Ordination is important not only to the candidates and their families but to the church as well.
The minister and the congregation should be a blessing to each other. Unless they are, they can hardly be a blessing to the community. I want to mention some of these blessings and bring them to you in the form of nine beatitudes. The first five blessings come to the congregation as the result of the minister's life and work, and the next four blessings come to the minister as the result of the congregation's life and work. The first beatitude reads as follows:
1. Blessed is the congregation whose pastor knows that he is called of God, for they shall hear positive, soul-stirring sermons. No man can truly be a minister of God unless he knows that he is called of God. Like Paul, a minister should be able to say, "for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" (1 Cor. 9:16), and like Jeremiah, "there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot" (Jer. 20:9, R.S.V.). Ministers are not called or chosen by well-meaning parents, nor by fellow ministers, nor by respected teachers, nor by conference committees or conference presidents. They are called of God. They are men sent from God. Some are called, like Saul, while fighting the church; others are called from among the herdmen like Amos: then again there are those who are called like Moses while out in the desert by a burning bush; some are called in a vision, like Isaiah. No matter how or when or where they are called, they must be sure that the call is of God.
Speaking on this point, Ellen G. White says, "God has repeatedly shown that persons should not be encouraged into the field without unmistakable evidence that He has called them. . . . God knows the heart, and He knows whom to select."—Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 209.
God calls men, first of all, not to do something but to be something. It is true that the preacher is called to preach, but to be a preacher means more than being a fluent speaker. The question is not whether the minister can say that the preaching of the gospel is urgent, but whether he is experiencing an urgency in his own heart. The question is not whether he can quote from the Church Manual as to what authority is his, but whether he knows himself to be an instrument of God's authority.
A minister is God's man, to do God's work in God's time, by God's method, in order to bring men into fullness of God's salvation and to keep them there. If the minister knows he is called of God, he will also know he has a message from God, and he will preach it with passion and conviction. By this I do not mean there must be fuming and frothing, ranting and raving and beating of the air. God would look with disfavor upon such misbehavior. There should be a holy emotion under the control of the Holy Spirit, and this may be revealed in a quiet-mannered preacher as well as in one who has majestic eloquence. Genuine preaching is not necessarily measured by the volume of the voice, but rather by the volume of the heart. Anyone who can preach the great doctrines of Christ and not have his own heart warmed and touched should never enter the pulpit. To preach the doctrines of Christ without a holy feeling and a positive conviction is a dangerous undertaking.
A young Canadian minister remarked one day to a friend of his that preaching was no problem to him. He said, "I have often written a sermon and caught a salmon before breakfast." His friend replied, "All I can say is that I had rather eat your salmon than listen to your sermon." Evangelist Torrey said, "Study, study, STUDY the one Book and preach, preach, PREACH the one Book and teach teach, TEACH the one Book, the Bible, the only Book that has power to gather, and hold, and bless the crowds for any great length of time."—Quoted in HAROLD L. CALKINS, Master Preachers, p. 97. Blessed is the congregation whose pastor studies the Word, for his congregation will be fed.
4. Blessed is the congregation whose pastor has a sensible and consecrated wife, for they shall be glad in her presence. Many a minister has had more than ordinary success because of his wife's dedication, devotion, and good judgment. Others have done below-average work because the wife didn't manifest an interest in her husband's calling, nor was she interested in the people. The minister is a leader and a shepherd. There are a variety of sheep in every flock. Some are lame and can't walk very well. Some are healthy and others are sick. Some are young and foolish, others are old and set in their ways; yet the pastor—the shepherd—loves them all and never shows partiality to any specific group. The wife, too, must keep this in mind and never show preference to any sheep. She should not associate with the healthy only. The surest and quickest way for the wife to ruin her husband's influence, and hers too, with the congregation is to attach herself to a certain kind of sheep commonly known as a church clique. Church cliques, if a pastor or wife belongs to them, have an uncanny way of keeping the conference moving van transferring workers from one church to another.It is my personal conviction, also, that it is not possible to be an ideal pastor's wife and at the same time put in full time in a chosen profession. It is well for a minister's wife to have a profession, but so long as her husband is alive and is a pastor, the two should work together, for both have been called into the ministry. His work is quite largely out in the field; her work is quite largely in the home. The tensions of a minister, which are many, cannot be relieved much if both he and his wife work all day and come home in the evening weary and worn and too tired to be decent to each other. The minister's wife should recognize that her husband's career is her career; his profession is her profession; his success is her success; and his failure is her failure.
Incidentally, I wish to state here that a minister has an obligation to his wife and family. Many times we are so anxious for success that we fail in the most important part of our work—the work in our own homes with our own families. This is our first responsibility, and we cannot wave it aside lightly saying we are too busy. This excuse will hardly stand up in the day of judgment. If we are too busy to give attention to our own companions and children, we probably should never have stood at the altar promising to "cherish and love." Let's keep that promise. Blessed is the congregation whose pastor has a dedicated wife, for certainly they will be glad in her presence.
