This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Christians & Their Vows” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 1, 1990.

This morning our scripture reading is from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. We begin our reading in chapter 2, verse 11. Hear the word of God. Say the word of God. Therefore remember that you, who were once Gentiles in the flesh, were called uncircumcision by those who are called the circumcision in the flesh, made by hands. At that time, you were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the promises, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both groups one and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility. He abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity, making peace. He did this so that he might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thereby ending the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household. You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the cornerstone. In him, the whole building, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Then turning to chapter four, beginning with verse eleven: And he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.

Can we all come into unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ? That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head—even Christ—from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

We are wrapping up a series that has dealt with Christians and their vows. And this last installment in this series has to do with the matter of office.

This topic may not be of immediate interest to you. You may not think of yourself as someone called to office, and there are only certain individuals within the Church who are called to office. Therefore, discussing this issue might bring before us a subject that does not involve everyone, and you might think so immediately. But is this true? Are we not all interested in the church and her order? Do we not have a vested interest in our church’s order? Are not the church’s officers important to us, since they are set in the church for our good?

I wish this morning merely to place before you a proposition and develop it, in order to lay the foundation for consideration of the matter of those vows particular to the officers of this church. That proposition is this: When we deal with the church’s order and her offices, we must remember—we must remember—we are dealing with heavenly things. That is the proposition. When we deal with the Church’s order and her officers, we must remember that we are dealing with heavenly things.

You might recall some of the material from that letter to the Hebrews. In that letter, at several points, the writer tells us that the old order, even the old order, was a copy and shadow of heavenly realities. It was as if there was a reflection from above into the earth of the form and outline of those heavenly truths. You have then in the heavens the truth, the realities, the substance, if you will. And in the old order, with the tabernacle and the temple, its sacrifices and services, even its offices, there is a reflection from heaven to earth.

But then the writer goes on. If he makes this point clear in chapter 8 and chapter 9, by the time we reach chapter 12 he is pressing us further. In that chapter he goes on to say that we now no longer come to that which was a copy and shadow, but to the very reality itself. He tells us that we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, so that there is now a sense in which the people of God are in direct contact with that heavenly substance in a way that those under the older administration were not. But he is not done. He presses us further, moving on from chapter 12 to chapter 13.

Specifically, in the seventeenth verse, he tells us: “Obey your leaders. Obey those officers who have been established within the assembly.” And specifically with respect to these leaders, there is an authority that does not come from a shadow or a copy. It does not come from an earthly administration, even if that administration is as glorious as the one revealed at Sinai. Rather, there is an authority that is unique to this leadership, possessing heavenly weight, significance, and reality. These leaders are in direct contact with heaven itself, which explains the seriousness with which the writer to the Hebrews speaks. Indeed, these leaders may come and go, they may rise, flourish for a time, grow old, and die. But even though they come and go, they serve in the name of and in the power of Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Hebrews 13:8. There is then this truth: the heavenly priest, the heavenly officer, glorified as he is, is now asserting his rule through these leaders who have taken their place in the church. This affirms a vital and substantive connection between what is true in heaven and what is happening in the world. The proposition is this: when we deal with the church and her order, when we deal with the church and her offices, we must remember that we are dealing with heavenly things. What we have said, using Hebrews as our background, is confirmed by many considerations in the New Testament.

Do you remember Jesus at Caesarea Philippi? Do you remember Matthew 16? That is a contested passage, the passage in which Jesus speaks specifically to Peter. He tells Peter, “I am giving you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” You must not overlook the relationship between those keys and heaven itself. And Jesus goes on to explain, “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

You see, there is something heavenly taking place here. Regardless of our disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church regarding the role of Peter, we can set those aside for a moment. It is clear, is it not, that there is something heavenly taking place here. As Protestants, we often emphasize chapter 18, where that specific blessing—or responsibility—given to Peter is now extended, it seems, to all the disciples.

For in verse 18 of that chapter, Jesus says to the disciples as a group what he had said formally to Peter. The same language is used: “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

But the words here are very interesting, because Jesus is not specifically dealing with the disciples per se. This passage deals broadly with the matter of the church itself. The church, in her exercise of authority, as that authority will in fact be exercised throughout the church’s history, from Christ’s resurrection to our own time. So it is, once more, made plain to us from Jesus himself, that there is a relationship that exists between things in heaven and things on earth, a relationship that has never before been so clearly established. The focal point of this relationship is the church, and specifically the church’s offices. Jesus appears after his resurrection in the upper room, as recorded in John 20, where he makes a similar statement to his disciples, in verse 23. He tells them that the sins they forgive will be forgiven, and the sins they bind will remain bound. This authority from Christ resides with the church in its authoritative offices. That is what we find generally in the Gospels.

