Question:  Dear Greg,

            You make it sound like everyone is being called right now when you talk on your radio program.  I don’t feel God is going to grant wishes to someone who isn’t being called and given repentance.  If you don’t have His Spirit, you are none of His.  What do you think? 

            John

Answer:  Dear John,

            What do I think of your assertions?

1.      You don’t feel God is going to “grant wishes” to someone who isn’t called and granted repentance.  Let’s talk” about that assertion.  How do you feel this to be true?  Upon what biblical criteria?  What do you mean, “grant wishes”?  How do you define “call”?  Is God’s calling to sinners limited to a particular group or type or category of people—if it is, how would such a group of category of people be defined?  And what biblical evidence would you offer for such a claim?

Obviously, the questions I ask reveal that I do not understand the Bible to limit God’s calling to any group of people that we can humanly identify.  The Bible makes it clear that God calls whomsoever he wills, when he wills and how he wills, and that he does not identify his criteria to us.  Therefore, it is not possible to look around and find a group that exclusively claims to be “doing the will of God” because they are doing a, b, and c—and not doing x, y, and z.  And conversely, by the same token, it is not possible to identify all other people outside that group as “going against the will of God.”

The calling of God is by grace.  The who, what, where and why of his calling is his “call”.  Matthew 20—the parable of the workers in the vineyard is a parable that illustrates God'’ grace and his call.  As he asks those who are upset "are you envious because I am generous?"”

Christians are called by God’s grace.  They will obey Jesus Christ, and follow his, for they are called to be his workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)--because they are saved BY God’s grace FOR works.  What we do and how we do it is simply a consequence of God’s calling and our salvation—it is not a detriment.

2.      You assert that “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ”—of course, you quote Romans 8:9, and you re biblically correct.  I agree.  The next step may not find us in agreement.  It is not easy to humanly identify those who have the Spirit of Christ—and those who do not.  Biblical criteria that is offered includes the fruit of God’s Spirit—Galatians 5:22.  These are produced by God the Holy Spirit—but it is possible that those in whom Christ does not live his new life (Galatians 2:20) also appear to be loving, joyful, patient and kind, etc.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht