Comrades
in Arms
Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the February 20, 2016 Sabbath School Lesson
“For
many are invited, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:14, NIV
When I attended university and studied theology and biblical
languages, a common topic among the theology students throughout those years was
whether or not at the end, when they had graduated, they would receive a “call.”
Back at that time, although we had a few women taking theology, they were
encouraged to consider another career choice as they were not likely be “called”
to ministry. Fortunately, although some discrimination still exists over
gender, there are greater opportunities for women pursuing religious studies to
receive a “call.” Interestingly, as times have changed, so have our perceptions
of what receiving a “call” means. Now it is little different than getting hired
for any number of secular vocations. The applicant prepares a resume,
participates in one or more personal interviews and then is offered a position
with salary and benefits. Perhaps this contributes to the perspective of some
who see the ministry more as a career than as a special calling by God. And
just like any other career, one can become trapped, knowing that they are not suited
for the position or have simply discovered that the reality does not match their
expectations. They nonetheless feel trapped because they have a family to
support and bills to pay. Like the factory worker on an assembly line, they may
go through the weekly round of meetings, sermon preparation and visitation
desperately seeking to an inspiration that eludes them. Because their theology
degree does not prepare them for a career in any other field, they plod on in
silence, fearful that acknowledging to others that they are struggling could
end their careers and leave them destitute. Perhaps the miracle is that given
the very secular form of the modern “call” that any manage to find inspiration
and joy in the work they are pursuing. Colleges and universities do not grant
it. Employers cannot give it. If it comes at all, it can only come through the
presence of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes the ministry can be the hardest place to find
that spiritual relationship. This is because that relationship only comes
through the surrender of self to God’s will. That is hard to do when you are
placed in a position where it is often assumed you already have all the
spiritual answers and “have your act together.” But from my personal experience
with ministry as a young man, I know that that is anything but the case. It is
the gift and also the burden of the young to see much of the world from a
dualistic perspective. Things tend more toward starkly black and white than
shades of grey. However, people are far more nuanced than that. The most
profligate individual may have moments of profound spirituality and grace,
while those who hold positions of high responsibility in the church may have
dark corners in their souls that they keep hidden from everyone. Unfortunately
the minister, who may still be struggling to develop maturity in his or her own
relationship with God, is often asked by either party what they are going to do
about the sins of the other. This can be a recipe for disaster because it makes
the assumption that the minister is somehow spiritually superior to the parties
involved and can therefore compel them toward perfection. Pastors need the
spiritual maturity to not allow themselves to get involved in these spiritual “tug-of-war”
battles that are often not about purifying anything but rather are about power
and control. But that maturity rarely comes from classrooms. Instead it comes
from knowledge of one’s own needs for growth as revealed by the Holy Spirit,
Who comes to teach us after repentance and baptism.[i] A pastor must learn that
it is through his own struggle that the Spirit enables him to be able to
minister to others in their struggles.
This presence of the Holy Spirit is the true ordination for
ministry. We may be come experts at Systematic Theology. We may be able to
analyze ancient texts in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. We may be extremely eloquent
public speakers and be gifted with a natural charisma, but without the Spirit’s
presence in our lives, we are simply pursuing a secular career in ministry. Because
of the problems inherent in trying to fulfill the expectations of a spiritual
calling with a secular mindset, we may end up moving from church to church,
never able to find the answer to our emptiness. We may even succeed in
promoting to positions of ever greater responsibility while deluding ourselves
into thinking that such promotions represent God’s endorsement of our calling.
But in our hearts we know the truth, and the emptiness still follows us. Sad
indeed is the lot of one who too late realizes that what he or she thought was
a calling was simply a hiring based on past education and experience, much like
any secular job.
When we see how Jesus called the Disciples, we see an
entirely different approach to ministry. He did not go to the schools of the
rabbis to interview prospective candidates. He did not tell anyone that a
certain level of education was a prerequisite to becoming a gospel minister.
