Vision for the Kingdom of God (Vision Series 3 of 5)

In our last article we discovered from Scripture the answer to the ancient question, “What is God’s purpose for the world?” We learned that God’s purpose for creating humanity and world is to glorify His name among all the nations of the earth. In this session we’re discovering from Scripture the answer to the question, “How has God chosen to glorify His name?” 

Jesus answers this question for us in what has been called the Lord’s Prayer. After he instructs his disciples to pray “Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed by your name” he tells them to pray, “May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).

We learn here from the teaching of Jesus on prayer that God’s purpose for the world is to glorify His name through the coming of His kingdom, in such a way that causes His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God designed the world to be an eternal, cosmic display of His glory as He ruled over everything as Creator King through His image bearers. So, as God’s image bearers, we learn in the early chapters of Genesis that we are created to multiply, to fill the earth, and to rule over it in a way that carries out God’s perfect will on the earth.

But evil entered the world through a real villain, Satan—who enticed humanity to sin. Then something horrible happened. God’s paradise on earth was lost. God’s image bearers came under the just curse of God’s wrath and their hearts became corrupt and idolatrous.

Man’s broken relationship with God then caused all of mankind’s other vital relationships for life and joy to be broken--with self, with others, and with creation. This is why things are not the way they’re supposed to be. The Shalom of God, ultimate peace and joy on earth, has been shattered. This is why there is so much brokenness in the world, not just spiritually but socially, culturally, economically, even politically. This is why there is so much violence, poverty, disease, and injustice.

So we’re now faced with a very ancient question: “What is the ultimate solution to all the world’s problems?” Let’s pursue the Bible’s answer.

• What is the ultimate solution to all the world’s problems?

• What is the ultimate solution to all the world’s problems?

Believing there could even be an ultimate solution is usually seen as being naïve and foolish. Everyone agrees we must keep striving for things like: 

• Quality education

• Just governments

• Stable economies

• Affordable health care

• Cures for diseases

• Global collaboration of governments and service organizations

• and a host of other things

Now these are all good solutions. But they are not the ultimate solution to all our global problems of broken humanity on this runaway planet. According to Scripture, the only ultimate solution is found in a very foolish-sounding story called the Good News of Jesus Christ. It’s the Good News that about 2000 years ago God’s kingdom entered our world in a new way through the person and work of Jesus, to restore God’s fallen humanity and creation—as far as the curse is found.

This is the Good News that the Father's creation, ruined by humanity's sin, is now being redeemed by Christ and renewed by His Holy Spirit into the Kingdom of God on earth. This is the Good News that through the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus God has given Him authority to form a New Humanity, made up of His people from every tribe, tongue, and nation – people who repent, believe in, and follow Jesus Christ.

The Good News is that the Father's creation, ruined by humanity's sin, is being redeemed by Christ and renewed by His Holy Spirit into the Kingdom of God.

And God promises His New Humanity in Christ–the Forgiveness of sin, a New Standing before God, the Gift of His Holy Spirit, a New Heart, and a New World when Jesus returns. In this new world God promises to restore His Shalom, His Peace—everything that was lost in the Fall—including not only our broken relationship with God but also our broken relationships with ourselves, with others, and with all of creation.

The Good News of the Kingdom is not only that one day when Jesus returns God’s Kingdom is coming to earth to make all things new. The Good News is also that God’s Kingdom has already come to earth to make all things new through the resurrection and ascension of Christ.

When God raised Jesus from the dead He was not only proclaiming His ultimate victory over death and evil—He was also inaugurating His new rule on earth as the “first born from the dead” (Rom 8:29b), referring to the many who would follow Him by their resurrection in the New Age to come.

The Good News is that the Father's creation, ruined by humanity's sin, is being redeemed by Christ and renewed by His Holy Spirit into the Kingdom of God on earth.

Through the many miracles and ultimately through the resurrection of Jesus, God demonstrated that His Kingdom has already been launched on earth. And when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father in Heaven, He and the Father poured out His Holy Spirit as a magisterial display that He is enthroned on High as our Redeemer King carrying out God’s cosmic rescue mission to restore fallen humanity and creation as far as the curse is found.

