Discerning the Call of God

The call of God on a person's life, is, necessarily, a very personal thing. Because it is so personal, it's very enlightening when someone else tries to dictate that call for another spiritual being. Questions form in my mind when I see it happening: Why are they doing this? What is their motivation? How was this done to them? How did they come to believe they have the right or responsibility?

The idea of God's call to us as individuals involves the concept that through a prayerful relationship with a living God, we receive a specific invitation from the Lord himself to enter into our vocation. We anticipate that we will do this through the power of the Spirit and that at some point, fruit will be evident as a result of our faithfully carrying out that call.

Recently, I had a public Facebook conversation with a friend on the topic of Biblical Egalitarian theology. As it turned out, he disagreed after having taken at least a cursory look at the materials I presented him. That is, of course, his right, though it saddens me. Still, it provided a platform for public discourse on the subject and for that I'm grateful.

In the course of conversation, he offered up the following idea, that when a woman feels called to preach, it is at the incitement of Satan himself. If she say's I feel called, then she's all about herself, it's selfish and self-serving. He uses Jeremiah 17:9 as the proof-text to demonstrate that the desires of her heart(especially the ones about preaching, teaching or pastoring) are clearly evil all the time. (Mind you, this same application is not used for the man who feels called similarly, although evidence suggests that a great many men who 'feel called' didn't quite hear correctly. Apparently though, in his estimation, only women are actually inclined to hear wrongly)

There are a few things that must be addressed here but I'll begin by going backwards. Jeremiah 17:9-10(NIV) says

"The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?"

“I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”

It's important, as it always is, to look at the context of such a verse. This particular verse constantly gets plucked from it's context and mangled in order to negate something that some bibliophile doesn't agree with. But the context is referring to a prophecy given to the people of Judah who had turned away from God to idol worship. This can in no way be compared to women choosing to answer the call of God on their lives to PREACH AND TEACH THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST TO THE PEOPLE OF CHRIST AND THE LOST WORLD! These are absolutely not the same thing on any level whatsoever! I am thankful for the rest of this verse which reminds me that it is the Lord alone who will judge my heart and yours. He knows our hearts so well, and He loves them deeply in ways no human ever can and He will always judge fairly.

My friend also mentioned that in the course of looking at Egalitarian theology he'd come across a great many 'I statements' from those seeking to justify their call to 'the forbidden to women' roles in the church. He then compared these women's declarations regarding their personal callings to the following passage in Isaiah 14:12-15

How you have fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
    you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
    on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
    to the depths of the pit.

These passage are typically understood as describing Satan's fall from Heaven and God's grace. I'll not get into that here but suffice it to say that comparing a woman's call to share the love of Christ with anyone and everyone willing to listen, regardless of their gender to Satan's desire to rise above God seems..........well, I am aghast. Really? Women preaching the gospel are as bad as Satan? I think I'm just going to leave this here and let you think about it a bit.........
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And then I will come back and say, NO. 100% NO! Women sharing the love of Christ, whether from a pulpit or on the street corner, are nothing like Satan. Rather, they are part of the Bride of Christ who are marching forward to bring the Kingdom of God to bear on a world in desperate need of His incredible love for them. There is no comparison!!! I have to wonder at the sort of deception that would actually make a comparison like this. There are women all over the church being taught this sort of rubbish and I am pained that this is the case. I can at least understand a different interpretation of some of the Pauline passages but this just seems soooo over the top. It's actually difficult to respond to with a straight face because it is so counter to what I see in the Scripture. 
Paul actually contradicts such thinking quite clearly when he says, in Philippians 1:15-18 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Paul was actually just copying Jesus in Luke 9:49-50 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.

Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Here's the point, Jesus offers a lot of insight for the church in the gospels but he seems to boil it down to two things over the course of His ministry. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. I think it's safe to say that there are a variety of callings that accomplish this goal, including that of pastor/teacher/elder but also a wide variety of other vocations.

It's also evident that every individual is meant to accomplish this in unique ways. Because of the unique way we are made, our vocations are necessarily different. It's rarely helpful in our current cultural context (though in other cultural contexts, this has worked, although it's questionable how effectively) for someone else to dictate to us how we, as individuals are called to serve the Lord. Rather, it is most effective when an individual learns who God has made them to be and then finds the vocation that fits them perfectly.

This is accomplished most effectively through intimate relationship with the Living God. We can discern our call to vocation best through relationship with the One who made us. Could there be any better way?

We, who are women, don't need to heed the advice of others who would use the very Scriptures themselves to limit us to avoid certain vocations. And we who are men don't need to feel constricted to carry burdens we were never meant to carry.

By God's grace, we live in a time and place where freedom is available to both men and women to fulfill every call of God on their lives. It's still more difficult for women to find positions of full time pastoral ministry, but even that is changing. God also seems to be making adjustment to the time honored church structure. Will it crumble altogether and experience a ground up reconstruction of it's own? Time will tell, but in the meantime, seek the Lord while He may be found and let Him alone define His call on your life.



I so appreciate anyone taking the time to offer feedback and thoughts!

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