Edmund P. Clowney <Called to the Ministry> Notes and Review
Part One: What is God’s Calling
1. Called By Name: Calling is God’s Creative Gift
Nowadays, usually our names mean nothing at all, but not so when God names a man. When God calls by name, that name is his calling. Your real name is the name God has given you. Understand that name and your vocation is set before you. You have two Christian names and both of those are “given”.
A. Called by God’s Name
Every Christian has been baptized into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Salvation means that God writes his name on your head, your hand, your heart. He makes his name yours by making you his. Christ’s call reached Zaccheus and Lazarus, has that call reached you? There is no call to the ministry that is not first a call to Christ. Don’t seek the ministry to save your soul. A man cannot earn his salvation by preaching that salvation cannot be earned. Not a lifetime, even an eternal-lifetime can measure the span of God’s calling. God’s life-giving call of grace is the source of our salvation; God’s life-shaping call to glory is the goal of our salvation. God’s children are called to be like God. It is not enough for him to pray, “hallowed by thy name.” He must hallow God’s name in a life that fulfills his calling. Your calling to sonship, to bear God’s name, to be a holy one, is your calling in Christ. The calling of God to bear his name has become the calling of Christ to bear his name.
B. Called by Your Name
Your last name, then, comes first. Your name is Christian and in Christ you are called by God’s name. What then of your first name? That, too, is given to you by God. The Lord who calls you by his own name also calls you by your own name. God’s people are known by name. Their names are recorded in the book of his covenant, and he remembers. It is well to reflect on the fact that your individual calling is in the midst of the people of God. You are called individually, but not alone. It is your name the God calls, and even if it is one of many written in the Lamb’s book of life, there is a sense in which it is a secret between you and God. The deepest secret of your identity is in that name. Only God knows your real name, but that is the name by which he calls you. True identity can never come from relations with men, for every relation is a role to be played. There is but one relatoin that can give identity to man, the relation to his Creator and Savior. God’s call gives a task that is more than a role, for it engages a man’s whole person in the service of his Lord. That call is to being as well as doing, to status as well as service.
Who are you? What are you to do? Both questions are answered in another: By what name does God call you? Clearly that question will take a lifetime to answer. Peter was given his name, but how little did he grasp its meaning? Only as Christ stretched out his hand to him in the sea, as Christ prayed for him that his faith might not fail,… only in the unfolding of his apostolic calling di Peter come to know his name.
You learn to know yourself only as you learn to know Christ. Paul never cries with Socrates, “Know thyself!” Rather he says, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead” “For to me to live is Christ” is the text of Paul’s life.
2. Called to Service: Calling is God’s Royal Bidding
Bearing God’s name calls us to serve him.
A. Calling to the Cross
You can never secure in advance a marked tour-guide of your life, but you are shown where Christ’s steps lead. The steps of Christ go in the path of his Father’s calling to suffering and the cross. “For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many”. He calls his disciples to the same path: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s shall save it”.
Christ’s calling of the cross is not a calling to destruction, abandonment, and frustration. Christ went to the cross only when the Father’s hour had come and when his public ministry was finished. Our calling, too, has purpose and sets a task to be fulfilled. The task is the task of the kingdom. Service in Christ’s steps must be service in his kingdom. It remains a calling of the cross because the kingdom of Christ has not yet come in glory.
Christ came the first time to give his life a ransom for many, but he will come the second time to exercise that universal judgment given him by the Father. In the interval, the gospel of his redeeming mercy must be carried to the ends of the earth. In short, the call of Christ comes in this time of his kingdom while his longsuffering is waiting and whlie men are being gathered in from the byways of the world to God’s feast. Christ has entered his glory, but he calls us to share his sufferings. We cannot suffer in the place of others to bear their sins, but we must suffer for the sake of others, for all those who will form the church of Christ, his body.
“For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come”. The kingdom of heaven gives its own perspective to the calling of the Christian. He is a stranger and pilgrim in the city of men; he goes forth outside the camp, bearing Christ’s reproach.
The city of man requires idolatry. All must bow before the symbol of its total claim. Religion is tolerated when it supports the claims of the state, the party, the institution, but those who say, “We must obey God rather than men” are always condemned as traitors or exiled as aliens. Yet the calling of Christ’s kingdom not only separates a man from the world, it also sends him to the world. In this time of the kingdom we are pilgrims, for the mountain of Christ’s rule is the heavenly Zion; but in the task of the kingdom we are ambassadors, for we have been sent by the King to proclaim his terms of peace to his rebellious realm. The “Come!” of Christ separates us from the world to his name; the “Go!” of Christ sends us to the world in his name.
