A CALL to the Christian ministry is a call to learn. And to learn is not just to know, understand and be wise but also to change or transform. Jesus Christ is the greatest subject for a Christian minister to learn about and also learn from. Jesus Christ commanded all His disciples including His appointed servants to learn from Him (Matthew 11:29). Therefore, the early apostles preached and taught Christ for their hearers to learn about Him.
However, before anyone can learn from Christ and teach Christ, he must first have a deep personal relationship with Him and be willing to hear Him and do what He says. It is not proper for a person to respond to the call of God, and be unwilling to obey the commands of Christ Jesus. To respond to the heavenly call of God is to be willing to always do the things He tells you. It is not the call that matters, but the willingness to obey God’s commands.
The Word of God is useful for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. By it, we learn how our Lord Jesus came into the world, how He was prepared for ministry, ministered, conducted Himself both privately and publicly, responded to insults, suffered, crucified, died, was buried, ascended to heaven and how He will return to judge the world.
First, I would like to state that when pastors diligently learn from Christ, they will sit down, listen to the teachings and preaching of other ministers and ask questions to prepare and train them for effective and efficient ministry. Sitting down to personally study, and listen to other ministers preach and teach and asking questions increase understanding, knowledge and wisdom. This is what Jesus Christ began to do at the beginning of His ministry (Luke 2:46, 52).
Now, not only will we sit down for men who are knowledgeable in the Word of God to teach us, but also sit down, kneel down and lie down for the Spirit of God to teach us. To be a useful vessel in the hand of God to do the work of God in the world, one needs to be taught by both man and the Spirit of God. From the Bible, we see that men teach the Word of God and the Spirit of God teaches also.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). Jesus taught the apostles as a physical man, and He said the Holy Spirit would also teach them. He Himself was taught by men mostly the teachers of the Law, obviously His parents and God the Father who is a Spirit.
The Bible is silent on Christ Jesus receiving a formal rabbinical training as Gamaliel and Nicodemus might have had. Clearly, He learnt the hard way through informal education. But the Bible says His Father taught Him. “…I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me” (John 8:28). And then in John 12:49-50, it is written, “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment – what to say and what to speak…”
Yes, Jesus Christ came to see and study the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms written as the Word of God, yet the Father continuously taught Him. The early apostles also had the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms as the written Word of God in their possession including the personal teachings of Jesus Christ, yet the Holy Spirit continuously taught them throughout their ministries. And ministers after them had the complete Old and New Testament Scriptures written for them, yet the Holy Spirit continuously taught them.
Indeed, today’s ministers cannot be different. Of course, we have the 66 books of the Bible to study from, but we must also yearn and avail ourselves to be taught by the Holy Spirit. We must open up our hearts to receive and enjoy the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the greatest Teacher. He teaches and reveals the deep things of God to the servants of Christ, who learn to superimpose the will of God upon their personal wills.
Moreover, when we learn from Christ, we will train others for the work of the ministry free of charge (Ephesians 4:11-15). Christ did not gather people together, demand fees from them, award them certificates, ordain them and send them out to work as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
Now, this is not in any way seeking to condemn the operations of Bible schools or seminaries we have today. There is no doubt that the complexities and financial demands of modern society including governmental regulations often influence the church to stray from pure biblical practices.
However, it is to tell the biblical methods Christ adopted to train His early ministers as described in Scripture. Talk about the 12 apostles, and later the apostle Paul, and others. Peter and others were trained arguably for three and half years to qualify them to do God’s work in their day. But they paid no tuition fees and received no academic certificates to necessarily validate their training and qualify them to do the work of God.
Clearly, the training, preparation and qualification for doing the work of God, and the works of men in the world are not the same. They are different. The call to the Christian ministry requires something greater and vital than a certificate. The early apostles had personal encounters with Christ Jesus. They saw Him, walked with Him, heard Him preach and teach and felt His awesome presence. To be continued in the next edition.
jamesquansah@yahoo.com
By James Quansah