What is Some Advice for Those Entering the Ministry?

It is one thing to want to be a pastor. It is one thing to desire that calling. Paul says that that calling is a noble calling or a noble desire to desire the work of an overseer, but men need to be qualified. It cannot simply be because they are charismatic or that they have a winning personality. It cannot be because they are good looking or because they come from good stock or because they come from a good family. They need to be qualified based on the qualifications that Paul gives to us in 1 Timothy and Titus.

That is the type of thing that churches need to be looking for. That is the type of thing that men considering pastoral ministry need to be concerned about: that their hearts truly match what is on their lips and that what they are on the outside—or what they appear to be on the outside—matches who they are on the inside, that they are men of integrity.

God is the one who makes men pastors. He is the one who makes men elders. He is the one who gives gifts to everyone in the church. A pastor is not fundamentally someone who is made by men. He is someone who is made by God. We as men, as elders, and pastors simply identify them. We identify those whom God has equipped, those whom God has called, and those whom God has qualified. If he has called, equipped, and qualified a man to pastor, then in one sense he has the stewardship of that gifting and of that calling to steward well and faithfully.

In another sense, I would also say that he does not have an option. If he is called to the task of being a pastor, then he needs to be faithful to the Lord and trusting to him of that stewardship. So, for many of us who are pastors, we are doing what we do not because it is always easy or because it is always simple, but because the Lord has called us to do it. He has equipped us and gifted us to do it. We need to be faithful with the stewardship that God has entrusted to us. . So, for many of us who are pastors, we are doing what we do not because it is always easy or because it is always simple, but because the Lord has called us to do it. He has equipped us and gifted us to do it. We need to be faithful with the stewardship that God has entrusted to us.