Show Notes
Pastor Michael Babcock
Pastor Paul Johnson
Pastor Woody Lauer
Pastor Davis Schexnayder
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Good evening.
I think most of you know me if you're visiting with us. I'm Pastor Chelpka Christopher Chelka, and I was trying to think how to say we're about to install another pastor, so I will begin to say this differently.
But anyway, in this in between time, welcome to Covenant opc. Welcome on behalf of our session and all the saints here, especially to those of you who have traveled from other parts of the state and even out of state, even out of the country.
It's a real blessing to have you all here with us tonight.
As you know, we are here to celebrate and install Stephen Lauer as a second pastor here.
I am personally very excited and thankful for the ministry that's already happened among us and we really look forward to more and with the ways that the Lord will work through you and together through us. So thank you all for being here today.
This is a meeting of the Presbytery of Southern California.
And so for that reason we have ministers and elders here from the presbytery. The service is going to be led by Pastor Michael Babcock, who is the moderator for this meeting.
The order that you see in your bulletin is our agenda, so to speak. And it's a. And it's a worship service in that way.
And so he'll lead that. And you'll see that there are other ministers with us today. Paul Johnson is going to bring to us God's Word, Pastor Woody Lauer, OPC Missionary in Japan, and Stephen's father is going to be is here to give the charge to the pastor. David Shechner from Scottsdale is going to give a charge to us, Covenant opc as the congregation, and then we'll include with a benediction from our new pastor and our brother in the Lord. So thank you for all being here. After the benediction, please make sure to head down this breezeway here on your right and get some food. There's a lot of food, great food. And it'll be good to spend some time fellowshipping with, with one another.
All right, let's get started. Thank you.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: And again, this is a great blessing and privilege for me to be here.
Thank you for that invitation.
And yeah, this is a great historic night indeed. And we're so grateful to God for his many blessings that he's been pouring out into this congregation for years.
This is a worship service. So if you would stand with me, I'll call you to worship. From Psalm 145. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, great in loving kindness.
The Lord is Good to all and his mercies are over. All his works. All his works shall give thanks to you, O Lord.
And your godly one shall bless you. They will speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power.
And so it may be. Let us pray.
O Lord, our gracious Father, when we consider how great and awesome you are and how your works do display your glory, we give praise. We honor you indeed, Lord. We rejoice in your tender mercies and how those mercies are over all your creation, you have conquered us. By your grace, we are humbled by how your Holy Spirit has drawn us to yourself, that we might know your great love.
And so, Father, as we gather here in your presence, we exalt in your son, Jesus Christ. He is our king. He is our Savior.
And we thank you for the man that has been called.
We ask your blessings upon this service.
Even as we offer ourselves to you in worship and in devotion, let our praise truly resound within our hearts and within our homes, within these walls and beyond, so that the name of the triune God would be exalted wherever we put our foot.
We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
If you would take your Psalter hymnals and turn to number 84B, we will sing God his praise from Psalm 84B.
[00:08:25] Speaker C: Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word this evening from the book of colossians.
Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6.
Listen, for this is the word of the Lord.
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the Word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person thus far. The reading of God's word. May he bless it to us. Please be seated.
Let's pray.
Father, we do thank you for your word. We do thank you for your promise, Father. Help us to be steadfast this evening as we hear your truths for us. In your word. Help us to to see Christ. Help us to love him. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen.
Now, maybe you are familiar with a pretty obvious truth when it comes to creation, when it comes to the God who created us.
Have you ever thought, realizing that as humans we've been created to speak.
Look at Genesis, chapter one. We're told there, right, that we're made in God's image. But if that's all you'd read, what would you know of God to that point, right? We're shown a God who rules over creation, a God who is in control, a God who speaks creation into existence and so created in covenant with God. Then we speak only because God first speaks.
His Word creates. His Word molds us and shapes us. And our words do what they respond.
They glorify Him.
And therefore, it makes sense that God would be very concerned with how we use our words.
Think of the Ten Commandments. How many times is our speech listed there in the Ten Commandments, implicitly or explicitly, right? Not bearing false witnesses, not taking the name of the Lord in vain.
The Lord cares about our words. And in this passage this evening, we see another way in which the Lord cares about how we speak, the kinds of gratitude that we're to have.
