(An Interruption to the Series) The Call of God
by Daniel R. Brown
The call of God to the gospel ministry, apart from salvation, is the single greatest qualifying mark for anyone who is a minister of the gospel. For this reason, ordination councils examine a man in three separate areas: his conversion, his call to the ministry, and his convictions on doctrine. The call of God is widely recognized as a first order priority by virtually every book on pastoral theology. These authors, crossing every spectrum of theological position, devote a section or an entire chapter to the subject. Most churches will usually ask a potential pastoral candidate to give expression to his call to the ministry.
Even after this emphasis in both our literature and our practice, the call of God has fallen upon hard times. My experience in ordination councils, as well as discussions with pastors and teachers, indicates that a great deal of confusion and doubt surrounds the discussion of God’s call to the ministry.
I believe there are several causes for this increasing lack of clarity about God’s call to the ministry. First, while an abundance of literature addresses the call of God, authors tend to describe the call in their own terms, so that great variety exists in how the call is defined and described. Second, the call of God is confused with a subjective, existential experience equivalent to someone saying, “God spoke to me.” Third, some are openly antagonistic against the call of God to the ministry (e.g., Friesen, Decision Making and the Will of God). This is not an apologetic against that position, but if a man states that he is definitely not called by God, I am willing to take him at his word. Fourth, the call of God is a part of understanding God’s individual will for one’s life. Those who deny that God has an individual will for the life of each Christian will undoubtedly choke on accepting God’s call to the ministry.
A brief word needs to be said about what the call of God is not. The call of God is not special visitation by God to a person via a dream or vision. The call is not happening to open up the right Chinese fortune cookie or seeing an apparition of Christ.
The call of God does involve a subjective aspect, in the same way that understanding God’s individual will for a person involves some subjectivity. We are rightly unwilling to give credence to the subjective, unconfirmed speculations of some. We want believers to be grounded in the objective Word of God. Yet we do understand that there is a subjective aspect to our Christian life. For example, the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16). This verse indicates that there is an internal, subjective aspect to our assurance of salvation in addition to knowing and claiming the explicit, objective promises of Scripture.
The call of God to the ministry fundamentally includes two aspects. First, the call entails an overwhelming desire which, in my understanding, means a desire to preach. In 1 Tim. 3:1 Paul describes this “desire” with two different words. “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.” The first word (oregetai) means “to stretch oneself out in order to touch or to grasp something” (Abbott). It carries the idea of the runner who stretches for the finish line, desiring victory. In this sense, the first word involves an aspiration for the office. The second word Paul uses (epithumei) is often found in a negative context in the NT and translated as “lust” when the object of the desire is improper. The root idea of the term means a “burning upon” or a “desiring with passion.” Here the context is positive, but the strength of the term remains, “he desires (lusts or covets) a good thing.” The “desire” is not a whim or a passing fancy, but a passion that changes the course of one’s life.
The second aspect of the call of God in a man’s life includes an inescapable conviction based on the Word of God. The Scripture will grip a man’s heart and, when coupled with a passion for the ministry, will never release him. As this is an individual aspect of how God leads to His call, no two preachers will have exactly the same approach or testimony.
The call of God does not happen in a vacuum. Christ, in His active role of headship, calls men to the ministry (Eph. 4:11), the Holy Spirit directs the call (Acts 20:28), and the church verifies the call (Acts 13:2-3). The church has a major role in protecting the ministry and, therefore, the church should agree with a man’s call and qualifications prior to his entering the ministry. Thus we can say with Paul, “He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry” (1 Tim. 1:12).
Holy Sonnet VIII
John Donne (1572-1631)
If faithful souls be alike glorified
As angels, then my fathers soul doth see,
And adds this even to full felicity,
That valiantly I hells wide mouth o’erstride:
But if our minds to these souls be descried
By circumstances, and by signs that be
Apparent in us, not immediately,
How shall my mind’s white truth by them be tried?
They see idolatrous lovers weep and mourn,
And vile blasphemous conjurers to call
On Jesus name, and Pharisaical
Dissemblers feigne devotion. Then turn,
O pensive soul, to God, for he knows best
Thy true grief, for he put it in my breast.
