Called By God?

I have had the honor of serving the Lord in a pastoral role of one kind or another for about 20 out of my almost 43 years of life. It has been at once joyous, exciting, wondrous, challenging, depressing, and frustrating. While pastoral ministry takes a great deal of work and has high demands, I wouldn’t give it up. At present, you might say that I’m “in between gigs,” “on hiatus,” or “taking a break”. Yet, I search and pray daily for my next pastoral “assignment” from the Lord. Why? I want to be in the pastoral ministry. But the one thing I am not is called to the pastoral ministry. I have had several interviews in the last few months and filled out not a few questionnaires from churches. Every pastoral search team with which I have spoken has asked me the same question, “Tell us about your call to the ministry.” Many churches, in their advertisements for pastors, state that the man whom they call to be their pastor must “evidence a clear call to the ministry.” This idea of God calling a man into the pastoral, or any other, ministry is rampant in Christianity. Yet, it goes deeper than just the pastor. I have had countless numbers of people tell me over the years that they felt God was calling them to another church, into or out of a particular ministry position, to or away from a spouse, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. This idea of God calling Christians to do things or be something and, more prevalently sometimes, Christians not engaging in ministry because they didn’t feel called by God to do so thoroughly permeates Christianity.

Because I have been asked this question by so many, I have had occasion to question the question and dig into Scripture to find an answer. I have come to the realization that feeling called into the ministry, or feeling called by God to be something, do something, or go somewhere is an unbiblical idea.

Defining the Call of God

What is meant by the call of God? In most Christian circles, being called by God is an inner sense or feeling that God is personally and specifically directing you to assume a defined role as God’s chosen leader, representative, or spokesman, or that God is directing you to assume a defined role of ministry service, attend a particular church, or go any number of other life circumstances or tasks. This sense or feeling can come in the negative as well – God calls you out of or away from things too. While some might define it more loosely or more rigidly, this about captures the soul of what is meant by the call of God.

The Call of God in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, God clearly called certain people to certain tasks or positions of leadership. Here’s a few to consider.

1.       God called to Moses out of the burning bush (Ex. 3:4) and, during that conversation commanded him to go set the Israelites free from Egyptian slavery. One might call this a call of God, but it should be noted that God called to Moses to get his attention, but sent him to Egypt to be his spokesman (Ex. 3:10). In truth, though Moses objected, he really wasn’t given much of a choice.

2.       The writer of Hebrews says that Aaron was called to be the first high priest and that subsequent high priests were also called by God (Heb. 5:4). It should be noted that by the time of the exile, the high priesthood had become a largely inherited position and that during and after the intertestamental period (including the time of Christ) the high priesthood had devolved to a political post controlled largely by the Romans. The call of God had all but abandoned the position.

3.       An angel speaks to Gideon and commissions him to be a judge and deliverer of Israel out of bondage to Midianites (Judges 6:12-14).

4.       God woke Samuel up in the middle of the night with an audible voice and called Samuel to service (1 Sam. 3:4). This is perhaps the approximation in the OT to anything resembling the stereotypical Christian call of God today.

5.       Many times God called men into leadership by using a prophet. For example, Samuel anointed both Saul and David (1 Sam. 9:17; 16:13).

6.       Isaiah and Ezekiel both receive their call by seeing miraculous visions from God, which caused Isaiah to ask God to send him (Isa. 6:8).

7.       God appointed Jeremiah before he was born to be God’s prophet (Jer. 1:5).

8.       The prophet Elijah called his replacement, Elisha, by passing on his coat to him (2 Kgs. 2:11-14).

9.       The farmer, Amos, recounts that God took him from following sheep and told him to go preach to Israel (Amos 7:15).

These are examples of how God called certain men into his service in the Old Testament. There are, however, a few things to note about each of these examples, and the others. No one whom God called ever spoke about feeling called by God. God’s call was a definitive, often miraculous, life event in which God called and commissioned them to serve him. Furthermore, none of these individuals was really given the choice not to serve God. These calls bear all the marks of commission and command rather than call in the esoteric sense in which we use Christians today. I do not believe turning to the Old Testament to validate being called by God as a Christian is our answer.

The Call of God in the New Testament

The use of God’s calling individuals is much different in the post-gospels New Testament. I say “post-gospels/Acts New Testament” because God still functioned largely in an Old Testament sense during the life of Christ recorded in the gospels and the Book of Acts is a transition period from a Jewish mentality to a distinctly Christian/Church mentality. When God called Mary and Joseph to parent Jesus, it was in an OT fashion not unlike what we saw above (Luke 1:34; Matt. 1:19-21). When Jesus called the disciples to follow him (e.g. Mark 1:17-20) it was in accordance with how an OT rabbi would have called men to become his students. When Jesus called out the twelve apostles from the larger group of disciples (Mark 3:13-14) and called Saul, later known as Paul, to be an apostle (Acts 9:1-19) it was also consistent with an OT prophetic call as we have already seen. Even when God called Saul/Paul and Barnabas out of the church at Antioch (Acts 13:2) it was a miraculous thing wholly unlike the Christian call is spoken of today.

