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Elders & Deacons
Weeks we've been addressing a study at the local church as we
have emphasized the New Testament teaching of congregational polity or
congregational church government.
And this understanding of church governance is based on the conviction that a local church, every local church,
according to the New Testament, ought to be independent and self -governing.
That there is no authority outside of a local church other than the Lord Jesus directly.
He is the head, the only head, of the church.
But last week we began to consider how the scriptures tell us churches
should be governed, how we should govern ourselves.
And the New Testament reveals that elders and deacons lead local churches.
They led the local churches of the first century.
And we considered last week how elders are also referred to in the scriptures as bishops or overseers,
is what the Greek word means, as well as pastors.
That's the work they do.
They shepherd the flock.
The pastor, the bishop, and the elder are the same office in the New Testament, it would appear.
And yet, as we were closing last week, we made an important point.
And that is the Word of God teaches, contrary to the teaching and practice of many today,
they teach that any faithful man who desires to become an elder in a church, any Christian,
any faithful man, may do so.
That is, who meets the external qualifications of the elder, he may become an elder among the other elders, all
elders being equal in authority and responsibility.
And on the surface that may sound fine, and it does.
We regard our elders as equal in authority, and in our discussion we're free to
speak our mind.
The problem with this position, as we pointed out toward the end of last week, is that it denies the importance, the need and the
importance, of a divine personal call to the ministry.
And this is very important.
The Word of God teaches a personal subjective, in other words you feel it in your own
being, yourself, divine call to the public proclamation of the Word of God in the local
church.
And I affirm this very strongly, and I believe our church should affirm this very strongly.
And so it's a subject I want us to consider more fully and carefully this morning.
Some of this may be review for some of you, but that's okay.
I would hope the time will come that, if you've been around a while, that anything I say up
here will be review.
You've been taught well, and you've heard it, and you're being reinforced in it.
I don't think that I need to stand up here and say something new every week to tantalize our, you
know, our intellect or something like that, but rather we need to hear the truth and we need to be
reinforced in the truth.
And please trust me, I don't do this and treat this subject out of a motivation to be self -serving.
I know it would be very easy to be accused of that, but rather I believe that our church will be better
equipped to face the future with this conviction settled in the minds and hearts of our people.
For one day, unless the Lord returns first, he'll remove me from this place.
I'm not anticipating that.
I hope to have another 20 years before me.
I don't know, but the Lord knows.
But I hope and pray that many years from now, when the occasion comes, our church
will be seeking to identify a man of God who will come to pastor this church,
whom God has called and equipped for the ministry.
And I want us as a church to have this conviction and be prepared in that
eventuality.
Now we closed last week by reading two passages that suggest God's call of men to the public ministry of the Word in the
church, and so let's begin by reading these again.
The first being Ephesians 4, 8 -16.
Speaking of the risen and thrown Lord Jesus, therefore he says, that is God says, when
he, Jesus, ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.
Now this ascended, in other words, a statement that he ascended into heaven.
What does it mean by that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
And he's talking about the second person of the Godhead, the Son of God, eternal Son of God,
descending to this world to become one of us, assuming a human nature.
That's the lower parts of the earth here.
He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.
And here it is.
He gave himself some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some
pastors.
Probably should be hyphenated, some pastor teachers.
And then he declares for what purpose?
For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying or building up of the body of Christ, that is the local
church, till we all come to the unity of the faith, that's talking
about our understanding of the doctrine set forth, the truth set forth in the
scriptures, to bring about a unity of their faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect
man, in other words, a mature man, a mature church, to the measure,
the stature, the fullness of Christ, so that we should no longer be children
tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine.
That is the definition of an immature Christian who is unstable because
he's not grounded in the truth of the scriptures, the doctrine.
By the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow
up in all things unto him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit
together by what every joint supplies, according to the effect of working by which every part
does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
And so just we would argue, as the Lord called certain men to be his apostles,
and those who served his people as prophets, and them only he called, he singled them
out and called them.
Similarly, he calls and equips specific men to be evangelists as well as pastor -teachers.
And so here we see a definite individual calling of certain ones to this office.
Some are called to fill these ministries.
The passage clearly teaches the Lord Jesus has gifted certain men to serve as the primary teachers of his word
to his church.
And although, you know, all Christians who grow in maturity should be able to teach others and willing to teach others,
disciple others, the writer of the Hebrew said, by this time you should be teachers.
But you need to be taught all over the basic things of Christ.
All of us ought to be teachers at one point or another.
Nevertheless, the Lord has gifted certain men for this purpose.
Apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors, teachers.
And so he gave these offices to the church in order to proclaim his word to the church.
Our Lord inspired his apostles to be witnesses of both what they saw and heard the Lord Jesus say and
do.
And the word apostle, by the way, is from the Greek word apostelo.
Apostelo is the first -person singular form of a verb, I send.
An apostle is one whom the Lord Jesus called and sent for a particular purpose.
We'll point that out a little later, by the way.
It has implication for the calling of a pastor as well.
And then our Lord called and enabled prophets to understand and interpret unique and special circumstances and
predict specific events in the early church as it was being established in the world.
Apostles and prophets.
The Lord established his church in the world in the first century.
And they were unique to the early church.
They established the church in the world as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.
So then you're no longer strangers and aliens, he's talking to Gentile Christians, but you're fellow citizens with
the saints.
That would be talking about Old Testament Jewish people, saints, believers.
Fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, you see.
And so the church was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, that is in New Testament church.
But whereas the apostles and prophets served a temporary function in the church, yet abiding influence,
the Lord continues the ongoing expansion and maturing of his church through the gifts to his church of
evangelists and pastor -teachers.
And so the Lord uses evangelists chiefly to enlarge his church, and
the Lord uses pastor -teachers chiefly to mature his church.
That's what Ephesians 4 says, doesn't it?
The other passage we wish to consider, once again, we read it last week, is Romans 10, 13 and following.
Here we see, if a man is to stand and proclaim the word of God broadly and successfully, God must send him forth
on his behalf.
Paul wrote, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
And in that context, he's saying, whether you're Jewish or Gentile, everyone who calls on the Lord.
And that's not talking about a one -time decision or one -time sinner's prayer.
It's talking about a life, a person who's a Christian calls on the name of the Lord.
And no matter whether a Jew or Gentile, anywhere in the world, if their life is characterized by calling on
the Lord Jesus as their Lord, well, that's a Christian, and he'll be saved on the on the day of judgment.
That's the promise there.
It's not a promise for a blessing of salvation on a sinner's prayer that might have been
given 30 years ago.
With any reasons, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
They can't.
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
These are all rhetorical questions implying a negative response, negative answer.
How are they to hear without someone preaching?
How are they to preach unless they are sent?
Here there are some that are sent.
And by the way, here the verb
sent is the Greek verbal form of that noun,
apostle, apostello.
How can they preach unless they are sent forth?
Clearly we have here the Lord calling certain men, equipping them to proclaim
the Word of God publicly.
As it's written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
Speaking about an ancient messenger who might be returning from a battle
to announce the news of victory on the battlefield.
And he comes across the mountains with the good news of victory.
And here it is likened to those that proclaim the gospel.
But they have to be sent.
They have to be called.
Here it reflects a unique, special calling of a man to this
ministry.
Yes, God can send any Christians to speak the gospel to an unbeliever, and thankfully he does.
And the Lord may use that messenger to proclaim the message that he'll bless to the conviction of that lost
person.
But Paul is writing of a special call on a man's life.
That man is God's messenger sent by God to his people to proclaim good news to them.
And we are to pray that God would send these kinds of men into
the work to harvest souls.
The Lord Jesus directed his apostles to pray, his disciples to pray.
When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no
shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
We need laborers that are called and skilled and equipped for
this wonderful work of bringing forth a harvest of souls into the kingdom.
Well, by setting forth the understanding of the passage we've just considered, we can make several assertions and I think
posit several questions.
First of all, we would argue there is a personal, individual, and divine call to the public ministry of the word in the
Church of Jesus Christ.
The Lord himself calls and equips men to minister the word of God to his people.
Again, all people are called, all Christians are called to teach.
But the Lord calls some men specifically and uniquely to lead his churches.
I think I might have read John Newton's quote last week.
I don't recall.
That all runs together in my mind after a while.
But he wrote, none but he who made the world can make a minister of the gospel.
If a young man has capacity, culture, and application, make him a minister of the gospel.
Make him a scholar, a philosopher, or an orator.
But a true minister must have certain principles, motives, feelings, aims which no industry or
endeavors of men can either acquire or communicate.
They must be given from above or they cannot be received.
Now there's a definite affirmation of a special call to the ministry of the word of
God.
I would argue that God sending a man forth, there's that word sending by the way, again the Greek word
apostello, different forms of it, infinitive apostelline, to send,
God sending a man forth to preach his word publicly in the church may be analogous to the Lord sending forth prophets
under the Old Testament system.
And I'm not saying that pastors are prophets, but they do prophesy, not
foretelling the future, but foretelling the word of God, but in some ways we foretell the future.
I can tell a man if he's living in adultery, you know, you're going to die and go to hell.
I'm, you know, I'm declaring his future, I'm being prophetic toward him, you see.
And I'm being prophetic also by telling a sinner if he calls on the Lord and repents of his sin, believes on the
Lord, he'll have everlasting life.
You know, that's a prophetic statement, isn't it?
Declaring the outcome of something, and we have the authority of the word of God to do.
So.
Prophets, of course, in the Old Testament were rather unique.
They spoke for God, to his people.
They were men whom God chose, called, equipped for their tasks.
This was true for Moses, Elijah, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and all the others.
However there were many, in fact there were vast numbers, more men who came forward who claimed they
were speaking for God, but God had not called them, God had not sent them.
If you are reading through the Bible along with our Bible reading chart that we gave out in January, we're in Jeremiah,
and reading today has a lot of interchange, doesn't it?
With regard to false prophets where God says, I did not call them, I did not send them, they're not speaking forth my
word.
And so in Jeremiah 14 we read, the Lord said to me, the prophets are prophesying lies in.
My name.
I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them.
They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own
minds.
And by the way, you know, one of the attributes of a false prophet was not necessarily that they were preaching
error directly.
What they were doing is preaching the wrong message to the wrong people.
In other words, they were preaching peace.
God is not going to destroy Judah, Jerusalem is God's city, that temple is God's temple, we're going to have
peace.
One false prophet said, within two years Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are going to be destroyed and this place is
going to be restored.
A false prophet.
They were preaching peace.
And of course all the people wanted to hear that.
Jeremiah came along and said, no, I'm preaching war and you better surrender to Nebuchadnezzar or you're going to die.
The ones that are taken in exile will be blessed of God and preserved by God.
He wasn't preaching peace.
The false prophets were.
And that's how it is today.
The biggest churches in this land, the most popular preachers are preaching a so -called positive
message where people really feel better about themselves.
And yet it's not accompanied with a denouncement of sin, oftentimes, or repentance,
or a sound gospel.
And people like that, people respond to that, and they think they're Christian.
After all, they're hearing it proclaimed from the Word of God, the Bible.
And so they think they're believers.
A false prophet is someone who might declare a true message, but to the wrong people at the wrong
time.
And that's what these false prophets did.
When God determines to judge a nation, He'll commonly withhold calling men into the ministry.
Of His Word.
And so in the 8th century B .C., prophets were scarce in the northern kingdom of Israel.
In fact, they were so scarce, God called a man from the southern kingdom, a Judah, a farmer, who grew figs.
And God sent Amos to the north to proclaim His Word.
And so we read of God's message through him.
I'll turn your feasts into mourning, all your songs into lamentations.
I will bring sackcloth on every waist, baldness on every head.
I'll make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a
famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
And they will wander from sea to sea, from north to east, and they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the
Lord, but they shall not find it.
And so in the days in a culture, a society, or a nation in which God is
purposed to bring judgment, one of the things He does is He doesn't call and send
men of God to proclaim the Word of God widely.
And so the people of God oftentimes will look far and wide.
Those that have some sense about them, because they don't see it, they don't hear it.
They recognize it when they hear it, but what they hear, they just know there's something not
right here.
So I would suggest that one of the Lord's greatest curses on this land today is the relatively few men that He's called
and equipped to stand in pulpits across His land and proclaim His Word faithfully, clearly,
without apology or compromise.
I was reading yesterday of a woman, I think she was a Lutheran pastor,
who was so broken -hearted because her church deposed her because she came out that she was a lesbian last
January.
She thought her denomination was now ready to accept her, and the denomination wasn't.
Many in the church were.
This is common, commonplace within our own region as well.
Now again, please forgive me if I sound self -serving.
I'm not intending to be.
But when you find a man of God whom God has called and sent, you're mightily blessed of God because they are not
necessarily easily found in times
when God is bringing judgment upon a nation.
And you might ask yourself, is this the kind of period of time that we're experiencing.
In our land?
I have friends with whom we have remained in contact over the years, and they've commonly.
Written me.
They cannot find a church where there's just, they're not looking for much.
They're looking for a man of integrity who will minister the Word of God faithfully and who lives in a manner
consistent with His message.
That's not much.
And they can't find them.
And I'm talking about, you know, even down south where there's a church on every corner.
Or out west where there's mega -churches all over the place.
You get to know the Word a little bit, you grow into a little bit of understanding, and then you begin to look about and
you just see how barren everything is.
And it's a wonderful thing when you can, you know, turn on the radio and you hear a man of God or
you find a book recommended to you where the Word of God is being declared by a man who's been
called, equipped, filled with the Spirit, and you see the truth come forth and it resonates in
your soul.
This is true.
The Holy Spirit affirms.
