THE BADGE OF ORDINATION

Reading about the redemptive purpose and importance of preaching, you might be tempted to respond with a bit of indignation: "Hey, the common believer is important, too. You don't have to be a preacher to serve the Lord!"

No argument here! In fact, one of the most gratifying things we observe in the broader Christian community lately is a growing commitment to the idea of the "office of every believer." What is meant by that term is that each Christian is called to follow Christ by living his or her life in all its facets in the service of God. Many Christians who grew up believing that there was a wide gulf separating sacred from secular and clergy from laity now understand that all of God's people, not just a select few, are given spiritual gifts to be used in His service; that all of life, not just church, is the arena of service to the King of kings. Rich, meaningful, and to the point are the words of question and answer 32 of the Heidelberg Catechism, one of the most widely recognized, and certainly the most pastoral, of the creeds of the Reformation churches:

Q. But why are you called a Christian?

A. Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus a partaker of His anointing, that I may confess His Name, present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him, and with a free and good conscience fight against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures.

But affirming the office of every believer does not prevent us from affirming at the same time the unique calling and mandate that God gives to the office of pastor or preacher in the New Testament church. In other words, the fact that all Christians are to serve God in all of life does not contradict serving by being ordained into the gospel ministry. Ephesians 4:11-12 makes the relationship between the ordained servants of God and the whole of the congregation clear:

It was he [Christ] who gave some to be...pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up....

An illustration will help make the point. Children who grew up before the 1990s remember well the neighborhood policeman-the "beat cop." In those days you didn't hear of police brutality or corruption; neither was society so mobile and dangerous that police needed squad cars-sheet-metal shields for the gladiators of today's streets. Then they were visible, identified with the neighborhood, trusted friends. The kids gathered around the cop on the corner, hypnotized by the gun in its leather holster, impressed with the shining badge on his breast pocket.

Many of us especially enjoyed watching the policeman stand in the middle of a busy intersection to direct traffic. Seemingly impervious to the dangers of swerving cars or failing brakes, he stood his ground, conducting hands and arm in movements of absolute authority-Leonard Bernstein could not have had greater control of the New York Philharmonic! Seldom was that authority challenged; when it was, a steely glare put the fear of the law back into the driver's heart.

As we grew older, however, the intrigue waned. We learned to drive, learned the rules of the road, and discovered that directing traffic at an intersection was not as complicated as, say, neurosurgery; not even so complicated as cooking a meal so that potatoes, carrots, and meat finish at the same time, not even so complicated as a computer! There were times, frankly, when we all believed that any ordinary citizen could have done as good a job as the officer did.

Only one problem. He had the badge and we didn't. And that made all the difference in the world. That badge authorized him. It, and the commission it represented, gave him the duty and the right to enforce the law, to bring order amid the chaos of rush hour traffic. It was his seal of ordination to office.

It's the same idea that operates in Scripture concerning the office of preacher. Let's trace it to see what it involves.

Anointing to Special Service in the Old Testament

Already in the book of Exodus, at the beginning of Israel's life as a covenant nation, God set certain persons and things apart for special service to Him. In chapter 30, amid the instructions for making the Tabernacle utensils, God provides the recipe for "holy anointing oil," which was to be used. Then he says:

Use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony, the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories….You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy. Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so that they may serve me as priests (Ex. 30:26-30).

Clearly, consecration to special service did not imply that only these utensils and individuals were special to God, nor that He expected less in the way of loving and obedient service from His people as a whole than from them. Quite the opposite was the case. They were "set apart" to remind, instruct, and enable the entire congregation that all of Israel was to "be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Lev. 19:2).

Later in Israel's history, anointing was extended to the other offices of king and prophet as well. In 1 Samuel 9:16 the Lord commanded Samuel to anoint Saul to be king; in 10:1 we read that he is to be "commander over his [God's] inheritance" (NKJV). A remarkable notion, indeed! But Saul failed in his task, so God instructed Samuel to anoint David. The words of 16:13 are noteworthy, for they not only reflect a "setting apart" to a special service but the divine connection between ordination and God's empowering:

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him [David] in the presence of his brothers and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.

