callings in life—big or small, short or of longer duration—find their motivational response to this primary calling.
What is this primary calling? Guinness aptly states, “Our primary calling as followers of Christ is by him, to him, and for him” (p. 31). Our primary calling is glorifying God and living under his Lordship. As we submit to his Lordship, the Holy Spirit, like an air traffic controller, will direct us to specific lanes of vocations and/or occupations. In the next article in this series, I will write about our many secondary callings, what I call our fixed-at-birth calling, and other various callings; however, we must begin with the compelling motivation for all such callings: our primary calling. We must faithfully and obediently exercise all these callings in grateful response to God’s primary calling.
Primary Calling: Why?
Why did God issue this primary call to us, former enemies of God (Romans 5:6-10)? On one hand, this primary call is divine, mysterious, and is beyond our comprehension. And the Scriptures remind us that there was nothing particularly attractive or notable about us that prompted God to issue this primary call like there was nothing particularly notable about the Israelites that earned God’s affection (Dt 7:7). On the other hand, God issued a primary call to us for a divine purpose. And because God is love; we can say that God issued a primary call to us because of his covenant faithfulness and because of his deep love for us (Dt. 7:8). And this is not an unrequited love; rather, God wants us to love him and love our neighbor. To love our neighbor is to exercise all our callings faithfully and excellently in grateful response to his primary call.
Gorilla Prepositions
When we came to the prepositions, I remember my bowtie-wearing seminary Greek professor beginning with this joke, “What does an 800-pound gorilla sit?” Anywhere he wants to! What do these prepositions mean?” Anything they want to!” He went on to say, “This does not apply to every Greek preposition, but it is true of quite a few.” That’s why he referred to them as Gorilla Prepositions. These prepositions wielded a lot of power because they were so versatile. So, while Guinness answers the what question about our primary calling, let’s dissect and explain the gorilla prepositions ‘by, to, and for’ in Guinness’s definition of our primary calling to properly understand this foundational truth and motive for all other callings.
By Him
In Greek and as in English, the preposition “by” can denote agency or through the action of, as in, God is the sole and direct agent who carries out the action. Scripture is quite clear that God sovereignly and providentially acted, and continues to act, in our personal histories. Through the birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, God acted on our behalf, and rescued us from the tyrannical and malicious grip of Satan. Through the agency of God alone, he transferred our residence from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his son. Through the once-for-all-salvific work of Christ alone, sin is no longer our slave master. The same power that raised Christ from the dead has secured our salvation. Physical death no longer has us in bondage or in a state of fear because God has acted on our behalf. God graciously acted on our behalf and saved us from spiraling out of control, so that we did not meet our demise. To say that our primary calling is “by him” suggests that God did all the heavy lifting in securing our salvation; we did not lift even a pinky finger (Ephesians 2:8-10). God’s sole salvific action on our behalf was efficacious.
To Him
In Greek and as in English, the preposition “to” can denote closeness or proximity. Or “to” could mean directional, as in moving towards. God made the first move and moved toward us, wooed us, courted us, pursued us, and has brought us to him for relationship. To say that our primary calling is “to him” means that we are not called first to a job or vocation; rather, we have been called first to a person who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. This someone sustains us; and this someone not only takes great delight in us, but he is also delighted to hear our voices. As those who were once estranged, we have been brought near to the sovereign King; we have been shown the warmest hospitality by God (Ephesians 2). We have brought near first, to a person, not to a workplace, inanimate object, or a to-do list. We have been brought near to cuddle with our God, our merciful, gracious, doting, and love-sick Father. We have brought near to not know more facts about him; rather, we have brought near to know God personally and intimately as he knows us personally and intimately. We have been called near to the one whom we are called to imitate and pattern our lives. God is the holy one, we are called to be holy ones (Leviticus 19). To imitate God requires fellowship or communion with God. Imitating God requires a dramatic shifting in our priorities. America focuses on busyness and doing. Being called to him means flipping America’s script. Yes, as James K. A. Smith beautifully illustrates in his book, You Are What You Love, our first question in the morning is not what I should do today; rather, our first question in the morning is who am I becoming today? Regularly communing with God aids us in becoming like God.
Mary, Martha’s sister, understood this shift in priorities. While Mary often gets a bad rap for being unproductive, she was becoming more like Christ as she sat at his feet, soaking in his teaching and presence. Mary came close to her Savior who had come close to her. Becoming like him must take priority over exercising our callings because who we are (ontologically speaking) impacts and informs our doing.
For Him
In Greek and as in English, the preposition “for” can denote the purpose of an action or activity. When I taught Christian theology to undergraduates and we came to the doctrine of salvation, I often asked my students, “Why did God save you?” Some students looked puzzled (as if they had not been asked a question like this). A few students mustered up courage to offer an answer, then that awkward silence. I finally answered, “God purposefully acted in our history, chose us, and saved us for a divine purpose.”
Sadly, I did not have the words then for Angela; however, I wish I could tell her, “On the one hand, your life has purpose because you are an imago Dei bearer (Genesis 1:26-28). You were born for a purpose. Your life has meaning and significance. On the other hand, your life has purpose because God chose and saved you for a divine purpose.” We might say her life purpose as a Christian (and ours) has specificity. What is our specific purpose?
Our specific life’s purpose is Jesus’s life purpose. To say that our primary calling is “for him” means our life’s purpose is to engage wholeheartedly in the missio Dei—in the redemption of human beings and the renewal of all things. In short, our purpose is Jesus’s purpose. What was Jesus’s life purpose? The Rev. Tim Keller cogently answers this existential question from his book, The Prodigal God, “The ultimate purpose of Jesus is not only individual salvation and pardon for sins but also the renewal of this world, the end of disease, poverty, injustice, violence, suffering, and death” (p. 110).
God issued his primary calling to us so that we might continue carrying out Jesus’s ultimate purpose. The primary call on our lives is to present ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2) for God’s good purposes (Ephesians 2:8-10).
As the facilitator and I gently probed Angela more about the nature of her purposelessness and reasons for her dissatisfaction with her job, it became obvious that some unethical behavior was occurring. Specifically, she said that she worked in the healthcare field and some elderly clients were being treated unjustly. The facilitator and I said in unison, “That’s your purpose—to expose this injustice.” I did not say this but wanted to: when our workplaces get challenging and when we must exercise moral courage, that’s exactly where God wants us. That’s not the time to abandon ship. Angela’s purpose was to love her neighbors—these elderly and vulnerable patients— by exposing injustices perpetrated against them. Your purpose, reader, is to love your neighbor and to love God (Matthew 22:37-40).
Conclusion
I believe our current crisis of vocation lies with this simple truth: we have forgotten, buried, or forsaken something of first importance—our primary call.
Disciplers, teachers, pastors, and parents must remind those that they disciple of this primary call of first importance. The Apostle Paul does just that in as he writes the churches in the Ephesus metropolitan area these words, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1). In sum, Paul instructs these first century Christians (and us) to live consistently with their calling to walk in Christian unity. And this calling to walk in Christian unity is in grateful response to God’s primary calling to be his children (Ephesians 1:4-6, 18). Our primary calling is a call to unwavering obedience.
I had the great honor and pleasure of directing the Francis Schaeffer Institute (FSI) at Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis, MO), while earning my Master of Divinity degree. Every new year I reminded my small staff of FSI’s mission statement as a reset moment to remind them of our purpose. Disciplers, teachers, pastors, and parents are encouraged to remind those they disciple of this primary call on a regular basis. Maybe, by doing so, we will have fewer and fewer believers in a state of crisis over their vocation. Maybe, as we remind Christ followers of God’s unmerited primary call—by him, to him, and for him--we will find more and more Christians assured that their lives and their callings truly have purpose and meaning.
Photo by Mohammad Mardani on Unsplash