A Virtuous Ministry--Part Two

The following is Part 2 of an ordination message given on 29 October 2000. (See previous post for Part 1) God gives two virtues for ministers of God to pursue: 1) Humbly Rely on God Alone, and . . . 

Second, Courageously Obey God’s Commands. The first virtue—humility—positions you to hear God’s Word to YOU. That is why humility and prayer are so vital to every Christian’s life—especially the Pastor’s. But once God speaks (and he will to the humble), then it becomes our responsibility and pleasure to follow his every lead. That Jesus was obedient must not be overlooked as our example. Jacques Boussuet puts it this way, “Thirty years of our Lord’s life are hidden in these words of the gospel: ‘He was subject unto them.’”

We are all interested in seeing God work in our own lives and churches, right? We want to see church growth? We have collected the latest books, and attended exciting seminars to learn the latest principles in Church Growth techniques. These certainly do have their place, and I would not want to impugn the good effect they may have. But there are certain essential virtues without which all the best techniques would amount to nothing. Simple Obedience is one of those virtues. So powerful is obedience that it is to be chosen over worship. Remember Samuel’s doleful complaint to King Saul--“obedience is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22). How is obedience better? If we were honest with ourselves, we may look rather askance at obedience—not that it is unimportant to us, but it doesn’t seem as fulfilling as other virtues. In our way of thinking, to obey means simply to do what God says. That’s it! Well, that’s NOT it, if motive is included in our definition. To limit the meaning to the "bare bones" performance of a duty is to miss both the richness and beauty of God's command. In the Hebrew, the word “obey” is made up of a combination of words, “to hear the voice.” Involved in this is the heart. When we hear someone call to us, we tend to respond in kind, whether to a baby’s cry, our child’s call for help, a creditor calling for money, or to God calling us to labor in Western New York. All these elicit a different response—go change their diaper, run to our child’s side in love, sweat when the creditor threatens us, or move to New York. So, too, in our obedience to God, we cannot separate our feelings from the One doing the calling. When God calls, we hear, but not in a detached manner. No voice carries with it the sense of authority that His carries! 

We desire change—improvement in our churches. Yes! We study how to bring about those changes, that is true. But the beauty of obedience is that much reform will occur as a result. It seems that the Chronicler wants us to see this. Asa obeyed God. And God blessed through Asa with these notable changes:

1)    God crushed Asa’s enemies (14:12-15).

2)    Asa destroyed godless idols (15:8).

3)    All the people covenanted with Asa to follow the Lord, wholeheartedly (15:10-15).

4)    Asa even deposed his grandmother—Maacah for her part in fostering idolatry (15:16).

Doesn't Asa's life reveal that a humble, obedient spirit can go a long way in the work of God? We may try many things out of the sheer urgency of the situation, but it will ultimately be the humble heart that courageously obeys its Lord. “It is a vain thought to flee from the work that God appoints us, for the sake of finding a greater blessing, instead of seeking it where alone it is to be found—in loving obedience.”

God is on the lookout for any man (or woman) who will seek Him with their whole heart. If we saw nothing else here in this passage, I think to catch this would be of immense importance to us in ministry and our Christian lives. God’s attention is especially piqued by the presence of humble, obedient, faithful men. Ability, whether natural or spiritual does not impress God. But something does. He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Bill and Liz—you already have talent and good tools with which to do God’s work. May I just encourage you to keep it simple by focusing primarily on the twin virtues of humble dependency and courageous obedience.