Archbishop's Sermon for the Ordination Service of Priests and Deacons

In the context of our solemn and vibrant worship to our Almighty God this afternoon, we gather to ordain eight (8) of our dear brothers in the Lord into the Sacred Ministry.  Two (2) of them will be made Deacons and the other six (6) will be Priested. I What a joy and an encouragement thisis for all of us!  We praise and thank God for His special blessing by adding these 8 brothers to our Church today.  May I take this opportunity to welcome all of you to this wonderful celebration of a big harvest of ordained workers in our Diocese.  May God continue to bless our Diocese with faithful workers for rich harvest of souls!

In this celebration, we give thanks to God for the offering of lifes by these eight (8) brothers.  I also thank God for the wife and children of each one of them because they are standing by their husbands and fathers to share the burden as well as the joy of the ordained ministry.  They will be the constant encouragers and comrades of our workers in ministry.  I want to thank them and bless them on behalf of our Diocese.

Today, I also want to thank God for the parents of these eight (8) men.  Some of the parents are here but some have already returned to heaven.  These parents have nurtured their sons well and now they rejoice to witness their sons offering themselves to the service of the Church.  Praise and Thanksgiving be to the Lord!

On this joyful, solemn and auspicious day the word God has given me to bring to all of us in this Ordination Service is Call!  These letters, which spell "C-a-l-l", stand for four (4) key ingredients in our Ordination.  These four ingredients are spelt out in the following four (4) Words -

      -  Christ,

      -  Apostles,

      -  Leaders, and

      -  Life

I]     Christ:  The first word is Christ!

Christ is the centre and the foundation of our ministry.  We are called and chosen by Him to enter into His Ministry.  The Old Testament lesson read this afternoon reminds us of the Call of God to Isaiah.  Isaiah was a regular worshipper in the temple just like many of us in our Churches today.  I praise and thank God for all of our faithful and regular worshippers in our churches.  But it was in the year King Uzziah died when a national crisis struck home vividly that Isaiah received a Vision from God.  Suddenly he was face to face at the real presence of God.  God spoke to him through a wonderful encounter.  Isaiah's spiritual eyes were opened, and he testified -

Isaiah 6:1 I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted,and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Then came the Call in the form of a question:-  Isaiah 6:8b ..."Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

In the New Testament, Jesus chose and called the 12 to be his Disciples and later added Paul into that list.  I have always been deeply impressed and touched by Peter's experience when Peter confessed to Jesus:

Matthew 16:16 "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus said to him:

Matthew 16:17"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 

This clear grasp of the Truth of Jesus' true person and real identity is a basic spiritual quality every Christian and worker must have.  This cannot be obtained by studies and trainings alone, not even in the best Theological Institution.  It is a deep deep spiritual relationship with the Lord of the Church, Jesus Himself.  Jesus took Peter's confession very seriously and declared -

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 

Jesus Christ is the Lord of our Church!  He Calls, Chooses and Ordains everyone of us to be His Minister of His Church. 

Praise the Lord!

It was God's calling that initiated Isaiah's very profound, outstanding and long prophetic ministry.  It was Jesus' calling that fueled the ministry of the early Apostles.  These men turned the world upside down with the dynamic Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In a similar way, our 8 brothers have been touched by our Lord.  They were called by the Lord of the Harvest.  Today, before all of us, they answer Jesus' Call to them.  They stand before you and me and most important of all before the Living Christ and they say:-

Isaiah 6:8b "... Here am I.  Send me!"

II] Apostles:  The second word is Apostle!

Apostles mean those who are being sent.  God calls us!  He gives us His Vision, His Mission and His Message.  Apostles mean we hear His Call.  We see the Vision.  We understand the Mission and we have learnt the Message and we are sent to the people God wants us to go.  Peter was sent by Jesus "to feed his sheep".

John 21:15-17 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me

more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said,

"Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time,

"Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Paul was sent by God with this Clear Mandate:

Acts 9:15-16This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings

and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

Acts 26:16-18 Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant

and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people

and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and

from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those

who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I praise and thank God that our Church is an Apostolic Church. We are a mobile people of God.  We always say to God: "Here I am, send me!"  When a Church loses this Vision of Apostleship, when a Church begins to settle too much for comfort, the Church will begin to decay.