What about the Apostle Paul? There are two images that Paul uses with respect to the church. These two images appear repeatedly. He speaks of the church as the body of Christ. He also speaks of the church as a new, final, or heavenly temple of God. Both images are used, and both of these images have been used in the passages from Ephesians that we read this morning. With respect to the first, we are told that the church is the body of Christ. Now that is interesting language, is it not? Because we know that the body of Christ is at the right hand of the Father. And yet Paul speaks of the church as the body of Christ. To what end? That things in heaven may be connected to things on earth. Yet there is this relationship, now established as never before, between things above and things here.

The body of Christ is a body. Yet the church can also be called the body of Christ. The church is also called the temple of God. She is the final dwelling place of God in the Spirit. The end of Ephesians 2 makes this clear. And this temple, this final abode for God and His people, actually binds things eternal and heavenly to those things that are here in our present existence, in our present order of things. How pervasive this matter of the church as the temple of God is throughout the epistles of Paul. It is clearly asserted, especially in the pastorals. For example, in Ephesians 2, Paul speaks of the church as the household of God.

This language is used again by Paul when he writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:15. He has written these things to Timothy so that he might know how to behave himself in the house of God. The term used by Paul here is not to be understood in a domestic sense, as if it refers to a private home or villa. It refers to the temple. So that you might know how to behave yourself in the temple of God—the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth, the new and final temple of God. In this temple, as it is spelled out in the pastoral epistles—1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus—there is presented to you the ordering of the new and final temple of God and the offices that are established within it. How close was Luke to Paul? Things in heaven and things on earth. The body of Christ, the temple of God. How close was Luke to Paul? Would we be surprised to find Paul’s attitudes reflected in Luke’s writings?

Not at all. Survey the book of Acts. What is the intention there? Is it not to show that we have moved from the old order and its temple to the new order and its temple, which is centered in the church of Jesus Christ, the work of the Spirit, bringing order out of chaos, and establishing for the church her offices? This is not a moving beyond Paul and Luke. What about John in the book of Revelation? The language there about temple and order. How heaven opens and John sees into heaven itself. And what does he find there in the fourth chapter?

He finds twenty-four elders surrounding the throne, even in the eternal order. The office persists, and not only are the twenty-four elders mentioned, but also four living creatures. Was it any accident that in the ancient church each of those creatures, the four living creatures, was associated with one of the gospel writers? The proclamation of the Word is related to those creatures, as there are four corners of the earth, so there are four creatures, and the Word of God goes out to the ends of the earth. The four creatures thus indicate the preaching office, and the twenty-four elders indicate the ruling office, even in eternity. The heavenly truth asserting itself in earthly circumstances is the good of heaven.

Now does that not sober you? If indeed what is happening here, and that through the work of Jesus Christ, is a glimpse of heaven, and if you are now in touch with heaven in a way that was never before possible, how seriously ought you to take the matters that pertain to the church, her orders, and her offices? How ought you to treat your officers? How ought you to respect them? How should you reverence them for the sake of the office, not because they cannot fall or stumble, not because they cannot destroy your confidence or do things that ruin their effectiveness within the office, or even discredit themselves to the point of being removed? But be that as it may. The office itself demands your respect, because these are heavenly matters. Indeed, in the assembly you are exalted, yet simultaneously sobered. And what of you who hold office? Or what of us who have office? Yes, there is a glory.

For there are functions of office that place us on the side of God, as God would speak to you through us for your good and benefit. But what humility is necessary! For the one we serve is the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest officer, who is known specifically for his humility and who gave himself for his sheep. Here is the background: we are touching heavenly things, as the church generally, and also specifically as we consider the church’s order and her offices. Let us keep that in mind as we move on next week to think about the vows, the oaths that are peculiar to office, and the obligations and duties that come with it. Let us pray.

Now, our Lord, may we, though unworthy, again think deeply and earnestly about the eternal realm of heaven, about the kingdom above. What the ministry of your Son has meant, through which we have now been brought into such vital connection, into such wonderful and amazing contact with those heavenly truths. Indeed, we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, and as the body of Christ and the temple of God, we are bound to things above. And, oh Lord, may we understand that this order exists because we are in contact with it, as our Christ, the head and king of the church, exerts his rule and reign in ways that please him among his people in the world. Prepare us now, Lord, as we approach the cross of our Savior, that we may be mindful of what he has done for us. We rejoice in our God.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.