James warns, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1 NAS). Considering this sobering perspective, what about pastors and teachers who answer the call to ministry without first answering the call to preparation?

Training for one’s calling in life is expected. What physician does not train to practice medicine? What pilot has the right to take 900,000 pounds of metal and scores of precious lives into the air supported only by a willingness and a desire to serve? Most of us would even ask for the credentials of a plumber we plan to hire. The truth is we expect all serious disciplines to be accompanied by appropriate training. Why would there be any lower expectation for a pastor, a missionary, or a theology professor—maybe even the average Christian—to study carefully the Word of God?

Scripture tells us that we are earthen vessels—dirt baked hard. We know from God’s Word that the message we carry in our vessel is a treasure (2 Corinthians 4:7 NAS). The one called to teach or pastor must demonstrate the greatest of care and concern for accurately handling the treasure of God’s Word and its primary Subject. When someone is called into the ministry, his calling is often marked by a strong desire to know God and make Him known. He cannot, in any other way, satisfy the hunger to know God deeply than to share what he knows with others who need God desperately and need to delight in Him.

There is danger, when one is not trained properly for the ministry, to unknowingly teach inaccuracies in the name of our Savior. Most don’t recognize their error, but sincerely follow the latest movement or best-seller and forward every chain email that bears the subject Jesus. There will be a stricter judgment, says James.

So, we turn to the Bible and books written by great men of the faith to be taught, tried and tested (1 Timothy 3:10; 2 Corinthians 8:22 NAS). God strengthens and equips the one who would lead and become a disciple-maker through the rigors of study and dialog with knowledgeable teachers of the past and present.

Jesus says, “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done’ ” (Luke 17:10 NAS). How are we to know what we ought to do, unless we have learned? How are we to learn, unless we have studied? How will we please the Master unless we know what He teaches in his Word?

A calling is not a profession. The call is first to prepare: whether in the classroom with a learned professor or in solitary pursuit of knowledge in the classrooms of Carson, Piper, Calvin and Owen. When prepared, we can go on to serve the Master—among His people, in His strength, with His words.