Concept of Ordination

One of the problems I have seen in the American church is this idea that pastors/ministers are the ones who are supposed to at least be doing the lion's share of the work of the church. For the longest time I have seen this as a problem with individual church goers who are either too lazy or lack spiritual maturity. While I still believe this to be true of many people who fill our pews I am beginning to see things in a slightly different way. I hope the following makes sense, it does to me but I know that I do not always communicate what is going on in my brain very well.

My shift in perspective comes from reading about the Ordination of Aaron and his sons that is found in Leviticus 8. In particular, I took some time to read more about the word we usually translate ordination in this chapter. The basic meaning of the word is to set or inlay. To better clarify the word I looked up the word inlaid and one of the definitions is set into the surface of something. As I considered how this might apply to the modern church I began to realize that there are people are called by God to be the spiritual leaders within the body of Christ. As leaders there will be times when we must be the ones doing the majority of the work but that is just part of God's calling on our lives. The calling to be a leader in his church is one that is special and unique and as such comes with a certain amount of special roles and responsibilities.

This is by no means meant to be an excuse for others to avoid doing God's work with the body of Christ. This is more of a reminder for those of us who are leaders to look into our own hearts and minds so that we can move beyond the bitterness that grows from blaming others for not doing their part in helping you. Remember it is not about you, it is about Him. It always has been about Him and it always will be.