2 Tim 1:6-7
Ordination and The Gift of God
6 For this reason I remind you to fan
into flame The Gift of God which
is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave
us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
1. Fan the Flame of Faith--great imagery
6 For this reason I remind you to fan
into flame
When Timothy needs to
be reminded of why he is in the ministry, if and when things get difficult in
the church he serves in Ephesus--and we know from other scriptures, that Timothy's
ministry hit a lot of rocks, Timothy is to consider the fire within him. This
fire may be the presence of faith or the presence of the Holy Spirit in
Particular.
Is is not just a
matter of leaders being passive. They are responsible to remember, to call to
mind who they are and the office they have been given. And, with is, to take a
fan and fan the flame within them.
There are many times
when elders and pastors need to do this. They are but men with the same
tendencies as others. However, our expectations of them are higher due to their
office. But, though they have an elite position or office in the church, the
only qualification for elders that is not first required in mature believers is
the aptitude to teach. Some study Bibles have the cross references in 1 Tim 3
or Titus 1 to bear that out. To teach effectively as a preacher of
righteousness, maturity in character and content of the scriptures is required.
Is is not one or the other, but it is both. Even if someone does not have much
of a public teaching ministry, they must be able to teach--especially
privately.
The fire may be the
presence of the Holy Spirit in his life and ministry. The Spirit is not to be
quenched--don't take cold water and pour is on the man with the Spirit given
for ministry.
To be apt to teach is
to be one that seizes upon opportunities to teach the truth, Especially as the
particular church professes is.
To ordain a man into
the ministry is to place him in his proper place, we could add God-given place.
That is what ordain means.
Rom 13:1 Powers
ordained by God
Acts 16:4 Ordained by
Apostles and elders
Acts 13:48 ordained
unto eternal life believed
Eph 2:10 Good works
ordained for believers
Jude 1:4 ordained to
condemnation
To be ordained by a
church with a right understanding of God's Word is to be put in place after
being given a gift from God to serve his people.
Many times I have had
the privilege of reminding men of their ordaination. Usually its men ready to
throw in the towel. Some have continued to and left the ministry, but not all.
If at times my light
doesn't seem as bright as at other times pray for me or find a way to help fan
the flame--if leaders are responsible in this way, it is no less a duty of
others to pray for those who are over them in the Lord.
2. The Gift of God--Timothy's Office given-1 Tim--in Ephesus with
authority of Paul to set things in order. Important background
the gift of God, Ordination
is a gift from God to his servants who are put in place by churches and
ordained by the pastors and elders. This giftedness is more like an endowment
than any other kind of gift. It is of great value and ought to be cherished ,
appreciated and properly used. They are not supermen. I was sent a job
description for a church plant in New York State. There is no way one man can
do everything on that job description. A man would b e away from his wife and
family most nights, a large part of Saturday and busy all day Sunday. It is no
wonder so many marriages of men in the ministry are falling apart. At least
that is what the polls say.
Yet, from Eph 4:8 we
learn that all pastor-teachers are also gifts of the ascended Christ for the
good of his church.
Eph 4:8 Therefore it says, "When he
ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to
men." 9 (In saying, "He ascended," what does it
mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the
earth? 10 He who descended is the one who
also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all
things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets,
the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to
equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body
of Christ,
The passage quotes
Psalm 68:18. God has worked this way from the beginning--God gives gifts for
the good of his people and the work of serving the body of Christ, his church.
When we say that so
and so is God's gift is usually means they have the spirit of arrogance about
them. But, ministers should have a sense of being given by Jesus to the church.
It is not a merely human calling--it is divine.
Salvation is also a
gift of God--given freely as a gift to those God makes his sons and daughters.
3. Ordination
which is in you
through the laying on of my hands,
See also 1 Tim
4:14--through the laying on of the hands of the presbytery
The laying on of hands
is the other leaders pointing to the man they believe has been given by Christ
to the church after is ahs been confirmed by the congregation.
People go to Acts 1 as
a scripture for choosing men and ordaining them. That passage deals with how
the disciples chose a replacement for Judas. It is not the go to passage to
show how to select elders.
