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Are You Called?
Part 1: Discovering the Noble Task
Dave Harvey
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Three objectives for course:
1)
2)
3)
“Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on
being an overseer, he desires a noble task.”
- 1 Tim. 3:1 (NIV)
noble = (Gr. Kalos)
“In this passage, kalos has for the most part the
philosophical sense of being “right,” “orderly,” or “excellent.”
- Gerhard Kittel1
“This is a great and excellent thing, for men to be set over
the Church, that they may represent the person of the Son
of God.”
- John Calvin2
A testimony
II. THE DOCTRINE OF CALLING
A. The Call to Salvation
“And those he predestined, he also called; those he called,
he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
- Rom. 8:30 (NIV)
1
Gerhard Kittel & Gerhard Friedrich (editors)/Geoffrey W. Bromiley (translator), Theological Dictionary of
the New Testament, p. 404.
2
Charles Bridges (quoting John Calvin), The Christian Ministry, pp. 5-6.
Are You Called? Part 1 – Dave Harvey
Copyright 1996 Sovereign Grace Ministries
7505 Muncaster Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
www.sovereigngraceministries.org
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B. The Call to Sanctification
“... who has saved us and called us to a holy life-- not
because of anything we have done but because of his own
purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus
before the beginning of time..."
- 2 Tim. 1:9 (NIV)
“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.“
- 1 Thess. 4:7 (NIV)
C. The Call to God’s Purpose
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an
apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.”
- Rom. 1:1 (NIV)
“Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am
sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen
one of his sons to be king."
-1 Samuel 16:1(b) (NIV)
III. APPLYING THE DOCTRINE OF CALLING
A. The Doctrine of Calling Abolishes the Sacred/Secular Distinction
• The Priesthood of the Believers
“‘Secular careers’ are neither less spiritual, nor less
sacred than Christian-service careers, for the
spirituality of one’s work is determined not by the
content of the work but by the spirituality of the
worker.”
- John Bernbaum3
“It is not what a man does that determines whether
his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.”
- A.W. Tozer4
3
John Bernbaum, Why Work?, p. 36.
4
A.W. Tozer, God’s Little Instruction Book for Dad, p. 31.
Are You Called? Part 1 – Dave Harvey
Copyright 1996 Sovereign Grace Ministries
7505 Muncaster Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
www.sovereigngraceministries.org
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B. The Doctrine of Calling Establishes the Legitimacy and Significance of
Ministry
• Ministry is strategic, not sacred.
“For the minister today is really nothing more than
an ordinary member of the church of Jesus Christ,
who is called to express His nature as “man of God”
in an especially high degree.”
- Joel Nederhood5
“The Great Head of the Church has ordained three
grand repositories of his truth. In the Scriptures, he
has preserved it by his Providence against all
hostile attacks. In the hearts of Christians he has
maintained it by the Almighty energy of his Spirit --
even under every outward token of general
apostacy. And in the Christian Ministry he had
deposited “the treasure in earthen vessels” for the
edification and enriching of the Church in
successive ages.”
- Charles Bridges6
• The two-edged sword of ministry.
C. The Doctrine of Calling Establishes Prerequisites for Ministry
• Centrality of discernment and evaluation
“We may sometimes trace Ministerial failure to the
very threshold of the entrance into the work. Was
the call to the sacred office clear in the order of the
church, and according to the will of God?”
- Charles Bridges7
“How may a young man know whether he is called
or not? That is a weighty enquiry, and I desire to
treat it most solemnly. O for divine guidance in so
doing! That hundreds have missed their way, and
5
Joel Nederhood, The Preacher & Preaching, (edited by Samuel T. Logan, Jr.) p. 39.
6
Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry, p. 2.
7
Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry, p. 90.
Are You Called? Part 1 – Dave Harvey
Copyright 1996 Sovereign Grace Ministries
7505 Muncaster Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
www.sovereigngraceministries.org
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stumbled against a pulpit is sorrowfully evident from
the fruitless ministries and decaying churches which
surround us. It is a fearful calamity to a man to
miss his calling, and to the church upon whom he
imposes himself, his mistake involves an affliction of
the most grievous kind.”
- C. H. Spurgeon8
“Three aspects of calling according to D.
Martyn Lloyd Jones:
1. The need is not the call.
2. The Church does not
issue the call.
3. The Church’s function is
to check the validity of
the call.”9
• CF Calling Equation:
The Converted Candidate + Character +
Capabilities + Conduct of Home +
Communication + Confirmation = CALLING
IV. THE CONVERTED CANDIDATE
“It is important to begin with conversion, for
conversion is the fundamental prerequisite for the
performance of any Christian service.”
- Joel Nederhood10
“He must not be a recent convert.”
- 1 Tim 3:6(a) (NIV)
A. Called by God
“The first and foremost of all the inward strengths of
the pastor is the conviction, deep as life itself, that
8
John MacArthur, Jr. (quoting Charles Spurgeon), Pastoral Ministry, pp. 103-104.