Dr. Dan Brown is Professor of Pastoral Theology at Central Seminary. Prior to coming to Central, he served as senior pastor of Kendall Park Baptist Church, Kendall Park, NJ. He has also served at churches in Michigan and Texas and at camps in Texas and New Jersey. He is a member of the Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America, the Evangelical Homiletics Society, and the Evangelical Theological Society. He and his wife, Mary Jo, have four daughters.
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[Aaron Blumer] OK, all fans of Puritanish Reformation thought…. how does all this relate to the idea of Vocation?Here’s a link to an article in Modern Reformation on vocation and call - very well done - I may add:
http://www.modernreformation.org/default.php?page=articledisplay&var1=A…
[dmyers] Just to clarify, Freisen’s position (with which I agree) does accept that there is an individual will of God. The difference is whether God expects the individual believer to be able to divine His sovereign will in all situations in the individual’s life, or whether God instead expects the believer to be guided by God’s expressed moral will and by Holy Spirit-aided wisdom, trusting in God’s provision.Right.
Freisen fully acknowledges God has a will for every single human being that extends not only through all of life, but for all eternity as well (Eph. 1:11). It is unalterable and has been decreed from all eternity. It must happen, and even if we could know it ahead of time it could not be altered.
The author’s use of “individual will” might be better recognized by the title “personal will,” which he attacks. This is the idea that God has a potential will just for you, His very best for you, which can be missed. It can be missed if you don’t read His signs and indicators for you in life, including personal feelings and coincidences. It is incredibly subjective and actually pagan since it tries to “read and interpret” God’s providence.
Applying it to this discussion, a man might have a call to preaching. That is God’s personal best will for him. But the man might miss it. This is the other side of “God’s personal will” that wounds both the man, and the church, so very deeply.
“Individual will” (or personal will) twists our hearts into thinking we should be a pastor (or a missionary) when we probably shouldn’t. For many, having been taught to go for God’s best (which is either pastoring or missions) men spend years trying to make their ministry work only to leave the ministry discouraged and hurting sheep.
Unfortunately, the author’s acceptance and defense of “individual will” on this critical matter of decision making can produce the opposite results of what he hopes for - men in the ministry for all the right reasons.
[Ted Bigelow] This is the idea that God has a potential will just for you, His very best for you, which can be missed. It can be missed if you don’t read His signs and indicators for you in life, including personal feelings and coincidences. It is incredibly subjective and actually pagan since it tries to “read and interpret” God’s providence.It’s this mysterious aspect of perceiving God’s will that I find scary, but is totally accepted in many Fundy churches. And it gives people an excuse for all sorts of tom-foolery, because all they have to do is play the “God led me to _____” card - and who can argue with that?
For many, having been taught to go for God’s best (which is either pastoring or missions) men spend years trying to make their ministry work only to leave the ministry discouraged and hurting sheep.What is even stranger IMO is young women who believe they are ‘called’ to marry a pastor or missionary, or whose parents have forbidden them to marry a man who isn’t ‘called’ into full time ministry because “God told them” that they are supposed to marry a pastor or missionary. Then church leadership just smiles and acts like that actually makes some kind of Biblical sense… and then they expect their congregation to take them seriously on other matters of faith and practice? I’m sittin’ there thinking if they have that kind of perception, they should get an 800 number and an infomercial.
There are so many problems with that idea, but maybe the biggest is that it demands of teenagers greater spiritual maturity than they can possibly have. If they make the wrong decision the rest of their lives they will be “out of the will of God.”
I understand this perfectly because I was expelled from a Christian college at the end of my first semester, and was held in contempt by some for my it.
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[JohnBrian] I refer to the personal will idea as “one school/one wife/one ministry for life,” by which I mean that God’s personal will is that you attend a select Christian college, where you will meet that single person whom He wants you to marry, and will find that ministry that you must do for the rest of your life.It makes sense to us that every decision has repercussions we can’t imagine at the time. The Bible is replete with examples of people who made a wrong turn and never recovered- “What if Adam hadn’t eaten the fruit”, “What if Abraham hadn’t taken Hagar to wife”… but those same examples show us that God is still in control, and that He isn’t surprised or derailed by our folly, that His forgiveness and ability to restore is boundless.
There are so many problems with that idea, but maybe the biggest is that it demands of teenagers greater spiritual maturity than they can possibly have. If they make the wrong decision the rest of their lives they will be “out of the will of God.”
