Kingdom's Garden

Our High Calling

In three hundred years from the death of Christ, Christianity had won the Roman Empire. This was accomplished not because Matthew, Mark, John, Paul and Stephen were appointed a committee to plead for tolerance at the court of Caesar. Nor was it accomplished because the council of Jerusalem passed a recommendation condemning the foreign and economic policies of the Roman Senate. Neither was it accomplished because local Churches instituted local reform movements. It was caused because a radical transformation took place in the lives of the followers of Jesus. They literally turned the world upside down because their own lives had been turned upside down. To the followers of Christ Christianity was not merely a life boat bearing them across the waves of worldliness unto the port of heaven. To them Christianity was a new way of life and it meant breasting the waves of worldliness, it meant swimming against the tide of popular opinion. Because the followers of Christ were literally new creations in Christ Jesus that way of life had been severely persecuted at the end of the first century, became at the beginning of the fourth century the established religion of the Roman Empire.

If America is to become Christian not only in name but also in fact, not only in doctrine but also in life then there must be a radical transformation, there must be one in the inner lives of us who determine the American way of life. A transformed American will not come about through a “New Deal” or a “Fair Deal” nor through a return to power of the Grand Old Party. It will only come about in your life and my life when we truly exhibit the transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe that if Paul were writing to the First Presbyterian Church of Hinton he would write in the vein of thought similar to his message to the Philippians when he said, “Forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward to the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect (believers) be thus minded.” Paul had one goal in life, he expressed it often in many different terms and it is summed up here, “I press toward … the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He urged us to be thus minded, to do the same thing. The life that is truly pressing toward the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is exhibiting a transformed life.

What is our high calling? We are called to be sons. “Beloved, now we are sons of God. As many as received Him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name … For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage, again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”

Does not these verses thrill you to the very depths of your soul? You who were wondering alone and homeless have been adopted into the family of God. God is more to you than the Creative Power that called this universe into being; He is more than all-pervading influence who upholds and sustains the universe. He is a personal God who stands in the relationship of a Father to a son. Let your mind dwell for a while upon this staggering truth; say over and over again, “I am a child of God.”

As a child of God you have immediate access to Him. The story is told of a man who sat many long and weary hours in the waiting room to see the President of the United States. But he was not accorded an audience. As he made his way dejectedly along the street back to his hotel, a little boy asked him what his trouble was. The man explained and the boy took the man by the hand and said, “Come with me.” The man followed the boy’s leading and was led back into the White House, in a side entrance and through a door and into a room where sat the President of the United States. The boy said, “Daddy this man wants to talk with you.” Through Jesus we have immediate access to God the Father where we might make known our joys and sorrows, our needs and our problems.

As a child of God we have at our command the Eternal Resources of an infinite God. As fathers of earth, limited in power and resources we seek ever to supply the need of our children. “If we being evil know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more will God give that which we have need of.”

I cannot help but feel that very often we have failed to live up to our status as children of the heavenly Father of infinite power and infinite love. We call God our Father, but we do not really think of ourselves as children who have direct and immediate access to an infinite God. We live in fear, we are unduly anxious about the morrow. Unto us Jesus says, “O ye of little faith.” If we were up to our status as sons of God we would face life heroically, confidently and courageously.

We are called to be disciples. Jesus was one day walking through the streets of Jerusalem and He saw a man sitting at the receipt of custom. The world looked on this man’s outward life and despised him for he was a tax collector. Jesus looked upon his soul and beheld infinite possibilities. To Matthew the publican He issued the call to discipleship. Matthew left all and followed Jesus.

The Master said, “Come follow” – that was all

Earth’s joys grew dim. My soul went after Him.

I rose and followed – that was all.

Who would not follow if he heard His call?

