This is the third in our four part series, God’s Call to . . . Life, Faith, Vocation and Ministry. Last time we talked about God’s call to faith. We believe, teach and confess that we are conceived and born in sin and that every inclination of our heart is evil all the time. Our natural “free” will has been tainted by sin so that our natural inclination is to be enemies of God. Thanks be to God that He comes to us, that He seeks us out, that He calls us to faith and gives us faith through the means of His Word and Holy Baptism.
God calls us to and gives us life and faith. We did not choose decide to be conceived and born or to be born again, it all begins with the Lord. In the same way, we do not call ourselves to work for the Lord. As a matter of fact, because of our conceived and inborn nature, our first inclination is to work for ourselves. And, even when we seek to do good to others in and of ourselves, our motivation is tainted by sin so that we desire and expect some type of earthly reward or recognition. Again, this is all apart from God working through us as His Christian children.
As Christians, as children of God, having been given faith, forgiveness and life, God also gives gifts, talents and abilities. To some God gives the ability to be discerning, to another He gives the gift of wisdom, understanding, to another the gift of hospitality, to another the gift of giving. God gives talents and abilities, to one the gift of being able to manage numbers, to another to manage languages, to another the ability to understand the human body, to another the ability to work with wood or metal. To each according to His good pleasure, God gives gifts, talents and abilities to use in service to others which is serving Him and giving glory to His name.
Not only does God give gifts, talents and abilities, He also gives a job and a career. Never think of your job or career as anything less than a gift from God. This fact does not negate the possibility of a job or career change, rather this fact helps us to realize that we are not working for a boss, or company, or an individual. No, we are working for the Lord. Thus, nothing, no job or career is mundane. Each person, each job, each career has its purpose.
Have you ever given thought to how we get a loaf of bread? Who or what all is involved? The short list might include the farmer, the bread maker, the package maker, the shipper, and the grocer. The longer list might include the one who grinds the grain, the one who provides the salt as well as the one who mines the salt, the one who provides and makes the plastic wrapper, the one who provides the yeast, the one who provides the gasoline for the delivery truck and the list could go on and on. God provides all of these people as well as all the gifts, talents and abilities to do these jobs in order to provide just a loaf of bread.
God gives to each of us to be priests in the priesthood of all believers. The work of a priest is to offer sacrifices. The pastor does not offer sacrifices. We, the priests, offer sacrifices. We offer our lives as living sacrifices. As Paul puts it, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1 (ESV)).
As we live our lives in our various vocations, including the fact that we live in more than one vocation at a time, as we live our lives in our various vocations, such as mother/father, brother/sister, aunt/uncle, employer/employee, citizen/governor, teacher/student, husband/wife, parent/child, we do so offering our lives as living sacrifices to the Lord. As we serve others in our various vocations, we are serving the Lord.
As Christians, we believe, teach and confess that the gifts, talents and abilities we have as well as the job or career in which we work are gifts from God, and so we are to use our gifts, talents and abilities in service to others to the glory of the Lord. Thus, we do not believe that any one gift, talent or ability, that any one job or career is innately better than any other vocation, but that all are important as ordained by God.