What this man is saying is true.
There's a man named J .C. Hillpot who was a Church of England pastor back in the 19th century.
And I don't remember how many years he'd been pastoring one of these churches in the Church of England, but lo and behold, one
day he gets converted.
And so he quits the Church of England.
He happened to become a Baptist.
And in a sermon he described what a person learns as he matures in faith and grows in.
Grace.
It's a wonderful sermon.
It's actually a book.
It's about 50 pages long.
Through the inward conflict, secret workings, mysterious changes, ever -varying exercises of his soul, he becomes
established in a deep feeling of his own folly and God's wisdom, of his own weakness and Christ's
strength, of his own sinfulness and of the Lord's goodness, of his own backslidings
and the Spirit's recoveries, of his own base in gratitude and Jehovah's long -suffering, of the
aboundings of sin and the superaboundings of grace.
He's describing a maturing Christian here.
He thus becomes daily more and more confirmed in the vanity of the creature, the utter helplessness of
man, the deceitfulness and hypocrisy of the human heart, the sovereignty of distinguishing.
He believes in sovereign grace.
The fewness of heaven -taught ministers, the
scanty number of living souls.
In other words, true Christians are not as many as what
appears, perhaps.
The great rareness of true religion.
And nor are these convictions, borrowed ideas, floating opinions, crude half -digested sentiments or articles of
a creed, which may be right or may be wrong, but they are things known by him as certainly and felt as
evidently as any material object that his eye sees and his hand touches.
He knows it.
And then, of course, where you have a man of God absent, the devil has men ready to step forward and
stand before the people of God.
Paul wrote of men in the church, for such men are false apostles, in other words, they are not sent,
deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
They look like that to the people.
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
He looks like a true angel.
So it is no surprise if his servants, ministers in other words,
Satan has his ministers, the Lord Jesus has his ministers, it is no surprise if his servants also
disguise themselves as if they were servants of righteousness.
They purport and claim, stand up as though they are men of God.
Their end will correspond to their deeds.
The Apostle Paul warned the elders in the church at Ephesus that false men would arise in the church who were self -serving, not
true servants of the true God.
In fact, even among those elders themselves, some would apostatize and pervert the
faith.
So Paul could reason, I have not shunned the clarity of the whole counsel of God, therefore take heed to
yourselves, he is talking to the elders, and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, that would be the word
bishop, to shepherd, that would be the idea of pastoring, shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his
own blood.
For I know this, after my departure, savage wolves, these are pastors,
elders, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things.
And then he tells what their motivation is, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
And therefore watch and remember for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
This is a common phenomenon among the churches of Jesus Christ.
These false men can stand in the pulpit, open their Bibles, proclaim God's word to the people, but the people are
maybe unaffected by the word, for the Lord is not with them.
They don't teach the word rightly, or they don't keep the truths of scripture in balance.
They might preach the truth 90 % of the time, but then 10 % there is terrible error.
And the people are drawn in by the 90 % of truth then, and they accept the 10 % error.
These uncalled preachers, again, withhold some truths of the Bible from their people.
They're highly selective in their text that they preach from, because they perceive that
the people will not receive their message.
They know intuitively, people aren't going to like this, and so they don't proclaim it.
D. Martin Lloyd -Jones said something like this, The longer I'm in
the ministry, the more I assess a preacher not by what he preaches, but
by what he doesn't preach.
That takes some time to assess that.
The Lord does not bless these men, so the people receive little spiritual benefit from the word proclaimed to them.
Jeremiah, again, we can call upon, God said, Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,
declares the Lord, who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when
I did not send them or charge them.
So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.
Again, when I did not send them, now the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but the Hebrew
scriptures were translated into Greek probably 180 -200 B .C.,
and the Septuagint, the Greek translation, when it says that
God did not, I did not send them, it's that same word, apostle, apostello.
I did not send them.
Others have spoken about the problem of uncalled men in the pulpit.
Matthew Henry wrote against this problem.
We must not be forward to put ourselves in the exercise of spiritual gifts.
Pride often appears in this under the pretense of a desire to be useful.
It's common for converted young men who get very enthused for the word of God and for the
work of God to desire to go into the ministry.
And they have to, the church has to be careful in assessing these men.
Time will reveal it.
Charles Bridges wrote of the Church of England, the national church groans and bleeds from the crown of its head to the
sole of its feet from the daily intrusion of unworthy men into the ministry.
Lloyd -Jones wrote of the common problem of men not called to the Lord, the more common occurrence is that men
feel called who are not called, and it's the business of the church to see to this and to handle the situation.
I could give many examples and illustrations of this.
