Good Morning!
Today’s lesson is going to be all about how you became a Christian. Not just the nuts and bolts of how, but why you did. You may never have thought about it much, but today we are going to look into what the catechism says and then talk a little more about what we believe the Bible to teach about the way Effectual Calling affects the work we do as Believers in the Church. So without further ado here are our questions this week:
Q. 31. What is Effectual Calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
Q. 32. What Benefits Do They That Are Effectually Called Partake of in This Life?
A. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.
The questions we looked at last week spoke to us of how we became partakers, that is how do get the salvation which Christ has purchased with His blood. In other words how do we go from being aliens to righteousness to having the alien righteousness of Jesus Christ as our own. How does Point A get to Point B. The simple answer as laid out in Q.29 and Q.30 is that the Holy Spirit does that. The Q/A this week is telling us how that all takes place. So let’s take it slow for a moment. The words “effectual” and “calling” put together reference the preaching of the Gospel by those called to her ministry. Through the call of the good news of Christ to sinners men will be convicted of their sin, have their eyes opened to see their need for a savior, be shown who that Redeemer is, have the way they feel about Him change (from enemies to friends), cause them then to run to Him as their Prodigal Father, and then embrace Jesus with a holy embrace with a promise that He will never let His go.
All that happens because of the Holy Spirit’s work in Effectual Calling.
The Gospel call to sinners works. I hope you’ve experienced that gift.
Which is why we preach it, boldly and with assurance.
Some look at Reformed or Calvinist theology as placing an unnecessary or even a negative restriction on the proclamation of the good news to those who need to hear it. If God has chosen (and we’ll explain more about that in a later letter) His people and they are predestined to be Christians what is the point of preaching?
Yet as we see in the questions above the reality is far from it. Rather than being a burden knowing who gets the credit for saving souls frees the minister to preach with certainty and without worry. The Church through this means of grace is able to bring it to so many because the reception of it is not based on the pastor or evangelist spreading it, but on the God who gives the growth through the Holy Spirit. Not only does it take the anxiousness off having to be a perfect orator and rhetorician we see in the question and answer that as the man of God preaches the Holy Spirit is making His way through the crowd lighting up the hearts of men and women like a Christmas Tree. The more you preach the more sinners are awakened to their sin and their need to humble themselves before the Righteous Lord they have offended in their transgressions. Being shamed by the Law, the Gospel is right there to bring the balm of sweetness to their lips in the very offer of forgiveness in the shed blood of the Lamb.
It’s one of the reasons why ministers must always be preaching the gospel. We can never act as if we are ever in a crowd of 100% converted Christians, but even if that happens we still preach it because even Believers need to be convicted of remaining sin, especially if that sin is something we idolatrously hold in our hearts like Rachel and her idols or Achan and his stolen treasures. The Holy Spirit’s work of conviction is a lifelong mercy which our Father blessedly gives to all His covenant people. It was the preaching of the word from the mouth of Nathan that showed David His sin and moved him to repentance and faith. As he threw himself at the love of God in the covenant promise, the king after God’s own heart, was illustrating for us how we should react to like preaching. It is dangerous for anyone, but especially those claiming Christ as savior to ignore the pricking of conscience which comes from when the Holy Spirit is stepping on our toes in the Lord’s Day morning sermon, or even a Wednesday Night Lesson. To ignore the pleading of God is not wise.
The last question will take up the rest of the space here.
When we talk about coming under that initial persuasion of Gospel grace and the salvation which comes from it we need to remember that there are a whole sort of blessings which come from effectual calling. Namely the holy trinity of redemption: Justification, Sanctification, and Adoption. Now, in the next several weeks as their own individual Q/A’s pop up we’ll define each of those more deeply, but to briefly summarize each of them they each describe for us part of what we need to have the image of God restored in us. First of all we need the transaction completed. Our sins for Christ’s Righteousness. In the gospel we believe that not only do our natural sins, those we commit every day, need paid for, but the sin of Adam as well. Only Christ Jesus was able to pay for them, so He did. We are justified, that is declared righteous, not guilty, innocent of the curse, because Christ did it all. When it comes to our being sanctified, well we are dirty in sin, and we need not only washed, but totally remade. That the Holy Spirit does throughout our lives as we become more and more like Christ. Lastly, in adoption, probably the one we need the least help to understand, we are taken from our natural father, the Devil, and adopted in the family of God and give a new name and a new identity, which is no longer that of a rebel, but of a patriot. A true son or daughter of Jehovah as if we had been as Christ Himself, the very son of God, not according to His nature to be sure, but of His clan.
Lots more to say, but as with each week we’ll have to leave it there. Thankful for more questions to come. 😊
Here is a bit to read this week on Q. 31 and 32 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
https://www.monergism.com/effectual-calling
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church