The Mysterious Call of God

Part 3 of 4 – Holding on to the Call!

Catchphrase – a word or expression that is used repeatedly and conveniently to represent or characterize a person, group, idea, or point of view.

I do not know who first coined the catchphrase, “called by God,” or derivatives thereof, but people have been using the term for a few hundred years.  One of the second century church fathers, Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215) wrote about the need for order in the church by succession of the local church leaders. In other words, churches bring up their own pastors and leaders by training them. Clement thought, the authority of the Church officers is not derived from a chain of teaching chairs. Order in ministry, he said, depends more on succession of duty, spiritual gift, and sanction by the Holy Spirit and the church, and not on a special call (Early Christian Fathers by Cyril C. Richardson).

Because of the high regard for past theologians, the church sometimes takes what they say to be Scripture without really testing some of their theology.  I appreciate these men for what they have done for the church and Bible doctrine.  But for today’s pastors and church leaders, the thought of being personally called by God is prideful and self-seeking.  Today’s belief of the “call of God” can lead to a false assurance that one is automatically biblically qualified to be a church pastor/elder.

Several authors have given us their opinions on this so-called “call of God”.  I will have you read their quotes, and then I will give you my thoughts of them.

1.  Kent Hughes (Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.)

“Those who would deny or minimize the fact that God calls individual Christians to special service must not only discount the facts of human experience but the evidence of Scripture, which records the calls of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, and the commissioning of the apostles.”

My Response – The “facts of human experience” that Hughes is referring to are theologians who have come before, who claimed that God had called them to ministry. But the biblical record tells us how God called men, and that was through the actual voice of God. Scripture never mentions or ever alludes to the idea that the Old and New Testament prophets and apostles felt an inner conviction.  I believe Hughes includes this theoretical proof of the “facts of human experience” to try to give his statement more validity.

2.  Richard Gregory (Ministry Matters: On Shepherding and Finishing Well, Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2013)

“When Paul spoke to the elders at Ephesus, he emphasized that they had been ‘set’ as overseers by the independent action of the Holy Spirit. He chose the aorist middle indicative of the verb tithēmi which means ‘to put, place, or set.’ Paul chooses this word to describe what God did for him in putting him into the ministry (1 Timothy 1:12). In both Ephesians and 1 Timothy he uses the aorist middle voice indicating that the action was performed by God himself independently of the choice of men”.

My Response – This does not prove that there is a special “call” of God to the ministry.  We know that Paul was called or chosen because the scriptures declared he was. The “calling” in Eph. 4:1 refers to the Lord’s sovereign, effectual call to salvation.  Within this calling, Eph. 4:2 says we are to “live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” To do that, the Lord “gave (or set) the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12).  

3.  Warren Wiersbe and Howard Sugden (Answers to Pastors, David C. Cook. Kindle Edition)

“The work of the ministry is too demanding and difficult for anyone to enter without a sense of divine calling. Too often people enter and then leave the ministry because they lack the sense of divine urgency that comes with a call. Nothing less than a definite call from God can ever give you success when the going gets tough in the ministry”.

My Response – Most men who left the ministry would say that they felt the sense of divine calling when they decided to enter the ministry.  So then, did God withdraw their call?  Did God change His mind?  There are a lot of poor church leaders who remain in ministry and who would say that God had called them.  It is all very subjective.

4.  Brian Croft (Test, Train, Affirm and Send into Ministry, Leominster, England: Day One Publishers, 2010)

“Though all Christians are called to serve the cause of Christ, God calls certain persons to serve the church as pastors and other ministers… First, there is an inward call. Through his Spirit, God speaks to those he has called to serve as pastors… Second, there is the external call.

My Response – Again, here is the reference to an inward call and direct revelation from God to pastors.

An article published by 9Marks titled, “Does a pastor have to be ‘called’ by God?” admits that the Bible does not teach about the “call of God” as it pertains to leadership. Even though the author wrote that title he does not want to give a definite negative answer.  In other words, the Bible may not teach this, but if you want to believe in a “calling” then that is okay.

He starts the article by stating, “On the one hand, there seems to be no biblical indication that the New Testament office of elder or pastor requires a special ‘calling.’ My question is “On the one hand” of what?  These men want to tenaciously be set apart for a special purpose from the rest of the church.  They cannot bear the thought that they are not any more special than their laypeople. 

Here is the 9Marks article, “Does a pastor have to be ‘called’ by God?”:

On the one hand, there seems to be no biblical indication that the New Testament office of elder or pastor requires a special “calling.”

1. The New Testament gives no indication that a pastor must be called by God in the same way that prophets and high priests were called in the Old Testament (Jer. 1:5; Heb. 5:4). Moreover, the New Testament never applies the terminology of “calling” to the pastoral office, but only to the Christian life in general (2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 3:1).
2. If the New Testament taught that pastors must be specially called by God, it seems that there would be some sort of discussion of how that happens and how to discern whether one has been called. Instead, Paul writes, “Here is a trustworthy saying: if anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task” (1 Tim. 3:1). Paul doesn’t say, “If anyone wants to be a pastor, he must have a special, supernatural, subjective call from God,” but rather, “If anyone wants to be a pastor, he desires a good thing. Now here are the qualifications.”

That said, pastoral ministry is not for everyone. It is spiritually demanding. It is emotionally demanding. It’s physically demanding. It subjects a man and his family to extraordinary burdens and pressures. So, while we may or may not want to use the term “call” to describe it, a man should have a sober and informed commitment to the work of ministry before he seeks to pastor a church. He should also have a local church’s affirmation of his gifts and character.

My Response – Even though the writer for 9Marks writes, “the New Testament never applies the terminology of “calling” to the pastoral office, but only to the Christian life in general,” he does not want to give up being called by God.  He leaves the rest of this article open ended.  The author writes, “Does a pastor have to be called,” “seems to be no biblical indication,” “no indication that a pastor must be called,” and “we may or may not want to use the term call.” In other words, if you want to think and tell people that you are called by God to be a pastor and leader then, according to this author, it’s okay to believe you are called anyway.  9Marks reluctantly admits that there is no special calling.

Then, for some reason he says how tough it is to be a pastor. What does this have to do with the subject of being “called”? Try working the long and arduous hours of those in police work, firefighting, corrections, medicine, construction, and the military in the secular world and maintaining good Christian character! Try doing these jobs for three decades and see the toll it takes on your physical, emotional and spiritual health, and the hardships it brings on your family life!  These professions, among many more, are far more strenuous and demanding than a pastor’s job in America. I doubt those in ministry would even come close in comparison with the aforementioned careers.

What is a Pastor/Elder?

The New Testament presents two offices that constitute church leadership—elder/pastor and deacon/deaconess. Spiritual gifts and church offices are not the same things. The scriptures differentiate between church offices and spiritual gifts as follows:

• Being a pastor, elder, or deacon are not spiritual gifts.  They are offices that a person must biblically qualify for (1 Tim. 3:1–7 and Titus 1:5–9). 
• Those who hold offices are chosen based on specific qualifications (Acts 6:3, 1 Tim. 3:1–13; Titus 1:5–9). Spiritual gifts, however, are given at salvation according to the will of the Holy Spirit without any stated qualifications (Eph. 4:7; Rom. 12:6; 1Cor. 12:11-28).
• The scriptures mention only three church offices: The temporary office of the apostles (Acts 1:21–25), and the permanent offices of elders/pastors (1 Tim. 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9), and deacons/deaconess (Acts 6:1–6; 1 Tim. 3:8–13).
• Though every believer receives at least one gift, not every believer has an office (Eph. 4:7; 1 Cor. 12:7, 11; Rom. 12:4).
• The offices of elder/pastor are limited to men (1 Tim. 2:11–3:7), whereas spiritual gifts are given to both men and women (Acts 21:9, 10; 1Cor. 11:5).
• The two church offices of elder/pastor and deacon/deaconess are appointed by each church’s leadership (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5).  They are not chosen by church search committees or congregational vote. 
• Pastors and elders must have the gift of teaching (Titus 1:9; 1 Tim. 3:2), exhortation (Titus 1:9), and administration (1 Tim. 3:5). Some leaders will excel in these spiritual gifts more than others.  However, the deacons are not required to have the gift of teaching. 

Why Become a Pastor?

Usually, the first step to becoming a pastor is the aspiration for the position, 1 Tim. 3:1 says, “This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task.”  Then the next step in the modern church is to have your pastor write a letter of recommendation, choose a seminary, and then the aspiring pastor applies for school loans.

Just because a man aspires to be a pastor does not mean he can become one.  Seminaries and the Church have altered the biblical standards of church leadership.  No longer is there the need to biblically qualify according to Titus 1:5-9, 1 Tim. 3:1-7 and 1 Peter 5:1-4, but to just agree with these passages and attend seminary.  No longer is there the need for the church to test the young man’s biblical character as commanded in 1 Tim 3:10, since the seminary is expected to take care of that.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”  Aspirations are the desires of the heart.  It is good to aspire to be an elder, but those aspirations need to be tested as to whether they are genuinely godly and attainable.  A man may want to be an elder, but if he cannot meet the biblical standards, then he is unfit for leadership.

Wrong Aspirations for a Man to Aspire to Church Leadership

• He doesn’t want a secular job.  I believe more Christian lay-people will ultimately have earn far more blessings in Heaven than the biblically unqualified pastors that are in a lot of churches today.
• He wants to be a leader in the church. Why? What is the big deal about being in leadership?
• He likes talking to people about spiritual matters, evangelizing, and visiting people.  You do not need to be a leader to do that.
• He likes to study theology. Get a library card and a budget for books.
• He likes to teach the Bible and preach. Again, you do not need to be a leader.  If a church lets pastors, who are strangers to the congregation preach, then they should not have any problems allowing their members to preach as well.
• He wants to be the next great church reformer. Like the rest of the aspirations, this is a selfish ambition!

Unspoken Aspirations for Church Leadership

• He likes attention.
• He likes praise and admiration.
• He likes to be left alone to study.
• He likes to set his own hours.
• He likes to control his environment, who he talks to, and who he wants to avoid.
• He only has to preach once in a while. In today’s modern church, the trend is for pastors to only preach 2-3 times per month! The average amount of sermons preached is between 27-34 times a year. The other 18-25 weeks (6 months) the pastor is absent due to vacations, attending conferences and seminars, and traveling for mission purposes, all financed by the church budget.  Hosting guest speakers and visiting missionaries also replaces the pastor’s preaching time.  Although not Scripturally mandated, solid pastoral preaching used to be twice on Sundays, and once on Wednesday evenings.  Pastors of today have it a lot easier than their predecessors!

A man’s real aspiration to leadership must be tested and proven honorable! 

What is An Elder?

Since the office of a pastor is the same as an elder, let’s first define what an elder is according to Scripture.  Pastor John MacArthur writes:

“The New Testament uses the Greek word for elder, presbuteros, about seventy times. Like zaqen, which means “aged” or “bearded;” sab, which means “gray-headed;” and our word elder, presbuteros has reference to mature age. For example, in Acts 2:17, Peter quotes Joel 2:28: “Your old men shall dream dreams.” The word used for “old men” in Joel is zaqen, and the word used in Acts is presbuteros. Used in that sense, elder does not constitute an official title; it simply means “an older man.”

“First Timothy 5:2 uses the feminine form of presbuteros to refer to older women. This verse contrasts older women with younger ones: “[Appeal to] the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.” In that context, the term also signifies only mature age, not an office in the church.

 “First Peter 5:5 contains a similar usage: “You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders.” There, as in 1 Timothy 5:2, the word contrasts age with youth. In such a context, commentators generally understand presbuteros to mean only “an older person,” not necessarily an officeholder of any kind. That is the primary meaning of the term in general Greek usage,” (MacArthur, John F. The Master’s Plan for the Church. Moody Publishers.   Kindle Edition).

My Response –

1.  The term “elder” denotes an obvious age implication, no matter how one tries to define it. Peter talks about the work of “elders” as a position/office in 1 Peter 5, and then says: “likewise you who are younger be subject to the elders.”  Peter gives a command to those who are younger to obey the elders (in office), because the elders, like their title, are actually older men.  A cursory reading of the biblical qualifications of Titus 1:5-9, 1 Tim. 3:1-7 infers an older man, who is not a novice in life. 

2.  If a man aspiring to elder/pastor has children, they are old enough for one to see whether they are obedient or not.  For most families, that is early teens.  If a man only has little children, it will not be known if this man is biblically qualified until his children have grown.  Once his children are older and are able to make their own decisions, his children may disqualify him from being an elder because of their disobedience. A father cannot know whether his children will remain obedient.

3.  If this aspiring elder/pastor is married, he should have years of marriage under his belt.  Paul wanted Timothy to choose men who had lived out their Christian character and duty.

4.  The first step of being a biblical pastor is being physically older and more mature.  One of the arguments for twenty and thirty-year old pastors is that the Bible does not put an age limit on eldership. That is because eldership was not a new concept in the Bible but was a well-established position in the Old and New Testament.  There were elders in charge of tribes, on city councils, and in synagogues. These men were wise older men, hence the term elder.

I have read stories of pastors saying that they have seen elders who were in their 20’s on elder boards who have been incredibly wise and capable leaders. And other stories describe men in their 70’s and 80’s who were fools.

What about men in their twenties?  If they have children, how do they know that they will grow up to be obedient? They are presuming upon their children’s behavior. Adam and Eve had two sons; one was compliant and the other disobedient.  Whose fault was it that made Cain a murderer?  How much experience does a twenty-something-year-old have being married and guiding a family through the difficulties of life? The list can go on. 

As for the “20’s on elder boards,” they may be natural administrators, learned the skill, or may have received it as a spiritual gift. Whatever the case, that still does not qualify twenty-year-old’s for leadership.  Regarding the 70 and 80-year-old’s, if they were acting like fools, obviously, they were not biblically qualified in the first place.

The Modern Church Has Redefined the Qualifications for Pastors

Most Christians do not realize that pastors, theologians, and seminaries have created new concepts for church leadership qualifications that are more attainable. Their newer beliefs do not prove that a man is “called” to the ministry.  I think that they consider the list of biblical qualifications in Titus, 1 Timothy and 1 Peter to be too restrictive!  What they believe may sound good, but when measured against God’s Word will come up empty.

Modern pastors, theologians, and seminaries will ask these questions about aspiring elders/pastors:

• Is he saved?
• Does he have the desire?
• What is his personal life like?
• Can he shepherd?
• Does he love the lost?
• and, Who agrees?

My Response –

Is he saved?  That is assumed.  Now consider the parable of the sower (Matt 13:1-9), especially verses 5-6. “Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil but when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.” 

Is it possible for a man who has gone to seminary, and has been ordained to be unsaved? YES! Pastor John MacArthur tells the story of one of the men who ordained him, left Christianity altogether, and started living a vile and retched unrepentant lifestyle.  This man had been an elder in the church for years but was unsaved.

That is why Paul says in 1 Tim 3:10; the church is first to test the men who are seeking leadership.  He also says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

Does he have the desire? A person’s desire is subjective and emotional, especially with young adults.  

Is he godly? Subjective. A man who believes that God is calling him into ministry can make himself look and sound like whatever his interpretation of godliness is.

What is his personal life like? Again subjective. You are asking a man who is being called by God to give himself a self-evaluation.  What do you think he is going to say?

Can he preach? It does not matter if he can preach or not. You can learn it online, in seminary, or be naturally adept in speaking.  Most people are not honest about pastors who are lousy communicators anyway. I know of a pastor with a doctorate in expository preaching, and he is a horrible orator!  Another pastor I know is often on the verge of crying and is over-emotional when he preaches. Yet congregants sit before them with glazed eyes admiring these men!  (Because no one wants to admit to their pastor’s faults.)

Can he shepherd? Again subjective.  Those who he likes will probably say he is a great guy.  Instead, ask the people who the man avoids if he is a good shepherd. 

Does he love the lost? To say that he loves the lost is easy.  What is hard, is loving the people he does not like and avoids in his church.

Who agrees? Who agrees with his self-assessment? Who are you asking? The people who love and adore him, or the ones he avoids and question his biblical qualifications?

It is simple to become a pastor in today’s church.  Just say that you are called by God, choose a seminary, and start applying for school loans and grants.  No pastor will deny writing a young man a reference letter.  But, becoming a biblical elder is not so easy, according to Scripture.  That is why the mainline evangelical church has come up with their own list of qualifications.  More men now than ever can qualify, especially young ones who have not lived long enough to develop their Christian character. 

In 1549, Heinrich Bullinger produced a remarkable series of expositions on the Church in five books called the Decades. His words accentuate the importance of the ministry of teaching and preaching the Word. He wrote that the Lord Himself appointed the first leaders of the church, the apostles, “in order that all men might understand that the ecclesiastical ministry is the divine institution of God himself and not a tradition devised by men,” (The Call to Ministry – By: Edward L. Hayes).

By Rob Robbins, August 2020, churchfm316.com

Editing and Proofreading by Laura Robbins

COMING SOON! 

Part 4 – If there is a special call, who receives it and for what purpose?