Dennis Tuuri

Sermon Scripture: Numbers 8:5-19

Numbers 8:5-19. Please stand for the reading of God’s command word.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them, and thus shalt thou do unto them to cleanse them. Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.

Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil. And another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering. And thou shalt bring the Levite before the tabernacle of the congregation, and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord, and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites.

And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the Lord. And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks. And thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for the Levites. And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the Lord.

Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering. For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel. Instead of such as open their womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.

For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast. On the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself. And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel, that there be no plague upon the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.

May be seated.

The song we sing, the song of illumination we normally sing, is originally an ordination song. And for that reason, I’ve chosen to have us sing all four verses of this song, asking that the Holy Spirit would indeed illumine us to this scripture. This time the younger children—and by that the definition today is threes and fours, fives, sixes, something like that—everybody in Keith Hansen’s class and below may be dismissed to go to their Sabbath schools if their parents want them to do that.

The older children from Richard’s class will stay up here. The sermon will be a short one today that they should be able to understand.

Today’s a special day in the history of Reformation Covenant Church. We are ordaining our second elder. This is a day of particular joy for me, being the fruit of much of my labor over the last four years has been geared toward adding elders to the government here at Reformation Covenant Church in obedience to the principle in scripture laid down of representation over tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands.

The practice of ordination in the church is of no small controversy and has been a controversial item for the past 500 years since the Reformation. There are different views of the legitimacy or the very theories of ordination to office. The episcopalian Church is primarily dominated by those who believe in apostolic succession—that is, apostolic succession through the laying on of hands that confers or ordains men to office.

The reformers, of course, splitting with an apostate church, held to a faith succession. The particular way that faith succession is implemented, however, has been much controversy and continues to be even among reformed circles. The Puritans had many different schools of thought, for instance, relating to how faith succession works in the context of the church. I think that it would be a bit presumptuous to think that the church in America in 1992 is going to figure all this out to the satisfaction of all of the different polities that now exist in the universal church of Jesus Christ across the world.

We live, after all, at the end of a 300-year history of denominations that have essentially resulted in failure. The Presbyterian Church, for instance, probably 5% or less of people that are members of the Presbyterian Church believe in the scriptures anymore. And even those Orthodox denominations that are in existence continue to splinter and break. We live in the context of a country that has forsaken much of God’s law and word.

And so, as a result of that, I don’t think God is going to give us a great deal of light in principles until we become obedient to the basic elements of God’s teaching in terms of these principles. Nonetheless, churches go on and we have a need to ordain men to office in the context of local bodies of Jesus Christ. We live in the context when those churches that are orthodox or that we would consider to be orthodox and believe God’s word is the standard—these reformed denominations have even rejected God’s law.

The preeminent seminaries now reject six-day creation. An eschatology of victory is something to be looked at very questionably. We have a situation where even in the most conservative and orthodox of the reformed denominations, they cannot recognize the enemies to the faith that exist today. And so throughout the reformed faith, we have men who ordained men who have their children in public schools.

In the midst of this darkness and cursing from God, I think that a bright ray—I’m giving some downer information here. A bright ray, I think, that shines through and what God is doing in the church in America and across the world today is the recovery in various elements of paedocommunion, child communion. And not just in churches that are outside of denominations, the major orthodox denominations that have not yet accepted paedocommunion are now moving in that direction.

And yet there is favorable movement in that direction. I find this as a very helpful sign that the children of the covenant people are once again feeding on the body and blood of the Lord after nearly 1,000 years of institutional exclusion. I find this a very bright ray, and I think that it is correlative, in a way I suppose, to the fact that the church also is in its infancy in a sense today and in immaturity. And once more, however, with giving the covenant children the body and blood of the Lord and the nourishment that accompanies that, I think the church itself will begin to mature in many of these areas.

Part of the recovery of biblical faith relative to ordination, relative to church government, and relative to the other areas I’ve touched upon is a whole Bible approach in terms of polity. No natural law theory, no synagogue model, no Madison Avenue technique of church growth or church management is enough anymore. God is crushing all those idols. Sola scriptura must needs be applied to the reformation, the transformation of the government of the church, the selection of elders, and their ordination into office. In this regard, I might say that an important element again that I think is a bright ray is the recovery of a true two-office position in reformed churches. Many men in the context of many different denominations are seeing the errors of a three-office position.