Prophets too were consecrated to their office. God instructed Elijah to anoint his successor Elisha (1 Kings 19:16). Whether or not he used oil is not clear (I assume he did, but the text is silent); what is clear is that the prophetic mantle or cloak he wore was the sign of his special commission before God and the people. As a sign of consecration, he threw it around Elisha's shoulders (1 Kings 19:19). When Elijah was taken to glory, the cloak fell into Elisha's hands (2 Kings 2:13f.) and served as witness to the transfer of ordination responsibility and authority. Elisha now wore Elijah's mantle and thus bore the Word of the Lord. Attended by the Spirit, he exercised prophetic authority. His task? To remind the people of the Lord that they were His special possession, called to live by His Word as before His face.

Ordination to special office in the Old Testament in no way negates the office of each believer, but is provided by God to equip and enable the faith and service of the believing community.

Anointing to Special Office in the New Testament

The coming of Jesus into human flesh cannot be fully appreciated apart from this notion of anointing or ordination to a special office. His baptism, for example, can only be understood in this connection: Jesus was set apart by His Father to "fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15), and in the very next chapter struggles mightily against the devil in the wilderness as prophet, priest, and king. Such was His office. Only a few chapters later, Jesus marvels at the faith of the centurion at Capernaum (8:10). What is so remarkable about his faith? It is that he understands Jesus' special position as the authorized One of God, the One who possesses the conferred authority (Greek: exousia) of the Father, the One who has merely to "say the word, and my servant will be healed." Indeed, faith is just that: acknowledging that Jesus is "the Christ," the One sent and anointed by God to fill the special office of Messiah (see 1 John 4:2-3). To receive and believe him is to enter fellowship with His Father!

Even as in the first chapter we traced Jesus' commission to His disciples to preach the gospel, so now we see that the assignment to preach comes as a calling to special office, and that it comes with authority. In Matthew 10:1, as well as in other passages in the Gospels, we read that Jesus "gave them power." The Greek word used here is "exousia," which means, "conferred authority, power to rule in someone's name." The disciples are to exercise their God-given authority by casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, and preaching that the kingdom has come, and doing so in Jesus' name (vv. 1,7-8). No power on earth can stop them, not even demons or death, for they speak, as did Jesus, with the (conferred) authority of God Himself. Such is the wondrous message of the great commission: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go…" (Matt. 28:18-19).

The apostle Paul, called and commissioned by God on the Damascus road, is highly conscious of his "exousia" in office. Although he does not want to "pull rank" on the Corinthian church, for example (2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10), he will not hesitate to do so if it is necessary to build them up in their faith. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, he defends his office by claiming to speak as one "approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel" (2:4). He also commends them because

when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe (2:13).

Following Paul's instructions, pastor Timothy is to work as one conscious of his ordination. In Paul's letter to this young minister, he lists many urgent pastoral duties Timothy is to be sure to perform. All of these require an authority which timid Timothy seems hesitant to acknowledge. He is, for example, to "command and teach" (1 Tim. 4:11), to "rebuke" sinners publicly (1 Tim. 5:20), to "warn" them (2 Tim. 2:14), to "preach….convince, rebuke, exhort…" (2 Tim. 4:2). All of this is only possible because Paul had ordained Timothy to office (2 Tim. 1:6), laying his own hands on him. And Timothy is not to forget it (2 Tim. 1:7-8).

* * * * * * * * *

In summary, then, Scripture speaks clearly of ordaining or anointing men to special service in and for the sake of the church of God. In both Old and New Testaments it is taught by example and command. In both, the sin of presuming to take the office apart from God's calling is condemned (2 Chron. 26:16; Acts 8:19). And while it is true that God calls his church a "chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God," such a glorious name and assignment given to all does not negate the special assignment given to some: to equip the body in its service to its Head. Such is the calling of the pastors and preachers of Christ's church. Such may well be yours.

Let's look more closely at this matter of "calling."

Continue to Are You Called to Preach?