Ordination Charge

A church board received the following chain letter in the mail.

“This chain letter is meant to bring you happiness. Simply sit down and make a list of five other churches that are tired of their ministers. Send a copy of this letter to all five churches on the list. Then send your pastor to the church on the bottom of the list. In one week, you will receive 15,625 ministers, and one of them should work out for you.

P.S. Don’t break the chain. One church did and they got their old minister back!”

It’s not easy being a pastor because there’s not much respect for the clergy today. I want to draw your attention to a letter written by the Apostle Paul when he was in chains. This “chain” letter was written to a young man named Timothy as a primer on pastoring. As Paul was nearing the end of his life, he passed along some pastoral wisdom before he passed on.

Turn to 2 Timothy 4:1-5: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Kyle, Jason, and Justin, hold on to this main idea: In light of eternity, always preach the weightiness of God’s Word to everyone.

To help us remember the various ministry mandates found in this passage, we’ll focus on who, what, where, when, how, and why. To make sure I’m not sent to a church on the bottom of the list, I’ll keep my comments brief (don’t roll your eyes).

1. Remember who. A leader must remember who he is really serving. If Paul had said, “I charge you,” we would pay attention. If he had written, “I charge you in the presence of God,” it would have been a strong admonition. Had he said, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,” it would have been a very forceful exhortation. If he would have written, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead,” it would have been off the charts.

But here’s what he said, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.” I don’t know how he could have charged this young man in ministry more seriously, emphatically, or urgently.

The term “appearing” was used of a Roman emperor’s visit to a town. Before he arrived, everyone would put everything in perfect order. Likewise, we’re called to minister with an eye towards the second coming of Christ.

Jonathan Edwards said he always, “endeavored to preach and act as if he had already seen the happiness of Heaven and the horrors of Hell.” Kyle, Jason and Justin, you are called to labor in the presence of Almighty God and the Lord Jesus Christ, before whom every heart will be exposed, and before whom we will ultimately give an account. Because of the certainty of judgment, the return of Christ, and His coming kingdom, we are charged with preaching with passion and ministering with urgency.

Kyle, Jason, and Justin, everyone you minister to is either on the narrow way to Heaven or on the wide highway to Hell. They are lost and need to be saved or they are saved and in need of sanctification. They need to be delivered from sin or discipled into the Savior. Whenever you preach, keep the horrors of Hell and the happiness of Heaven at the forefront of your mind and be reminded that people are headed to one or the other.

The preacher William Still of Aberdeen often said, “I never preach now without believing that something will happen that will last for all eternity.” When you preach about Hell, do so with tears in your eyes and when you preach Heaven, do so with joy on your face. Or, as Spurgeon was fond of saying, “When you speak of Heaven, let your face light up. When you speak of Hell, well then, your everyday face will do!”

Even though pastoring will not always be easy, God wants you to have a sense of weightiness as you handle His Word. Not only is the triune God serving as witness to your proclamation of the Word, but each of you will also give account before Him.