9
Tony Sargent (quoting D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones), The Sacred Anointing, pp. 24-26.
10
Joel Nederhood, The Preacher & Preaching (edited by Samuel T. Logan, Jr.), p. 45.
Are You Called? Part 1 – Dave Harvey
Copyright 1996 Sovereign Grace Ministries
7505 Muncaster Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
www.sovereigngraceministries.org
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God has called him to the ministry. If this
persuasion is unshakable, all other elements of the
pastor’s life will fall into beautiful order and place.”
- W.A. Criswell11
• Biblical examples: Samuel, David, the disciples, Paul
• Historical example: Graham
“When I was eighteen, the Lord threw me out of a
car traveling seventy miles an hour. I landed on my
backside and slid 110 yards on the pavement. By
the grace of God I wasn’t killed. As I stood up on
that highway, having never lost consciousness, I
committed my life to serving Christ. I told Him I
would no longer resist what He wanted me to do,
which was to preach His Word.”
- John MacArthur, Jr.12
• The Creeping Call - Spurgeon
• Not just called by God; we’re called to God.
“An emerging leader may not always recognize
God’s voice. A leader who repeatedly
demonstrates that God speaks to him gains spiritual
authority.”
- Dr. J. Robert Clinton13
“He is not an effective teacher of hearts who is not
first a listener within.”
- Augustine14
B. Called to the Church
• Recapturing a Robust Ecclesiology
“More than ever we need to catch a biblical vision of
11
John MacArthur, Jr. (quoting W.A. Criswell), Pastoral Ministry, p. 105.
12
John MacArthur, Jr., Pastoral Ministry, p. xvii.
13
Dr. J. Robert Clinton, The Making of a Leader, pp. 68-69.
14
Lewis Drummond (quoting Augustine), Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers, p. 571.
Are You Called? Part 1 – Dave Harvey
Copyright 1996 Sovereign Grace Ministries
7505 Muncaster Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
www.sovereigngraceministries.org
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the church...How dare we push to the
circumference what God has placed at the center.”
- John Stott15
• The Minister & His Passion for the Church
“Only as the minister comprehends the mission of
Christ’s church can he properly serve his Lord and
execute the pastoral ministry.”
- John MacArthur, Jr.16
“Nor is a man fitted to be a minister of Christ who
does not have the proper public spirit towards the
Church. He needs to delight in its beauty, long for
its happiness, seek for its good, and rejoice in its
welfare. He must be willing to spend and to be
spent for the sake of the Church.”
- Richard Baxter17
• Examining the “Alternative Church” Phenomenon
a) The priority crisis
• Four Probabilities of the Alternative Church:
a) They can create an alternative authority.
(1) Eph. 4
b) They can create an alternative structure.
In his seminal critique of contemporary
evangelicalism, David Wells sees the
parachurch explosion as another indication
of how “the consumer culture has infiltrated
today’s evangelical church.” He notes that
the most profound effect has been on the
“structure of evangelicalism” (emphasis
mine) and says that it “represents a
remarkable transformation and
15
John R.W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians, pp. 26-27.
16
John MacArthur, Jr., Pastoral Ministry, pp. 68-69.
17
Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, p. 69.
Are You Called? Part 1 – Dave Harvey
Copyright 1996 Sovereign Grace Ministries
7505 Muncaster Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
www.sovereigngraceministries.org
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decentralization of the evangelical world
since the immediate postwar years.”18
c) They can create an alternative testimony.
“If they were all one part, where would the
body be?”
- 1 Cor. 12:19 (NIV)
d) They can create an alternative
storehouse.
• The Church as the Context of the Call.
“Too many Pastors have a micro theology of the
church”
- Bill Hull19
• Additional Study: Addendum I
C. Called to a Task
• Clarifying the terms
elder (presbyteros)
bishop (episkopos)
pastor (poimen)
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of
which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be
shepherds of the church of God, which he bought
with his own blood.”
- Acts 20:28
“As may be seen from Acts 20:28, there is at first no
distinction between presbyteroi and episkopoi. All
the presbyterio here are episkopoi. Their task is
that of poimen.”
- Gerhard Kittel20
18
David Wells, God in the Wasteland, p. 62.
19
Bill Hull, The Disciple-Making Pastor, p. 105.
20
Gerhard Kittel & Gerhard Friedrich (editors)/Geoffrey W. Bromiley (translator), Theological Dictionary of
the New Testament, p. 247.
Are You Called? Part 1 – Dave Harvey
Copyright 1996 Sovereign Grace Ministries
7505 Muncaster Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
www.sovereigngraceministries.org
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• Look at Addendum II
• Additional Study: Addendum III
Are You Called? Part 1 – Dave Harvey
Copyright 1996 Sovereign Grace Ministries
7505 Muncaster Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877
www.sovereigngraceministries.org
