Journal: Faith and Mission
Volume: FM 13:2 (Spring 1996)
Article: No Higher Call! 1 Timothy 4:13–16
Author: Stephen J. Lawson

FM 13:2 (Spring 1996) p. 45

No Higher Call! 1 Timothy 4:13–16

Stephen J. Lawson

Senior Pastor
Dauphin Way Baptist Church
Mobile, AL 36633

A sermon delivered in Binkley Chapel
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, NC, October 19, 1995

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great preacher of London’s Westminister Chapel, once said, “The work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and .the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.” I believe that, not because there is anything special about us who preach, but because there is everything special about the One who has called us to proclaim His Word.

Because the Bible is what it claims to be-the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God-then preaching is the highest calling known to man. As heralds of the sacred Scriptures, we have been entrusted the greatest privilege to send forth the only light that can expel this world’s darkness. To us has been committed the greatest privilege to sow the only seed that can produce eternal life in dead souls. Ours is the greatest privilege to broadcast the only message that can set the captives free. Ours is the greatest privilege of offering the unsearchable riches of Christ to those who are spiritually bankrupt. Ours is the greatest privilege to declare the inscrutable mind of God on the deep and burning issues of our day.

Lloyd-Jones was right. There is no higher calling than the work of preaching the eternal Word of the living God to men and women desperately in need of His grace. In actuality, every Christian is called to proclaim the Word of God to the world. No believer is exempt from his or her responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission. At the same time though, some believers are sovereignly set apart by God and supernaturally gifted to preach and teach His Word as evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Eph. 4:11). It is those called and gifted by God to preach whom I especially want to now address.

Let me ask you, “Has He called you to preach His Word? Has God appointed you to be His mouthpiece? Has He commissioned you to bear His message?” If He has, let me encourage you to apply yourself to your theological study here at this fine school. Receive the biblical training necessary for a lifetime of ministry. Pay the price. Press on. Endure.

FM 13:2 (Spring 1996) p. 46

The prince of preachers, the Apostle Paul, gave the following instruction to Timothy, his young son in the faith. I believe this admonition lies at the very heart of our call to preach because it tells us how to go about it.

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