I've always felt when someone has come to me and told me that he has been called to be a preacher, that my main
business is to put every conceivable obstacle that I can think of in his way.
This is the most subtle matter.
One's nature or one's ambition or one's liking for particular offices or particular tasks may create
in one a desire to be a preacher.
And we persuade ourselves that this is the Spirit of God leading us.
I have known this happens many times.
And one of the most painful tasks that ever confronts a minister is to discourage a man who
comes to him in that way.
The call of a man of God to the gospel ministry is personal, subjective.
In other words, he experiences it in his soul and may vary in detail from one another.
One of my favorite men is Isaac Backus.
Few know of him, but he's a local boy.
He lived and ministered here in Massachusetts in the 18th century.
And by the way, he pastored the church.
He was called in 1761 to pastor the Baptist Church of Middleborough.
And he was there for many decades.
And this morning I had a little bit of time.
I went on the website of the Baptist Church of Middleborough.
I don't know if it's the sound church or not.
But it had the history of the church and it had an account of Isaac Backus.
And I actually put that in a footnote.
I found it interesting about Isaac Backus.
But he wrote this of himself.
And by the way, he was converted under George Whitefield, the evangelist, Church of England evangelist.
But he became a Baptist and then was persecuted terribly by the established congregational
church here in Massachusetts.
All the citizens of Massachusetts had to give a 10 tax to support the established clergy of the congregational
churches.
Isaac Backus pastored his Baptist church.
Struggling people, they tried to support their pastor.
But they first had to give 10 % to support the clergy in the established church.
And that was in the 18th century here in Massachusetts.
But here he described his own call.
Hitherto a private life had been my choice and delight.
He was a farmer.
But a new scene was before me which I had no idea of till I was led into it in the following manner.
Being at a certain house where a number of the saints were met, the command, Pray ye the Lord of the harvest
that he might send forth laborers into his harvest was read and spoken upon.
A conviction seized my mind that God had given me abilities which his church had a right
to the use of in which I could not withhold with a clear conscience.
And soon after a spirit of prayer for divine teaching was given me.
In a remarkable manner.
And eternal things were brought into a near view with a clear sight of the truth and the harmony of the
Holy Scriptures.
And also these words were impressed on my mind, Son of man, eat this scroll.
And never did I more sensibly eat natural food than did my soul feast upon the solid feast upon the solid
truths of God's word.
Yet I did not then conclude that I should ever preach the gospel in public.
After a few days our minister invited me to go with him to Colchester and Lyme.
I don't know if that's how you pronounce the word.
I shouldn't have even tried.
This is New England.
I don't pronounce town names till I hear them first anymore.
Lyme, I assume that's Lyme, Connecticut, where there was a revival of religion.
I went accordingly and on the journey two souls were hopefully converted.
I returned home with rejoicing and much life in my soul.
The next day, September 27th, new views were given me beyond those which I had before received.
My business led me out to work alone in the woods where with none to interpret me I had such
converse with my God as I never had before.
His former teachings now came to this point that he called me to preach his gospel.
And I was led to count the cost of obedience to the will of God and his work as distinctly as ever to cast
up any particular sum.
Many and great enemies appeared in my way, reproaches, losses, imprisonment, and death.
But God showed me that he could make them all fly from my path as chaff flies before the wind.
I thought of my own ignorance and weakness, but he gave me to see that he had knowledge and strength for me.
I urged the plea that I was slow of speech and very bashful, but the answer came, cannot he who
formed man's mouth cause him to speak?
I said if I go and preach the gospel with success, I might be lifted up with pride and fall as many others have done.
And this difficulty seemed to me like a great mountain rising far above all the rest.
But God said, My grace is sufficient for thee.
The mountain was taken away, every excuse gone, so that it appeared like trifling with divine
majesty to make another objection.
And though I looked upon the work as too great for an angel to go through with in his own strength, yet I saw it was very
easy for God to carry such a poor worm through it, make him faithful unto death, and give him at last a crown
of life.
And so I was enabled then to give up my soul and body afresh to God with all my interest to
serve him in preaching his gospel.
He then gave me a particular message from the 53rd Psalm to lay open the universal corruption of mankind.
And as our church allowed each brother free liberty to improve his gift in teaching, I delivered that message the next
day with special clearness and with acceptance to the church.
And as I was then free from all worldly engagements, I devoted my whole time to that great
work.
That is the calling of God to the public ministry of the Word.
Isaac Bacchus preached for over 61 years, ministered in over 50 churches.
He started here in Massachusetts.
In 1753 he published a book entitled Discourse on the Nature and Necessity of an Internal
Call to Preach the Everlasting Gospel.
Because again, they wouldn't let him go to Harvard to be educated.
