A generation ago organizations expected their employees to make a commitment to the company and its mission. In return for that commitment the employee could expect the organization to provide employment and growth opportunities. It was a covenant of reciprocal expectations. Both the employee and the company expected and received a degree of loyalty. This reciprocal loyalty reached its extreme in the paternalism of the Pullman company during the development of the railroad. In today's marketplace loyalty no longer works that way.
The Erosion of Loyalty in the Workplace
Peter Block in his book The Empowered Manager reminds us that companies are not in business to take care of their employees. Ultimately only God will take care of you. While organizations still want their employees to make a commitment to the mission and the good of the company and while employees still want organizations who will take care of them and guarantee employment, both sides recognize that the constraints of the modern marketplace make these expectations unrealistic.
Max DePree, former chairman of the Herman Miller Company--a Fortune 500 company often listed among the best places to work in the United States--regularly notes that workers today are essentially volunteers. He is talking about volunteers not in the sense that they are unpaid but in the sense that they understand they have something to offer and expect a return on the investment of their time and energy. They choose to work where they work because of the exchange that the company offers. It is not a matter of loyalty. They are mobile and understand that they can choose to leave as easily as they choose to stay, taking their time, energy and knowledge with them to a new company where the exchange is better.
Another factor is also at work today. Global competitiveness and the changing marketplace are forcing companies to drastically reduce the work force, restructuring and reengineering themselves to be leaner and more competitive. The loyalty covenant is no longer shaping their attitudes toward employees. In his recent book The End of Work, Jeremy Rifkin argues that the rapid progress of technology and information systems has created a rising technological unemployment, with millions of jobs being eliminated every year. Corporations are still loyal to their mission, to their investors, to their suppliers and indeed to those employees who remain, while they remain. The fact that they may eventually be replaced, however, severely limits the scope and depth of that loyalty.
On the one hand, we have workers who understand that their jobs can be eliminated and thus are looking out for themselves. In the organizations they serve, remaining competitive and providing a satisfactory return to their investors are necessary for survival and thus take precedence over loyalty to specific individuals. On the other hand, the rapid increase in unemployment following the progress in technology will eventually make it so difficult for workers to find other positions that the "volunteer's" choice may, in fact, be removed. These two views both support the current attitudes toward loyalty and at the same time are at odds with one another. So what role does loyalty play in today's workplace?
Loyalty in the Workplace Today
Loyalty is still an appropriate concept with regard to mission, to organizational values, to personal growth and relationships, and to God.
Loyalty to the mission. Every organization is formed around a mission, a specific purpose that defines each person's contribution within the organizational community. While the unquestioning loyalty to the company of earlier decades is no longer appropriate, it is appropriate for an organization to expect its people to be committed to the mission of the community in which they choose to work. That commitment should draw employees into continually improving the contributions they make to the organization so that the mission can be achieved. It is the mission that brings them into relationship with the organization, and as long as they work in that context, the mission deserves their loyalty and the investment of their talents.
Loyalty to the values. Similarly, every organization operates with an organizational culture, a set of assumptions and beliefs that, if the organization is operating with integrity, will be expressed in the values by which it lives its corporate life. Organizations have the right to expect employees who choose to work in that community to exhibit a loyalty to the organizational values. It is these values that define the relationships of the people within the organization and the environment in which they work.
Loyalty to personal growth, yours and others'. As Peter Block has noted, while the organization should be expected to provide a responsible return on the investment of its employees, the company cannot be counted on to guarantee employment or future employability. It is incumbent upon employees to accept responsibility for their own growth, both in their ability to make a significant contribution to the organization and in their development for future employment in that company or another. Personal growth is the responsibility of the individual, and it may or may not be assisted by the organization. At the same time, employees in most cases work in relationships. It is appropriate that the loyalty we bring as individuals to our own growth and development be extended to those with whom we work. When the Christian concept of community is brought to the organization, it is a necessary corollary that individuals make a commitment of loyalty to one another in their relationships.
Loyalty to God. In the final analysis this is where loyalty is lodged. For example, Paul wrote to the Colossian congregation a letter that was to be read at the same time they were to accept Onesimus, the runaway slave, back into their midst as a Christian brother. He said, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Col 3:23-24).
Christians in the marketplace work with full loyalty to God, a loyalty that manifests itself in commitment to the mission--the work to be done. This loyalty is also expressed in a commitment to the values of the community in which they choose to work, a commitment to grow both in their knowledge of God and in their ability to make a contribution to the organization and a commitment to the growth and well-being of those around them.
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
CALLING/VOCATION
The English word vocation comes from the Latin vocatio, which means "calling"; they are the same thing, though this is not obvious to the people who use these words. Experiencing and living by a calling provides a fundamental orientation to everyday life. But most of the world today has strayed from this and defines calling as a self-chosen career, usually a professional one that involves keeping appropriate standards and norms.
The fact that many people speak of their jobs as their "vocation" while pastors and missionaries speak of "being called" shows how inadequately we have grasped the universal call of God to every Christian. As Os Guinness says, calling means that our lives are so lived as a summons of Christ that the expression of our personalities and the exercise of our spiritual gifts and natural talents are given direction and power precisely because they are not done for themselves, our families, our businesses or even humankind but for the Lord, who will hold us accountable for them. A calling in Scripture is neither limited to nor equated with work. Moreover, a calling is to someone, not to something or somewhere. This last statement is sublimely significant but missed in this postvocational world.
Misunderstanding Calling
There are many indications that we are living in a postvocational world, one which views human beings as determining their own occupations and roles. Some difficulties arise from a secular approach, others from a distorted religious understanding.
Secular misunderstanding. In the secular mindset, a calling has been reduced to the occupation a person chooses. But "choosing a vocation" is a misnomer. To speak of a calling invites the question "By whom?" It is certainly not oneself! In line with this, vocational guidance has been reduced to career selection. As a secular perversion of calling, careerism invites people to seek financial success, security, access to power and privilege, and the guarantee of leisure, satisfaction and prestige (Donahue, p. 318). Some young people despair of finding a career and wrongly assume they lack a vocation. When people retire or become unemployed, they think they have lost their vocation.
