BY DR. JOHN SULLIVAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-TREASURER
FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION

Called to preach
This is the second of a three-part series on “The Call to Preach”

The prophet Jeremiah received a clear and divine call from God in Jeremiah1:4-9. Those of us who are proclaimers of the gospel must too be assured of a divine call, a divine purpose and the unction of the Holy Spirit.

Many of theological minds have explored the call to preach. In this article, the second in a series on “The Jeremiah Factor,” I want to share some insights on the subject.

Jim Shaddix, associate professor of preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, said in his book The Passion Driven Sermon, “Preaching should be driven by a passion for the glory of God.”

Calvin Miller, professor of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., and author of "The Sermon Maker," said, “The call is that for which we can die. Knowing what we will die for gives us the primary clue of what we should live for. Called to preach! That is the basic thing at last. Let a man be sure of that and keep his certitude by obedience and he will have the answer to all doubts that dog the steps of a preacher regarding his vocation. Only a divine commission can justify that.”

Answering the call of our Creator is “the ultimate why” for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence, said author Os Guinness in the book, "The Call."

“Apart from such a calling, all hope of discovering purpose, (as in the current talk of shifting ‘from success to significance,’) will end in disappointment,” he explained. “Calling is the truth that God calls us to Himself as decisively that everything we are, everything we do and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamic lived out as a response to his summons and service.”

The acclaimed 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon noted that while all believers are called to communicate the gospel, there is a special calling for those who teach and “bear rule” in the church and are supported by the church.

In his book, "Lectures to My Students," Spurgeon outlined several considerations to determine if one has God’s special calling:
—an intense, all absorbing desire for the work. “Do not enter the ministry if you can help it.”
—an aptitude to teach, as well as sound judgment, solid experience, gentle manners, a loving spirit, firmness and courage, tenderness and sympathy; and
—the fruit of evangelism.

Charles Bugg, dean of Gardner-Webb University Divinity School and author of Preaching From the Inside Out, defines preaching as “more than a craft or an art or a profession. It is more than the shaping of some words designed to dazzle the ears of hearers.”

Preaching, he said, “grows out of the minister’s own experience with the living God. As preachers, we stand inside the faith. We are not objective. We bear witness to what has changed our lives.”

He added, “Good preaching is a response to the gracious, loving God who is the source and strength of all our ministry. We recognize our dependence upon God. Our whole life becomes a response to this God who shares life in Jesus Christ. Our preaching of the Good News is a response to the Good News which we have heard and are hearing through His Spirit.

“Preaching is a calling from God; thus, the preacher places ultimate reliance upon the Spirit of God.”

A call to preach is “more than a general call to all believers,” said Erwin Lutzer, pastor at The Moody Church in Chicago since 1980, in chapel at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. All believers are called to follow Christ, he said, but a call to preach is a special calling.

Preaching from 2 Timothy 1:9 in a message titled, “Was You Called or Did You Just Went?” Lutzer explained that Paul went into the ministry “not because he read a want ad but because he was called by God.” In his own words, he said was appointed by God as a preacher, apostle and teacher.

“There are many people who may be gifted but are not specifically called to the ministry of heralding the Word of God,” Lutzer continued. “It is also more than a desire to preach. You don’t preach the Word because you feel a little more comfortable doing that than something else.”

“The definition of a call is simply an inward conviction birthed by the Holy Spirit and confirmed by the Word of God and the body of Christ.”

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