If my generation isn’t careful, we may fall into a Guitar Hero mentality toward ministry:
Everybody wants to be a rock star, but no one wants to learn the chords.
It’s hard work to study God’s Word. To pray for breakthrough. To do spiritual battle on behalf of those we lead. To charge forward in faith for the cause of Christ. To run a church with the highest standard of excellence.
Aspiring ministers:
Be willing to pay the price. Or please go do something else with your life.
As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer…
1 Timothy 1:3
Timothy didn’t necessarily want to stay in Ephesus. I think that’s a safe assumption, because:
-Paul urged him to do so on multiple occasions, and we rarely have to urge someone to do something they want to do
-He was surrounded by false teachers, and his assignment was to set these misled older men straight
Nevertheless, the instruction from his mentor was clear:
Stay there in Ephesus…
Have you ever received a direction from God to stay put somewhere when you really wanted to take off?
To bear with someone that you wanted to write off?
To continue to respect the husband who refuses to adequately love you?
To honor a leader who consistently fails to earn your respect?
To wholeheartedly serve people who are incorrigibly ungrateful?
Unless/Until God releases you, stay in Ephesus. And since you’ve got to stay there until further notice, you may as well make yourself at home and make the most of it by giving God your very best.
Every Monday morning (or afternoon, depending on the relative sanity of our two children) my wife does something pretty cool.
On her blog she gives a brief summary of my sermon from the day before, along with her application. It’s called Monday Morning Commentary. She’s usually way too kind and complimentary in her analysis of my message, and she usually writes summaries that make me sound smarter than I am. I often find myself thinking: “Crap, I should have said that…”
Maybe she should re-title her column: What Pastor Steven Meant to Say.
I thought several of my readers would enjoy the inside scoop from the best preacher’s wife in America, who sits on the front row of multiple services every single Sunday, takes notes, says amen, and makes me better in every way.
You probably remember the occasion when Gamaliel told the Sanhedrin to leave the disciples alone because:
“If their purpose or activity is of human origin it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
Acts 5:38-39
If you are doing the work of God for the purposes of God in the power of God, you’re unstoppable too. Just like the early church. Just like Jesus Christ.
I don’t remember where I first heard this little quote, but it has enlivened me on many tough days (it’s even posted in one of my assistants’ office):
When I want what God wants for the reasons God wants it
I’m unbeatable and unstoppable.
Receive that today. Breathe it in. Then walk it out.
Maybe you’re a pastor squaring up with a carnal deacon board, trying to pursue a God given vision in the face of tremendous scrutiny and opposition.
Stay on the wall, Nehemiah. That deacon board can’t stop you. God is fighting for you! Dream, implement, preach, evangelize, cast vision.
It will come to pass.
Maybe you’re a parent trying to instill godly values into your child, and they’re putting up a hell of a fight every step of the way. Remember, your child isn’t fighting against you. According to Gamaliel, they’re fighting against God!
And whether they know it or not, they’ve met their match. It’s just a matter of time ‘til He lands the knockout blow.
Keep training, encouraging, correcting, disciplining, praising, mentoring, sowing. It will produce a harvest.
If God is for you, who can be against you?
As long as you keep moving forward, you’re unstoppable!