Why ordination? To connect us to Jesus Christ through an unbroken chain that goes back to Christ. That we might be unified in Christ. The doctrine of the laying on of hands is to build unity in the Church of God.
Have you ever attended a Sabbath service, and something happened that was really memorable? Now most of us who give sermons would like to think it's our sermons; but I know better than that. Sometimes I can't remember two weeks later what I spoke about. But there have been a few sermons that are memorable that I have remembered. Sermons that touched me, and motivated me and gave me one of those "Ah ha" moments where I discovered something new and learned something. I'm talking about something out of the ordinary. Maybe it was an ordination. Maybe it was the "Blessing of Little Children."
I think of one time we had the "Blessing of Little Children" ceremony after the feast, which we traditionally do a couple of weeks after the feast, and I was asking a blessing on the baby that I call the "church baby." You know, usually the congregation has the "church baby" that's very popular, you know, whenever the parents bring the baby in. You know, all the members grab it and pass it around. You know, it becomes kind of adopted by all of these aunts and uncles. It becomes the "church baby," and while I was laying hands and asking God's blessing on this baby there were flashes of cameras. It was the first time I had experienced that during the "Blessing of Little Children," and I raised my head up and there were about eight or ten people there with cameras taking a picture of this adopted baby for the entire church. They were taking pictures I guess for their albums or discussions or whatever, but it kind of surprised me, and I still remember that. It was out of the ordinaries; something rather unusual.
I remember another time I was giving a sermon in our local congregation in Delaware, and we met there in a small school gymnasium. And while we were having services there was a thunderstorm going on which is not uncommon for this part of the country, or up there, and all of a sudden we heard a big clap of thunder outside, and all the lights went out. And here we were a congregation in a gymnasium and it got black. Then suddenly the emergency lights near the exits went on and the power was gone, the PA system went down. It was a room, gymnasium a little larger than this room full of people and so I yelled, "Let's just remain seated for awhile. Perhaps the power will come on in a few minutes."
And we waited there. One of the deacons ran outside and checked, and came back in and reported that a transformer near the school, on the school grounds, had been hit and we weren't anticipating the power getting turned on. And sure enough, it was out over night and it didn't come back on so we concluded with an early hymn and the prayer and we let everybody go home. And I still remember that. It was the first time I've ever had a sermon interrupted in the middle and wasn't able to finish it. So the next week I finished my sermon.
But I think one that I remember very, very well, one Sabbath, was when I was much younger, I don't remember exactly how old I was, but Mr. Herbert Armstrong was giving the sermon that day, and he came out on the stage, now this is in Pasadena, California; and he announced that his mother was ninety years old. And he had her pushed out on the stage in a wheelchair, and he presented her with ninety red roses. And I still remember that to this day. What a special occasion that was, and then he said, "My mother's favorite scripture is Psalms 133." And he turned to the Psalm and read it, and he gave a sermon based on that Psalm. I'd like to turn there and read that Psalm to all of us today. Psalms 133, it's credited to David. It's a short Psalm, for us it's only three verses.
Psalms 133:1 - Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Verse 2 - It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.
Verse 3 - It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; from (for) there the Lord commands (commanded) the blessing — life forevermore.
A part of the education tour to Israel included a trip to Dan; north Dan, where Mt. Hermon is today. Mt. Hermon is a peak of nine thousand two hundred and eighty feet, and it looks down over the beautiful, what must have been beautiful forest during the time of David and the northern part of Israel today out and around the Israel/Lebanon borders. It's a gorgeous area, and Mt. Hermon oftentimes has snow on it all year long, being near ten thousand feet of elevation, and on a good day if you're up on Mt. Hermon, you can see the ocean. You can see the Mediterranean. You can see all the way down to where the mountains go down to where Jerusalem is and the ridge of the mountains.
It's just a beautiful vantage point for seeing all of Zion. And because it is snow-capped, and from it flows melting snow during the spring and the summer, down to the rivers, and as I said, you could talk to the Kennebecks, or the Phelps, or the Johnsons, and they can tell you first-hand how beautiful that area is, and the waterfall that comes down into the small ponds that are there at the bottom of the waterfall.
