The Gospel of God Concerning His Son Jesus Christ Our Lord

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 3 - Called According to Purpose

"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which He promised afore through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son" (Rom. 1:1-3).

"Called Jesus Christ's" (Rom. 1:6).

"Called saints" (Rom. 1:7).

"God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9).

"Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling" (Eph. 1:18).

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling" (Eph. 4:4).

"I press on towards the goal unto the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).

"Partakers of a heavenly calling" (Heb. 3:1).

"Called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal" (2 Tim. 1:9).

"We know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28).

Called - that is the word for our present consideration. I think that the Lord desires at this time just one thing, and that is to write in our hearts more deeply and with stronger emphasis the significance of that word in that connection - "called according to His purpose". It may be a very simple word narrowed down to one particular emphasis, but its importance cannot be exaggerated.

There is this thing which you and I must have settled in the very foundation of our lives in relation to the Lord, it is that, whatever may be the Lord's meaning for us in this short span of life here, whatever service He may call us to fulfil in this way or in that, in this place or in that, and whatever may be our history and our experience in relation to the Lord, during our time on the earth everything is governed and ordered and adjusted to something which is infinitely greater than that. Every phase and aspect of the true spiritual life under the hand of God is, in the mind of God, related to something which is far bigger than this life. Until that is a settled thing, until that has become something rooted in our hearts and always alive in our consciousness, we shall be a prey to all manner of things which will shake us, which will deprive us of assurance, of certainty, of heart rest - that is, if we are concerned more than the Lord would have us concerned, with this life, and even with the things of the Lord in time. We shall be people who are constantly torn, disturbed, troubled, bewildered and perplexed, because there is no doubt about it that the real values of our life with God here do not work out to full fruitfulness in our life here or even in the lives of others on this earth after we have gone.

That is where you have one of the enigmas of life. If you go on long enough with the Lord, when you get to be about seventy or eighty you begin to feel that you are just beginning to learn something about the Lord. Of course, if you have only been on the road twelve months, you know everything! But if you go on for many years, just about the time that you leave this world, if you live your full span, you will begin to be of value, you will have experience, you will have knowledge, you will have ripeness which is of tremendous value to the Lord. It has taken all those years to get that which is really of value - for we know the value of experience. Are we not always looking for someone who knows, who has experience, who has gone through, who has come to a place of certainty and rest, and just when you have got there, the Lord takes you home. You have not all written an autobiography so that those who follow on can read and get the benefit. There are very few who have done that. The majority do not leave that memorial behind them for others. They go home and take all their ripeness, experience, knowledge and spiritual gain with them. I know that of course there are values left behind, but I am speaking in a comparative sense.

The big question arises: what is the value of life after all? Because just when you are beginning to get somewhere, you go home. Just when you should be of some value to the Lord because you have come to know Him in some way through long years of trial and testing, the Lord takes you away. Is it all for nothing? Your only answer to such a question, or at least one of the answers to such a question, is this: that this life is related to something else and somewhere else, and that God is getting, in that somewhere else and something else, values in this time, and this life is not governed mainly by what we may do here. Though it is an important thing to be occupied with, that to which the Lord has called us in work and service, this life, is not mainly judged as to its value by what we do here, but as to the equipment, the fitness, which is reached spiritually for the eternal purpose.

I knew some years ago a captain in one of our ocean liners. For many years he had been the senior captain of that line, and then the company took him off his ship and off the ocean and set him down to superintend the building of new ships. I used to go and sit with him while he was on this work. He went down to the shipyards in the morning with his head hanging down and his heart heavy and came back in the evening - a man with an unbearable weight upon his shoulders. I could see why he was breaking, and I used to talk to him. He would say to me, "You know, I was never trained for this work. There is all the difference between being the master of a ship on the ocean and seeing that it takes its course alright from port to port and having to supervise the building of a ship. I have had no mathematical training to deal with draughtsmen and blueprints and the pattern room and all those details. I know how a ship is made, I know the names of the different parts of a ship, I know how to sail a ship, but I was never trained to build a ship - that is for a skilled man. This thing is crushing me." And it did. He slowly went down under the load until he was a physical and nervous wreck, and he died. He was not trained, he was not fitted for the job that was put on him.

