Sermon 12: Ordination

By Bro. Steven R.

“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.“ -1 Timothy 5:17

First of all, I would like to address the concerns that some people have about the missing content from the old Referata site. We moved to this site from Referata due to recent technical difficulties and a few hacking attempts rendering the site to be borderline unusable. I have to import the articles one by one, and I’m slowly making this effort. With the grace of the Lord on my side, may I eventually move the articles so readers can have a full and rich and usable SimplyChristian experience.

After much thought, prayers, and consideration, our ministry team decided that the SimplyChristian project would benefit from a full time pastoral presence. The Rev. William H. Grimes, formerly the pastor of the New Testament Baptist Church site and currently serving as the pastor of a local physical church in our area, has been serving as the part time overseer of this ministry. He’s also contributed sermons occasionally as a guest preacher on this site. While he will continue to occasionally guest preach, we both believe it is time for the site to have a full time pastor. Therefore, I announce that I am currently seeking ordination to become a pastor and oversee this ministry myself. As its most active participant, this is the most logical course of action. So, I thought I’d take a bit of time to discuss what the Bible says about ordination.

Looking at 1 Timothy 5:17, a good candidate for ordination should labor in the Word and be a hearer and doer of the Word. Many Baptist churches tend to have strict standards when it comes to ordination, and this is a good thing. This is why many startup churches have brothers preaching with a part time overseer involved until there can be a full time pastor present. People in the church need to hear the Word but also need access to the wealth of knowledge and spiritual soundness that an ordained pastor can provide. A pastor need not be single. If he is married, he should have but one wife. It’s important that they not engage in frivolous acts, particularly egregious acts, acts in public, or use artificial birth control or condoms or whatever else is out there. They shall surely not get an abortion as the Lord saith “thou shalt not kill.” However, many stewards of the Lord remain single and celibate. This is the preferred state of being according to 1 Corinthians 7, but marriage is an option should celibacy not be viable. It’s better to marry than to burn, as the Apostle Paul says.

Learning and educational experiences are important for a good ordination candidate, but not learning from secular universities or something like that. If a potential ordination candidate has a bachelors degree from a secular university they absolutely should have a graduate degree from a good solid Bible believing college like Bob Jones University or Liberty University. Liberal Bible colleges that teach evolution and other heresies and allow drinking and smoking shouldn’t be allowed.

When I was in college, a buddy of mine from youth group ended up doing his bachelors in a liberal Bible college called Calvin College. Apparently he spent his nights playing a liberal wicked video game that had just come out called Perfect Dark and it was on the Nintendo 64. This was before Halo and Call of Duty and all that had come out, so this was a very gory and violent game for the time that involved sci-fi themes and multiplayer with violent death matches which was so inappropriate for a liberal Bible college to allow. The point is, it’s important where your potential pastor got his education, as corruption can get anywhere if leniency and flak is allowed.

I plan on continuing this discussion in the next sermon by talking about what a pastor should be. I will also talk more about Bible colleges and education in a future sermon. Please pray for me as I continue the ordination process.