Being important vs. Being Obedient

I’m going to confess something here. It’s something that’s very real to my life, and something that if I’m not careful can damage what God intends for me more than anything else in my life. This struggle is the epicenter from which all of my other struggles stem. It’s the constant struggle and desire to be important and inspirational. As a pastor I’m supposed to be important, aren’t I? I need to have a blog that others will read, and people from the other side of the country need to be downloading my podcasts so I’ll be invited to speak at retreats, camps, and leadership weekends. My Tweets need to connect to my Facebook status so that everyone around the country will know what I’m doing every minute of every day. I want people to admire me.

As ridiculous as some of this sounds, a lot of us leaders struggle with these very things. Now, I don’t believe that any of these things are wrong in themselves. I have a blog, and we podcast our teaching so they’re available for those in our community. And I do want to admit that three weeks ago I downloaded the Twitter application, and now everyone will know my Tweets and Status Updates. Those tools of communication can be great for communicating to your group, and for staying in contact and reaching a lost generation that’s continually connected. However these tools can also create a drive in each one of us to think that we are important in some sort of way. I do believe that as young leaders we are crucial in the ministry of the Word and that we have been anointed for good works that lead people to a relationship with Jesus but I have seen too many talented young leaders focus on these things and neglect the very essence of why we are in ministry.

I believe young leaders out of great intention equip themselves with these types of tools so that they can reach people for the kingdom. This is a good thing, but what is the focus of our leadership and ministry? We do a great job focusing on the Great Commission, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18,19). However we seem to have lost the art of following Jesus ourselves. I have struggled with this very thing, and I see it played out as I focus on the wrong things in ministry. I feel like the Apostle Paul as he pours out his own heart with his struggle with the flesh. He says that he knows what not to do, but for some reason he keeps finding himself in that same predicament that he tried desperately to stay away from (Romans 7).

We all want to be inspirational and important in the lives of the people that God has given us the opportunity to minister to, and I don’t think that is a bad desire, but when it starts to drive you in why you do certain things then we must check ourselves and our motivation for doing what we do. For too many years I have focused on Matthew 28:18,19 but have forgotten what Jesus said recorded just six chapters before. In Matthew 22 Jesus answers a question about the greatest of all commandments and he says,  " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:36-38). After realizing that the Great Commandment came before the Great Commission my perspective on ministry has been revolutionized, and the way I view myself in this picture has been greatly impacted.

Too many times as leaders the focus of our lives become our ministry, and our relationship with God stems from that. But I want us to imagine what would happen if the focus of our lives became our relationship with God, and we allowed our ministry to grow from there. I lead a young adults ministry in Fort Collins, Colorado, and we’re in the middle of a 14-week series as we walk through the book of Ephesians. Last week we talked about Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3, and we talked about the power of prayer and how prayer has the potential to overflow our hearts with God’s love. I believe that God wants us to serve out of the overflow of our heart, yet too often we serve out of our own strength and leaders get burned out, tired, and discouraged about what isn’t going on rather than what God is really doing. This is because we’ve strived to work independent from God and are striving from our own strength. However if we are obedient to God’s leading and guidance then we will be doing what he wants us to do and will reach the people he wants us to reach. I’m now convinced that ministry is about me and my relationship with God, and me influencing and impacting the leaders who he has entrusted me with. They then have the freedom, support, and love to go out and impact the lives of others.

You see, I do want to be influential, but not if that means sacrificing my relationship with God. It’s been said that actions are a direct result of what is in the heart of a person. Well if we came to God with an attitude of obedience then maybe God would be able use us in ways that he wants rather in ways that we want to be utilized. The struggle between wanting to be important versus wanting to be obedient is a source of stress for many of us leaders. The desire to be important leads us down a path of many types of sins: lust, pride, dishonesty are just a few that stem from a desire to be important. But being obedient allows you to follow God in an intimate way. A life of obedience requires humility and patience and is developed through a passionate prayer life. You show us a man who seeks to commune with God in prayer and I will show you a man who will seek obedience. Maybe this is the principle that Paul was referring to when he said that he would boast about his weakness so that Christ’s power might be strong in him.

My prayer for this generation of young leaders is that we would strive to be obedient followers of God who would “Love the Lord God with all of our heart, soul, and mind.” I encourage leaders to get away with God in structured times of prayer and communion with the Lord. Find a way to escape the pressures you put on yourself and sit in the invigorating and refreshing presence of our God. I pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened by the Holy Spirit so that we might know the hope to which he’s called us. I pray that we have the strength of the Spirit to resist the temptation to want to be important yet have the obedience to seek God and who he is in our lives. God knows what he’s doing, he’s chosen you for the task before you, and he really loves people more than you do. If we lay our lives and desires before him, then he has our hearts, and from there I believe we’re ready to really be used by our God to impact a generation. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind; then go love others.