Who are you and what are you apart of?
When a person remembers the Sabbath Day to keep it holy, they gather around the spoken (or preached) Word and Sacraments. That is why the scriptures describe this day as a “holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:3). What else is a convocation but an assembly? This must be our common understanding, and it must not be lost, no matter how the fancies of modern culture change.
When the Apostle Paul teaches us that “For so often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26), he is assuming this common understanding.
The church is comprised of those souls that have been “called out from the world”. In the language of John’s gospel, she is not “of the world” (John 15:19) but has been “chosen out of the world”.
And “to where” has she been called to? She has been called to this holy convocation. She’s been called to where two or three are gathered in Jesus’ Name. She is called to where Christ Himself has promised to be where two or three are gathered in His Name. This is the “holy convocation”. This is where the Name of Christ is proclaimed before the world – not merely in Word alone, but in deeds and in truth. This is where she stands out from the world which goes about every day after it’s vain and idolatrous pursuits.
Will the world scorn her for this? Peter tells us that “Because of this they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you” (1 Peter 4:4).
Will she necessarily “miss out” on what’s “going on? In the previous verse (1 Peter 4:3), Peter firmly asserts “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry”. Obviously, this applies to the Saturday night carousing and bar-hopping lifestyle, but if you think what all might be encompassed under the description of “lawless idolatry”, many seemingly good and otherwise socially acceptable things could also be included.
Thus, in answer to the question of “to where has she been called”, we must acknowledge that our calling is to no less of a place than the cross. It is a calling to lay-down our own sense (or justification) of what is “right” or “ok” or even “good enough” and to acknowledge together “thus says the Lord”. It’s to “hear” with the conviction of the Holy Spirit and to stand firm in the grace that has come to us and which continues to be proclaimed to us as the life that has now come into the world.
To be “holy” is to be set apart. When God “sanctified the day”, He set it apart and implied in this Word is our own calling to regard ourselves as chosen and yes, set apart. You who have been born of water and the Spirit are no longer of the world. You are of God. So, as the Apostle says, “Glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Interestingly, when he writes the word “your”, this is a 2nd person plural. It’s what we do as this holy convocation.