The calling of the kingdom, is the power of God that brings us from darkness into light and sets us as lights in the darkness. To seek first the kingdom of God means to seek first the purpose of God’s saving rule in Christ. Seeking the kingdom is not a pious attitude that can link with any activity whatever. It is selective, restrictive, focused action. Paul likens it to military service. The soldier on servcie may not become involved in other pursuits; he is under orders. Seeking the kingdom contrasts with seeking the objectives of the world: food, clothing, shelter. Our heavenly Father knows our needs and will supply them, but building bigger barns to store surplus crops for our own ease and security is not seeking the kingdom of God; it is wordly folly, the service of mammon.
The distinction commonly made between secular pusuits and Christian service comes dangerously close to the distinction between what the Gentiles seek and what the children of the kingdom seek. Christian calling cannot be secular. The man who hesitates between a money-making career and the ministry is not merely in doubt about his calling to the pastorate, he is questioning his commitment to Christ. Kingdom service may include agriculter, industry or art; but only as such labor is done with a view to the purpose of the kingdom. Since the program of God’s kingdom requires a period of time between the first and second comings of Christ, the expectation of the kingdom to come does not call for the abandonment of God’s command to subdue the earth. When certain Thessalonians quit work to await Christ’s return, Paul commanded them in Christ’s name to work with quietness and eat their own bread. Only in this way can they fulfill their kingdom calling not to be weary in welldoing. Kingdom service, then, includes cultural development in Christ’s name, but always in the perspective of the kingdom.
Every calling becomes a calling of service: service to Christ, even when a slave toils for a heathen master; service to men in Christ’s name both in the work we do and the money we earn. The Lordship of Christ over all things means that every calling that serves men’s needs can be Christ’s calling. Conversion to Christ need not mean an immediate change of jobs or social status. The path of obedience begins where the Christian stands, and Paul exhorts the Corinthians to stick to the positions in which God called them and glorify Christ there. Any “calling” is transformed by Christ’s Lordship and becomes his calling to daily service. On the other hand, Christ’s Lordship directs the lives of his disciples, and the way of the cross requires the willing abandonment of any vocation for the sake of the Lord.
What are the demands of service in Christ’s kingdom today? In the greater job choice possible in our society, more jobs appear with special implications for the kingdom. Mass media of communication, education, government, social service, public relations - these expanding areas indicate a shift in Western economy from the production of goods to the offering of services, from making things to helping people. Christian alertness to the kingdom imperatives must respond to these opportunities and demonstrate the transforming power of the gospel in human relations. Nor is it sufficient for inidividual Christians to find their calling in such forms of service. Christians have collective responsibility to manifest in specifically Chrisitan enterprises what the gospel means in contemporary life. A further danger of corporate Chrisitan action is that the program of the kingdom may be forgotten, and the “Go!” of Christ’s calling ignored. Christ did not pray that his disciples should be taken from the world, but that they should be kept from evil. If the leaven stops working, the light is soon extinguished. We are not called to bulid a kingdom of glory, but to carry a cross in the kingdom of grace. To forget the cause of missions is to forget the purpose of Christ in a world still spared from destruction. The purpose of your life must be the purpose of Christ’s death. What your hands make, what your money buys, what your heart desires - in these you live; in these Christ calls you to gather with him those for whom he died.
B. Calling from the Throne
** 1. Enduement Shapes Service** The one ascened Lord, through the one Spirit sent from heaven, bestows many gifts on men. The variety of these gifts does not divide, but unites the church of Christ. Indeed, Paul can speak of them not only as “gifts” but as “measures”, varying amounts of the one gift of the Spirit. Paul sees Christ’s ascension in the beautiful imagery of Psalm 68. As the triumphant king, he receives the fruits of his victory and distributes his largess among his people. The gift of the Spirit at Pentecost fills Christ’s church with the power of his kingdom. The equivalence of “calling” and “grace given” appears especially in the way Paul speaks of his own apostleship. He says. (Roman. 15:15-16, 12:3, I Cor. 3:10; 15:10; Gal. 2:9; Eph. 3:2, 7). Paul knew that he was unworthy to be an apostle, having persecuted the church; yet his reply to his critics was that “by the grace of God I am what I am”.
