Limitations: Learning to be Human in Ministry

Are you plumb worn out? Dog tired? Running on empty? Burning the candle at three ends? Do you feel like you have to be everywhere-for-all? Fix-it-all? Know-it-all? Come as we discuss together some of the particular temptations of ministry leaders and how to lean more deeply into the (grating but glorious) fact that we are not the Christ.

Our most basic limitation:

God

------

Humans

How it’s GRATING that we ‘re Limited

The first temptation about limitation—trying to be God by breaking the limits

Genesis 3:1-7

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

This story sets a pattern for all our other dealings with limitation.

We attempt to take on attributes that belong to God alone---

namely his omnipresence , omnipotence and omniscience. (Aka his incommunicable attributes)

Only God is omnipresent, but we try to be an…[1]

Everywhere-for-all: “We can only be in one place at one time, which means that Jesus will teach most of us to live a local life. We will resist and want to act like we are omnipresent. But he will patiently teach us that as human beings we cannot be, and this admission will glorify God. Other’s will likewise resist Jesus and want you to be omnipresent. They will use his name to praise or critique you accordingly, but they too will have to learn that only Jesus can be with then wherever they are at all time. This fact is actually good news for them and for us.”

Only God is omnipotent, but we try to be a…

Fix-it-all: “We cannot do everything that needs to be done, which means that Jesus will have to teach us to live with the things that we can neither control nor fix. We will want to resist Jesus and act as if we are omnipotent, but we will harm others and ourselves when we try. Others will also resist Jesus. Using his name, they will praise or critique us according to their desire that we fix everything for them and that we do it immediately. But we will have to learn too that only Jesus can fix everything and that there are some things that Jesus will leave unfixed for his glory.”

Only God is omniscient, but we try to be a…

Know-It-All: “We are unable to know everything or everyone, which means that Jesus will teach us to live with ignorance, our own and others’. In other words, we are not omniscient. Jesus will require us to stop pretending that we are. Others will resist Jesus and in his name praise us or critique us on the basis of their estimation of what we should know. They will have to learn that only Jesus knows everything they need; his invitation faith and to trust in his knowing is a good one.”

  • What are you most tempted to pretend that you are: an everywhere for all, a fix-it-all or a know-it-all? In what ways does this temptation practically work itself out in your ministry context? Can you think of an example from this past week?
  • What do you feel you will lose if you stop pretending in these ways and entrust yourself to Jesus?
  • Now think about those you serve in your family, workplace, etc. Perhaps think about those who put the most pressure upon you by their praise or their criticism. Which temptation are these people desirous to add to your job description? Do they criticize you for not being an everywhere-for-all, a fix-it-all, or a know-it-all? Or for which of these do they praise you? What would it mean for them to enter the awkward uncontrol and wait upon Jesus for what they are mistakenly requiring of you?

How it’s GLORIOUS that we’re limited

Looking at man whose heart towards “his ministry” was transformed by knowing that he was not the Christ

John 3:22-30

“After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison).

Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Living into the reality that we are limited (aka not the Christ) leads to more…..

  • Testifying about the True Christ (v26)

John 1:6-8

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. “

(see also John 1:19-24)

How much of myministry is hampered because I’m too busy trying to be Jesus instead of bearing witness to him?

  • Lack of Competition (v26-28)

How does my heart react when I hear that more people are coming to Jesus at another church/youth group than mine?

What would it be like to pray for the success of other ministries/ sister churches in town? To be grateful for the kingdom of God expanding regardless of whether or not I had a hand in bringing it about?

Joy (v29)

1 Corinthians 3:5-11

“ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

Do I act like more of an owner or steward of the ministry?

Decreased Self (v29)

2 Corinthians 2:14-15

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing”

What does my ministry smell like? Does it have the aroma of Christ or me?

Look to Christ when we fail in these ways….

We refuse our human limitations and grasp at godlikeness--- The result is death.