One consequence of reducing a calling to an occupation is that work and ministry easily become professionalized, introducing a dangerous distortion. Without a deep sense of calling many people drift into a toxic mix of drivenness expressed in workaholism and the compulsive pursuit of leisure, a debilitating substitute for the freedom of the called life and the experience of sabbath. But if the secular world has missed the meaning of a calling, the people best positioned to teach it seem also to have misunderstood it.
Ecclesiastical misunderstanding. In most churches the average Christian has a job or profession, which he or she chooses. The minister, however, has a calling. The professional ministry has been elevated as the vocation of vocations and the primary work to which a person should give evidence of a call. Martin Luther was eloquent on the tragic results of this two-level view of vocation, stemming as it did from medieval monasticism, though now extending into modern Christianity:
Monastic vows rest on the false assumption that there is a special calling, a vocation, to which superior Christians are invited to observe the counsels of perfection while ordinary Christians fulfil only the commands; but there simply is no special religious vocation since the call of God comes to each at the common tasks. (Bainton, p. 156)
As we will see, this profound misunderstanding is partly responsible for the widespread difficulty of relating Sunday to Monday and translating Christian faith into everyday activities. Unfortunately the Reformation introduced another distortion.
Reformational misunderstanding. Following the Protestant Reformation, a calling became equated exclusively with the personal experience of the providence of God placing us in a "station," or "calling," where we were to serve God as ministers. Called people live in harmony with their gifts and talents, discerning circumstances and accepting their personalities and life situations as God's "call." The Reformers did not universally teach this.
On the basis of 1 Corinthians 7:17 ("Each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him"), Luther opposed the prevailing idea that in order to serve God fully, a person should leave his or her previous way of life and become a member of the priesthood or of a religious order (Kolden, pp. 382-90). This is the one place where Paul, or any other New Testament writer, seems to use call language for the "place in life" or "station" we occupy (for example, slave, free, married, single, etc.). It is complicated by the fact that in 1 Corinthians 7:17 Paul speaks of the situation as that "to which God has called him" and in 1 Corinthians 7:20 of "the situation which he was in when God called him." Though such life situations get taken up in God's call and are transformed by it, the call of God comes to us in these situations (1 Cor 7:20) and is much more than occupation, marital status or social position. Although Paul comes very close to seeing the setting in which one is called as calling itself, he never quite makes that jump. At most, calling refers to the circumstances in which the calling took place. This does not mean that a person is locked forever in a particular situation: "Rather, Paul means that by calling a person within a given situation, that situation itself is taken up in the call and thus sanctified to him or her" (Fee, 309-10).
This Reformational overemphasis on staying where God has placed us has led to reducing mission, suspecting charismatic gifts and, ironically, downplaying nonclerical ministry. But there is a half-truth in this distortion. The purpose of God is revealed in our personality and life path. Elizabeth O'Connor says, "We ask to know the will of God without guessing that his will is written into our very beings" (O'Connor, pp. 14-15).
Reasons for the Loss of Vocation
Several factors have converged to produce the contemporary postvocational society. First, medieval monasticism, based ultimately on Greek dualism, contributed a two-level approach to Christian living: the ordinary way (in society) and the spiritual way (in the monastery or priesthood). This distinction is now thoroughly embedded in all strands of Christianity, including evangelical Protestantism.
Second, the Protestant Reformation, in part because it was a reaction, failed to liberate the laity fully. In medieval monasticism Christians elected a superior religious life by embracing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. Against this, Luther and the Reformers restored the central place of the Ten Commandments as God's direction for the whole of life and exalted the civic vocation of the ordinary Christian: "true Christianity" is now located in the everyday life and work of the layperson. "The real 'saint' is the 'secular saint'--not the one who withdraws from society" (Bockmuehl, p. 30). Luther said his milkmaid was potentially more holy than the monks on pilgrimage. The emphasis on a "secret" call taught by John Calvin, however, produced a ministerial elite, and the long-term result was the reestablishment of an unbiblical clergy-lay distinction. The Protestant preacher replaced the priest.
Third, in one sense Martin Luther's famous "Here I stand" speech expressed the emerging individualism of the Western world, an individualism antithetical to the corporate nature of calling. It is primarily in North America that Calvin's fears of the lawlessness of the "believers' churches" were realized, namely, that people would claim to be "guided by God" (for example, in adulterous relationships or immoral business deals) even though the path led to a transgression of God's commandments (Bockmuehl, p. 33). In contrast, biblical vocation involves mutual accountability, membership within the people of God and ethical living for the common good.
Fourth, with the increasing secularization of Western society, a biblical perspective on work was lost. Work is commonly regarded as a curse from which we should seek deliverance or an idol through which we should find ultimate satisfaction.
Fifth, consumerism, the compulsive pursuit of leisure, the loss of sabbath, the alienation of workers from management typified in the complex union movement and increasing organizational complexity in society (Almen, p. 136) all have contributed to the loss of vocation. The Western world is now oriented toward individual self-fulfillment in the pursuit of career and profession. The recovery of biblical vocation is desperately needed.
Call Language in the Bible
Call (qara) language in the Old Testament is used primarily for the people of God who are summoned to participate in God's grand purpose for the world. It is a call to salvation, a call to holiness and a call to service. In the New Testament it is the same. The word call (kaleo and klesis) is used for the invitation to salvation through discipleship to Christ, the summons to a holy corporate and personal living and the call to serve. All Christians are called. All are called together. All are called for the totality of everyday life. What does biblical theology teach us about the meaning of being called?
The one and the three. In the Bible there is only one call of God that comes to God's people, but there are three dimensions in that call: to belong, to be and to do.
