Call to the Ministry

Pastor Martin introduces a seminar on what constitutes a biblical call to the teaching ministry. He sets a scriptural framework from 2 Timothy 2:2, Romans 12:3-6, 1 Timothy 3:1, and James 3:1, then identifies six wrong reasons men aspire to preaching or teaching offices: an inaccurate assessment of one's gifts, an uncrucified lust for authority and attention, an unbalanced concept of spirituality, an inadequate view of the breadth of ministerial qualifications, unmet psychological needs for personal identity, and the unsanctified ambitions of others. He closes with a brief preview of four positive elements of a true call.

After reviewing the six wrong reasons from session one, Pastor Martin presents the four irreducible elements of an ordinary call to the Christian ministry, drawing on John Owen's distinction between extraordinary and ordinary offices. The four elements are: (1) desire born of right motives -- considerate, constraining, and disinterested; (2) graces indicating genuine, mature Christian experience as outlined in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1; (3) gifts indicating divine provision, including spiritual wisdom, intellectual breadth, and gifts of utterance; and (4) an opportunity to minister indicating providential approval. He emphasizes that both the internal call from God and the external recognition of the church must converge.

In this third session, Pastor Martin focuses entirely on the mental gifts necessary for the pastoral office. He identifies five indispensable mental requirements: (1) a mind reverently submissive to Scripture, (2) a mind furnished with the basic content of Scripture, (3) a mind furnished with an understanding of the meaning and interrelatedness of Scripture across four theological disciplines -- systematic, biblical, historical, and experimental theology, (4) a mind furnished with the necessary tools to discover and make plain the right meaning of Scripture, and (5) a mind furnished with sound practical judgment. He concludes with five qualifying principles to prevent undue discouragement while maintaining the biblical standard.

In this fourth session, Pastor Martin addresses the spiritual gifts and graces necessary for pastoral ministry. He identifies four irreducible spiritual requirements: (1) a deep experimental knowledge of and devotion to the person of Christ, (2) an experimental knowledge of the workings of sin and grace in one's own soul, (3) a deep, genuine, demonstrable love for people expressed in sacrificial service, and (4) a measure of the authority of unction -- that peculiar something which gives weight and power to the preached word through the Holy Spirit's operation. He draws extensively from John Owen, Spurgeon, and the example of Christ and the apostle Paul to illustrate each point.

In this fifth and final session, Pastor Martin addresses the mechanical and leadership gifts necessary for pastoral ministry. Under the heading of proven ability to speak, he identifies three requirements: ability to be heard without torture to men's ears, ability to be understood without torture to men's minds (including orderly arrangement, perspicuity, and simplicity), and ability to be received as a messenger of God without torture to the discernment of God's people (the sense of divine authority). He then treats the proven ability to rule and lead, encompassing a servant's heart, a natural leadership quality that makes it easy for people to follow, and the ability to be honored and respected in office. He closes with a summary drawing from Bridges, Owen, and Spurgeon.