The Call of a Pastor

Jesus said, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock [which is Christ] I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it” (Matt. 16:18).

The call of Jeremiah is the model of all true ministers of God. It says:

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jer. 1:4–10)

1) “Jeremiah, Before I Formed You in the Womb, I Knew You” (v. 4)

From eternity, God knew Jeremiah. God knows every God-called pastor. According to Professor John Murray, “God knew Jeremiah” means that “God loved Jeremiah in eternity.” God’s love for us is eternal. He will never stop loving Jeremiah, or his pastors, or his people.

God formed us in our mothers’ wombs.

• Amos 3:2 (Hebrew text): “You only have I known [i.e., loved] of all the families of the earth.”
• Romans 8:29: “For those God foreknew [i.e., foreloved] he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
• Psalm 139:13: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
• Psalm 139:15: “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth,” that is, in the mother’s womb.

God loved us from eternity. He will never stop loving us. If God loves us, he will provide for us what we need. He is Jehovah Jireh. So he loves every elect child of God and provides for us.

• Romans 8:28–30: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
• Ephesians 1:4: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” God’s elect people will live a holy life.

2) God Set Us Apart

God set me apart before I was born for the holy purpose of preaching the gospel of life. St. Paul said the same about himself. In Galatians 1:15–16 we read, “God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles.”

3) God Ordained and Appointed Us to Preach the Gospel

Before I was born, God appointed me, ordained me to preach the gospel. All these God did without my permission! As my Creator and Redeemer, God is sovereign over me. I have no choice. I must know his will and do his will with all my heart.

A pastor is a gift of Christ to his church. He is appointed by the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 4:11 we read, “It was [the ascended Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.” And in Acts 20:28 we read, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit appointed you overseers. Be shepherds [pastors] of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” The highest price was paid for our salvation.

4) The Objection of Jeremiah

When God spoke to him, Jeremiah replied, “I am only a child; I cannot speak” (v. 6). But, Jeremiah, you have no choice in the matter. God has decided for you in eternity. He will help you and every true pastor. Consider the words of Paul:

• Philippians 4:13: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength,” strength through the Holy Spirit.
• 2 Corinthians 12:9–10: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
• 1 Corinthians 9:16: “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

5) God’s Reply (v. 7)

God said to Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child’” (v. 7). He means, “I am your sufficiency. I will give you ability.”

In Deuteronomy 18:18 we read, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.”

In 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 we read, “Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  And we read in Matthew 28:20, “Behold, I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”

6) “You Must Go to Everyone I Send You To” (v. 7)

Like Jeremiah, we must go where God sends us. We have no choice but to obey God. I was sent to the other end of the earth.

7) God told Jeremiah, “You Must Say Whatever I Command You” (v. 7)

We have no freedom to speak what we want. We cannot speak about psychology or how to make a lot of money.

• Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
• Acts 20:27–32: “For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has [appointed you as] overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
• 2 Timothy 3:15–4:5: “and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed [God-spoken] and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (PGM) For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” In other words, preach the Word. Do not add to it, do not subtract from it, and do not misinterpret it.
• Matthew 7:21–23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” This is called antinomian theology.

8)  “Do Not Be afraid” (v. 8)

In Jeremiah 1:8 we read, “‘Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord.” Why are we not afraid? The answer is, the devil has been defeated and God is with us.

• Hebrews 2:14–15: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” God defeated our enemy the devil by his Son, Jesus Christ.
• James 4:7: “Submit yourselves, then, to God.” That means obey God. “Resist the devil.” That means disobey the devil. That is what Jesus did when he was tempted. “and he will flee from you.”
• 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your worries” Matthew 6 speaks about worry six times – “Cast all your worries on him because he cares for you.”
• Isaiah 43:1–3a: “But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.’”
• Zechariah 2:5: “‘And I myself will be a wall of fire around [you],’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’”

“I am with you always to deliver you.” God speaks that to Jeremiah and to all pastors and to every child of God. “I am with you.”

God-called and God-sent ministers must preach to all to whom they are sent. Your comfort is not the issue. Consider the life of St. Paul as recorded in 2 Corinthians 11:

Are they servants of Christ? . . .  I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? (2 Cor. 11:23–29)

We must preach the gospel given us in the holy Scriptures. We cannot add to or subtract from or misinterpret the Bible.  Pastors must be pious and learned and taught by the Holy Spirit.

A pastor must be like Micaiah, a minority of one, a true prophet of Yahweh and not like the majority, the four hundred prophets of Baal, who were well-fed and demon-possessed liars, as we read in 1 Kings 22:7–8a: “But Jehoshaphat asked Ahab, king of Israel, ‘Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?’ The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, ‘There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.’”

Pastors of God’s people, God who loved you from eternity, consecrated you and ordained you before you were born to preach the gospel. This God will be with you to meet your every need and the needs of the church. He is Jehovah Jireh, which is Hebrews for “The Lord who sees and meets your needs.” The Lord is our shepherd, and we shall lack nothing good. We in this church never beg. God provides for us.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Ephesians 3:20–21). And all the people said, “Amen!”