I remember it vaguely. I was there back in 1988, and I remember how beautiful it was. And from there, of course, that's the headwaters of the Jordan River. From there the waters flow down into the sea of Galilee, and into the Jordan, and go all the way south down into the Dead Sea. And right along that verdant valley is where a lot of irrigation takes place today; a lot of the current crops that are harvested in Israel today are watered from that water source.
Unity is compared in verse 3 to this beautiful, abundant, feeding of life, if you will, mountain. It's also compared to, as it says in verse 2, ... the precious oil poured down upon the head, ... of Aaron, running down on the beard..., the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.
When Aaron was anointed as the high priest apparently it was quite an occasion, and apparently the anointing was a little different than we do today. I've often wondered if we'd have less anointing if we did it the way they did it for Aaron; you know, where you pick up the bottle of oil, and you pop open the cork, and you (glg, glg, glg sound), you know, pour it over his head. It says, "Oil dripped down on his beard, and down onto his garments," and it was a beautiful occasion.
In this small section of verse I think the obvious question is, "What is uniting about these metaphors?" I particularly want to focus on this example of Aaron's anointing. We trace this concept of anointing and ordination, the laying on of hands back to the patriarchs. And I'm sure we can think of the examples of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and how they laid their hands on their sons and their grandsons, as you may recall through the book of Genesis, and into the book of Exodus. And then Aaron and his sons, as the high priests, through the anointing and the laying on of hands; and we find that in Exodus 29.
In Numbers 27 it says, "Moses laid his hands on Joshua and commissioned him as the Lord instructed."
And then in Deuteronomy 34:9 it says, "And now Joshua the son of Nun was filled (full) of the spirit of wisdom, because (for) Moses had laid his hands upon him;..." The early kings of Israel and Judah were also segregated and chosen through the same process. You may remember the anointing of Samuel and David, and the laying on of hands of Saul by Samuel.
Well, today I'm going to talk about the laying on of hands for ordination. What does it mean historically, and for us today? How should we view the ordained in our church?
Next weekend, as we heard in the announcements, we're going to have nearly three hundred and fifty elders and wives together in Cincinnati to make some important decisions about the future of the church. Is it more than just a convention of delegates? I know this will be a series of meetings that we've had for several years, and do we begin to take it for granted? Does it become mundane for us? How should we view that conclave that will occur next week, and is there anything that we can do to help those elders and their wives prepare for that meeting? And I think it has a great deal to do with this concept of separating apart and ordination. Let's go to Mark 3:14. I'd like to read verses 14 and 15.
Mark 3:14 - Then He appointed twelve,... Now the King James Version says ordained, and the word from which we get this word appointed in the New King James, from which I'm reading, means ordain, set aside in a similar fashion as what we read about for Aaron, for those patriarchs in the Old Testament, for the kings of ancient Israel and Judah. ...He ordained (appointed) twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach,
Verse 15 - and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons. We see Christ, Himself, ordaining the twelve. Now this is significant because it started an unbroken chain. I'd like to talk about that a little bit today.
In fact, if you like titles – you know, Mr. Smith gave you a title. The title of my sermon is: "The Unbroken Chain." It's sobering to me to think, and I was reminded of this, when I was ordained several years ago by the minister who ordained me. He says, "Dave, have you ever thought that when Christ began this process in the New Testament when the church began, that He ordained the apostles, who ordained elders, who ordained elders, who ordained deacons, who ordained deaconesses? This process of ordination began a chain that continues to this day, two thousand years later, and there's something very important about that chain that unifies the church.
For me that was a very sobering thought and I've thought about it many times since; how important ordination is, the unbroken chain.
Let's go to Acts 1, because it continued. I'd like to follow this chain for a little bit. It continued after Christ ordained the twelve in Acts 1:21, and that's because one of the twelve, of course, lost sight of his calling. The son of perdition as Christ referred to him. And Judas disqualified himself and they replaced him. So we read here in Acts 1:21 –
Acts 1:21 - "Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
Verse 22 - beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."
