
It is getting rarer by the day that we hear theologians and scholars speak of the
calling. Much of theological study is book knowledge based on human reasoning in the spirit of a post-enlightenment milieu. But God's calling of an individual to His service remains one great theme of the Bible, in both the OT and the NT.
God called and spoke with Abraham. God chose Jacob over Esau. God was with Joseph (Genesis). God appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus), God's charge to Joshua (Josh 1:1-8), God's choice of David are the foundational narratives of Israelite religion. Without such calling of individuals, there will be no covenant and no nation of Israel. Needless to say, all the prophets (from Isaiah to Malachi) had a divine sense of God's call - an indelible and unassailable conviction that they have met with the Divine and are compelled to obey the one invisible God.
The NT is no different. Jesus himself had a clear sense of God's call in his life. When he was only 12, he told his earthly parents: "Why do you look for me; do not you that I must be about my Father's business?" (Greek, literally, the things of my Father). Peter was himself picked by Jesus as the rock, the leader among Jesus' original 12 disciples. Paul's encounter with the risen Christ is the stuff of legend. God's call on Paul's life transformed a murderous religious zealot to the greatest apostle ever lived. 90% of the churches mentioned in the NT owed their existence to Paul and his team of associates.
Do you know the call of God in your life? I am not asking whether you are a MDiv or a PhD. Even non-Christians can gain MDivs and PhDs by the truckloads. I am not asking whether you are ordained or recognized by your denomination's leaders. The American Episcopal Church has just passed a resolution allowing ordination into all forms of ministry including the Bishopric for gays and lesbians. You may be called the Most Rev. Right Rev or even the Pope, but there is no guarantee you belong to God. I am not asking whether you have all the connections and blessings from family and church.
What I am asking is whether you have met the Divine within the solitude of your spirit. What I am asking is whether you have heard that divine voice calling your name as He called, "Samuel, Samuel". What I am asking is whether you have encountered the Person - I AM who is the God Almighty, Creator of the Universe. If you have, it will revolutionize your life. You will never be the same. Everything that you do even though you may be in preparation for ministry takes on a new light. You do everything for one purpose and for one reason - to please the One. John the Baptist was in the wilderness until the
time came for him to be manifested to Israel.
When I left my career, it was God's call. No one supported me. My father was most disappointed. I had to choose between pleasing my earthly or heavenly Father. When I left my profession, it was in obedience to God's call. Although I had earned enough to pay off my business debts including a $60,000 student loan, there was no guarantee I had enough finances to go for theological study.
Anyone who has heard the call will not hesitate. You can't figure out everything ahead of you. You walk by faith and not by sight. When I arrived in Auckland, my family and I lived in a motel near the Baptist College at Remuera for about a week before we moved to a rented flat. I was already one day late into my Greek intensive class. My sole purpose was to learn Hebrew and Greek. I could not care less what other subjects I took. I just wanted to understand the Bible in its original languages. Paperchase or trying for easy papers never crossed my mind.
When you are called of God, you will never fret over where you will be sent to serve. You serve the Lord Christ and not your President or Bishop. Submitting to human leaders is surely a Christian grace and nowadays a much needed quality among would-be ministers, but submitting one's life into God's hand in obedience to his call has greater rewards.
I still consider my happiest time in ministry being sent to the jungle of Borneo with no electricity, no fridge, and no computer. Like John the Baptist, I had to spend time in the wilderness learning to trust God day in and day out. My monthly salary was 4% of my former income in my secular job. Even when I was elected into the top leadership, I was paid only RM200.00 more. My Church/Denomination is the most egalitarian there is and I like it that way. All of us from the head of the Church, our President to the most junior minister is called, "Pastor". Ps. is my only "title" and I am proud of it. When asked by my fellow pastors at a Pastors' Conference in 2003 on how they should address me, I told them: "Don't call me "Dr.", just Tony will do." Did not Jesus say, "all of you are brothers and do not call another, 'Rabbi', etc?" How often we do willfully neglect Jesus' plain teaching. Those who are called of God will care less for titles and honourifics. Paul never called himself
Apostle Paul. He said, "I, Paul". When he defends his apostleship he is not defending his title but his calling as an apostle and his calling as apostle is bound up with the very heart of the gospel he preaches.
Are you called of God? Can you say like Elijah, "I stand before Yhwh whom I serve". No title, no degree, no putting up a show, no religious garment, no wearing of cross. Just girded with camel's hair, rough and unspoilt by the world, he brought down judgment on kings and queen, killed all the prophets of Baal and Asherah and brought God's nation back to covenantal faithfulness with Yhwh.