“Why Ministry”  6-22-08 (Occassion of Christopher Grove’s Ordination)  John 15:16A; I Cor. 3:5-9

There have been times in my life when I have looked at the traditions of the church, and have thought that it is layer upon layer of things added and added.  I have looked at many of these traditions like they are varnish added on a great piece of furniture, so much that you cannot see the real wood any longer, and there is a yellow hew given the wood that is not natural. 
                I believe, therefore, that it is important to look at the real heart of the matter, and to understand why we do what we do, every now and then.  This means discerning when to sand something off and when we need to just polish what is just a dusty finish.
                Today is a special and unusual day in the life of the church in which we will not only install a new minister but we will also ordain a new minister.  There have been people who have looked at the ministry and have just thrown out the whole idea (like the Quakers, the Amish, the Church of Christ, and the Mormons).  On the other hand the Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox see ordination as a sacrament.  John Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian church once said that he did not quarrel with the Roman Catholics over calling the laying on of hands a sacrament(Tracts vol. 3 291).  I can certainly see why some people get so angry at ministers that they just want to abolish the whole idea of ministry.  Some of this comes from the ego trips of some ministers who want to be seen as too high and mighty.  Some people want to put ministers on this pedestal- looking for someone who finally gets it right.  But ministers have what the Bible calls “clay feet.”  Ministers are just human beings, still on this side of heaven.  This means ministers make mistakes, forget, fail, sin, and all the rest that we humans do.  The church does limit the extent ministers can fail and still remain in the church.   I want us to explore together some of what the scriptures say about ministry.
I. WE ARE ALL CALLED TO BE BELIEVERS-  God calls all human beings into a relationship with Him.  He desires that none perish.  He has asked each of us to tell others about Him, and He has asked each of us to respond to His love, and not let it lay dormant in our lives.  The very first step in ministry is to believe.  I knew a fellow who went to seminary because he didn’t know if he believed or not.  He was on track to become a minister.  Ministers are called first to believe as all human beings are.  To not believe and still minister is to foster a hoax and bring shame on the church.  This doesn’t mean that ministers believe perfectly all the time.  There is a real balance between grace here and the call to set an example.  A minister does not proclaim his or her own faith.  A minister’s faith may vary.  But the minister is called to proclaim the faith of the church.  A minister must pray, “I believe, help Thou my unbelief.”  Every now and then someone will say something in gest like, “Preacher, can’t you make it rain? It’s so dry!”  My reponse is “I’m in sales not in management.”  There is a sense in which ministers are called to not manage the faith, but to proclaim it.   I knew a salesman when I worked for Dunlop Sports Company.  He didn’t like the new golf ball we put out called the DDH. He thought it was a waste of time and money.  He didn’t want to sell it.  Finally the vice president in a meeting said, “This is our product.  You can sell it or you can move on to another company.”  Turns out the guy stayed and had record sales and that golf ball saved the company for about 10 years.
We are all- each of us called to have faith.  But the minister is especially called to believe, and to share the faith of the church even in times of doubt.  Just because a minister’s faith is not perfect does not mean that faith is unnecessary to the ministry.  It is essential to the ministry, but it is essential to us all. 
II. ALL CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED TO MINISTRY-
A) GOD GIVES ALL OF US GIFTS- Every now and then I see a church sign that says, “Ministers: all the people.”  That is exactly right.  The word “minister” simply means “serve.”  We are all called to use the gifts God has given us to serve the Lord.  Every one of us has a gift.  It may be the gift of encouragement, or giving, or administration.  A minister may not know how to work a computer, but a minister better be good at preaching, teaching, and caring for people or they’re In trouble.   
B) WE MINISTER THROUGH OUR VOCATIONS- Each of us has a calling from God.  Each of us has a role to play, and an important one at that.  We cannot all be ministers.  When we lived in St. Louis there was a garbage strike.  Garbage piled up in the streets, some streets were closed they had so much garbage.  It became unsanitary.  A person might degrade a garbage worker, but what if we all were ministers and there were no garbage workers?  God has designed things so that we are dependent on each other to do our best at the job we are called to do.  A baseball team doesn’t need 9 centerfielders or 9 pitchers or 9 catchers- a team needs each other to do their specific job well.  I have a brother who is an engineer.  I cannot even pretend to be an engineer.  We all have different gifts and callings.  Our work is a way that we can express and embody our faith.  We are all called to glorify God where He places us.
C) WE ALL RE PRIESTS- We are called in scripture “a kingdom of priests.”  We all have one all-sufficient priest and that is Jesus Christ who sacrificed for us the perfect sacrifice for all time and all people.  He intercedes for us as a priest.  He mediates between us and the Father in a perfect way.  Because we have a great high priest,  the priestly work we do is done under the shadow and by the grace of His great work.  Rather each of us is to tell others about Jesus.  We are called to confess our sins not to the priest, but to one another.  The minister is not better than other people by nature.  We all stand on the same level- in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy.  The minister’s uniqueness lies in his or her function- preaching, teaching, and pastoral care.  But every believer is called to be a priest.  We are priests to one another.  Our baptism is our rite of ordination to be ambassadors for Christ, witnesses for him, and his servants.