Verse 23 - And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
Verse 24 - And they prayed and said, "You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen
Verse 25 - to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place."
Verse 26 - And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered among (with) the eleven apostles. He became the twelfth. They had a process here of selection. You can read our paper on governance, and it talks about the various processes that took place for picking leadership through the scriptures. The particular process here is they narrowed it down to two, and they took these two, and they cast lots, and the lots decided which one would be among the two. And he was then ordained as an apostle. He became, like I said, part of the twelve. He was selected.
Today the United Church of God has a process for selecting elders. You may not know about it. I thought I would take a little time to tell you because it's a very important process. As a part of ministerial services I see that process, and I'm actually part of it; and I think it's a very good process, and when we get further into this message and we start reading about some of the qualifications of elder I think you can see why it's so important. But an elder must prove himself by his fruits; same with a deacon or a deaconess, by what they do, and how they serve in the church. Like I said, we'll get to that list a little later. And then the pastor consults with the leadership in the congregation and they come to an agreement that yes, this man, or this woman should be put forward.
Now deacons and deaconesses are ordained locally; the consultation of the local leadership by the pastor, but elders go on to the next level which is to go - the application and the recommendation then goes to the regional pastor, and the regional pastor interviews the elder; talks to the elder, gets to know him. Prays and fasts as the pastor did now a second time, and then recommends the elder if he sees fit to ministerial services.
The recommendation then comes to ministerial services, and ministerial services prays and fasts, and they examine the credentials. They examine the recommendations. In some cases they might even interview the man, and if he passes that particular level, then his recommendation is passed on to the Council of Elders. And the Council of Elders then considers, with prayer and fasting, the recommendation for the elder to be ordained. Then if the Council of Elders approves him then permission is then granted to the pastor, and he ordains the elder in the local congregation.
So it's quite a process, as you can see. And there's good reason for this process just as there reason for the process that the early church undertook here in the case of Mathias. The process safeguards the importance of ordination. And that's one of the points that I want to make today that the ordination to eldership is a very important responsibility the church undertakes, and also that the elder assumes when he's ordained.
Now I want to talk about that a little bit because all of that contributes toward the unity of the church where we began our discussion on this subject. Let's go to Acts 14 because this process continued. And again I'd like you to think about this unbroken chain that went from Christ to the apostles, from the apostles now to other elders, including deacons and deaconesses, which is an office of ordination. What we find in Acts 14:23 –
Acts 14:23 – And so when they had appointed (again the same word that can mean ordination) elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So we don't treat the ordination of an elder lightly, the United Church of God. I appreciate that. And administration takes that process very seriously. It's important to us in the church that our leaders are qualified, well qualified to be leaders. It's a very important chain.
In the book of Acts we read about deacons who were assisting the apostles in baptizing even as the church was growing extremely fast, very rapidly in those early days. The apostles actually would follow the deacons, and ask God to give people the holy spirit. So the deacons had the authority to baptize but they weren't ordained with the authority to ask God's blessing of the holy spirit on those people. The apostles followed them and then asked for that gift of the holy spirit.
Now today, some of that has been lost in mainstream Christianity. Many, many times I've been out on visits, and people have said... you know, I've asked people, "Are you baptized? Are you learning about the truth of God and are you baptized?"
"Oh, yes I was baptized as a baby." Perhaps if they're Catholic. "Or I was baptized, you know, when I was a teenager. I was baptized later in life and I have no need to be re-baptized."
And we'd go through some scriptures; mainly Acts 19, and the example of Paul who re-baptized people who were baptized with John's baptism; a genuine baptism, and they had never had the laying on of hands. And oftentimes I'll ask these people, "Have you had the laying on of hands?"
