Matt Oquist's Word of Encouragment to Tom Powell on the Occasion of His Ordination

Ordination Charge for Tom Powell 2013-10-12

Matt Oquist

Colossians 2:6-7

1. Tom, you have asked me to charge you today with your duties as a pastor.

2. After prayer and thought, I've decided to look with you at Colossians 2:6-7 to ground

and unify your charge.

Colossians 2:6-7: \Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding

in thanksgiving."

Let us pray: Lord, we thank you for yourWord, and we ask now that you would illumine

our hearts and minds that we may understand it, for your glory and our edi cation. Amen.

1. Tom: I called you last weekend to ask, and you described to me how you received

Christ late in high school. You knelt and prayed: \If you're real, God, make yourself

real to me."

2. What a wonderful prayer.

3. It was a humble prayer. It presumed that you didn't have all the answers, and it

submitted you to Christ's terms. You didn't pray \If you're real, give me a certain

feeling," or \If you're real, show me this or that miracle." You prayed that God would

make himself known to you in whatever way he might see t.

4. It was an expectant prayer. You expected that if God is real, he must be able to make

himself known to you, and that he must love you enough to do so.

5. Paul reminds the Colossians not to lose their hold on Christ as they had received him,

and I encourage you to do the same in your own case.

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6. Keeping hold of your humility, and your expectation that God will lovingly work, what

next?

1 Walk in Christ.

1. Walking in Christ is more than merely asking yourself Charles Sheldon's question:

\What Would Jesus Do?"

2. It's not a bad question, but it's an insu cient question, because not a single thing we

do will be pleasing to God until we're as concerned about being in Christ as we are

about doing what he would do.

3. I'll put the contrast this way: Paul does not say that you should walk like Christ would

walk, he says you should walk in Christ.

4. How is that possible?

2 Be rooted and built up in Christ.

1. Everyone who has ever lived has had ultimate commitments at any given time { the

thing (or things) that drives everything else.

2. Many people spend their lives chasing wealth; many will sacri ce anything for honor,

or fame, or family.

3. This fundamental life service to ultimate commitments is universal to human experi-

ence.

4. Even atheists have fundamental commitments! How many atheists are fundamentally

committed to science, the advancement of humanity (at least as they see it)?

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5. The ultimate commitments in our lives drive everything else; everything else is less

important.

6. If everything else in our lives is driven by our ultimate commitments, then everything

in our lives is in service to those commitments.

7. And if our lives are completely in service to something, it's clear that (1) we value that

thing highly, (2) we are in its grip, and (3) we're giving ourselves wholly to it.

8. This is the nature of worship. And in case you didn't notice, even atheists do it!

9. So we're all worshipers; we're all worshiping something. The question is: what is the

object of your worship?

10. What is the ultimate reason you do each thing you do? Is your life about the loving

creator of the universe, or about yourself?

11. Our culture teaches us that there are many worthy options in competition to be at the

core of our lives: family, friends, fame, wealth, vocation, leisure, etc.

12. But if your life is ultimately organized around any one of these things, you're worshiping

that thing instead of Christ. And that is the de nition of idolatry.

13. This may seem confusing, because things such as family, wealth, and honor aren't bad

{ they are blessings from God!

14. How, then, can our pursuit of God's blessings lead us into idolatry?

15. This can happen when we confuse the nature of their goodness.

16. For example, suppose you had a family heirloom { a pocket watch. This pocket watch

was your great-great-great-grandfather's, and it's been passed down from father to son,

and your father has given it to you.

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(a) You could appreciate that watch because it's gold, and because it's old, and

because it does such a wonderful job of telling the time.

(b) But if that was your whole focus, you'd be an impoverished recipient of a valuable

heirloom.

(c) The watch points you back to your father, and your grandfather, and his father,

etc.

(d) If you neglect where the watch points, to your father, your family heritage, you're

neglecting the most important thing.

17. Tom: You prayed that God would make himself real to you. But God did more than

to make himself real to you.

18. At the time you prayed that prayer, you were an impoverished recipient of everything.

19. But as you came to know God, and as he taught you creation's true purpose { to point

to him, to show his glory { God made everything more and more real to you. You're

no longer missing the point of everything.

20. And we, every one of us, are God's creatures. First and foremost, as part of God's

creation, we must point to him.

21. As I mentioned, things like family, wealth, and honor can each be wonderful blessings

from God.

