clcgh.org Building The Capacity Of Christian Leaders, Equipping The Saints For The Work Of Ministry, Redirecting Straying Christians To The Sound Knowledge Of Christ
By James Quansah
A CALL to the Christian ministry is a call to learn. And a call to learn is not just to know, understand and be wise, but also to change or transform. Jesus Christ is the greatest subject for a Christian minister to learn about and from.
Jesus Christ commanded all His disciples including His appointed servants to learn from Him (Matthew 11: 29). So, the early apostles imitated and learnt from Christ; thus, they also preached and taught about Christ for their hearers to learn about Him. This, they did, so that Christ could be formed in them.
Now, we know that men did not hold a conference to choose Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the world and the Head of the Church. Rather, it is He, Jesus, who chooses and appoints men and women to serve.
Jesus boldly states that, “You did not choose me, but I chose and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…” (John 15: 16).
And no man ever had power to command Jesus Christ to learn anything from men to make Him a better Saviour when He walked the earth. But the Lord had the authority to command men and women to learn from Him.
Christ Jesus is superior to all popes, apostles, prophets, evangelists and bishops. There is no one like Him in all the earth. Thus, He commands all His disciples to learn from Him. But exactly what does He want us to learn? Can we learn some things from Jesus and reject others? Certainly not! Actually, the instruction from Jesus Christ to His disciples to learn from Him is a serious call to learn everything about Him.
A decision and willingness to learn from Christ Jesus is a decision to function at the centre of the perfect will of God. Deciding to learn from Christ Jesus is choosing to please God the Father because only Jesus Christ walked the earth and never displeased the Father. He always pleased Him so the Father never left Him alone (John 8: 29).
However, before anyone can learn from Christ and teach about Christ, he must first have a deep personal relationship with Him and be willing to hear Him and do what He says. It is not proper for a person to respond to the call of God, and be unwilling to obey the commands of Christ Jesus.
To respond to the heavenly call of God is to be willing to always do the things He tells you. It is not the call that matters, but the willingness to obey God’s commands.
