Called to Ministry?
Spurgeon goes on to identify four ways by which we may assess whether we are called to ministry. First is ‘an intense, all-absorbing desire for the work’. It is in this context that Spurgeon (followed by Lloyd-Jones in the next century) urged that you should not enter the ministry if you could be content doing anything else. This is a burden which cannot be escaped—not a mere passing feeling, but a thoughtful and enduring desire. Second is an ability to teach, and other aptitudes required in ministry. It is not to be expected that a man will preach well on his first attempt, but is there growing evidence of gifts and abilities which may be developed? Thirdly, Spurgeon asks is there any ‘conversion work’ in the ministry of this man? This test needs to be understood in the context of the extraordinary fruitful days of Spurgeon’s ministry, and it is interesting that this test is not mentioned by John Newton in the letter quoted in this lecture. Finally, if someone is called to ministry their preaching ‘should be acceptable to the people of God’.
The only qualification for entry to the London Seminary Pastoral Training course is a credible call to ministry. But what does that mean? There is a sense, of course, in which all believers are called to ministry as servants of the Lord and of one another. But the term is generally used of a particular call for evangelists, pastors and teachers.
External and Internal Call?
A call to ministry is understood in two parts: the external and internal call. The external call may include the encouragement of others to consider vocational Christian ministry. A local church may give opportunities for service, and encourage towards appropriate training. Ultimately an external call is a church calling someone to be their pastor; this may look slightly different in Baptist/ congregational and Presbyterian circles, but essentially it is the affirmation that a man is called to ministry.
The internal call is more controversial. In recent times the internal call has been downplayed or even disregarded. One pastor said to me: ‘The only call I received was a telephone call’ (from church leadership inviting him to take up the pastorate). While historically the internal call was treated seriously, now it is questioned. One turning point was the publication of a book on guidance: Decision Making and the Will of God.[1] The author emphasised the importance of moving away from a mystical understanding of God’s will towards more rational decision making based on biblical principles. The book is very valuable, and helped many who were struggling to find God’s will for their lives based on feelings or circumstances. However, the pendulum then swung to the opposite extreme, and the idea of internal call tended to be discarded altogether.
We can all understand the challenges and problems associated with an ‘internal call’. We don’t want to be governed by our feelings or subjective impressions of what the Lord might or might not be directing us to do; our feelings are not a reliable guide. Sometimes we don’t make good judgements about our own gifts, and strengths and weaknesses. We might believe that we are great preachers, but we should heed godly believers in the congregation who tell us that our sermons are uninspiring or unhelpful. We might dream that we have leadership potential, but if we find that no-one is willing to follow us, we may be mistaken. Our own convictions have to be tempered by the counsel and advice of trusted brothers and sisters in the Lord, and especially by our church leaders.
On the other hand, we might be very reluctant to go forward into ministry and we need the encouragement and spur of others who recognise our gifts and calling and advise that we are allowing our natural reticence to quench the Lord’s call. Some of the great prophets of the Old Testament, including Moses and Jeremiah, were reluctant because of their own sense of inadequacy and unworthiness. An historical example is John Calvin who had no inclination to take up ministry in Geneva and had to be very severely rebuked by Guillaume Farel.
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Confession for Conquerors
All too often, we go about as if the Gospel wasn’t efficacious, as if we still dwelt in Old Testament darkness, as if we were still slaves to sin. But the Lord promises to us true and lasting forgiveness for all our sin, past, present, and future; if we confess.
The Gospel we proclaim here isn’t a Gospel meant for the back of the junk drawer. We don’t proclaim the remission of some sins, if they qualify. This isn’t some divine lottery where only one in a million have hope of hitting the jackpot. Nor is it a web of bureaucratic red tape, requiring a team of lawyers to sort through in order to find the loophole to avoid tax penalties.
