Outer Rim Territories

Vocation: Class 3 & 4 - Examples of Vocation

As stated before, these are my teacher notes. Pardon the grammar, punctuation and incomplete sentences.

The Doctrine of Vocation
The Callings of God for all People
Class 3 & 4: Examples of Vocation

Ephesians 2:8-9, 10 - sedes doctrinae, Luther, Purpose of Good Works
“[God] gives the wool, but not without our labor. If it is on the sheep, it makes no garment.” Luther, Sermon 1525
Worker
Christian and non-christian labor next to each other, seemingly doing the same thing. Life in belief changes our perspective. God transforms the labor into acts of love and service to neighbors.
Genesis 1:27-28 - Vocation was given to Adam and Eve. Given to be family, social, community. Man created to work in emulation of God’s Work of creation. Like 10 Commandments - Exodus 20:9-11. We have seven day work week, like God.
As a consequence of the fall, labor is corrupted, not joyful. Adam and Eve neglect marriage. Childbearing is painful. Man is authority over woman (Genesis 3:16) Family and civilization is corrupted (Cain - Genesis 4:17) Work is a blessing, Work is a curse.
Genesis 3:15 - When it comes to work it is not for our salvation. Christ is the promised one, whose work of death and resurrection is given to us.
Mark 2:27 - The Sabbath. Those who refused to rest under levitical law, were put to death. The Sabbath is gospel given to man as rest.
Hebrews 4:9-10 - In Christ, we rest. Physically we work.
Matthew 22:39 - Good works, which are primarily done within vocation, are the fruits of faith. (65) The whole purpose of every vocation is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Being a drug dealer, casino tycoon, pornographer stripper, abortionist, etc. is not for the benefit of our neighbor, rather it harms them. Not restricted to “legal” occupations. They should not lead people to sin; that is not God’s work, that is Satan’s. Some vocations carry a duality; they can be used for God or Satan. Some include Actors, filmmakers, authors (Dan Brown), musicians.
John 17:14-18 - “In the world but not of the world” Tension with the world. “We need Christians in law, politics, science, journalism, education, academia and all culture-making professions.” (67) By definition, unbelievers don’t usually come to church. Evangelism happens in vocations. Witnessing at the watercooler.
Colossians 3:3 - A christian’s spiritual life is hidden with Christ in God. Christians physically live in the world and have the same reality as everyone else. We don’t retreat from the world. Gnosticism. The material world was created by God and is good (Genesis 1:10,12,18,21,25). Jesus was born of flesh. Disciples came from many walks of life, even returned to them after his death.
Isaiah 45:1,4-7 - God’s power and care extend beyond the church. He is involved in all his creatures.
Acts 10:34 - God shows no partiality. Master, servant, all “stations” on earth are necessary here but irrelevant to God.
Ephesians 6:5-7, 9 - Christ is hidden in the master. Dignity in human bondage. Selfish reaction is the “me.” God would have us be witnesses even as slave or servant.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 - Summation
Family
Through families God’s creative power and providential care are most dramatically conveyed. Family as basis for every other human authority. Church: God is our Father in heaven; the Church is the Bride of Christ.
Psalm 68:6 - Also Genesis 1,2 woman made from flesh, fruitful and multiply. Celebate life is not acceptable.
Ephesians 5:32 - profound mystery which speaks of Christ and the church.
Revelation 21:2,9 - Relationship to song of songs. Christ is hidden in marriage. Incarnational? Certainly creational. Earthly kingdom not spiritual kingdom.
Ephesians 5:22-24 - Ideal marriage state. Christ hidden in husband. Husband in relation to the wife is like the church and what Christ did for her. Wife serves through submission. Husband serves by loving and giving himself up. Obedience comes in response to the sacrifice of Christ, not the law (Galations 2:21).
Ephesians 5:28-33 - Church is body, “This is my body which is given for you.” (Luke 22:19)
1 Corinthians 7:3-5 - reciprocal, neighborly relationship even sexually. No “it’s my body.”
Parenthood
Psalm 139:13 - Miracle of creation. Who is the knitter? Babies are utterly dependent.
Proverbs 22:6 - train up a child
Deuteronomy 4:9 - teach him the Word of God. Catechism gives this responsibility to the head of the household. Being a mini-pastor.
Deuteronomy 6:7 - devotions, bible, moral instruction, and forgiveness and proclomation fo the gospel. God is the true parent. Our Father.
Psalm 68:5 - miracle that He chooses to exercise His fatherhood through mistake-prone men. (86)
