The Balanced Life Of A Good Minister

Serving – October 2013 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Balanced Life Of A Good Minister

It is possible for a well-meaning, Christ-loving person to harm others through unbalanced ministry. Therefore it behooves believers to periodically review their ministries to ensure that a balanced biblical perspective is being maintained. There are many key areas to consider, but it suffices here to examine three: family life and ministry, permissible activities and ministry, and time and ministry priorities.

Balancing Family Life And Ministry
Service in any aspect of the Lord’s work will require a measure of personal sacrifice. However, Scripture does not endorse the breakdown of the family for the sake of Christian service. A man may choose not to take a wife in order to serve the Lord, but he is not to sacrifice his marriage in the Lord’s service (1 Cor. 7:27,33-34, 9:6). It is understood that unique situations will briefly demand more of one’s time, but believers are not to neglect their family obligations. The Lord instructed that husbands are to love their wives and provide for their families, that wives should be keepers of the home, and that parents should make every effort to rear godly children (Eph. 5:23; 1 Tim. 5:8; Ti. 2:4; Eph. 6:1).

Wayward children and broken marriages are not a good testimony of Christ’s presence in the home. Such travesties cast doubt on the character of the Lord’s servants. Ironically, what was sacrificed without Biblical basis for the sake of ministry will often, in time, terminate it. Therefore things at home must be right before ministry outside can be pursued. For example, men are not to be considered for the offices of an elder or a deacon unless their households are in order (1 Tim. 3:1-12).

Another example can be found in the life of Moses prior to representing the LORD before Pharaoh. After some initial objections, Moses put his wife and two sons on a donkey and headed for Egypt. They did not travel far before the LORD appeared and threatened to kill Moses (Ex. 4:20-26). Why the sudden hostility against Moses? As a continuing sign of God’s covenant with Abraham his male descendants were to be circumcised. Moses had apparently obeyed this command with his first son Gershom but not with Eliezer. He had become complacent about obeying God’s command of circumcision – likely to avoid an altercation with his wife Zipporah who as a Midianite opposed the rite. To save the life of her incapacitated husband, Zipporah was forced to circumcise her son. It was necessary for the LORD to confront this issue before Moses returned to Egypt as God’s servant. As the head of the home Moses was responsible to God for his family; and until things were right with God in his own household there could be no God-honoring ministry outside the home.

The family is not to be neglected. Rather, it is to be the base from which ministry proceeds. Here are some practical ideas to strengthen your marriage and enrich the lives of your children:

• Set aside time daily for uninterrupted two-way communication with your spouse. Share thoughts from your personal quiet times and from the books you are each reading. Allow your wife to vocalize her thoughts as this will help bring clarity to any muddled feelings that she might have.
• Plan a time daily to pray with your spouse. Busyness often keeps couples from sharing their burdens with each other. But as couples speak to the Lord they also learn what is on the other’s heart.
• Go to bed together. End the day in a mutually profitable way, but not by working out problems.
• Be co-laborers in ministry. Wives assisted their deacon husbands (1 Tim. 3:11) and together Aquila and Priscilla used their home to disciple God’s people (Acts 18:26). Engage the entire family in ministry when possible.
• Enjoy the same activities together. Through marriage the man and woman became “one flesh,” which is a singular noun (Gen. 2:23). Two individuals thinking as one is challenging; but it should be unusual to do things apart.
• Protect each other from too much ministry. For example, a wife may be overwhelmed by too much hospitality. On the other hand D. L. Moody’s wife Emma often turned visitors away from their home to ensure her husband had private time for study and prayer.
• Have daily family devotions in which all can participate. After mealtime is good time to read Scripture, a devotional, a biography, or other edifying literature. If you have young children, however, don’t make this session too long.
• As a goal try to spend a few minutes of quality time daily with each of your children privately, and occasionally take them out of the home for some “dad and me time.”

