Has God Called You to the Ministry? — Tim Conway

Ministry Received by Revelation

Notice this, verse 3, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation. You see how Paul got it? By revelation. Revelation of who? By God. You keep reading here. Go to verse 5, which was not made known to the sons of men and other generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

Ministry as a Gift from Christ

You keep going. Verse 7, of this Gospel, I was made a minister. Not I took it upon myself to become one. Men. You men who are interested in the ministry, you need to grasp this. Jesus Christ gave gifts to men.

Not only apostles, but prophets, evangelists, pastors, slash teacher. They're all in the same category. They are given to men. Paul says I have a ministry. But I did not dream this up. I have a revelation.

The Stewardship of God's Grace

I have something that was given to me. A stewardship of God's grace. It was given to me. You keep reading here in Ephesians 3, of this Gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of His power.

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. It was given to me. Men, you need to recognize something. Pastor-teacher is in the same category with apostle in the sense that it is a gift that is given of Christ.

The Calling Is Not Self-Appointed

Some people have this idea that you go to Bible college or you go to seminary and you become one. Some people have this idea that because I want to become one, let me ask you this. Has God come to you and given you something that you did not have before?

Has God entrusted you with a stewardship? Has God given you a ministry? Has God revealed something to you? Has God given you gift? Has God given you power to be able to carry this out? Notice what Paul said.

Paul said that this had been given to him. The stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you. It was not given to Paul for the sake of his own glory. It was not given to Paul for the sake of his own financial situation.

It was not given to him so that people would think he was a great preacher, so that they would bow down before him, so that they would cherish his words as being unique and authoritative in the sense that they came from him.

What he is saying is don't look at me as deriving this. Don't look at me as being the author of this. Don't. It's a stewardship of God's grace. I'm the least of the saints out here. I'm nothing, but God has entrusted me with this.

Ministry Must Benefit the Church

Men, if you do not have something that is by the will of God, how do you know if it's by the will of God? Because God came from outside you and gave you something that you didn't have before that. Too many men want to pronounce themselves as pastors.

They want to pronounce themselves as teachers. But let me tell you something. It's a stewardship of God's grace that's given to men for the sake of others. And if you've been given such a stewardship, the others will recognize that you have such a stewardship of God's grace given to you.

Why? Because it's for them. It's for their advantage. It's for their up-building. And if nobody's built up, nobody's advantaged, nobody's helped, nobody gleans grace from what you're doing, Brethren, the last thing the church needs is self-pronounced anything.

It doesn't matter what it is. What you see here is a Christianity that starts with God. It is by the will of God. And it's no different in the church. What we don't want to do is say, Oh, he's an apostle.

God's Sovereignty in Church Ministry

Yeah, you go to Ephesians chapter 4, and you will find that apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers are put in the same category. They come from Jesus Christ. It's the same in the church today as it was way back then, 2 ,000 years ago, when Jesus Christ chose 12 men to follow Him.

Brethren, God is still the God who is sovereign in the church. It's by the will of God that there is an apostle, and it is by the will of God that there is any kind of teacher or preacher or anybody gifted for any ministry.

Entering Ministry by God's Calling

This comes from God. He is sovereign in the church. We need to grasp this. Men, you need to grasp it. Don't enter any ministry if you just have some inclination, some self-serving desire to do so. If God has not broken into your life from the outside, come to you and made you what you weren't before, gifted you in a way you were not gifted before, given you a ministry, the grace of God being given to you, poured out on your life, poured out on your gift, poured out on your character, where you know God has come.

This is real Christianity. This is the Christianity of Scripture. It is God coming in. It is God stepping in. It is God doing something. That's what we need to recognize.