The Saints' Higher Calling in Christ Jesus

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What does it mean to be a saint? The Greek word for saint is hagious which is most likely derived from the Greek word hagos. To be a saint means to be set apart for God. Be ye holy for I Am Holy is the command of God in Leviticus 19:2 and quoted by Peter in 1 Peter 1:16. The very call of the saint is a call for a life of holiness separate from this world. One doesn't need to be dead or to be canonized by the Vatican to become a saint. Instead, the word saint is heavily used to denote everyone who has passed from darkness to light. To be called a saint is someone who is called out of darkness to light by the grace of God.

Romans 1:17 and 1 Corinthians 2:1-9 writes about this great higher calling. To be called to be saints is a serious issue that we can't ignore. The call for holiness and separation is a very serious thing. Ephesians 2:8-10 says that Christians are saved by grace and are equipped unto good works. To be a saint means to be God's people saved from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Don't believe for a second that just because sinless perfectionism in this life is a heresy that Antinomianism is correct. The very idea that a person can get saved and never have any change or struggle against sin leads to false conversion. Only fake converts will ever think that they can have a license to sin. True Christians would long to desire to be free from their bondage.

The calling of the saint is not an easy one. Instead, it's meant to be a hard one. Jesus compared following Him to carrying one's cross (Matthew 16:24-26, Mark 8:34-38, Luke 9:23). A cross is not a pleasant symbol. Jesus' time involved death by crucifixion. The Lord Jesus Himself experienced the worst form of death known to man. To carry one's cross to the place of execution meant one was worthy of worst death engineered by the Romans. It was a death reserved for the worst of criminals. Today, to become a born again Christian is already considered a crime. To follow Christ means there will be so many trials and tribulations in life. Jesus warned many times about being persecuted for one's faith in all four accounts of the Gospel.

Jesus' warnings in John 15:18-27 that the Christians don't belong to the world. Why aren't Christians usually welcome in the world. There's a saying that the people loved the miracles of Jesus but hated His teachings. Likewise, the world can love the good Christians do such as charity outreach but let them start preaching and you can expect the world to pull the plug from their good works. If you remember that ISIS homosexual bar bombing incident - it wasn't really surprising that you have Christians who were criticized for hypocrisy for helping out wounded homosexuals while telling the world that homosexuality is wrong. But the Christian walk is not about gaining the whole world. In fact, it's the rejecting the whole world gone wrong!

There is much blessed comfort in the saint's higher calling. It's not easy not to be offended by what the world has to say about Christians or the insults that you can't avoid. There's a saying that while you can't avoided insults but you can choose to walk away. Jesus gave a pattern of how to respond to insults - by turning the other cheek! Turning the other cheek isn't about putting yourself in danger but by returning harsh words with kindness and choosing not to respond to insults. Christians are not called to please everyone. The worst part of the world is that it's careful not to offend anybody except God Himself. Yet, Jesus promised that blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of Christ, when men shall hurl all forms of insults and false accusations. Instead of getting mad - Jesus tells His followers to be glad about it instead because great is the reward in Heaven for enduring them!

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