Right? In our passage, Paul highlights areas where this life that we've been given in Christ, the fact that we've been raised from death to life in Jesus, it affects our words.
It affects both our words to God in our prayers.
It affects our words about God to other people.
Look at verse two here.
Continue steadfastly, we're told in prayer, being watchful in it, with thanksgiving, right? Here, Paul basically says, persevere in prayer.
And do you realize what that means then?
It means keep doing it right? Despite difficulty.
It requires commitment. And we know this. We know that prayer doesn't always come easily or naturally to us. It requires time, motivation, deliberate attention.
And so God calls us to be watchful in it, meaning be fully awake, be attentive.
How Jesus told His disciples, right, to watch and pray because the Spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
They were told to keep watch, to be on guard, to be on duty, doing their jobs, being watchful, as opposed to lazy and sleeping.
And so also he calls us to pray with thanksgiving.
Now, obviously, thankfulness is central to the Christian life.
Not only do we pray with thanksgiving, prayer and thankfulness are connected.
Think about that. Prayer acknowledges certain things about God, right? When we pray, we depend upon our Lord.
Prayer acknowledges we are trusting God, not ourselves.
Prayer reveals humility before his throne of grace and thankfulness, right? Thanksgiving does the same thing, thanking God for His faithfulness, for what he has accomplished for us.
So that prayer and thanksgiving, they both say that we are the recipients of his goodness, of his kindness.
Prayer with thanksgiving. It requires us to admit that he is sovereign and means that we are not as well.
Now, while we tend to focus on prayers for ourselves, notice. Notice where Paul directs us.
He requests further prayers for the Gospel, for the Gospel ministry.
Look at verses three and four at the same time. Pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the Word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Now, perhaps these are very familiar words to us.
We get missionary letters all the time. We hear of the kinds of prayers for church, plans for missions, for the Gospel going forward every Lord's day.
And I'm sure we oftentimes draw from this language from the apostle. But I want you to be struck by just how beautiful this request is.
Prayers for open doors, prayers for opportunities to speak clearly about the Gospel, prayers for hearts willing to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.
I mean, it's good that we use this language so frequently. But do you realize these words strike a bit differently when we hear them from the Apostle Paul himself, given his situation. Notice what he's referring to here.
He says, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the Word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am. Where is he?
In prison.
So that Paul, who is locked behind a closed door, prays for open doors.
And here's the beauty. Because what would we say, right? We'd say, lord, pray for this door to open, pray for my release.
Pray for an end right to this oppression so that good things could happen, so that I could continue in my ministry.
Paul doesn't exactly say that.
Pray that God may open to us a door for what? For me?
No, for the Word that I may speak words that I may declare the mystery of Christ.
So he's not exactly asking to be released himself. What he's really concerned with, what he's really interested in, is that the Word would be released.
Even as he tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:9, I am suffering, bound as a chains of a criminal. But the word of God is not bound.
And so he's not asking here for God to change his circumstances. He's asking for God to use his circumstances.
And God does that very thing, and had done that very thing for Paul in Acts 16.
Their prison doors were literally opened. And yet rather than leaving, he stays.
And he's able to declare the mystery of Christ to that jailer, saving the jailer's life both in the short term and in eternity.
Therefore, Paul's own weakness and his Present circumstances, they don't obscure the gospel.
Instead, they highlight the beauty of the word of Christ.
And here Paul is so focused right on this gospel, he not only requests prayer for his own gospel ministry, for his own words to go forth, he's also focused on their gospel ministry. Notice what he tells these Colossians. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
So he focuses again on these words, on this speech.
Not only are words to God, but our words to people about God. Let your speech always be gracious and seasoned with salt, knowing how to answer each person.
You see, as believers, as Christians, we've been given the truth with a capital T. We've been given the truthfulness and the trustworthiness of God's word.
And whereas some may want to use that to bludgeon or to overbear or to just out right offend people, that kind of language, the way of speaking, is not gracious. It's not seasoned with salt.
Isn't that an interesting phrase?
Now, salt has preservative qualities. It fends off decay. Here, Paul seems to be referencing the seasoning right of salt when salt is added to food, making it more delicious, more appealing.
And so how we speak to outsiders, how we speak about Christ, is to be with gracious language.