This is the Good News of Jesus Christ that our broken world desperately needs to hear and to see in our day. It’s the Good News that “Our God Reigns!” over all things through Jesus Christ and by His Holy Spirit. As the former prime minister of the Netherlands Abraham Kuyper used to say, it’s the good news that… "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!

Jesus is now answering the very prayer he taught his disciples to pray. There is an unseen dimension of this world that is actually more real than what is seen. In this invisible realm the ascended Christ is now ruling over all things, making God’s invisible Kingdom more visible on earth.

Again, Jesus is now answering the very prayer He taught his disciples to pray. He is now bringing glory to the Father’s name among the nations (Hallowed by Thy Name), by causing God’s Kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God’s purpose for the world is not merely the rebirth of human souls but the rebirth of all fallen creation. In Col 1:20 Paul writes, “For God was pleased…through (Christ) to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” God’s ultimate purpose for the world includes the restoration of the entire cosmos and the creation of a New Heaven and a New Earth.

This is why the ultimate Christian hope is not merely that one day when we die we will go to heaven to worship Jesus forever. No matter what so many Christian hymns say, heaven is not our eternal home.  Everyone who goes to heaven is making a round trip. Heaven is a glorious, mysterious, intermediate paradise where the dead in Christ will temporarily be with Him as disembodied souls.

The ultimate Christian hope is not merely that one day when we die we will go to heaven to worship Jesus forever. No matter what so many Christian hymns say, heaven is not our eternal home.  Everyone who goes to heaven is making a round trip.

But our ultimate hope is in another day, when Jesus will return and bring heaven back down to earth as it was at creation, and unite our souls with our resurrected bodies – so we will not only worship and enjoy Him forever—but do so by ruling and reigning with Him forever over a new earth.  This is what Jesus mean when He taught His followers, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”

It’s been well said that our ultimate hope is “…not going back to Eden, or up to heaven, but going forward to the New Jerusalem – which God promises will one day come down from heaven to earth as our final home.” In the meantime, we are living in a very unique period of redemptive history—between the resurrection of Jesus and the restoration of all things through Him. God takes pleasure in manifesting His presence and pouring out His power on those who will dare to radically align their life purpose with his.

God’s purpose for the world is that His name be glorified by His invisible kingdom becoming more visible, not only in human hearts but in every sphere of life, including:

• Government: Where injustice and evil is either restrained or endorsed

• Education: Where truths or lies about God and his creation are taught

• Media: Where information is interpreted through the lens of good or evil

• Arts & Entertainment: Where values and virtue are celebrated or distorted

• Religion: Where people truly worship God or settle for a religious ritual

• Family: Where blessing or curse is passed on to successive generations

• Business: Where people work for the glory of God or the glory of man [1]

This is what it means to have a vision for the Kingdom of God

[1] Adapted from 7culturalmountains.com

Vision for the Church of God (Vision Series 4 of 5)

In our last two articles, on a vision for the Glory of God and a vision for the Kingdom of God, we learned from Scripture that God’s purpose for the world is to glorify his name through the coming of his kingdom in such a way that causes His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In this chapter our focus is on answering the question, “How has God chosen to advance His kingdom in the world today?”

How has God chosen to advance His kingdom in the world today?

From the time of creation, God has been carrying out His purposes in the world in some very unique ways.

In the beginning, God carried out His purposes for the world primarily through individuals like Adam, Enoch and Noah who were commanded to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…”(Gen 1:28)  thereby glorifying God’s name and making His invisible Kingdom visible over all the earth. 

       Then, in Genesis 12, we learn that God began working primarily through one family, the family of Abraham, and through him one nation—the nation of Israel. But we learn from the New Testament that today God has chosen the Church to be His primary instrument for advancing His kingdom purposes in the world. 

Jesus said to His disciples “…I will build My Church; and the gates of Hell shall not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18b). In Ephesians 3:10 Paul writes, “God’s intent is that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm.”

In the Book of Acts we’re meant to see not only the Acts of the Apostles but the Acts of Jesus as He continues His ministry on earth from His ascended throne in Heaven by His Holy Spirit and through His Apostles.

