“Ministry success [is]… about the tension between competing goods. Each good is vital. Each demands attention. And each represents a genuine biblical mandate. These aren’t problems to be solved but tensions to be managed in ministry.” - Lifeway
Google the phrase “What is success” and you will get 1.13 billion results. I’d like to examine each of those with you today (not really). Much has been said about success. Everybody seems to want it, but it is surprising how few actually can define it.
One dictionary defines success as “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, the attainment of popularity or profit, or a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity.” But what should be the aim or purpose? And how do we define prosperity?
Some suggest success changes with age:
“God doesn’t need our work. That’s not the point. Paul gave us these instructions because this will bring the greatest joy to us when we work this way” - John Piper
“It shall be left to each individual heart, and each member of the church, to answer for himself the question, whether his own church is in a state of spiritual health, taking these things as a test; namely, purity, soundness, unity, and prayerfulness.” - 9 Marks
For some unidentifiable reason I enjoy tormenting students with an important albeit slippery theological and philosophical question. What is good? As you might imagine, the answers I get are quite diverse. One student recently responded by citing an online dictionary that offers forty-seven definitions of the word. Forty-seven! Most, if not all, of the forty-seven were not legitimate, as they typically erred by defining the word by the word itself. As you might expect, the question itself is simple, but an appropriate answer has been far more elusive for the unaided human mind.1
Read Part 1.
Even God’s greatest servants may suffer extreme discouragement, as we are learning from a brief survey of the experience of the prophet Elijah. One of my seminary professors invented a name for his response to the threats he faced following his glorious victory on Mount Carmel—the Elijah Syndrome.*
I define the Elijah Syndrome as a combination of physical and spiritual fatigue, resulting in despair.
On Mount Carmel, Elijah experienced one of the greatest spiritual victories recorded in all of Holy Scripture. His triumph over Ahab, Jezebel and “the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah” (1 Kings 18:19) devastated the wicked king and queen.
Ahab offered a muted response to his embarrassing defeat (e.g., 1 Kings 18:41-46), while Jezebel became infuriated (1 Kings 19:1-2). Like Satan himself, she manifested her darkest rage when she understood the certainty of her ultimate demise (1 Kings 21:23; 2 Kings 9:30-37; cf. Rom. 16:20; Rev. 12:12).
“Is it because we aren’t living up to our true potential? Or is it because our perspective about work lacks a redemptive and creative—or biblically-shaped—imagination?” - Scott Sauls
“1. Is my desire for gospel fruitfulness driven by a desire to exalt Christ’s name or my own?” - F&T
By Daryl Neipp
In his book Satisfied, Jeff Manion describes a fictional interaction to which we can all relate. It’s a warm evening. A dad calls to his son, who is playing in the backyard, “Would you like some ice cream?” The son bounds into the house, where he finds a large scoop of ice cream in his bowl, and life is good (especially if it is mint chocolate chip).
However, what if there are two boys? The dad calls them both in from playing. What if they find their ice cream but the scoop distribution is not exactly equitable? It wouldn’t be long until the dad heard, “That’s NOT fair!” from one of the boys.
