It’s 12 am and you are preparing a sermon for tomorrow. It’s 4pm and you are preparing for community group that will take place in your living room in a few hours. You have reached an impasse. You could take the easy route and give that nicely packaged sermon or group discussion that you have memorized. You could also take the easy path and deliver that spiel that you know sounds nice, but you know that it isn’t exactly what your community needs. Instead, you opt to put in the extra labor to speak the truth that needs to be communicated. Here, is where your theological convictions complicate your ministry.
Your convictions, whatever they may be, frustrate your plans for the perfect ministry experience. Whether it is your unique and scriptural view of the proper administration of the sacraments, your desire to see the Word preached faithfully, or it is your views on discipleship in the context of the church, your convictions will likely complicate the execution of your ministry. Your study time will take exponentially longer, your planning process will be more detailed, and your need for prayer the work of the holy spirit will be more fully realized. Yet, you realize that this extra work is what is required for the ministry to be effective.
I had to prepare for a sermon this past week for our Jr. High Ministry. The given curriculum, although well intentioned, was not going to cut it with our group. It would have been easy to just read the script and preach what was given— that would have made my ministry easy and uncomplicated, but it would have also made it unfruitful. Instead, my hand and my heart were forced to think critically about the sermon and overall programing because of my theological convictions. I had to understand that I needed the Holy Spirit to work and speak through the sermon to reach the hearts of the student being ministered to. It took more work, and many more hours, but at the end of it all, I felt that I had been faithful to the best of my ability.
Proper convictions are like the beliefs and wisdom of a seasoned commander during war time. Without general convictions like the sanctity of life, the commander could easily charge the enemy’s location in hopes of taking their position with great cost. Instead, proper convictions are like training and wisdom, which lead the war time commander to come up with a better, alternate plan. This commander doesn’t have his or her own interest at heart, but instead understands the greater mission — win the war, not just the battle.
In life, these theological convictions, firmly rooted in Scripture operate in the same way. They fix our focus on the greater mission of Jesus to proclaim his gospel of salvation to a hurting world. This mission must eclipse our view of our individual ministry. We must understand that there are no shortcuts to the kingdom of God, but that it is a hard fought battle. Without proper theological convictions, we are tempted to settle for an easy civilian life in the midst of a cosmic war. We are tempted to do what makes sense for short term success. With proper theological convictions, we are forced to focus on the greater mission at hand, and these convictions cause us to fight hard to win the greater war.
Sure, these convictions make our job harder as we realize that we cannot just do or say anything. However, these theological convictions make our ministries fruitful for they reorient are focus to our greater mission. It is this mission that we are called to, and it is this mission that we are empowered for by the Holy Spirit.
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