So what was the ascended Jesus doing on earth through His Apostles by His Holy Spirit--to cause His and our Father’s name to be honored and His Kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it was in heaven?   

He was fulfilling His promise to build His Church—breaking down the gates of hell. This is why the book of Acts is largely devoted to the advancement of God’s Kingdom through the planting of Churches throughout the Mediterranean world. 

This is why the Apostle Paul’s ministry was not merely to proclaim the Gospel to as many people as possible but to plant Churches in every nation—especially those nations where Christ has yet to be named (for him that was Spain).  

In Acts 14 (21-23) we see that Paul’s pattern in ministry was not only to “preach the gospel in cities and win many disciples… but also to appoint elders…in every Church..” Paul saw the churches he planted throughout the world as Kingdom outposts through which King Jesus, as the Head of the Church, mysteriously continued His ministry through His visible body spreading the flame of the gospel, in both word and deed, making God’s invisible Kingdom visible over both human hearts and all spheres of life.  

This is why the Church is the hope of the world!

The Church is the only institution in the world both designed and equipped by God for the spiritual, cultural and social renewal of all nations.

God has ordained that His Kingdom come with transformational power into every sphere of life primarily through the Church. This why global Church planting is so important. 

The Church is the only institution in the world both designed and equipped by God for the spiritual, cultural and social renewal of all nations.

We’re facing a very serious problem throughout the world today. Never has there been a time in history when there have been more churches and more professing Christians than today. And yet despite the remarkable spread of Christianity, spiritual darkness, cultural, and societal decay are reaching unprecedented levels.

Even where the Church is growing most rapidly the results are often forms of Christianity with little or no true, lasting transformation of individuals, families and cultures.

Author James Engel writes,

 There is widespread agreement that the western-driven agenda of the last 50 years of missions to ‘finish the task’ of world evangelization has tragically missed the mark in its narrow focus only on conversion. The Great Commission has become a ‘great commotion’ of proclamation in virtual disregard of making disciples and effecting social transformation.

The roots of this problem can be traced all the way back to ancient Greece. Much of today’s form of Christianity has been unduly influenced by Greek Philosophy (Platonic Dualism)—which emphasizes a great division between things like:  

• the soul and the body or

• the spirit and matter or

• the spiritual and the social  

This is one of the reasons most of evangelical Christianity in our day has lost sight of its historic roots by proclaiming a very pragmatic, privatized, prosperity Gospel that rarely results in: 1) authentic Christian conversions, 2) holistic discipleship, and 3) societal transformation. As a result, the evangelical Church is slowly losing its transforming influence on the world at large.

In light of these realities, there is a desperate need in our day for recapturing a vision for the church of God to be the primary means through which the invisible kingdom of God becomes more visible causing God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven to the ultimate end of seeing the glory of God fill the earth as the waters do the sea.

And I have Good News: Our Redeemer King Jesus is fulfilling His promise to build His Church and the gates of hell are not prevailing against it. But exactly how is He doing this today through His Church? Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck helps us understand the answer when he describes our need to see a biblical view of the Church as being both an institution and an organism. 

To see the Church as institution means to see the Church as gathered together for the central purpose of making disciples through the means of grace.

This includes the proper preaching and teaching of God’s Word, the proper administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, a devotion to prayer, and to fellowship under the oversight of ordained Church elders. These are the primary marks of what Bavinck calls the institutional church. 

But we must also learn to see the Church as organism.

That is when the Church regularly scatters all those individual Church members throughout all their diverse spheres and disciplines of life with the central purpose of Making God’s invisible Kingdom visible over all their areas of life–to be salt and light to a culture in decay and darkness. 

       These kinds of Churches are not fortresses but their Kingdom outposts in the domain of darkness bringing light to the nations.

When they gather on the Lord’s Day as the institutional Church for worship, the preaching of the Word, the sacraments, prayer, and fellowship, they are experiencing a foretaste of what will one day be their home territory.  

       There they are renewed and refreshed as they learn how to live out the principles of the Kingdom in the world.          