And they'll go, "What's that?" Somebody was telling me just recently that one of the real famous televangelists today, Joel Osteen. You know, he has thousands in big stadiums and he's a very charismatic speaker. He gave a very effective message, and he says, "All you need to do now is just close your eyes and pray with me," and he made this short prayer, and afterwards he opened his eyes and he said, "There now, if you've accepted Jesus Christ, you're now saved." See, it was that simple. "You're now saved." No baptism. No laying on of hands for the reception of the holy spirit. They're now saved. They have access to the holy spirit. So in our religious world today, this concept that I'm refreshing us in regarding the laying on of hands, rarely takes place. The process is much different.
Now let's go to Acts 8 because something very interesting is introduced here in Acts 8. I described to you earlier how that the deacons would often go ahead because there were so many people being drawn and called in these early days of the growth of the church, and in this particular chapter we read about the deacon, Philip, who was going to Samaria just north and west of Jerusalem, and he's preaching. Let's pick up the story in verse 12. It says:
Acts 8:12 - But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.
Verse 13 – And then Simon himself (also) believed;... And the church's taught that maybe this is Simon Magus, famous magician that lived in Samaria at the time. You can read about him in the Encyclopedia Britannica, the eleventh edition particularly has a long accounting of his biography. ..."Simon, himself, also believed,"... it says in verse 13, ... and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and he was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.
Verse 14 – And now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John(to them,)
Verse 15 - who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. So, again we see this example where the deacons were charged with the responsibility in baptizing, and then the apostles came along later because they had been charged with the mantle, they had been ordained with the authority to lay hands on people for the reception of the holy spirit.
Like I said, some of this knowledge and process has been lost in our Christian world today. I've met many people, one fellow who ordained himself. He baptized himself in a bathtub; he laid hands on himself for the reception of the holy spirit; then he ordained himself as a minister in his home. He did this for himself. But clearly, there is something said about responsibility and authority that we're gonna see very clearly leans toward unity, and how important this process is. Continuing on,
Verse 15 – The apostles, when they came down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
Verse 16 - For as yet (He) the holy spirit had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Verse 17 - Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Verse 18 - And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given,... he wanted that power. He wanted the authority to be able to lay hands on others. And so...he offered them money,
Verse 19 - saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
Verse 20 - But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought ( that) the gift of God could be purchased with money! I really like the Phillips' translation of this verse. It says, "You and your money go to hell" is basically what the Phillips says. Peter said it in no uncertain terms. "No, there is no way you're getting the power of the holy spirit, and there's no way you're gonna be ordained with the authority to lay hands on others. It's not gonna happen.
And as I said, if you read that section in the Encyclopedia Britannica you'll see where Simon went on ahead and through his trickery actually, it's assumed that he founded another religious system, when he couldn't receive God's holy spirit. He then became one of the first self-appointed elders. He appointed himself.
It reminds me of a story I once heard about a fella who got shipwrecked on a desert island, and apparently he was undiscovered there for several years because he built a community on the island. He actually had built his house, and he built a storage building that he called the store, and he had a main street, and a square, and he was there for years and years and years, and he'd built these buildings on a desert island. And finally the smoke from one of his fires was seen across the horizon, and a plane came, and they called in rescuers, and they landed, and they went to the island, and they saw what this man had done.
They were gonna rescue him and they said, "Well you've built a city out here single-handedly. This is wonderful." And they said, "Can you give us a tour?"
And he said, "Sure." And he started touring along, and he said, "This is my house. This is the store. You know, we go around and collect coconuts and things and I put them in there. And this is the store, and this is the church. And they looked, and it was a little bigger building, and they were impressed he had a church there. This was a wonderful thing.
And they looked across the square and they saw another fairly large building and they said, "What's that?"
And he said, "That's the other church."
And they said, "What's that for?"
And he said "Well I got upset with this church, and I went over there and built another one."
And when you look at our mixed up religious world that's almost the way it is, isn't it? Sometimes can't even agree with ourselves, so we go across the street and start another church; another religion.
