The following is adapted from a sermon preached before the 162nd Stated Meeting of Calvary Presbytery (PCA), held on October 24, 2024, an audio recording of which is available on sermonaudio.com (embedded below). This post was originally published on pcapolity.com.
Introduction
The “life verse” phenomenon—if we can call it that—is a curious part of evangelical Christian culture, for we are to be whole Bible men committed to declaring “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). The whole Bible was “written for our instruction” (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11), and “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). But if you had to pick a “life verse” as a presbyter—as an Elder in Christ’s church—what would you pick?
The way my Hebrew professor at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (GPTS) made his pick might help you with your own selection. One day before class, Dr. Shaw shared with us that his life verse is 1 Chronicles 26:18, which reads, “At the Parbar on the west there were four at the highway and two at the Parbar.”
At first glance, this seems parodic at best, but there’s something profound about picking 1 Chronicles 26:18 as your life verse. This selection is profound especially for men involved enough in the courts of the church to attend long presbytery meetings (or read this blog on Presbyterian Polity) to handle the often-obscure business aspects of service in Christ’s church. The Chronicler’s concern is about such service: service in the house of God, service in the Temple for the promotion of the right worship of God and for its reformation—or, in some cases, its reestablishment.
In the last third of 1 Chronicles, in which we find the “life verse” in-question, we have all the granular details of King David’s preparations for his son (and successor) Solomon’s construction of the Temple. In these chapters, the chronicler meticulously recounts the king’s plans for the Temple as he sets forth the centrality of God’s worship by God’s people called together for this very purpose. Even the designated site of the Temple and its program of worship is important, for it takes place at the point at which King David repents for the one sin that the chronicler records—that of taking an unauthorized census of the people (1 Chron. 21:28; 22:1). That’s another great theme of Chronicles: our worship of God in fellowship and communion with Him is only by means of repentance. Repentance is required, and God graciously accepts us as we repent sincerely and come into His presence in Christ with whom we are united through faith.
In 1 Chronicles 26, we read about the men ordained to keep the gateways, the portals, the doors into the Temple where the people shall worship God—where the sincere penitent will receive an audience and meet with God in divine worship in Jerusalem. This chapter describes a specially called team of men who keep watch: the gatekeepers. This station is originally introduced in 1 Chronicles 9:17-27, where the men are simply described as occupying an “office of trust” (1 Chron. 9:22).
Whenever men occupying ordained office in Christ’s church gather in session (as a diaconate, session, presbytery, synod, or assembly), they do so as men occupying such an office. This text is talking about Ruling Elders, Teaching Elders, Deacons, and those aspiring to such stations of often-obscure service. This text describes where and how God has appointed such men to stand, not only to keep watch, but to instruct and exhort and to pursue the thorough-going reformation of worship and the promulgation of true doctrine in the church. In other words, 1 Chronicles 26 anticipates, and therefore describes, the calling of church officers—particularly Elders—in the visible expression of Christ’s kingdom that is the New Covenant Church.
In this passage, the Spirit of God, through the chronicler of Israel, gives us encouragement. He gives us strength and gives us counsel to stand where the Lord has us. My main point in this treatment of the passage is that those who minister as overseers in the church are blessed with strength for service even in obscurity. In what follows, I seek to develop this point under two headings: the blessedness of ordained service in the church, and the obscurity of ordained service in the church.
The Blessedness of Ordained Service (1 Chron. 26:1-11)
This passage provides a profile for church officers, detailing in some degree the calling and the qualifications of ordained service unpacked in greater detail and with greater directness in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1.
The Calling
The calling of ordained service is from God Himself. Vocation to ordained service in the church has always been from God and will always be from God. During the Exodus, the men who kept all the implements of the tabernacle, set it up, and dismantled it when they were on the move were drawn from the tribe of Levi by divine appointment. Moses designated them, but it was God working through His prophet (Num. 1:50-53).
