As leaders in ministry, we have been created and called by God to a particular vocation, something that will bring glory to God and bless our fellow man. Work is an essential part of our humanity, something God intended us to do from the very beginning. Unfortunately, there is a myth floating around out there which claims that work is just a necessary evil, a punishment for the original sin of Adam and Eve and that heaven will be one long vacation. But that’s not at all what Scripture teaches. Genesis reveals that God is a working God:
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing ... (Genesis 2:2, NIV)
A few verses later, we learn that one of the ways we reflect God’s image is in our capacity and our desire to be working, productive creatures.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (Genesis 2:15, NIV)
Work has the capacity to provide us with a great deal of satisfaction as we fulfill God’s purposes in our lives. Few things give the leader a greater sense of achievement and gratification than productive work: accomplishing meaningful goals and impacting the Kingdom. However, because we are fallen creatures, work can also become a source of great anxiety, consuming a great deal of our time, and leaving us feeling exhausted and empty. This can be especially true in ministry leadership because the job is never finished. There will always be one more soul to evangelize, one more person to care for and serve, one more leadership decision required to keep the ministry moving forward. If one stays on this path long enough, the inevitable destination will be resentment and burnout. The possibility of finishing well in our ministry becomes remote the greater this burden becomes.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)
It can become all too easy to confuse the yoke of ministry with the yoke of Jesus. Taking up the yoke of Jesus is not the same thing as taking up the yoke of ministry. When we confuse the two, we’re asking our vocation to do something it was not designed to do: provide us with rest. Essentially, we are making an idol of our vocation, and idols will not provide us with anything, certainly not rest. Only Jesus can do that, and that is why he specifically tells us to take up his yoke, not the yoke of ministry. If we’re going to remain in leadership for the long haul, we must learn to differentiate between our call to vocation and our call to the yoke of Jesus. The yoke of Jesus is intended to be a place of rest and restoration. In this place, we can unburden our weary souls and find the nourishment that only he can provide.
To work wisely involves keeping our work for the Lord in perspective. Our vocation is simply a means to an end – how we participate in Kingdom work and the fulfillment of God’s purposes. As most workers in ministry will attest, it is a great privilege to be given this responsibility. It is our relationship with Jesus, where we cultivate a deep and abiding trust in Him and His goodness, that will free us from making an idol of our work and experiencing all the anxiety that comes with it. Instead, take Jesus at His Word, and find the rest that only He can provide.
Ask yourself this:
What is your present experience of leadership?
Have you maintained a healthy distinction between your call to ministry and your call to take up the yoke of Jesus? Why or why not?
What sort of impact is this making on your sense of well-being, your relationships, and your ability to stay in ministry for the long haul?
The results are in, and we have so many amazing ways to share with you how God has used the entire ILI Global family including all the leaders and alumni to make an impact on the spread of the Gospel in 2022.