Child
Everything they do to grow up is part of their vocation. Is God hidden there as well? God as father, Christ as Son and Son of man. Christ, begotten not made is the model, the source, and the sanctifier of all childhood.
Exodus 20:12 - LC 404 “Realize that they received their bodies and lives from their parents
1 Timothy 5:4 - it is not shameful to be dependent on your children.
1 Timothy 5:8 - Duty for us as children. Rejecting the family is the equivalent of rejecting God
Matthew 20:25-28 -
Ephesians 6:4 -
2 Corinthians 4:7 -
Citizen
Romans 2:14-15 - By nature know of God’s Law but with limit
Romans 2:1 - We all have no excuse
Our culture today has no moral absolutes… or we all have the absolute of individual ”rights.“ Christians should not be silent but should no forcibly impose their faith on others. Believing it is wrong to kill infants in the womb is not a Christian religious belief. It is a moral one not a theological one and is applicable to all society.
Being Christian is not a matter of behaving rightly, it is a matter of being forgiven when behaving wrongly. (99) Moral issues are not religious issues as such.
Matthew 28:19-20 - Christianity is not a cultural religion. It is for all ”ethnics.“
Acts 2:9-11
Revelation 7:9 -
Romans 13:1-6 - This verse is one of the reasons Veith uses a more open definition of vocation. He sees rulers, Christian or not as called by God. God is the ultimate authority. Others exercise the authority as it has been lent to them by God. They are God’s servants and God’s instruments. God punishes evil doers through human rulers. First, use of the Law, as a curb.
Romans 12:1-7 - What is permissible in one vocation is not necessarily in another. We don’t seek and hunt down evildoers. It is God’s role to punish our enemies as only his wrath is just. (Just War theory? Military service?) We do not have the authority as part of our vocation. Not a matter of who has authority but rather who God has chosen to provide for our needs. Both of these Roman’s text’s context are a pagan Roman government. God works even through pagans.
1 Samuel 8:11-18 -
1 Peter 2:13-17 -
Proverbs 21:1 -
Rulers must be obeyed in that they obey the higher law of God. When they operate outside their Gid-given authority, they are not your authority.
”Christians owe obedience to their magistrates and laws except when commanded to sin. For then they owe greater obedience to God than to human beings. (Augsburg Confession, XVI)
1 Timothy 2:2 - We rule over government, they are our servants.
Church
Christ is hidden in His church on earth. Dismissal of the institution is a mistake.
Matthew 18:20 - He is where He is promised. Word, Sacraments and His people.
Romans 8:28-30 - God’s promise applies to those called for his pupose. Foreknowledge>Predestination>Justification>Sanctification(conformed to the likeness of His Son)>glorification
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 - Called by the Gospel
John 10:27 - “to be called” is to listen to the voice
1 Thessalonians 2:13 - the Word is at work in you
Hebrews 4:12 - Word of God is active
Romans 1:16 - the Gospel is the power of God
1 Corinthians 1:9 - The Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit creates faith
The Christian is come who has been called to faith by the Word of God.
“To call means to name, and to name means to call into being or to make.” (Veith, 119)
Romans 6:3-4 - Named at our baptism. Call begins and continues everytime we hear His Word.
1 Peter 2:9-10 - community whose purpose is for others
“ekklesia” - to call out, “church” are the “called out ones.”
Romans 10:14-15 - a need for preachers and for people to send preachers. pastor serves earthly and spiritual kingdom. a pastor’s words and ministry have eternal consequences. He has the calling to be God’s instrument to feed his flock. Christ is preaching, forgiving sins, baptizing, presiding at his Supper.
John 21:17 - feed my sheep. pastor means “shepherd.”
John 10:1-16 - Jesus is the true shepherd but uses earthly shepherds. God is the true father but uses earthly fathers.
Acts 6:1-4 - division of labor. No pastor as CEO. Pastor’s primary role is not overseer, organizer. Laypeople handle the day-to-day, practical and instutional. Pastor cares for the flock.
Acts 6 - Stephen
Acts 8 - Phillip
Laypeople should be equipped for witnessing their faith Laypeople are positioned to reach people outside the church.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 - Diversity is good but joining in unity where there is consistency of theology is good as well. “invisible Church.”
Ephesians 4:4-6 - Yet unity is found in Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:14-20 -
1 Corinthians 12:26-30 -
2 Chronicles 7:6 - Levites helped David give praise
