“My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” (James 3:1)
What is it that causes a man to desire the position of master, what is the reason that a man of God leaves all solely to follow and obey the Lord Jesus Christ?
“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)
“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jer. 20:9)
It is the Almighty that chooses who will serve Him above measure, who will forsake all for Him, and He chooses the way they will.
Why He does so is up to Him, and I firmly believe that man’s heart is prepared to do so not against his own will, but in full cooperation with, by his own free will, the Holy Spirit who is guiding him on that path. In other words my friends, God chooses but we choose whether to obey in this regard or not.
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:28)
And so then we must ask, what of those who will not?
The man I spoke to a few days ago, the one who believes incorrectly that women can be the leaders of a church seemingly agreed also that if there is a man in the church to lead the congregation, that woman should step down and he should stand behind the pulpit. But when I suggested that he should be that man, he faltered. Although he professed to serve Christ, he offered excuses, he changed the subject, he attempted to coerce the truth of the Scriptures to fit his view of them, be believed, again wrongly, that he would be usurping the authority of that woman that in his mind was given to her by the Lord.
He did not feel called.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
There is nothing in that verse that says if you feel called to, it is a commandment to rightly divide the words of truth, and then obey them.
Which is more profitable, sacrifice or obedience, which is obeying, allowing the assembly to be taught by a woman when there are men of God present in that assembly, or a man who professes to serve the Living God moving past his fears and standing as we are commanded to stand?
I have witnessed this personally, a church, and I use that word loosely, with five elders and a woman preaching on one Sunday, a video being played when the pastor was gone on a different Sunday. I have seen men profess Christ, but not when the circumstances caused fear within them, and that only because those they converse with regularly they feared to stand in front of on that podium.
And all who do so, all who disobey in this regard will say the words, “I did not feel called.”
“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” (Prov. 24:10)
If the only adversity is personal fear, then I pity you.
Stand up, open the Word of God and read for twenty minutes aloud in front of others, is that too much to ask?
Am I allowed to employ this verse here in context? “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:14)
Or does this one fit better here? “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)
Can one consider themselves born-again who does not obey, who knows when wrong is present and does not do all within their power to right that wrong? Can one say they do not feel called and expect the Lord to accept that excuse when it is nothing less than personal fear that hinders them from obeying what has clearly been written down for us?
King Saul should have waited for Samuel, how long were you planning on waiting for someone else to stand, using the excuse of “I do not feel called?”