First is the call to belong to God, to become persons who have their identity as children of God and members of the family of God (Hos 11:1-2; Mt 9:13; Mk 2:17; Lk 5:32; Acts 2:39; Rom 1:6-7; 8:28; 9:24; 1 Cor 1:24, 26; 7:17, 20; Eph 1:18; 4:1; Phil 3:14; 1 Thess 2:12; 5:24; 2 Thess 2:14; 1 Tim 6:12). Second is the call to be God's people who exist for the praise of his glory as we live out our true identity in all aspects of life in the church and world. This is expressed in holiness or sanctification (1 Cor 1:9; 7:15; Gal 5:13; Eph 4:4; Col 3:15; 1 Thess 4:7; 2 Tim 1:9). Third is the call to do God's work, to enter into God's service in both the church and the world. This involves gifts, talents, ministries, occupations, roles, work and mission (Ex 19:6; Is 41:2, 4; 42:6; Mt 4:21; Mk 3:13-14; Eph 4:1; 1 Pet 2:9-10). In this way Christian vocation fulfills the human vocation mandated in Genesis 1:27-28, a vocation also with three (parallel) parts: (1) the call to enjoy communion with God (belonging), a communion lost through sin; (2) the call to community building (being) and the mandate to build a family; and (3) the call to cocreativity (doing), through which humankind expresses stewardship of the earth and makes God's world work.
Unfortunately, most discussions of the human vocation center on the third dimension exclusively. In reaction to this Christians normally focus on the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20) without understanding that Christ's work of salvation enables people to recover their full humanity and embrace the threefold creation mandate. A truncated understanding of vocation as merely relating to the Great Commission has resulted in the tragic loss of dignity to persons working in various so-called secular occupations. Thus teachers, lawyers, doctors and homemakers have been tacitly placed in a subordinate rank to pastors, evangelists and missionaries, these last being designated as ministers. The gospel involves us in serving God's purposes in the world through civic, social, political, domestic and ecclesiastical roles. All three dimensions of the human vocation are fulfilled by the single command to love: loving God (belonging in communion), loving our neighbor (being a community builder) and loving God's world (doing God's work on earth).
The many and the few. In the Old Testament the people as a whole were called to fulfill Adam's vocation in the context of being a chosen nation: (1) to belong to God as a chosen people and so to enjoy God; (2) to live as a covenant community in holiness, justice and mercy; and (3) to serve God's purposes in the world through missionary outreach (Jonah) and winsome living (Zech 8:23), thus being a "light for the Gentiles" (Is 42:6) and a "kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6). That is the call to the many. But within the people of God under the older covenant, some people were called individually to special roles of service as prophets, priests and kings: Moses (Exodus 3:4), Samuel (1 Sam 3:10-14), David (1 Sam 16), Isaiah (Is 6), Jeremiah (Jer 1:4-19), Ezekiel (Ezek 2), Amos (Amos 7:15). This is the call to a few for special anointed service.
Under the new covenant the call of God is both individual and corporate. Individually we are called to belong to God through adoption, live holy lives and serve God. The individual experience of the call of God means that each person is led by God and invited so to live, work and minister in the light of the wisdom and Spirit of God. While it may be appropriate to speak of one's daily work or specific ministry initiatives as included in the calling, the New Testament does not normally do so! This individual call also has three dimensions, which Greg Ogden outlines in these terms: (1) we experience an inner oughtness; (2) it is bigger than ourselves; and (3) it brings great satisfaction and joy (p. 209). You have a sense that you were "born to this."
Corporately, the call of God brings into existence a people that belongs to God (1 Pet 2:9-11) with members belonging to one another. Together we live a community life that bears witness to our true identity and serves God's purposes of humanizing the world until Christ comes again. This call of God is comprehensive (Eph 4:1) and embraces work, service in the church, family life, civic and creational responsibilities, mission in the world and personal spirituality. The call of God engages us totally and not merely in the religious sector of our lives.
The general and the particular. The distinction between a general calling to salvation and discipleship and a particular calling to a specific context for discipleship was elaborated by the Puritans. William Perkins, the only Puritan author to describe callings in a systematic way, emphasized calling as "a certain kind of life ordained and imposed on man by God for the common good" (p. 46), though Perkins himself often spoke of callings as though they were simply occupations, some of which were not lawful callings. It seems Perkins fused the two ideas of duties and occupations. In time the Puritan movement lost this synthesis that reflects the biblical balance of calling to salvation expressed in the concrete everyday contexts of our life (family, nation, city, etc.).
In summary, God's call is primarily soteriological rather than occupational--we are called more to someone (God) than to do something. Luther "extended the concept of divine call, vocation, to all worthy occupations" (Bainton, pp. 180-81), but he meant that the Christian is called to be a Christian in whatever situation he or she finds himself or herself, rather than equate vocation with occupation (Kolden, pp. 382-90). Further, there is no authority in the Bible for a special, secondary call from God as a prerequisite to enter the professional ministry. The call to leadership in the church comes from the church! While a special existential call may be given by God in some cases, the primary biblical basis upon which a person may enter pastoral leadership is character (a good reputation and ethical behavior) and God-given gifts of leadership (1 Tim 3; 1 Pet 5:1-10). There is no status difference between leaders and people, so-called clergy and so-called laity, and only in some areas is there a functional one.
In the same way there is no need to be called through an existential experience to an occupation or other responsibilities in society. God gives motivation and gift; God arranges circumstances and guides. Through God's leading, work, family, civil vocation and neighboring are encompassed in our total response to God's saving and transforming call in Jesus. Misunderstanding on this point has been promoted by the overemphasis of 1 Corinthians 7:17, mentioned previously. Focusing on this one text has had several side effects: (1) it minimizes the corporate, people-of-God aspect of vocation, (2) makes too much of the specific place one occupies in society as though the place itself were the calling, and (3) focuses on task, or doing, to the exclusion of being. Nevertheless, one should regard the various contexts of life--marriage and singleness, workplace, neighborhood, society--as taken up into the call of God and therefore expressed in terms of holiness and service rather than arenas chosen for personal self-fulfillment. Thus vocational guidance is not discerning our call but in the context of our call to discipleship discerning the guidance of God in our lives and learning how to live in every dimension in response to God's call. (For an investigation of the process of making occupational and life decisions in light of the above, see Vocational Guidance.)