But when the Church as institution, when they leave, they become the Church as organism—scattered as individuals like salt and light into all their spheres of public life where they put those Kingdom principles into practice.  

Where they serve the poor, the oppressed, the sick, and the uneducated. Where they stand against all forms of injustice and fight for righteousness. They make art and music that bears witness to the beauty and glory of their future eternal home in the new heavens and earth.

Because of their unique union now with Jesus, He mysteriously works through them as Prophet, Priest, and King. Church historian Richard Lovelace writes,

In their Prophetic Role they proclaim and uphold God’s truth in a world filled with lies. In their Priestly Role they pray and intercede for others to experience God’s mercy and blessing. And in their Kingly Role they use all their resources to help make God’s invisible kingdom more visible, not only in human hearts, but in every sphere of their lives until it reflects the order of heaven.

 This is how spiritual, social, and cultural renewal takes place in towns, in cities, and nations. This is how Great Awakenings and Gospel Renewal Movements are born.   

Vision for the Gospel of God (Vision Series 5 of 5)

Our focus in this chapter is on what it means to be a Gospel-Centered Church through which God’s invisible Kingdom becomes more visible bringing transformation to both human hearts and society to the glory of God.

In Romans 1:16 the Apostle Paul writes “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” Paul’s understanding of the power of the Gospel in salvation included more than merely saving people from being under sin’s penalty.

He saw the Gospel as also saving people from sin’s domineering power and transforming the whole world. In Colossians 1:6 Paul writes, “All over the world this gospel is producing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.”

Paul is referring here to the saving power of the Gospel at work in and through people’s lives since the day they heard and understood it not merely on the day they heard and understood it. Many Christians today have a very limited understanding of the Gospel as merely being good news of salvation for non-Christians with little or no relevance to the Christian life once someone has believed in the Gospel. 

But the Scriptures teach that the Gospel should be seen as not just a gate we must pass through one time, but also as a path that we need to be walking on every day of our lives. Paul shows us this same view of the Gospel in Romans 1:8 when he’s commending the Roman Christians for their strong, mature faith by writing, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed in all the world.”

Then, in Romans 1:15, Paul writes to these same mature Christians, who’s faith was so strong it was proclaimed throughout the world, “So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. “So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”

Many Christians today would be confused by Paul’s eagerness to preach the Gospel to them because after they believe in the Gospel, they think the Gospel is no longer really for them anymore it’s for unbelievers.

In Romans, Paul taught that the salvation through the Gospel should be seen as encompassing all three tenses: In the past tense–We have been saved from sin’s penalty. Paul expounds that in Romans 1-5. In the present tense–We are being saved from sin’s domineering power. Paul expounds that in Romans 6 and 7. And in the future tense–We will be saved from sin’s presence. Paul expounds that in Romans 8 and following. 

You can’t fully understand the meaning of the Good News until you understand more fully the bad news. As a result of sin, something terrible happened. Our relationship with God was broken, but through that, our relationships with ourselves, our relationships with others, our relationships with creation or vocation and work, they were all broken and are now marked by alienation. 

There are three primary consequences of sin that have resulted from the fall: First: Is the problem of Personal Guilt. Because of sin, our relationship with God changed from a status or state of innocent obedience to a different state, a status of guilty disobedience. We now have a bad record in the heavenly court. We lost our original right standing with God and we’ve became alienated from him.

One of the tragic results of sin is becoming guilty before God, in the heavenly courts, under his just judgment. The result of sin is death, both physical and spiritual—eternal separation from God in hell. And although God is loving and merciful and does not want to punish us, The Scriptures also teach He is also perfectly just so He must punish sin.  

The Second consequence of the Fall is the problem of Personal Corruption. Sin not only separates us from God and places us under His just judgment. Sin also defiles us, it enslaves us. Jesus said, “…everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” Sin is not just a legal problem before God—it’s also a deep problem of the heart. At its root, sin should always be seen as idolatry–that is trying to find ultimate happiness in life apart from God, apart from Christ, and apart from His purposes.  

