The proper standard of ministerial deportment is a matter of vital importance, and should have our serious consideration. As a basis for our study, I shall read the Scripture admonition recorded in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 and chapter 6: 1-10.
I wish it were possible for us to visualize truly the scene which took place in heaven when Christ returned, having completed the work on earth which He freely volunteered to do in man's behalf. In our imagination let us picture the great God, the eternal Father, on the throne of His audience chamber. The Lord Jesus, our "Elder Brother," stands before the Father.
Down here on earth a number of men are bowed in earnest supplication. Who are these? we ask. They are the men whom Jesus has chosen as His ambassadors, the men who are to continue the work which He began. It is for these men that Jesus is pleading with His Father. He is asking that they be indued with divine power as they go forth from the familiar scenes of Jerusalem to carry the gospel, the message of reconciliation, into all the world.
Can we not picture those early disciples bowed, as it were, in the presence of God Himself, as Jesus presents their needs to the Father? My dear fellow ministers, I believe that is just where we should constantly be—bowed in the Divine Presence. Think what that would mean! What would we be thinking about? How would we conduct ourselves? The answer is obvious. We would be sober, thoughtful, spiritually minded men, if we realized we were in the audience chamber of the King of heaven, and that Jesus our Saviour was speaking to His Father about us and our needs. In such environment we would lose all interest in worldly things; we would be more concerned about the advancement of the gospel into all the world than we would in following the baseball score.
But let us go back to the scene: Here is this little group of men called into the Divine Presence; Jesus, the great Leader of the church, is praying for them; and in response to His prayer the divine unction is given as the great credential, and they start forth on their mission. From that time to the present, these divine credentials have passed down the line of true apostolic succession, and you and I have been called to bear these credentials and to help bring the gospel message to its finality.
Let us follow God's ambassadors as they have gone forth during the centuries: It is evident that many of them realize the solemnity of their mission, as representing the priesthood of the kingdom of heaven, and wherever found they are thinking, acting, and talking as if they stood in the Divine Presence. But there are others who, as they mingle with the people here and there, seem to lose the sense of the Divine Presence.
Not long ago I was traveling on the train, and in the same car was a group of ministers—not Seventh-day Adventists—on their way to attend their annual conference. During the entire trip, lasting about half a day, I with the other passengers in that car had to listen to a constant recital of frivolous, foolish, coarse jokes, which ought to bring the blush of shame to any cheek. I thought to myself, as I sat there and observed their conduct, Can it be that these men are representatives of the God of heaven? I trust that no Seventh-day Adventist minister will ever engage in that kind of thing under any circumstance, anywhere. But we need to be constantly on guard, lest the enemy bring us to defeat through forgetfulness of the high standard of the minister's deportment.
At times I have observed a spirit of lightness and frivolity coming in among some of our Seventh-day Adventist ministers and workers; and sometimes I have heard ministers, standing in the pulpit, tell stories to create a laugh. I have known some ministers to preach wonderful sermons, and perhaps the very same evening, when with a group of young people, act like clowns, thus destroying all their influence. The true ambassador for God, who lives as if in the Divine Presence, will be sober and thoughtful in the pulpit, and in all his business and social contacts.
In "Testimonies to Ministers" there is a chapter entitled, "A Solemn Appeal to Ministers—Call to a Higher Standard," which should be most diligently studied. From this chapter I wish to quote a few sentences:
"There are men working in the capacity of teachers of the truth, who need to learn their first lessons in the school of Christ. The converting power of God must come upon the hearts of the ministers, or they should seek some other calling. If Christ's amaassadors realize the solemnity of ureseriaing the truth to the people, they will be sober, thoughtful men, workers together with God. If they have a true sense of the commission which Christ gave to His disciples, they will with reverence open the word of God, and listen for instruction from the Lord, asking for wisdom from heaven, that as they stand between the living and the dead, they may realize that they must -render an account to God for the work coming forth from their hands. What can the minister do ,,,,ri.hout Jesus?—Verily, nothing." —Page 142.
As representatives of the God of heaven, to whom has been committed this great closing message, let us never for one moment forget that in deportment we are to be sober, thoughtful, and dignified under all circumstances.
In four short phrases I have sought to sum up the qualifications which underlie the minister's deportment:
1. Dignity without austerity.
2. Cheerfulness without hilarity.
3. Friendliness without familiarity.
4. Piety without pretense.
Washington, D. C.
*Remarks made at the Ministerial Association Pre-Conference Council, San Francisco, Calif.