Our Heavenly Calling (3)

And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Hebrews 3.5, 6

Found to be faithful
Those who have truly begun to share in the heavenly calling will demonstrate their participation in that really real world consistently, through every day of their lives. True faith, after all, is both the inward assurance that we are forgiven and know the Lord, together with the outward evidence of our having become partakers of a heavenly calling (Heb. 11.1).

That is, as holy brethren, they will be faithful, as Moses was faithful, and as Jesus was faithful to God, Who sent Him to us for our redemption, and Who now receives His ongoing intercession on our behalf. Those who partake of the heavenly calling will be found to be faithful as holy brethren in the Lord, and they will persist in faithfulness “firm to the end.”

But to what—or whom—are they to be faithful? Moses and Jesus were faithful to God, to do whatever He appointed for them. Like them we also must be faithful to God, or it will be difficult to tell that we are partakers of the heavenly calling. We are being faithful to God, our writer informs us, when we “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope.”

OK, but what does that mean?

Holding fast our confidence
What does it mean to “hold fast” the confidence we have of being partakers of the heavenly calling?

Let’s ask: In what are we confident? If we have believed in Jesus, we should understand that we have begun to partake of the heavenly calling. Are you confident of that?

Do you get up every day completely assured that your sins are forgiven, and your eternal destination is secure?

And do you, on the basis of that confidence, that assurance, make plans to live within the parameters of your heavenly calling throughout the day, knowing that the God Who gave you that calling will be with you and will never fail nor forsake you (Heb. 13.5)?

Do you go forth confident of God’s presence with you, of His pleasure in your chosen lifestyle, of His Spirit’s working in you to make you willing and able to do what pleases God (Phil. 2.13), and of Jesus’ ongoing intercession for you with the Father (Heb. 7.25), so that you lack nothing you will need to live for Him each day?

If we are confident of these matters—really confident—and if we hold fast to that confidence every day of our lives, it will not be long before it begins to be clear to everyone around us that our lives are following a trajectory which differs markedly from the narcissistic, relativistic, materialistic, and secular lifestyle of the people around us. We seem to have been set apart from an “under the sun” existence to a completely different way of life, a holy life “under the heavens” with God.

Rejoicing in our hope
But being faithful also involves rejoicing in our hope. If we are filled with and partaking of the hope of glory, now and for eternity, then that should be a matter of some importance to us. It should be just the kind of thing that would give us great joy, and make us eager to talk about and urge others to consider this heavenly calling, and to share with others who share in this way of life, some of the ways we are discovering the really real nature of our heavenly calling.

Those who partake of this calling will find themselves rejoicing in it and boasting about it, so that others might seek an explanation of the transformed and confident ways they see us living (1 Pet. 3.15).

We are being faithful to God, and thus following our faithful Jesus, when we hold fast our confidence firm to the end, and rejoice and boast in our hope at every opportunity. This is the way holy brethren express their participation in their heavenly calling.

Now obviously, this suggests an approach to life that differs in many ways from the people we meet each day. This should not surprise us; after all, it is a heavenly calling that we are pursuing, life “under the heavens” and not merely “under the sun,” and not just one career among many. We partake of this calling by believing in Jesus. We are faithful as we share in this calling by going forth each day in the confidence of our salvation, living and rejoicing in that confidence, and boasting to one and all about the calling from, for, and to heaven that we have embraced from God Himself.

We begin to partake of that heavenly calling by trusting in Jesus. But we continue to partake of it only to the extent that we, like Moses and Jesus, are faithful to Him Who called us.

For reflection
1.  In what ways are Moses and Jesus good examples of what it means to be faithful to God?

2.  How would you counsel a fellow believer to work at building up his confidence in the Lord?

3.  What areas of your life would you like to see more evidence of your heavenly calling? In what ways?

Next steps—Conversation: Talk with a Christian friend. Is your friend confident in this heavenly calling? Rejoicing in it, and boasting about this heavenly calling to others?

T. M. Moore

Two books can help you gain a better sense of what this heavenly calling entails. The first, What in Heaven Is Jesus Doing on Earth?, considers the work Jesus continues doing at the Father’s right hand. Order the book by clicking here or download the PDF here. The second book, The Landscape of Unseen Things, offers a detailed study of the teaching of Scripture on the unseen realm and why it matters for our heavenly calling. Order your copy of this workbook by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.