22. And when we have them and know in our hearts that they are blessings from God, not

things we deserve, but things he has given because he loves us, then our lives can be

built up with Christ as the nourishing root.

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3 Abound in thanksgiving.

1. When we know in our hearts that every good thing we've ever experienced is a gift

from our loving heavenly father, then abundant thanksgiving starts to sound possible.

2. But it's hardly automatic. We have to practice being thankful; we have to remind

ourselves that every good thing comes from God, and we can even remind God by

praying thankful prayers. He doesn't get tired of hearing those!

3. When you really start to practice that (\Lord, thank you so much for my wife. She's

really such a blessing to me." \Lord, thank you so much for my work. Help me to be a

blessing to my co-workers and community."), then over time your heart and your mind

get trained to be thankful, and you start seeing the world with thankful eyes. And, as

it turns out, once you do that, you start seeing even more things to be thankful for.

4. I'm not talking about falsely cheerful Christianity. There is also a lot of pain in the

world, and a lot of sin, and a lot of darkness.

5. But when you practice thanksgiving to God, you're able to see and confront the pain,

sin, and darkness with hope in your heart because you know { your heart sings out

within you { that God is good, and that he sent Christ, who conquered sin and death.

4 What about ministry?

1. You must preach Christ to root and build up his people.

(a) When we look out at the world, and when we look into our own hearts, if we're

honest, we know Christ is not always exalted. In fact, he's seldom exalted.

(b) This failure to worship our creator is the core of sin, and the extent of the misery

it brings is untold.

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(c) We cannot x this problem ourselves; we are not spiritual doctors who can trans-

plant our own hearts.

(d) Only Christ's death for us, and his victory over death and the grave, can su ce

to heal this sin-sick and weary world.

(e) When Christ is the rst, middle, and last thing of every part of your own life,

Tom, that's going to come out when you preach his word.

2. Show Christ to everyone.

(a) When Christ is the rst, middle, and last thing of every part of your own life,

that's going to come out in your pastoral care.

(b) Every person in this room has problems { we all struggle with our circumstances,

and we battle against sin in our hearts.

(c) You can't x our problems. Your advice isn't the ultimate answer for anyone!

(d) But God has trained you up for this day, and he's prepared you to be his minister

in this place.

(e) Continue to look to him as the ultimate satis er of all your true needs, and to his

Word as your su cient guide for faith and practice.

(f) Then when you talk with people, when you pray with them, when you just be

someone's good friend, someone's good neighbor { then you're going to exemplify

Christ's love, and God will minister through you in ways you'll never even know.

3. Love the people God has placed in your care, and let them love you and Becca back!

(a) Gal. 6:2 says \Bear one another's burdens, and so ful ll the law of Christ."

(b) Not only are you to bear burdens for others, but you must let them bear burdens

for you!

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(c) You've already described to me how a 20-minute round trip downtown can become

a 3-hour series of great conversations without even trying { what a wonderful

testimony to a truly neighborly community.

(d) Guard against being too guarded. Enjoy the joys of others, cry with them in

sorrows, and give them the gift of ministering to you and Becca in the same way.

4. But even while you're enjoying the community here, you still need to structure your

time.

(a) It will probably take a while to get into the rhythm of this ministry, but you'll

need to nd a rhythm that allows you to care properly for your relationship with

God, your relationship with Becca, your relationships within these churches and

these communities, and your ministry of the Word in these pulpits.

5. Lastly: seek advice, counsel, and fellowship.

(a) Remember that Paul's words in Colossians 2:6-7 are for the church, not just for

individuals.

(b) As a church we are to walk in Christ, together, rooted and built up in him and,

together, established in the faith.

(c) Just as it is your duty to preach the Gospel of Christ from the pulpit, you are

also in need of the Gospel yourself.

(d) Seek out fellowship with fellow-laborers, other ministers of the Gospel, who will

speak the Gospel into your life, who will walk in Christ with you, and who will

build you up in Christ to establish you in the faith.

6. Put Christ rst in your heart, and he will be glori ed in your ministry.

7. Point your heart and everything in your life toward Christ.

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8. When you do that, then God and everything he's created will be made real to you,

and through you to everyone who hears the Word of Christ from your lips, and who

sees the love of Christ lived in your life.

Let us pray: O Lord, we commit Tom, and your ministry here, to your care. Teach him

your way, O Lord, and unite his heart to fear your name, that he may teach others, and that

you would be exalted by your people. Amen.

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