Five Marks of a Calling to Ministry

Jason Shirk

Acts • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Acts 13:1–3

Calling

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Transcript

Introduction

Text: Acts 13:1-3

As we look at Acts chapter 13, we come across a shift in the life of Paul. Up to this point he has been preaching on his own and involved in ministry in the church of Antioch. But all of this is what could have been done by a regular member of the church. In these first three verses we see a shift in Paul’s ministry as he steps into full-time ministry serving God. I have previously preached on the need for missionaries around the world, but there is also a need for men and women in other avenues of full-time ministry. Every believer is called to ministry but only some are called to full-time ministry: pastor, seminary teacher, Christian school teacher, evangelist, missionary, Mission agency workers, some churches have full time music ministers, youth pastors, church planters.

All are necessary ministry roles within the Church as a whole, but the number of people even considering ministry as a career is dwindling. I don’t know when the last time I saw a young person surrender their lives to full-time ministry because God has called them to it. And yet I know God does call people into ministry:

Moses Exodus 3:10 “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” God speaks to Moses out of the burning bush while he is taking care of sheep in Midian. God sees the persecution of the Jews and in vs 7 He says He knows their sorrows. God has tasks that He calls people to.

Jeremiah Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” God’s call on our lives is part of His plan established before the world began.

Timothy- 1 Tim 4:14 “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” Timothy was given a calling, a gift from God, to do ministry.

The ministry is something to be desired. It is an admirable goal to chase after.

You alone, as minsters of reconciliation, can give what the world with all its boasting and pride can never give — the infinite sweetness of the communion of the redeemed soul with the living God.

J Gresham Machen

but it is also a serious calling.

James 3:1 “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”

Heb 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

There are five marks that God might be calling you into ministry:

A desire

1 Tim 3:1 “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.”

The first sign that you might be called to ministry is a desire to do ministry. If your heart burns with a desire to teach or preach the bible, to see souls saved or believers edified, you might be called to ministry. If you can say as Paul said: 1 Cor 9:16 “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” You might just be called to ministry. Spurgeon called it an intense, all-absorbing desire for the work.

Paul and Barnabas were already involved and active in ministry before God called them to full-time ministry. Those who truly have a desire for ministry are going to find ways to be active doing the ministry that they can do. Luke 16:10 “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”

There are those who look at the work of the ministry and they desire it for all the wrong reasons:

1. Some desire it so they can have prestige. They think that it is a position that will get them some respect from people. They here preachers who travel around the country who preach to thousands of people and they want that. They want people to hear them and recognize them, but the average preacher does not actually have that prestige. He is often taken for granted. He can be betrayed, slandered and ignored. I have seen this tendency especially among younger preachers who abandon everything they said they believed just to get a larger crowd. There is one graduate of Ambassador Baptist College that I can guarantee falls into this category and I don’t mind naming him by name because he is a false teacher. His name is Greg Locke. Greg became famous for standing up against Covid restrictions and standing for Donald Trump. But the years since I was in college he has drifted from conservative worship, divorced his wife and married his secretary, and become essentially a Charismatic preacher. Now he has big crusades where he casts demons out of people and recently tried to heal cancer patients over the phone. Some men are consumed with the image they can get but this is the wrong desire.

2. Some desire to be heard. They think that they have some special truth that no one has ever thought about that needs to be given to the world.

3. Some desire authority. They want to be in charge. There are a lot of church members who can fall into this category as well. But some men see the ministry as an opportunity to make everyone do things their way. I have literally heard preachers say these words from the pulpit, “It’s my way of the highway. If you don’t like it, you can stand behind my car as I back out of the parking lot.”

Ministry is service. The kind of desire God is looking for is a heart to serve, and help people and a heart that wants God to be glorified.

The leading of the Holy Spirit

Acts 13:2 “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”

Martin Luther described the calling of God as “God’s voice heard by faith.”

Those whom God has called know this call by a sense of leading, purpose and growing commitment to ministry. This is not Grandma saying you are her little preacher boy or even your parents wishing you would be a missionary. I would love for all of my children to be involved in ministry someone how when they grow up but I can’t call them to ministry. That is God’s job and I don’t want them anywhere that God doesn’t want them to be.

I think the leading of the Holy Spirit is found by an assurance that this is what God wants you to do. It also is seen as He opens up doors for you to be involved in ministry.

Paul and Barnabas were not merely chosen by the church. The Holy Spirit communicated His will to the church. His message was to separate Barnabas and Saul for the work.

When you start out on this path to serve God in full-time ministry, your life is going to be different than your friends lives. You are on a different trajectory because God has separated you to this work.

1. You may not have a house at the same time that your friends do.

2. Your kids may not grow up speaking English like other kids do.

3. They might eat different foods and wear different clothes.

4. They may not have the opportunity to be involved in all the same youth sports.

Positive:

But they might just get to see the world.

They might just grow up bilingual and have extra skills that American kids don’t have.

They might just grow up knowing that their parents were obedient to Gods call, and so they want to follow in their footsteps.