In other words, by that I mean separating teaching and ruling elders in two different offices with two different sets of qualifications. When we ordain Richard today to office, it is to elder, not teaching elder or ruling elder, but to elder. And so when you look at the qualifications for Richard—the reading for an examination, for instance, that we gave Richard a couple weeks ago—it’s because we are ordaining all elders in this church until someone demonstrates from scripture we are incorrect, to one of the two offices.

The two offices being deacon and elder. So we don’t believe in a separation of teaching and ruling authority. We don’t believe that the ministry of teaching really is separate from that of ruling. That ruling is accomplished primarily through instruction in the word.

Well, we’re going to examine shortly, or briefly rather, this afternoon, a whole Bible approach to the laying on of hands as we attempt to understand the ritual. And it is a ritual that we perform this day. It’s a ritual and its proper particulars and its proper participants are a matter of no small debate, as I’ve said, in our current cultural context. I think if we can see what the scriptures teach across the board pictorially in the laying on of hands, this particular ritual, we shall move to a clearer understanding of the importance of this and also a better understanding of ordination to office and what office is all about.

Why do we ordain another elder in this church? Is it for the sake of expediency? No. Unless by that we mean that the scriptures want to use what correctly are expedient and useful. But our God is not the God of pragmatism. Is it the need for having two people instead of one? No. Because if that was the case, if plurality was all we were trying to achieve, then we’d stop at two or three and there’d be no need for any more.

I think that essential to the reason why we’re adding another elder now and we’ll continue to add elders in the future must be an understanding of God’s calling. God’s calling of men to office and the right that we participate in this—the right we perform, pictures that call. And I think it pictures some very important aspects of that call that have been lost or at least not stressed in our day and age.

So let’s go through a brief history of the laying on of hands in the scriptures.

**Point One: God’s Mighty Hand of Deliverance**

In point number one we’re going to talk about God’s mighty hand of deliverance. The laying on of hands is the imposition, the laying on of hands. And our hands are understood analogically to God’s hands. And so it is important to see that throughout the scriptures we see references to the hand of God providing deliverance in a mighty fashion for the people of God.

Exodus 15:6: “Thy right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.”

Exodus 7: Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you. God says, “That I may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies.” He is going to deliver his people by the imposition of his hand.

Exodus 13:9: “It shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand, for a memorial between thine eyes that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt.”

Deuteronomy 6:21: “Thou shalt say unto thy son,” these are instructions to us. “You shall say unto your son, We were Pharaoh’s bond men in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” Our children should recognize that God’s mighty hand is a model used over and over and over in scripture as an indication of God’s mighty hand of deliverance from enemies.

Leviticus 1:4 says that the priest shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Usually the imposition of the hands is related to the sacrificial system portrayed in Leviticus. And even here it is a picture, among other things, of God’s mighty hand delivering his people from enemies through the coming sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ. We have enemies external to the church. We have enemies in the world that we need to be delivered from. And we have enemies that reside within our soul.

We have personal sin that we need to be delivered from. And God’s mighty hand delivers us from enemies without and within. And so when the world is Christianized and there are no more enemies without, there will continue to be the enemy within—personal sin and disobedience to the word of God. And God’s mighty hand of deliverance will through time in our lives individually, through the life of this church, and through the life of the world deliver men from those sins.

**Point Two: God’s Mighty Hand of Conquest**

But secondly, God’s mighty hand is not simply a hand of deliverance. It is a hand of conquest. And here on your outline, I’ve listed various scripture references. Again, we have been saved by God’s mighty hand from something. But we have also been saved to something. And it is, I think, a thing to be sad over that even in the reformed churches in our day, there is no vision of God’s mighty hand of conquest, while there is an understanding of God’s mighty hand of deliverance.

Deuteronomy 7:24: “He shall deliver their kings into thine hand, preparing the people for conquest of the land.”

Joshua 21: “The Lord gave them rest roundabout. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. They conquered the land under God’s authority and command.”

Joshua 4:24, speaking of the conquest of Jericho: “That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you might fear the Lord your God forever.”