I've gotta tell you that after I resigned in 1995, and I started interviewing for jobs. It was before "United" became United Church of God, and I went for a job interview. And I was interviewing for this job that was working for an advertising agency, and the interviewer looked over my resume and saw that I'd spent twenty-four years as a pastor at that point; and he said, "Why'd you quit?" He said, "Was it sex or money?"
It shocked me, "What?"
He says, "That's generally the only reason ministers quit or are fired." He says, "Most guys don't come looking for jobs like this," he said. He says, "They just go across the street and start a new church."
I said, "Well yeah, you've got a point there; most do, don't they?" I didn't get the job, needless to say. But I was a little surprised by the interview, and the question that he asked.
Let's go to Hebrews 6. Ever since Simon, you know we've seen a lot of people come along and appoint themselves as leaders, or ministers, or would be ministers; and there's actually a lot of that today; a great deal of it. I'd like to go to Hebrews 6 because in Hebrews 6: 1-2 we find the basic doctrines of the church outlined. In one of those basic doctrines of the church is exactly what I'm talking about today, the laying on of hands. There are seven listed here beginning in:
Hebrews 6: 1 - Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection,... that's the seventh, the doctrine of spiritual maturity and spiritual growth... not laying again the foundation of repentance... doctrine one,... faith... doctrine two,
Verse 2 - ... the doctrine of baptisms,... doctrine three; the doctrine ...of the laying on of hands,...doctrine four, ... (of) the resurrection from (of) the dead, five, and (of) eternal judgment, six. So here we have seven basic doctrines of the church; and one of those is the concept of what we're talking about today, the laying on of hands. And I have chosen to focus on one of the five occasions in which we have the laying on of hands in God's church.
You might just perform a little test for yourself right now. What are those five occasions? How familiar are we with this basic doctrine of God's church, the doctrine of the laying on of hands? What are the five occasions that we find scripturally that the church engages today where we have the laying on of hands?
Well, number one from James 5 is the anointing of the sick.
Number two is, of course, to ask God ‘s holy spirit upon those who are repentant, and baptized. We just read about that here in the book of Acts.
Number three is the blessing of little children, following the example of Christ.
Four, is the marriage ceremony where we ask for God's blessing upon a couple when they're married.
And fifth is an ordination to a spiritual office.
I've chosen today to focus on this principle of ordination because I think it's very important. Like I said, mainstream Christianity today is not, by and large, acknowledged this doctrine. The commonly held belief today is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. That is, if you accept Jesus into your heart, and you receive God's spirit, like I explained from Joel Osteen's sermon, then you begin to examine your own gifts and those gifts can be interpreted as then gifts of God's spirit which you can turn into ministries.
And like you, I've talked to many people who think they have a ministry that, you know, may be writing cards to the sick. That's their ministry. Their ministry is mechanics. I talked to one guy who thought he had a ministry of repairing cars. You know, that's what he did. He took it very conscientiously. This was his ministry. He had this ministry. He'd taken on ministry. He became self-appointed; not unlike Simon. He felt he needed a ministry. He got involved in a ministry, and I admit, like I said, a few of these people over the years. And one question I generally ask them is, "Who ordained you, and are you part of the unbroken chain?"
And they go, "Ordained? What's that? What do you mean? I don't need to be ordained, you know. God gave me a vision; or God showed me; or God explained it to me; or I found my gift."
Or, whichever way they explain it; that becomes their ministry.
Now, can you see how, when people appoint themselves rather than being in the unbroken chain that that creates division? And that began to create division when Simon began the process. Instead of one church then there were two, and then as other self-appointed ministers came along there became three, and four, and five, and multiple thousands; hundreds of thousands to this day. It amplified.
A lot of people credit Martin Luther to the beginning of this teaching of the priesthood of all believers because, of course, he was fighting against the priesthood of the Catholic Church which was very abusive during the 16th Century, and he wanted to throw off those shackles. He's credited with promulgating and writing about, and pushing forward this doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.
