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5 Responses to a Call to Ministry
Published February 9, 2023
To begin, it’s worth saying that the call of God is not something reserved for those who have decided to make Christian Ministry their occupation. A calling is something that every Christian has received. In fact, to be a Christian is to receive the call of Christ and to respond by dropping our nets and taking up our crosses.
When you consider that the word vocation is derived from the Latin for “calling”, we can rightly say that every Christian is in vocational ministry. While there are those of us who feel called to “equip the saints for ministry” (Ephesians 4:12), we are all saints in ministry whether that is serving a church, starting a business, working a job, or building a home. Every Christian is called into ministry, the question is, how do we respond when we hear the call?
Responding to the Call
In my devotions, I came across the specific vocation of Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3:1–4:17). I was struck by two things: First, the response of Moses to God’s call and second, the response of God to Moses’ response. Look at how Moses responds to God and consider if you have done the same:
1. “Who am I?” (3:11)
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” God tells Moses that He has seen the affliction of the Israelites and that He is sending Moses to set them free. Moses responds, as we often do, by looking inwards. This can be our first response to God’s call on our lives; to question why God would choose us.
2. “Who are you?” (3:13)
“Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” Moses’ second response to God is to ask who this God is. When called by God, it might not be our inadequacy that we question but God’s authority.
3. “They will not…” (4:1)
Next, Moses doubts the effectiveness of his ministry. For Moses, the question of “who am I?” led to the conclusion “they will not”. We too will anticipate ineffective ministries when we focus on ourselves as inadequate ministers.
4. “I am not…” (4:10)
“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.” Moses continues to look inwards but now it is more specific. He pinpoints the reason he can’t do what God has called him to do. I am not… Outgoing / Confident / Articulate / Educated / Wealthy / Young / Talented enough.
5. “Send someone else” (4:13)
“Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Moses’ final response is to plead with God. Surely there is someone else who could do this.
Responding to our Response
Look at how God responds to Moses, and consider if He might be saying the same to you:
- To “Who am I?”, God says, “I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12)
- To “Who are you?”, God says, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14)
- To “They will not”, God says, “I will work powerfully through you” (Exodus 4:2–5)
- To “I am not”, God says, “I made you” (Exodus 4:11–12)
- To “Send someone else”, God says, “I will send someone else… with you” (Exodus 4:14)
The vantage of hindsight allows us to see what God would achieve through Moses. Moses became enveloped into a story much bigger than his own. It is difficult to imagine a world where Moses didn’t leave Midian and lead the Israelites out of Egypt. But if it was up to Moses, that would have happened.