All Christian calling is by the inward gift of God’s grace as well as by the outward summons of his revealed will. Your personal calling as a Christian is the outworking of the measure of the gift of God’s grace that has been given to you. A man ought not to think of himself too highly, but should “think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith”. These gifts must be exercised, and in their exercise the calling of the Chrisitan is determined. The measure of gift also determines the measure of ministry. Your sphere of action, your ministry in the service of Christ, is marked out by the gifts Christ has given you. “According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”. Good stewardship requires a man to “stir up” the gift of God that is in him, as Paul charged Timothy. An unfufilled ministry is an indebtedness: to God and to those whom it might serve. Every gift you have recieved, then, is a calling of the Spirit. You dare not ignore your gifts, neglect them, or wrap them in a napkin to be presented unused to Christ on his return. Indeed, you ought not even to be content with the gifts that you have, but covet more. God’s giving and calling are dynamically related. When he gives, he calls; when he calls, he gives. Your desire to serve God more fully may be the foretaste of richer gifts equipping you for that service.
Our petitions must seek God’s kingdom and not our glory. Not those gifts that most distinguish us as inidividuals, but those which most distinguish us as Chrisitans must be our constant desire. The Corinthians preferred the more showy gifts, notably the gift of tongues. Paul taught them to value the gifts of the Spirit in spiritual terms. Gifts that bulit the church of Christ were the gifts Pual wanted. Still more important are the abiding gifts on which all others rest: faith, hope and love. Most excellent of all is the gift of love, without which any other gift is useless.
** 2. Fellowship Shapes Service** Some gifts can be exercised by one man in the presence of God. But God does not call many kicking specialists to sit on the bench until the try for an extra point. His players stay in the game and they must work together. Your service of God is shaped not only by the gifts you have, but by the fellowship in which those gifts are used. The body grows through the organic interdependence of each part. From the one Head, Christ, all the body “fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part” builds itself up in love. That means that you cannot grow without ministering to others and receiving the ministry of others. If you have growing, however, you have also been serving. Failure to recognize that Christians grow together as they minister to one another can lead to painful symptoms in the body of Christ. Paul pictures the absurdity of both envy and pride among the members of the one body. You may need rather different Christian friends besides those you have cultivated. Who are the members of your group? Are ages and interests similar? Do you find genuine fellowship with elderly people? Are you moppet friends in short supply? There is a disturbing possibility that you may need most the spiritual gifts of Christians least like yourself in age, social background, race - even denominational affliations.
You can’t bring your gifts to mature function apart from the mutual ministries of Christ’s church. Therefore no Christian can determine his calling in isolation from the throbbing organism in which he is called. As you labor with other Christians, hidden gifts are brought to light and new gifts are receieved.
** 3. Opportunity Shapes Service**
Seizing God-given opportunity counts for much in the fulfillment of your calling. Paul exhorts us to redeem the time for the days are evil. God is the Lord of time and Christ the King of the ages. God does not appoint a meaningless succession as the structure of our lives. God appoints our time in seasons. He gives the rain in season and sets the bow of his sovereign promise in the clouds. The seasons are set in his own power, not only in the circling times of a spinning planet, but in his purposes of redemption. We have already noted the provisions of God’s law for a sacred calendar with its sabbatical seasons, and at the climax of all the fiftieth year of jubilee. We are called to redeem the time in the time of redemption. Because, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, we are to summon men to the feast in the mighty “now” of the gospel.
Zeal sharpens discernment. Opportunities cannot be bought up by a sleeping steward. Jesus paints the picture of a girded servant, dressed for action, who opens the door at his master’s knock whether it comes at midnight or just before dawn. What opportunities do you perceive? The first doors are in the room where you are. The Lord has given you a certain set of present circumstances. Paul refers to this as a man’s “calling”. It is the “lot” or “portion” that the Lord gives you today. Here you must remain until other doors of opportunity are perceived and opened. The surest way to miss future opportunities is to ignore present ones. It is in the service that you render whether in the classroom or out of it that your gifts are proved and manifested. But you must seize the opportunity in the soberness of wisdom and the zeal of love.
Part Two: What is God’s Calling to the Ministry?