Gracious language is appealing to outsiders, and the opposite is also true. Ungracious speech is distasteful.
And so, of course, our speech is to be gracious, because our speech reflects the grace that we find in the Gospel we proclaim.
So we speak with humility, we speak with gentleness, with lowliness.
And our speech therefore acknowledges both the reality of sin and God's love for sinners.
And by doing that, we'd answer outsiders in a way that reveals Christ.
Did you catch the subtle difference between Paul's ministry, Colossians ministry?
Whereas his calling is to proclaim the mysteries of Christ, the Colossians are called to give answers.
Which means that he's not calling every single person to turn every opportunity into a sermon.
Rather, we walk in wisdom, don't we, when we ask, that's a great opportunity, right? Use the time wisely. Use those opportunities well.
As we talk to God about people, as we go before the Lord in prayer, as we talk with people about God, that order that he gives us is important, isn't it?
That the humility of prayer itself brings us to gratitude for the cross? And when standing at the foot of the cross, that's where we speak to people about Jesus.
And what do we say about Jesus? We say gracious words that invite.
That invite outsiders even to come and to rest.
To rest in Christ, to come and stand with us at the foot of this cross.
So the way we appeal to outsiders is not by mastering some kind of presentation, but inviting people to stand with us at the foot of the cross.
Inviting people to stand with us in the shadow of the Almighty.
Now, I could take the time to point out how bad we are at both of these things. At prayer, at evangelism.
These are areas where Christians have many, many struggles.
I could easily focus on all these bad comments, right? You don't pray enough. I know it.
How do I know? Because how much?
How much is enough?
We can be intimidated by outsiders. We can be timid in our response. We can stay quiet when there is opportunity to share Christ.
And while many preachers can waylay a bunch of Christians over this point, notice what Paul does here.
That's not what Paul's doing. Is it?
Not because these things were super easy for these Colossians in the first century, not because they were so much better and more spiritual than we were.
It was always a struggle. Notice he says, persevere, right in this, Continue steadfastly.
Prayer has always required perseverance.
And yet rather than beating them up, do you notice how God's word here is itself seasoned with grace?
He's not guilting them into praying. It's not a burden being imposed upon them. We see that it's a privilege.
And therefore he directs us to gratitude prayer, which flows out of this gratitude.
And God's word here reminds us all that we have to be thankful for the work that Christ has already accomplished.
Because salvation, the saving of souls, is a work of Jesus Christ.
And therefore that's why we pray. That's why we are thankful, because this is his work.
That's why we pray for open doors for the Word, because that's how we have been saved by His Word, as the Lord Himself has opened that door in your heart, has reconciled Himself to you in Christ, and therefore prayer is a joy, as Hebrews 10 says. Therefore, brothers, right? Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies Washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised faithful in prayer, we are reminded of his faithfulness.
And then in walking and in talking before others, the gracious words we share proclaim the exact same thing.
That he is faithful.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we ask that you would help us to be faithful. Help us to be watchful in our own prayers, Always giving thanks for your goodness and for your mercy.
We pray for open doors for the word.
May Stephen, May Christopher here as ministers of your gospel in Tucson, proclaim your truth, speak your word with clarity and with boldness week in and week out.
And father, we do pray that you would make us all wise in the way in which we interact with outsiders.
We do thank you that we can show people your love and your truth and your grace.
We have such good news to share. Father, we do thank you for this opportunity.
May our words always be full of grace and seasoned with salt.
Help us to show the love of Christ with our words and with our lives.
If we pray all these things in Jesus holy name.
Amen.
Won't you once again stand with me as we continue to sing praises to our God and king. This time 404 the church's one foundation.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: 404Amen. Please be seated.
Well, again, tonight is a very historic night in this congregation, isn't it?
I well remember, oh wow, 16, 17 years ago, those days when I would come down to lead a bible study in a home, taking people through membership classes, looking for the day that it would one day become a mission.
And I remember Calvin session requesting presbytery then finally to take over site of that group that was being formed into a lovely little church plant, a little mission work down here in Tucson.
I was very blessed then to serve on the provisional session for several years. What a joy it was to send down our intern Christopher Chelbka to come and to minister here. Then him receiving a call to be the evangelist. I remember, I remember giving the charge actually to Christopher that great day.
