Introduction
Every Christian has a calling. What is our calling? How does God call us? When we are called by God to attend to His flock, we just don’t know when and how, just like Saul when he was blinded on the road to Damascus. God just called him, and from a persecutor of Christians, he became a minister (Clowney, p.3).
“What is God’s calling?”
“Called by name: Calling God’s Creative Gift”
We are called by our names, and our names have different meanings. Yet, our names mean nothing at all, not until God call us. When He call us, our name will have a real meaning.
“Called by God’s Name”
During baptism, the priest baptizes us in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In church, we make the sign of the cross and announce the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. God calls us by names. Christ called Zaccheus upon the sycamore tree, and also Lazarus when He raised him to life. When Christ calls us in his Ministry, he will call us by our names. We are also called by God to be like Him; He wants us to be holy (Clowney, p. 7).
“Called by Your Name”
God calls us by our names, but he also calls us by another name to define our roles or what we are going to be according to his purpose. This is mentioned in Isaiah 43:1 when he says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by name, thou art mine”. He did it on Simon, the fisherman, when he renamed him according to his role on the Church – Peter, the Rock, to whom he would build his Church.
“The very writing of the names is a memorial of the faithfulness of God. This is done in the Book of Numbers and in the genealogies of Genesis or Chronicles.” If names are not important, this shouldn’t have been done in the Bible where we seem to get bored reading those long lines of names that seem to be meaningless in mentioning them. But God sees the importance of those names.
God also calls us one by one, or individually, giving us the importance as individual and his treasured creature with a name – “individually but not alone”. It also means we have each an identity. We are called by God to answer the questions: “Who are you? What are you? And by what name does God call you?” (Clowney, p. 10).
“Called to service”
Christ calls us to follow his way. He led us to the way of the cross through sacrifice and suffering, and not the way of man’s quest for glory and fame. He rode upon an ass and not on a stabled war-horse. This is clearly manifested in Mark 8:34, 35, when Christ says: “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.”
Clowney says that God’s calling is towards death, through the narrow path like his, “the cup given to him by the Father” (Clowney, p. 14).
But why? Because it leads us to Him. When we die, only our physical body gets rotten and is gone to go back to dust. But our spirits remain and be with him. Our death is a triumph because we don’t die meaninglessly. We die with a purpose, and when we die we are given life and we go to God in eternal glory. Just like Christ’s way. He died with a purpose – to save us from sin. Isaiah says, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days, through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.” (Isa 53:10)
There is the missionary calling of the church. Clowney says, “Christians are called to be ‘children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, and among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life (Phil. 2:51, 16.).”
God’s perspective before and now remains: “Christ is Lord at the Father’s right hand, the present and future King”.
“Calling from the throne”
“Enduement shapes service”
After Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, he sends forth the Holy Spirit so that we will be guided and we may enjoy the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles on Pentecost Day.
Paul describes his apostleship as his own calling, when he says: “But I write the more boldly unto you in some measure… because of the grace that was given me of God, that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles.” (Rom. 15: 15-16) (Clowney, p. 27)
Fellowship shapes service
When we have the Holy Spirit, we share this in our fellowship with our fellow Christians. As we commune with our brothers and sisters, we also have a fellowship with God. We are sharing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our fellowship with God and the rest of the Christian community. We have to share and give to others as God loves a cheerful giver. Clowney mentions Matt 25: 40: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
“Opportunity shapes service”
Clowney sees missions as a divine calling and not a divine act and we should see this as an opportunity. We have to grasp the opportunity when time comes and be ready to take the sacrifice in the missions.
“What is God’s calling to the ministry?”
“Distinctive in authority”
Christ is the one Lord and we who are called are to minister unto Him. But Christ also became a servant. “He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28).” Christ set forth as an example. In the last supper, he served the apostles by washing their feet. Everything – office, activities, service – is focused on Christ who is the one Mediator, the Lord and Servant. The apostles, through their ministry, brought the Word of God, to the world. Christ laid the foundation and the apostles continued his work. Christ bears the “key of the house of God” but he passes on to his disciples the “authority to declare in his Name both the good news of the forgiveness of sins and the judgment that follows impenitence.”
Christ also passes the authority to preach, but his authority is the “beginning and end of the authority of preaching.” (Clowney, p. 43)
“II. Distinctive in function”
Those who are called to minister to Christ’s Church has a distinctive function but their work is defined only as far as the New Testament reveals according to the first work of the apostles. The gifts of the Holy Spirit help in building the church. But the church rests in what the first apostles have done and have to be carried forward by evangelists, pastors, and teachers who have the authority of the Word of God. At the beginning of the establishment of the church, the apostles ministered to a community wherein human need was also cared for by the ministry. Later, this was altered and modified. The preacher proclaims the good news; proclamation is evangelism. The preacher is also “teacher and herald.”
Distinctive in gifts
Clowney says that “we should be encouraged to go on with the ministry because of the distinctive gifts in the function of the ministry.” (Clowney, p. 62) Paul says that more and more graces and gifts are given to the faithful minister as he progresses in his work. The preacher is chosen by God as God sees the “inside” of us. He chooses “the weak and foolish, not the mighty and wise”. (Clowney, p. 64) And when we are chosen, we become committed to Christ. As we are committed to Christ, we continue in our knowledge of faith through our reading of the Bible. We grow in faith and wisdom; we grow in spiritual wisdom.
The marks of a minister: commitment and wisdom of faith. The minister seeks the lost sheep, is a workman, has the gift of teaching and the ability to communicate spiritual truth. He is also “all things to all men”.
Clear calling
The minister’s calling is clear: we are called “to bear Christ’s name, to take up his cross, and to gather men into his kingdom.” (Clowney, p. 69)
Your personal calling
God calls us personally through Jesus Christ. Like in the Scriptures, he appointed men the apostles to declare and testify that He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. “The fullness of Revelation has come through Christ” (Clowney, p. 71).
The ministers of Christ have to continue the work of the apostles, to testify and prove the things about Jesus Christ. We have to keep “learning to obey and trust his hand”. And we should not falter or lose faith because as he promised us, he will not leave us and be with us until the end of time.
Clowney reminds us with these inspiring words: “The call of the Word of God to the Gospel ministry comes to ALL those who have the gifts for such a ministry” (Clowney, p. 81).
May those of us who aspire to be ministers have these gifts.
Works Cited
- The Holy Bible. The New Revised Standard Version. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
- Clowney, Edmund P. Called To The Ministry. U.S.A.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1964