This Gospel, which the church is tasked to believe & proclaim, is a Gospel for the whole world. It is a Gospel not of defeat. It is not Good News but only if you squint. Rather, Christ died for the sins of His people. You are clean. Your death for sin has been died. Christ has arisen, to eternal life, and by faith you share in that life. Christ is at the Father’s right hand, thrones & angels are made subject unto Him, and You are in Him. The God of peace, we are told, shall soon crush Satan under your feet.
As we prepare to confess our sin, we ought not to do so as whipped puppies. Yes, we’ve sinned against our Lord, and we should grieve. But we should come boldly, even audaciously. Where else can you find forgiveness for your sins, but in the One who took your sin by the throat, dragged it into the grave, and emerged alive without your sin.Related Posts:
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No, It Is Not Good for Man to Be Alone
A Christian community will seek to share the benefits and burdens of both family and single life. This is because Christianity knows that it is not good for man to be alone and that the deepest fulfillment and joys of this life are found in human relationships.
It is bad that Americans are increasingly living alone.
This is obvious, but there are dissenters. For example, Frank Bruni of The New York Times recently complained that his paper’s reporting on older Americans living alone framed this as a problem. He is, he admits, “half-kidding. Both articles were important. They rightly expressed concern for older Americans who don’t have the resources or the kind of extended family that I do.”
But while acknowledging that there may be a general problem, he nonetheless wanted to inform his readers of the potential “bliss” of living alone, which he says is found in living as one wishes, from bedtimes to noise to tidiness, with no demands beyond those of his dog. To those who might consider this “selfish and shallow,” he replies, “Don’t people who live in larger households have their own indulgences?” He contends, “Their domestic arrangements are as driven by personal desires as mine is. It’s just that they have different wants.”
But it is not so simple. The reality is that many people living alone would prefer not to, but our culture and economic structure are making it harder to form and sustain the family lives that most people want. Consequently, a lot of people give up — for many young people, a happy marriage and family life seem like something from an alien world, while for many of their elders, it seems like something that has been irretrievably passed by or lost.
This reveals the cruel relativism in Bruni’s suggestion that “personal desires” all have equal value — that wanting an uninterrupted morning routine is equivalent to wanting to raise a happy family. This is false. Some desires are nobler and more virtuous than others, and they ought to be encouraged. It is true that those of us who are married with children still have our indulgences (often too many), but the love and sacrifice at the core of a flourishing family life are not reducible to the level of fulfilling a personal whim precisely because it is directed toward willing the good of the other.
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What Does “Becoming Fishers of Men” Look Like?
Jesus uses his authority (his power) in order to “fish men” out of the clutches of demonic oppression. He sets the on the bank and into flourishing. That is what it means to “become fishers of men”. And the disciples must learn this lesson. It isn’t about catching enough fish to sink your boat and brag to your buddies about your haul, or to get filthy rich off your catch. You are “fishers of men” to rescue them from the wildness of the sea, to rescue from the clutches of idolatry, and to set free into flourishing under Jesus’ authority.
I didn’t really grow up in church. I think I had a spell in 7th or 8th grade where I went to youth group some—but that had more to do with pretty girls than Jesus. I do, however, remember bits and pieces of one sermon I heard. It involved what I assumed was an expert fisherman explaining to us what Jesus meant by “becoming fishers of men”. He talked about bait and lure and “reeling them in”.
I think that metaphor stuck with me a little because when I first started teaching the Bible I put together a sermon on Jesus’ call to be fishers of men. And guess what I did? I studied fishing methods and I applied them to evangelism. If you want to catch people with the gospel you need to attract them with a lure.
That was a silly Bible study that I put together. For one, the fishing methods in the first century do not exactly match the methods used in trying to catch a bass in Northeast Missouri. But secondly, it missed an Old Testament connection. Jesus’ turn of phrase actually comes from Jeremiah 16.
16 “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. 18 But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”
Jeremiah 16 is in the context of judgment of the nations while the Lord restores Israel. These “fishers of men” will be overturning the works of idolatry as the fortunes of God’s people are restored.
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