Pastor Tom Johnson, October 2, 2011
Our text from Paul is a remarkably candid and personal account of how he experienced God’s call. For Paul, experiencing the heavenly call of God completely transformed his view of himself, others, and God.
Paul calls this “confidence in the flesh.” His own story crowded out God’s story. His inflated view of self was an obstruction to a heavenly view of God. I rewrote Paul’s words here for our contemporary ears. If Paul were living today, he might have said it this way:
“If anyone has a reason to feel good about oneself, I do. If anyone is at the top of the food chain, I am—above anyone else I can think of. I was baptized by a fifth-generation pastor—the day I was born. The letters “LCMS” are inscribed on my baptismal certificate in permanent ink.
“My Christian heritage can be traced to the heart of the Reformation—I come from a long line of pastors, missionaries, and faithful believers who served in difficult circumstances and were persecuted for their faith.
“My parents brought me to church the first Sunday of my life and had perfect Sunday school attendance every year. I went to parochial school from preschool through grad school. I have a PhD in Theology. I’ve been willing to even perpetrate violence in the name of religion.”
At first, it may seem that Paul is bragging. He is not. In fact, he is telling us that he had this marvelous background and everything going for him, and yet, he did not experience “the heavenly call of God.” He had knowledge about God. But he did not know God.
When I think of Paul and his great heritage and credentials, I think about the pastor of my church growing up: Dr. James Tozer. Dr. Tozer was the descendent of a long line of prominent Christian men and women. Even more remarkable, his lineage is traced to the French Hugeunots.
The Hugeunots were killed by the thousands during the Reformation years and were driven out of France by the hundreds of thousands through religious persecution. Dr. Tozer was closely related to the famous Christian author A. W. Tozer.
Dr. Tozer received his doctorate in theology right here in Chicago at McCormick seminary. He went to my hometown to plant a church near Purdue University. Early on, he realized that he didn’t really have a personal relationship with God.
Dr. Tozer often told his story with his winsome sense of humor and reminded us that someone who has a PhD in Theology may still need to experience the call of God in a personal way—just like Dr. Tozer—just like the Apostle Paul.
After Paul lists his great credentials on his resume, he uses a very crass word to describe it. He calls his resume skubala. Our translation very politely translates it as “rubbish.” His resume a great big pile of—escrement, dung—you get the idea.
The thirteen year-old within me loves this passage of Scripture. It is such a human way to share the radical and heavenly call of God. Paul is thankful that he finally has come to his senses.
Everything else pales in comparison. For some, it is our earthly lineage and credentials. For others, it may be anything keeping us from having a humble view of our selves—anything that convinces us that we have arrived spiritually—either by our birthright or our own accomplishments.
The call of God does not mean that he is calling all of us into full-time ministry. It does not mean that we have to relocate our homes and jobs. What it means is that we experience the heavenly call of God in our life where we are now—to know what Paul calls “the suprassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
To know Jesus means that we trust in him the way we do any other person who is trustworthy. We are confident that he loves and accepts us no matter how broken our lives have become. We are assured that we have forgiveness and eternal life because he died and rose again for us.
The heavenly call of God changes the way in which we think, speak, view ourselves, view others, and relate to God. The heavenly call of God is crying out now. God is hot pursuit of our hearts, minds, and lives—zealously pursuing us now. And once we experience it, our lives will never be the same.
God’s call is “heavenly” because he calls us from outside of his creation. He calls through his Word which is the voice of “heaven” speaking to us here and now. He calls us through Baptism through the water and Spirit of adoption and calls us his daughters and sons.
He calls us to the Table to come as we are to be restored and forgiven—giving us his heavenly gifts of his Body and Blood in the bread and the wine. He then calls us out into the world to tell his story and our story so others may hear his call.
God calls us with authority from his throne of heaven. He calls us on a meaningful journey heavenward. And he calls us to assurance and certainty that in Christ we are heavenbound.
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