The past decade of pastoral ministry has been very sanctifying and for that I thank the Lord (Rom. 8:28-30). In faith I am holding on to the promise of Philippians 1:6. "Who I am is in between of who I want to be and what I am." I am highlighting of course the already/not yet component of sanctification/glorification (note Rom. 6-7). As I have said before, I had no idea how challenging church revitalization would be when I graduated from seminary back in 2005. That one would have to be willing to suffer loss of health, reputation, friendships, and worldly success/accolades in effort to build Christ's church God's way (2 Tim. 2; 3:12). Surely this battering accounts for some of the staggering numbers related to the high dropout rate among ministers.
I humbly admit that I also did not realize how much my sinful flesh desired the approval of men. Part of my internal agony and pastoral burden over the years is a reflection of how I wanted both the favor of God and the applause of men. In other words, if a shepherd is trying to establish a Word-driven ministry (from top to bottom) he will find out rather quickly that their are many occasions when you cannot "have your cake and eat it too." A reoccurring test that I have encountered during the first decade of pastoral ministry is this: What's more important, biblical fidelity and the approval of God, or nickels and noses? Am I more interested in building a pure church that is truly Christ-centered or in telling people that I pastor a large and "successful" church?
When biblical faithfulness costs us something (be it our reputation, the potential loss of influential members, etc) will we trust and obey the Lord or will we cower and follow the well traveled path of pragmatism? Are we doing everything we can to present every person mature in Christ or are we just trying to fill another pew? I am not suggesting of course that every large congregation is pragmatic or that every American megachurch is a mile wide and an inch deep. Grace Community Church, the Bible Church of Little Rock, Grace Immanuel Bible Church, and Parkside Church are notable exceptions to the norm.
For a long time I wrestled with this internal tension because my flesh and my inner man were at war. By the grace of God, I have resisted these fleshly temptations when making decisions on behalf of First Baptist Church. In this vein, I have strived to flesh out the following ministry maxim. "If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing." Jesus put it this way in Luke 6:26, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets." Most of us realize that their is a reason why some 'celebrity pastors' are so popular with the world and the worldly church.
My wife has reminded me time and time again that our "proud confidence is this: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God's grace (2 Cor. 1:12). The benefit of a clear conscience often comes in the form of a good nights rest even during the storms of life/ministry. Over the past ten years God has granted me with unbroken nights of rest!
As our beloved nation regularly worships at the altar of sexual idolatry Bible-believing Christians will continue to be marginalized in this country. Only by His grace shall "the 7000" who have not already bowed the knee to Baal continue to stand (Romans 5:2). Let all of us take heed of these things lest we too fall.
As I look ahead to a second decade of ministry I want to imitate the godly example of the Apostle Paul who said, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me (1 Cor 15:10).
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained (Phil. 3:12-14).
May we all join Arnold Dallimore in praying, "Yea…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more . . . raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives."