But really it happened a long time before that. I won't turn there, but we are all familiar with Numbers 16:1-3, for there were a group of people, even led by some princes, who objected to the ordination of Aaron; which we read about in Psalms 133. It was a beautiful thing. They objected to the ordination of Aaron.
And they said in Numbers 16:3; they said, "You take too much (up)on yourselves. For all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why (then) do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?"
And they said, "Well, you're exalting yourself." And yet we know that he was ordained by God; which was a special thing, through Moses. Very special! And that was to be carried on through his descendants down through the family of Aaron, and they were to be the high priests in that Levitical system.
There were two main points that the critics in Numbers 16 brought forward. One is disrespect God's selection, and secondarily the idea of the priesthood of all believers, and it began in Numbers 16.
It's interesting, I read a book not too long ago; I was looking for information on something else and I came across an interesting section that addresses itself to the topic I'm talking about today, and that is ordination. It's a book entitled, How We Got Our Bible by T. C. Smith. He says, on page 26 and 27, - talks about a 2nd Century personality by the name of Montanus.
He says, "Montanus was a pagan priest from Phrygia who was converted to Christianity. After awhile he believed that he was the mouthpiece of the holy spirit. He delivered utterances in a state of ecstasy...." Pentecostalism in the 2nd Century. "He taught that the end of the age was near, and that Jesus would again return to Earth again in Phrygia, not Jerusalem. The aim of Montanus was to receive the spirit of prophecy that had been prominent in the 1st Century church." So he was trying to revive this spirit that he felt had been lost.
"Montanus preached a rigid asceticism." Because he thought the church was going in the wrong direction. "He taught a universal priesthood of believers that included women. He championed the right of each individual to perform functions related to the ministry of the church." This is in the 2nd Century. "In this, he was hostile to the centralization of the power of the Episcopate. Montanus insisted that God alone, by the endowment of the holy spirit made ministers. This claim was made in opposition to human ordination." That sentence struck me from this book. "This claim was made in opposition to human ordination. The onslaught of the movements that were led by Marcion, the Christian Gnostics, and Montius threatened the unity of the 2nd Century church."
Can we then see how important this process is for the unity of the church, and why it was used as an example in Psalms 133 as a symbol of unity? The unity of the church was threatened by this 2nd Century movement known by the familiar characteristics of the universal priesthood of all believers.
Basically they had rejected the authority of the church. They had rejected the ordained leadership of the church, and as such, they started another branch of the church; several branches as I mentioned in the quote – Marcion, the Christian Gnostics, Montanus. Three branches sprung out in the 2nd Century era.
It's really interesting when you go to the writings of the Apostle Paul that he derived his authority from his ordination; not from the fact that he had been specially called, "out of season," as he defined it. Not by the fact that he had been taught by Christ personally in the wilderness; but he defined his authority in the ministry by his ordination; which I think is pretty interesting.
If anybody could claim kind of a supernatural intervention, and say, "Well, God called me, and God directed me to preach the gospel," it could have been Paul; but he didn't. Paul made himself subject to the authority of the church, and it was those Apostles who ordained Paul, as he says in I Timothy 2:7. He leaned upon his ordination. He says, "For which I was ordained..." He made himself subject to the authority of the church and that's what created the unity among the church in the 1st Century because they all understood that process.
I'd like to go to I Timothy, where Paul talks about this. I Timothy 3, and I'd like to read - we sometimes don't read this section publicly unless we're having an ordination, and there's none planned that I know of. But I thought it would be good just to rehearse this a little bit. I Timothy 3:1-7. When we read these lists and the qualifications, not only does it raise our respect for the office of the elder, the office of the ordained, but it also – and I read this frequently – it reminds me, as an elder, of my responsibility as an elder. And I find that very sobering; very, very sobering.
I Timothy 3:1 - This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.
