The Significance Of Ordination In The Life Of A Pastor And God's People

Numbers 8:9-10 "So you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, 10 and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites."

2 Timothy 1:6 "For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands."

Introduction:

I can recall the day I was ordained to the Gospel ministry. The process leading up to that ordination had involved years of training in both Bible College and Seminary. For 25 years God has had me preaching His word. Nearly a decade passed before the time came for my ordination. But even more important than the formal training and preaching opportunities themselves were the character qualities God needed to work out in my life. There were some wonderful men God placed in my path to teach me valuable lessons on friendship, loyalty, leadership and doctrinal conviction. There were various jobs and positions that taught the much needed lesson of servanthood and a willingness to do whatever task, no matter how menial. All of these lessons prepared me for the day I would get ordained. 

So why do churches ordain men for the ministry? Is this rite a recent development in church history? or are their Biblical patterns that inform the necessity for ordained men and the ordination process itself? 

Ordination is a very special time in the life of a church and a man of God. To ordain means "to set apart" for God's service. Normally a group of other ordained ministers and Deacons will come together to form what is called an ordination council. The council's job is to examine a man who has expressed their conviction of God's call to ministry. There are usually a series of questions asked - ranging from the doctrinal to the pastoral to the personal. 

The candidate for ordination is then asked to give testimony of his salvation and what he understands concerning his own call to the Gospel ministry. Such an examination by other ordained men is designed to either confirm that man's call and to attest such a calling to the church or to screen out those men who may not quite be ready. 

Biblical passages that deal with ordination and setting apart those who minister God's word

Ordination is truly a remarkable event. In a sense it is where God calls a man from among the called people of God to issue forth the call of the Gospel from the word of God. Ordination is not a recent phenomenon in the church's life. The following scriptures testify to this ancient roots of this pattern of recognizing God-called men.

To begin, the opening passages in today's post feature the setting apart of the Levites for service in the tabernacle (Numbers 8:9-10) and Paul's reference to young Timothy's "setting apart" and having received the "laying on of hands" in 2 Timothy 1:6. Once the Levites were set apart, Numbers 8:22 then records - "Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons; just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them."

Priests were regularly ordained or "set apart" as a mark of God's calling and choosing of them for the task of temple service. We see ordination occurring in the life of Joshua, Moses' successor, in Numbers 27:18-19 "So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; 19 and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight." The significance of "laying on of hands" is found repeatedly on most of the biblical passages dealing with this subject of ordination. Whenever one laid there hands on another for setting apart unto God's service, there was an idea of "conferral of authority". Numbers 27:20-21 spells out this formal meaning of "laying on of hands": "You shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him. 21 Moreover, he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his command they shall go out and at his command they shall come in, both he and the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation.”

I can recall in my ordination service where the pastor and deacons each took turns laying their hands upon me, praying over me and asking God's blessing upon the future of God's ministry through me. My brother-in-law, a pastor himself, had driven several hours to participate in this public event. Ordination's quality as a public event lends to its significance in the church's life. For Old Testament Israel, men like Joshua were to lead them. Joshua's ordination, which we saw a moment ago, has its significance explained in Deuteronomy 34:9 "Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses."

When we come to the New Testament, we see the principles of ordination, already established in ancient Israel, continuing their way in the New Testament church. Whenever Paul and Barnabas were getting ready to launch out into their first missionary work, we read in Acts 13:3 "Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." The most specific information we have about ordination in the New Testament is found in Paul's two letters to young Pastor Timothy. In 1 Timothy 4:14 we read: "Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery." And then again 2 Timothy 1:6 "For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands."

Applications:

We could certainly bring in further passages from both Old and New Testaments to bring home the significance of ordination in the life of a pastor and God's people who take seriously the public ministry of the Word of God. For brevity's sake, I will list those other passages for the reader's review (1 Kings 19:15-18; 2 Kings 2:9, 15; 8:8; 2 Kings 9:1-10; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:22; 2 Timothy 1:6; Hebrews 6:2). As we close out this post today, what lessons can we draw from our brief consideration of the above texts? We can briefly note three such lessons...

1. God affirms his calling on a man through his word to the heart of that individual. God then follows up with a confirmation of that calling through the process of ordination and the acclamation of God's people.

2. In most of the examples we considered above, the men who were ordained were younger men. Ordination is significant because it can be used of God to alert the young men in the congregation of God's dealings with them as to whether or not He is calling them to serve Him.

3. The congregation's participation and observation of the ordination service reinforces and reminds them of the importance of the ministry of the word of God. The man who is ordained will hopefully have many years of fruitful preaching and leading of God's people. In so far as that man is ordained to lead the people, the people have the responsibility to follow and pray for that man.

