Called by the Spirit
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Big Idea for the Series: In the book of Acts, we see God advancing his Kingdom by his Spirit through his Church.
FCF: Discerning a calling to ministry can be challenging. But, this passage makes it clear that gospel ministers are called by the Holy Spirit, affirmed and commissioned by the local church, and equipped by the Spirit for the work to which he calls them.
Intro:
This is the beginning of Paul’s First Missionary Journey.
Probably AD 46-47
Likely about 1.5 years
Insert Map
Insert Map
Started in Antioch, Syria; Traveled to Cyprus (Barnabas’ home), then Lycia, then Galatia.
25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. 1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.
6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said,
“You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.”
Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Prayer
The word “call” is used in different ways in Scripture. Generally, there are two types of “calling” that believers can experience. One “call” is the call that every believer receives—the call to salvation and sanctification. This is the calling that Paul refers to in Rom. 8:30
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
In that sense, every Christian is “called.” Every believer was called by God to salvation, called to grow in Christlikeness and holiness; every believer is called to serve, love, share the gospel, and live their lives to advance the Kingdom of God.
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called...
12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
This calling—the calling to salvation and sanctification—is, without question, the most important calling. It is the predominate way that Scripture refers to “calling.” It is the calling that unites all believers and, whether we experience the second type of calling or not, this calling to salvation and sanctification is the most important calling in our lives.
But, in this passage, we see a different type of calling at work—we see the Holy Spirit calling out Saul and Barnabas as apostles and missionaries throughout the region of Asia Minor.
As we’ve discussed before, the book of Acts chronicles how
In the book of Acts, we see God advancing his Kingdom by his Spirit through his Church.
And so, we’re not surprised to see that when there are workers needed to advance the Kingdom, God himself takes the initiative in calling out workers.
So, today’s sermon is going to be about how God calls out workers—ministers.
Now, many of you may not find this topic particularly relevant. Most of you are not called to vocational ministry, and that’s ok. You have another vocational calling, no less valid, no less important, and whatever God has called you to be—whether that be a teacher, or a plumber, or an electrician, or an office worker, or a stay-at-home mom, or whatever it may be—do it for the glory of God. And there are loads of passages that talk about that—but this isn’t one of them. This passage talks about the calling of two ministers, and so, even though I know full well that the overwhelming majority of you are not called to be ministers and never will be, that’s what happens in this passage, so that’s what I’m going to preach on today.
That being said, much of what I’m going to say applies not just to those called into vocational ministry, but to any vocational calling. Some of it is specific to ministry, but a lot of it applies across the board.
And before you tune me out and decide that there’s nothing in this for you, please don’t do that. Who knows, you might have someone in your family that God may call into ministry. Or you might have to help a friend who’s wrestling with that calling. Or, there might be in this room today, someone that God is calling into the ministry.
I’ll never forget the day, almost 23 years ago, when a pastor boldly preached from Isaiah 6 where God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?” and Isaiah replied, “Here I am, send me!” and the pastor unapologetically proclaimed “God is calling out a man!” to a group smaller than this. And of course, he had no idea that God was doing just that—calling me into the ministry.
So, if God is not calling you into ministry, fine and well. But you still need to listen today. I’m going to give you some points of application on the front end to help you glean from this sermon:
How to apply this message if you are not called to vocational ministry:
Please listen so that you can help those whom God does call.
You never know if God might call someone in your family, your Sunday School class, or one of your friends into ministry. And you might have to help them walk through that and discern that calling.
Much about a calling into vocational ministry also applies to other vocational callings.
God gifts each of us in the body of Christ with unique giftings and callings to build up the body. So, some of what I’m going to say applies uniquely to vocational ministry, but not all of it. Much of what I’ll say today can help you decide your “secular” vocation or how you can best serve in Church.
Every Christian in the church has a duty to discern between those who have a legitimate calling to ministry and those who do not.
So, whether you’re called to ministry or not, you need to be able to recognize and discern the calling in others.
Every Christian should pray that God would call out more ministers.
God may indeed be calling out someone sitting beside you, in front of you, or behind you. Pray that God would call out ministers, and pray that those whom God calls would have the clarity and courage to surrender when he does.
The Spirit calls out workers.
The Spirit calls out workers.
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
Jesus had told his disciples previously that they should pray
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The Spirit appoints ambassadors to speak on his behalf.
The Spirit appoints ambassadors to speak on his behalf.
One of the first things that we notice is that it is not Paul and Barnabas who decide one day, “Hey, I think I want to be an apostle or a missionary.” The text says:
...the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Some have argued that there’s no such thing as a “calling to ministry,” but this passage and the experiences of many, many ministers through the ages seem to argue otherwise. Paul and Barnabas were “set apart” and “called” by the Holy Spirit for a role that others in the church were not.