Joshua 6:2: “The Lord said unto Joshua, I have given unto thine hand Jericho, and the kings thereof, and the mighty men of valor.”

Joshua 8:1: “I have given unto thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.”

And I could go on and on. God’s people are brought by the mighty hand of God out of something, but they’re brought into something as well. They are delivered, but they are also given a conquering spirit by God. And deliverance leading to conquering the land that God has given unto them.

And so when we read in Luke 1:66, for instance, “What manner of child shall this be?” and “The hand of the Lord was with him.” And when we read in John 3:35 that “The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand.” We read in Acts 4:28, “For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” And we read in Acts 11:21 that “The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.”

We should recognize here the continuity of God’s hand of deliverance and God’s hand of conquest. The people of God throughout both testaments are seen as conquering. And there are many correlations. I will in a couple of weeks, probably in a month or two, begin going through the book of Joshua here preaching. We’ll do it quickly, hopefully about a chapter a time, and then we’ll go into the book of Acts.

And there are correlaries between the language used of the Old Testament people as they moved around in the wilderness, going in and out, and then into the land, going in and out. And God using that same terminology in terms of the church in the book of Acts. They went into a promised land—a specific geographic reality or context, rather. We go into the whole world, and God commissions us through Jesus Christ to conquer the world. Plain and simple, not through physical might but through the preaching of the gospel. And God’s mighty hand will be upon us as we go forward preaching the gospel of Christ into all lands.

The scriptures teach us that God’s hand is indeed a hand of deliverance, but it is also a hand of conquest. And we will examine the similarities between the language used in both testaments and see the plain teaching that any understanding Jew who knew his Old Testament and New Testament in New Testament times understood that the language we’ve just referred to—that the hand of God was upon the believers—that God’s mighty hand brought men into the church, they would understand the correlation. They clearly would have seen the correlation to the conquest language of the Old Testament. God’s mighty hand of ordination is a hand of deliverance and it is a hand of conquering as well.

**Point Three: God’s Hand of Ordination**

In Deuteronomy 34:9 we read that Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hand upon him.

In Numbers 27:18, “The Lord said unto Moses, Take the Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him.” Now, we read here in one part that Joshua is a man in whom is the spirit, in Numbers 27. And as a result, the Lord says to Moses, “Ordain him. Put your hand of ordination upon him.” But in Deuteronomy 34, we read that Joshua was full of the spirit, for Moses had laid his hand upon Joshua.

What are we reading here? Moses was ordaining a man whom God had already ordained. It was a real ordination. And the scriptures can say that the spirit of God was upon Joshua because he’d been ordained, but ultimately because God’s mighty hand of deliverance and conquest and God’s hand of ordination was upon Joshua, God’s call was confirmed and that call involved God’s spirit placed upon Joshua.

And we’ll refer back to this later as well. God’s mighty hand is also a hand of ordination to office. And that ordination to office in the instance of Joshua, as an example, is a hand that is acknowledged by the authorities that exist—Moses in that case. And the imposition of the ordination of men is simply the typical response, if you want to look at it that way, to what God has already declared through the demonstration of his spirit within the person and work of Joshua.

God’s mighty hand ordains and sets men apart to office. And that’s why we set men apart in the context of the visible church.

**Point Four: Levitical Ordination and God’s Army**

But fourthly, God’s hand of ordination, deliverance, and conquest is related to Levitical ordination and God’s army. And here we’ll look at Numbers 8, the passage we just read, Numbers 8:5-19. Here we see, in isolation, some very important aspects and teaching of the scriptures relative to the imposition of hands, ordination, and the laying down of hands.

We read here that the Levites were brought before the Lord and that the children of Israel put their hands upon the Levites. The Levites in this text are recorded as being the representatives of all the people of Israel. The firstborn are representatives of all the nation. We have here a holy nation. We have a holy tribe set off from the nation—the Levitical tribe—as a substitute for what? For the firstborn, which indicate for the substance of all the tribes. In other words, the firstborn stands for the whole.

The Levites were ordained to office to represent and serve on behalf of all the people of Israel.

This section of scripture, Numbers 8:5-19, shows that ordination was a community fact. A community fact. The hands were imposed not just by lay leaders or by clergy rather, or by other men who had been ordained to office, but rather the congregation themselves set these Levites apart.