Why Preaching Matters In A Difficult Age - 2 Timothy 3:1-13

2 Timothy 3:1-5  "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."

Introduction:

I remember growing up in South Central Pennsylvania between two farms. In the early mornings one could hear the tractors pulling plows and turning up the hardened soil of fallow ground. I would sometimes watch those tractors and observe how the plowing disks on those plows glistened in the sunlight. Rocks and roots would be tossed to the sides by those plows. The rows were straight and deep, ready for the seeds to be sown for that year's harvest. Farmers had to be sure their plows were ready, since the difficult soil required a ready and sharp set of plowing disks to do the job. 

In our age, as well as ages past, the climate has never been favorable to preaching. Nevertheless, no age has ever passed that did not need it. The Apostle Paul is warning a young pastor of difficult times. The urgency of the hour is for young Timothy to preach the Word. Like a plowing disk, Timothy - and really all preachers of the Bible - are called to plow through difficult, fallow soil. The purpose of preaching is to sow the seed of God's Word. Such farming imagery is used throughout God's Word (Matthew 13:38; 1 Corinthians 3:9) to describe the context of the preacher's task. No doubt, Jesus warned of difficult times coming on our world while encouraging believers of His unsurpassed victory and guarantee of the success of God's purposes (John 16:33)

In today's post, I want to make the case that despite whatever difficult times within which we find ourselves, preaching matters. Our text is 2 Timothy 3:1-13. Note the following reasons why preaching matters in these present difficult times...

1. Preaching compels people to deny self. 2 Timothy 3:1-2


The words of the Bible are the preacher's source and tools. The Holy Spirit and God's word function together through the preaching task to change lives. Jesus told his audiences that if anyone wants to be his disciple or follower, they must die to self, take up the cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23-24; 14:25-33). Jesus' call to self denial occurred in the context of his preaching. Preaching is God's designated vehicle for compelling the conscience and breaking the unrepentant will. 

Teaching is important in convincing minds. However, preaching is needed to compel the conscience. Paul knew that in these last days, there would be a generation full of people full of themselves. 2 Timothy 3:2a notes: "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money....". But notice also why present difficulties require preaching....

2. Preaching can bring lasting peace to unruly hearts. 2 Timothy 3:2b-3


Notice what Paul states next about the nature of the times in which he lived and our own in 2 Timothy 3:2b-3 -

"boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good."

Good gospel music, praise choruses, hymns and vocalists are appropriately linked to the ministry of the word. Both types of worship function as a team of horses to draw the chariot of God's glory into the central spot of the church's life. Music, when done in the right heart and with the Spirit's anointing - can prepare hearts and bring with it peace for that moment. However, lasting peace beyond the church service has been reserved for the ministry of the word. Isaiah 50:4 states - "The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple." 

The music of praise and worship might very well set the table of the mind and the emotions. However, worship of God through the preaching of the Word places nourishment for the heart and will to grasp. What is needed in our day and age is lasting peace, God's peace. Paul's description of this present age is that of unruliness. Our culture is a roiling sea of chatter, arguing, division, strife and self-assertiveness. 

Just as the voice of Christ ranged over the sea of Galilee to make its waves to stand still, so is needed the voice of Christ through His word explained and applied to calm the unruly hearts of people. We need a fresh word from God today, which is why preaching is required to cut through the clamor. 

So we need preaching in these difficult days since it is how God compels people to deny self and bring lasting peace to unruly hearts. Notice a third reason why preaching matters today....

3. Preaching can uproot religious hypocrisy. 2 Timothy 3:5-10

In the next set of verses, Paul describes, especially in 2 Timothy 3:5, of how these present days will include people that have a form of godliness but deny its power. Many pretenders populate so much of Christendom. We have those that espouse prosperity theology and those who promote the sort of Christianity that doesn't require the ministry of the local church. The other day for instance, I saw a book entitled: "how to be a Christian without going to church". I thought the book was a satire until I read and discovered the person was quite serious! 

Biblically-sound, Christ-centered, Spirit- empowered proclamation of God's Word is designed to make clear the true and the not-so-true. Paul makes an interesting reference to Moses' day in 2 Timothy 3:8-9 "Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also." Exodus 7:10-12 records the incident in question - "So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. 12 For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs."

Moses' verbalizing the command of God to Aaron to throw down his staff gives a picture of the verbal ministry of the word in opposition to the charlatanry of the magicians. Their smoke and mirrors were no match for God's power through the spoken word. The end result in this narrative is that Aaron's rod in serpent form swallowed up the tricks of the pretenders. The hypocrisy of the Pharaoh's court - touting their pretended facades of spiritual power - were unmasked. 

So we have seen that preaching matters in today's world, since God has assigned it the role of compelling people to deny self, bringing lasting peace to unruly hearts and uprooting religious hypocrisy. But notice the last point as to why preaching matters today....

4. Preaching urges God's people to uphold godly living. 2 Tim. 3:10-14


Paul says plainly in 2 Timothy 3:12 "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." This desire is to be fueled by exposure to Biblical preaching. 1 Timothy 4:16 states - "Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you." Or again, Hebrews 13:7-9 "Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited." The pastor and the preaching of the Word have been so prescribed by God to form a godly people living in the midst of a godless world. Note Ephesians 4:11-12  "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ." Note as well Philippians 2:15-16 "so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain."

