In the ancient world and the middle ages “calling” or it’s Latin form “vocation” referred to a sacred calling of God toward men serving in the church. Therefore if you were not a priest or a monk you were not “called”. But with the dawn of the reformation and primarily through the work of Martin Luther that thought changed. Vocation began to be referred to as the calling of God upon every one of his creatures to carry out the works of God toward man. In regard to the family Luther suggested that God could populate the earth by creating each generation of people from the dust the earth. However, he ordained that children and generations would be brought up by families carrying out their various vocations as fathers, mothers, husbands, wives and children. It is in these various callings that man and woman become the “the masks of God” or the means by which God cares for all his creatures. As Luther said, “Therefore I advise no one to enter any religious order or the priesthood, indeed, I advise everyone against it – unless he is forearmed with this knowledge and understands that the works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone.” (The Babylonian Captivity of the Church 1520). And again he said, “All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government-to what does it all amount before God except child's play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things.” (Exposition of Psalm 147).
When we consider this doctrine of vocation we recognize that through our callings God is showing the blessings of his love upon his creatures. In the gospel we recognize that God demonstrates his love for us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us (Rom.5:8). And now those who are alive in Christ have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph.1:3). However, we must also look at how he blesses us and others with his love through us each day in our various vocations. A Swedish theologian, Gustaf Wingren, wrote a book entitled, Luther on Vocations. He summarizes this idea in this way; “In his vocation man does works which effect the well-being of others; for so God has made all offices. Through this work in man's offices, God's creative work goes forward, and that creative work is love, a profusion of good gifts. With persons as his "hands" or "coworkers," God gives his gifts through the earthly vocations, toward man's life on earth (food through farmers, fishermen and hunters; external peace through princes, judges, and orderly powers; knowledge and education through teachers and parents, etc., etc.). Through the preacher's vocation, God gives the forgiveness of sins. Thus love comes from God, flowing down to human beings on earth through all vocations, through both spiritual and earthly governments.” Therefore the love of God is demonstrated to every creature in our dependence upon the Creator and also through his callings in his creatures lives. Gene Edward Veith says, “The picture is of a vast, complex society of human beings with different talents and abilities. Each serves the other; each is served by others. We Americans have an ideal of self-sufficiency and often dream of being able to grow our own food, build our own homes, and live independently of other people. But our proper human condition is dependence. Because of the centrality of love, we are to depend on other human beings and, ultimately and through them, on God. Conversely, other people are to depend on us. In God's earthly kingdom, we are to receive his blessings from other people in their vocations.” (Modern Reformation "By the Sweat of Our Brow" May/June Vol. 8 No. 3 1999 Pages 4-7, “Doctrine of Vocation”). The churches call to love our neighbor in good works so that others may glorify our Father who is in heaven takes place when we change a diaper, empty the dishwasher, arrive to work on time, teach a class, pick up trash or go to the grocery store. The Christians life is based upon grace, but the outworking of that grace is the work of love carried out through various vocations. This does not mean that only when the Christian carries out his vocation with complete unabated love that our neighbors receive the love of God through our work. A person may bake a loaf of bread or love his wife or make laws for purely selfish motives. However, God uses those vocations and the work in them as his means to work his sovereign will in showing love to his creatures. But for the Christian who is being sanctified in Christ it is a great joy to hate sin and love holiness and watch God love our neighbors through the outworking of faith in Christ in our various callings.
The doctrine of vocation allows the Christian to be identified not by “what he or she does” but by whose he or she is and what God is doing everyday though their life for his glory and the good of his creatures. When our joy is in God who made, sustains, and redeems us, then we will be glad in the callings of God in this life. It is the glory of God that brings us joy and dignity in our callings. And in that joy and dignity in him we can take up our crosses and follow him wherever he calls us through whatever vocation toward our neighbors in love.
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