The Purpose of God's Calling

 

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). In Romans 8:29, we read what God’s purpose is for those who love him. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

In Romans 8:30, we have God’s outline for transforming those whom he predestinates to be conformed to the image of his Son. “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

God’s purpose for everyone whom he calls is to be like his Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-29). For us to be like his Son, his Son had to become like us so that we may know what he is like (John 1: 1-5, 14).  When we read the Gospels, we are seeing what he did and what we are to be doing. We are reading the past to see what we are to be doing in the present.

The first step in the outline for transformation into the image of his Son after predestination is the call. God calls people through the proclamation of the gospel to repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:12-15). He also calls people as they read the Bible, hear the testimony of another person who is saved by grace, dreams, and visions.

In the parable of the Sower, Jesus tells us the response of those who hear the gospel.  When people hear the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. Some hear the word and at once receive it with joy.  But they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Others hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. Then there are those who hear the word and understand it. They are the ones who produce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown (Matthew 13:18-23 NIV). They are the ones who are called, justified, and glorified fulfilling God’s plan of transformation into the image of his Son (Romans 8:30).

God’s mercy that Paul wrote about in Romans 8-12 explains what Jesus Christ has done to make possible our justification. Jesus offered himself a living sacrifice for us that we may be justified from sin and death. It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we are righteous through faith, justified (Romans 5:1), born again (John 3:3), which prepares us to start living in the kingdom of God (Romans 14:17) as his sons and daughters being transformed into the image of his Son.

John writing in Revelation explains justification differently than Paul, but the result of justification as John writes helps to see how it combines with Paul’s teaching to be conformed into the image of Jesus. “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6 NKJV).”

As priests the justified obey Romans 12:1-2 NIV: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Good: no one is good except God (Mark 10:18). When we are justified, we receive the Holy Spirit who pours God’s love into our heart (Romans 5:1-5). God’s love produces Christ’s character in the life of the justified which is the fruit of the Spirit (1Galatians 5:22-23).  One of the fruits of the Spirit is goodness. At the judgment of the nations, those who are transformed into the image of Christ and minister to the needs of the people are ministering to Jesus. He calls them good and faithful servants and invites them into the joy of the Lord (Matthew 25:23).

Acceptable: when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove, and God said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 17:5). When we are justified, we are acceptable to God, and he adopts us into his kingdom (Romans 8:15).

Perfect: no one killed Jesus. He voluntarily offered his life as a sacrifice to save us from sin and death (John 10:18). Before he gave up his life on the cross, he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He had completed the work of redemption that was began before the foundation of the world, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (Revelation 13:8), God’s perfect will. When we offer our bodies as living sacrifices to be transformed into the image of Jesus, we are doing God’s perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).

Paul tells us in Romans 8:35-39 how those who know all things work together for good to them that love God, to love God is to obey his commandments, and are called according to his purpose, justified, and glorified which is the presence of God with us, persevere regardless of circumstances. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”