Jim

When it comes to serving the Lord, what’s do we need to concentrate on the most?  This post is the second in a series – read the introduction here.

So are results the most important thing?  From my perspective, this aspect of ministry has suffered over the years from both overemphasis and more often underemphasis.  Most of the time it seems it’s been almost taboo to focus on results of ministry.  You know, the dreaded “number-counting“, for example.  And I won’t deny, results is on the bottom of my list in order of importance.  But that doesn’t mean they’re not important – they are.

We know that results are important to God.  After all, He sent His Son to get results.  He loved us so much He wanted us to be saved into a relationship of love with Him.  There’s no doubt that He planned history with the end in mind.

But as believers we can’t put results first on the list.  If that was the case, the end would justify the means.  In other words, we’d tend toward shallow methods and shallow results, because our focus would be more on the visual.

We would also struggle with different attitudes, depending on how good our results were.  If we had poor results, that would lead to a feeling of helplessness and despair – we did all we could, and it was all for nothing.  If we have good results, overemphasis would lead to pride.  Look where our brilliant plans and strategies brought us!  No, results are important, but not that important.  Not from our perspective.

Underemphasis of results can cause problems too, however.  I don’t know about you, but I always heard stories of the poor missionary who faithfully handed out tracts for 40 years with no converts.  Only after he’s gone are there any visible results from his ministry.  The moral?  God wants us to serve Him faithfully, results or no results.

Sure, that’s true.  And we’ll get to that in another post.  But the story ignores how helpful results can be as a signpost in our service.  Good results do not “prove” that what we’re doing is right (after all, look how many people flock to churches that don’t teach the Word of God!).  And bad results don’t “prove” that what we’re doing is wrong.  But it may give an indication.

At one point in His ministry, Jesus had a strategy for His disciples.  He sent His disciples to a city, and told them that if they weren’t listened to they should move on (see Matt 10:14).  This is an example of how results can be used to help us strategize.  If we’re not seeing fruit, we should take a good look at what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.  It may be we need to continue the same way in spite of “visible” results.  But God also may be showing us that there’s a better way.  It’s not wrong to evaluate what we’re doing, as long as we evaluate it under God’s direction (more on this next time).  Bad results may be a warning that something more important in our lives is lacking, as we’ll see.

In Matthew 5:16, Jesus says,”Let your light so shine before men”.  Why?  “that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  That’s results.  Not always visible, not always something you can count, but certainly important.  Then again, when it comes to planning our service to the Lord, it’s not the most important thing…

When it comes to serving the Lord, what’s the most important thing?  That’s going to seem like a very broad question, but I’ll clarify … eventually.

For a number of months – well, I guess it’s years now – I’ve been thinking through an article on the topic of what’s most important.  It’s been hard to focus on for long enough to actually complete, so I thought I’d start putting the ideas here so that I can get your input.  I’m planning to publish several posts on the topic, and I’ll tag them with The most important thing so you can find them all.  I encourage you to leave your comments.

As I’ve thought through this topic, I’ve realized more and more that it’s of key importance to every Christian.  We need to understand our priorities, understand what the Lord expects of us – where those expectations begin and end.  I’ve frequently seen how some things have been overemphasized, or underemphasized, and how that can cause problems.  It’s easy to confuse priorities, to expect too much of ourselves, to be knocked down with pride or despair, just because we don’t understand really what’s important and how important it is.  I’ve heard sermons that have left the wrong impression because the speaker doesn’t seem to have these things in mind.

As you can guess, I think that knowing what’s most important is … well … important!  It’s important for those that want to evaluate a person in full time ministry, a strategy, a program … any kind of service.  It’s a difficult and very controversial thing when a church or organization tries to evaluate someone’s ministry.  But it’s even important when an individual looks at their own lives of service – trying to be effective in the work God has called them to.

One reason I’ve been reluctant to post on this topic is because it’s hard to understand if you can’t see the whole picture, and it’s hard to get across the full picture in a few words.  No doubt I’ve left most of you in complete confusion, but bear with me over the next few posts on this topic and everything should become a little clearer.  Clear enough, anyway, that you should be able to tell me where I’m right and where I’m wrong!

But the main idea of what we’re going to look at is this – when it comes to serving the Lord, what’s important, how important is it, and what’s more important and most important?  I have several specific things in mind.  They’re all important, but some things are more important than others.  Overemphasis and underemphasis of each thing can cause problems.  The next post will explain the first thing (and, I hope, start to clear up the confusion).  Stay tuned!