They said he was not qualified to preach the gospel.
He said, God called me to preach, I'm going to do so.
And he did so with opposition.
He wrote this book to describe and defend what we're talking about
today, this individual call to the ministry.
He wrote,.
The Holy Spirit inwardly calls men to preach the word by giving them a specially clear view of the present state of the church
and the world by opening and committing to them the treasure of the gospel and by constraining them sweetly and
powerfully to enter upon this great work at God's command.
And so we would argue, we would reason, as the scriptures teach and as the testimony of history,
that there is a divine calling, a personal individual divine call to the public ministry of the Word.
Which leads us to the question, secondly, How does a man know that God has called him to the public ministry of the Word?
That's a good question to answer.
If God alone calls a man to the public ministry of the Word, how does a man know God's calling him?
I can remember years ago, I was just 21, and visiting a church in
Sacramento.
We lived four hours away, but a friend of mine was preaching a conference there.
And at that time, there was always this appeal for young men to surrender to the call to preach.
And it was during a church service when it became
very evident to me, and I made that known, well, there are a number of
young men there too who also claim to have this call to preach.
And many of them failed after a while.
And I was a recluse.
I dropped out of two college speech classes that were required.
They were core classes.
I dropped out of both of them because I couldn't stand up without trembling and stuttering and give my
name and background.
And so when I surrendered to preach, it wasn't really surrendering to preach.
I just figured I was going into full -time ministry and I'd be an associate pastor somewhere.
And they all came up and began to pat me on the back that you surrendered to preach.
I didn't know I didn't.
You know, I suppose if preaching's involved, I'll do it.
But it was a clear, direct, individual call that I could never deny.
But how does a man know?
Well, there's an internal call and there's an external call.
Not to be confused with the call of sinners to salvation because when we talk about the call of God to
salvation, we speak of an internal and an external call.
With the call to salvation, there's an external call of the gospel that we preach to every creature.
But the one who comes to salvation has the internal call of God through that gospel.
God speaking to me, calling me to repent of my sin and believe on Jesus.
And so it's subjective.
It's internal.
But when we're talking about the internal or external call of a call of God upon a man of God for the ministry,
the internal call is talking about this subjective experience.
And when we speak about the external call, it's the recognition of the church.
God's called this man.
And so first, the internal call of God.
Again, E. Martin Lloyd -Jones, who was one of the greats of the 20th century, pastor of the Westminster Chapel in London,
took over after G. Campbell Morgan toward the end of World War II and continued through the 70s.
He wrote a great book on pastors and preaching.
Am I called to be a preacher or not?
How do you know?
I would suggest that there are certain tests.
A call generally starts in the form of a consciousness within one's own spirit, an awareness of a kind
of pressure being brought to bear upon one's spirit, some disturbance in the realm of the spirit,
and then that your mind is being directed to the whole question of preaching.
You've not thought of it deliberately.
You've not sat down in cold blood to consider possibilities and then having looked at several, having
decided to take this out.
It's not that.
That is something that happens to you.
It is God dealing with you by His Spirit.
It's something you become aware of rather than by something you do.
It is thrust upon you.
It's presented to you and almost forced upon you constantly in this way.
A young man once wrote to John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace,
a converted former slave trader who became a pastor as well in
England.
And John Newton was known to write all these letters.
There's a book containing his letters.
Well, a young man wrote to Newton about how he knew if he was being called to the ministry.
And so Newton wrote this letter in response.
Forgive the length, but I find this helpful.
Your case reminds me of my own.
My first desires toward the ministry were attended with great uncertainties and difficulties, and the perplexity of my
own mind was heightened by the various and opposite judgments of my friends.
The advice I have to offer is the result of painful experience and exercise, and for this reason, perhaps
may not be unacceptable to you, I pray our gracious Lord to make it useful.
I was long distressed, as you are, about what was or was not a proper call to the ministry.
It now seems to me an easy point to solve, but perhaps it will not be so to you till the Lord make it clear to
yourself in your own case.
I have not room to say so much as I could.
In brief, I think it principally includes three things.
One, a warm and earnest desire to be employed in His service.
I apprehend the man who is once moved by the Spirit of God to this work will prefer it, if attainable, to
thousands of gold and silver, so that though he is at times intimidated by a sense of its
importance and difficulty compared with his own great insufficiency, yet he cannot give it up.
I hold it a good rule to inquire at this point whether the desire to preach is most fervent in our most
lively and spiritual frames, and when we are most laid in the dust.
Before the Lord.
If so, it is a good sign.