Sin is more than disobeying God’s laws. Sin is a deep-seated, invisible, terminal disease. The Scriptures teach that outward sins are always the result of inward sins of the heart.  Jesus said, whatever comes out of men comes from a defiled heart and defiles him/ So we not only need forgiveness from sin’s condemning penalty but we need freedom from sin’s corrupting, enslaving, and dominating power.

A third consequence of the Fall is the problem of World Corruption. The Scriptures teach, as a result of God’s curse on humanity, all creation has also been cursed. That means every sphere of God’s creation has now been disrupted, it’s now been broken by the fall of humanity into sin. It’s now under the domain of darkness. This is why life is not the way it’s supposed to be. All suffering, injustice, poverty, racism, and terrorism. Death, it can all be traced back to sin, to our rebellion against God.  

And in light of this understanding or Vision of the Gospel of God, what is a Gospel-Centered Church? A Gospel-Centered Church primarily focuses on proclaiming this Good News. The Good News that God promises all who repent of their sin and trust in Christ a new record, a new heart, and a new world to come.

This means a Gospel-Centered Church is one that places a top priority on the ministries of Good News for the lost or evangelism. Good News for the found or discipleship or spiritual formation. And Good News for the poor through ministries of mercy and justice.

Let’s review and summarize these three priorities in order to gain a deeper understanding of what a Gospel-Centered Church is: 

A GOSPEL-CENTERED CHURCH PROCLAIMS GOOD NEWS FOR THE LOST.

This Good News is that God promises to save from sin’s penalty everyone who will believe in Christ, and He promises them to consider them as His children.

And as Judge, in the heavenly court, God promises to accept the sacrificial work of Christ, the shedding of His blood on the cross as satisfying His just wrath against sinners. He substituted Himself to satisfy Himself. And consider all of humanity’s sin counted to Christ and all Christ’s perfect righteousness counted to their record, it’s a new record, its an alien righteousness Marin Luther said that God gives to us through faith.

As Father, God promises to accept and love those who believe in Christ and consider them as His beloved, adopted children. With a love for them that He previously reserved for His one and only Son.

A GOSPEL-CENTERED CHURCH ALSO PROCLAIMS GOOD NEWS FOR THE FOUND.

God also promises to save Christians, to save those who believe in Christ from sin’s on going, domineering power over their lives. He does this by giving us a new heart and a new Spirit, the Holy Spirit, so we have new life, and so we can know God, honor God, and find our ultimate joy in God forever.

Although we can never be free from sin’s ongoing influence until heaven God does promise us, through Christ, that we can be delivered us from sin’s domineering, enslaving power if we will just keep coming to Him by drawing near to Him in repentance and in faith in Christ.  

A Gospel-Centered Church not only proclaims Good News for the lost by prioritizing the ministry of evangelism and Good News for the found in prioritizing the ministry of discipleship and spiritual formation…

A GOSPEL CENTERED ALSO CHURCH PROCLAIMS GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR IN ACTS OF MERCY AND JUSTICE.

Jesus began his public ministry (Luke 4) by picking up the scroll and reading from the prophet Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.”

He was not speaking of merely the spiritual poor, but those who are truly poor. “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” That’s how Jesus commenced, that’s how He began His ministry with the proclamation of that Good News for the poor.

A Gospel-Centered Church does not see the world as rigidly divided between the sacred and the secular, but instead sees that God is right now, through the resurrected and reigning Christ, by His Spirit “reconciling to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:20).

So a Gospel-Centered Church focuses on so much more than merely seeing “souls saved,” as important as that is. It also focuses on seeing the invisible Kingdom of Christ made more visible throughout the every sphere of life by not only words of truth, but also relentless acts of mercy, acts of justice through which the crookedness in our corrupt society is made more straight and the darkness of our culture and corrupt world is dispelled, more and more by light of God’s truth.

And all of this to see God’s Kingdom come and see God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven to the hallowing, to the glorifying of God’s name. 

Priorities Introduction: Defining Ministry Success (Priorities Series 1 of 6)

In this module, we shift from our focus on the church leaders' public ministry to their private lives. When the Apostle Paul knew he was meeting for the last time with the church leaders with whom he had planted the church in Ephesus, he chose his words very carefully. One of the final challenges he gave them is recorded in Acts 20:28 when he said, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." Notice the first thing the Apostle Paul encouraged them to do was to care for themselves, then to care for the church members. In a similar way, we often hear that in a flight emergency, always put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then you can help others.