I think the idea that if we make ‘one wrong move’ we are practically doomed for eternity makes us fearful, hesitant, and superstitious- none of which sound like the fruit of the Spirit or of a sound mind.
I do think there is delicate balance to strike. It seems like I remember a guy in the prayer group in college who thought it was important to seek God’s will about what color socks he would put on in the morning. I believe God has a will about these things but it’s pretty much in the same category as His will for the position of every atom in the universe. It’s planned and decreed but not my concern.
So I think it’s helpful to separate the existence of God’s will about a matter from our responsibility or ability to identify it. Even ability does not necessarily = responsibility in every case.
You can only spend so much time reflecting and praying and weighing options… sooner or later you have to do something.
To take it back to pastoral call, I think there are few who would deny that we’re kind of talking about a soup. That is, there are some ingredients that must be present to constitute “chicken soup,” and there are several that are usually pretty important elements, but a wide variety of “chicken soups” are possible… and we usually know it when we taste it.
The approach Charlie mentioned has some appeal. What if people pursued pastoral ministry tentatively based on the evidence of their own interest, desire, gifts, etc., and did not consider themselves “called” until a local church calls them? I think of worse ways to do it. When the church calls, it is either authenticating the candidate’s perception that he has God’s call or—if you prefer to speak of “congregational authority”—is actually issuing the call (I lean toward Ted’s view on that score).
Paul H... I appreciate your observations. It’s not clear to me yet, though, that the desire Paul refers to in his words to Timothy is really anything all that special. Certainly it’s not the desire of an unregenerate heart. Must it be more than the desire of someone born again? The text itself doesn’t seem to require that understanding, but maybe it comes from the larger context of Scripture as a whole/other passages?
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Applying to the call of ministry. I was unsure how to answer this question as a young man responding to an ordination council. I ended up answering that for a while, I had believed that with my gifts and abilities, the best way that I believe I personally could bring glory to God by fulfilling the great commission was by preaching the Bible. The Word of God reveals that God has chosen bishops/elders/pastor-teachers to preach the Word to the glory of God. And that fit my gifts. I really believed that for me to be obedient with what God had given me, I ought to pursue the office of Bishop. Along with that, I seek to be consistent in my philosophy. Therefore, If I believe that the best way for me to honor God and fulfill the great commission is to not be a pastor, or if I become a hindrance to the gospel or the church as pastor, I will gladly pursue another occupation.
All that said, I am still wrestling with the will of God issues and am sure I won’t be completely settled any time soon.
those are my two pence worth.
[Fred Moritz] Has anyone read Spurgeon’s chapter on the call to the ministry in Lectures to My Students? He is quite clear and he is also biblical.I thought it was good that he started with the fact that all Christians are responsible to proclaim the Gospel. And he makes some very good points about what qualifies as a ‘calling’. However, I got stuck on the part where a man is not qualified for ministry if he doesn’t have enough lung capacity, has a weird looking face or any kind of speech impediment. I think his point was that if God wants a man to be a preacher, He won’t give him any sort of physical disability which might prohibit him from doing so effectively.
[Aaron] The approach Charlie mentioned has some appeal. What if people pursued pastoral ministry tentatively based on the evidence of their own interest, desire, gifts, etc., and did not consider themselves “called” until a local church calls them? I think of worse ways to do it. When the church calls, it is either authenticating the candidate’s perception that he has God’s call or—if you prefer to speak of “congregational authority”—is actually issuing the call (I lean toward Ted’s view on that score).I very much like this approach!
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[Matthew] The Word of God reveals that God has chosen bishops/elders/pastor-teachers to preach the Word to the glory of God. And that fit my gifts.I serve as a teaching elder at my church. My pastor (the leading elder) is fond of saying that God has given gifts to men, and given men to the church. I recognize that I have teaching gifts, but am concerned about my qualifications because of some personal issues.
My struggle is, at what point does the level of qualification override the level of giftedness. Is 49% qualification enough because of giftedness, or does it need to be at least 51%?
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I struggled with this issue of “being called” for some time, somewhat along the lines of Susan’s observations. The Hyper-IFB types have attached such an emotional response to nearly everything they do, that it was a typical knee-jerk reaction that pushed me away from the idea of needing any kind of subjective “call” to enter the “ministry.” After all, are we not ALL “called” to be witnesses?
