Growing up in church, there were always things that people said that I pretended to understand, since everyone else would nod their heads knowingly. And now looking back, I feel like it might be worth spending a moment to share with you today what I think is meant by “the call” and “the cost”.
Before I get to the call, let me take a moment to review with you the mission of God. God of the Old Testament wanted to be known by His people by His name, and He wanted to bless them. He went on to demonstrate to them in dramatic ways how much He loved them, even when their actions were disrespectful and their hearts were hard. The coming of Jesus changed the way we relate to God the Father, but the mission remains the same: He still wants to walk with you, like he did with Adam, in the cool of the day. He wants to know you and be known by you, well enough that when the enemy of the world lies to you, you will be able to turn and say “No, it’s not true. I know God and He said…” whatever He said in the word about the situation you are facing. When Jesus was with us, he requested that we love each other the way He has loved us. That means sacrificially, with tons of forgiveness, and without condition. He emphasized the importance of us accepting Him as the Son of God and commanded that we take this good news with us to everyone, that they too would have the opportunity to know Him.
When you have an encounter with God, that is, when you experience something that moves your knowledge of what you are told (the Gospel) and connects it with inner feelings, the Holy Spirit is able to begin transforming your mindset, your heart and your character. For most people, this experience is electric and liberating. They find themselves compelled to speak and tell others about what God did and what has changed. Now personally I don’t think that people need to have an emotional experience, but I recognize that authentic encounters with God leave us changed. This testimony when shared speaks life to others who have not experienced God. It makes them hungry to have more of what their soul has always longed for. And this is why Christianity has survived all these years.
Part of being a Christian is to share your experience of God with others. You may not be fit for street ministry or international evangelism, but you certainly have a sphere of influence, full of colleagues, friends and acquaintances who may not know Him the way you do. You should want to share, and if you don’t, I suggest there may be an obstacle in your relationship with Christ that needs some closer examination. It is also typical that as time moves us away from the experience, we are less likely to share it unless we practice this. My point is, it’s normal to feel passionate about God and the things of God, particularly when that encounter is recent.
I have noticed a trend where new believers mistaken the desire to share their experience of God with “the Call of God” to be in ministry as a pastor, preacher or church leader. Without question, God has created you for a purpose. Psalms 57:2 says, “I cry out to God Most High, God who fulfills His purpose in me.” The creator of the universe took the time to design you to be unique, and has a plan for your life that may or may not be evident as you live. Some people have always known what they were meant to do. Others had no idea until life experience revealed to them or provided them with an opportunity to be their best version. Finding your purpose is essential to living the life God wants for you, a life where you will be blessed and happy. That being said, purpose has to be sought out, and it can take many years to actually be able to see and articulate what the vision for your life is. For me, I was blessed to be talented in many areas. It felt good to use my gifts and talents, but on their own, those things did not fulfill my purpose. It wasn’t until I was in my early 30s that I began to see the direction of where God was prompting me to go, and when I followed, I felt fulfilled.
There are human factors that can come into play and try to block you from understanding God’s purpose in your life. Fame is the one I am seeing a huge resurgence in, especially with digital life and social media. On one hand, these tools enable us all to share our experience of God. But when you attach things like a counter for likes, a place for people to comment, or rankings with followers, every post now has additional implications that change the original reason you wanted to post. Everyone wants a platform and everyone is now a preacher. Majority of these emerging preacher/prophet/evangelists have never studied the Bible in a formal way, which at some point, will lead to a problem. If you want to tell people what to do and how to live, you have to have more than just your experience as evidence. Everything you say has to be grounded in the Bible. The next mistake is when this moves from a social platform to a real church setting, where now people who are taking on pastoral roles are not trained in how to do this, or beyond the training, they are not called to it. Even under the best circumstances, it is still arduous, underappreciated work to be a pastor of a flock. It’s like teaching- you don’t do it for the money, you do it for the love of God. And yet, it takes more than love to be a leader.
