The world is broken. Most Christians and Church Leaders understand this theologically but seem to miss the point practically.
Practically speaking this means that the Church (a collection of broken people who live in a fallen world) will not function perfectly. Because the Church exists in a fallen world and is being pulled simultaneously between two kingdoms there will be repercussions…
Greedy members who refuse to give of their time or money.
Selfish attendees who believe the Church exists to cater to their every whim.
Angry psuedo-friends who hurt you deeply because they haven’t properly dealt with their own pain.
Deceived believers who have fooled themselves into buying the lie that intellectual assent is equivalent to functional practice.
The list goes on and on…and it shouldn’t surprise us. Many of the struggles that lead myriads of pastors and church leaders to bag the ministry can be traced back to simply having unrealistic expectations. We forget that we live in a fallen world, we lose sight of our own sin and brokenness and expect the people around us to behave as if we’re living in Jesus’ Perfect Kingdom.
The good news is that we will one day live in this Kingdom, but until then let’s not fail due to premature expectations.
The gap between life’s expectations and life’s reality is where brokenness exists. This is true for your neighbor across the street, your co-worker in the next cubicle, or anyone who has had a dream and then been struck with the reality that this desire, this hope, this longing is not going to come to pass…at least not in the way you dreamed it would.
This truth is equally relevant for church planters like myself who have launched out into life altering ventures only to have those dreams dashed upon the rocks of slander from people you thought were friends, disgruntled members who leave because you aren’t supplying all of their needs, division amongst your core over issues that we should be able to look past, sporadic attendance, and failing budgets.
It’s in these times that God gives us a gift…the gift of realizing that only Jesus can be your Savior. Only He can be the Ultimate thing in your life, for when church planting, or pastoring or preaching are propped up as a functional Savior they will suck the life out of you because you can never do enough for them and they will never satisfy you.
Our service to God must always flow from relationship with the Savior because it makes a terrible functional Savior.
Poor decisions, sinful actions, and mistakes are inevitable for life and ministry. I am thankful for the gospel that declares to me that while I have absolutely made a mess of my life, Jesus lived a perfect life in place (John 8:29). How can you learn from the mistakes that you’ve made; whether in ministry or in life in general? How can you appropriate the perfect life that Jesus lived in your place, preaching the gospel to yourself rather than living in perpetual guilt and being paralyzed by your failure.
These past 9 months have been a blast…we have met some amazing people and have seen the Lord do great things. It’s also been a very difficult 9 months. I’ve learned many lessons that I couldn’t have learned in any other way, other than what has transpired during this season. These lessons, although brutal to experience, have served as character building tools that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
The #1 truth I’ve learned through these difficulties; is that my identity must be found in Jesus, not in anything I do for Him, including pastoring. Without realizing it my identity had become about what I did for Jesus instead of who I am in Jesus. Pastoring has been my life long ambition, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since the day I began to follow Jesus as a 15 year old freshman in High School. I achieved that dream, and for the last 7 years before moving to Colorado I was given the opportunity to not only pastor but to get paid for it. Then we moved to Fort Collins and not only have I had to get a very entry level job, but I’ve had face the reality that most people here do not view me as their pastor. I’m just a dude who works as a telemarketer and is “trying” to start a church.
Although pastoring is an amazing privilege and a gift from God; it will let you down. The people you pastor will let you down, the leaders you serve with will let you down, the whole pastor gig will let you down, and if you aren’t finding your identity in Jesus and the gospel you will be left with a whole lot of discouragement against…Christians, the Church, and your calling.
The way to fight against this disappointment is by finding your worth in Jesus. This not only applies to pastors, who are having an identity crisis, but to everyone of us who struggles with finding our value in something other than Jesus and the gospel. Those of us who have propped up functional saviors in our life only to find ourselves exerting all kinds of energy fooling ourselves into believing that they are giving us what we can only find in Christ.
You will face an identity crisis today, something or someone will attempt to convince you that Jesus isn’t enough and that you must add to what He’s already done for you by pretending to be something you’re not or putting on a performance to impress others and ultimately God.
Don’t fall for this trap. It will eat you alive, kill your relationships, and cause your fellowship with Jesus to be broken.
May you find your identity in Jesus and Him alone.
This article written by Dr. Philip Ryken, senior minister at the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, is a brief history of John Calvin and his amazing ministry. Continue reading