It's with this in mind that we are going to do a survey of some of the common lessons that many church leaders have learned in their private lives, often the hard way, while developing their public church ministry. The first lesson is understanding the importance of having a Biblical view of success. The gospel of Luke tells us Jesus sent out 70 of His disciples, two by two, telling them that, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, ask the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Now by anyone's standard, their ministry was a raging success. As they spoke in Jesus' name and ministered to people, God's power fell on them in an astonishing way. They were not only surprised; they were obviously thrilled and elated. In Acts 10, Verse 17 we read, "And the 70 returned with joy saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'" Their enthusiasm was obvious. God was mightily at work through their lives doing great and miraculous things, so they rejoice, and why shouldn't they? Even the demons were subject to them, just as they had been to Jesus, but right in the midst of all their elation and rejoicing at how God was working so powerfully through them, Jesus spoke these sobering words. He said, "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."

Here, Jesus makes clear to His disciples that their source of joy in their lives and in their ministries must not be found in what they do for Him but in who they are in Him. Jesus knew that there would soon come a time in all of their lives and ministries when there would no longer be great signs and wonders to encourage them, but instead, there would be hardship, trials, persecution, sometimes death for His name, times when they would feel in subjection to the demons rather than demons being in subjection to them.

At such times, Jesus did not want His followers to be robbed of joy, so He taught them to find their true source of joy and fulfillment in something other than what some would call ministry success. Instead, Jesus wants His followers, then and now, who either in the face of what many would call ministry failure, to be the kind of people who find lasting joy in their knowledge of the good news that their names are written in heaven.

In the trenches of all the hard work necessary for developing a church, it's very easy for church leaders to become discouraged and depressed. Hundreds have left the field over the years, convinced they are failures because of their lack of what many would call ministry success. Now whether you realize it or not, you have a very specific definition of personal success in ministry, and that definition of success greatly affects your life. It affects what you worry about, your stress levels, and your sense of personal fulfillment.

False views of success are usually quantitative, not qualitative. They're built around things like career achievement, professional recognition, church attendance. According to scripture, success before God is measured in terms of faithfulness to Him. Success has been defined as faithfully pleasing God with the resources and responsibilities that He has given you. In the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, we find that Jesus rewarded each faithful man the same, even though one was actually given more than the other and even though one actually produced more than the other. They were rewarded the same.

The Biblical view of success is radically different from the world's view. It is qualitative, not quantitative. Its emphasis is more on faithfulness and relationships than measurable accomplishments and achievements. Now does this mean that goal-setting and strategic planning is all wrong? Not at all. With the Biblical view of success, you will often work just as hard, but you are working for a different set of reasons, with a different underlying motivation. You still set goals and objectives, but your self-esteem and your view of success is not inordinately tied to achieving those goals. Never forget, true success in God's eyes is not measured by mere external ministry results but by faithfully pleasing Him with resources and the responsibilities He has given you.

Managing Time vs. Priorities (Priorities Series 2 of 6)

Another important lesson that church leaders often learn is the big difference between managing their time and managing their lives. There is an ongoing contrast and competition between two things that continually influence our lives. One author describes them as the clock and the other one as the compass. The clock represents how we use our time, such things as our commitments each day or each week, our appointments, our schedule, our goals and activities. It's how we use and manage our time. The compass represents our core life values, our conscience, our sense of personal vision and life mission. It's what we believe is truly important in life and how we manage our lives.

The struggle comes when we experience a gap between the compass and the clock, when what we actually do with our time doesn't contribute to what is truly most important in our lives. In an effort to close this gap between the compass and the clock, many turn to the field of personal time management. Traditional time management theory suggests that by doing things more efficiently, you'll eventually gain control of your life and that increased control will bring you personal peace and fulfillment.

Although there is much to gain from such things as planning and prioritizing and goal setting, the bottom line is that increased efficiency does not necessarily lessen the gap between the compass and the clock. Although people may get more done in less time, what they are actually doing with their time is still often not what truly matters to them most.