4. You might end up with a very close knit family because of all the time you spent together.

But the key here is that God’s Spirit must be the one doing the calling. You can’t call yourself. Grandma can’t call you. I can’t call you into ministry. God must do it. I believe some men have tried to call themselves because they desired the work; but they did not stick with it because it was not God’s will for their lives. In such as case they should get out. The best place for you to be is exactly where God wants you to be.

The gifting of the Holy Spirit

Do you remember the story of Moses when God called Him? In Exodus 4, Moses gives excuse after excuse for why he can’t do what God wants him to do:

Back in 3:11, Moses asks Who am I? Basically, he is saying I am a nobody. Maybe you don’t come from a strong family background. Maybe your family never accomplished anything and don’t have degrees. Maybe no one looks at you and thinks, “He is going to go far in life.” But God can use you. God’s response in vs 12 was to promise Moses He would be with Him. In ministry, you are the representative for God and though you might be nothing God is everything. If He is with us, anything is possible. Romans 8:31 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

In 4:1, Moses says the people won’t believe him. I think most people would be sckeptical if you walked up and said God told me to tell you this, but God confirmed the message of Moses with signs and wonders. I think God can work in people’s hearts to accept the message you bring.

In 4:10, Moses said that he was not eloquent. God still promised to be with Moses but Moses still doubted his ability to speak. Exodus 4:14 “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.” God is angry at Moses and says Ok Aaron will talk for you. The thing that surprises me though is later after the first visit to Pharaoh, Moses is the one talking and he is not stuttering or staggering. Somewhere along the line, Moses submitted to what God wanted and God gifted him to do His will.

2 Cor 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”

You might not possess all the gifts right away, but God will grow you and enable you for the work. One sign that God might just be calling you is His gifting. We have previously looked at Eph 4:7-12 “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”

And 1 Cor 12:7 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” which teaches that all of us have our own spiritual gifts. Being able to recognize the gifting of the Holy Spirit is a strong mark that God might be calling you into ministry.

The confirmation of the Church

Acts 13:3 “And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”

1 Tim 4:14 “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.”

We aren’t left all to ourselves to recognize this calling. God has actually given the church a responsibility and a role to play in recognizing the calling of God on the life of his servants. If you think you are called but no one in the church sees it, you might want to rethink it. They church in this account recognize that God is calling Barnabas and Paul into the ministry to be missionaries to the Gentiles. In this text we see official ordination.

The church ordains ministers not some external board.

They church fasted and prayed about their decision.

They laid hands on them. This was a sign of officially recognizing and appointing them to the ministry. In fact the church is cautioned against being to quick to do so in 1 Tim 5:22 “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.”

The Church should be involved in the process of recognizing, training and appointing men and women for full-time service. If there is some serious lack in character or even skill, they should be the one’s to point that out and help them grown.

Proverb 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

Are you qualified?

The last mark is qualification. 1 Timothy gives us qualifications for deacons and for pastors and for the most part these qualifications are things that should describe every Christian. But just because you have a desire and maybe some ability to preach doesn’t mean you are called to full-time service. Part of the churches work of confirmation is to determine if you are qualified.

1 Tim 3:1-7 “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”

When we look at the qualifications for a pastor they can be summed up in the following five categories:

A. Public

B. Marital

C. Family

D. Personal

E. Doctrinal

But all of it could be summed up in the word blameless or above reproach. All Christian ministers should be striving to be men and women of character and good reputation. As I said all Christians should be striving for this, but it is required in pastors. If you aren’t to the point yet where these things describe you, I believe you can still be involved in ministry , but not given the full-time position of a pastor.

The standard may not be laid out for Missionaries, evangelists, school teachers, ect; but God still desires His servants to be above reproach in everything that they do.

Conclusion:

What now?

A call to preach is a call to prepare. If you believe God wants you to be in full-time ministry and through these five marks, God has confirmed that to you, come talk to me. We can begin walking you down a road of mentorship and guidance towards education, and ordination. Generally these are the steps that one would take:

Come forward and surrender to what God might be leading you into.

The Church gets involved in helping you prepare and confirming the validity of the calling.

Usually, a bible college education is necessary. These days this can be done online if you can’t move across country. For adults, online degrees are probably actually the better path to take while young people who haven’t left home yet; might be benefited by going to a good school.

From there it depends on the direction God is leading you to God. If it is pastoring or youth pastoring, you would want to be ordained first. Then it can be helpful to work under someone for awhile, and then start applying to churches after you have some experience.

For those interested in missions, you’d apply with a missions agency. Then raise support on deputation. Finally, make preparations to go to the field.

For school teachers and music directors, it is merely just applying to different schools or churches for a job.

Everyone’s story is going to be a little different but these are a helpful path forward. My own story involved going to bible college, being interviewed and accepted by the missions agency, then ordained by my church in the same week. After that, I began part time deputation until I met Katy and we started full- time deputation. We served on the field for a little while, but God led us to come back to the States. Finally after being here in Oklahoma for 5 years, God opened the door to pastor here and the rest you all know.