Balancing Permissible Activities And Ministry
Worldliness is a system of thinking which is in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ. Although worldliness is to be avoided, believers do live in the world and may participate in activities that are not strictly worldly. But how does one determine what is the right balance between serving the Lord and engaging in things which may not directly benefit the kingdom of God?

In the final days of his life, Paul, having run his race and finished his course, sought to inspire Timothy to follow his example. Paul reminded him, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Tim. 2:4 NKJV). Soldiers of the Cross are to remain on active duty and not be entangled with the cares of this world. The Greek word translated “entangles” is empleko, meaning: “to be entwined with.” While the verb tense indicates an ongoing activity, its voice is passive, which means the affairs of life are acting upon the soldier. In other words, the soldier is not the one pursuing worldly activities but they are pursuing the soldier with the intent of incapacitating him. An alert soldier thus defends himself against such predicaments.

Often what we engage in seems harmless initially, but in time it masters us. So while some activities may be permissible, they may not be worth the risk. Paul relates a number of good principles for working out questionable matters of behavior from which we ask:

• Will this activity stumble a weaker brother in the Lord? (Rom. 14:13,21; 1 Cor. 8:9).
• Do I have perfect faith that this activity is all right to do? (Rom. 14:22-23).
• Will this activity unrighteously cause a lack of peace? (Rom. 14:19a).
• Will this activity promote the spiritual growth of other believers? (Rom. 14:19b).
• Could this activity become habit-forming? (1 Cor. 6:12)
• Could this activity hinder an unbeliever from receiving the gospel? (1 Cor. 9:12, 10:33).
• Will this activity bring glory to God and promote my own spiritual growth? (1 Cor. 10:31,23).

Believers are to use Scripture to determine what is holy and what is evil, and to discern between wise and foolish behavior.

Balancing Time And Ministry Priorities
One of the most difficult aspects of ministry is prioritizing where to expend our time and energy. If we want to do our best for the Lord, we must be willing to put aside what is merely good or permissible. The following are practical considerations for managing our time more effectively:

• Sacrifice those things that rob your private time such as TV, sports and games.
• Prioritize your ministries and cut where you are the least effective and burdened.
• Ease into new ministries slowly and with time constraints. One may say, “I can commit only two hours a week to this activity.” God grows ministries as He grows people so allow Him to mature both.
• Learn to say “no.” Just because you can does not mean you should.
• Stick with your calling. There are many who can do much of what you do and better than you can.
• Minimize travel time by accomplishing as much communication as possible through electronic means and by doing as much as possible in one trip, saving travel time and resources.
• Do not waste time entertaining unresponsive individuals. New converts require special care (1 Th. 2:7-8), but Christ’s teachings are to be committed to faithful believers who will in turn teach others (2 Tim. 2:2). After a few months commit the despondent to the Lord while keeping an open door.
• Keep an organized filing system to quickly find past emails, letters, studies, spreadsheets, receipts and materials. When possible maintain an electronic log of already answered questions so that you don’t have to start from scratch again to answer the same question.
• If you are a teacher, double-up studies in the same week with the same teaching material. This reduces preparation time. Be sure to develop and save teaching materials with answers so future preparation time will be reduced.
• Minimize social networking, unnecessary phone calls and serial text messages – these can waste a lot of time. A brief email or text message will often accomplish what is needed. If not, try a focused phone call.

Reading Scripture and knowing sound doctrine does not ensure that a believer will be a good minister of Jesus Christ. Paul tells his spiritual son Titus that sound doctrine is not merely learned, but it must be lived out (Ti. 2:1). To his spiritual son Timothy, Paul implores, “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed” (1 Tim. 4:6). A good minister is someone who not only knows sound doctrine but also lives it out so that others may learn of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we know and what we do are meaningless unless the character of the Lord Jesus is observable and His Word obeyed. To this end, may our lives and ministry both be well-balanced and Christ-honoring.

By Warren Henderson