However, after several years of being in the Pastorate, and being in several different “camps” and styles of Independent Baptist Churches, I have come to the conclusion that God’s call upon a man to be a pastor is absolutely vital (and that applies to ANY branch of the “ministry” - evangelism, missionary, pastorate, deacon.)
I appreciate Susan’s comments about the emotionalism, and the built in “excuse” of, “Well, God told me so…” That is rather hokey, and has been used for who knows how much wickedness being blamed on God.
At the same time, I don’t know of ONE example from Scripture of any prophet or preacher from Genesis to Revelation that did not have some type of “calling” directly from the Lord. In every instance, God called his men to proclaim his message. I have no reason to believe that the after consistently applying this in every situation (albeit the circumstances of the calling may have differed, the fact that God personally called every named prophet, disciple, apostle, and preacher in the Bible still stands), that somehow now God doesn’t do that anymore. That makes absolutely no SCRIPTURAL sense at all, at least in my view.
Is it subjective? To some degree yes, but to no greater degree than the Holy Spirit teaching us through His word!
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
I know I was called to preach - I knew it the moment the Lord called me. I never forgot that moment, even when I was backslidden, and far from the Lord. I could describe in great detail what the circumstances were, and how the Lord spoke to me. (For all of you Fourthites - it was in the old Clearwaters Chapel at the old building on Broadway, in chapel session when I was in 4th or 5th grade. Three or four rows back on the right hand side behind the old grand piano…FWIW!)
I didn’t go down to any altar call and have any emotional experience. In fact, I didn’t tell anyone for years….I didn’t want to preach because I didn’t want to go to Bible college to learn Greek and Hebrew (the Lord has his jokes - I ended up going anyway, and taking Greek and Hebrew!) But, the experience was true, nonetheless.
I believe that the calling is not the enabling (I certainly was not equipped to enter the ministry in grade school!). I believe that God will equip a person for the particular field with the gifts that go along with it. How do I know this? By observing those who have boldly proclaimed that they were NOT called into the pastorate, yet were pastoring - and doing a horrible job of it.
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
How can one tell if they are called? Those who are called, know it beyond any shadow of a doubt. If they aren’t sure, maybe God will make that sure. I knew what God had done for me way back yonder in that chapel session, but wasn’t fully convinced of it until I had been working in the “ministry” for some time. Just work where God puts you, yield to his direction, and see what happens.
Here is another way to tell if anyone is called to preach:
Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
If anyone is called to preach, and is put into a position where they can NOT preach, they are of all men most miserable. They cannot help but preach and teach. It is what drives them. If they can’t preach or teach, their entire life just doesn’t seem to work right.
I know what my gifts and calling is NOW, but I can’t say I knew it for sure 10 years ago. I knew what I wanted to do 10 years ago, and the Lord led me through some rough valleys and trials to put me where I am today. The result? I KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that I am in the right place doing what God wants me to do. And I can’t explain WHY other than to say that I have done my best to submit to His control, follow the word of God as best I can, be obedient to His WRITTEN will to the best of my ability, and then let Him open and close doors of ministry as He sees fit.
There are undoubtedly some who are thinking, “That is WAY too subjective! I want empirical evidence and a list of things that I can SEE to make that determination!”
My answer is this:
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
and
Romans 1:17 … as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
We cannot walk by sight - we must trust the Lord for His guidance. Is it scary? Yes. Is it subjective? To some degree yes. As long as we are walking within the boundaries of Scripture, we are sure to “suceed” in our overall objective to please the Lord. Once we step outside the boundaries placed on our decision making process, and go against clear Scriptural statements or principles….well that isn’t faith anymore, that is the old carnal, fleshly nature rebelling against God!
Well, that is my 2 cents - I hope is was helpful in the discussion.
Pastor Steve Schwenke Liberty Baptist Church Amarillo, TX
What is important to emphasize, IMO, is that God’s leading or calling is going to be consistent with His revealed Word. There is such thing as a call for the ministry-but that call is confined to specific functions and a specific purpose. Eph 4:11-12 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
It is also defined by qualifications-
blameless
the husband of one wife
vigilant
sober
of good behaviour
given to hospitality
apt to teach
not given to wine
no striker
not greedy of filthy lucre
patient
not a brawler
not covetous
ruleth well his own house
has his children in subjection with all gravity
not a novice
has a good report of them which are without…
When someone doesn’t meet these and other criteria clearly outlined in Scripture, then they may or may not have a calling- but they sure as shootin’ aren’t to be behind any pulpit until they do meet these qualifications to a reasonable degree (iow, everybody has a bad day on occasion).