It is a community fact.

This section of scripture also very explicitly tells us of the relationship of the laying on of hands with identification and representation. Speaking in verse 12, that the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks. These bullocks were then offered up and throughout the sacrificial system the imposition of hands—the laying on of hands—meant identification with that animal who would be slain for sin. It was a confession of sin. It also meant, whoever that animal represented, the people as they went to the slaughter, ultimately of course being the sin bearer, being an image of the sin bearer to come, the Lord Jesus Christ.

These men were ordained to serve as God’s representatives or servants to the Aaronic priesthood.

And here we see another important aspect of what’s going on here. In Genesis 49, we read that the Levites—the tribe of Levi itself—was guilty of gross anger and sin in a manner of the covenant people. And as a result of that, they were said they would not be given a portion of the land in the promised land. They’d be scattered throughout the tribes. The Levites were given as slaves to the Aaronic priesthood in this portion of scripture just before us. The Levites didn’t chafe at that, however, and that very slavery became a great holy calling to serve, and to serve later we’re told in the scriptures by means of teaching the word of God and by means of leading in prayer.

Prayer and teaching were the primary responsibilities of the Levites, and in so doing they also exercised rule in their particular office. And we’ve talked before here about the correlation between the Levitical order and the New Testament order of elders. And we see the same things talked about in both orders. They’re to lead by service. They’re to lead by slavery, if you want to look at it that way, to the high priest, picturing, of course, Jesus Christ.

And this is why in many services today, men that are ordained wear a collar to indicate that they are indeed slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ. They lead through service, not ultimately to people, but ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ. That implies, of course, however, service to the body of Christ in the local congregation. Just as the Levites led through the teaching of God’s word and through prayer, so also elders are called upon to offer up prayer and to instruct the people of God in the word, and as a result of that they are also to rule in the context of the covenant community as the Levites did.

Numbers 8 tells us that God’s ordination—the ordination of his Levitical officers—had within it the teaching of identification, representation, and community—the fact that ordination is indeed a community fact. And by this last element what I mean is this: This section of scripture understood correctly shows clearly that the congregation of Israel was not saying that the Levites will now do all the work.

Rather, through identification and representation of the Levites, this was a consecration to service on the part of all the people of God. They had special officers to equip them through instruction, through governance, and through example that they might then teach their children, that they might then encourage and admonish each other with the word of God, that they might then serve to intercede for each other using prayer, that they might then rule in whatever sphere God had called them into.

The Levites were given to assist all of the community to do the work of the service ultimately as Israel as the nation itself was a priestly nation. So within that priestly nation we had the priestly tribe of Levi consecrating the whole nation to priestly tasks as well.

And so in terms of the application to the New Testament church we see that the servant of God, the elder who is ordained by God, is consecrated to God as the Levites were to do God’s will. But also then to serve as the device whereby the people of God may be employed for fuller service in the work of God.

God’s calling, God’s hand is implied here. It is a community fact, and his hand essentially is upon all of the congregation and not simply upon the leader who is being ordained. There are there is a greater context for this, however, than the simple isolated verses we’ve read in Numbers 8. That is, the context of this is the rest of the book of Numbers. And you should know by now that the Aaronic benediction given at the end of Numbers 6, which is just previous to this section of Numbers 8—we’ve talked about this a number of times—that Numbers is the numbering of the people and the preparation of the people not for deliverance essentially here but for what?

For conquest. They are being organized to go forth as the army of God. And so for instance when we have in Numbers 6 the Aaronic benediction that is followed in Numbers 8 with the cleansing of the Levites that we read, that is followed in Numbers 9 by the observance of the Passover, that is followed by the cloud over the tabernacle. And that is followed in Numbers 10 with the call to make silver trumpets and to use those trumpets to summon the army of God to go forth into war when it is necessary.

And then that is followed in Numbers 10 again when the Israelites depart from Sinai and begin to move toward the promised land.

The point I’m making here is that while the ordination of the Levites and the ordination of elders and church officers in the New Testament is a community fact calling men to service, it must be seen in correlation with God’s mighty hand of deliverance and conquest.