But if, as is sometimes the case, a person is very earnest to be a preacher to others when he finds but little
hungerings and thirstings after grace in his own soul, it is then to be feared his zeal springs rather from
a selfish principle than from the Spirit of God.
Good test.
Second, besides this affectionate desire and readiness to preach, there must be in due season appear some
confidence and sufficiency as to gifts, knowledge, and utterance.
Surely if the Lord sends a man to teach others, he will furnish him with the means.
I believe many have intended well in setting up for preachers who yet went beyond or before their call in so doing.
The main difference between a minister and a private Christian seems to consist in those ministerial gifts which
are imparted to him not for his own sake but for the edification of others.
But then I say these are to appear in due season.
They are not to be expected instantaneously but gradually in the use of proper means.
They are necessary for the discharge of ministry but not necessary as prerequisites to warrant our desires after it.
In other words,.
You can be a very simple and young man in the Lord and the Lord is dealing with you and you may
be painfully aware.
Of your inadequacies.
But that doesn't mean necessarily the Lord is not calling you or preparing you.
And then third, that which finally evidences a proper call is a correspondent opening in providence.
God gives you the opportunity by a gradual train of circumstances pointing out the means,.
The time,.
The place.
Of actually entering upon the work.
And until this coincidence arrives you must not expect to be always clear from hesitation in your own mind.
You have reason to doubt until that happens until the Lord opens the door is basically what he is arguing.
But the point Newton is setting forth here is that the character trait that's most important is that of
humility.
In all of God's works and through all of God's workers God works in a manner that he alone gets the glory.
You can't do it for your own glory for it's not of God.
Charles Spurgeon said of himself,.
To me,.
Spurgeon was the most rhetorical, expressive
man that I've ever read or heard of.
And he said of himself, A certain class of brethren have a great facility for discovering that they have been wonderfully
and divinely helped in their declamations.
I should envy them for their glorious liberty and self -complacency if there were any ground for it.
For alas,.
I very frequently have to be moaned.
And mourned.
Over my non -success and shortcomings as a speaker.
Incredible.
He wrote a classic book to pastors called Lectures of My Students.
Excellent book.
And he gave an illustration of an unqualified man.
He wrote in hyperbole to make a point.
But I love this account.
One young gentleman with whose presence I was once honored, he speaks sarcastically of course,
has left on my mind this exquisite self.
That same face of his looked like the title page.
To a whole volume.
Of conceit and deceit.
He sent word into my vestry one Sabbath morning that he must see me at once.
His audacity admitted him.
And when he was before me,.
He said,.
Sir, I want to enter your college and should like to enter it at once, his pastor's college.
Well, sir, I fear we have no room for you at present, but your case shall be considered.
But mine is a very remarkable case.
Sir, you have probably never received such an application as mine before.
Very good.
We'll see about it.
The secretary will give you one of the application papers.
You can see me on Monday.
He came on the Monday, bringing with him the questions answered in a most extraordinary manner.
As to books, he claimed to have read all ancient and modern literature.
And after giving an immense list,.
He added,.
This is but a selection.
I have read most extensively in all departments.
And as to his preaching, he could produce the highest testimonials, but hardly thought they would be needed as a personal
interview would convince me of his ability at once.
His surprise was great.
When I said,.
Sir, I am obliged to tell you I cannot receive you.
Why not, sir?
I will tell you plainly, you are so dreadfully clever that I could not insult you by receiving you into our college,
where we have none but rather ordinary men.
The president, tutors, students are all men of moderate attainments, and you would have to condescend too much in coming among us.
And he looked at me very severely and said with dignity, Do you mean to say that because I have an unusual genius
and have produced in myself a gigantic mind such as rarely seen, I am refused admittance into your
college?
Yes, I replied as calmly as I could, considering the overpowering awe which his genius inspired for
that very reason.
Well then, sir,.
You ought to allow me.
A trial of my preaching ability.
Select me any text you like or suggest any subject you please here in this very room.
I will speak upon it or preach upon it without deliberation, and you will be surprised.
No, thank you, sir.
No, thank you.
I would rather not have the trouble of listening to you.
Trouble, sir,.
I assure you.
Would be the greatest possible pleasure you could have.
I said it might be, but I felt myself unworthy of the privilege, and so bade him a long farewell.
And the gentleman was unknown to me at the time, but he has since figured in the police court as too clever by half.
That's just his way.
Of expressing how a man needs to be characterized.
By humility.
He gave one other example.
I thought I'd mention a man, Matthew Wilkes, who examined a young man who wanted to go and
become a missionary.
And the young man desired to go to India in connection with the London Missionary Society,
and so Mr. Wilkes was appointed by the commission, missionary commission, to check him out.
And so he wrote to the young man, told him to meet him the next morning at 6 a .m.