Living as Called People
Understanding and experiencing calling can bring a deep joy to everyday life. Paraphrasing Os Guinness, I note several fruits of living vocationally rather than simply yielding to careerism, occupationalism or professionalism. First, calling enables us to put work in its proper perspective--neither a curse nor an idol but taken up into God's grand purpose. Second, it contributes to a deep sense of identity that is formed by whose we are rather than what we do. Third, it balances personal with public discipleship by keeping our Christian life from becoming either privatized or politicized. Fourth, it deals constructively with ambition by creating boundaries for human initiative so that we can offer sacrificial service without becoming fanatical or addicted. Fifth, it equips us to live with single-mindedness in the face of multiple needs, competing claims and diversions--the need is not the call. Sixth, it gives us a deep sense of integrity when living under secular pressures by inviting us to live in a counterculture and a countercommunity--the people of God--so we can never become "company people." Seventh, it helps us make sense of the brevity of our lives, realizing that just as David "had served God's purpose in his own generation, [and] fell asleep" (Acts 13:36), we can live a meaningful life even if our vision cannot be fully realized in one short lifetime. Eighth, the biblical approach to calling assures us that every believer is called into full-time ministry--there are no higher and lower forms of Christian discipleship.
The fact that many people speak of their jobs as their "vocation" while pastors and missionaries speak of "being called" shows how inadequately we have grasped the universal call of God to every Christian. As Os Guinness says, calling means that our lives are so lived as a summons of Christ that the expression of our personalities and the exercise of our spiritual gifts and natural talents are given direction and power precisely because they are not done for themselves, our families, our businesses or even humankind but for the Lord, who will hold us accountable for them. A calling in Scripture is neither limited to nor equated with work. Moreover, a calling is to someone, not to something or somewhere. This last statement is sublimely significant but missed in this postvocational world.
Misunderstanding Calling
There are many indications that we are living in a postvocational world, one which views human beings as determining their own occupations and roles. Some difficulties arise from a secular approach, others from a distorted religious understanding.
Secular misunderstanding. In the secular mindset, a calling has been reduced to the occupation a person chooses. But "choosing a vocation" is a misnomer. To speak of a calling invites the question "By whom?" It is certainly not oneself! In line with this, vocational guidance has been reduced to career selection. As a secular perversion of calling, careerism invites people to seek financial success, security, access to power and privilege, and the guarantee of leisure, satisfaction and prestige (Donahue, p. 318). Some young people despair of finding a career and wrongly assume they lack a vocation. When people retire or become unemployed, they think they have lost their vocation.
One consequence of reducing a calling to an occupation is that work and ministry easily become professionalized, introducing a dangerous distortion. Without a deep sense of calling many people drift into a toxic mix of drivenness expressed in workaholism and the compulsive pursuit of leisure, a debilitating substitute for the freedom of the called life and the experience of sabbath. But if the secular world has missed the meaning of a calling, the people best positioned to teach it seem also to have misunderstood it.
Ecclesiastical misunderstanding. In most churches the average Christian has a job or profession, which he or she chooses. The minister, however, has a calling. The professional ministry has been elevated as the vocation of vocations and the primary work to which a person should give evidence of a call. Martin Luther was eloquent on the tragic results of this two-level view of vocation, stemming as it did from medieval monasticism, though now extending into modern Christianity:
Monastic vows rest on the false assumption that there is a special calling, a vocation, to which superior Christians are invited to observe the counsels of perfection while ordinary Christians fulfil only the commands; but there simply is no special religious vocation since the call of God comes to each at the common tasks. (Bainton, p. 156)
As we will see, this profound misunderstanding is partly responsible for the widespread difficulty of relating Sunday to Monday and translating Christian faith into everyday activities. Unfortunately the Reformation introduced another distortion.
Reformational misunderstanding. Following the Protestant Reformation, a calling became equated exclusively with the personal experience of the providence of God placing us in a "station," or "calling," where we were to serve God as ministers. Called people live in harmony with their gifts and talents, discerning circumstances and accepting their personalities and life situations as God's "call." The Reformers did not universally teach this.
On the basis of 1 Corinthians 7:17 ("Each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him"), Luther opposed the prevailing idea that in order to serve God fully, a person should leave his or her previous way of life and become a member of the priesthood or of a religious order (Kolden, pp. 382-90). This is the one place where Paul, or any other New Testament writer, seems to use call language for the "place in life" or "station" we occupy (for example, slave, free, married, single, etc.). It is complicated by the fact that in 1 Corinthians 7:17 Paul speaks of the situation as that "to which God has called him" and in 1 Corinthians 7:20 of "the situation which he was in when God called him." Though such life situations get taken up in God's call and are transformed by it, the call of God comes to us in these situations (1 Cor 7:20) and is much more than occupation, marital status or social position. Although Paul comes very close to seeing the setting in which one is called as calling itself, he never quite makes that jump. At most, calling refers to the circumstances in which the calling took place. This does not mean that a person is locked forever in a particular situation: "Rather, Paul means that by calling a person within a given situation, that situation itself is taken up in the call and thus sanctified to him or her" (Fee, 309-10).
This Reformational overemphasis on staying where God has placed us has led to reducing mission, suspecting charismatic gifts and, ironically, downplaying nonclerical ministry. But there is a half-truth in this distortion. The purpose of God is revealed in our personality and life path. Elizabeth O'Connor says, "We ask to know the will of God without guessing that his will is written into our very beings" (O'Connor, pp. 14-15).
Reasons for the Loss of Vocation
Several factors have converged to produce the contemporary postvocational society. First, medieval monasticism, based ultimately on Greek dualism, contributed a two-level approach to Christian living: the ordinary way (in society) and the spiritual way (in the monastery or priesthood). This distinction is now thoroughly embedded in all strands of Christianity, including evangelical Protestantism.
Second, the Protestant Reformation, in part because it was a reaction, failed to liberate the laity fully. In medieval monasticism Christians elected a superior religious life by embracing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. Against this, Luther and the Reformers restored the central place of the Ten Commandments as God's direction for the whole of life and exalted the civic vocation of the ordinary Christian: "true Christianity" is now located in the everyday life and work of the layperson. "The real 'saint' is the 'secular saint'--not the one who withdraws from society" (Bockmuehl, p. 30). Luther said his milkmaid was potentially more holy than the monks on pilgrimage. The emphasis on a "secret" call taught by John Calvin, however, produced a ministerial elite, and the long-term result was the reestablishment of an unbiblical clergy-lay distinction. The Protestant preacher replaced the priest.