And as the New Testament uses Old Testament language for what’s happening when Jesus Christ comes and the gospel is preached, so we see the correlation as well for the officers set apart to Richard, being set apart to service for the purpose of equipping, empowering, and leading the people of God as an army into the promised land, which in our case is all the world. We have been called to go forth as conquerors as an army of God. And the ordaining of the Levites in Numbers 8, besides instructing us that the ministry is in every believer—ministry and that we don’t have a group of people who do the work of the church—rather those people are to equip us, the rest of the congregation, for the work of the church.

It also reminds us that work is to rejoice in our deliverance but it is also to go forward in obedience to the call of God to disciple the world and to move forward into victory.

**God’s Hand as Hand of Blessing and Curse**

God’s mighty hand then is a hand of blessing. It is a hand of deliverance. It is a hand of conquest. It is a hand of ordination. And we see that hand at work through the ordination of the church. And it’s the ordination not simply of a man to office, although it is that. It is also a consecration of the people that participate in that ordination to go forward as the army of God to agree to obey that leader that God has selected and those leaders and officers that God has given them to go forward into battle and to serve and to serve as part of the army of God. God. And as a result, God’s mighty hand is also a hand of blessing.

In Genesis 48, the imposition of Israel’s hands upon Ephraim’s head was a signature of his blessing upon him.

In the Gospels, we see again and again our Savior putting his hands, laying his hands upon people. He lays his hands upon those who are blind in Mark 8, and they receive their sight. In Mark 10, he puts his hands upon children and blesses them. A very important fact. In Mark 16, he puts his hand upon the sick and they recover. And then later we see God putting his hand, Jesus putting his hand upon the seer of the Revelation, John, and bringing him back to resurrection life.

Again and again God’s hand is a hand of blessing.

But there are other places in scripture where God’s hand is seen as a laying on of hands in terms of curse. And I’ve listed some scriptures there. In Esther 8:7, Deuteronomy 17:7, for instance, the hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. Again and again we read the phrase that laying of hands upon people is for curse and not for blessing.

God’s imposition of his hands is an acknowledgement that he does indeed have the whole world in his hands. And to those that are in covenant with him through Jesus Christ, that hand is a hand of blessing. But to those who are in violation to God and who are in rebellion to God, God’s hand upon them is a hand of curse. It is either the gentle, loving hands of the Father in heaven or it is the crushing grip of the one whom we tried to disobey.

And in fact, if we understand that God’s hand ordains the mighty army of the Lord to go forward in victory by preaching the gospel, we see that we then become the instruments as we do in the church for the ordination of officers. We also become the instruments whereby we portray God’s hand of either blessing or curse in the context of the world around us as well.

And so the imposition of hands, the laying on of hands, is a covenantal fact as well.

**The Effectual Imposition of Hands**

The scriptures tell us that the imposition of hands is effectual. In Genesis 49:23 and following, we read these verses: “The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him, but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence, says the shepherd, the stone of Israel, even by the God of thy Father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.”

God’s blessing is the only basis for the establishment of office and ordination in the church. There is no guarantee to the works of men. The faith succession of the apostles, the faith succession of faithful office bearers who are called to office by the people of God and meet the qualifications of holy scripture—guarantee God’s hand of blessing upon that man. His hand is strengthened through the imposition, the laying on of God’s hand.

And so when we here in a couple of minutes lay hands upon Richard, we should keep these things in mind. The consecration of the Levites, the consecration of the officers of the new church, the tremendous pictures in the New Testament that the imposition of hands brings health, strength, power, deliverance, and yes, ability to conquer as well, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are the things that are pictured by the imposition of hands.

And we should see behind all of this the hand of God strengthening our hand as we lay hands upon Richard, that his hand might be strengthened to do the work that God has called him to do in the context of office in the church.

In Revelation 1:17, when John falls down at the feet of the Savior as dead, Jesus resurrects him with the imposition of his hand. He laid his right hand upon me, it says, saying unto me, Fear not. I am the first and the last.

In Acts 8, chapters 13 and 19, we see the imposition of hands as being the transference of the Holy Ghost coming upon men. There is an empowerment to office that occurs when this procedure is correctly followed. After all, we’re talking about men who are called to particular function, and we’re talking about God having already ordained these men. Ordination being a recognition of God’s call to that man to exercise office.