God bless young people for their candor. I once gave a workshop on breaking ungodly beliefs and at the end, a young man stayed to see me. He looked at me with stars in his eyes, and told me the story of where God found him, and how he was restored. At the end of his story, he said to me, “When I listen to you speak, it makes me want to be a better person.” Well Praise God! That is my goal, so I was happy. But then he continued, “I really want to be able to motivate people like that, like I want to be the reason why they choose Christ.” I thought back to the story he had just told me. Here stood a relatively handsome, young man, clearly a lover of God and passionate for the things of God, but all I could hear and see were alarms. Prayerfully, I asked him more about his work, what church he attended and what brought him to my workshop. I discovered he was a high school drop out, without a church and in between jobs. I asked him why he thought it was important for him to be the reason why people choose Christ, and he blushed a little, understanding that he had revealed too much. “I want to make Jesus famous,” he said before excusing himself and leaving abruptly.
There was a human motivation in the wings waiting for this young man to find an opportunity to speak, and then it could feed and grow. The desire for fame is among a few vices that seem to plague the work of God. While his motive was a good one, he could not see that his desire was not for people to come to Christ, it was tied up in him somehow him being instrumental in making that happen. For what? To me, it’s obviously a desire for fame.
Friends, I humbly submit this for your consideration: in everything, we have to be willing to examine our motives and ask the people who love us to point out when things are full of pride and vanity. It should never be about us, but always point to the cross. This is especially hard for people to understand these days because so many people want credit for their contribution. I have been approached many times to stop being anonymous and turn everything into a branding for a personal ministry under my name. This goes against the vision that God gave me for this leg of the race. I grew up hearing that preachers were prone to falling for wine, women or money. In this day and age, I would change that statement to recognise that all people have weaknesses, particularly when it comes to substance abuse, sexual sin, money and material wealth and fame.
When we seek to do the work of God, we will be confronted by these things and we have to prayerfully be aware to intervene in these areas before it ruins everything. I find that people who give a lot of themselves away into meeting the needs of others find themselves in need of recharging. When that time comes, instead of recharging, it becomes easier to find something to escape to: and here’s where turning to food, drugs or alcohol can come into the picture. We know that the enemy uses moments of vulnerability to tempt us into satisfying the flesh, either by making you feel like your partner is not supportive and there is someone else who understands you better, or simply by giving into passion and attraction so you don’t have to deal with the emptiness of recharging. When sexual sin is exposed, particularly among men and women of God, there is usually a lot of shame and reputations are destroyed. Money and material wealth will always move you further away from being able to identify or empathize with those who have less or nothing at all. While it is certainly God’s desire to provide for all of us, comfort can lull us away from the desire or need to seek God. The desire for fame is insidious. Again, God desires for all of us to have healthy self-esteem, and when you are recognized for doing something outstanding, it’s good to enjoy that moment. But the need for fame directly affects our motives and posture in doing good, and it important to keep these things in check. One of the strategies I use with myself is I do not post pictures of myself that have filters on them. I might add a filter later to change the overall picture, but I don’t do selfies with filters because I don’t want to get used to seeing myself through these rosy tints. It’s shocking how much Snapchat improves my looks even when I’m at my worse!
In Ephesians 4:11, the Apostle Paul talks about five particular vocations that God calls individuals to. These are: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. The skill set, temperament and knowledge for these particular roles do not come together easily and yet some are born naturals. This is not to say that if you have some of these skills, you can’t work on the others and be successful. But it’s apparent that these roles are not meant for all and everyone.
I believe that when you are called by God to do something, it follows a lot of introspection and self-development as well as prayer dedicated to seeking God’s voice on this specific matter. Historically in the church, people would go on an “election” to determine what God was calling them to. This would involve a time of spiritual retreat and practice of the spiritual disciplines. I believe that some people find this call early, and others late. But I also believe that too many people call themselves to what they find flashy and appealing, and then burn out because they have not included God in their endeavours. Of course there are many contributing factors to why people burn out, but I personally believe this plays a huge role.
I hope you haven’t read this and now feel defeated. It’s beautiful and noble to want to do big things for God, but the reality is that we are living in a time when people are biting off way too much and it is suffocating them. Overall the church is weakened when those who lead it have not invested in making sure that they are good leaders. When vices trickle in and affect our motives and posture, we are not effective in looking after the spiritual welfare of others. I am disturbed that so many want to be preachers and pastors and yet no one insists on having spiritual parents and learning from them. Ultimately, what is damaged the most are the new believers who took a leap of faith and ended up on a sinking ship. It is our responsibility to do better for God’s babies.
Stay tuned for Part 2 where I answer what the Cost of ministry is.