In 1 Chronicles 26, King David makes the appointments. He is the anointed King of Israel who appoints certain men to be the gatekeepers. But who is behind David? It is the Lord, the covenant-keeping God of Israel, who is concerned to ensure that His people live abundantly and to the fullest measure as a worshiping community in covenant with Him.
When we come then to the New Testament church, who makes the appointments? It is Christ Jesus Himself, David’s Son and David’s Lord (Matt. 22:41-46), the Giver of life and life abundant (Jn. 10:10) who calls men from their fishnets (Matt. 4:18-22), their tax booths (Matt. 9:9), and from their various pursuits to follow Him and to be equipped for service as Apostles and as Elders in His church (Eph. 4:11-13). It is Jesus calling.
This calling involves guarding and overseeing worship. The Elder in the church is called as an “overseer” (Tit. 1:7), one who supervises not just the business of the church and its administration, but its worship, its doctrine, and its pulpit ministry. This is central to what Elders do. Deacons likewise have oversight of certain affairs in the church as they manage the collection and distribution of the church’s material assets (Acts 6:3). But by divine appointment, Elders are appointed as overseers of the church’s ministry as a whole.
This principle is helpfully articulated for us in the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), which accurately expresses the principles at play in the description of the gatekeepers and their responsibilities. In WCF 21.1, “Of Religious Worship,” we read that “the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.” The next paragraph goes on to say that such true religious worship is in the mediation of Christ and Christ alone. He is the King in His kingdom. He is the Head of the church. He dictates to us how it is we are to worship the living God through Him and to give glory to the Father.
In WCF 30.1-2, then, these principles are applied to church government and discipline (i.e., censures). “The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of his church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of church officers distinct from the civil magistrate. To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed.” What do keys do? They lock and unlock gates and doors. So, lawfully called and ordained Elders handle the keys of the kingdom, “by virtue whereof, they have power, respectively, to retain, and remit sins; to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the Word, and censures; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the gospel; and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall require” (WCF 30.2).
The chronicler was very careful to highlight key instances of royal and national repentance: of David, of Manasseh, and others. As the people are coming back from exile, they repent of the sin that led to their expulsion from the Land, and they renew covenant with God who alone is to be worshipped. So too in the church today, even as reflected in our polity, true repentance is central to right worship. Consider WCF 31.2 dealing with the subject “Of Synods and Councils.” One of the duties of sessions, presbyteries, synods, and assemblies is “to set down rules and directions for the better ordering of the public worship of God, and government of His Church.” Thus, the principle which is enacted in relation to the gatekeepers in 1 Chronicles 26 is expressed doctrinally in our own standards.
The Qualifications
The qualifications of ordained service are twofold: character and competencies. Character is described at various points in 1 Chronicles 26 as wisdom—such as in the example of “Zechariah, a counselor with insight” (1 Chron. 26:14)—and valor, being valiant and virtuous (1 Chron. 26:6, 9).
The competencies are described in terms of might and strength (1 Chron. 26:6). We respond to God’s calling in our weakness, but to deny that He strengthens us for service is to deny the great blessedness of being called by God to such service. He makes us strong. His strength is revealed in our weakness. His strength is required for the service that we have. If you spend any time in pastoral ministry, you immediately recognize the reality of this spiritual dynamic. You need to bear up under a great burden— a load, not just of your own sin, but of the sins of many as you are called upon to give counsel and consolation to Christ’s people.
From where do such qualifications for ordained service come? They come from the same source as the calling itself. They come as spiritual endowments from God. This is illustrated for us in the sweet line describing the family of that faithful man Obed-Edom. In commenting on all of Obed-Edom’s sons, the chronicler tells us that “God had indeed blessed him” (1 Chron. 26:5). In the Old Testament mindset, and in most of the world today, having many children is regarded as a blessing. And it is! Where does that blessing (and every blessing) come from? It comes from God. Thus we sing in the Doxology, “praise Him from whom all blessings flow.”