And so the Holy Ghost, the power of office comes upon a man with that gift as well.

And so Paul, for instance, told Timothy not to neglect the gift that was in him through the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Indeed, he told Timothy in his second epistle to him that he might stir up the gift of God which was in him by the putting on of hands.

And we’ll refer to that in a couple of minutes as we give the charge to Richard.

It is important though to see that all of this is to the end of the establishment of God’s kingdom. The office that Richard is called to is an office that recognizes his calling from God, God’s blessing upon him for the empowerment of his people to go forward preaching the gospel and conquering the world. And nothing less than that is pictured through the imposition of hands in the ordination service.

In Matthew 25:21, we read that his lord said unto him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.” That is our hope, desire, and expectation for Richard.

Having been faithful in the government of his family, having faithfully demonstrated the power of the spirit upon him in terms of the character qualities that manifest a spirit-filled life, having manifested also that the spirit has instructed him from the word to know doctrine and be able to defend the faith and to explain it and to instruct and equip the people, the army of God for conquest—Richard moves today into the joy of the Lord in terms of his service to the visible body of Jesus Christ. And the imposition of hands is a picture of that as well.

We are in the hands of a loving God, and that God has delivered us, causes us to conquer, and gives us men, giftings, and abilities for that task. When we when you in a few minutes come up and lay hands upon Richard, remember that you’re consecrating yourself to do the work that God has called you to in the context of this army of Jesus Christ. And I’ll give you a charge relative to the need to understand that and to move in obedience to that as well after we go through the actual ordination of Richard.

Let’s pray now that God would remind us of these great spiritual truths as we participate in the service of ordination.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you for the ritual that you’ve given us to perform this day. We thank you that your scriptures are full of teaching of the tremendous blessing of your mighty hand of deliverance and conquest. We pray, Father, that as we participate now and engage in the ordination of Richard that you would be with us and bless us and help us remember these scriptures and to apply them in our lives now and forever.

We pray now as we bring forward our tithes and offerings to you that we would also recognize the need to consecrate ourselves anew each Lord’s day, acknowledging that we have been called into the service of the King and that service is not grievous; rather it is indeed entering into the joy of our Lord. In his name we pray. Amen.

—

Essential to the ordination of a church officer, of course, is the consent of the people. We’ve been very blessed by God to have appointed or elected five men now to church office in this church, and with each of those men it has been unanimous consent of the congregation to have that man rule in office over them and to serve them in that particular fashion, and that is a good and blessed thing from God that we should be greatly thankful for.

It is important, I think, in the context of an ordination service to have congregational witnesses to the efficacy or to the call of the candidate for the position. And so at this time I’m asking Dave H., Doug H., and Roy Garrett to come up. I don’t know which order you guys would like to come up in. Whoever wants to go first would be fine.

And this three-fold witness to Richard’s calling in terms of the congregation, I think, is an important thing. And I subconsciously also chose one of the men to be a deacon of the church and as a recognition of Richard’s service to this church as well in terms of serving it in the various capacities he’s been asked to do.

And so if those three men would come forward and give testimony to Richard’s call to office.

In the last few months as we have sought to evaluate Richard for the office of elder, we have looked at texts like 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and looked in there and tried to evaluate his life. And that’s probably a very difficult thing for him to have gone through, and it was difficult for us to evaluate certain aspects of his life.

One thing right at the beginning, which really is a summary of all the other texts in 1 Timothy 3, it says that the bishop must be blameless. And that, as I was thinking about it, is really a negative way to speak about what a man should be. It says what he ought not be. He ought to be without charge, without legitimate charge. He ought to have nothing by which someone could legitimately blame him according to the scriptures.

And I thought about as we evaluated Richard. We all have a great deal of security and comfort in just that idea of security—that Richard is one with whom we don’t have to worry about blame. We have evaluated his life. We know how he is with respect to work because there are people that have worked with him. We know how he has been with respect to us. The way he has talked with us, and he has sought advice and counsel from different ones of us at different times.

