Ordained!

Being ordained as an Overseer of God’s Church is not a promotion!  Rather, this is a very serious and sobering commission to self-sacrificial service.  My problem is that there is still so much self in me!  So I want to set before my mind’s-eye a manifesto for thinking and action as God, in His sin-passing-over grace, lays me before the precious saints at Brackenhurst Baptist Church.

When you consider the overwhelming weight of scripture which deals with the role of the under-shepherds of God’s people, the balance of the scale tilts to servanthood and not to lordship.

Consider the Apostle Paul’s words when it came to his role in the Church:

Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
2 Corinthians 1:24

In Acts 20:28, Paul reminded the elders in Ephesus of 5 important things:

• That they must be sober (“pay careful attention to yourselves”);
• That they must be selfless (“[pay careful attention] to the flock”);
• That they must be servants (“in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers”);
• That they must be stewards (“to care for the church [that belongs to] God”);
• That they must be soteriological (“obtained with his own blood”);

 

Therefore, in light of tomorrow morning’s ordination service and my future role as an overseer of God’s people, I will:

• Rise early daily in order to read the bible and solid Christian literature as I tend to my own soul for the sake of God’s people;
•  Ensure that each day I purposely think, carry on my heart and pray for my own wife and children (who are part of “the flock” as well);
•  Ensure that I remember before God’s throne the needs, burdens, joys and sorrows of the people that God has entrusted to my care (1 Samuel 12:23 must serve as a sobering aid in this regard)

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.

1 Samuel 12:23

• Remind myself by counselling myself (especially in times of difficulty and discouragement) that this is the calling of God on me and that this is not a voluntary office.  The Holy Spirit has placed me in Brackenhurst Baptist Church for this purpose of service to God and to God’s people.  If I am not convinced that the Holy Spirit has placed me in this office, then I should rather not be in the office.
• In light of the appointment of God’s Spirit, I will strive to set before my heart and mind the fact that I am a steward of something that does not belong to me and that therefore I am going to have to give an account to God with reference to how I cared for HIS Church.  I will use God’s warnings and reminders given in James 3:1 and Hebrews 13:17 to this end:

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

James 3:1

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Hebrews 13:17

•  I will set each Lord’s Day morning to afflict myself (see Leviticus 23:28+29) and to remind myself of the precious blood that was shed by Jesus Christ when he was cruelly crucified for my sin and for the sin of the people under my care.  His precious blood secured our ransom and he will not be short-changed in his purchase.  Therefore, I will pursue each soul under my care with this truth before my eyes.  The Lamb who was slain shall receive his reward in the lives of those whom he purchased!