So when a man doesn’t meet these criteria, other mature and Godly men should mentor him until he does. Unfortunately, what I see happen in IFBdom is that ministers tend to circle the wagons around those that are ‘called’, referring to them as “God’s anointed” and rendering them ‘untouchable’. Like the spotted owl and meadow jumping mouse, they are protected as if they are an endangered species.
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
I’d give my big toes to just once see a pastor not allow or remove a visiting speaker from the pulpit for not preaching sound doctrine. Why on earth do pastors allow men to stand in their pulpits who are obviously gluttons, who have potty mouths, and who can ‘preach’ for 45 minutes without opening their Bibles? I mean, the congregation isn’t fooled for a minute- the folks in the pew know there’s something wrong with a guy who weighs 400 lbs, mocking the fact that he’s fatter than houses, ranting about Hollywood whores and the Hellivision, reads some verse out of Ezekiel that doesn’t have anything to do with anything, tells a bunch of crazy stories and uses phrases guaranteed to get an “Amen”, whose family is a train wreck- and yet his ilk will be in pulpits all over America because he’s ‘called’ to the ministry, and we are afraid to just come out and say “The Emperor has no clothes!”
Bottom line- any call of God isn’t going to violate other Scriptural principles. And as someone who sits in the pew in submission to pastoral authority, I’d really appreciate if more pastors protect their sheep instead of their cronies, and would tell these men that they’re not welcome in their pulpits until AFTER they get their act together. And while I’m on a roll- please stop putting novices in charge and using the children of the church as guinea pigs. And I’d like a toasted blueberry bagel with cream cheese, please. Thanks. :)
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Matthew wrote:That is a very interesting question John Brian. I believe the intention God has for elders is 100% giftedness and 100% character. Now, I am not saying perfection because I think we need to rethink the whole concept of what qualifies and disqualifies a man for the pastorate. If we could define the qualities as Susan listed them in the previous post, I think we would notice that blameless is the header that all the qualities fit under. IOW, the bishop is to blameless in his marriage, blameless in his family, blameless in his finances (not greedy), blameless in his demeanor (not a striker, not a brawler, patient), blameless in his self-control (not given to wine), etc. Then in Titus, we see that a part of the qualifications is his giftedness and use of it. According to Titus 1:9, he must hold fast the faithful Word (ability to expound the Word accurately), as he hath been taught (he has to have been trained), by sound doctrine (know and teach healthy doctrine) to exhort (preach well) and convict those who contradict (be able to hold his own in a doctrinal dispute). So I believe that the “giftedness” is not chiefly supernatural, but rather something God naturally develops in a man. When I speak of giftedness, I don’t mean a fantastic orator, or a “people person” otherwise much of the prophets and apostles would not be qualified. But rather someone who has the gifting of leadership (they search the Scriptures and make Biblically accurate decisions, they provide an example), someone who has the gifting of being able to explain the truths of Scripture in a way that people can understand and obey them (gift of teaching), they have a hunger after knowledge (this is evidenced by the Bishop’s “desire” in I Timothy). I think we do a diservice to truly seeking qualified men for the pastorate when we boil it down to what some list we can check off, both with giftedness and character. (not that I am accusing anyone here of this).
The Word of God reveals that God has chosen bishops/elders/pastor-teachers to preach the Word to the glory of God. And that fit my gifts.
I serve as a teaching elder at my church. My pastor (the leading elder) is fond of saying that God has given gifts to men, and given men to the church. I recognize that I have teaching gifts, but am concerned about my qualifications because of some personal issues.
My struggle is, at what point does the level of qualification override the level of giftedness. Is 49% qualification enough because of giftedness, or does it need to be at least 51%?
Well, I am anything but an expert in this being young myself. But I do continually study Timothy and Titus (I try at least once a month to go through them with more than just reading) because I believe these are two books written especially for me.
Grace
Discussion