Third, in one sense Martin Luther's famous "Here I stand" speech expressed the emerging individualism of the Western world, an individualism antithetical to the corporate nature of calling. It is primarily in North America that Calvin's fears of the lawlessness of the "believers' churches" were realized, namely, that people would claim to be "guided by God" (for example, in adulterous relationships or immoral business deals) even though the path led to a transgression of God's commandments (Bockmuehl, p. 33). In contrast, biblical vocation involves mutual accountability, membership within the people of God and ethical living for the common good.
Fourth, with the increasing secularization of Western society, a biblical perspective on work was lost. Work is commonly regarded as a curse from which we should seek deliverance or an idol through which we should find ultimate satisfaction.
Fifth, consumerism, the compulsive pursuit of leisure, the loss of sabbath, the alienation of workers from management typified in the complex union movement and increasing organizational complexity in society (Almen, p. 136) all have contributed to the loss of vocation. The Western world is now oriented toward individual self-fulfillment in the pursuit of career and profession. The recovery of biblical vocation is desperately needed.
Call Language in the Bible
Call (qara) language in the Old Testament is used primarily for the people of God who are summoned to participate in God's grand purpose for the world. It is a call to salvation, a call to holiness and a call to service. In the New Testament it is the same. The word call (kaleo and klesis) is used for the invitation to salvation through discipleship to Christ, the summons to a holy corporate and personal living and the call to serve. All Christians are called. All are called together. All are called for the totality of everyday life. What does biblical theology teach us about the meaning of being called?
The one and the three. In the Bible there is only one call of God that comes to God's people, but there are three dimensions in that call: to belong, to be and to do.
First is the call to belong to God, to become persons who have their identity as children of God and members of the family of God (Hos 11:1-2; Mt 9:13; Mk 2:17; Lk 5:32; Acts 2:39; Rom 1:6-7; 8:28; 9:24; 1 Cor 1:24, 26; 7:17, 20; Eph 1:18; 4:1; Phil 3:14; 1 Thess 2:12; 5:24; 2 Thess 2:14; 1 Tim 6:12). Second is the call to be God's people who exist for the praise of his glory as we live out our true identity in all aspects of life in the church and world. This is expressed in holiness or sanctification (1 Cor 1:9; 7:15; Gal 5:13; Eph 4:4; Col 3:15; 1 Thess 4:7; 2 Tim 1:9). Third is the call to do God's work, to enter into God's service in both the church and the world. This involves gifts, talents, ministries, occupations, roles, work and mission (Ex 19:6; Is 41:2, 4; 42:6; Mt 4:21; Mk 3:13-14; Eph 4:1; 1 Pet 2:9-10). In this way Christian vocation fulfills the human vocation mandated in Genesis 1:27-28, a vocation also with three (parallel) parts: (1) the call to enjoy communion with God (belonging), a communion lost through sin; (2) the call to community building (being) and the mandate to build a family; and (3) the call to cocreativity (doing), through which humankind expresses stewardship of the earth and makes God's world work.
Unfortunately, most discussions of the human vocation center on the third dimension exclusively. In reaction to this Christians normally focus on the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20) without understanding that Christ's work of salvation enables people to recover their full humanity and embrace the threefold creation mandate. A truncated understanding of vocation as merely relating to the Great Commission has resulted in the tragic loss of dignity to persons working in various so-called secular occupations. Thus teachers, lawyers, doctors and homemakers have been tacitly placed in a subordinate rank to pastors, evangelists and missionaries, these last being designated as ministers. The gospel involves us in serving God's purposes in the world through civic, social, political, domestic and ecclesiastical roles. All three dimensions of the human vocation are fulfilled by the single command to love: loving God (belonging in communion), loving our neighbor (being a community builder) and loving God's world (doing God's work on earth).
The many and the few. In the Old Testament the people as a whole were called to fulfill Adam's vocation in the context of being a chosen nation: (1) to belong to God as a chosen people and so to enjoy God; (2) to live as a covenant community in holiness, justice and mercy; and (3) to serve God's purposes in the world through missionary outreach (Jonah) and winsome living (Zech 8:23), thus being a "light for the Gentiles" (Is 42:6) and a "kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6). That is the call to the many. But within the people of God under the older covenant, some people were called individually to special roles of service as prophets, priests and kings: Moses (Exodus 3:4), Samuel (1 Sam 3:10-14), David (1 Sam 16), Isaiah (Is 6), Jeremiah (Jer 1:4-19), Ezekiel (Ezek 2), Amos (Amos 7:15). This is the call to a few for special anointed service.
Under the new covenant the call of God is both individual and corporate. Individually we are called to belong to God through adoption, live holy lives and serve God. The individual experience of the call of God means that each person is led by God and invited so to live, work and minister in the light of the wisdom and Spirit of God. While it may be appropriate to speak of one's daily work or specific ministry initiatives as included in the calling, the New Testament does not normally do so! This individual call also has three dimensions, which Greg Ogden outlines in these terms: (1) we experience an inner oughtness; (2) it is bigger than ourselves; and (3) it brings great satisfaction and joy (p. 209). You have a sense that you were "born to this."
Corporately, the call of God brings into existence a people that belongs to God (1 Pet 2:9-11) with members belonging to one another. Together we live a community life that bears witness to our true identity and serves God's purposes of humanizing the world until Christ comes again. This call of God is comprehensive (Eph 4:1) and embraces work, service in the church, family life, civic and creational responsibilities, mission in the world and personal spirituality. The call of God engages us totally and not merely in the religious sector of our lives.
The general and the particular. The distinction between a general calling to salvation and discipleship and a particular calling to a specific context for discipleship was elaborated by the Puritans. William Perkins, the only Puritan author to describe callings in a systematic way, emphasized calling as "a certain kind of life ordained and imposed on man by God for the common good" (p. 46), though Perkins himself often spoke of callings as though they were simply occupations, some of which were not lawful callings. It seems Perkins fused the two ideas of duties and occupations. In time the Puritan movement lost this synthesis that reflects the biblical balance of calling to salvation expressed in the concrete everyday contexts of our life (family, nation, city, etc.).