Have you, in a lesser way, ever felt like that? Put into a position for which you have no qualification or equipment. You were never trained or prepared for that. You know the despair; you know the crushing weight of being out of your place. Then to be qualified is important, to be equipped is essential. "Called according to purpose". Ah, that is just the tragedy. Many called, few chosen. Called according to purpose, but never selected when the time comes and the purpose draws near, because between the calling and the choosing, the necessary preparation and equipping has not been going on.

The purpose is the thing by which God is dealing with us, because the calling was not just to be saved, to be delivered, to be forgiven, to be justified. The calling is according to purpose, and we must allow that to be a ruling factor right through our lives. We must never think of our having been called as bound up with the one act or the one phase of our conversion, as though that were the calling. No, that was not the calling in God's full sense. That was the beginning of the calling, and that was unto the calling. There is so much more in this word "called" than we have recognized.

Now, we have been seeing in our previous meditations something of that to which we are called. Maybe we shall see more of that yet. It is not the purpose of this present meditation. Now it is a fact that we are called and that we are called according to purpose. You notice in Rom. 8:28 that the word "His" is in italics; it is not in the original, it is not "His purpose" at that place. It is "according to purpose". Of course, it is His purpose as other Scriptures make clear, but our point at the moment is to emphasize the fact of purpose lying behind our being called. It may seem a very fine point, but it is important.

I want you to notice that that word "called" is a word which includes something. That is why I left out at least two words in Romans 1:1,6,7.

"Paul... called an apostle" - not "to be an apostle". It does not say that. "Called an apostle".

"Called Jesus Christ's"; not "called to be Jesus Christ's".

"Called saints", not "called to be saints".

What does that mean? It means that what follows is inherent in the call. Apostleship was inherent in the calling of Paul. The calling carried with it apostleship; the calling was apostleship. [Not] he was called to be something, he was called to be that - that is what he was called.

Called Jesus Christ's, not "to be Jesus Christ's". But, being called, belonging to Jesus Christ is inherent in that calling, that is, that Jesus Christ has full possession of you is inherent in the call. Within that call there resides this: that you are Jesus Christ's.

Called saints, not that you are to be saints, but that, being called, inherent in the call is sainthood. What is sainthood? Oh, you see, it is all the difference between the idea of a certain body, a certain ecclesiastical system, who, when perhaps someone has lived their life or laid it down in martyrdom, is given sainthood, they have attained unto sainthood. That is not the idea here, it's not something to be attained unto. Sainthood is simply that you are wholly unto the Lord, that it is a life which is dedicated, consecrated, made holy. "Called", and inherent in the calling is that consecration, that devotion, that becoming a holy thing, belonging to the Lord - it is a state. Not only the thing, but the state of the thing, which is holy now. Called, if you like, a holy thing. That is inherent in the call.

And when you take that principle and bring it on to the end, "called according to purpose", the purpose is inherent in the call. That is the thing which is bound up with your call. Oh, that people saw from the beginning what resides in the call! The call has been so inadequate, the presentation so small, with the most appallingly tragic results. Oh, I put down the state of believers to this. Speaking quite generally - thank God for all that is otherwise, but speaking quite generally, you cannot feel happy about the spiritual measure of God's children. All over the world you see the smallness of the measure of Christ, the limitation and the weakness! It is true.

