Have you ever been disappointed with ministry results? Have you ever believed that the Lord called you to participate in a good work that you had high hopes for and that you zealously invested your time and energy into only to have the results fall well short of your expectations? I know I have. I also know that many of you recently worked hard to prepare and distribute more than a thousand very cool Easter Egg Invitations only to see very nasty weather and very few guests show up for Sunday’s Easter service. First, thank you for your hard work and faithful service. Second, let’s look to God’s word to learn from an exceptionally faithful man of God whose ministry was actually shrinking for the advance of the gospel.John 3:22-36
In our text, John was tempted to discouragement and self-pity. His ministry had been huge, but now it was declining. Why? Would he take the bait and buy the lie that God was upset with him? Would he think he was no longer blessed or even loved? No! He stayed secure in his relationship with God, and rejoiced to see Jesus’ ministry grow. John was not in a baptism competition or a popularity contest. He was on a mission. John’s ministry was not about John. It was always all about Jesus as all of our ministries should always be. That’s the first thing meant by the “Less is More” message title.
In terms of motivation, our ministry must be less about us and more about Christ. We need to honestly examine our ministry motivations. We need to ask God to search our hearts and reveal our underlying motives. Do we need numerical success to feel important, impressive or loved? If so, that’s got to go. God has already said He loves us as loud as it can be said when He offered up His only begotten Son to save us from sin’s penalty, power, and presence. If you know, love, trust and treasure Christ, nothing in all of creation is able to separate you from God’s love. As it says in our text, those who have the Son have the life. Of course, it also says those who don’t trust and obey Christ remain under God’s wrath. Jesus is God’s Way out of death and into Life. And we must be less and less motivated by our needs and more and more motivated other’s need for our Savior.
Churches can easily fall into a business mindset. They think of starting and growing a church much like building a business. The bigger it grows the better it is, but it might help us to think of starting and growing a ministry more like providing health care. Health care comes to us through everything from huge regional medical centers to small local offices. I think what matters most to most people is not the quantity of people served but the quality of care provided. Similarly, I think the quality of the spiritual care we provide for people may be a better measure of ministry effectiveness than exclusive focus on the quantity of people in attendance. So, let's focus a bit less on quantity and more on quality.
Finally, in terms of the means we use to minister, we need to be less self-reliant and more God-reliant. As John said a person can receive nothing except what is given from above. Consider the effectiveness of Jesus' ministry and the following comments Jesus made about His ministry:
"The Son of Man can do nothing of Himself" - John 5:19.
"My teaching is not My own" - John 7:16.
"The word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's" - John 14:24.
If Jesus said He could do nothing without His Father, how much can we do without Him? The answer of course is nothing...at least nothing of any actual spiritual value. We need to be less and less reliant on our programs and processes and more and more reliant on prayer. Prayer is God's ordained means of effective ministry. I wonder how much ministry empowerment and wisdom we miss simply because we do not ask. As James once said, "We have not because we ask not." John and Jesus humbly relied on God and expressed their reliance through frequent fervent prayer. We need to be less impressed with our programs and more impressed with God, and we need to express that by relying less on ourselves and more - much more - on prayer.
In terms of motivation, our ministry must be less about us and more about Christ. We need to honestly examine our ministry motivations. We need to ask God to search our hearts and reveal our underlying motives. Do we need numerical success to feel important, impressive or loved? If so, that’s got to go. God has already said He loves us as loud as it can be said when He offered up His only begotten Son to save us from sin’s penalty, power, and presence. If you know, love, trust and treasure Christ, nothing in all of creation is able to separate you from God’s love. As it says in our text, those who have the Son have the life. Of course, it also says those who don’t trust and obey Christ remain under God’s wrath. Jesus is God’s Way out of death and into Life. And we must be less and less motivated by our needs and more and more motivated other’s need for our Savior.
Churches can easily fall into a business mindset. They think of starting and growing a church much like building a business. The bigger it grows the better it is, but it might help us to think of starting and growing a ministry more like providing health care. Health care comes to us through everything from huge regional medical centers to small local offices. I think what matters most to most people is not the quantity of people served but the quality of care provided. Similarly, I think the quality of the spiritual care we provide for people may be a better measure of ministry effectiveness than exclusive focus on the quantity of people in attendance. So, let's focus a bit less on quantity and more on quality.
Finally, in terms of the means we use to minister, we need to be less self-reliant and more God-reliant. As John said a person can receive nothing except what is given from above. Consider the effectiveness of Jesus' ministry and the following comments Jesus made about His ministry:
"The Son of Man can do nothing of Himself" - John 5:19.
"My teaching is not My own" - John 7:16.
"The word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's" - John 14:24.
If Jesus said He could do nothing without His Father, how much can we do without Him? The answer of course is nothing...at least nothing of any actual spiritual value. We need to be less and less reliant on our programs and processes and more and more reliant on prayer. Prayer is God's ordained means of effective ministry. I wonder how much ministry empowerment and wisdom we miss simply because we do not ask. As James once said, "We have not because we ask not." John and Jesus humbly relied on God and expressed their reliance through frequent fervent prayer. We need to be less impressed with our programs and more impressed with God, and we need to express that by relying less on ourselves and more - much more - on prayer.
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