Instead, he seemed to prefer calling people to ministry who already had
careers. Peter, James, and John were called while they were working among the
boats and nets as fishermen in their family businesses. He approached Matthew
while he was at work sitting at his customs table collecting taxes. This may be
instructive for us today. Someone who has no career may see the ministry as a
career opportunity to secure his or her financial future, not because it is so
lucrative perhaps, but because once they are ordained, it is equivalent to
having tenure. However, if someone already has a career, they may be less
likely to see ministry as a career move and perhaps more likely to see it as a
calling. If they do, they may not leave their career unless they feel that the
call is genuine, because the potential cost could be steep for doing so. If
that call is confirmed in their minds and hearts by the Spirit, they will have
a positive foundation to build a ministry upon. It will not be built upon their
resume, but rather on their relationship to Jesus and the Spirit.
After the Disciples were called to follow Jesus, they
spent over three years with Him learning all He was willing to teach them in
preparation. Although they may have sacrificed all[ii] to have that experience
and education, no mention is made of any tuition cost beyond that. Perhaps this
is because tuition often pays for expensive buildings, salaries and equipment,
which is fine for secular careers. But should the ministry be saddled with the
same overhead? Jesus instead taught in meadows, on hillsides and even from a
boat at the seashore. How much overhead does it really require preparing for
ministry?
Some of that education involved lectures,[iii] some involved actual job
experience.[iv] Yet, even after such
training, the Disciples were still not considered fully prepared. They were
instructed to wait for the needed presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives
and ministry.[v]
While they remained at Jerusalem worshipping and praying together, the Holy
Spirit was given and their ministry was powerfully enabled. Then they were able
to evangelize, not in their own power but in the Spirit’s, and thousands came
forward in repentance and surrendered to Jesus as a result.[vi]
So how do we return to that early example of what it
means to be “called?” It may no longer be possible within the structure of any
denomination. The present system is well fortified behind established
buttresses of power, perhaps even more securely than the priesthood was two
thousand years ago. We have developed a hierarchical system of administration
that concentrates power in the church but also stifles change. In many
denominations, theology is determined not by theologians, but rather by
administrative committees. Those committees tend to be influenced more by
apologetics than ongoing theology. This brings with it the assumption that we
already have the “truth” and it only needs to be defended against change as
opposed to seeking for further light on a matter. Like the arthritis of age,
such thinking fuses the joints, and change of position becomes ever more
painful and unlikely. Perhaps the only way to find freedom from that
hierarchical paradigm is the same way Jesus did. He recognized its existence,
but He preached and taught outside of that system. He acknowledged their authority
by telling his followers to obey them, but to not be like them.[vii]
Perhaps the only answer is to recognize in the Holy
Spirit the presence of Jesus. Maybe He will call people to ministry from
established careers just as Jesus did back then. How wonderful it would be if
the church in recognition of the sacrifice made in responding to such a call
would provide training at no charge for ministry. What if they were to embrace
those ministries rather than seeing them as an aberration and tainted because the
call came from the Holy Spirit rather than from a conference administrator? We,
as Seventh-day Adventists, pride ourselves on being one of the fastest growing
Protestant denominations. But we do this on the basis of single digit
percentage figures for annual growth. Does this really demonstrate the Holy
Spirit’s power, or our own lack of connection to that Spirit? Maybe it is time
to stop trying to generate results by top-down program after top-down program
handed down to us by administrators who have not won someone to Jesus in many
years if ever and start looking around us for what the Spirit is doing through
those he has already called on His own, and we have been ignoring. Perhaps those
are the ministries we need to enable and support instead of continuing to pump
resources into infrastructure that in many cases has become more like the
proverbial albatross around the neck[viii] than any sort of
blessing to further the gospel.
If we each choose to continually surrender our lives to
God’s will, we may see for ourselves what calling He has for us. Then it will
be up to us to decide whether or not, like Matthew, we can leave that table
full of coins behind. For all but one of the twelve Disciples, they never
looked back. It became all they lived for. That says a lot about the value of a
true calling from God.
