I love how the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit worked to call Paul the apostle to serve God. Paul was a well-trained Pharisee with an education equivalent to a Ph.D. today. In Acts chapter 9, the Bible records Paul’s calling as follows.
Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength (Acts 9:1-19).
After this supernatural calling encounter and confirmation, Paul did not immediately go into ministry, even though he was already a doctor of the Scriptures. Paul went into Arabia (likely desert) and did not contact the other apostles for three years. During that period, Jesus himself mentored him and revealed the gospel of grace directly to him, just as he had to the other apostles. Giving that he had his doctorate already in Biblical studies, Paul still needed three years to be trained in isolation by Jesus (Gal 1:11–21).
After that period, Barnabas introduced Paul to the apostles in Jerusalem at a time when the disciples were scared of him because of his history of persecuting and killing followers of Christ (Acts 9:26-30). When Jews in Jerusalem wanted to kill Paul, he was sent to Tarsus so he wouldn’t be killed. Later, when news of a vibrant church plant in Antioch reached the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to help them out. Luke records the events thus:
News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:22-26).
Notice what the scriptures say about Barnabas: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith” (Acts 11:24). I pray that God will be able to say this about me someday. What Barnabas, a man the Bible describes as “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith,” did in Paul’s ministry is remarkable. When all the believers were running away from Paul in Jerusalem, Barnabas was the one who took him, spoke on his behalf, and introduced him to the apostles and the other believers so that he was able to live among them and teach in Jerusalem (Acts 9:26-30). Again, when Barnabas is sent to work at the new church plant and is the key leader there, he goes to Tarsus and brings Paul to Antioch to come and serve with him there! When the prophet, Agabus, predicted a severe famine over the entire Roman world, the church at Antioch sent Barnabas and Saul (Paul) to Jerusalem to carry gifts there. When they returned, the Holy Spirit calls them by using the entire Church (corporate guidance).
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 12:25-13:1-3).
Notice that the Holy Spirit spoke to the leaders who were fasting and praying—not to Paul and Silas alone. It’s so wonderful when other leaders we trust can also sense the Holy Spirit and confirm our calling, not just give us their advice but confirm that they are also hearing God say the same thing.
Barnabas wasn’t proud or afraid that somehow Paul might outshine him or compete with him. He knew and believed the testimony about Paul and took Paul to help him even if Paul may eventually be “greater” than him. Notice in the book of Acts, every time the names Barnabas and Saul are introduced before chapter 14, Barnabas’s name is mentioned first. From chapter 14 and till the end, Paul’s name is usually mentioned first. For example, see Acts 14:1-3, 23. Paul is now recognized as the leader of the team, not Barnabas, who brought him and mentored him. That’s how a good man full of the Holy Spirit acts. He is not jealous and doesn’t seek to control anything. John the Baptist was another person who was full of the Holy Spirit. He, too, was humble. Once, John’s disciples came to report to him that Jesus was now baptizing and “all are coming to Him.” Since John started baptizing first and even baptized Jesus, his disciples were probably worried that Jesus’ ministry was growing bigger than him, and perhaps they might go out of business. John’s response is very telling: “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven” (John 3:27). That is so true and so powerful.
One of the most critical aspects of serving God is to know that we don’t own anything and that God will protect us. If God opens a door, no one can shut, and if he closes a door, no one can open. That kind of faith is crucial. As I have trained and mentored people called into ministry over the years, I have discovered that many people who go into ministry make their ministry their idol. They are not open to doing the same work as part of an existing ministry even if they give them autonomy to do their work. Often, that’s because they seek control and are afraid to have anybody supervise them in ministry, even for a season. What they are saying by that is that they don’t trust God to guide and protect his own servants that he calls and sends into ministry. I have seen many of these people go overseas and crash and burn themselves. Some families have gotten divorced. Many quit every year.
God is a father, and his default is to have his children work together. If he wants you to be a Paul, the only person that can stop that is you if you disobey. He may send a Barnabas for you to serve under for a season. God wants his children to work together. When Moses was called in the encounter of the burning bush, he didn’t go alone. He was to go and see the elders of Israel and work with them. Jesus trained his disciples to serve in pairs and as a family. Even though Paul traveled all over the known world, he wasn’t a solo minister. He worked in concert with the Church in Jerusalem, and when a great church leader like the apostle Peter was doing wrong, he confronted him (Gal 2:11-21).
Even if you are a doctor of the Scriptures like Paul and have significant experience, think twice before you start a ministry from scratch when there may be ministries that you can work with and grow further. These ministers—frequently—have been praying for years for God to send passionate co-laborers to join them on the field. The desire aroused in you may have been as a result of their prayer. Starting a new nonprofit may—instead of helping them—create competition for them over already scarce resources.[i] I am not saying that there aren’t times when God calls to start something from scratch. I am saying that that is not the usual way that a God who is a father and who seeks to grow his children as a family usually works. Before God calls each of us to an area, he has been working in that place since the world started. There is work going on there that God may want us to join and take to the next level. He may call you to be a Joshua to take the children of Israel to the promised land after his servant Moses dies. You don’t need to start your own nation. You may be called as a David to lead the people after Saul couldn’t do a good job. If that’s the case, God will take Saul away when his time has come. Like David, you humbly serve.
We live in a very individualistic world where, from birth, our society trains us to seek our own. The family of God is different. We don’t seek our own. As servants in God’s household, we are happy to ask God where he wants to serve. Often, that’s going to be in an existing church or organization that needs to be grown. God may make you one of the key leaders there, even the key leader in the future, or he may call you to simply serve him without being known.
Even think about it. Just imagine being Jesus in heaven. There are 40,000 Christian denominations worldwide. Then there are parachurch ministries that often compete against each other. Your dying prayer was that your children would be united, which obviously means work together (John 17:20-23). However, much of that is not happening. Many people say they hear you sending them to the mission field, but they would not go and join your other laborers so effective work could be done together. Most passionate people want to do their own thing even though you have millions of church and parachurch ministries around the world that are struggling to survive because there aren’t that many passionate people to serve it. The harvest is ripe, harvesters who are going to the mission field instead of collaborating and doing effective work are divided because each one wants control. If we were Jesus, how would we feel?
Often, such people require different standards of revelation to serve in another ministry. To start their own ministry, they simply have to desire, dream, and feel God is speaking to them and such. However, to serve with another ministry, they want signs from heaven. And even so, they might not believe it. Because God is love, he still works with them as a father, even when they are not walking in his best.
[i] Contrary to what most people think, every nonprofit engages in some form of competition for donations, volunteers, staff talent, etc. The only way not to compete with nonprofits is to support nonprofits. Nonprofits compete with businesses and other nonprofits, unless the nonprofit exists to support the interests of other nonprofits. To learn more about these issues, read Play to Win: The Nonprofit Guide to Competitive Strategy by David La Piana.