In summary, God's call is primarily soteriological rather than occupational--we are called more to someone (God) than to do something. Luther "extended the concept of divine call, vocation, to all worthy occupations" (Bainton, pp. 180-81), but he meant that the Christian is called to be a Christian in whatever situation he or she finds himself or herself, rather than equate vocation with occupation (Kolden, pp. 382-90). Further, there is no authority in the Bible for a special, secondary call from God as a prerequisite to enter the professional ministry. The call to leadership in the church comes from the church! While a special existential call may be given by God in some cases, the primary biblical basis upon which a person may enter pastoral leadership is character (a good reputation and ethical behavior) and God-given gifts of leadership (1 Tim 3; 1 Pet 5:1-10). There is no status difference between leaders and people, so-called clergy and so-called laity, and only in some areas is there a functional one.
In the same way there is no need to be called through an existential experience to an occupation or other responsibilities in society. God gives motivation and gift; God arranges circumstances and guides. Through God's leading, work, family, civil vocation and neighboring are encompassed in our total response to God's saving and transforming call in Jesus. Misunderstanding on this point has been promoted by the overemphasis of 1 Corinthians 7:17, mentioned previously. Focusing on this one text has had several side effects: (1) it minimizes the corporate, people-of-God aspect of vocation, (2) makes too much of the specific place one occupies in society as though the place itself were the calling, and (3) focuses on task, or doing, to the exclusion of being. Nevertheless, one should regard the various contexts of life--marriage and singleness, workplace, neighborhood, society--as taken up into the call of God and therefore expressed in terms of holiness and service rather than arenas chosen for personal self-fulfillment. Thus vocational guidance is not discerning our call but in the context of our call to discipleship discerning the guidance of God in our lives and learning how to live in every dimension in response to God's call. (For an investigation of the process of making occupational and life decisions in light of the above, see Vocational Guidance.)
Living as Called People
Understanding and experiencing calling can bring a deep joy to everyday life. Paraphrasing Os Guinness, I note several fruits of living vocationally rather than simply yielding to careerism, occupationalism or professionalism. First, calling enables us to put work in its proper perspective--neither a curse nor an idol but taken up into God's grand purpose. Second, it contributes to a deep sense of identity that is formed by whose we are rather than what we do. Third, it balances personal with public discipleship by keeping our Christian life from becoming either privatized or politicized. Fourth, it deals constructively with ambition by creating boundaries for human initiative so that we can offer sacrificial service without becoming fanatical or addicted. Fifth, it equips us to live with single-mindedness in the face of multiple needs, competing claims and diversions--the need is not the call. Sixth, it gives us a deep sense of integrity when living under secular pressures by inviting us to live in a counterculture and a countercommunity--the people of God--so we can never become "company people." Seventh, it helps us make sense of the brevity of our lives, realizing that just as David "had served God's purpose in his own generation, [and] fell asleep" (Acts 13:36), we can live a meaningful life even if our vision cannot be fully realized in one short lifetime. Eighth, the biblical approach to calling assures us that every believer is called into full-time ministry--there are no higher and lower forms of Christian discipleship.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Divine Calling
Paul grabs our attention in the introduction of his letter to the Galatians by filling the typical formal greetings with two strong emphases: his God-given authority and his Christ-centered message. Once you grasp these points, you have the gist of the whole letter.
God-Given Authority (1:1)
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead
In Paul's day, Greek letters began with a formal salutation: the writer's name, the recipient's name and a greeting. Paul introduces himself as an apostle--sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. The title apostle designated one who was given authority to represent another. This title was used in the early church in a broad sense to designate missionary leaders (see Acts 14:14). The title was also used in a narrow sense for those who had been given unique authority from Christ to be his representatives and the founders of the church (see Acts 1:21-26). In Galatians 1 Paul claims the title for himself in the narrow sense. He recognizes that there were those who were apostles before him (1:17), but he does not see himself as subordinate to the original apostles. If the original apostles had been the source of his commission or the agents of his commission (as the false teachers in the Galatian church were probably suggesting), then he would have been subordinate to them. But his authority was not derived from a human source or even through a human agency; his authority was directly given to him by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. Note how this antithesis clearly places Jesus Christ on the side of God (not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ). The risen Lord had directly commissioned Paul. So those who challenged Paul's message were in fact challenging the Lord who had commissioned him.
Have you ever found yourself questioning, challenging or even rejecting any of Paul's statements? Paul's claim to apostolic authority should cause us to reconsider when our own opinions or "the general consensus of scholarly opinion" would lead us to disagree with him. It appears that the Galatian readers were in danger of turning from Paul's message and hence discrediting his authority. From Paul's time to our day, many have pointed to apparent contradictions and "hard sayings" in his letters and scolded him for his errant teachings. But if Paul has apostolic authority by virtue of his direct commission from the risen Christ, then we may not judge him on the basis of our opinions, for he is the apostolic representative of Christ. Our acceptance of Paul's authority should be guided by Jesus' own words to his apostles: "He who receives you receives me" (Mt 10:40).
Paul's affirmation of his divine appointment also encourages us to affirm our own divine appointments. We may not play the role of apostles, but we are given work to do by God's appointment. If we view our work as just another job to do for a difficult boss, we will soon become discouraged. But if by faith we can see that God has given us work to do for him, then we can overcome even the most difficult obstacles. All work is sacred if it has been given to us by God. Paul was able to endure through all the hardships he faced because he was convinced that his work was given to him by God.
"When I was a young man I thought Paul was making too much of his call. I did not understand his purpose. I did not then realize the importance of the ministry . . . We exalt our calling, not to gain glory among men, or money, or satisfaction, or favor, but because people need to be assured that the words we speak are the words of God. This is no sinful pride. It is holy pride." (Martin Luther)
God-Given Authority (1:1)
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead
In Paul's day, Greek letters began with a formal salutation: the writer's name, the recipient's name and a greeting. Paul introduces himself as an apostle--sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. The title apostle designated one who was given authority to represent another. This title was used in the early church in a broad sense to designate missionary leaders (see Acts 14:14). The title was also used in a narrow sense for those who had been given unique authority from Christ to be his representatives and the founders of the church (see Acts 1:21-26). In Galatians 1 Paul claims the title for himself in the narrow sense. He recognizes that there were those who were apostles before him (1:17), but he does not see himself as subordinate to the original apostles. If the original apostles had been the source of his commission or the agents of his commission (as the false teachers in the Galatian church were probably suggesting), then he would have been subordinate to them. But his authority was not derived from a human source or even through a human agency; his authority was directly given to him by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. Note how this antithesis clearly places Jesus Christ on the side of God (not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ). The risen Lord had directly commissioned Paul. So those who challenged Paul's message were in fact challenging the Lord who had commissioned him.
