Are You Called As an Apostle?

Are You Called As An Apostle?

God is infinite and the precious call to any form of ministry may come with infinite variety. Are you called as an apostle?

The physical Lord Jesus directly called Peter, “Follow Me.” He was later named as one of the apostles (Mat 10:2, Lk 6:13). Christ appeared to Paul as an intensely bright light, commissioned him with an apostolic job description through Ananias, and then left him to figure things out in the desert of Arabia. Timothy? Paul recognized his young helper’s apostolic calling and put him to the task.

Callings differ, yet one constant remains. An apostle must actually do the work of an apostle. Above all, function determines who is an apostle and who is not. In other words, there is a difference between apostolic calling and actually being an apostle. As an illustration, consider pastors. Some are called to pastor, or even trained, but never actually function as a pastor. Or consider Jonah. Jonah was called as an “evangelist” to go to Nineveh, but rather sailed the opposite direction to Tarshish. Later, of course, he repented and actually preached in Nineveh. Was he called as an evangelist at the first? Yes. But was he an evangelist? No, not until he went and preached.

Some are called by God as apostles, but are not yet apostles because the time is not yet, or for whatever reason, they have not yet entered into apostolic work.

Are You Doing the Work of an Apostle?

This is the key question.

So what do apostles do? My book Local Churches Global Apostles: How Churches Related to Apostles in the New Testament Era and Why It Matters Now answers this question and many others. For right now, however, this quote from the book will give us a short answer.

For the purposes of this study the term “apostle” is not used in the general sense of “one sent forth with the gospel.” In this book the word is used in the specific sense of one called to the five-fold ministry office of apostle listed in Ephesians 4:11.

I define “apostle” as a Christian leader called and supernaturally gifted by God to open new spiritual or geographical territory for the gospel; lay foundations; equip believers; and serve as catalyst and coordinator for churches and ministries.

Is God confirming you and your work as an apostle? If the calling is valid and you are entering in, you can expect God will confirm your work with supernatural results such as salvations, healings, breakthroughs in prayer, and opening new vistas for the gospel.

Must one see the Lord physically in order to qualify as an apostle? No, Christ appeared to Paul four times, but apparently not “in the flesh.” The young Timothy was most likely not even born until after the crucifixion of Christ. In either case, any “seeing” of the Lord had to be spiritual.

What About Character?

The fact of the matter is that some have genuine apostolic calling yet exhibit character flaws. Paul was a true apostle, yet showed vicious anger (Gal 5:12). Peter was an apostle, yet allowed the sins of hypocrisy and legalism to compromise his behavior (Gal 2:11-14). Yet both are still universally recognized as apostles.

In the same way, some pastors exhibit various sins, yet they are still pastors. What is needed is true calling plus true character. But character by itself does not determine calling. This leads to a third question.

Are You Recognized (Confirmed) as an Apostle by Peers or Elders in the Five-Fold Ministry?

There is no such thing as self-appointed apostles. The principle is “Called by Christ, confirmed by men.” A man may see himself as a major league outfielder, but until his organization promotes him to the major leagues, he never gets a chance to bat or shag a fly. Or consider King David. He was selected by God (1 Sam 16:1) and anointed through Samuel, but did not reign one minute until the men of Judah came and anointed him king over Judah (2 Sam 2:4).