“One Another” passages
Ephesians 5:18-20 - “speaking to one another” debauchery, alcohol... fill the empty space with something better
Col 3:16 - teaching and admonishing
Hebrews 10 - we need one another, we can't live Christian life alone, edification “oikodemeo”, We use structures to enable community, Today's context, we have to teach the community to be community
Ephesians 4:7-16, 11-12 especially, 7,16 paralleled, inclusio, the saints are building the body, the pastors and teachers equipping
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 - “to each the measure”, gifts used for mutual upbringing, Spiritual gifts are charismatic?
Romans 12:3-8 -
I Peter 4:10 - Each are given gifts
Ethics and Cross Bearing
Luther - p.361 “in particular I confes…”
Table of Duties
Doctors - vocation is healing not euthanasia
Women who are pregnant are called to motherhood. They do not have the authority to kill.
Purpose of sex and the vocation of marriage is for children.
Some things are permissible within a vocation but not outside. For example, a surgeon can cut someone with a knife but not others. Judge can sentence to death but we cannot do so. Parents have the authority to disciple their children not others. Schools are to teach in the stead of the parents not contrary to the parents. Sometimes this is morally innocent but results in ineffectiveness, frustration, and wasted time. (Veith, 139)
Churches should not demand so much work from their church members that it removes them from their primary vocations.
Luke 9:23 - not just martyrdom but also the daily thorns and thistles
Isaiah 53:4 -
We face trials and tribulations. Even the child of Christian parents can apostacize. Failures happen all the time. Mozart reportedly considered himself a failure.
“Sometimes trials are the devil’s attempt to get man out of his vocation.” (Wingren, 121)
We can be lured by failures and successes.
Wingren, 129 “ God’s action is determined…”
Prayer
“For what sort of prayer would it be if need were not present and pressing upon us that prayer be thereby the stronger?” (Sermon on the Mount 1532, Luther)
Prayer brings God into our vocations.
SC 4th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer - Prayer helps us recognize our dependence of Him.
“Prayer is the door through which God, Creator and Lord, enters creatively into home, community, and labor. Therefore vocation, which involves the total of a person’s relationships and his situation, can be properly fulfilled only by constantly renewed prayer.” (Wingren, 192)
God answers in His way. We place our hope in Him. We continue in his calling regardless of our perception of the results.
Proverbs 22:6 - “when he is old”
Without faith, our crosses are hopeless. With the cross, the trials, failures, obstacles benefit us rather than harm us. Tribulations lead the unbeliever to destruction.
Veith, 153
Rest
Vocation gives us rest.
Exodus 31:1-5 - Bezalel
1 Corinthians 7:17,20-24 - Live as you are called
“What you can see on the altar, you also saw last night; but what is was, what it meant, of what great reality it contained the sacrament, you had not yet heard. So what you can see, then, is bread and a cup; that is what even your eyes tell you; but as for what your faith asks to be instructed about, the bread is the body of Christ, the cup the blood of Christ. It took no time to say that indeed, and that, perhaps, may be enough for faith; but faith desires instruction. The prophet says, you see, ‘Unless you believe, you shall not understand’ (Is 7:9). I mean, you can now say to me, ‘You have bidden us believe; now explain, so that we may understand.’…
The reason these things, brothers and sisters, are called sacraments [mysterion, a sign, something is present] is that in them one thing is seen, another is to be understood. What can be seen has a bodily appearance, what is to be understood provides spiritual fruit. So if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the apostle telling the faithful, ‘You, though, are the body of Christ and its members’ (1 Cor 12:27). So if it is you that are the body of Christ and its members, it is the mystery that means you. [Lord’s Supper is the mystery is that you, give your body over, life of sacrifical love is what you are taking in] It is to what you are that you reply ‘Amen,’ and by so replying you express your assent What you hear, you see, is ‘The Body of Christ,” and you answer, ‘Amen.’ So be a member of the body of Christ, in order to make that ‘Amen’ true.
(Augustine, Sermon 272) [you can’t separate what is going on at the altar and what is going on in the vocations of your life]
CHAPTER VI—HE DESCRIBES HIS INFANCY, AND LAUDS THE PROTECTION AND ETERNAL PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