It may be that our presence in a conference is a proof of this. Why conferences? Why the convention movement, in which tens, or rather, hundreds of thousands of Christians all over the world flock together for days on end? What for? Well, the conventions are called usually under the one heading: for the deepening of the spiritual life. And then you listen to the messages, the messages for all those thousands of Christians (I am not criticizing; I am not judging. Please do not think I am). You listen to the message and what are the messages to those Christians, a great many of whom have been Christians for decades? The message is: surrender to Christ, life in the power of the Holy Spirit, deliverance from sin. And that grows apace. Every month a new convention comes on the horizon. Are we to look out on all this and say that this is successful work, and smile and be pleased? Or are we to look out on this situation as a medical man would look out upon a great multitude of sick people at his surgery door? Would he say, rubbing his hands, "Oh, this is a successful profession!" Or would he, if he were a man whose heart was really attuned to his work, say, "This is very desperate, this is tragic! All these poor people - look at them!"

How are we to view this? Are we not to say rather, "This is terrible; after all these centuries, all these years, all these people all over the world just longing for a convention in order to what? Get their foundations right? Get their Christian lives into a place of surrender to the Lord Jesus? To know the power of the Spirit, to know deliverance from sin, to know something of victory?" Why such a situation? I believe it is here. You cannot go through a good few years of this kind of ministry without probing and seeking to diagnose. Why this and that among the Lord's people? As I have sought the explanation of things as they are today, I believe that this is the explanation: that the call has been far too inadequate; the meaning, the content, of the call of the gospel has been far too small. That is, with the call, something of God's glorious purpose concerning His Son and men's relationship with Him has not been presented, so that, after ten, twenty, thirty, sometimes more years, a Christian suddenly comes to know something about the eternal purpose and then begins to realize there is more in Christ than he ever dreamed of. Well, for myself, I say that is not right.

I cannot blame God, although I tell you frankly and honestly, I have had controversy with God about it, for I went on struggling for years. Yes, I was out to get all I could get - conferences and so on, to help me over my spiritual difficulties, until Paul's prayer was answered for me: "The eyes of your heart being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling". That is the secret - the hope of His calling, who called with a holy calling according to His purpose and grace which He gave to us before times eternal in Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the content of that word "called". Oh, what a big word it is! What an immense word! Called, and in that all this is included.

Paul, who saw it as no other has seen it, is found right at the end of this life saying - I press on, I hasten! Paul the aged, Paul with all his rich experience, Paul with all his spiritual maturity and ripeness, Paul with all that he has seen and all that he knows, at the end, on the last lap of the race, says, "I press towards the prize of the upward calling"!

We have been called and we are called, with an unspeakably marvellous calling. I do not exaggerate, for I am only quoting Paul, "I knew a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows; such a one caught up to the third heaven... and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Unspeakable things! And I believe that all resides within this favourite phrase of Paul, "the eternal calling". Oh, then let this enlarge our horizon! Let it give meaning and character to your life! Let it explain God's strange dealings with you! Let it mean to you that God is not going to do that thing which men do, put you into a position for which you are not qualified.

This is not a matter of saving grace. We are saved by grace, we are kept by the grace of God, and grace lies behind everything, and there is grace for everything. We are not talking about salvation now, we are talking about the purpose of salvation, and there are multitudes who will be saved who will not reach the prize, who will not come to the purpose. So the stewardship of the mystery is in relation to the purpose of God, which He purposed in Christ before the world was.

Now, as we close, just one or two things which may help us.

Gods Initiative in Relation to the Call

First of all, we notice that, in relation to the calling, the initiative has been entirely with God. Here we enter into some of the deep mysteries which I think we can never explain or fully understand, and yet here they are. Look at the connection of Romans 8:28. We must not break in between verses 28 and 29 - that is only a convenient dividing up of the chapter into verses for the useful purpose of being able to say, "You will find it at such and such a point", and we mark that point by 28 and 29. But sometimes it would be good to wipe out chapters and verses and read it as it was written, as one document.

"And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom He foreordained, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?" (Rom. 8:28-31).