3. Distinctive Calling
A. Distinctive in Authority
A ministry is a servant; Christ is the one Lord, who must rule util all his enemies are put under his feet. No one is called to lord it over the flock of Christ; no throne is set in the church but the one at God’s right hand. On the other hand, every Christian, called by Christ’s name is united to Christ in glory. Christ’s total rule obliterates all hierarchy. The Mediator does not need mediators. No, the minister is not a prince, not even a master. He is a servant. But Christ is a Servant, too. He came not to minister unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. His service fulfilled all the ministry to which the people of God are called, just as his sufferings bore all the judgment their rebellion deserved. He is the final prophet, priest and king of the people of God. The believer has no rights as prophet, priest or king in his own name, but in Christ’s calling his rights exceed those of every prophet, priest or king of the Old Testament. Advancement in the kingdom is not by climbing but by kneeling. Since the Lord has become Servant of all, any special calling in his name must be a calling to huminity, to service. The true stewards understand greater responsibility means deeper service: to whom much is given, much shall be required. Only in this way can we receive the New Testament teaching about the glory of the ministry of the gospel.
In addition to the inspired apostles and prophets, Christ also gives to his church evangeliss, pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:11). Such men are called to preach the Word with authority. They do not share with the apostles in the inspiration that first delivered Christ’s gospel, but they do share in the stewardship that ministers it. The steward of biblical times was an overseer among the servants. He carried the keys to his master’s house and bore responsibility for its administration. He was a servant among fellow-servants, but with authority. The authority of the steward in Christ’s house is completely tied to the Word he preaches. To Peter Christ gave the keys of the kingdom: the authoriy to bind and loose on earth with heavenly sanction. The blessing of Christ will be misunderstood if we separate Peter from his confession. It was not Peter himself who is called the Rock, but Peter the Confessor, the inspired apostle. This becomes plain when Jesus in the same passage calls Peter a stumbling-block. Peter cvonfessing Christ is a rock of foundation by the Father’s grace; Peter urging Christ not to go to the cross is a stumblingstone, a mouthpiece of Satan. Neither may we separate Peter from other apostles,, the authoriy of binding and loosing is repeated in Matthew 18:18 and applied in the plural to all the apostles.
Jesus preached with authority, and those sent to preach in his name must preaqch with authority, too. They do not go out with pious advice or moral instruction. They are heralds of the kingdom proclaiming that eternal consequences rest upon the acceptance or rejection of their message. Such preaching uses the keys of the kingdom: it sets before men the Son’s revelation of the Father and becomes a savor of life unto life or of death unto death. Christ’s authority is the beginning and end of the authority of preaching. One one side it cuts down all clerical pride. The power and glory are Christ’s. The man serves him best who reflects the humility, even the humiliation of the Master’s service. The best steward is the servant of all. On the other side it cuts away all rebellion against Christ’s true ministers. If the authority is Christ’s, it must be respected. It is Christ who gives men the gifts and responsibilities for ministering his word. He calls men to the ministry of the gospel, and makes them stewards of the mysteries of God’s revelation.
The gift of a pastor or teacher are not different in kind from those granted to other Christians. The measure of pastoral gifts is a measure of faith. The paster must be able to understand and communicate the Word of Truth, yet every Christian has knowledge of the truth and must be ready to exhort his brother, teach his children, and give a reason to the inquirer for the hope that is in him. The pastor must be able to show mercy in Christ’s name, yet no Christian lacks either gifts or responsibility for showing mercy in the name of Christ. There is however a significant difference in the degree of the gifts given by Christ, as well as in the degree of faithfulness with which the gifts have been exercised. Every Israelite had the gift of physical strength from God in some measure. But not every one had that degree of strength given to Samson.
There are men made “mighty in the Scriptures”. A stewardship of the gospel is committed to such men. They have no choice: woe is them if they preach not the gospel! As they are obliged to preach, so others are obliged to hear. The congregation must respect the authority of ministers of the Word as those “over them in the Lord” to be esteemed highly in love for their work’s sake. Men are placed in this office by the Holy Spirit. Christ’s gifts of the Spirit and his calling in the Spirit must be recognized by the church. When the church calls a man to the gospel ministry it is recognizing and expressing the call of Christ. The recognition of a man’s field of service is dependent on recognition of the gifts granted him by the Spirit for that area of ministry.