God endowed Zechariah with insight. God gave these men strength for the service. God made them able. God does not merely call the equipped, He equips the called. God gives us what we need for the service to which He calls us. We may have some natural abilities and helpful dispositions and endowments of friendliness and affableness, but at the end of the day, any qualifications we have come from God and God alone.
A heart that has been captured by His grace, subsequently transformed and renewed, and the abilities that have been augmented and strengthened for service in the church are works of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. So, let us “desire the greater gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31). Let us desire the ability, the competencies, and the character to serve faithfully as overseers—as watchmen in the church, as gatekeepers, as ministers—with efficacy and effectiveness.
Furthermore, “study to show yourself approved” (2 Tim. 2:15). Though these are spiritual endowments, they are mission-critical ministerial requirements for which we strive, as Paul makes clear. In your pursuit and study, “let your progress be evident to all” (1 Tim. 4:15), but to the glory of God alone. Paul’s counsel here is not to flaunt or boast in our own attainments, but to put your competencies to use in your public ministry as gifts from God who gives to us these things for the good of His church. But here is the key: back of this blessedness in our service in the church is simply knowing God.
How do your study to show yourself a workman approved? Know your Bible. Know the decree and the directives of the King. Know where He is stationing you, and what He is stationing you to do. Consider how the chronicler gives the details. At the time of the preparation of Chronicles, the records available were probably 500 years old, with all these names, this list, these exact figures. The Spirit-inspired chronicler was a man who studied the Word of God—the records that had been handed down and supernaturally preserved through devastation and exile. This is a model for Elders today. Know your Bible.
We must know the Word to know God, but back of that is to be known by God. The paradoxical dynamic of this is in your experience is that the Word of God dwells in you richly as you study it, and it then searches your heart. To know God and to be known by God occur in our experience all at once. Logically, God knows us before we know Him. He loves us before we ever begin to love Him (1 Jn. 4:19). Knowing and being known are experienced through communion with God by the means that he has graciously appointed.
For the church officer, much of what is experienced in communion with God will have a public aspect. But we know that if the public aspect comes to dominate and to eclipse sincerity of heart in devotion, such public ministrations become hypocritical. Service in the church then becomes a great danger, though it would otherwise be a great blessing. Those who are called to stand up front, preach, teach, and labor in the church must have a vital and living faith that manifests itself in private far more dominantly than in public. How is your private devotion? Knowing and being known as an Elder or a Deacon really comes down to this: your personal walk with your Savior, with your Lord, with Jesus Christ.
We cannot forsake the secret retreat of private devotion where we bare our hearts and souls to the searchlight of God’s Word and open our wounds—invariably received in keeping watch at the gate—to the healing balm of Gilead (Jer. 8:22), which is our King’s gospel. The good news is not simply that “Christ is King,” but that “Christ our King loves us and saves us and has a regard for us.” He it is who appoints us to particular places, knows our particular weaknesses and conditions, and ministers to us as we seek then to minister to His people. We must bear in mind the absolute necessity of Christ’s ministry to us and cultivate that relationship, that awareness, that reality.
When we preach to ourselves the gospel truth that Jesus our King lived for us, and died for us, and rose again for us, and is coming back for us, and will call us to Himself (if He should tarry), that He alone is our strength and consolation, that He alone is our righteousness and our sanctification, that He alone is our glory and guarantees the results of our ministries, that He alone is our all-sufficient hope and stay—as we preach that to ourselves, then Christ certainly does minister to us, and we are known by Him even as we know Him. We do this because the praise of God, the purity of His church, and the promotion of His worship is worth it.
All Ruling Elders in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) take a vow to “strive for the purity, peace, unity, and edification of the Church” (BCO 24-6.6). Teaching Elders have a very similar vow they take (BCO 21-5.6). In fact, all PCA church members vow to study the Church’s purity and peace (BCO 57-5.5). It is our lifeblood to study the gospel and to live it out in our worship as we adore the risen Savior. The gospel is the lifeblood of our day-to-day, breath-by-breath existence and of our service as Christians and certainly as ministers and as Elders and Deacons. This is the blessedness of our ordained service in the church.