He’s one with whom we can feel secure about. And so there is no blame that we have found in him. And negatively, then, it’s a good thing, but more importantly, as I evaluated and thought through Richard’s life, we could look at Richard on the positive side of it. And I thought of a different list of character qualifications one found in 2 Peter. Let me read this: “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And most importantly, in my friend and brother Richard, he is positively a godly man. He is a man who loves the word of God, who loves the people of God, and who has exhibited character of virtue and perseverance and godliness in his life on many occasions. And I know as I look around here in the congregation, many of you are here today because of his influence in yours or other folks’ life. And that’s a real testimony to the usefulness of this man and the character that he has positively got in his life.

And so I, as a member of the congregation and a man who loves Richard greatly, commend him to you and witness to you his godliness and great usefulness to us.

I’m just going to hold this thing. I think this is a privilege for me to be able to say a few things about Richard. But first I feel compelled—and I didn’t know if I was going to do this, but I wanted to give thanks to our elder, Pastor Tuuri.

I know that sometimes it’s a thankless job, and I’m one that believes that we should give honor where honor is due and credit where credit is due. So I just feel led of the Lord to thank you, Dennis, your family, and the rest of the deacons. We’re blessed here at this church.

Am I speaking? Can you hear me? Okay.

Again, I personally feel like we’re blessed. I know my family has mentioned that to me several times that at RCC, we’re blessed with the caliber and the quality of leaders that we have. And I just wanted to say that.

I wrote down a few things—just, you know, thirty or forty minutes’ worth, not that much—and I’m just going to list some of the things. And like Doug mentioned, at the top of the list, I put that Richard is a good example to me of a godly man in a godless society and how that has manifested itself. We only have to look—and many of us have, in fact, all of us have—observed him and his family, how he’s faithfully discharged his duties as father.

He has an exemplary family, and that does not go without notice. And I’m pleased to mention those things. He’s been faithful as he discharged his duties at the workplace here at the church and also in the community. I wrote down—well, I didn’t write them. These are not original. I found these verses in the scriptures. Dennis alluded to a few of them.

Matthew 24:45 said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that man who his master finds so doing when he comes.” I believe that Richard is a faithful man.

Also in Luke 16:10, “He who was faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.” And I think we’ve seen that in Richard being faithful in the little things and also progressively being more and more faithful in the bigger things.

And then in Matthew 25, it says, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things. I will make you faithful.” Oops. Where did they go? Bear with me. “I will put you in charge of many things. Enter in the joy of your master.”

And one last verse for all you young folks: you can say that Richard is real cool. For it says in Proverbs 17:27, “He who restrains his words has knowledge. And Richard can do that. He restrains his words. And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.”

We have a servant here who’s going to become our next elder. And I’m pleased to attest to that fact and to commend him to this congregation.

And I’d like to read this last thing: Richard, we trust you to lead and shepherd us. We have all observed how expertly you have nurtured and loved your own family, how you have trained and instructed your children in the faith. I am convinced, and as we all are, that you will accomplish this very same kind of nurturing here at RCC in a broader context of this Christian family.

Elder Tuuri asked me to come and make a few brief remarks about our brother. However, he didn’t say what brief meant. Later he said a short talk, but again, he didn’t say what that meant. So no, I will be short and succinct.

As I thought about Richard and asked my family about Richard this week, a title did come to my mind. And I’ve written out a short talk here that I’ll follow. And I’ve titled it: “The Two Pauls.”

Just briefly, I’ve been called here today to testify and give witness to the character and fitness of our brother Richard Mayhar. The calling to him is the office of elder. My job is to tell you about the works I’ve seen in his life. His life is exemplary and his works are many. Good fruit is the mark of Richard’s life.

I’ve known and observed Richard at close range for a number of years now. He’s a worthy brother, husband, father, friend, worker, neighbor, teacher, and most of all a disciple of our Lord.

You’re probably asking why would I title this “The Two Pauls” when the man’s name is Richard?

Well, many of you know that his name is Richard Paul Mayhar. And he’s very proud, and he’s very particular about that name. If you ask him, he’ll let you know. His middle name captured me as I began to think about him. And my daughter Emily was so bold as to compare him to St. Paul. And I thought it was a worthy note. When I thought about it, I certainly agreed with her, because St. Paul had a deep love for the word of God and he had a great love of the brethren.

St. Paul displayed a mastery…