The easiest thing to do when seeing immaturity and weakness and failure in ourselves or in other people is to quit.
The hardest thing to do when seeing immaturity and weakness and failure in ourselves or in other people is to continue with Christ.
The hardest part about ministry is not the what or the how or the why. The hardest part about ministry is continuing on the trajectory of faith to the end.
I’ve heard John MacArthur numerous times say that the hardest part of sermon preparation is staying in the chair. He simply means that the hardest part about writing a sermon is keeping focused on the task and not being distracted. He’s right. And the principle applies to ministry and service in the church as well.
A few observations about enduring:
It’s not easy to endure. John Piper is right: the 21st century isn’t an easy time to be a Christian. But that’s not new. It’s never been easy to be a believer. It wasn’t easy for the Calvinists and Lutherans in the Reformation. It wasn’t easy for the Anabaptists (who were hated by Protestants and Catholics alike) during the Reformation either. Or how about a Christian in China or in the Soviet Union in the 20th century? Or a Christian in a Muslim country today? Or a Christian in Corinth or Thessalonica in the 1st century?
It’s not easy to endure. It’s never been easy to endure. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was written 250 years ago, but the words prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, are just as true today as they were then. Examples of those who were faithful to the Lord abound in Scripture (cf. Heb. 11, for one great illustration). Yet, there are examples aplenty of those who were not faithful as well — and these are for our example, so that we will take heed.
So when we feel the tug of not persevering in faithfulness, we must recognize there is nothing unusual about that pull — it is a common temptation. At that moment we are experiencing what believers everywhere have always felt — the desire to give up on that which they knew to be true.
The NT is filled with admonitions and encouragements to continue in the faith. How many times do the words “endure,” persevere,” “continue,” “keep on,” and “hold on” occur? How many more times does God use the present tense with an imperative to indicate that the believer is to continue on in this course of action indefinitely?
All of these instructions remind us again that the temptation will often be to lessen our vigilance against sin and diminish in our love for Christ and loosen our attachments to God’s people. But it is also a reminder that at those moments we need to hear the clear call of the Word of God — that God has designed us for continuance with Him and that call is not only for His glory, but it is also for our good.
Perseverance is not only a task that must be doggedly held onto, but it is a protection from God that should be delighted in and pursued with joy and satisfaction that what God has determined will be for our eternal benefit.
The admonitions to continue and endure must never be separated from the source of our endurance — Christ. It is possible to think of endurance simply as a grit-your-teeth determination. But Biblical endurance is not possible through self-will. Endurance is the manifestation of a life lived in dependence on Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul notes the weight of ministry and some of the hard aspects of leading a church that he and the Corinthian church underwent — particularly in relation to disciplining a wayward member of that church. Yet this ministry was also a joy as he reflected on God who is triumphant and used Paul and the Corinthians as a means of leading some who were spiritually dead to spiritual life.
And as he thought about seeing people reject the gospel, leading to death, and others accept that gospel, leading to life, the question seems to spontaneously spill out of him: “who is adequate for these things?” Who is competent to transform an unbeliever to a believer? Who is adequate to move someone from death to life, from darkness to light? The answer is self-evident: no one.
But note this: while the believer is not adequate in himself, the believer is not completely inadequate. Paul says, “our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant…” (2 Cor. 3:5-6). Before saying, “Well, all this ministry stuff is just too hard and people just keep failing and falling away, so I’m just going to disengage,” notice that Scripture says that while there is a hardship to ministry for which no one is adequate, yet Christ has made us adequate to do that which God has called us to do.
So the statement, “don’t give up,” needs also to be closely followed by the statement, “don’t give up by adhering closely to Christ and depending on Him as your source of strength and adequacy.
Ministry and service is hard. It always has been. And the temptation to quit is seemingly ever-present. Don’t quit. Not just because Scripture says, “don’t quit,” but because Christ really is an adequate source to strengthen you to continue in your service of Him.
Words of Grace 