Verse 2 - A bishop or an elder then must be blameless;... that is, he has to have a good reputation. He has to have moral, strong pinnings, and be upstanding. ...the husband of one wife,...He's a one woman man. That's what it means; not someone who has a number of women. ... temperate, ...conservative, in other words when it comes to alcohol and food, things like that, ... sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, and able to teach;
Verse 3 - not given to much wine, not violent,... doesn't have a temper that he loses, ...not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
Verse 4 - one who rules his own house well, having his children in subjection (submission) with all reverence
Verse 5 - (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);
Verse 6 - not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
Verse 7 - Moreover he must have a good report (testimony) among those who are outside the church, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. And then he goes on to describe deacons.
Verse 8 - Likewise deacons ...and deaconesses, the qualifications they have to have. It's not something that we take lightly in the Church of God, and I appreciate that because it is the continuation, I believe, and this takes some faith, although I've become a history enthusiast of church history to try to follow this chain; the unbroken chain of ordination that goes all the way back to Christ knowing that somewhere along the line somebody who became self-appointed didn't pop up and say, "I want to be the next minister," and he ordain people, or ordain people who ordain people; but an unbroken chain that goes back to Christ when He ordained the twelve; who ordained elders in the 1st Century church, who ordained elders who went into the 2nd Century church, and the 3rd, and the 4th, all the way down until today because recognizing that responsibility and that authority brings unity to the church. And it's very important where everybody's not doing what they think is right in their own eyes but there's some centralization and authority in the church in the eldership.
Let's go over I Timothy 4:13, Paul admonished Timothy. He says, "Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
Verse 14 - Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, or by preaching, with the laying on of the hands of the eldership." He says, "Remember that gift that came through this process." Paul was ordained by the Apostles. Paul ordained Timothy. Timothy was commissioned here to ordain other elders.
Verse 15 - Meditate on these things;... Paul admonished him to think about this; think about why ordination contributes toward unity in the church, and how important that is. ...give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. That your growth may be evident to all.
In Chapter 5:17, it's on the same page in my Bible it says, "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine." Paul is saying that we should respect the eldership, understanding the process and understanding what it symbolizes, and understanding that they're part of that "unbroken chain."
Now it's a little awkward for me, as an elder, to talk about this, as you might understand; but somebody has to say it some time. And I'm not asking you to respect or honor me. I thought in the context of this General Council of Elders that's happening this weekend that we consider this process, and how it contributes to unity and the authority of the church, and how that unifies us together.
The Greek word here for honor means value, esteem of the highest degree, it says of the dignity itself. I would like to encourage you to pray for the conference; to pray about the decisions that are made. If you have the time to fast about it. We know how important that is. To pray and fast about the decisions that the elders will make, in the process that we have adopted in United. That it would be according to the will of God. I think that's important; important to the unity of the church, this process.
Let's go to Ephesians 4:11. We read here - And He (Himself) gave some to be apostles,... And Christ literally did that. We read about that. How He ordained the twelve, or the eleven, as we read. ... some prophets, some evangelists, (and) some pastors,(and ) some teachers,
Verse 12 - for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry,... God designed this very carefully. He laid the example in the Old Testament through the patriarchal system, and then the kings of Israel and Judah. And then in the New Testament for the eldership of the church, including the deacons and deaconesses; for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. That's the purpose of a solid, one-minded, unified eldership and ministry; to unify the church, to bring us together.
Verse 13 - till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect, that is, a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Verse 14 - that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine,... This is the reason. To prevent doctrinal schisms in the church. Because we recognize the responsibility and authority of the eldership; that unbroken chain that has come down from Christ. That we should ... not be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
Verse 15 - but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things unto Him who is the head—Christ—.
The purpose of the laying on of hands is to unify the body. The purpose of the laying on of hands for ordination is to develop unified leadership in the body. I hope you will take the opportunity next week after services to go over to the Holiday Inn Eastgate and meet those elders; re-acquaint yourself with them. Talk with them. I would encourage you to do that. Tell them that you've been praying for them and what they will decide at this General Conference of Elders.
Why ordination? To connect us to Jesus Christ through an unbroken chain that goes back to Christ. That we might be unified in Christ. The doctrine of the laying on of hands is to build unity in the Church of God.
