"Christian Vocation: A Calling from God" Ash Wednesday March 5, 2014 Romans 13:9; 1Timothy 2:1
The commandments... are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Romans 13:9 I urge... that requests, prayer, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone. 1Timothy 2:1 In the Small Catechism, after the Six Chief Parts and Daily Prayers, there is the section Table of Duties. The subheading is "Certain passages of Scripture for various holy orders and positions, admonishing them about their duties and responsibilities." Most of them are listed on the back of the bulletin and will be the basis for our Catechetical Instruction during Lent. They include such roles as citizen, husband, wife, parent, child, youth, and widow. This evening we will be honing in on the one that follows all of these, which is "everyone." That is pretty broad, but not every Christian is a parent, or an employee, or a youth. There is, though, a command from God that applies to every Christian in every role he finds himself. It is found in Romans chapter 13, "Love your neighbor as yourself." All of Christian life is serving. We serve others in our various roles. This is what is called Christian vocation. The word vocation comes from the Latin word "calling." We are called by God to serve others. The way we do that is in the many roles we have, or vocations. Christian vocation is a calling from God. Rather than living for ourselves, we live in service to others. We love our neighbor as our self. We make requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for everyone. In the coming weeks we will get very specific, how we serve in specific vocations. This evening, we see that regardless of which specific vocations God has called us to, we all have a high and holy calling from Him to serve others. We love them as we love ourselves. The Catechism is brief and yet captures what we need to know for this life of service. The Table of Duties is not given to us in a vacuum. It comes, rather, after the Six Chief Parts. The Ten Commandments not only guide us in Christian vocation, they also show us how we fall short in carrying out our Christian duties. The Ten Commandments ultimately convict us and show us our condemnation. The Creed shows us the Savior we have in God from our condemnation. Jesus' carried out His vocation of saving sinners from their sin. The Lord's Prayer shows us the holy life we have in being forgiven by Him. Our life in Him is the life of prayer. Jesus doesn't just teach us how to pray in terms of the words we use but also teaches us how to live. In Baptism we are shown how the Holy Spirit brings us into this new life. We are also shown that this new life is one as a saint and sinner simultaneously, as we daily struggle against our sinful flesh, repenting of our sins and being raised up again to new life. In Confession and Absolution we are shown how God continues to strengthen us in this new life as He absolves us of our sins. In the Lord's Supper we are shown that His grace is never static but a continual giving to us and feeding us of His grace, His forgiveness, and His strength. Having been Baptized, we receive often the Body and Blood of Christ to give us the strength we need to live the new life we have in Christ. These are the Six Chief Parts. They show us what we need to know for salvation. The second part, Daily Prayers, give further guidance in our life of prayer. It is only then that the Catechism gives guidance in Christian vocation with the Table of Duties. It is only then that we can see that the commands of God are not burdensome but rather the natural outgrowth of new life in Christ. Loving our neighbor as our self is nothing other than loving others as we have been loved by God in Christ. It's fitting that we begin our meditation during Lent on Christian vocation on Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday and during Lent we recognize that we are sinners. We are dust and to dust we will return. We recognize that this isn't simply an observance, but is an actual hearing and receiving of the Lord and His Word and His forgiveness. It's in that context and that flows out of that that we love our neighbor as ourselves, that we lift up prayers for everyone. So how do we carry out this vocation that each of us as Christians have? It is only by carrying out our vocation that is shown to us in the Six Chief Parts. We first are receivers from the Lord, we are simply dust. We hear His Word that we are sinners. We hear His word of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Thus we are called to a vocation of living in our Baptism, constantly receiving Word and Sacrament, perpetually relying upon God's grace alone for us in Christ Jesus. Christian vocation is what we do by God's calling and by His grace. It's how we live. It's the day to day work we do, the serving we do, the caring for others we do, and the loving others that we do. Ash Wednesday is an excellent time to consider Christian vocation. Ash Wednesday hits us straight between the eyes with the fact that we are merely dust. And even more than that, it is to dust we will return. On Ash Wednesday we see that while in Christian vocation it's what we do and how we serve, it is entirely God's doing. How could we really do anything when we are nothing more than dust and ashes? God first gave us life. He brought Adam forth from the ground. He brought Eve forth from Adam's side. All the rest of us He has brought forth from women down through the centuries. When we die we will be laid in the ground. Our bodies will begin decomposing, turning to dust. If Ash Wednesday seems like a depressing thing to observe in the Church Year it's because we don't see our need for this. If your lot were simply that you have come from dust and that you will return to dust, that would indeed be depressing. But Ash Wednesday shows us that we have come from dust, which means that we are here purely by the grace of God. God has given us life, and that's a blessing we could never have if it were up to us. On the Last Day God will raise up our bodies that have been deteriorating in the grave. Life all the way through is from God and by God. He gives it and He sustains it. He will restore it. He will raise us up on the Last Day and we will live forever, not again to return to dust but to live imperishably. What this does is give meaning to your life here on earth. It gives you reason for being alive. The hope you have for the future is lived out here on earth in service to others. That's what vocation is all about. As a Christian, you have many vocations, callings from God in which you love and serve others in many ways. In teaching Confession and Absolution in the Catechism, this guidance is given regarding which sins we confess: "Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker?" That is very helpful in considering how you have sinned. It also is excellent guidance for carrying out your Christian vocation. You will see in the weeks to come how the Table of Duties are an extension of what God has called you to do in serving others; things we should not do that would harm others and things we should do that will help and serve them. God has placed many people in your life to love and serve. In the third reading for Ash Wednesday, from the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus speaks of the kind of disposition a Christian has: And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Fasting can be a helpful way of teaching yourself that you do not live to yourself but rather to God. He has called you not to look within yourself for your needs, but from without. He provides you with what you need, in body and soul. His gift of food is good even as you do not live by bread alone. Going without food for a period of time, or scaling back how much food you eat, gives you opportunity to focus with greater clarity on God and His word. As your stomach tells you you need more food, your mind tells you that there is Greater Food your Lord desires to feed you with and it is found in hearing and receiving His Word and His Sacraments. And it is to this point that Jesus continues in the third reading: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Ultimately, God has freed you from yourself. That is, He has delivered you from your sin and your sinful flesh. In Baptism, you have died to sin and you have been raised to new life in Christ. If your treasure is in your selfish desires, that is where your heart will be. There won't be room for you to serve others in the vocations God has called you to. You do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. You are dust and to dust you will return but you will be raised to imperishable life. Each day you have a calling from God to love and serve those in your life and those He places in your life. God bless and guide you in that which He has called you. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
