Call Waiting Series

When I graduated from seminary, I had no idea when or where I would be called into ministry. Many of my classmates were luckier. They knew where they were going. They had received a call. I, on the other hand, would not even be eligible to receive a call for at least one year, perhaps two or more. Others of our fellow graduates fall somewhere between these two extremes. Some of our brothers and sisters may find themselves wrestling with God, caught in the limbo of not knowing how to interpret the uncertainty of their position. Why is it, we may ask ourselves, that God should have called us into his service, only to leave us hanging out to dry while districts and congregations review our resumes? Were we mistaken about our call? How are we to respond?

It may be that my position was more comfortable than most, because I knew more or less how long I had to wait, and why. I waited because I chose to become a Presbyterian at the end of my seminary education rather than at the beginning, and their regulations required a two-year examination process. The rules do allow for waiver of one of those years for what they call an "extraordinary candidate," but even with all the reasons I could think of why they should have granted me that status, the board did not agree with me.

In a way, I suppose you could say that I set myself up for the delay; I didn't need to do it. I could have chosen to join the Evangelical Covenant Church, or the American Baptists, or the United Methodists. Why did I volunteer to put myself through it? Wouldn't it have been more in keeping with my sense of calling to have chosen a route that would get me into active service as soon as possible? Was I willing to tolerate this postponement because I was reluctant to engage the enemy? Was it evidence of spiritual cowardice? I have to confess that I asked myself those questions.

While preparing this sermon I found that Paul's example illuminated my own condition. I believe that in the same way it may provide both comfort and direction to those of you who, either upon graduation or at some later date in your ministry career, find yourself facing unexpected setbacks or delays, times when you feel that God is not using you where you believe with all your heart he has called you to serve. By all means, do re-examine your sense of call, in prayer and in conference with peers and mentors. But at the same time do not assume that a delay is God's way of steering you into a different vocation. I am convinced that, more often than not, what seems like delay from our perspective is a gift from God to complete our preparation for ministry. Our preparation, like our ministry itself, is under the sovereignty of God, and we can serve him best not by questioning or chafing under his timing but in developing three important habits.

The first habit we must develop is one of gratitude. I don't mean the kind of sugary piety that seems to require us to pretend that there is no such thing as disappointment or pain or sadness. I'm talking about learning to see the hand of God. Note the way Paul begins today's passage: First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. [Rom 1:8] Now, Paul often begins his letters with an expression of thanks. 1 Corinthians 1:4, Ephesians 1:15-16, Philippians 1:3, and Colossians 1:3 all demonstrate this. But I do not believe that we can assume it is an empty social formula just because it is Paul's custom. Where occasion for thanks is lacking, in Galatians & II Corinthians, Paul omitted it. He was no hypocrite; I believe that Paul had, in fact, learned the habit of gratitude, just as he had urged the Thessalonians to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:18. But how on earth can he be grateful and honest at the same time? Why isn't he frustrated? I would have been.

Paul's letter to the Romans was written from Corinth toward the end of his second stay there. He had been actively engaged in the ministry to which the Lord had called him. He has already identified himself, at the very beginning of the letter, as "an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God... to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles." [Rom 1:1,5b] He reiterates his calling in 15:16: "to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles." As the apostle to the Gentiles Paul had planted churches all over Asia Minor, in Macedonia, and right there in Greece. But the mission field was still wide open elsewhere, and the needs in all parts of the known world called out to him. Rome had a special claim, as the center of the Empire; indeed, the evangelist Luke would see it as the culmination of Paul's missionary activity, the fulfillment of Jesus' commission in Acts 1. But Paul himself wants to go even beyond Rome, to Spain. His specialty is "unreached people groups" and someone else had already planted the Roman church. He tells us this in v. 15:20: "And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another man's foundation." But at this point in his life he is prevented from doing either. Instead, Paul is escorting a delegation of representatives from the Gentile churches carrying an offering to the Jerusalem church.