Other ministers or the church as a whole cannot delegate authority to him who is to be a minister of Christ. They can only give orderly recognition to the fact that Christ has called this man. The evidence they recognize is the fruitfulness of the gifts of Christ in the life of his minister. Public recognition is necessary. Those who declare the way of life and use the keys of the kingdom must be heard and heeded, and this means that their gifts must be openly acknowledged and their stewardship responsiblity discharged in fellowship with the whole church as well as with those who share their special gifts for rule and teaching.
B. Distinctive in Function
Each service is a service of God and man, of the church and the world. As directed to God immediately, “service” becomes worship; as directed to the church, service is a ministry of edification; as directed to the world, service implies mission. Since each form of ministry has this depth, and since the ministry of the Word includes the ministry of rule and of order, a dazzling spectrum of gifts and duties is the portion of the man of God.
He ministers mercy to the world: in the hospital ward he brings cheer to the stranger, on the streets of the inner city he is friend to the bitter, in his study he counsels the confused couple whose marriage is disintegrating. He ministers mercy to the church: visting the aged, comfroting a young man on the eve of an exploratory operation, discovering the acute financial need that threatens a growing family in the wake of illness and unemployment. He ministers mercy before the Lord in the service of worship: praying for the sick and needy with genuine compassion, dedicating the offerings of God’s people with heartfelt praise. In the ministry of the order he must also serve the world, the church and the Lord. No pastor should despise administrative duties. They are included in his calling. Yet above all, the minister must bear the Word of God in the full depth of his stewardship. With the Word he enters the presence of God as he leads public worship. Every minister of the Word is both evangelist and pastor. The evangelist who disregards the church is guilty of the same error as the pastor who ignores evangelism. We need both evanglists and pastors but above all we need men who are both: pastoral evangelists and evangelistic pastors.
Preaching includes the proclamantion, explanation and application of Word of God. Preacher stands with boldness, using free speech before God and men in the authority of heaven’s messenger. Whether men hear or refuse, they must be told. The teacher must remember his hearers and provide milk for children and meat for adults. His instruction must be orderly and progressive, lucid and graphic. His message is wisdom, knowledge, instruction; he must discuss, persuade, reason, remind. Preaching means application: the preacher exhorts, comforts, reproves, rebukes, warns, and censures.
The minister who stands in the pulpit is ministering to God, the church and the world all at once; in the hospital room he brings the comfort of Christ to a dying saint and at the same time witnesses to the power of the gospel to the patient in the next bed; in a meeting with church leaders he discuss the activity calendar, mindful that his own schedule is that of a father as well as a minister. As a pastor he ministers the Word not only to the congregation in worship but to the children in an instruction class, to a group meeting for Bible study in a home, to the young people in a summer camp.
C. Distinctive in Gifts
What gifts are necessary for such a calling as this? Dare any man suppose that God is equipping him for such service? You do not now have all the gifts you will have when the full demands of the ministry fall upon you. And even then you will still be pressing on to lay hold on that for which you were laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
What are the gifts? They are all a measure of faith. “natural” gifts cannot add up to a probability that he should choose the ministry. God has chosen the weak and foolish, not the mighty and wise, so that it might be quite clear that he alone is the Savior. If you are a gifted speaker you should be effective as a alawyer or a salesman. If God calls you to speak for him, the speaking will be made possible. The word of God to Moses tells us two things: all that we have, God has given; all that we need, God will give.
The minister’s gift of faith draws him to a life of commitment to Christ. The commitment of faith is measured by action - the ready obedience of spiritual discipline. God gives a Spirit who produces love power and discipline. Commitment to God also produces humility. The commitment of faith must be grounded in the knowledge of faith. Calling to the ministry and love of the Bible go together. If you do not share the privileges of Timothy’s chlidhood you have the greater obligation to read and study the Word of God. This habit, so characteristic of Christian faith, takes most specific form in the life of one called to the gospel ministry. He gives himself to both the understanding and the practicing of Scripture. The knowledge of faith is more than a grasp of Biblical facts. It includes a living response to the Biblical message. This result in that growth in wisdom, it discerns the times, seizes the opportunities, perceives truth and brings error to the test. The commitment and wisdom of faith are in a special sense marks of the minister. In faith and lvoe he grows in the image of Christ, and therefore in holiness. The minister must be a man who has learned to walk with God in a life of prayer. The minister’s love for men is exercised through particular gifts that he has for dealing with them. Teaching is more than insight or understanding it includes the ability to communicate spiritual truth. He can apply God’s Word to the needs of the hearers with all longsuffering and teaching. He does not trim his message to please his hearers; rather he keeps back nothing that they need to know but declares to them the whole counsel of God.