Now, we don’t know if this was an audible voice from the Holy Spirit that the prophets heard, or was it that through prayer and their sanctified powers of observation they recognized that there was something unique about Paul and Barnabas. It seems like some kind of audible voice or vision or something like that is implied here, but regardless, it was evidently clear enough however the call came that Barnabas and Saul had been appointed by the Holy Spirit for this duty. They were called by the Holy Spirit.
And this fits with what we know of Paul’s previous calling in Acts 9.15, where the Spirit revealed to Ananias in a vision that Paul had been marked by God to be an apostle.
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
Here, in Acts 13, God calls out not only Paul but also Barnabas. And this calling is not the same as his calling to be a believer; it is a separate, unique calling that Paul and Barnabas did not share with other believers. In just about every one of his letters, Paul begins by emphasizing that his calling is from God, not himself:
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God...
1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes...
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead...
So, while some have argued that there is no such thing as a “calling to ministry,” it seems to me that experience and Scripture seem to indicate otherwise. God does sometimes mark out individuals for special roles within his church. God called out apostles in the early church.
In fact, a similar “calling” or “choosing” is said to happen not only of apostles, but also of prophets:
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
of pastors:
28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
And we could go on—in the Old Testament, priests, Levites, and Judges all were appointed by God, and in the New Testament, apostles, prophets, pastors, and really, anyone who presumes to speak on behalf of God.
If someone is going to speak on behalf of God, they had better be authorized to do so. Ambassadors don’t appoint themselves, the King must appoint them. This is why there is such a stern warning against false prophecy in the Old Testament:
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—
22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
And so, if you have wondered if perhaps you are called to ministry, my advice to you is that God himself will make that plain if indeed you are called.
Sometimes, as with Paul, that’s through a supernatural “Damascus Road” kind of calling.
Most of the time, the calling is more subtle.
I was called into ministry when I was 14. It was not something that I was expecting or looking for. But, during the course of a revival service sermon on Isaiah 6, I felt an unmistakable drawing to the ministry. I did not, like Paul, hear an audible voice, but it was no less clear. Without any explanation, the Spirit impressed upon my heart so plainly that he wanted me to preach that it was as if he had taken physical form and spoke the words to my face. The calling was so overpowering that as I tried to resist it during the invitation, I nearly passed out. Finally, I decided that it would make less of a scene if I just walked the aisle, so that’s what I did.
For others, the calling is not so direct and not so instantaneous. It may come through a growing desire to proclaim the gospel to others, or through an experience where we have an opportunity to preach or teach and find that we really enjoy it.
Billy grew up as a PK— ‘preacher’s kid.’ He says,
Though I had felt the Lords calling on my life growing up, I didn’t really give it much honest consideration until I was in college. This was mostly because as a pastors kid I saw things from an inside perspective. I saw the spiritual battles and the toll it took on my dad. Mostly what I noticed were the spiritual attacks that came from my dad being in a leadership role that Satan especially loved to launch his darts at. That wasn’t something I was that interested in being involved with, and so I tried to act like the nagging little inner prompting that I had felt for many years……as well as the personal development that was occurring in my life…..were just my imagination stemming from a mother who told me ridiculously often that she was praying for me to be a pastor one day.
But, one summer as he was serving as a staffer at Camp Siloam, he had a conversation with his roommate after services one night. His roommate shared about his own calling into ministry with excitement and clarity, and Billy finally admitted that he had felt for some time that the Lord was calling him into ministry as well. That thought continued to ruminate for the next couple of years until another summer at camp.
Billy had gone to camp with his church, but the youth pastor had resigned so Billy had to step up and lead in his place. Billy says,
I led the devotional at the group time each day, and after a couple of days of leading that group…..I had a very clear feeling…..almost a vision…of the almighty God standing alongside my mom as they celebrated as I told Liz that I was surrendering myself to His service.
Now, anyone can claim to have received a “word from the Lord” or a “calling.” But how are we to discern between those that are legitimate and those who are mistaken or even have sinful motives for seeking out the ministry?
The Spirit calls out devoted Christians for ministry.
The Spirit calls out devoted Christians for ministry.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Barnabas and Saul were not just sitting around warming benches. They were not immature or inactive Christians.
Paul’s Damascus Road conversion was probably around 34 A.D. He immediately began preaching and serving, as indicated in Acts 9:19-20, but his calling to missions and his first missionary journey didn’t come until around AD 47-48. It’s been about 15 years.