Have you ever found yourself questioning, challenging or even rejecting any of Paul's statements? Paul's claim to apostolic authority should cause us to reconsider when our own opinions or "the general consensus of scholarly opinion" would lead us to disagree with him. It appears that the Galatian readers were in danger of turning from Paul's message and hence discrediting his authority. From Paul's time to our day, many have pointed to apparent contradictions and "hard sayings" in his letters and scolded him for his errant teachings. But if Paul has apostolic authority by virtue of his direct commission from the risen Christ, then we may not judge him on the basis of our opinions, for he is the apostolic representative of Christ. Our acceptance of Paul's authority should be guided by Jesus' own words to his apostles: "He who receives you receives me" (Mt 10:40).
Paul's affirmation of his divine appointment also encourages us to affirm our own divine appointments. We may not play the role of apostles, but we are given work to do by God's appointment. If we view our work as just another job to do for a difficult boss, we will soon become discouraged. But if by faith we can see that God has given us work to do for him, then we can overcome even the most difficult obstacles. All work is sacred if it has been given to us by God. Paul was able to endure through all the hardships he faced because he was convinced that his work was given to him by God.
"When I was a young man I thought Paul was making too much of his call. I did not understand his purpose. I did not then realize the importance of the ministry . . . We exalt our calling, not to gain glory among men, or money, or satisfaction, or favor, but because people need to be assured that the words we speak are the words of God. This is no sinful pride. It is holy pride." (Martin Luther)
Labor Day: The Ethics of Work
http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/559342/
James P. Eckman
Some people hate to do it. Some love to do it. Some go to great lengths to avoid doing it. Some do it too much. While there are many different attitudes toward work, one thing remains constant: work must be done. Since the Garden of Eden everyone has worked or depended on someone else's work for their survival. Work sets a person's lifestyle - where you live, when you sleep and eat, the time with family, even your dress.
Work is ordained by God. It was His creative invention from the beginning. The Bible declares that God worked (Gen. 1-2). By working we resemble God. Like God, you have the ability to work, make plans, implement them, and be creative. Additionally, God gave us the task of ruling over and taking care of His creation (Gen. 1:28, 2:15).
Work is for a lifetime. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground (Gen. 3:19). God intends that humans are to work as long as they live. Meaningful activity plays a critical role in being a human being - whether paid or volunteer. The magical age of 65 shouldn't end meaningful, purposeful work.
Work is not a punishment. God did not create work as drudgery, but as a gift of fulfillment to life. A human being can do nothing better than...find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment (Ecc. 2:24-25)?
Work has three purposes: to provide money or resources to supply the necessities of life; to provide for a quality of life in the satisfaction of doing a job well; and to serve God.
Work calls for obedience. Even when the boss isn't looking, a good worker is consistent and diligent to the task and loyal to the organization (Col. 3:22, 24). The real boss is Jesus Christ. See your job as service to Him - not simply your employer. Employers should treat employees with respect and fairness.
Work should be done with excellence. You are to render service, as to the Lord, and not to men (Eph. 6:6-7); not to be men-pleasers but God-pleasers. God's standard of excellence needs to be the human standard.
Work is honorable. All professions and all kinds of work, assuming they are legal and biblically ethical, are honorable before the Lord. There is no dichotomy between sacred and secular work. All work brings glory to God and fulfillment to you, if it is done to God's glory (1 Cor. 10:31).
Work provides an opportunity for witness. You manifest a powerful message, both verbal and nonverbal, of a supernatural approach to work. The world today needs this powerful witness.
James P. Eckman
Some people hate to do it. Some love to do it. Some go to great lengths to avoid doing it. Some do it too much. While there are many different attitudes toward work, one thing remains constant: work must be done. Since the Garden of Eden everyone has worked or depended on someone else's work for their survival. Work sets a person's lifestyle - where you live, when you sleep and eat, the time with family, even your dress.
Work is ordained by God. It was His creative invention from the beginning. The Bible declares that God worked (Gen. 1-2). By working we resemble God. Like God, you have the ability to work, make plans, implement them, and be creative. Additionally, God gave us the task of ruling over and taking care of His creation (Gen. 1:28, 2:15).
Work is for a lifetime. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground (Gen. 3:19). God intends that humans are to work as long as they live. Meaningful activity plays a critical role in being a human being - whether paid or volunteer. The magical age of 65 shouldn't end meaningful, purposeful work.
Work is not a punishment. God did not create work as drudgery, but as a gift of fulfillment to life. A human being can do nothing better than...find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment (Ecc. 2:24-25)?
Work has three purposes: to provide money or resources to supply the necessities of life; to provide for a quality of life in the satisfaction of doing a job well; and to serve God.
Work calls for obedience. Even when the boss isn't looking, a good worker is consistent and diligent to the task and loyal to the organization (Col. 3:22, 24). The real boss is Jesus Christ. See your job as service to Him - not simply your employer. Employers should treat employees with respect and fairness.
Work should be done with excellence. You are to render service, as to the Lord, and not to men (Eph. 6:6-7); not to be men-pleasers but God-pleasers. God's standard of excellence needs to be the human standard.
Work is honorable. All professions and all kinds of work, assuming they are legal and biblically ethical, are honorable before the Lord. There is no dichotomy between sacred and secular work. All work brings glory to God and fulfillment to you, if it is done to God's glory (1 Cor. 10:31).
Work provides an opportunity for witness. You manifest a powerful message, both verbal and nonverbal, of a supernatural approach to work. The world today needs this powerful witness.
