Christian Scholarship: A Calling (Part 1)

By Dr. Luka Dinshak

Knowing and Responding to the Call of God

In almost all of Paul’s epistles, he identified and introduced himself by reference to God’s call on his life. Romans 1:1 is especially instructive: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God.” From his first encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus, he had a clear direction from the Lord concerning his trajectory in life henceforth. He had been set apart to bear witness to Christ among the Gentiles, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God (Acts 26:12-18). Paul esteemed this calling all other engagements. Since this purpose was very clear to him, he knew when he was nearing the completion of his race (2 Timothy 4:6) and was then looking forward to the crown of glory that the Master would give him. He was quick to add that it would not be only for him but all who had followed faithfully.

When Jesus Christ reconciles people to God, it is so that they can in turn be instruments of reconciling others to Him. The Lord has assigned this responsibility to all of us, as part of our calling to make disciples. Certainly, this means more than leaving home and going on mission (though some may be called to do that). All our life and engagement should be about bearing witness for Jesus in all we are doing, especially in our vocation where we have great opportunity for impact.

Few people have as much leverage to influence others as scholars do. Knowledge has a great impaact on others, and scholars, more than anyone else, are the creators, custodians, repositories and dispensers of knowledge. All that God has created is a means by which He intended to make Himself known (Romans 1:20). The more we know about God’s creation, the more able we are to perceive and know God deeply. No one is so endowed to ponder every aspect of God’s creation and how to encounter Him as much as academics. Research, teaching, serving our communities with our knowledge, and publishing are all ways to discover God, whatever field we are in. This is the life to which we have been called.

When God created human beings in Genesis 1:27-30, he commanded them to “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” As for what they would have for their sustenance, it was a given (Genesis 1:29). God promises to provide for our needs; He did so even before man was created. Sadly, people have abandoned God’s vision of our purpose for living, despised God’s provision and become so preoccupied with seeking their physical sustenance that they spend their lives working to live–as captured in the common question “What do you do for a living?”–rather than living for God.

God wishes to bring us back to His original reason for creating and calling us in Christ. We should be the first to respond to this reawakening among His people because we are positioned to reach influencers with it, until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 1:14).

Implications of the call to Christian scholarship

When Paul understood his call by the Lord, he knew it had implications, which also apply to us.

1. He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). He immediately set out to respond to the Lord as he had been directed. We should accept the responsibility God has placed on us as academics to bear witness for Him by our vocation. This is the reason for which we were created and therefore for which we should live.
2. We should count it a privilege to be called by God in this way, just as Paul rejoiced that Christ Jesus counted him worthy of performing ministry (I Timothy 1:2). It should be a thing of joy and praise for us, and something that we go about earnestly.
3. Paul identified and raised up people around him who would labour with him in carrying out this ministry. We need to identify and draw others into what God has called us to, especially students and younger colleagues,so that they can labour with us. They will also be the ones who succeed us when we are no longer there.
4. Paul was committed to doing ministry that would please the Lord who had called him (2 Timothy 2:4). We have enough on our hands as academics. If we are faithful in attending to this ministry, we will see God’s faithfulness releasing all we need to prosper us in every way.
5. Paul did not consider that he would have been better off somewhere else. In fact, he counted all that he was engaged in previously as a waste. He considered the excellency of his call to be more profitable than anything else (Philippians 3:8). We should not fall into the folly of thinking in pecuniary terms and believing that something other than our present engagement would have been better. Nothing can be compared to our service in and for the Lord as academics. 
6. Paul did not count anything too dear for him to give up, not even his life, so that he might attend to this ministry and finish it well (Acts 20:24). We should be willing to let go of anything that could keep us from attaining all that God intends for us to accomplish, regardless of the cost, because we are the Lord’s. 
7. Our reward for this labour should not come from human beings (as they are not the ones who called us) but from the Lord. Paul said that we have hope only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied (I Corinthians 15:19). He was even willing not to receive the sustenance that he could have received from those to whom he ministered; instead he served freely at his own expense (I Corinthians 9:1-15).
8. Paul was willing to submit himself to spiritual authority to confirm that he was carrying out his ministry correctly (Galatians 2:2). As we go about our ministry, we should have people to whom we are accountable, so that we do not go off track.
9. Paul disciplined himself to watch his own personal walk with the Lord as well as his ministry. We need to keep communion with the Lord, being temperate in all things so that our testimony will remain true to Him (I Corinthians 9:26-27).
10. Paul was mindful of only one thing: that Christ might be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death. because for him to live was Christ and to die was gain (Philippians 1:20). Nothing should matter to us other than that Christ should be honoured, whatever that could mean for us. Whether we may appear to gain or lose should be of no concern as long as the purpose of God is accomplished in us.

Conclusion

As we can see, Paul’s method of ministry has many implications for our vocation as Christian scholars. The bottom line is that we should be sold out to the One who has called us. We have ceased to be our own and must not do anything that would limit our service to God, just as a soldier serves his commander. If we serve in this way, we can expect God to use us to accomplish great things for His kingdom. Moreover, in this life we will never be ashamed, and we will receive a full eternal reward from our Maker and Master because we have lived faithfully in the singular pursuit of the purpose for which he has placed us on earth.