ILLUSTRATION:The lawyer and the summons
Text: I Corinthians 7:17, 20-24

Corinth was a dynamic, enthusiastic, energetic church. New believers saw the great need to inform their city and the surrounding countryside of the good news of Jesus Christ. They were in danger of over-reacting and abandoning everything in the past to travel and preach the gospel.

• They were refusing sex to be fully dedicated to the Lord.
• Others were divorcing their unsaved spouses supposedly for the Lord's sake.
• Other were leaving their potter's wheel, shipbuilding, wagon-making, farming … to go town to town evangelizing.
• Slaves were upset because they couldn't go

There is sometimes a feeling among new converts that they must make a complete break with every phase of their former life, including institutions such as marriage which are not in themselves sinful. In the newfound joy of salvation, there is the danger of using forcible revolution to overthrow all that one has previously known.

A WRONG ASSUMPTION
These believers wrongly assumed that if they really wanted to make their life count for God … if they really wanted treasures in heaven … if they really wanted to be special to God … they had to be in something known today as "full time ministry."

Paul's response in verses 20 and 24:
"Let each one of you remain in the [job? career? occupation? vocation?] the calling in which he was when he came to Christ."

Paul uses the term calling here. He says each of them was in a calling. The verb form of this word is "to be called" (Greek - klesis) means an invitation, but would connote much more to a Greek because it actually meant a summons or a subpoena. An invitation you couldn't refuse. Look at v.17:
"Each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him." (NIV)

"Calling" is used in two ways in Paul's writings:
1. With regard to salvation - Paul mentions frequently in his letters that we are called to salvation; and
2. With regard to occupation - Paul said in Romans 1:1: "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle..."

Paul is saying that just as significantly as he was called to be an apostle by God's design, for God's purposes, and with God's interest - even so

• Jacob was called by God to be a shipbuilder,
• Jonas was called by God to work the potters wheel, and
• Joshua was called by God to make wagons ...
  

by God's design, with God's interest and for God's purposes.
How about you? Plumber, homemaker, accountant, engineer, secretary, manager, lawyer, carpenter, a doctor, or hamburger flipper at Wimpys - If you are one of God's children, you are where you are by God's calling - He has summoned you there by His design, for His purposes and with His interest.

THE APOSTLES' COMMAND

• Don't change your occupation when you become a Christian.
• Your life and career are now filled with His purpose
• Modify your behaviour in your current occupation to serve Christ and advance His kingdom (in some cases, you may knock yourself out of your occupation)

THE LOSS OF CALLING TODAY
Martin Luther in his book, The Babylonian Captivity, combated this teaching that calling was for monks and nuns and priests. His thoughts were carried on in the writings of the Puritans who believed strongly in the priesthood of all believers; the ministry of all believers; and the calling of all believers.

Protestants have lost the Biblical perspective on the latter two. "People like ministers, missionaries, social workers, nurses in times of war, Red Cross workers, etc. - people who suffer to accomplish noble deeds and get paid little - these people have callings, the rest of us just have jobs or careers.
It is reflected in such terms as Clergy - laity; Higher calling; Sacred calling - secular profession; Full-time Christian service - Paul in and out of vocational ministry; preachers are "God's men"

Test your thinking: Have you ever heard preaching to this effect?

• What have you done today for God? Col. 3:22-24.
• Do you really want to make your life count for God?
• Illustration: Freys in vocational ministry

No, the Sovereign One who knows us by name, loves us as His own children and knows the details about our lives down to the very hair says: I know where you work and what you do. I created the people you mingle with and I know your struggles, but I have called you there - you are there by my design, by my divine appointment.

Our rewards will not be based on the quality of our profession, but on the quality of our obedience to the Lord moment by moment, in whatever profession He has called us to serve. The Lord left Joseph as a carpenter. When God calls someone to be a plumber, it is disobedience for that plumber to be a preacher, and vice versa.

SUMMATION

• Stop all the jumping about. A move into ministry is not necessarily a good move - God must summon you. The Corinthians in their zeal were jumping out of professions, jumping out of marriages (divorcing an unbelieving spouse) to go and preach the gospel.
• That your occupation in life when you come to Christ is not a trifling detail, not an insignificant situation. At salvation, all of God's purposes for your life are immediately and dramatically set in motion.
  This affects your performance and movement.
• Your performance each day in the home or in the marketplace should be what Jesus' would be.
• Any moves you make into, out of, or within a profession are God's prerogative, and you must seek His will. He may call you to vocational ministry.