Qualified for Service

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13

I heard a pastor say Jesus does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called. How many times do members of the Church shy away from serving Jesus by saying oh, I couldn't do that. Or I don't have any training for that. In some ways I think the higher education of pastors and other ministers does a disservice to the Church.

I am NOT against higher education or studying church history or learning Greek or Hebrew or any of the things taught at seminaries around the world. I have taken a few seminary courses myself and find those courses can be helpful in understanding the Bible and the Church. But sometimes I think we have created a culture of Church people who use lack of education as an excuse not to do things Jesus asks us to do.

If you look at the disciples, you find men who were "uneducated, common men". Jesus didn't go to the synagogue and call the best students or the most favored rabbis. He went to the seashore and called fishermen. And to the marketplace to get a tax collector. He brought together that tax collector, Matthew, who worked for the Roman rulers and Simon the Zealot who worked for the overthrow of Roman rule; enemies in their former lives. There were the brothers James and John whom Jesus nicknamed Sons of Thunder and Thomas who became known for doubting the resurrection and Judas who would eventually betray Jesus.

This was a rag-tag bunch of men. But they "had been with Jesus" and were willing to be taught by Him and therefore turned Jerusalem and the surrounding territories upside down. Even Paul who was very educated declared I count it all nothing except for knowing Christ.

So why do we, today, have churches that won't hire a pastor who doesn't have a doctorate? Or staff members who have not been to seminary? Why do we put such value on the education of our ministers? EVERYONE who has surrendered to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is a minister of the gospel. None of the education matters when I get down to telling my story; relating how Jesus changed my life. EVERYONE of us has the same teachings available that the original twelve disciples had. If they can change the world so can we! We are qualified for service because Jesus called us and He equips us.