The Obscurity of Ordained Service in the Church (1 Chron. 26:12-19)
Now, somewhat provocatively, I want to consider the obscurity of ordained service in the church. I say somewhat provocatively because though the details in 1 Chronicles 26 are obscure to us, they were not obscure to the chronicler himself or to the people that are here described. What I am referring to as “obscure” was truly honorable service. It also would have been rather conspicuous. All Israel would have seen the gatekeepers as they walked into and out of (or even just by) the Temple. But be that as it may, the gatekeepers’ service remains mysterious to us in many ways; it is obscure to us. Therefore, it is ironically relevant to us because most people do not know where and how each of us serve.
We might as well be stationed at the Parbar or by the gate of Shallecheth. Nobody knows where we are. We serve in relative obscurity. Outside of your congregation, almost nobody knows who you are. Like nearly every servant of Christ who has ever lived, we labor in obscurity. Nobody knows who we are. So, we shall consider the who and where of our obscure service in the church from 1 Chronicles 26:12-19.
The Who
Who serves in obscurity? Those who serve in obscurity are “the chief men” (1 Chron. 26:12). “They cast lots, the small and the great alike” (1 Chron. 26:13). By God’s impartial appointment, the great and the small alike serve in obscurity. There is no ranking of officers under Christ. There are no popes, archbishops, archdeacons, or executive presbyters in the Kingdom of Grace. There are only elders and deacons, serving Christ according to His impartial appointment.
But the small and the great alike are chief men in God’s gracious reckoning, even if the world does not esteem it. Here in this list, we have a group of names and a mention of even more people who are unnamed—dozens of officers of varying gifts, abilities, and appointments within the service of watching over the gates to the Temple. So it is with the church today. Though “we are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done” (Lk. 17:10), God graciously regards us as His “fellow workers” (1 Cor. 3:9), “sons of God” (Rom. 8:14, 19), and “friends” (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; Jas. 2:23).
The Where
Where is this obscure service? It’s everywhere and it’s covering everything. It’s on the North Gate, and the South Gate, and the East Gate, and the West Gate. It’s at the Storehouse and even at the Parbar. There is comprehensive coverage of the Kingdom.
God has provided everywhere for His church, and there is comprehensive care for the Kingdom’s needs. God made sure there were Levites standing watch at the Storehouse and perhaps at the outhouse, depending upon the meaning of the word “Shallecheth.” Even at the colonnade—or the Parbar—which is somewhat mysterious to us today, there were men stationed to keep watch. This is the who and the where of obscure service. Though obscure, our service includes all of us, and it covers everything in Christ’s Kingdom.
Therefore, honor God in your obscurity, for you cannot honor Him anywhere else or in any other way. No matter how large or small your church is, no matter how historic or new it may be, your service is obscure. Honor God by cultivating contentment where He has you—by cultivating excitement to be where you are, laboring with just a few people in your congregation or with many. Cultivate gratitude for how He’s provided for you and the people that are in your flock. Cultivate appreciation for Christ’s government of His church.
Consider some marriage advice to husbands which church officers can apply to the context of their respective ministries. It is your responsibility to cultivate the mutual love that ought to characterize a healthy marriage. Get away by yourself with your wife to remind yourself of why you married her, and to remind her of why she married you. As you do, think on just how great a blessing marriage is as a blessing from God—a gift from Him.
Do the same in regard to your calling to ministry. When you have a sabbatical, it is not supposed to be an idle vacation. It is a time to rest and to reflect on the great privileges and blessings that God gives us. When a man comes back from a sabbatical, it should be that he is refreshed, and renewed, and excited again to serve the Lord where he is stationed, not ready to hand in his letter of resignation because he has had time to think about how terrible his life has been in his present call. We need regular times of refreshing to remember why we entered the gospel ministry and the great privilege it is to labor with God as His sons called into His service, for it’s God’s world and we’re just living in it.