5. Blessed is the congregation whose pastor is a shepherd, for they shall receive loving and tender care. There are experiences in the ministry that have a tendency to make us act like wolves rather than sheep. If we are not careful, we might become revengeful. There are times when we meet with stubborn people. There will be obstinate church councils. We will come in contact with church politicians. There will be members who seem to have only one goal in life, namely, to vex our soul and test our patience to the limit. But be of good courage; there are very few of these. In spite of these ministerial afflictions, we must exhibit the spirit of the shepherd. We must love. Remember that "love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen" (1 Cor. 13:7, 8).*
Henry Drummond said in his hook The Greatest Thing in the World: Where Love is, God is. He that dwelleth in Love, dwelleth in God. God is Love. Therefore love. . . . Lavish it upon the poor, where it is very easy; especially upon the rich who often need it most; most of all upon our equals, where it is very difficult, and for whom perhaps we each do least of all. There is a difference between trying to please and giving pleasure. Give pleasure. Lose no chance of giving pleasure. For that is the ceaseless and anonymous triumph of a truly loving spirit.--Pages 31, 32.
We must be more than cold, calculating administrators; we should be warmhearted, lovable men of God. We must be more than high-powered go-getters; we should be God-powered soul winners. We must be more than good loyal committeemen; we should be God's loyal committeemen. We must be more than strong, efficient churchmen; we should be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Andrew Bonar was one of three brothers, all Presbyterian ministers. They did their work about a hundred years ago and left an enviable record for future generations. Long after Mr. Bonar's death someone decided to write a biography of that man. He went to his daughter, now an old lady, and asked what her earliest recollections were of her father as a pastor. She then told him how, when she was a small child, her father took her along to church one day, placed her in the back pew with her dolls, and told her to keep them quiet because she was in the house of the Lord. After some time she got a bit restless and she looked around and saw her father at the front of the church. He had just gotten up from his knees; tears were running down his cheeks; and he came toward the rear of the church and looked for a name. Evidently he found the name he was seeking, for he stepped into one of the pews again, dropped on his knees, and prayed. The daughter said, "I dared not speak. It seemed God was in the place." Then she went on to say that her father did this many times that morning. She forgot to play with her dolls and watched her father. She said, "That day I got my first and real impression of him as a pastor. I had heard him preach many times, but then I was seeing him weep over the erring ones of his flock, for my father was a shepherd." Blessed is the congregation whose pastor is a shepherd, for they will receive loving and tender care.
The preacher Clovis Chappell relates an experience that he had when he was a young minister, which is rather to the point. He said he was sent out to be a pastor of a university church. His first service was absolutely terrifying. His oldest brother, a choice and scholarly man, was present. This brother's heart was already bleeding for the young man, and young Clovis didn't want to make it bleed any more by mistakes he might make. The president of the university was also there. He had the habit of looking down at his shoes. He did this morning. Never once did he lift his eyes unto the hills from which the young preacher tried to bring him help. To make matters worse, there also was present that morning the pompous bishop. The chariot wheels drove heavily all during the sermon. This was indicated by the fact that at the close of the service one of the saints came forward and told him how many times he had scratched the left side of his head with his right hand. Said Chappell, "I don't know how many times it was, but I do know that the number was out of all proportion to the way my head was itching. I did not enjoy the criticism but since then I have sought to reduce pulpit scratching to a minimum."—Anointed to Preach, pp. 32, 33.
There is, of course, another kind of criticism that has as its motive to destroy the influence of the minister. This kind comes from beneath and is classed as cannibalism. Blessed is the minister whose congregation does not engage in this evil and satanic traffic. This kind usually parades itself in the presence, not of the pastor but of others. Quite often it appears around the dinner table when children are present. If any of us are guilty, let us hang our heads in shame. What a great blessing to the minister if gossip and criticism are foreign to his congregation.
8. Blessed is the minister whose congregation continually prays for him, for this will be worth more than many words of commendation and praise. One of the greatest helps a preacher can have is a praying congregation. Some of the greatest setinons which have ever been preached were great because there was great praying by the congregation. Many a meeting has been declared a wonderful success, not because of great preaching but because of great praying
There are times when certain congregations feel that they ought to have a change of pastor. Bishop Gerald Kennedy, of the Methodist church, makes certain suggestions as to how a congregation can get rid of their minister. (I) Get the entire congregation to unite in prayer for him. He will become so effective that some larger church will certainly be glad to take him off your hands. (2) Say "Amen" once in a while and he will preach himself to death in a few weeks. (3) Pat him on the back and he will work himself to death. (4) Rededicate your own life to Christ; then ask the preacher to give you a job to do. He will probably die of heart failure.
9. Blessed is the minister whose congregation studies the Bible daily, for this will give him more time to do the work of an evangelist. A pastor must, of necessity, spend many hours counseling people. We are living in a world full of many problems, and there are more on the way. I wonder, however, whether we don't tax the pastor with too many petty and trivial matters. It is my personal conviction that if we would study and pray more, many of our problems could be solved on our own knees in our own homes with our own Bibles. If the people today would still spend as much time with the Bible as they did a generation ago, many of the personal problems would not exist.
There are too many hours spent before television sets, and this is a poor substitute for the study of the Word of God. Television and radio solve few, if any, problems for us. In fact, they create problems. Let us all determine to study the Bible more. We should say with the prophet Jeremiah, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, 0 Lord God of hosts" (Jen 15:16).
Conclusion
Blessed are ye, congregations and ministers, if ye will work together for the advancement of the kingdom of God on earth. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.
*From The New Testament in Modern English, © by j. B. Phillips 1958. Used by permission of The Macmillan Company