However, Wilkes didn't show up until hours later.
At last Mr. Wilkes arrived to address the candidate thus in his usual nasal tones.
Well, young man,.
So you want to be a missionary?
Yes, sir.
Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
Yes, sir, I hope I do.
Have you had any education?
Yes, sir, a little.
Well, now we'll try you.
Can you spell cat?
The young man looked confused and hardly knew how to answer, so for us it was a question.
His mind evidently halted between indignation and submission, but in a moment he replied sadly,
C -A -T, cat.
Very good, said Mr. Wilkes.
Now can you spell dog?
Our young martyr hesitated, but Mr. Wilkes said in his coolest manner, Oh, never mind, don't be bashful.
You spelled the other words so well, I should think that you'd be able to spell this high as the attainment is.
It's not so elevated,.
But you might do it.
Without blushing.
The youthful Job replied,.
D -O -G, dog.
Well, that is right.
I see you will do in your spelling.
And now for your arithmetic.
How many are twice two?
It's a wonder that Mr. Wilkes did not receive twice two.
After the fashion.
Of muscular Christianity.
But the patient youth.
Gave the right reply.
And was dismissed.
Matthew Wilkes at the committee meeting said, I cordially recommend that young man.
His testimonials and character.
Are duly examined.
And besides that, I've given him a rare personal trial as such few as could bear.
I tried his self -denial.
He was up in the morning early.
I tried his temper and I tried his humility.
He can spell cat and dog and can tell that twice two makes four.
And he will do a missionary exceedingly well.
Now, what the old gentleman is thus said to have done with exceedingly bad taste, we may
with much propriety do with ourselves.
But, you know, the point is made is that you have to examine and look for this kind
of quality.
And if it's not there, don't recognize that man.
We have to close.
But lastly, I have a portion in which we have the external call of God.
And this is the local church has to recognize.
It's the local church that ordains a man.
To the ministry.
And so how does the local church identify a man?
And this is really what's pertinent for us.
You know, if the local church were looking for a man of God,.
What would you look for?
First, it's a man motivated and capable of assuming the responsibility for the equipping of the saints for the
work of ministry.
Ephesians 4.
This is what he's called to do.
Secondly, is a man able and committed to build up the body and the faith and knowledge of the Son of God?
Does he have an understanding of the faith?
That's the foundation by which everything is measured.
The faith.
And so it's right that he needs to have a right philosophy of ministry as well as a soundness in
his doctrine.
And third, does the man have a love for the truth of God as well as a love for the people of God?
Absolutely essential.
Does he speak the truth in love?
We're not here to win arguments.
We're here to win souls, aren't we?
Does he have a view of the future and where his people will be taken?
I was talking to the men yesterday, a men's group, and how God calls men to the ministry.
And I mentioned this woman earlier who was in the ministry and many can testify that have
known women pastors.
That oftentimes.
They have a good reputation in their church.
They're very caring people.
They love their people.
They visit their people.
They're very sympathetic and empathetic and they show a lot of compassion.
But a shepherd of a flock needs not only to feed his sheep and care for his sheep today but a shepherd has to know where
his sheep need to be.
Next month.
Or next spring or next year.
There is a forward look at where the church needs to be, where the church needs to go.
And this is something that tends to be characteristic.
Of men.
Whereas women are nurturing.
They're concerned emotionally about their families and what's going on today.
And that's very important.
Women make good mothers and good wives.
But God calls men because they have certain outlook that don't make them good
mothers but it may make them good fathers and good leaders as they look to the future.
And then fifthly, is the man motivated in the ministry of the word before his people
ultimately and chiefly for the glory of God.
That's preeminent.
It's for the glory of God.
That should motivate.
The man of God principally.
And so, again this is an important matter.
You may not think that well this doesn't apply to me but it's helpful for the church.
And so if it's helpful for our church it's helpful for you as a part of this church.
May the Lord help us as a church again into the distant future
that we will be faithful before our Lord.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Our Lord,.
Though we've been speaking about certain qualifications for men of God, we've read of many
characteristics that should really be true of every one of us as Christians.
We ought to be humble before you.
We ought to love one another.
We ought to be willing to teach one another and bear one another's burdens, instruct one another.
And so we pray, our God, that you would help us to be faithful.
And we do pray, our God, that you would raise up.
In our midst,.
Bring people perhaps into this church.
Men,.
That you are calling into your work.
We do pray in obedience to our Lord Jesus' instruction.
We pray to you, our Father, the Lord of the harvest, that you would send forth laborers
into this great, rich opportunity we have in this fallen world today.
And we'll thank you for doing so in Jesus' name.