How many church leaders on their deathbed do you think wish that they had just spent more time at the church? In his classic article Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles Hummel writes, "Have you ever wished for a 30 hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks, unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unwritten articles, unread books, haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. We desperately need relief." Would a 30 hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn't we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our 24 hour allotment? As the old saying goes, "A mother's work is never done." Neither is that of a student, a teacher, a church leader, or anyone else we know, nor will the passage of time help us catch up. Children grow in number and in age to require more of our time. Greater experience in our ministry often brings more exacting and demanding assignments so we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less.

The key lesson here that many leaders have discovered is not to prioritize your schedule but to schedule your priority. Our problem is letting the urgent things in life crowd out the truly important things. We live in a constant tension between the urgent and the important. We become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent. In Isaiah 30 verse 15 we read, "For thus the Lord God, the holy one of Israel says, 'In repentance and rest you shall be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength.'" At the root of our frantic propensity to overwork in the ministry, is usually the sin of pride, an exalted sense of our importance to the kingdom of God. If we dare to stop, the kingdom of God just might not make it and the church would surely self-destruct, we think. Some church leaders need to show their faith in God not by working harder, but by working less.

Some of you may have been hitting it so hard for so long that you desperately simply need extended time to rest. For some of you, it might even be six months. For others, it might be six weeks or six days. For some of you, the most spiritual thing you can do is learn to go to bed and sleep. A seasoned missionary once came up to me at a church leader training conference and said there are two types of missionaries that he has observed in his country. He said those who take siestas or naps every day and those who leave the field. He went on to say if church leaders don't learn to take periodic times to rest and be replenished physically, mentally, relationally and spiritually on their first term, they will almost never be back for a second term.

It's one thing for you to start your ministry well. It's another thing to finish it well. Remember that the ministry is not a sprint. It's a cross-country event so you must learn to pace yourself. You must build into your life a sabbath rhythm of work and rest, work and rest daily, weekly, quarterly, yearly. Hear the words of Jesus that he once said to his weary, tired disciples, "Let's pull away from the ministry and go to the other side of the lake." You must learn to manage your life and not just manage your time. 

Difference Between Goals vs. Desires (Priorities Series 3 of 6)

Another valuable lesson often learned by church leaders on the field, is to understand the difference between their goals and their desires. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Here we learn the simple but life changing truth that God means for us to focus our attention and our energies and worries primarily on the goals that we can do something about today, and then trust him with all those things that are out of our control for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that lie ahead.

In church ministry, the task before us can feel so overwhelming that you easily feel like one person standing with a small ax, looking at a massive forest. The task can be paralyzing, unless you learn how to set a reasonable goal for cutting down just a few trees for each day. Then give yourself each day. Not to fulfilling your desire to remove the whole forest, but to accomplish just that daily goal of taking down those few trees. Only then can you be free from the crushing demands of the whole forest.

Understanding the difference between your goals and desires can help set you free from a life of anxiety and fear. Your goals should be defined as those things that are within your control, relatively speaking, while your desires are not in your control. Under this definition, if you want to have 10 people become Christians and be baptized in your church this year, that would be a desire, but not a goal, because you cannot control that outcome. What you must learn to think and to say is that your desire is to have 10 people trust in Christ and be baptized in your church this year, but your goal is to do things like set aside regular times to pray for the lost. Make so many contacts with people in your community every week, train six people in Evangelism. Have three Evangelistic gathering events.

The key is that you learn to work hard toward your goals and pray hard for your desires. Now the value of this approach is that it serves to remind you that the outcome of your ministry ultimately rests with God and not you. One of the reasons many dropout of the ministry is because they have never learned the simple distinction between goals and desires. Their desires become their goals. When their desires are not met, for whatever reason, they become angry, bitter, depressed, and frustrated. But there is a freedom and a peace about ministry that can be yours. If you will learn this lesson, regarding how to understand the difference between your goals and desires, so that you as a way of life are always working hard towards your goals and praying hard for your desires, always keeping them separate.