Effectual Call and Irresistible Grace

Why would Matthew get up and leave a lucrative, albeit highly unappreciated, vocation? Why would Peter and Andrew, James and John leave behind the windfall of fish they had just hauled in to follow Jesus? Why would you for that matter, why would anyone? If the call to follow Jesus is, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it, “a call to come and die? Or as Jesus stated Himself, ““If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matt 16:24 ESV) Why? At least in part, the answer lies in these two components of Jesus’ Gospel Mission – Effectual Call and Irresistible Grace.

Effectual Calling

Jesus had just come out of a house in which he had healed a paralyzed man as a demonstration of his authority to forgive sin. He sees Matthew, a sinner in everyone’s eyes, He approaches and calls Matthew to follow Him. Matthew gets up and leaves his tax booth for good. What could Jesus have said that would be so convincing? Certainly, if we could replicate these words, we would be able to market this, right? Wrong.

It isn’t what Jesus said as much as who Jesus is. Matthew was surrounded by religion. He was surrounded by a culture of competing idols. He worked for the Romans and lived among the Jews. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the opportunity to follow other paths, but the path Jesus called Matthew to follow was behind Him. What Matthew heard was not the call to just any religion but a powerful call to follow the Good Shepherd.

What we are seeing in Matthew’s response is the most natural response and it is exactly what Jesus is referring to in John 10:27 when He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Or again, in John 6:44 as Jesus taught He said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

What we are witnessing in Matthew’s life, and every other Christian’s for that matter, is a response to God’s effectual call to salvation. God’s effectual call is much different than our general Gospel call. In a sermon many years ago John Piper said, “The call of God is effective; it creates what it commands.” Gods call to sinners to come to Him not only sets the expectation but empowers the positive response. We proclaim the Gospel and may or may not see someone respond positively. However, God effectively calls those that He has foreknown, predestined and justified (Romans 8:28-30).

Matthew got up from the tax booth and followed; Peter, Andrew, James, and John left behind the miraculous catch of fish and even you followed Jesus first and foremost because He powerfully and effectively called you in grace to follow Him from death to life.

Irresistible Grace

This second component is vital. After all, this effectual call is an act of grace. God is not obligated to us. We don’t deserve nor could we earn our place before Him or any access to Him. Yet in this effective call to follow Jesus that is exactly what we are being given.

Matthew was likely very familiar with Jesus by the point he heard Jesus’ call. He likely knew that Jesus had taught with great authority, healed many people from disease, and cast out demons without even breaking a sweat. He may have even been present to witness it with his own eyes. It is even possible when the paralyzed man that was carried to the house and lowered through the roof walked out carrying his mat and glorifying God that Matthew saw it. Now this man, Jesus, was standing there in front of him calling him to follow.

We often misunderstand the meaning of irresistible grace as removing our ability to freely respond to God. But that is a complete misrepresentation. We voluntarily get up and leave our “tax booths” and other pursuits, not because He forced us to do it. Instead, in effectively calling us out of “darkness and into His marvelous light,” He has enabled us to see, know and understand the truth. When we know the truth about what we deserve and in contrast what He has offered to us, there seems to be only one right and good response.

Matthew knew he didn’t deserve this. He knew that Jesus wasn’t obligated to him. He knew that he would never be able to pay this back. But, he also knew he would be foolish not to follow. It wasn’t that Matthew couldn’t have said no, but why would he? Why would anyone. When they are given eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to believe the truth about this gracious God who has called them into His presence and granted access to Himself. Why would anyone say no?

Why would anyone say no to eternal life and inheritance? Why would anyone say no to being in the presence of their great, glorious, good and gracious Creator? Why would anyone say no to being the beneficiary of God’s eternal power and being united with Him in peace? Why would anyone say no to being made a part of His Kingdom and adopted into His household?

Anyone that has been powerfully and effectively called out of death into a life of following Jesus, wouldn’t say no because we know it would be foolish to say no to such amazing and glorious grace.

If you are following Him in life it is because He called you powerfully. If you are telling others about Him they won’t follow because you convince them or answer all their questions. They will only follow if He calls them. So rest easy, take confidence that you can endure in the Gospel because He has made you able and others will believe your Gospel proclamation when He calls them to follow Him!