Gospel and Ministry
Mar. 13 2008
One of the unanticipated delights of fatherhood is hearing all of the funny things that I can get my kids to say. When one of my boys was about 18 months old, I taught him to say, “What, what.” It made for good, clean fun to have my toddler slinging slang.
But when the people in the church I pastor in Gilbert, AZ say or do things just because I say, it’s no laughing matter. Why? The gospel is at stake. How is the gospel at stake? Dr. Donald Carson sums up a holy fear that all pastors need to have in his outstanding book The Cross and Christian Ministry:
“I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displaying the center, we are not far removed from idolatry.”
People are inclined to want to please their pastor and if I feed them a steady diet of ‘to-dos’ they can falsely assume that by doing them they gain divine favor. If I preach or counsel ‘to-do’s’ divorced from the gospel I communicate that people can please God without Christ. That is a scary thought because Paul says clearly that the best we can do is akin to “filthy rags.” As a pastor I wrestle with questions like, “How do I lead people into a robust understanding of gospel-centered living? How can I make sure they don’t dismiss the gospel off to the side of life for a litany of good things?” These questions apply especially to pastors but they also apply to a certain degree to every Christian. Here’s some of what I’ve learned so far about applying the gospel to my work of pastoral ministry.
The gospel says God accepts us not because we can preach, counsel, sing or lead but because of the work of the Great Shepherd.
Preach the Gospel to Yourself
I must be a gospel practitioner before my churches can be. Leaders who personally fumble the gospel will lead to churches that ignore it all together. Personal gospel application takes vigilance. I find it so easy for me to drift into assuming the gospel in everything from our preaching to our passing conversations. Assuming the gospel is a silent killer. It is easy to live see-sawing on the continuum of condemnation and exultation with the ups and downs of ministry. At either extreme ministers are still wretched sinners who have been ransomed by a merciful Savior. No accomplishment is without the stain of sin and no failure is without the hope of redemption. No amount of “success” changes who we really are—forgiven sinners accepted by God. The gospel says God accepts us not because we can preach, counsel, sing or lead but because of the work of the Great Shepherd.
Don’t Make Human Example Your Focus
Correction is a gift from God. I have profited so often by friends bringing much needed observations of my life. As Christians we’re called to correct and confront people, but we have to do it in the right way. Gospel correction is showing people their fault and explaining that there is a Redeemer who has bought them back from sin’s rule.
Gospel-less correction takes many forms, and one that many young pastors give into is the cult of human example. It can sound like this, “You should be more like Mortimer, that guy is an amazing example of godliness.” Now Mortimer becomes that person’s functional savior. Not good. Mortimer might be a great guy (with a different name) but there is no hope in simply giving someone an example to emulate. This is just a new ‘to-do.’ At best if people succeed and become like Mortimer you will have created a Pharisee, someone confident in his/her law-keeping, and if people fail you have created someone with a perpetual little-brother syndrome who can never live up to the artificial standard.
Here’s the question I want to ask myself in this area: When I correct someone are they primarily aware of the hope of forgiveness in the gospel?
Don’t Make Demands Without Reason
I should never tell someone to do something simply, “because I said so.” Gospel ministry always gives the reason behind the imperative. People need to “do” propelled by the gospel and not for tradition, opinion or guilt. The Bible’s commands are always rooted in the gospel and ours must be too. Paul tells the Roman church, “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” only after 11 chapters of gospel exposition! Similarly, Ephesians 4:1 urges the church to, “walk in a manner worthy” only after 3 chapters of gospel-talk. For Paul, action must always be motivated and informed by the gospel. The same must be true for us.
Ask this of yourself: Do I encourage people around me to obey because of Christ’s work or because they simply have to?
Don’t Be Afraid of Encouraging People
Maybe you’re afraid that if you give people too much encouragement, they’ll get conceited and become indifferent to growth in godliness. Real encouragement is never hype, nor is it superficial, but instead points people to the work of Christ in their lives.
When we encourage, we celebrate the presence of grace in people’s lives. Encouragement has nothing to do with self-esteem and everything to do with an awareness of Christ’s work. People are in dire need of gospel-centered encouragement and the effect of pointing out operative grace leads to more growth, not less. This is not to say that pastors should adopt a “let go and let Yahweh” approach to people’s lives. Correction is necessary and critical but our emphasis must be on encouragement.
A good question for us to ask is, Are people more aware of my encouragement or my correction?
When we think about what we want our people to ‘do’, the proper application of the gospel is at the top of the list. Our goal is to be dispensers of light and not bastions of good advice. It is a beautiful thing when a pastor and a church work in tandem gripping the gospel. May someone be able to say of us and our churches what Paul said of the Philippian believers,
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:3-5 (ESV)
After all, a partnership in anything else is just doing things.
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