Yet suffer me to speak unto Thy mercy, me, dust and ashes. Yet suffer me to speak, since I speak to Thy mercy, and not to scornful man. Thou too, perhaps, despisest me, yet wilt Thou return and have compassion upon me. For what would I say, O Lord my God, but that I know not whence I came into this dying life (shall I call it?) or living death. Then immediately did the comforts of Thy compassion take me up, as I heard (for I remember it not) from the parents of my flesh, out of whose substance Thou didst sometime fashion me. Thus there received me the comforts of woman’s milk. For neither my mother nor my nurses stored their own breasts for me; but Thou didst bestow the food of my infancy through them, according to Thine ordinance, whereby Thou distributest Thy riches through the hidden springs of all things. Thou also gavest me to desire no more than Thou gavest; and to my nurses willingly to give me what Thou gavest them. For they, with a heaven-taught affection, willingly gave me what they abounded with from Thee. For this my good from them, was good for them. Nor, indeed, from them was it, but through them; for from Thee, O God, are all good things, and from my God is all my health. This I since learned, Thou, through these Thy gifts, within me and without, proclaiming Thyself unto me. For then I knew but to suck; to repose in what pleased, and cry at what offended my flesh; nothing more.

Afterwards I began to smile; first in sleep, then waking: for so it was told me of myself, and I believed it; for we see the like in other infants, though of myself I remember it not. Thus, little by little, I became conscious where I was; and to have a wish to express my wishes to those who could content them, and I could not; for the wishes were within me, and they without; nor could they by any sense of theirs enter within my spirit. So I flung about at random limbs and voice, making the few signs I could, and such as I could, like, though in truth very little like, what I wished. And when I was not presently obeyed (my wishes being hurtful or unintelligible), then I was indignant with my elders for not submitting to me, with those owing me no service, for not serving me; and avenged myself on them by tears. Such have I learnt infants to be from observing them; and that I was myself such, they, all unconscious, have shown me better than my nurses who knew it.

And, lo! my infancy died long since, and I live. But Thou, Lord, who for ever livest, and in whom nothing dies: for before the foundation of the worlds, and before all that can be called “before,” Thou art, and art God and Lord of all which Thou hast created: in Thee abide, fixed for ever, the first causes of all things unabiding; and of all things changeable, the springs abide in Thee unchangeable: and in Thee live the eternal reasons of all things unreasoning and temporal. Say, Lord, to me, Thy suppliant; say, all-pitying, to me, Thy pitiable one; say, did my infancy succeed another age of mine that died before it? was it that which I spent within my mother’s womb? for of that I have heard somewhat, and have myself seen women with child? and what before that life again, O God my joy, was I any where or any body? For this have I none to tell me, neither father nor mother, nor experience of others, nor mine own memory. Dost Thou mock me for asking this, and bid me praise Thee and acknowledge Thee, for that I do know?

I acknowledge Thee, Lord of heaven and earth, and praise Thee for my first rudiments of being, and my infancy, whereof I remember nothing; for Thou hast appointed that man should from others guess much as to himself; and believe much on the strength of weak females. Even then I had being and life, and (at my infancy’s close) I could seek for signs whereby to make known to others my sensations. Whence could such a being be, save from Thee, Lord? Shall any be his own artificer? or can there elsewhere be derived any vein, which may stream essence and life into us, save from thee, O Lord, in whom essence and life are one? for Thou Thyself art supremely Essence and Life. For Thou art most high, and art not changed, neither in Thee doth to-day come to a close; yet in Thee doth it come to a close; because all such things also are in Thee. For they had no way to pass away, unless Thou upheldest them. And since Thy years fail not, Thy years are one to-day. How many of ours and our fathers’ years have flowed away through Thy “to-day,” and from it received the measure and the mould of such being as they had; and still others shall flow away, and so receive the mould of their degree of being. But Thou art still the same, and all things of tomorrow, and all beyond, and all of yesterday, and all behind it, Thou hast done to-day. What is it to me, though any comprehend not this? Let him also rejoice and say, What thing is this? Let him rejoice even thus! and be content rather by not discovering to discover Thee, than by discovering not to discover Thee.
Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo, and E. B. Pusey. The Confessions of St. Augustine, Conf, Book 1 Chapter 6. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996.