The New Testament uses the Greek term καλέω (kaleo) and its cognates more than 300 times in several different, and sometimes overlapping, ways. Sometimes, it is used in the naming of people or places; “You will call his name Jesus (Matt. 1:21).” It is synonymous with “known as.” For example, Mark 11:17 sees Jesus saying that his father’s house will be called a house of prayer, or should be known as a house of prayer. On occasion (33x in fact), call is used in the sense of a command or invitation for someone to come to a place or event (cf. John 2:2; Luke 14:13; Mark 3:31). Most often, the term call in the NT is used in direct relation to the sinner’s response to the gospel message, faith, new birth, and election. Luke writes in Acts 2:21 that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Ananias instructs Saul of Tarsus to rise up, be baptized, and call on the Jesus’ name to be saved (Acts 22:16). Paul frequently refers to the Church as a whole and believers as individuals as those whom God has called to salvation (cf. 1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 26; Gal. 1:6; Eph. 1:18; 4:4; Col. 3:15; 2 Thess. 2:14; 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 1:8-9; 1 Pet. 1:15; 2:9; 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:3; Jude 1).

Several things are not seen in the New Testament in relation to God’s calling. [1] God’s call is never a subjective inner sense or feeling. God never gives anyone, Old or New Testaments, a feeling that he is calling them to be or do. [2] God never calls Christians to particular ministries; he gifts them for service within the local church. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 and you’ll see a very clear rubric for the local church; namely that the Holy Spirit gifts every Christian for ministry and expects every Christian to use his or her particular gifts and talents in ministry within the local church context. Never is a call of God spoken of in that context. [3] God never calls pastors, missionaries, evangelists, or any other church leader to that position; he qualifies them. Paul clearly told Timothy, “Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer [aka. Pastor] desires a noble task” (1 Tim. 3:1).  Becoming a ministry leader, particularly a pastor, first begins with a desire on the part of the person. Then God says that those entrusted with this office must be qualified (1 Tim. 3:2-7). I believe that same desire holds true for deacons and any other leadership position in the church (cf. 1 Tim. 3:8). Once again, God would have gifted those individuals holding these positions as he gifts every other believer for their particular places of ministry.

Conclusion

What should we take away from this discussion? I believe too many Christians use the call of God as a crutch and a cop out. Pastors and ministry leaders say that do what they do because God called them to do so. No, God equipped you, gifted you, and gave you the desire to do serve the Church in that capacity. If you want to call it the call of God that’s fine, but it’s wholly inappropriate to speak in terms of feeling or sensing God’s call. God does not call in the same miraculous ways that he did in the Old Testament and apostolic age. Too many Christians use the excuse that God is not calling them to serve in an area of ministry anymore, or that God is calling me to another church, etc. as a means of easing their conscience for not serving or leaving a church without causing a raucous. They’re lying to themselves. If God gifted and equipped you for ministry in that area, then be honest and simply state that you don’t want to do it anymore. Conversely, there is no feeling or sense that God is calling you to a church ministry. If you’re waiting for some esoteric call from God, you might never engage in ministry at all. When it comes to leaving a church; just be honest. Unless God is providentially moving you to a locale that would make it impossible for you to attend and serve in that local church, simply and honestly state that you just no longer desire to be there.

If you want to get nit-picky, I guess you could say that the gifting of God and desire in the heart constitutes God’s call. I really don’t have as much of a problem with that as I do the ethereal, subjective way in which many Christians speak about the call of God. When it comes to who we are as Christians, the New Testament only gives a few instances of things we are called by God to be or do. 1 Peter 2:20-21 tells us that we have been specifically called to suffer as Jesus suffered and we have also been called to repay evil with blessing rather than cursing (1 Pet. 3:9). Beyond these, we need to look at the commands and instructions of Scripture to ascertain who we are to become in Christ. In short, Christians need to rethink the idea of God’s call on their lives, stop waiting for some inner feeling (let alone a miraculous manifestation), and get busy being who we were redeemed to be and serving as we have been gifted to serve.

As for me, the way in which God has gifted and equipped me could be used in a myriad of ways. Why keep searching and praying for God’s leading in the pastoral role? Simple. I want to be a pastor. That desire has not abated. If you want to call that the “call of God;” OK. There has never been, nor to I ever expect, some mystical feeling or sense to move me through the Christian life and ministry. It’s really an unbiblical idea that needs to be expunged from Christian thought and vocabulary.