The Spirituality of Work
http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/1283145/
Don Whitney
Baptist Press
Bill often wonders whether he is a second-class Christian because of the less-than-Christian atmosphere where he works. His occupation is good and necessary for society, but it’s also one in which liars, cheats and thieves seem to flourish. Vulgar and blasphemous language typically fills the air of Bill’s workplace.
For other believers, the problem at work is not a godless environment; it’s the gnawing lack of meaning to their labor. They trudge through tedious days on a job that often feels intolerably unimportant.
Can followers of Jesus work in these conditions and still maintain a close relationship with Him? Or is the Lord somewhat disappointed in them because of where they work or what they do?
God ordained work. Before sin entered the world, “the Lord God took the man [Adam] and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). All kinds of work - paid and unpaid - are necessary in the world for us “to subdue it” according to God’s will (Genesis 1:28). People must grow food, care for children, make clothes, tend the sick, construct buildings and roads, transport goods, govern the cities and so forth.
Obviously, therefore, God intends for most people to devote themselves to what’s often called "secular" employment. Only a small percentage should be vocational pastors, church-planting missionaries and the like (even though more are needed). Otherwise, who'd work the fields, deliver the mail, build ships and cars, develop water systems, and make medicines?
Because God has ordained it, all work has a spiritual dimension. The Bible repeatedly commends useful, honest labor (see Ephesians 4:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:10), which shows God's intense interest in it. When we actively recognize His presence in our workplace, we acknowledge His sovereignty over all of life. And that’s basic to true spirituality.
Even if your daily responsibilities may seem dull and unimportant or cause you to associate with worldly, God-hating people, remember that “the Lord takes pleasure in His people” (Psalm 149:4). And He takes pleasure in us not just at church, but at work as well. He’s as attentive to us in our work routines as He was to Joseph in his service as Potiphar’s slave, to Jesus in the carpentry shop and to the Apostle Paul when he was making tents.
Work is not a hindrance to spirituality; it is a part of it. Even slaves were instructed by Paul not to fear that their awful condition in any way diminished their spiritual standing with God (see 1 Corinthians 7:22). Our spirituality depends upon who we are in Christ, not the circumstances of our workplace. God’s presence and favor are not limited by co-workers or job descriptions.
Enlarge your vision of your spiritual life to include your daily work. “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24). Present your work to God. You are working for Him.
Don Whitney is associate professor of spiritual formation at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. He is the author of several books, including "Simplify Your Spiritual Life" (NavPress, 2003). This article and many others can be downloaded as free bulletin inserts at his website, www.BiblicalSpirituality.org.
Don Whitney
Baptist Press
Bill often wonders whether he is a second-class Christian because of the less-than-Christian atmosphere where he works. His occupation is good and necessary for society, but it’s also one in which liars, cheats and thieves seem to flourish. Vulgar and blasphemous language typically fills the air of Bill’s workplace.
For other believers, the problem at work is not a godless environment; it’s the gnawing lack of meaning to their labor. They trudge through tedious days on a job that often feels intolerably unimportant.
Can followers of Jesus work in these conditions and still maintain a close relationship with Him? Or is the Lord somewhat disappointed in them because of where they work or what they do?
God ordained work. Before sin entered the world, “the Lord God took the man [Adam] and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). All kinds of work - paid and unpaid - are necessary in the world for us “to subdue it” according to God’s will (Genesis 1:28). People must grow food, care for children, make clothes, tend the sick, construct buildings and roads, transport goods, govern the cities and so forth.
Obviously, therefore, God intends for most people to devote themselves to what’s often called "secular" employment. Only a small percentage should be vocational pastors, church-planting missionaries and the like (even though more are needed). Otherwise, who'd work the fields, deliver the mail, build ships and cars, develop water systems, and make medicines?
Because God has ordained it, all work has a spiritual dimension. The Bible repeatedly commends useful, honest labor (see Ephesians 4:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:10), which shows God's intense interest in it. When we actively recognize His presence in our workplace, we acknowledge His sovereignty over all of life. And that’s basic to true spirituality.
Even if your daily responsibilities may seem dull and unimportant or cause you to associate with worldly, God-hating people, remember that “the Lord takes pleasure in His people” (Psalm 149:4). And He takes pleasure in us not just at church, but at work as well. He’s as attentive to us in our work routines as He was to Joseph in his service as Potiphar’s slave, to Jesus in the carpentry shop and to the Apostle Paul when he was making tents.
Work is not a hindrance to spirituality; it is a part of it. Even slaves were instructed by Paul not to fear that their awful condition in any way diminished their spiritual standing with God (see 1 Corinthians 7:22). Our spirituality depends upon who we are in Christ, not the circumstances of our workplace. God’s presence and favor are not limited by co-workers or job descriptions.
Enlarge your vision of your spiritual life to include your daily work. “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24). Present your work to God. You are working for Him.
Don Whitney is associate professor of spiritual formation at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. He is the author of several books, including "Simplify Your Spiritual Life" (NavPress, 2003). This article and many others can be downloaded as free bulletin inserts at his website, www.BiblicalSpirituality.org.
Monday, September 7, 2009
I worked harder than any of them
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
1 Cor. 15:10 grace of God. Paul considered his conversion from “persecutor” to “apostle to the Gentiles” to be a free and wholly undeserved gift of God (Rom. 15:15–16; Gal. 1:15; 2:9; Eph. 3:7–8; Phil. 1:9; 1 Tim. 1:14). God's grace did not lead to passivity, however, for it prompted hard work on Paul's part.
1 Cor. 15:10 grace of God. Paul considered his conversion from “persecutor” to “apostle to the Gentiles” to be a free and wholly undeserved gift of God (Rom. 15:15–16; Gal. 1:15; 2:9; Eph. 3:7–8; Phil. 1:9; 1 Tim. 1:14). God's grace did not lead to passivity, however, for it prompted hard work on Paul's part.
The Paradox of the Protestant Work Ethic
Watch John Piper explain the paradox and power of the God-centered theology of John Calvin and the other Protestant reformers: Deep, humble dependence on God doesn’t produce laziness but energy, creativity, industry, and world-changing achievement.
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