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April 22 Daily Devotional

The Calling of God’s People

Frans Bakker

Follow me. —John 21:19c

Bible Reading

John 21:18–19

Devotional

Christ restores Peter as an apostle. He gives him the calling, “Feed my lambs.... Feed my sheep.” It is a great miracle that the Lord is willing and able to use a fallen Peter. But this is not only a message to Peter. This message comes to all of us. Whoever we are or think ourselves to be, we are all discharged office-bearers. We are all created by God to serve in the offices of prophet, priest, and king. It is a threefold calling: as prophet to know our Creator, as priest to serve our Creator, and as king to glorify our Creator.

What has become of our position in Christ? We have forfeited it by sin. Concerning the prophetical office, we have lost the knowledge of God. How can we now speak for God? Concerning the priestly office, we have served ourselves instead of God. And with respect to the kingly office, our crown lies desecrated and cast to the ground. We have forsaken our office. We have missed the aim of our existence. We have become unworthy before God, like dry wood ready to be cast into the fire. Have you learned to mourn over this reality? Have you ever longed to receive that lost office back again? We all want to go to heaven, but do you want to be restored in that office: to know the Lord, to serve Him, and to glorify Him?

Sadly, we are born with a nature that has no desire to serve in the office our Maker intends for us. We would rather live after the imagination of our own heart. We follow our own insight; we serve ourselves; we live for ourselves. Has this become your personal guilt before God? Do you recognize your unworthiness before the Lord? Then there is still expectation for you, for the Lord gladly sees such unworthy ones at the throne of His grace. The same God you have offended is still willing to receive you. You are never too bad for Him. God is willing to make use of hands that have reached for the forbidden tree. This can only be understood in and through Christ. By His pierced hands and by His precious blood, Jesus regains the office for unworthy people. He is the only beloved Son in whom God is well pleased. Only in Him can you be restored. Cease then from your efforts to restore yourself with God. Your calling would be forever sinned away, if it had not been purchased again with His blood.

No matter how much or how little you are privileged to receive from Christ, His grace always creates a desire to live for God. For that matter, the Lord does not have a people without a calling. His Word says: “This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.” Ultimately, that is worth more than your salvation, people of God.

In this way, you, as children of God, have a threefold calling: as prophet to know and magnify the name of God; as priest to dedicate yourself to God in all you do; and as king to strive against sin and to conquer it in the strength of Christ. You cannot fulfill this calling in your own strength. But now Christ as the great Office- Bearer receives such weak ones to serve as prophet with His wisdom, as priest with His sacrifice, and as king with His strength. That is the only way, children of God, to fulfill your calling. He is the source of your strength. Your cause is His cause. He is willing to give what He commands. But remember: that requires a continual cleaving to this Prophet, Priest, and King.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.

 

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