The Divine Call to the Ministry of Jesus Christ -- By: Herman A. Hoyt

Journal: Grace Journal
Volume: GJ 14:1 (Winter 1973)
Article: The Divine Call to the Ministry of Jesus Christ
Author: Herman A. Hoyt


The Divine Call to the Ministry of Jesus Christ

Herman A. Hoyt

President, Grace Theological Seminary and Grace College

This subject has led to a fruitful investigation that I never dreamed could be true. This has frequently been true in the order of my experience. And it is this fact that has led me to be alert to the suggestions of others as the signposts along the way pointing in the direction of personal blessing for my own life. It was therefore without hesitation that I willingly grasped this opportunity.

The apprehension of the significance of this investigation I was yet to learn. I am honest in admitting that in the course of my experience I have never really examined my own call to the ministry in the light of the Word of God. I have never doubted that I was called, and it has been this fact that has sustained me through many crucial experiences. But in the larger picture of the divine call as set forth in the Bible, I had never pinpointed that call.

The appointment to service for the Lord Jesus Christ has a variety of facets, each one lending force to that call and sealing it with finality. It is this larger perspective that helps the individual servant through the maze of difficulties he must inevitably encounter in the course of service and guarantees that he will fulfill his ministry with joy. It was this grand panorama of truth that brought the apostle Paul to that crucial moment when he was to depart and be with Christ, and which provided him with words of triumphant satisfaction: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:6–7).

The arrangement of specific points in this discussion does not necessarily follow a chronological order. With the call to the ministry as the central feature of this investigation, I have tried to cluster the other points about it in order to develop the picture of full perspective. Hence there are eight facets of truth to which I want to direct your attention. I will be using the word “ministry” in the course of this discussion, and I do so in its broadest sense, keeping in mind that at its highest level there is the preaching of the word, the pastoral oversight of the flock, the proclamation of the gospel on the mission fields of the world.

The Call to the Ministry Is Associated with the Efficacious Call to Salvation

There is a “call” of God which invites all who hear to come for salvation. This is what Isaiah had in mind when he wrote the words: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no mone...

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