...For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
When Paul first heard his call to ministry, he got busy ministering. Now, he wasn’t automatically an elder or pastor, and it seems that he didn’t really begin fulfilling his role as apostle until this passage here in Acts 13. But, he did get busy and get engaged in the work of the church. He and Barnabas were actively involved in ministry. They were praying, they were fasting, they were dedicated to the church.
See, if someone says, “I think I’m called to ministry,” the first thing I’m going to look at is “Is this person actively involved in the church? Are they serving? Are they dedicated?” God doesn’t call bench warmer, nominal Christians who can’t even be bothered to be regular in church to be leaders of that church.
A calling to ministry often follows a period of intense dedication and spiritual growth.
When my calling came at 14, it was unexpected. But, it did come during a time when I was seeking the Lord. I had recently rededicated my life to Christ, I was praying more, reading my Bible more, getting more involved in church and sharing my faith at school. And the calling felt unexpected to me at the time, but looking back, I can see how God was growing me in the weeks and months leading up to that point.
There ought to be spiritual growth in your life. There ought to be devotion to Christ and his church.
Even then, there’s probably going to be a ‘waiting period.’ One of the qualifications for the office of elder or pastor is that
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Now, it’s true that even as Saul is converted, God already intended to make him an apostle—that much God revealed to Ananias. And we can also think of Jeremiah’s calling where God says, “Before you were even born, I appointed you a prophet.” But, even in those cases, they did not immediately fulfill their office of apostle or prophet. That came later after they had matured in their faith a bit.
I mentioned that I was 14 when I was first called into ministry. Now, I began preaching right away, but only as a fill-in. I didn’t hold any official pastoral role until I was about 23 years old, and didn’t go to the mission field until I was nearly 30.
If you feel a calling into ministry, you need to understand that it will take time before God will confirm that calling. We see in Scripture a repeated pattern that when God calls out someone, there’s a waiting period, a time of testing before they are officially put into ministry. Paul had to wait, David had to wait, Moses had to wait, even Jesus himself did not begin his ministry until he was about 30 years old.
God will use that time to test you, to refine you, and to increase your desire and readiness for the work. And that’s crucial.
Desire to do ministry in and of itself is not enough—you must be called by God. But, desire to carry out the ministry is absolutely essential.
The Spirit fills the called with a desire for the work.
The Spirit fills the called with a desire for the work.
God does not call ministers against their will. Now, that might at first seem to be untrue, because many ministers have said that they ran from their calling and tried to do something else, in some cases for years before they surrendered. That may be true, and yet we must ask the question: “Why did they, in the end, surrender to the call?” And unanimously we will find that they answer is that they felt they could do nothing else. Their flesh may, indeed, have rebelled at the thought of preaching, or the sacrifices of moving around to various places of service, or the hardships of ministry. Their flesh may have rebelled at the thought, but their spirit within them grew in desire for the ministry.
As Paul puts it:
1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
The words that Paul uses both speak of a desire for the work. See, the Holy Spirit does not call ministers against their will; rather, he gives them a new will, a new desire.
Paul would later have to deal with the Church at Corinth, a church that caused him quite a bit of grief. In his second letter to them, where he’s having to deal with people who questioned his calling, he says:
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;
Paul knew that there were other jobs he could do that would be easier than dealing with this messy church. But, the love he had for Christ would not let him go do other things. This is why Paul could at times speak of ministry as an obligation, and yet in the next breath say that he was “eager” to preach:
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
And so, I conclude that part of how Paul and Barnabas knew that their calling was genuine was an internal, inexplicable desire to minister to others. A desire that ran contrary to their physical well-being and comfort, and yet was a desire they could not shake.
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
—Frederick Buechner
Frederick Buechner
And that, by the way, is true not only of a calling into vocational ministry, but of a calling into any vocation.
But, it’s not enough to merely feel a call and desire to do ministry—that internal desire and calling must be confirmed by the Church.
The Spirit and the Church send out workers.
The Spirit and the Church send out workers.
3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
The Spirit works through the church to recognize and affirm the calling of ministers.
The Spirit works through the church to recognize and affirm the calling of ministers.
Anyone can claim to have heard a word from the Lord or have been called into ministry. But God in his wisdom has ordained a check and balance in this process—the Church has to affirm this.
Ministers are ultimately called by God, but they are ordained and affirmed by the Church.
The Holy Spirit does not only speak through ministers. All Christians are, in a sense, ministers of Christ because every believer has access to the Holy Spirit who resides within them.
So, when God calls a minister, he also reveals that to others within the church. The local church is absolutely indispensable to this process.
With each of our deacons—most recently with Blake—their internal call and desire was affirmed by the church. The church has the opportunity to evaluate their dedication and service to the church, their maturity, their qualifications according to Scripture, and it is the church that finally gives recognition of the calling upon their life.