We have heard His call and we have arisen to follow Him. The call of Christ is not merely to Church membership. Mere Church membership is easy, too easy to attain and too easy to maintain. Too many Church members get by with occasional attendance at Church and a very modest financial contribution. But discipleship is more than this. Jesus said, “If any man would be my disciple let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Discipleship is committed to Jesus Christ. One had written: “The real trouble that too many of us have is the attitude of spectator, much like the spectators of a football game. In the average Church the member sits in the pew and enjoys the sermon and the music, feeling quite free to criticize both as he often does. But he does not have, to the extent that he should have, the quarterback’s feeling of responsibility for the success of the Church service. He had paid his admission fee by putting money into the collection plate or by giving a little pledge, and, having thus paid, he feels that he should be entertained. The disciple as distinguished from the Church member, has a feeling of deep concern for the success of the cause to which he is committed. He is nervous and worried if anything goes wrong with the Church services, or if the attendance is poor, because he is responsible for the result. He cannot stay home; he cannot let any little thing prevent him from attending Church because he feels that the Church may be hurt by his absence. And he gives until it hurts, both in money and in service, because he is not a spectator but a disciple.

We are called to be saints. People have always had difficulty in remembering my last name. I have been called “Kirk, Patrick, Kilpatrick, Fitzpatrick, and there was one lady who for four years persisted in calling me “Mr. St. Patrick.” There is a large element of truth is this last designation. Although my life is far from being worthy of such a cognomen. God has called you and me to be saints. Paul wrote to the Corinthians as those who were “called to be saints.” In writing to the Philippians he spoke of “the saints in Caesar’s household.” As Christians, sons of God and Disciples of Christ we are called to be saints. As such we must ever stand against all sin and evil that does threaten man and the life of society. The sins that threaten the American way of Life are many and grave. There are many dangerous areas in our society – jungles that are so infested that any one of them might conceivably be responsible for the decay of our culture. Jesus says unto us, “be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

As those who are called to be saints we must make a positive stand against all sin and those forces that seek to destroy us. The sin of this civilization is manifesting itself in the same way in which it has in every age: crime, drink and broken homes. “Our crime bill is more than 15 billion dollars annually. More than 6 million of our fellow citizens have a criminal record. One out of every four homes in this land is touched by crime. Before this 24 hour day is over there will be 36 persons murdered in the United States, 33 persons raped, 185 feloniously assaulted, 172 robbed, 630 automobiles stolen, and 2580 miscellaneous larcenies committed.” I know that it is not popular for a minister to say things from the pulpit about drink. For too many members of the Christian Church engage in social drinking and thus when drinking is condemned they sit back in their pews and say, He’s done preaching and gone to meddling.” “We Christians are trifling with an evil that threatens the integrity of personal and social living. Our annual drink bill in the United States is now some 91/2 billion dollars. We have in this country an army of chronic alcoholics numbering 750,000 people. 3,750,000 of our citizens are excessive drinkers, while 58 million drink with a measure of regularity. I am concerned because of what alcohol is doing to individuals and to the home life of America. It is a little short of tragic that in this day when such momentous issues face the people, we would be deluding our minds, dissipating our energies and drugging our consciences with alcohol.” The number of homes that are destroyed each year either by divorce or legal separation is appalling. As goes the home so goes the nation. (The most appalling thing is that divorce is the accepted order of the day.) The Church, the School, the National, state or local government can be no stronger than the home which is the basic unit that makes up the whole. As the “saints of God” we must stand against these forces and this way of life which is so alien to God’s way.

As those called to be saints it behooves to do all possible to strengthen our spiritual resources that we might be able to stand against the fiery darts of the wicked. We must become men and women, boys and girls steeped in prayer, students of the Bible, dedicated to the way and will of God.

Beloved, in less than three hundred three years Christianity would capture American for Christ if you and I would forget those things that are behind (past mistakes, past failures, past disagreements) and would with our eye on the goal of sonship, sainthood and discipleship, press toward the mark of the prize if the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

First Presbyterian Church, Hinton W VA, January 17, 1954