We thank God for this Clear Apostolic Vision of our Church in our history.  Many have been sent to us.  They have labored hard and well among us.  Their fruitful ministry have made what our Church is today. Yes, as a Diocese, in the last 20 years or so, we have learnt what it means to God when He Calls and He Sends His Servants to mission at home and overseas.  We have widened the base for the full-time ministry.  In our Diocese we learn to make full use of our Ordained Ministers.  We open our door of ministry to lay ministers as well. We have Pastors, Evangelists, Youth Evangelists and Non-Stipendiary Pastors and Lay Readers who are not ordained but they play the full complement of the ministry of our Church.  I want to make it clear that this Ordination Service is one of the ways we identify and confirm full-time workers in our Church.  Today, these eight (8) brothers begin the process of being sent to different places in Sabah and Malaysia. I pray that later on, they may also hear God's Call to be sent to other parts of our Province and perhaps even other parts of the world!

III] Leaders:  The third word is Leaders!

We are ordained to be the Spiritual Leaders of our Church.  Each of these 8 brothers, like those who have gone before them, will be put in place of leadership in different situations.  They have a whole life ahead of them to learn to grow as God's Chosen Leaders for His Church.  But our Leadership is very special and unique.  We are not to be like the gentiles "lord it over" our people.  We are to be servant and slave.  He calls us to pattern our leadership after Him.

Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Paul after his living encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus understood what the Lord's standard was all about.  He instructed the early community of faith:

Romans 12:2a Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Our spiritual leadership is dedicated and geared to inspire and bring out the best of our people according to "the will of God",

[

Romans 12:2b his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 This is an awesome leadership which must include -

 Romans 12:1b Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,

holy and pleasing to God - - this is your spiritual act of worship.

Brothers, today, God opens up His partnership of leadership to you at this Ordination Service.  You are challenged to turn your eyes upon Him and fix your eyes on Him.

 "Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in his wonderful face

and the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His Glory and Grace"

My dear brothers in Christ, your Leadership is to build the Kingdom of God for the Glory of God.  He must always increase and you must learn to decrease day by day.  The proud and arrogant will have no place in such leadership.  Only those who have a big heart, deep faith and humble spirit that will be a successful leader in this partnership with God.

Today, as we lay hands on each one of them we pray :

Send down the Holy Spirit upon Your Servants

for this office and work of a

Deacon/Priest"

In this simple but solemn prayer, we plead to God to give you the Holy Spirit to make you the greatest spiritual leaders in our Church. 

IV] Life:  The fourth word is Life!

I am not talking about just the physical life that comes with the routine business of child birth.  Indeed, the miracle of birth need to be respected as part of God's own creation.  This can be understood fully when true faith in God is present.  But I am talking about spiritual life that comes from God and God alone.  Jesus talked to Nicodemus about this:

John 3:5-6 "I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

We must note with insight that even a very knowledgeable religious leader like Nicodemus did not quite understand this Spiritual Truth of being born again.  I am sure Jesus' Own Disciples at that point of time also did not quite grasp the truth.  But after the first Easter Day, the whole picture was cleared.

Let us read the words as recorded by the Apostle John

John 20:21-23 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them;and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

According to the above few verses, we learn that this spiritual life has 4 essentials elements.  It is God breathed.  It is of the Holy Spirit.  It is connected to the peace of God that comes with the forgiveness of sin.  It is what the Church is sent to do.  To breathe life into human soul through the power of the Holy Spirit; to bring peace of God to troubled spirit through the forgiveness offered by God;

--- these are the Calling of the Church.  This is the real spiritual life only the Church of Jesus Christ can give.  Jesus entrusted this authority to His Church.

Today, at this Ordination Service, God invites you to Go and Give Life to many on His behalf through the ministry of our Church.  What a privilege this is!  Indeed, no other job, work or ministry is more noble and important than this.  I congratulate you for being called and chosen by God for this.

CONCLUSION

Let me conclude with praise and thanksgiving to God.  He is gracious!  He is always good!  Today, He continues His Blessings on us.  From among our own, Jesus recruits eight (8) to serve Him as Priests and Deacons.  The Lord of our Church and the Lord of the Harvest has chosen you to be leaders of His Church.

His deep desire is that your mission and ministry is -

·          Christ Centred!

·          Apostolic!  and

·          Life Giving! 

Go my dear Brothers in Christ!

Go and be a minister that makes a difference in God's Church!

Go and be that Great Servant/Great Leader that God has intended you to be!

May the Name of the Lord be Blessed and Praised and the whole people of God Say together

 A M E N !!!

The Most Rev Datuk Yong Ping Chung

Bishop of Sabah / Primate - Province of S E Asia