Closing thoughts

Today we have considered four reasons why preaching matters in a difficult age such as our own:

1. Preaching compels
people to deny self. 2 Timothy 3:1-2

2. Preaching can bring lasting peace to unruly hearts. 2 Timothy 3:2b-3

3. Preaching can uproot religious hypocrisy. 2 Timothy 3:4-10

4. Preaching urges God's people to uphold godly living. 2 Timothy 3:10-14

These Difficult Times Need God-Called Preachers To Preach The Word

2 Timothy 3:1 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come." 

Introduction:

Whenever a naturally gifted athlete enters onto a playing field or a track, he or she shines brightly when the greatest odds are stacked against them. No one takes notice whenever the playing field is easy. However, whenever other factors and players enter into the fray, the athlete's natural talents, or what we could even term a sense of "calling" - is tested. 

Whenever it comes to the call to preach God's Word, the man of God chosen by God to preach His word may not be what others would had chose. If anything, the presence of "difficult times" or "perilous times" characterize each generation in which God's people find themselves. Despite the presence of difficult circumstances, God-called men shine forth the glory of God in Christ. In today's post, I want us to look at why perilous times, such as our own, still requires Biblical preaching.

In perilous times, many will resist preaching

The sooner a young man called into the ministry realizes the difficulty of his task, the better inclined He will be to lean on God. God knows what hurdles need overcome as the preacher gives himself to the task of proclaiming God's Word. Notice what we read in 1 Corinthians 1:18-23 -

"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness."

Preaching by design is not man kind's preference. One only need to look at the drift of so many modern churches to see how often they try to replace preaching with substitutes. Whenever a church replaces the pulpit with something else as the primary vehicle for communicating God's presence and power: whether music, drama, entertainment, sacraments, rituals, traditions, programs or personalities - a departure from God's prescribed method for changing lives has just begun. 

It is not that all those other things are necessarily bad in and of themselves. If anything, each one of the just listed components found in various churches have varying degrees of value to the overall life of the church. However, they are secondary in nature when compared to God's prescribed vehicle for the voice of His word - preaching. Some of the above mentioned components of church life may complement or supplement the ministry of the pulpit, yet, they must never be replacements for the preaching event. 

In days such as this, people in the church and the culture will resist preaching. 2 Timothy 3:2-6 gives a diagnosis and prediction of each successive generation down to our own:

"For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Clearly the times predicted in the above text will be perilous, difficult and down right dangerous. In doing a brief word study on that word translated "difficult" (NASB) or "perilous" (KJV), we find out exactly what kind of age we find ourselves: "words difficult to bear and which penetrate deeply". In short, less and less will want to hear true Biblical preaching because they know that deep down, God's Word and its exposition peel back the layers of the heart that mask hidden sin and excuses.

So then why would God still prescribe a method of communicating His will and intent in the Bible, knowing full well that people prefer anything else but preaching? Why make it seemingly next to impossible for God-called men to bring forth God's word in such a hostile environment? Why preach at all in this present crisis? One reason: so that God alone can be credited as to why anyone would trust in Christ as their Savior and Lord or why any Christian would find themselves growing in the faith.

Present crisis requires preaching

Despite these perilous times in which we find ourselves, strong Christianity can only come about whenever there is sound, consistent Biblical preaching. After expounding further about what kind of present crisis was occurring in Paul's day, as well as our own, we discover these words in 2 Timothy 3:12-15 

"Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

No matter how hostile the culture becomes to the gospel and no matter how apathetic churches become to preaching: God-called men are required in this present moral, spiritual and intellectual crisis. Paul reminds his young pastor/reader Timothy of how Moses had to deal with opposition against the fake magicians in the courts of Pharaoh (see Exodus 7:11; 2 Timothy 3:8). Jesus preached through Galilee, Samaria and Judea among hostility, mockery and pretenders. Whenever one reads the book of Acts, it is clear that the more the church was persecuted, the bolder the preaching became and the further advanced the Gospel message went into the far corners of the then known world. Why? The past and present crises required Biblical preaching.

Preachers, keep on preaching no matter what

Think of how God has called great preachers in times of great difficulty. Whenever New England Christianity was dying on the vine in the 17th century, Jonathan Edwards was called of God to preach - sparking forth the first great awakening. Or how about the rapid social and moral revolutions that have rocked the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries? God raised up preachers such as Billy Graham, Jim Cymbala, W.A Criswell, Adrian Rogers, D. James Kennedy, Steven J. Lawson, John MacArthur, Charles Stanley and others, as well as innumerable pastors across Bible believing pulpits across the world. 

The Lord has so designed and so commanded that preaching be done in this present crisis. As we close out today's post, Paul's words in 1 Timothy 4:13-16 ought to be a word to preachers everywhere to stay true to their calling and task to preach His word, not matter what:

"Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you."