You see the initiative of God right from the beginning in relation to the call. The initiative is with God. He foreknew, He foreordained, He did it all in relation to the calling. This thing has come right out from God - this calling. Wonderful! God has taken it all on Himself. That is one side. Oh, it is a great rock on which to stand! It is but one side, and that is why I say we cannot wholly understand the matter, and we must never allow one side to be the whole matter. If you take the one side, then you sit down and fold your arms, and say, 'Well, I am foreordained, and that is all there is to it! It will come about, it will happen; I need not do anything at all!' You are presuming if you take that position. That is the sin of presumption and you will not get through on that ground.

God has taken the initiative always according to foreknowledge - do not forget that. God cannot help Himself knowing exactly the whole course of things and the end of things, and so He ordains according to foreknowledge. But, having foreknown and, in foreknowing settling things according to foreknowledge, it is a great thing for faith to remember that if ever the Spirit of God speaks to our heart, we have got all the ground finished; God has settled it all. Now it is not a matter of a risk, a chance, no. It is all finished by God from the moment that the Spirit of God calls us, if only we will walk on in the finished work. If - and that is where all the 'ifs' of the New Testament come in in relation to the calling. That is one side, a great thing, that God has perfected it all forever in Christ - a glorious thing for faith to start upon - it is the ground upon which faith must go on. And, as we go on, we shall find that we are not coming into things that God is doing, but into things that God has done. This is one side - the glorious initiative of God in this matter.

The Divine Means of the Call

The next thing is the divine means of the call, the gospel, the gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the instrument or the divine means by which we are called. It is a very full gospel, a very rich gospel; it is an everlasting gospel, it is a timeless gospel. It comes out of eternity past and sweeps through the ages and on into the ages of the ages. The marvellous gospel concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord! That gospel is brought to us - that "God's spell", that "good news" of God. Oh, how we would like to dwell on that for a little. Let the thousands of years of this world's history speak tragedy, the deepest and most terrible kind: breakdown, chaos, disintegration, sin and sorrow and suffering and misery and despair. In the midst of it, God has good news. God's good news is that it is alright. The end will be quite alright. It is all settled in His Son. Good news! By the word of the gospel it is made known to us that it is alright. God knows it is alright and God tells you it is alright and the end for us all is going to be alright and the way that God is taking with us is alright, all related to the purpose. God, by the gospel, has called us into the fellowship of His suffering according to the purpose purposed in His Son.

The Result of Our Response to the Call

What is the result of our response to the gospel? Our response to the gospel, God's instrument of the eternal calling, is that immediately we make a discovery which is the fundamental, the basic and the all-inclusive discovery, the discovery in which everything from eternity to eternity is wrapped up. Once you have made that discovery, you have it got it all, and all that remains is for you to see what you have got. Our response to the gospel is to discover that Jesus Christ is a living reality. The apostle goes on almost immediately, "declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead". As we have pointed out, that word "dead" is in the plural. Not His own resurrection only, but, as the apostle makes clear later, "that He might be the firstborn among many brethren", the resurrection of the dead ones with Himself. And the response to the gospel is to discover that Jesus is alive, He is the Living One, and that discovery carries with it and implies that we become alive. You never know that Jesus is alive unless you are alive yourself - that is, in a true and living way.

The two things go together, and when you discover that Jesus is alive, at once you have made the all-inclusive discovery as to the eternal purpose, and now the apostle prays that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, but not only the calling. Paul gives us, by the Spirit, the fulness of it in a phrase, "Christ in you, the hope of glory". That is the calling, the end - glory! Christ in you the hope of glory, and then the apostle explains what he means by "Christ in you". "It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me". The living Christ in us is the hope of glory. The response to the gospel leads to the discovery that He is alive, and that He becomes alive in us, and with that all the intention of God is bound up. The rest of our lives must be lived to discover what Christ is, what is in Christ, or what God's purpose is concerning His Son, into which we have been called.