Together, we help each other to hear and respond to our particular callings in life.
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.
To be sure, God calls individuals to know him and serve him. But God also calls us into the community. Together, we are called to be God’s special people. Together, we seek God’s guidance for our lives. Together, we help each other to hear and respond to our particular callings in life. Today’s devotion is part of the series God’s Transformational Calling.
The Apostle Paul talks about calling in 1 Corinthians, all believers in Jesus are “called to be saints,” or, as I have suggested, “called to be God’s set-apart people.”
In 1 Corinthians. Yes, Paul was called as an individual to be an apostle of Christ (1:1). But the members of the church in Corinth were also “called to be saints” (1:2). This calling had a distinctly communal dimension. It’s possible to read Greek here as implying that each individual Christian in Corinth had an individual calling to individual sainthood, but that reading is unlikely, especially given the problem of divisive individualism in the Corinthian congregation.
Moreover, the curious phrase that comes after “called to be saints” underscores the corporate sense of calling. Not only are the Corinthian Christians “called to be saints,” but also they share this calling “together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2). The fact that God calls all Christians is something that binds us together in the church. Even as he chose Israel to be for him a “holy people,” so we who follow Jesus are called to be holy together, not just individually. We receive our calling both in the community and as a community.
Why is this so important? Because if we conceive of our calling in purely individualistic terms, we’ll miss so much of what God has for us. We’ll miss the joy and challenge of striving together with other saints to be the holy people of God. Moreover, we’ll be apt to imagine that we’ll hear our personal calling when we are alone, rather than in community with other believers. Though God can certainly call us when we are by ourselves, his calling is often heard and confirmed in the Christian community. You remember, for example, that Paul had a dramatic individual calling on the road to Damascus, as the risen Jesus spoke to him in a blinding light (Acts 9). But Paul’s calling was supported and confirmed by other believers who bore witness to the power of his preaching. And, though he doesn’t say so explicitly, surely Paul considered himself to be among the Christians who were called to be saints. Though he had a distinctive apostolic calling, he shared in the calling extended to all believers.
So, as you think about your own calling, it’s fine to seek clarity about the unique way (or ways) God is calling you. But remember that you also share in a calling extended to all of God’s people in the community. Moreover, you may very well hear God’s particular calling to you, not when you’re all by yourself on the road to Damascus, but then you are gathered with other believers.
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