A second ability is joined to teaching. The minister must be able to rule, to lead men. Here his spiritual maturity is required. Maturity in godliness includes much more than sober acceptance of responsibility. In word and life the minister must show love, faith, purity; he is called to be an example to the people of God. The blamelessness of the minister’s life is stressed in the pastoral epistles. In his home and in the community, his life must witness to the cleansing power of the gospel. They must be rightheous and devout, loving good and hating evil. Finally the maturity that is needed for leadership also includes insight into men and their motives. He must discern the wiles of the devil, unmask the pretensions of false teachers, and understand the time for stern rebuke and the time for tender entreaty. To become all things to all men is no small gift, but it is a necessary one for pastors.
This survey of the gifts and calling of the minister makes decision more difficult. Don’t demand an answer today. You cannot program a computer to calculate your potential for Christ’s ministry. You must live out the answer. Your conversation with a hitch-hiker this afternoon, your prayer for the power of God’s Spirit tonight, your visit with a lonely hospital patient tomorrow, these are the stages in growth stewardship. He has already called you - to be a Christian. Fullfil that call with all your heart and you will learn in his time what ministry is yours.
4. Clear Calling
A. Your Personal Calling
How does Christ make clear to you your own calling in the gospel? What is his will for your life? God has not left his will shrounded in mystery. He has spoken, plainly and fully. With the final revelation in Christ the earlier ways of God’s revealing his will ceased. All that the church needs for its direction till Christ comes is given in his Word, for it testifies of him. In seeking the Lord’s will, therefore, you are not in the position of Gideon who sough the sign of the fleece or of David who consulted the oracular ephod of the high priest or even Paul. The mature son understands what his father desires of him; he understands the mind of his father and his obedience is shaped by that understanding. God maintained his own sovereignty over the priest and the ephod by answering only at his own will. No man could demand of God instant revelation for every occasion.
Knowing the will of the Lord in the fellowship of Jesus Christ is not a technique to provide a substitute for the Urim-Thummim in securing infallible on-the-spot decisions from God. The Lord has no promised to give this, and what he does give you is far better. In his Word he reveals the principles of his will - indeed, he reveals himself. Through his Spirit he quickens your understanding of his will and your living fellowship with himself. Paul’s prayer was the Christians might be filled with the knowledge of God’s will “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding”. Knowing God’s will in this way means more than knowing what we ought to do; it means understanding why we ought to do it. The goal of wisdom is to know Christ; to bring every thought into his service. Such wisdom centers where Christ is, at the right hand of God. It seeks his kingdom, as the one treasure, the one pearl of great price. To be wise in one’s own eyes, to lean on one’s own understanding is to forsake the fear of the Lord and true wisdom. But to find wisdom in obedience to Christ joins theory and practice in the unity of truth. Wisdom perceives God’s plan and fulfills God’s will. Wisdom directs a man how “to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work”. Like love and joy, wisdom is spiritual, the gift of the Spirit. As love abounds more and more, the discernment of wisdom will abound with it. Wisdom is a fruit of the Chrisitan’s walk with God as well as a guide in that walk. The Christian grows in wisdom as he grows in grace. He comes to understand better the revelation of God’s Word and God’s world and to discern the application of the first to the second.
In the process of proving the things that are pleasing to God we keep learning to obey his Word and to trust his hand. The two are not identical, for we must distinguish between that which God requires of us and the mysterious providence by which he brings all his purposes to pass. We cannot understand the mystery of God’s decrees. We only know that God used the cross, the greatest crime of history, to bring redemption, and that no suffering enters our lives that does not bring with it grace now and a weight of glory in the future. The distinction between the Word of God that we hear and the hand of God that we trust is most important for our proving of God’s will. Our task is to determine what is right, not to divine what will happen. We interpret the situation by God’s Word; we do not adjust God’s commandments to the situation. To prove God’s will means to discover how his revealed will applies to our present situation. While we cannot discover what is right from the situation, we must discover what is right in the situation. There are two elements in every conviction as to duty: what God’s Word says and what the situation is. God’s Word is infallible, but our understanding and application of it are not. The level of our spiritual maturity, our growth in grace, will affect the degree of wisdom with which we understand the application of the Word to our problems. Discernment grows with wisdom.