Many believe the early
church was wrong for using the method of casting lots. It is interesting that
we never hear anything more about the man they chose--and many can't recall his
name--it is Mathias.
I know of a church in
Florida that requires 6 elders by constitution. So, they voted for all of the
men and the six with the most votes were ordained to the office. Yet, within
six months two of the men moved out of State. I can't conceive of any reason
God would give men about to move elsewhere as gifts to the church. Both of
these men knew they might be moving, but had not been honest with the church
nor the remaining elders out of fear of being misunderstood. A lack of trust in
one another is often a lack of trust in God Himself.
To have other elders
lay hands on you and put you into office is a significant and serious matter.
It is not to be taken lightly. The laying on of hands is always of great
significance. Joshua had hands laid on him when he was consecrated as the
leader of God's people--Num 27:8 & Deut 34:9. It is one of the methods used
by Jesus to heal (Mark 16:18). It is prohibited by Paul of Timothy--Don't lay
hands on a man too quickly (1 Tim 5:22). It is a powerful means for ministry.
When the Philadelphia Association of Particular Baptists published our
confession of faith, they added a paragraph about the importance of the laying
on of hands after baptism.
Paul goes on to remind
Timothy of some important realities in the ministry. Here is one thing he does
not need and three that he does. The same is true for ministers today. And,
even if you are not going to be in the ministry, pray for those who are that
these four things would define them:
4. Gifts to pastors
and elders -4 items
7 for God gave us a spirit --
Outward character of
manifestation of a quality. The word spirit is in the lower case--is is not the
Holy Spirit, though is is certainly a spiritual reality that He works in those
in true ministry.
We talk about a spirit
of forgiveness as a readiness to forgive if real repentance is present. Actual
forgiveness can't take place until and unless a sinner repents. We should not
bear a grudge but be willing to forgive and let the guilt of the offense go.
We use is generally
saying someone has a good spirit or a mature spirit. That is what we have here
in 2 Tim 1. The Spirit is…
1. not of fear -- it
is not a phobia, or a sense of dread like we find in Gen 9:2. It is a lack of a
crippling fear like that so many of us experience from time to time. In Gen
15:1 the Lord ays to Abran To not fear because God would be his shield to
protect him and the Lord promises to be his great reward--what greater reward
could there be--if we are thinking rightly?
Fear is the natural
disposition of the human mind as they face the unknown or a known evil. As we
trust in God, leaders must not shrink back. People may not understand why they
are doing what they do. But, as long as they are operating on biblical
principle and have considered the question, What will God think about this?
They should move ahead with trust in God to shield them and to be the leader's
reward,
Pray your leaders
would be as meek and as bold as Jesus as He stood before the many trials during
his last day. His meekness was powerful as a spiritual weapon against his
enemies.
2. but of power
We pray in the Lord's
Prayer, for Thine is the Power. In Eph 3:16-17 Paul prays for the Ephesians--those
Timothy was ministering to, that out of God's glorious riches, they would be
strengthened with power in their inner men.
This is not the sort
of power that works miracles, but a power of the ordinary order--to do all God
has commanded--after all the Great Commission is all about doing whatsoever
Christ has commanded. He gives the power to do what he has commanded.
It is the power of the
Holy Spirit to do what is ultimately right--we don't need to give into our
habits and desires. We should overcome them and thank God for giving us deliverance
from the sins that we turned into habits. We did is. It is power to deliver us
from the power of sin and the place of Hell. It is God's power at work in us
according to Eph 1:19. We can trust God for this deliverance by his power. God
is all powerful. There is nothng more powerful than Him.
3. and love
To neighbors, to our enemies, we are bound to seek God's
strength to properly love others: 4 Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast; is is not arrogant
5 or rude. It does not insist on its
own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.
4. and self-control.
A
fruit produced by the Spirit of God
A
reality we are to add to our faith 2 Peter 1:6
Prov
16:32 32 Whoever is slow
to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who
takes a city.
Prov
5:23 23 He dies for lack
of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.
Acts 24:25 25 And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming
judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, "Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you."
Not everyone likes to hear about this, but is
ought to be a part of who we are as a church and as Christian individuals.
What we need is a work of God's grace is so
many ways. What we need are leaders who embody these realities. Amen.
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