Then years later as the church grew and was established, coming down again to give a charge to the congregation and have been here a few times, great anniversaries to preach and to minister the word of God to you. It is now for me a triple honor to stand here tonight to install the reverend Stephen Lauer as pastor of this congregation.
So months ago, after this congregation had elected him to serve as a pastor, he was brought before the presbytery at our first stated meeting where he was interviewed and examined concerning his life and doctrine.
The presbytery then proceeded to vote. His examination was sustained. I don't recall any dissenting voice on that. That was always a blessing to hear that.
And then he was approved to be installed as your pastor here tonight.
So that's what we're here tonight to do.
Again, Stephen has been ordained previously to this. We're not reordaining him. We don't need to reordain him. We recognize his ordination, but we are here to install him, to place him here. We are a Presbyterian. That means, in part, is that we are a church that is connected.
Our connection is with Southern California and Hawaii.
And therefore, Stephen comes to be installed as minister of this church, but a member of Southern California Presbytery. So, brother, if you would come up and I'm going to ask you the following questions, if you would.
That's fine. Just right there.
I'll ask you the questions if you would respond in the affirmative.
First. Do you believe the scriptures of the Old New Testaments to be the word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice?
[00:33:01] Speaker D: I do.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: Do you sincerely receive and adopt the confession of faith and catechisms of this church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures?
[00:33:12] Speaker D: I do.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: Do you approve of the government, discipline and worship of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church?
[00:33:20] Speaker D: I do.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?
[00:33:25] Speaker D: I do.
[00:33:26] Speaker B: Have you been induced, as far as you know your own heart, to seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to promote his glory in the Gospel of His Son?
[00:33:39] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel in the purity the peace and the unity of the Church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account?
[00:33:54] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: Do you promise to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all private and personal duties, or which become you as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel, as well as in all the duties of your office, endeavoring to adore the profession of the gospel by your life, walking with exemplary piety before the flock over which God shall make you overseer?
[00:34:18] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: Are you now willing to undertake the work of the ministry in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church? And do you promise to discharge. To discharge the duties which may be incumbent upon you in that capacity as God may give you strength?
[00:34:35] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:34:36] Speaker B: Are you now willing to take the charge of this congregation as its pastor in agreement with your declaration when you accepted its call?
[00:34:46] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Do you conscientiously believe and declare as far as you Know your own heart that in taking upon you this charge, you are influenced by a desire to promote the glory of God to the good of his church?
[00:35:00] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:35:01] Speaker B: And finally, do you solemnly promise that by the assistance of the grace of God, you will endeavor faithfully to discharge all the duties of a pastor to this congregation and will be careful to maintain a deportment in all respects concerning the minister of the gospel of Christ?
[00:35:20] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Very good. Now, I'm going to ask the members of this congregation these next four questions. And if you would respond. If you're going to say yes, if you would respond the affirmative simply by raising your right hand. Yes. You may be seated, Stephen. Thank you.
So, first off, congregation, do you, the people of this congregation, continue to profess your readiness to receive Stephen Lauer, whom you have called to be your minister?
Do you promise to receive the word of truth from his mouth with meekness and love and to submit to him in the due exercise of discipline?
Very good. Do you promise to encourage him in his arduous labour and to assist his endeavors for your instruction and spiritual edification?
And finally, do you promise to continue to him, while he is your pastor, that worldly maintenance which you have promised and whatsoever else you may see needful for the honor of religion and his comfort among you?
All right. Well, very good.
Stephen, why don't you stand up here just one more time?
Since Reverend Lauer has answered all the questions in the affirmative, and since this congregation has received him to be their minister and they have promised to love him, to obey him, to encourage him and to support him, I now solemnly install Stephen Lauer to be a pastor of. Of Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church here in Tucson.
May the Lord bless your ministry, your labor amongst his congregation, and cause this congregation of Jesus Christ to grow in love and unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You may be seated.
Would you, as we come again to God in prayer?
No. Well, no, we'll wait to the prayer. At this time, I'm going to ask Stephen's father, Woody, to come up and give a charge.
[00:38:06] Speaker E: I thank you, this congregation, for receiving our son Stephen. This is a wonderful day for our family as well as for this congregation.