This ought not to dismay us, for the Lord knows our needs. God knows that we are often incapable of distinguishing trivial decisions from momentous ones, and that we are foolish and imperceptive. He knows - and keeps us in his hand. There we may trust, even when we do not understand. We cannot look for certainty in every decision. If we always knew, if we always had a strong assurance that a given action was the only right course, we would not learn to trust God in the midst of suffering and darkness. To demand complete certainty is to run grave risks: we may make our own emotional states or convictions a private Urim and Thummim, concluding that an action cannot be God’s will because we do not “feel right” about it, or plunging into some enterprise because we have interpreted our own strong impulse as the Lord’s leading. We must remember that Holy Spirit santifies us but does not give us new reveleations. Our convictions must be grounded on God’s Word. This is not at all to say that feelings are unimportant. The wisdom that discerns what is pleasing to God is the believing response of the whole person, not a detached academic exercise. Joy and peace are Christ’s gift to those who seek to do his will. you may confidently thank God for these blessings as you continue in his service. They abound as God’s will is discerned, and true wisdom takes account of such fruits of grace. We are being proved in our deeds; God is not to be proved. We live by faith, not sight, and the pilgrim of faith sometimes must go out without knowing his immediate destination.
How, then, in the wisdom of faith, ought you to consider your calling of Christ? One thing is clear: your calling is total. Every Christian is called to “full-time service.” He must say with Paul, “To me to live is Christ” It is not enough to be willing to give your life to Christ, you must take up your cross and follow him. Only such dedication proves God’s will in the Chrisitan’s life. But what determins the form of his service? The particular service a man is called to give is determined by the gifts that he has received. The man who would prove God’s will must learn to think soberly about his own gifts. He must not think too highly of himself but understand the measure of the spiritual gifts of faith that have been granted him. The greater his gifts, the greater his responsiblity.
This principle of stewardship in Christ’s kingdom leads us to an unavioable conclusion: The call of the Word of God to the gospel of ministry comes to ALL those who have the gifts for such a ministry. These gifts are bestowed by the risen Christ for the building of his church. No man dare wrap such gifts in a napkin. In possessing this rich enduement of the Spirit a man is himself possessed. He is made debtor to all those who may hear the gospel from his lips. They cannot hear without a preacher, he cannot preach except he be sent. But if he has such gifts from Christ he is sent. Shall a man who is “apt to teach” be silent when the Lord commands his church to teach all nations? There is no new principle here. A man must do all he can to serve his Savior. The servant is not greater than his Lord: if Jesus Christ came to seek and to save tha which was lost, those who are sent in his name must seek what he sought - and seeks. Not all are gifted as teachers. Many are called to work with their hands that they may provide for their families, give to the needy, and support with temporal blessings those who have labored to bring them spiritual blessings. Every Christian must use to the full the gifts Christ has given him for the great task of the church in the world. The man with the cheerfulness of the Spirit must visit the afflicted; the man with executive gifts must advance the order of the church; the man who is qualified of God to be a minister and teacher in the church must labor in the Word and feed the flock of Christ. The fruitfulness of the greater gifts makes their unwearied use the more necessary. The experience of a man with the gifts for preaching is like that of the prophets of old. God’s Word becomes fire in his bones. Men with the gifts for the ministry have the capacity for success in other fields, but they are not free to choose them. God’s first command still stands: man is to replenish the earth and subdue it; but the Great Commision takes priority over it.
The Christian is a citizen in heaven, given the Word of life in a world of death. Most often the presence of such gifts of the Spirit creates a desire for their exercise. By them a man is drawn to the Word, to Christ, to men. For this reason, a deep and sincere desire to enter the ministry is the commonest evidence of the Lord’s calling. It is no sure criterion, however, for gifts and desire are not always joined. Paul had to urge Timothy to stir up the gift, without exercise spiritual strength declines rapidly. Timothy must be diligent both in godly living and in vigorous teaching. He must do the work of an evangelist and fulfill his ministry. To learn how you may serve tomorrow, you must serve him today. Stir up your gifts and Christ’s call will be made clear. As gifts are used, the desire to serve Christ with them will increase.