III. ORDINATION- The word ordination comes from the Latin word for order (ordere).  Maybe you have heard of an order of monks (like the Benedictines) or an order of nuns (like Sisters of Mercy).  In some ways to ordain means you have become a part of a certain group and have been given certain orders or responsibilities.  
                There are certainly examples of ordination and calling into the ministry in the Bible. 
                A) CALLING- Many of these calls are unusual and miraculous.  These kinds of callings did not stop when the Bible stopped being written.  Of course there is the calling of Abraham to leave his home and go to the promised land and be a blessing (in effect a priest) to all nations. Then there was the calling of Moses at the burning bush.  Samuel was called by a voice in the night.  Elijah heard a still small voice of God telling him to ordain two kings and the prophet Elisha. Isaiah and Jeremiah had unique callings from God too.  In New Testament times Jesus called the twelve in different ways -some were told to leave their nets.  Paul had a vision on the road to Damascus.  In history there are different examples of calling as well.  St. Patrick had a vision of the Irish people calling to him, “We appeal to you holy servant boy, come and walk among us.”  Last week there were some terrible tornadoes in the Midwest, one of them hit a boy scout camp. That brought a lot of memories to me.  About 40 years ago I was in a boy scout camp- (the old Camp Barstow) we were all staying in three-sided adirondacks.  There were tornado warnings out.  The wind was terrible, and lightning was everywhere.  I heard the “train sound that you are supposed to hear when a tornado comes. I remember praying earnestly- “Lord if you get me out of this storm I’ll do anything- even become a minister.”  That was the first time I can remember thinking of going into the ministry.  That night two huge pine trees fell on either side of my cabin.  Turns out that seven tornadoes came through that part of the county.  We were all blessed that no one was hurt.
                B) ORDINATION- In the Old Testament, there are two chapters about ordination of priests.  In the New Testament there are several examples of ordination.  Paul and Barnabus were ordained as missionaries at Antioch by the laying on of hands.  The  church chose and ordained seven deacons to serve as well by prayer and the laying on of hands.  Paul told Timothy to not neglect the gift he received when the council of elders laid their hands on him (I Tim. 4:14). Timothy was told to not be hasty in the laying on of hands.   Martin Luther and John Calvin both indicated that having ministers was not absolutely essential to the church.  They insisted that only one thing is essential to the church and that is the Word of God in the Bible.  Ministers and their ideas come and go.  Yet, both Calvin and Luther also said that having ministers was very, very important so that the church would be run smoothly. 
                Ordination is always a privilege and never something to be demanded- like a right.  I sat in on the General Assembly’s committee that looked at ordination.  I heard people come in and say that they deserved to be ordained because they had a certain view point, or they felt they were neglected. 
                IV. Today there is a crisis in the church similar to the crisis that went on during the Protestant Reformation.  It is a crisis in which we are redefining ourselves and faith.  If we give into pure secularism we have lost our faith.  But if we refuse to listen to society we become irrelevant.  The answer is of course in the middle- but it is not just in the middle- it is found in trusting God and listening to what He is saying to the church through scripture and through providence.  We must love God not just with our emotions- our heart and soul, but also with our minds.  An old Princeton seminary professor said to never leave God when you go to your books nor to leave your books behind when you go to God.   
                My friend and mentor, John Leith, said that the crisis in the church today is a crisis not of academics, but a crisis of faith.  I really believe that is true.  If we do not believe that the God of the universe became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth then our evangelism means nothing, our social action and helping the poor is very short-lived, and our liturgy and worship is dry as dust.  There are better fund raisers, better people who help the poor, better counselors, better scholars than ministers.  But the minister is called and ordained to know the faith and communicate that faith with hope and strength to the church.  I believe it is possible to fool people like a con artist into coming to church.  But con artists do not last long, and the church cannot last long without ministers who really, sincerely believe.   In 1962 there were 6.1 million Presbyterians in the United States.  Today there are 2.2 million.  Now this is while the population is growing.  Numbers are only a measurement- like a thermostat- telling us something is really, really wrong. 
                So, I invite you to pray for your ministers, and especially our new associate pastor.  Encourage them in their faith and walk with the Lord.  Respect him as someone who has something to say.  A minister is not a super-human.  A minister is called by God to do certain work with certain gifts.  It is important, eternal work.  And I also will say this, that if there are some of you in the congregation today who have felt God tugging at you to go into the ministry- Seek to answer that call.  There is no more important time for good, godly people to go into the ministry than now.  The ministry is not something we should sand off and throw away. Rather it is an office that we must dust off and clean up.