It’s God’s Kingdom, and we get to live in it. The Temple pictures this glorious reality. The Temple, like the tabernacle, was a recreated cosmos. It was a recreated world in miniature where the blessings of God and the life that He gives were graphically displayed, sometimes in stone and in the lavish decorations all around God’s people gathered to worship Him. It’s God’s world. We get to live in it, minister in it, and even have positions of great responsibility and honor that put us in position to cultivate honor for Him.
It’s Christ’s church, and we get to serve here by His appointment at His good pleasure. However obscure or unknown you are—even if you labor at the proverbial Parbar—it is a great honor to be in His service. And thus we return honor to Him, for He knows you, He called you, He placed you and appointed you here where you are. Though unknown to men, you are known to God, even in Greenville, or Spartanburg, or Abbeville, or Cross Hill, or Simpsonville, or Travelers Rest, or Seneca, or Clemson, or Clinton, or Newberry, or Taylors, or Greer, or Easley, or Reidville, or Woodruff, or Roebuck, or Moore, or Fountain Inn, or Walnut Grove, or Anderson, or Greenwood, or Hickory Tavern, or at Wofford, or at Furman, or in Durres, or Taipei, or at Perry Correctional Facility.
Wherever the Lord has you, He has you there. Are you not grateful for the commission that you have received? You might get a Permanent Change of Station someday—and you might have to move—but where you are right now is a place of great honor, and where you will be will be a place of great honor in His service.
Conclusion
Thinking about life verses, we joke that 1 Corinthians 14:40 is the Presbyterian life verse. “But all things are to be done decently and in good order” (1 Cor. 14:40). It’s actually a good life verse. But as much as God is the God of order and decency—and especially in worship—His holiness goes all the way down past what we see in external appearances and into the heart.
What is the Father seeking after of His worshipers, of those who come into His courts with thanksgiving and delight (Ps. 100:4)? The Father is seeking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:23). He is searching for and sovereignly gathering to Himself those who will worship Him with wholehearted devotion without hypocrisy; those who are authentic and genuine in their worship and in their devotion; those who worship Him just as earnestly in private when no one sees them as they do in public when they get in front of the congregation to lead in prayer, or read the Scripture, or preach His Word.
Our God is the God of truth and love, and here are some good life verses to that effect—Proverbs 4:20-23 gets at this. “My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart—where the Word is—with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
The prophet Ezekiel had a vision of the Temple (Ezek. 47). What flows from the Temple? Waters of life. Where God’s Word takes up residence—where His Spirit takes up residence in union with His Word (for they are indivisible)—flow forth the streams of life. The Word of God stored and cherished in our hearts, His gospel of free grace and salvation in Christ alone—we are privileged to handle that Word.
In our Kingdom service, we are blessed. We are blessed to be appointed as overseers to safeguard the ministry of God’s Word for the good of His people and for His glory. Those who minister as overseers in the church are blessed with strength for that service, even in obscurity.
For His worship, for His people’s good, you have been appointed as gatekeepers, as doorkeepers, as sentinels, as custodians, as watchmen on the wall. Indeed, if you are called to be an officer in Christ’s church, He has blessed you. Be strengthened then by His word of encouragement and instruction as you continue diligently and ceaselessly to labor in His vineyard, at the gates of His temple, with joy and gladness at the revelation of His goodness and grace, all for His glory.
Closing Prayer
Our Father and our God in heaven, you are great and glorious and worthy to be praised. You are marvelous. And as we stand at the Parbar, we consider how noble an appointment we have received from You. You have summoned us and commissioned us. You have equipped us, having renewed us in the inner man, making us more and more like Christ our Savior. And we plead for this, Lord—sanctify our hearts and grant us that strength which comes from You alone, for we are weak men, unable of ourselves to do any good, but You are a great God and rendering service to You is a delight for us. Lord, where we are weary, where we are troubled, we pray that You would strengthen us and comfort us. We humble ask you to intensify our private devotion such that our public ministry would be fruitful and avail much in the midst of your people. In Christ’s Name we pray, Amen.