But Christ willingly took on human limitations and did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped at, though he was in very nature God----The result is life. (Philipians 2)

“Because Christ didn’t grasp onto equality with God, we can take hold of God and not become LIKE him, but be WITH him…

Flourishing without transcendence, contentment and dependence together….

After the fall we feel our limits as pressure---released through attempted transcendence. But in Christ, the pressure is released through dependence [on him].”-“The Freedom of Limitation” by Andy Patton at English L’Abri

Heart-forming, habit changing HELPS

Sabbath

“The Exodus command, with it’s call to imitation, plays in a hidden irony: we mimic God in order to remember we’re not God. In fact, that is a good definition of Sabbath: imitating God so that we stop trying to be God. We mirror divine behavior only to freshly discover our hu,man limitations. Sabbath-keeping involves a recognition of our own werakenss and smallness, that we are made from dust, that we hold our treasure in clay jars, that wihout proper care we break.

This is not true of God. Hwe neither sleeps nor slumbers. He runs no risk of breakdown, bnurnout, exhaustion, injury. God doesnet need Sabbath or sabbatical. He doesn’t pine for vacation. He doesn’t require a good nights sleep to clear his head otr steady his hand. He odoenst run ragged and run amok, pushing himself beyond his limits, patching hiselfd together between bursts of striving and binges of workaholism. God is not waiting for the weekened.

God is complete without rest.

But not us. For us, rest is indispensible. Indeed all things not God, all things made by god—goats and oaks, scarab beetles and opine needles, dragon lizards and dragon flies --- need rest.

And maybe especially us.Because unlike goats and beetles and flies and lizards, we try to outwit and outrun our limits. We think we’re the expection, the one for whom busyness will translate into fruitfulness. We think because we’ve figured out a way to build impossibly tall, lithe buildings and dig immensely deep, broad holes, to spy on babies in the womb, to tease out strands of DNA, to send whole computer files from New York ot Nairobi in a split second--- we think because our industry and ingenuity seem boundless, we can also figure a way around our God-imposed need for stillness. We can’t. The need is not conjured away by medication, technology, discipline, cleverness, sheer willfulness. It always comes back to take its due.

So God, knowing both our need and our folly, took the lead. He set the example. Like a parent who coaxes a toddler to lie down fro an afternoon nap by lying down beside her, God woos us into rest by resting. ‘For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.’”

-The Rest of God by Mark Buchanon p87-88

“Indeed, the worst hallucination busyness conjures is the conviction that I am God. All depends on me. How will the right things happen at the right time if I’m not pushing and pulling and watching and worrying? …Unless we trust God’s sovereignty, we wont dare risk Sabbath.”

-The Rest of God by Mark Buchanonp61-62)

Prayer/Solitude

“Many assumed that the spiritual person is unruffled by life, unfazed by pressure. This idea that the spiritual person floats above life comes from the ancient world and, in particular, the Greek mind—although we see it strongly in the Eastern mind as well.

But even a cursory glance at Jesus’ life reveals a busy life…He loves people and has the power to help, so he has one interruption after another. If Jesus lived today, his cell phone would be ringing constantly.

The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy.

Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart…”

-Paul Miller, A Praying Life (p25)

Resources

  • Diagnostic question: How are you tired? /What type of limit are you running up against?

-physically? (i.e. illness, age, young kids up at night)

-spiritually? (i.e. burned out, not wanting to pray/read scripture, difficult trial, debilitating doubt)

-relationally? (i.e. lonely, too much extrovert time, adjusting to a new city/church)

-mentally? (i.e. swamped with curriculum writing, overwhelmed with to do list)

-emotionally? (i.e. anger, depression, apathy)

  • Sensing Jesus/ The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine
  • The Rest of God by Mark Buchanon
  • A Praying Life by Paul Miller
  • “The Freedom of Limitation” by Andy Patton at English L’Abri
  • You are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K.A. Smith
  • The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Tim Keller

[1]Categories and questions from Sensing Jesusby Zack Eswine, p55-56