Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Calling, Challenge
- Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.
- Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are. He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.
Can you hear
the calling in Matthew 10? The chapter
begins with calling. We hear about the
12 disciples. They are to go out to the
lost sheep of Israel. They are to go
among the sick, the dead, the leprous, and the afflicted by demons. They aren’t supposed to focus on acquiring
things, but rather on doing ministry that opens people up to the Father and
draws them closer to Him. The calling
seems rather straight-forward with what we’ve been taught the work of a
disciple is supposed to look like.
But there
are a few interesting twists here. First
of all, do you notice that Jesus specifically tells them to not go to the
Gentiles? Keep in mind that Jesus doesn’t
have anything against Gentiles. He later
will tell Peter to go among the Gentiles in Cornelius’ house. He also sends Paul to the Gentiles
specifically. But at this point in the
story, they aren’t ready to go among the disciples. What can we learn from all of this? Our calling comes from God. He knows what He has equipped us to do. When we think about calling, we need to
humble ourselves and get our direction from him rather than getting it from our
own hearts.
Also notice
that the calling isn’t exactly going to be smooth. Jesus talks at length about the persecution
that the disciples are going to face.
Family will turn against them.
Community leaders will turn against them. Jesus tells them that He is bringing a sword,
not peace. When we are called, we are
also challenged. Ministry is not easy.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment