ARE YOU CALLED TO PREACH?

"Okay," you say, "I understand that preaching is more than just speaking about what God did once, that it is in fact the method God is now using to redeem His people. And I'll even accept the fact that God calls some to special office in His church in order to equip and help believers live for Jesus. But how can I know if I am called to preach?"

That's a fair question and an important one. In this chapter we'll look at the subject of "calling," ways it has been understood in the past and in the present, and the way Scripture would have us view it.

The Idea of "Calling:" Past and Present

In the history of the Christian church, several different notions of calling to the ministry have been popular. Let's look briefly at each.

The Roman Catholic notion grew out of the worldview of medieval Europe. The church believed herself to be the presence of the "sacred" in a "secular" world; her clergy were the priests that dispensed "grace" to people who lived in the realm of "nature." This split-life view thought there was a difference in kind and quality between clergy and laity. The clergy possessed authority over the laity (usually spiritual authority, but sometimes very political-the Vatican is a sovereign state, for example, and throughout European history struggles between the Pope and kings over political authority were waged). Within this dualistic worldview, "calling" to such authoritative office in the church was seen as external; that is, one was appointed to an official position by the church, and authority was conferred by her through the hierarchical chain of command.

A second viewpoint developed in reaction to Rome. Influenced by modern democratic humanism with its emphasis on the individual, this view observes many categories of service within the church, only one of which is the preaching office. What distinguishes these kinds of service is not authority, as in Rome, but individual gifts. Office is only one kind of service, and ordination to office, if one can speak of such a thing, is simply public recognition of the individual's gifts. Many who hold to this view don't believe in ordination at all.

Obviously, this modern view understands calling to office quite differently than Rome did. In the Roman belief system, you were called by the church: she trained you, she conferred authority, she placed you in your "position" over against the laity. In this new belief system, it is not the church but rather one's individual gifts that constitute one's calling. You must identify your gifts, receive confirmation from others that you are so gifted, and, if those gifts fit in with what you think is necessary for the work of ministry, you may seek official recognition of them in the ceremony of ordination. I remember well an interview with a female seminarian during which she was asked about her calling to the ministry. Her answer was typical: "All my life people told me that I had the gifts for ministry, so I figured I'd go for it. If this denomination doesn't recognize my gifts, I'll go elsewhere for that recognition."

In contrast to those two views of calling to office is another, typical of contemporary American evangelical fundamentalism. In this view, nothing external-neither church nor gifts-plays a significant role in "calling." What matters is one's internal sense of call. If the Spirit leads you to preach, academic competence and even a seminary degree are irrelevant. (In fact, an anti-intellectualism arises; education itself is suspect because it is seen to "promote the wisdom of men and hinder the power of God." I watched a network news program once that featured a young boy who was ridiculed by classmates and teachers alike because he "had the call" to preach. The boy spent most of his time screaming "sermons" at the top of his lungs, with the blessing of parents and pastor, while his father was in court trying to keep his son out of science class. Science class, you see, was "of the devil.") In this view, "calling" is an experience not unlike conversion. Strictly internal and personal, it is an immediate (lit. "without mediation") and direct communication of a revelation from God Himself, without the use of human intermediaries (like the church) or objective criteria (like qualifying gifts).

What Does the Bible Say?

Each of the perspectives on calling to the gospel ministry described above has a point to make: the church does "lay hands" on a man, commissioning him to office. A man should reflect certain skills and gifts enabling him to preach and teach. And a man should be gripped by a Spirit-led passion to preach. At the same time, each misses the point. The church's imprimatur alone doesn't make a preacher. The gifts and ability to preach could just as easily be the skill-set to sell vacuum cleaners! And the "internal compulsion" might merely be love for the Lord's church. What is lacking in each, as is so often the case, is a sense of biblical balance. I believe we will find that balance in the nature of the God who calls men to His service. We must grasp the Scriptural revelation of just who He is.

A balanced understanding of calling is only assured when we see it as the work of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When the church confesses that God is Father, she confesses, among other things, His creative power. By that we mean that God the Father endows all of creation with life, calling it into being according to His sovereign will and plan. He creates all things, making man "in his image" (Gen. 1:26). Being made in God's image, however, does not mean that all humans are carbon copies of one another. In fact, the diversity of many unique personalities together reflects the nature of God. He creates each with individual capabilities. Some of us have an inborn talent for musical composition, others for mathematical precision. Some are gifted with words, others with their hands. Some learn well in school, others learn better by experience. Some have tender hearts, some computer-like minds.

All of this has a direct bearing upon "calling." Involved in it is first of all a matter of personal and communal reflection about yourself. You must look deeply and honestly at what Scripture asks of a pastor. Read carefully 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus to get a good sense of the requirements (as we'll do in the next chapter). Then take an inventory:

• Be honest about your intellectual abilities. If you can't cut it in college, or are unable to master biblical languages, think twice about the gospel ministry! Preachers must be able to discern the spirits of the age, and must be able to "rightly divide the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). That requires analytical and linguistic skills, and the ability to communicate the findings of careful study in a clear manner.
• Consider any physical limitation you may have. If you lost your voice because of throat cancer, you may have a special ministry signing for the deaf, but ordinarily there isn't much need for preachers who can't speak. You'll serve the Lord in another field.
• Take your temperament temperature, and measure it against the duty of a pastor to be "ready in season and out of season" (2 Tim. 4:2). On the one hand, if you have a hard time with the difficult task of rebuking the wayward, you'd probably fit right in with Timothy (and most preachers today): Paul has to crank up Timothy's courage regularly. But if you get an ulcer at the first sign of stress, perhaps you'd better channel your obedient service to Christ into another area. Likewise, you'd better be a "people-person." The ministry is a calling in which you must get to know, and to love, God's people. I once had a friend who told me, when he was contemplating leaving the ministry, "I really love the ministry. I just don't like people!"
• And don't neglect a spiritual inventory: far too many of those who enter the pulpit do so as therapy for their own doubts, or out of a desire to discover the truth about their own salvation, or to assuage their own sin-guilt, or because they believe that the ministry is a guaranteed ticket to glory. And, at the risk of sounding obvious, stay out of the ministry if you aren't convinced yourself of the truth of the Bible! I am amazed at the preachers who ascend the pulpit and open a Bible whose infallibility and inspiration they openly doubt. A mentor of mine, when questioned by a young student about the one "absolute necessity" a preacher must take to the pulpit, once said perceptively: "Believe what you preach." The student snickered for a brief moment until he realized he was serious. I think he's dead right. You have no business opening the Bible "for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16) if you do not truly believe God's Word has the spiritual power to bring about those results in the hearts and lives of the people to whom you preach.

We also confess the second Person of the Trinity: Jesus Christ Son of God and Lord of the Church. By that we mean that God not only offered His Son as the atonement for our sins, but He also takes us into the fellowship of His Son in the church. The Bride and the Bridegroom are inseparable. Our unity with the Head is a unity that takes concrete form in the church of Jesus.

This too has a bearing on our understanding of office and calling. If God calls you to the ministry of the Word, you ought first to be aware that He, as Father, has equipped you with the gifts necessary to perform the duties of office. But secondly, you will hear His calling at least in part through the voice of the church, His Son's bride. You may think quite a bit of your own abilities (maybe even "more highly" than you ought to think [Rom. 12:31]), but if the church of the living God does not confirm your self-evaluation with its own, you are not approved. In the Old Testament, the prophets (like Samuel) were told directly by the Lord whom to anoint to be king or prophet. In the New Testament, the church herself was involved in the process. In 1 Timothy 3, the qualifications for office are listed; the church is expected to test those men who are put forward.

If the Lord's church does not issue to you a call to preach in His name (Rom. 10:15; 2 Tim. 1:6), then you do not hold the preaching office (1 Thess. 2:4). This means that while you may and must serve your King; you may not do so as a preacher. That ambassadorship is reserved for those whom He has called directly.

So you must pass a "church check":

• Are you an active member of a Bible-believing and Bible-preaching church, submitting willingly to the care of the elders of that church?
• Does that church through its elders encourage you to pursue the preaching ministry?
• Does the body of believers believe you have the requisite gifts, abilities, and devotion?

If so, pursue the course of training in a seminary that holds high the Word of the Lord, and will train you to preach it with vital urgency. While there, be actively involved in the local church, so that assessment and accountability of the eldership will continue and develop. Such training and such assessment are both extensions of the church's "hands on" supervision in your call, and lead to the formal, final and necessary step of a local church "calling" you to minister the Word of God in its midst.

But we also confess God the Holy Spirit. In addition to the Father who equips, and the Son who voices the call through His church, we confess that God the Holy Spirit awakens within a man's heart a sense of spiritual compulsion. Who can say it better than Paul did?

Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Cor. 9:16).

I believe with all my heart that unless you "have to preach," you may not! I mean that seriously. Unless you are under the compulsion of the Spirit who fills your heart with urgency and desire, you have no commission. The church of the Lord is full of preachers who may believe they are qualified, but who do not feel this divine constraint. They have a "professional" view of the ministry rather than the "prophet's compulsion." They lack the fire in their belly, a fire kindled by the Spirit of the living God. That is one big reason why so many wash out of the ministry, "burned out" by the demands of the pastorate. But it also explains why so many churches cry that they are getting "stones for bread" from the pulpit. A man can't truly preach the life-giving Word of the Lord unless the Holy Spirit gives him utterance. But if the Spirit has him in His grip, if he has the Spirit's fire in his belly, he won't be a mere professional, and he won't burn out. That fire is inextinguishable!

So, "calling" is not such an amorphous, indefinite thing after all! You can test yourself. You are confident you are called by God to preach if:

1. you have been equipped by the Father with the requisite intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual gifts; and
2. the church of the Lord has confirmed your self-evaluation based on her knowledge and observation of your doctrine and life; and
3. you have experienced within your heart the powerful moving of the Spirit of God, coercing you by divine influence so that you cannot live unless you preach.

I hope that some of you who read this essay will come to know yourselves called of God to the preaching ministry. The gospel offensive can use men like you! May God provide for your every need and direct you to the calling of His choice.

I also hope that, while reading these words, others of you have become convinced that you are not called to preach. If so, both you and the Lord's church will have gained. Wrestling with the "call" is sometimes an agonizing process; learning that God would rather use you in another kind of service truly gives your heart peace and spares the church the pain of having a "preacher" who really isn't.

And with all of you, called to preach or not, I raise this prayer of the apostles to our God and Father: "Now, Lord…enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness…" (Acts 4:29).

Continue to Seminary Training: Why and How?