On the other hand, a desire to serve Christ in the ministry may become intense before there is evidence of the necessary gifts. Paul tells the church at Corinth to desire earnestly the greater gifts. A man must think soberly in judging the gifts he has, but he may pray fervently in seeking the gifts he lacks. All the gifts of the Spirit are given through His presence who is giver and gift and Christ has taught us that our heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him. Since your calling is determined at last by your gifts, you prove your calling as you improve your gifts. No player is called to a spot on a major league team who has no proved himself in the minors. God’s call to service normally comes in service. Begin with prayer. Unless your service is a living sacrifice, you cannot please God. It is often difficult for a man to be assured of his calling before the seminary experience. Has he the gifts of insight into Scripture? Can he expound the word fruitfully? The seminary classroom and study help to supply answers to such questions. The academic disciplines of theological study are no more remote from pastoral experience than the drills of the training camp from big league copetition. For the man in doubt whether he has the teaching gift, the seminary situation may bring grateful understanding as he grows in the Word of God. Practical service, too, can be joined with learing. Sober thought, prayerful gauging of the gifts we have received, enables us to perceive the scope and kind of ministry that is set before us.
B. Your Church’s Calling
The same gifts of the Spirit that give assurance to the man of God regarding his own calling also mark him out to the people of God. The church does not call in its own name, but in Christ’s. The function of the church is to recognize and acknowledge the calling of God. The man called is a steward of the gift from Spirit, the stewardship is not his only, his gifts are for use in the body of Christ, ministering to the upbuilding of the whole body in the full maturity of Christ. The church seeks for the man or men God has chosen whether through direct prophecy or through the perception of his gifts. The public recognition of the gifts of Christ is not the whole of the church’s responsibility. The orderly exercise of the gifts must also be sought. A man with a real gift of Christcannot demand an immediate exercise of his gift under all circumstances. he must wait his turn or even be silent. Whether your calling was first apparent to you or to your brethren is not of decisive importance. What is important is that your own awareness of Christ’s gifts should be joined with the perception of the church. Your gifts will become evident on the field. Neither private meditation nor personal counseling can prove your calling. That comes with God’s blessing on your active service in the body of Christ. To prove your calling your fellowship must be with the Son of God and with the sons of God.
Are you called to ministry? if you have been called out of darkness into Christ’s light you are surely called to ministry. You must do all in your power to show forth his praises who called you to follow him. If you refuse to minister to the sick and imprisoned you are refusing Christ. The question is only this: what has God put in your power to do in his service? What you can do you must do, and find yourself at best an unprofitable servant. Have you the gifts for the gospel ministry? Then Christ has set before you an open door that no man can shut. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest and go forth in his name. He that has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. Jesus interceds in heaven as he calls you, praying that though you be sifted as wheat your faith will not fail, but that you may become his chosen vessel to bear his name before the nations.
Review
Called to Ministry has two parts, the first part talks about general calling from God for someone to be a Christian and general calling to serve God, the second part talks about the specific calling to ministry, what are the distinctive part for calling to ministry, e.g. the gifts to look out for and that if you are aware that you have certain gift then you are called. Also you should find your calling through service, in fellowship with the church, and church will also recognize your calling. All the claims and analysis are based on Scripture.
Before reading the book, a common idea about being “called to ministry” might be: God shows to a person some super natural signs that convinced them that they were called to ministry. That is what I heard from some people as well, not even just for ministry, but also for other things. But as mentioned in the book, that is not how God communicates with his people anymore since Bible has been written. And one important distinction we should make is between God’s preceptive will and decretive will. God’s preceptive will means God’s commandment, what God is required of man, summarized in the decalogue (Ten Commandments), that everyone should discern and follow in different situations, but can be violated because man may not always obey God’s preceptive will. God’s decretive will is God’s hidden will that is what God purposes things to happen, since God is the one who works in all things according to the counsel of his will, and it cannot be violated by anyone. For discerning whether we are “called to ministry”, we should be seeking to obey God’s preceptive will, not trying to figure out God’s decretive will and wait for God’s mysterious revelation to us.
The take away for me is that as a Christian, we are called to follow Christ, to serve his church in our capacity and as we serve God, we may start to discern (1) our Spritual gifts, whether these align with what’s required by ministry of the Word (2) our desire to serve God through the ministry of the Word. And once we have these (internal signs) and also the recognition from Church and the ones they served (external signs), and based on the specific situations, we may find that as a steward of our Spritual gift, it may be the time that we serve God through the ministry of the Word and gospel. So what we should do is just to try to be a faithful steward of our gifts and through growing in Christ and serve the God, man, church and world, we will become clearer what is God’s calling for our life.