The high call of God

THE HIGH CALL OF GOD

Philippians 3:13 … I press toward the goal for the prize of the high call of God in Christ Jesus.

The High Call of God is actually translated as the Upward Call of God. The word for high is ano which means upward or above, or Heavenly. The word in the original Greek for ‘Call’ is klesis which means an invitation. That means that a Heavenly invitation is coming from above, from God, and our response to that invitation, our RSVP, is directed upward, back to God.

This Heavenly Invitation is not a status or rank that makes some people get a ‘High’ calling and some people get a ‘low’ calling. God does not send out low invitations, he only issues a heavenly invitation, to get to know him, personally and intimately, through Jesus.
Paul’s writes about his response to a personal invitation from God towards himself, to know him personally and intimately. (1Corinthians 1:31 – the glory trophy of knowing God – Jer 9.4)
Philippians 3:8-10 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowing Christ Jesus my Lord … that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.

So a heavenly call is not some future invitation for one day after we die that we accept our invitation to finally go to heaven. The heavenly invitation is for us to live a heavenly life on earth right now. `
This is for everybody. This is our response to life itself. The only ‘low’ invitation comes from the devil who wants us to stay pinned down in a response to a lower invitation of struggling in the shadows of our own strength. Why take the low road when you can take the high road and see life from a higher and deeper perspective of faith.

But who gets this heavenly invitation? The answer is clear in the Scriptures.
2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some suppose, but is longsuffering toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should receive repentance.
Longsuffering is the process of withholding judgment by patiently giving someone the time and the many opportunities to get a change of mind (repentance) and receive and respond to the message (and the invitation)
That word perish is apollymi in Greek which is translated 22 times in the New Testament as ‘TO LOSE’. The Holy Spirit grieves the loss and waste of such an invitation.

Paul encourages us in this when he writes the letter to the Romans and says;
Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
God doesn’t want a planet full of ‘losers’.

An Old Testament illustration of the ministry of the ‘high call’ is found in Ezekiel. This is the story of the role of priests in the Old Testament, and only Levites could be invited into the Old Testament priesthood.
A priest was a go-between between God and man. This is still the case, except that now, through Jesus all of us are invited into the priesthood of all believers (1Peter 2:5).

Some of the Levites in the story in Ezekiel took the low road and were careless in their response to this privilege, going after idols and setting a bad example to the people, and finally God had to let them be the losers because of their choice. So God let them go their own way and stuck with the Zadok clan of priests who chose the high road.

Ezekiel 44.15 "But the Levitical priests who descend from Zadok, who faithfully took care of my Sanctuary when everyone else went off and left me, are going to come into my presence and serve me. They are going to carry out the priestly work of offering the devoted (heleb - the best part for dedication) sacrifices of worship - the Decree of God, the Master. They're the only ones permitted to enter my Sanctuary. They're the only ones to approach my table and serve me, accompanying me in my work.
" When they enter the gate complex of the inside courtyard, they are to dress in linen. No woolens are to be worn ... They're to wear a linen headpiece and linen underclothes… nothing that makes them sweat. When they go out into the outside courtyard where the people gather, they must first change out of the clothes they have been serving in, leaving them in the sacred rooms where they change into their everyday clothes…
23. "Their job is to teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is unholy, to show them how to discern between the godly and the ungodly way to do things.
" When there's a difference of opinion, these priests will arbitrate. They'll decide on the basis of my judgments, laws, and statutes.

You might wonder about the choice of a linen headpiece instead of wool. The natural reason given here is that wool causes sweat. There’s also a spiritual reason why God went to so much trouble in the detail of things like this. There are many things in the Old Testament that hide a message for us in the New Testament. The Bible says that fine linen represents the righteousness of people who believe God and want to live close to him (Revelation 19). Righteousness means having our heart in alignment with God. This linen headpiece speaks to us of having our mind upon God, and having a mind of peace and order, and not causing sweat or anxious striving.
When they go out to meet the people they change their religious clothes and wear everyday clothes– so they identify with the people.
They have been in the presence of God and so they are able to carry this presence and impart it in the way they speak and act amongst the people. That is the work of a priest, to bring God into peoples hearts. We are told we are a spiritual priesthood and we can do the same as these priests in a New Covenant way, and bring God into peoples hearts with simplicity and grace instead of religious performance.
These priests were given God’s wisdom in their counsel of people who asked for help and advice and prayer.
The final verse says ‘these priests will arbitrate. They will decide on the basis of my judgments, laws, and statutes’. For us that means being able to hear what The Holy Spirit is saying to different people in different situations. That is how the Holy Spirit arbitrates (not legislates) and applies God’s word personally and individually because he knows peoples’ hearts. Paul said that his ministry was not of the letter but of the Spirit because the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. The Holy Spirit does not apply the letter of God’s word and put peoples’ under the law, but he brings the ministry of the Spirit and revelation of God’s word into the here and now of peoples’ lives.
This was a type of the priestly ministry of Jesus as he spent time with his Father so that he would have his Father’s heart and mind on what to say to the people.
This is now our priestly ministry, This is the heavenly calling available to all of us if we care to respond to God’s invitation. We are here to issue this invitation to anyone with ears to hear it. Th world generally has not had ears to hear this because it has been hearing other invitations to a more self gratifying and enticing message for itself. It is only when God gets the worlds’ attention that it might have ears to hear.
So how much more do those who bear the message need to have ears to hear God at this time in an anxious, confused and despairing world.

The Zadok priests put God first and spent precious time with God each day before they got involved with the affairs of the people. As the Scripture from Ezekiel said They are going to carry out the priestly work of offering the devoted (heleb – oil, wine, grain, fat) sacrifices of worship - the Decree of God, the Master. They're the only ones permitted to enter my Sanctuary. They're the only ones to approach my table and serve me, accompanying me in my work.

Devotion is relational not transactional. People can pray fervently to get God to meet their personal needs and that is fine, but devotional is a kind of prayer that gives the best part to God – to God’s personal invitation of partnership with himself (accompanying me in my work). How long would these Zadok priests spend in God’s presence? All that we know is that it was a set time, but the effect stayed with them. However long we set to be with God will result in the effect of that staying with us (not a direct correlation), and what do we think and reflect upon in that time?
a) His love and mercy and devotion to us (this is where the highest comes to the lowest (Isaiah 57:15).
b) His supernatural work of goodwill towards us and on our behalf towards others. (prayer always happening Rom8:25)

We know that God gave those priests a life to live, a fruitful life, a busy life, but they wanted to give the first part, the best part to God, so that they could really live, as they would get his heart for the lives of the people in their world where he had placed them.
If there is a best, why not give yourself to that.