Life of Christ 57
And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him,
and that he might send them forth to preach.
Mark 3.14
My dad praying over me at my ordination |
I believe scripture
teaches that the office of apostle ended with the death of John around AD 90,
but I also believe there are some practical lessons that can still be drawn
from the story of the calling of the Twelve (Mark 3.13-19) in our day, both for
preachers and those to whom they preach.
First, to be ordained as
a preacher in the Lord's work is a precious thing. 'This is a true saying, If a
man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work' (I Timothy 3.1). It
is a precious thing to be called by the Lord, and to be placed into ministry (I
Timothy 1.12) by Him. It is precious to be publicly marked by one of the Lord's
churches as one of His men.
I think of that moment
often on Saturday nights as I walk through our church auditorium to make sure
everything is in its place for the morrow. I look at my pulpit, built for me by
my own brother, and feel again in my heart the great responsibility with which
I am entrusted by the Lord and by my church. The call of the Lord upon my life
and a regular opportunity to preach the Word of God is very precious to me.
Secondly, those who
would be ordained as the Lord's men must, first and foremost, be with Him. No,
we cannot walk and talk with the physical Jesus as Peter, James, and John did
two millennia ago on the Judean hillsides, but we certainly can be with Him.
The call to preach is a call to walk with God. Being with Him protects me from
the inevitable temptations of ministry, such as pride of position, intellect,
and influence, or thinking that I am always right. Being with Him warms my
heart for what He loves, such as holiness, and the lost world, and His own
people. Being with Him rubs off on me, and I become like Him. Being with Him
teaches me Who He is, and forms me into His image, and this, in turn, allows me
to better minister as He would minister if He were here. To the extent that an
ordained minister spends time with God we will find the extent of that man's
understanding and application of what God actually designed New Testament
church ministry to be all about.
Thirdly, God's men must
preach. Preaching is forthtelling. Preaching is being God's herald. Preaching
is confronting the spirit of the age with the ageless commandments of an
unbending God. Preaching is laying out the reasons, and persuading and exhorting
and compelling men to yield to God.
Preaching is, by its
very nature, designed to be confrontational, which is why it is more and more
disliked in an increasingly permissive age. Yet it is this very confrontational
preaching, this delivering, without apology, of God's message that is so
desperately needed in our generation. It is needed by me. It is needed by my
family. It is needed by my city, my state, and my country.
Preaching is the primary
public ministry to which God's men are commissioned, and if they don't get
around to answering your email, forgive them. If they don't attend every
birthday party for every child in the church, forgive them. If they closet
themselves, hour upon hour, in private to dig out the truths of God's Word,
forgive them. If they step on your toes, or peel back your scalp just a little
now and then, forgive them. If they seem filled with a sense of the importance
of their message, forgive them. If they never rest satisfied with the level of
your relationship with God, and are always pushing you to grow, forgive them.
If they will brook no opposition or meddling with their preaching, forgive
them. If they insist that preaching maintain the place of primacy in the life
and services of the local church, forgive them. This is exactly their
commission.
The pastors on my ordination council, left to right: Ron Royalty, Tom Brennan, Joe Grimaldi, myself, Tom Grant, Bob Ross, Don Barth, and Michael Setser |
Beloved, the preachers
of our day are not apostles, but God is still in the preacher ordaining
business. They will not be hard to spot. We will notice them by their fervent
love for the Lord, by the way they walk with Him, by the resemblance they carry
to Him, by their high view of preaching, by their fearless proclamation of the
truth, and by their thirst for opportunities to minister in the Word.
Let us pray and beseech
Him that He will favor His church by calling some few from our midst.
If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 28, 'He Ordained Twelve'.
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