Billy also says of his calling:
As I grew in my understanding of this calling, and as I observed my college friends who were serving in ministry positions, and as I had conversations with them about ministry, the more I knew for sure that God had set me aside to serve him.
My home church of Mayflower First Baptist recognized this calling in my life, and licensed me to Gospel Ministry. After a few months of marriage to [Liz]…..together we began serving in youth ministry at Ridgeview baptist church in Fayetteville. They also decided to affirm my call to ministry, and it was there that I was ordained into ministry.
So, this is why it says in verse 3 that the church prayed and laid hands on them and “sent them” and then in verse 4 it says that the Holy Spirit is the one who sent them.
The subjective, internal calling of the Spirit is affirmed by the objective, external ordination of the Church.
The Church and the Spirit work in tandem to call and send out ministers.
The Church has a duty to guard its offices from unqualified and uncalled individuals.
The Church has a duty to guard its offices from unqualified and uncalled individuals.
For both pastors and deacons, the two offices of the church that remain, there are extensive qualifications given in Scripture in I Tim. 3.
The church has a duty to guard itself against unqualified ministers. You cannot be “called” to ministry if you are unqualified. God does not call unqualified individuals into the ministry—that would be a contradiction of his own word.
So, a genuine calling into ministry begins with the Holy Spirit, but it is affirmed by the church.
If someone says, “I think I’m called to ministry, but my local church won’t affirm my calling,” I’m going to have some serious questions and doubts about that person’s calling. In my experience, I have rarely seen a church refuse to affirm a genuine call to ministry. But I have seen many affirm callings that were later revealed not to be genuine. So, if someone feels like they’re called to ministry, but their church says “no,” I would strongly advise that person to tap the brakes. Get more involved in church, grow deeper in your walk with Christ, and take your time. Scripture tells us
22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands...
But many a man or woman who has been called by God and affirmed by the church has, nonetheless, trembled at the incredible responsibility of ministry. Opening God’s word to people and proclaiming it is no light task. Whether you’re a preacher in a pulpit, or a teacher in a kids’ Sunday School class, explaining the mysteries of salvation is great responsibility. And none of us are up to the task on our own.
But, those whom God calls, he equips...
The Spirit equips workers.
The Spirit equips workers.
In vv. 5-12, we see Saul and Barnabas head out on their first mission trip, and it quickly becomes clear that the Lord is with them.
5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.
7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?
11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Yet again, we see that when someone is said to be “Filled with the Holy Spirit” (v. 9), what follows is bold proclamation of gospel truth.
Now, we don’t run around calling every unbeliever that we meet a “spawn of Satan”—this was a unique situation, it was directed by the Holy Spirit.
But, when someone who has been called out by God and filled with his Holy Spirit encounters situations like this, God will equip them to handle it.
There have been many times when God has given me the words I need to preach in a sermon when I didn’t feel like I had the strength. Those whom God calls, he equips. He doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.
Most of the time, this happens through little moments in my study as I’m preparing a message. The Spirit will reveal something in the passage to me that I hadn’t noticed before, or he will give me an insight of how to express it that I would not have come up with on my own. Sometimes, it’s a spontaneous moment as I’m preaching, or it may be a special freedom in preaching when the words just roll out. That doesn’t happen all the time. There are times I stumble through a message or can’t come up with the words, or I say the wrong thing—those moments are all me! But when it all clicks and the words are powerful and biblical and speak to your heart—that’s the Holy Spirit. That’s not me. I say it all the time, “If it’s good, then it’s God. Everything else is me.”
Most of the time, ministers don’t experience miraculous moments like this in Acts 13:9-12 where we have a supernatural boldness accompanied by a miracle. That’s not the norm. But, it does happen to some degree for everyone who is called and equipped by God.
And, miracles like this still do happen today. God still fills his people with his Spirit and enables them to speak boldly like this.
In my 20+ years of ministry, I’ve had many little miracles, where the Spirit has given me words through my study, but I have also had a moment like Acts 13.
I’m telling you this not to draw attention to me—Those miraculous moments weren’t me. I just got to be the tool. I’m telling you this because if you’re sitting there and you’re thinking to yourself, “I could never do that, I could never stand up in front of people and preach.” Well, you’re right! Look at what God told Moses when God asked him to go confront Pharaoh:
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
You need to understand that God still does this today. He is still with those he calls out to ministry. He still enables preachers to preach. He still gives the words and fills those he has called with his Spirit. You don’t have to be eloquent, you just have to be willing. He will equip you, just as he equipped Moses, just as he equipped Paul, and just as he equips every other pastor, missionary, and preacher today.
