5. You stop viewing your ministry within the scope of God’s kingdom.
Your ministry becomes the means through which you fulfill your life plan, rather than a means by which God works out his redemptive plan.
6. Your definition of ministry success is focused on you.
Your goals are way too small if your idea of “arriving” as a pastor is a book deal and some conference speaking gigs.
7. Your identity becomes rooted in your ministry growth.
Your identity, of course, is really in Christ, and any growth in ministry should be a byproduct of your relationship with him, and ultimately from his sovereign grace.
So what should pastors do?
The solution Ortlund provides is to be content to inch along in ministry, serving your congregation one hospital visit, one prayer and one counseling session at a time. He saw this in his own father’s ministry:
“But what impresses me is my dad’s daily slogging, year after year, in the power of the Spirit, with no big-deal-ness as the payoff. This is the pastoral ministry that brings Jesus into the world today.”
Ironically, the kids that make it to D-1 or pro levels are the ones who slog through jump shot drills, free throws and sprints when no one is looking. Not the ones who practice the miracle shots from the edge of the driveway.
That said, don’t succumb to the eighth disastrous result of letting self-fulfillment drive your ministry: “You hope God will reward your daily slogging with a book deal and conference speaking gigs.”
