“The most important resource that you have in your ministry
is you,” said the professor.
Gah! I scanned for anything within arm’s reach that I could
use to bludgeon myself into an unconscious state that would erase this last
pronouncement from my memory. No such luck.
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I’m the most important resource in my ministry?
Really?
Is the best ministry resource at my disposal a mind and
heart that is prone to fits of anger (see my response above) and rotten with
self-righteous pride and cynicism? Is my most important resource a personality
that acts as a perpetual exhibition of failed love, patience, and generosity?
Is that my best resource? Is that the resource that my congregation requires me
to make full use of? If so, I’d rather charm snakes. It might be easier. It
might be safer.
I am not the most
important resource in my ministry.
The Bible makes clear that no man or woman is without sin
(except for the Lord Jesus himself). Sin is a war-wager. When we live outside
of Christ, having no part in his saving work, sin reigns over us. It is the
controlling power, the dominant voice, and the commanding presence. However,
even in Christ, having been bought at the cost of his body and blood and
forgiven from all our sins, sin still rages against us. The difference between
someone who has come under the kindly kingship of Jesus Christ and someone who has
not is not that the Christian is sinless but that the power of sin no longer
rules over the Christian; instead, he or she is ruled by the Spirit of Christ
(Romans 8; Colossians 3). Yet, Christians—pastors, teachers, stay-at-home moms,
city employees alike—find themselves fighting against (and sometimes losing to)
sexual sin, pride, selfish desires, rage, envy, and other sins. Clearly, even
those who are ruled by the Spirit of Christ prove themselves inadequate even to
govern themselves. In other words, I can’t help me very well, so how could I
possibly be the best resource I have when it comes to helping others? The idea
that I am the best tool in my ministerial toolbox is laughable.
I am not the most
important resource in my ministry.
This is not to deny that God gives gifts for serving his
church. God, in his mercy, makes us suitable for building up the body of Christ
(Ephesians 4:11-16). This is the point though: God makes the unwilling willing; the unsuitable suitable; the
wicked righteous; the unskilled skilled; the cowardly courageous; the useless
useful. Yes, God’s people are given gifts; but that points to the fact that our
greatest resource comes from outside ourselves! God, in his mercy, equips us by
his Holy Spirit for building up the church and proclaiming the gospel to the
world. I have no ministry apart from God the Father’s sovereign plan. I have no
ministry apart from God the Son’s saving work. I have no ministry apart from God the Holy Spirit’s
sanctifying work. In all things, the Triune God works to equip me—an otherwise
self-interested, self-absorbed nitwit—for performing a work that honors him! O
what a marvelous thing!
I am not the most
important resource in my ministry.
Friends, apart from God giving us the resources for
ministry, we are about as useful as a brick to the head. God the Father gives
his Spirit to us. He gives us unique gifts for ministry. He renews our minds,
giving us the mind of Christ, so that we know the God we proclaim. Our greatest
resource is the power of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
working in us for the good of his people. When you seek the power for obedient
ministry, look up, not in. For in this task, as in all others, God must
increase, and we must decrease.
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