Sermon For Ordination Service

Called, Charged, And Kept: A Word For This Ordination Day

What does it mean to stand where you are standing today? What does it mean to say yes to a calling that will cost you more than you can calculate right now, that will require more of you than your own strength can supply, and that will outlast any reputation you hope to build? These are not questions meant to discourage. They are questions the Bible itself raises, and they deserve an honest answer before God and before this congregation.

Today is a day of joy. It is also a day of weight. Ordination is not a ceremony that confers power on a man. It is a moment when the church publicly recognizes what God has already been doing in a life, and when that man stands before God and his people and receives a charge from the Word of God. So let us open that Word together, because everything that needs to be said today is already written there.

Turn with me to Second Timothy chapter four, beginning at verse one, and then we will also look at First Peter chapter five. These two passages together give us the fullest picture of what this day is really about.

Paul writes in Second Timothy four, verses one through eight, in the CSB: "I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have loved his appearing."

Now hear First Peter five, verses one through four: "I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have it; not out of greed for money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory."

These are the words of God. And they form the charge for this day.

The Charge Is Solemn

Notice how Paul begins. He does not say, "Here is some good advice for your ministry." He says, "I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus." This is a courtroom word. This is a word spoken in the presence of the Judge of the living and the dead. Paul is not being dramatic for effect. He is being honest about the gravity of what is happening. A man is being set apart to handle the Word of God, to stand before people whose souls are eternal, and to give an account one day for how he did it.

If you are the one being ordained today, let that settle into your heart. Not to frighten you, but to anchor you. The weight of this calling is not something you invented. God placed it there. And because he placed it there, he has not abandoned you to carry it alone. But the solemnity is real. You are not becoming a professional. You are becoming a servant of the living God, accountable to him above all others.

The Charge Is Clear

Paul gives a specific command: preach the word. Not your opinions. Not what the culture wants to hear. Not what will make people comfortable or keep the budget healthy. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. That phrase means when it is convenient and when it is not. When people are receptive and when they are resistant. When the room is full and when it is not.

Paul tells Timothy that a day is coming when people will not tolerate sound doctrine. They will accumulate teachers who tell them what they want to hear. They will turn from truth to myths. That day has not passed. That day is now. And in the middle of that pressure, the man of God is called to stand steady, to preach the truth in love, to correct and rebuke and encourage with patience and careful instruction.

This is not a call to be harsh. Paul says great patience. It is not a call to be vague either. He says correct and rebuke. The faithful preacher holds both together. He speaks the truth, and he speaks it with a shepherd's heart. He does not wound people for sport. He wounds when necessary because he loves them too much to leave them comfortable in error.

The Charge Is To Shepherd, Not To Rule

Peter adds a dimension that Paul's charge requires. It is not enough to preach the word from a distance. The man being ordained today is called to shepherd the flock of God. Not his flock. God's flock. That distinction matters more than almost anything else you will learn in ministry.

Peter says shepherd the flock not out of compulsion but willingly. Not for financial gain but eagerly. Not by lording it over people but by being an example to them. These three contrasts are a mirror. Peter holds them up so that every elder can look into them honestly. Why am I doing this? Is it because I feel obligated and trapped? That is not the right motive. Is it because ministry is a comfortable career? That is not the right motive either. Is it because I enjoy having authority over people? That will destroy both you and them.

The right motive is love. Love for the Chief Shepherd. Love for the sheep he bled to purchase. When you love the one who owns the flock, you care for his sheep the way he would care for them. You stay when it is hard. You go after the one who wanders. You sit with the grieving. You speak plainly to the wandering. You pray for the ones you cannot seem to reach. Not because it always works out the way you planned, but because the Chief Shepherd is watching and he is worthy of your best.

The Charge Requires Endurance

Paul does not promise Timothy that faithful ministry will be easy. He says endure hardship. He says do the work of an evangelist. He says fulfill your ministry. These are not the words of a man describing a comfortable life. Paul is writing from prison. He knows what it costs to stay faithful. He has been beaten, shipwrecked, rejected, and misunderstood. And he is not bitter. He is finishing well.

That is the goal. Not fame. Not a large platform. Not a long list of accomplishments. Finishing well. Paul says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Three simple statements. A life of ministry measured not by what he achieved but by what he did not abandon.

There will be days in your ministry when you want to walk away. There will be seasons when the people you love most disappoint you, when the work feels fruitless, when you wonder whether any of it matters. Paul knew those seasons. Peter knew them. Every faithful pastor who has gone before you knew them. The charge is not to feel strong in those moments. The charge is to endure. To keep preaching. To keep shepherding. To keep trusting the one who called you.

And here is the word of hope that makes endurance possible. Peter says, "When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." Paul says there is reserved for him a crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give on that day. The reward is not here yet. The full vindication is not yet visible. But it is certain, because the one who promised it is faithful.

The Charge Is Grounded In The Gospel

None of this is possible apart from Jesus Christ. The man who stands here today to be ordained is not a self-made leader. He is a redeemed sinner who has been called by grace. The same gospel he is charged to preach is the gospel that saved him. The same cross that purchased the flock is the cross that purchased his own soul.

That is why Peter calls Jesus the Chief Shepherd. There is only one Chief Shepherd. Every undershepherd serves beneath him, by his authority, for his glory. The moment any pastor forgets that, he begins to drift. He begins to treat the ministry as his own project, the church as his own platform, and the people as his own audience. The antidote to that drift is the cross. Come back to it again and again. Preach it to yourself before you preach it to anyone else. Let the gospel humble you and sustain you in equal measure.

A Word To The Congregation

This charge is not only for the man being ordained. The congregation has a responsibility as well. You are called to receive faithful preaching with open hearts. You are called to pray for your pastor, to support him, to follow his godly example, and to hold him accountable to the Word he preaches. You are not spectators in this work. You are the flock that God has entrusted to his care, and you are also partners in the ministry of the gospel.

Pray for him when the preaching is hard to hear. Pray for him when the work is invisible. Pray for him when he is weary. And when he stands in that pulpit and opens the Word of God, receive it not as the word of a man but as the Word of God, which it truly is.

A Final Word To The One Being Ordained

Preach the word. Shepherd the flock. Endure hardship. Finish well. Keep your eyes on the Chief Shepherd, because he is the one who called you, the one who sustains you, and the one who will one day say to you, "Well done."

This is a solemn day. It is also a glorious one. Go forward in the strength that God supplies, for his glory and for the good of his people.

Let us pray. Father, we ask that you would keep this man faithful to the Word you have given him to preach. Protect him from pride, from discouragement, and from the fear of man. Fill him with love for the sheep you have placed in his care. Remind him daily that he serves beneath the Chief Shepherd, who gave his life for the flock. And on that final day, may he hear your voice saying that he fought well, finished the race, and kept the faith. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep. Amen.

Sources Consulted

The Holy Bible, Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2017. Second Timothy 4:1-8 and First Peter 5:1-4.

Thomas R. Schreiner. 1, 2 Peter, Jude. The New American Commentary, vol. 37. Broadman and Holman, 2003.

George W. Knight III. The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, 1992.

Walter L. Liefeld. 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus. The NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan, 1999.

John Stott. Guard the Gospel: The Message of 2 Timothy. The Bible Speaks Today. InterVarsity Press, 1973.

Wayne Grudem. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Zondervan, 1994. Chapter on the nature and calling of elders and pastors.