Turn with me, if you will, in your Bibles to Second Peter, chapter two. Two Peter, Chapter two. I'll be reading the end of that chapter and the beginning of chapter 3, 2 Peter 2, 213 2.
It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness, then, after knowing it, to turn back from the Holy commandment delivered to them what the true proverb says, has happened to them, the dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.
This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. Both in in both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.
In chapter one, the Apostle Peter reminds the church that he addresses in this letter. He reminds them of the Gospel message that he had previously proclaimed to them.
He alludes to that in verse 16 of chapter one, which reads, we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.
Peter's account of the coming and the power of his Lord was authentic.
No legends, no tales were involved.
This assurance is vital in view of the warning that is coming in the next chapter.
In chapter two, verse one, Peter expands on his Lord's warning found in Matthew 24.
To wit, many false prophets will arise and will Mislead many.
Matthew 24:11.
Accordingly, the apostle warns, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
Peter then proceeds to adorn that warning with a very vivid description of those false teachers. He goes on and on for a long chapter, as Paul puts it on the same theme. Writing shortly before Peter, Paul writes, for as I have often told you before, and now tell you, even with tears, many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Philippians 3:18 toward the end of Peter's description of these false teachers, the apostle intimates to us something very important for the ordination of of teachers, true or false teachers in the apostolic churches.
Looking at chapter 221 the false teachers had come to know the way of righteousness.
They had come to know the message about him who is the Way, the Truth, and the life.
Or again recalling chapter one, they had come to know the message concerning, or the message recounting the power and the coming of the Lord Jesus.
However, having known the way of righteousness, we read further in verse 21 of chapter 2, that those false teachers who turn away not only from the apostolic message about the Lord, but they also turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
21b.
In order to turn back from something, one must first turn toward it.
Indeed, verse 21 tells us how that happened.
The Holy Commandment, Peter tells us, was delivered to them.
This term delivered to them, which the ESV so renders, the Freybergs lexicon tells us, is a religious, technical term for passing along traditions, decisions and teachings.
At some point, presumably when these teachers took up the office of teaching, what Peter calls the Holy Commandment was formally delivered to them.
It became their principal duty as teachers in the Church.
We would call that point ordination or ordination and installation.
Hence our concern this evening.
Sometime later, those teachers not only abandoned Christ personally, but like pigs returning to the mire, they forsook what Peter calls the Holy Commandment, and thus they turned back from the Holy Commandment which had been delivered to them.
Stephen, in your ordination, even in the wording of your vows which you just took, even though that wording does not perfectly match Peter's wording here, that Holy Commandment became your principal duty to keep in preaching and in teaching.
In your installation this evening, it becomes your duty with respect to Covenant Church.
But to what commandment does Peter refer here?
The very next two verses enable us to identify that commandment which is your duty to keep on behalf of Covenant Church.
Writing again a second time to the same church and to that same end, 2 Peter 3:2 exhorts that church that they should remember the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.
The Lord's commandment, which we usually call the Great Commission, does indeed come to us through the apostles.
It came also to Timothy through the Apostle Paul, whom Paul ordained by the laying on of his own hands. Second Timothy 1, verse 6.
In 1 Timothy 6, Paul reminds Timothy of that commandment.
He writes to Timothy, I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus.
Our duty to keep the commandment comes directly to all ordained ministers through the apostles.
It remains their principal official duty until the appearing of our Lord Jesus.
Just as Paul wrote to Timothy at that time Christ will have completed the work of building his church when all of his disciples will have been baptized and taught to keep the commands that our Lord laid down in his ministry.
But there's more to Peter's directive. In Second Peter, chapter two, there's more than commanding ordained ministers to obey the commandment.
Writing to the entire church, the apostle Peter reminds them.
Reading again, chapter three, verses one and two. This is now the second letter I'm writing to you, beloved. In both letters I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, while direct obedience to the Great Commission, or as Peter and Paul refer to it, the commandment.
While that obedience is a duty conferred through ordination and installation, an obedient and healthy church is always stirred up with a sincere mind to focus itself as a church on fulfilling the Lord's holy commandment transmitted to us through the apostles.
Stephen and all the rest of us ministers of the Word must not only keep the commandment personally, but we must so mold and shape our congregations to actively remember that we are here on earth to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them until his return.
At that time, when he returns, the Lord relieves his church and his ministers of this great task. Stephen, I urge you not only to keep the commandment yourself, but to so minister in this congregation as to teach it to have a true and steadfast heart for missions not only around the world, but also here in Tucson, Arizona.
[00:49:56] Speaker B: This time I'm going to ask. So I had Christopher, as I think my first, and then my penultimate intern, was David Schecksnyder. So I'm going to ask David to come up and give a charge out to the congregation.
[00:50:19] Speaker F: Let's turn to John 12 together.
John, chapter 12, verses 20 through 26.
Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. And they asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus.
Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus, and Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.
But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If anyone serves me, he must also follow me. And where I am, there will my servant be also.
If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him.
I am cognizant that I am the last charge before we get to eat food together. I know the time, and so I promise to you to keep it brief.
It's an honor for me to give a charge to this congregation, and it's going to come in the form of two requests from John, chapter 12. First, a request for you to make of your new pastor, and then a request that he will make of you.
So first, that request that you need to make of your new pastor comes from some Greeks, they're called. That's all. They're introduced. That's not a small thing if we know where they are and when they are. There shouldn't be Greeks here at all, should there be? They've come to the temple to worship a Jewish temple and a Jewish city to worship a Jewish God. But here are some Greeks.
Paul would call them formally strangers and aliens. But because they've heard of the promise of God, they've come close who were once far off. So we can replace here in John, chapter 12, verse 20. Now here today are some Tucsonians, or Tucsonites, I'm not quite sure what you call yourselves.
Either way, you should be asking, what right do we have to be here? We were strangers and aliens. But you've come. Why? Because you've heard about the Messiah.
Because there's one who's come in the name of God to forgive your sins. And so because you're here for that reason, your request to your new pastor should be the request of these Greeks. You should ask your pastor, sir, we wish to see Jesus. And you should ask that question for two reasons. First is for your own heart.
It's going to be tempting as you get to know Stephen not just as your pastor, but as a brother, as a friend, as a human being made in the image of God. You're going to know his likes and his dislikes, his opinions. And it's easy for a congregation to make their pastor everything. And so you're going to ask him his financial advice and his political advice and his home buying advice and his economic and all these kind of things. And he's shaking his head. He might be good at those things. I'm getting to know him.
That's not why he's here.
And so the call for you as a congregation is to remember why Stephen has been installed here. He's been installed here because, like Philip, he's one of you. He's not an angel.
He's one of you. But he's here for one reason. And he's here to show you Jesus Christ.
And so ask him that question.
He's allowed to have political opinions. He's allowed to have economic opinions. But this is not an opinion. Jesus Christ is the son of God and he is your savior. So for your own heart's sake, make this the question you ask your pastor, sir, we wish to see Jesus. And then the second reason you ask him that question is for his heart.
This is a heavy calling, James says. Not many of you brothers, should become teachers.
And it's very, very common for ministers of the Word to encounter what we call the dark night of the soul. As you seek to minister, as we've just heard the calling, we hear that great calling and we think, who am I? Who am I? I am a sinner.
I failed so many times this month, this week, this day.
I am unfaithful. I'm a hypocrite. These thoughts come to a pastor, and it's going to be easy for Stephen to fall into inward introspection.
But you ask him, sir, we don't want to see you.
We're not here for you. We're not here for your righteousness. We're not here for your strength. We are here to see Jesus.
And so ask Stephen that question for his own heart.
Because however much he stumbles, however much he feels feeble and frail and made of dust, even when he feels like the worst beggar in the world, he is a beggar that's able to tell you where you can get the very bread of life. So for his own heart, his own discouragement, ask him, just owe you Jesus, so that he can remember that's his calling. When he is weak, His Savior is mighty. When he is weak, Jesus is sufficient for his congregation.
And then second, this new pastor is going to make a request of you.
And this is how Jesus responds. When these Greeks, when these Tusonians come to see Jesus, here's how Jesus responds. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.
But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it. But whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
So now you have a pastor, a second one, a faithful one, who will come and ask something of you.
He will ask you to die.
That's why he's here. He will come here and he will ask you to die for yourself and live to Jesus. And so my charge to you as a congregation is to listen to him when he asks you to die to yourself. Listen to him first for his own heart.
There are several pastors here, and I know they will agree with me when I say to you the greatest comfort you can give your pastor is, is to walk in holiness.
When your pastor sees you repent of your sin, when no one knows that you did it, when your pastor hears of you praying for the sake of his ministry and his family and his church, when your pastor sees you sharing the gospel with your neighbor, giving out of your need to your Church singing with a loud voice to a hymn that you cannot hit the notes to and do not know very well.
Whatever service you give, it's the greatest encouragement you can give to your pastor.
Listen to him when he asks you to die for Christ because that will bring encouragement to his heart. That's what he wants to see for you. That's why he's taking this calling, is that you might die to yourself and have life eternal in Jesus Christ. So for the sake of his heart, listen to him when he calls you to die.
But the most important thing, listen to him for your own heart, for your own soul. Jesus says this in John chapter 12. He if you would die, you will live forever.
If you love me, you will follow me.
Where did Jesus go, brothers and sisters, but to the grave? And then he rose again.
And so listen, when this pastor tells you his new congregation to die to yourself for the sake of your soul and for your wife and your husband and your kids, listen to him, because if you die, the fruit that is born from that is nothing less than eternal life in Jesus Christ. He will never ask you a better thing than to lay down your life for Jesus.
[00:57:54] Speaker B: Well, we're coming to the conclusion of our worship service and of this installation service, but before we do, let us bow to our great God, our shepherd, and pray and ask his blessings.
Almighty God, you who are the Creator of heaven and earth, the glorious King over all creation, the wonderful Saviour of your people, faithful shepherd of your church, how we do thank you and praise you for your tender mercies. You have watched over this congregation for many years.
You have grown it, you have provided well for it. You continue to water it and cause it to bear fruit.
We thank you.
We thank you, O Lord, for your mercy here and for the Holy Spirit's work and ministry amongst this congregation.
Lord, we also thank you for raising up men to be ministers of life, ministers of hope and salvation, a minister of forgiveness.
And so we pray for Stephen as he takes up this work in this congregation. Oh, Lord, open his eyes that he may always see the richness, the beauty, the glory of his Lord and Savior, Jesus.
May he always find his strength and his encouragement in the one who conquered death by his own resurrection from the dead.
O Lord, grant to this man the anointing of your spirit that he might display the wisdom and the gentleness of the Savior.
Grant to him also fluency and clarity of speech to convey the wonders of the gospel.
Strengthen him, O Lord, to stand on the truth and to not flinch when it comes under Attack.
Enable him, Lord, to boldly decry sin and righteousness or unrighteousness. Then point all men to Christ.
Enable him to have ready ears and an open heart to the needs, the sorrows and the burdens of this people that he has been now called to minister to.
Grant him the wisdom to guide them and the tenderness of heart to speak the truth winsomely as he brings them to Jesus.
As we heard earlier, Lord, help him to be a man of prayer, set him apart and grant him all the gifts and grace needed to fulfill this glorious task. And Father, we pray for this congregation that as you continue to bless it and to grow it by your own grace and by the word of God that has been so that will be so faithfully preached here.
We ask, O Lord, that it will indeed die. That each member will die to themselves. That they will that they will live for Christ.
May they purpose in their hearts and by their actions to support this brother even as they have so faithfully and lovingly supported Christopher.
And Lord, let all who come know that this is a church that is truly the disciples of Christ because of their love, one for the other.
We ask all this in the glorious name of the good Shepherd, Jesus Christ himself, even as now we seek your own glory. Amen.
Well, let us turn in our Psalter hymnals to Psalm 68b. 68b. Let's stand as we sing this psalm to God's glory.
Amen.
That psalm was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul makes mention of this in Ephesians where he says that the risen Christ gives good gifts to his people as he himself has led captivity captive. He gives gifts to his people people. And among them are pastor teachers.
One of the it is a tradition of Presbyterian churches that the very first thing of ministry that that newly installed pastor does is raise his arms and give God's blessing to his people.
So at this time I'm going to ask the newly installed pastor to come and bless us with the benediction.
[01:05:58] Speaker D: Dear congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, lift up the eyes of faith to your king in heaven and receive his blessing.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace.
[01:06:17] Speaker E: Amen.
[01:06:22] Speaker D: And now we'll adjourn to dinner in the back room.
[01:07:34] Speaker A: Sa.
