DANGEROUS CALLING, A SURVEY

Balance, what exactly does it mean? According to Webster’s dictionary, it means “the state of having your weight spread equally so that you do not fall; the ability to move or to remain in a position without losing control or falling; a state in which different things occur in equal or proper amounts or have an equal or proper amount of importance”. In view of these thoughts, perhaps it will be helpful to establish a definition of “balance” that has as its focus the realm of pastoral ministry: “Pastoral balance is the grace enabled and ongoing act of avoiding a devastating fall through giving appropriate attention to all the facets of a pastor’s life”.

Such is the challenge in each of our lives but perhaps in a more intense manner is this true of those in pastoral ministry. The unique calling or role of a pastor is such that it demands a sober understanding of the countless dangers that await Him. Though they take countless forms, a large majority of these dangers can be understood in a categorical fashion: 1) Shepherding Dangers, 2) Leadership Dangers and 3) Preaching Dangers. The following reflection will attempt to delineate some of the diamonds of truth mined from Paul Tripp’s excellent book, “Dangerous Calling” in hopes to apply them to these and all other areas of a pastor’s life. Perhaps in doing so, we will be able to identify, in some measure, what it might look like to pursue balance in a pastor’s life. Rather than ascribing the truths and principles to particular areas of a pastor’s life, we will simply consider them in chronological fashion, as found in the book, and trust the Lord to apply them to any applicable areas of life.

Principles for Balance

1. Refuse to allow your identity to become kidnapped by what you do rather than who and whose you are.

Such a subtle but dangerous temptation this is…yet, the subtlety does nothing to assuage the devastating effects of getting it wrong. Rather than developing and maintaining our own understanding of our identity through vertically saturated thoughts, we tend to build a pseudo identity through horizontally rooted perspectives. In Tripp’s own words, “Smack-dab in the middle of your internal conversation is what you tell yourself about your identity. Human beings are always assigning to themselves some kind of identity. There are only two places to look. Either you will be getting your identity vertically, from who you are in Christ, or you will be shopping for it horizontally in the situations, experiences, and relationships of your daily life. This is true of everyone, but I am convinced that getting one’s identity horizontally is a particular temptation for those in ministry[i]” One of the gross out-workings of this is that it robs us of the truth that as pastors, we are engaged in a personal relationship long before we are engaged in a professional routine. When we get this wrong, as pointed out so poignantly by Tripp, we insert ourselves “into a spiritual category that doesn’t exist. …we think we are someone we’re not. So we respond in ways that we shouldn’t, and we develop habits that are spiritually dangerous.”[ii]

2. War against the temptation of equating knowledge with maturity

Every pastor must realize that he is a mere class or two away from becoming a living, breathing, walking reservoir of biblical information. Unfortunately, that same man is a mere step away from buying into the dangerous delusion that thoroughly formulated theology is the same as thriving personal faith. Tripp reminds us that maturity, though it will typically be accompanied by knowledge, is far more than knowing stuff: “it must be said that maturity is not merely something you do with your mind (although that is an important element of spiritual maturity). No, maturity is about how you live your life. It is possible to be theologically astute and be very immature. It is possible to be biblically literate and be in need of significant spiritual growth.[iii]”

3. Make a habitual practice of gazing into the mirror of God’s word rather than mirrors of your own making.

The danger with mirrors of our own making is that we have a tendency to construct them in a way that exaggerates our goodness and diminished our badness. As a result, when we engage in any form of self-evaluation, it is never an experience of revelation but rather a solidifying of deception. We must not miss this point. As Tripp so painfully points out, “[This pastor] had become what all of us have the tendency in our sin to become—very skilled self-swindlers.[i] The dilemma in the life of a self-swindler is simply that he or she has been duped! What they see with their rose-colored eyes is grossly different than reality. Whether in the arena of family, the workplace, the neighborhood, or the church, the self-swindler walks about with a blindfold made of the threads of lies. Claiming to be rich, they are bankrupt, boasting of maturity, they are childish, relishing in their security, they walk the tightrope of calamity, and parading as one who is doing "good", they have for far too long been defining the direction of good by means of a broken compass. The only effective way for a pastor to see himself as he really is will be through the mirror of God’s word. Through it, we are able to see the deficiencies, the failures, the moral lapses, the dangerous habits and the sinful stains. However, it’s also through God’s Word that we discover abundant grace…grace upon grace!

4. Hold tightly to the belief that successful ministry must always be viewed as a reflection of God’s greatness rather than our own personal skill.

For those of us who have never tasted the sweetness of a visibly “successful” ministry, this principle is like salve to bruised hearts. This is so because the temptation for those in ministry leadership is to carry the full weight of so-called “success” on our shoulders. We strive to be good enough, polished enough, pleasing enough, attractive enough, and of course, the list endlessly continues. Yet, when the perceived success never seems to show up, discouragement quickly takes his place. It would seem that the reason for such discouragement is none other than the weed of pride that grows from a self-reliant heart. On the other hand, for those who have tasted the sweet water of ministry success and who are perhaps in the midst of such success even now, this principle may serve more as an indictment at first glance. It is, after all, quite humbling to realize that ministry success says far more about God and His greatness than it does about the pastor and his skill. Tripp says it this way; “God has the authority and power to use whatever instruments he chooses in whatever way he chooses to use them. The success of a ministry is always more a picture of who God is than a statement about who the people are that he is using for his purpose.[v]”

5. Ceaselessly pursue your own personal maturity more feverishly than you pursue the maturity of others.

Tripp has an uncanny way of speaking to some of the most prevalent issues in the pastor’s life. Not the least of these challenges is that of becoming so horizontally focused that we lose sight of the grave importance of our vertical relationship. Yes, we want to be horizontally effective in ministry and should earnestly desire for God to use us mightily in the lives of others. However, if our own souls, our own hearts and our own minds are starving, anemic and malnourished, it’s only a matter of time before we fall. It’ a dangerous game to play. In commenting on this, Tripp offers the following insight: “Maturity is a vertical thing that will have a wide variety of horizontal expressions. Maturity is about relationship to God that results in wise and humble living. Maturity of love for Christ expresses itself in love for others. Thankfulness for the grace of Christ expresses itself in grace to others. Gratitude for the patience and forgiveness of Christ enables you to be patient and forgiving toward others. It is your own daily experience of the rescue of the gospel that gives you a passion for people to experience the same rescue.”[vi]

6. Never lose sight of the reality that there is only one “head” in the church, and the rest is body…including the pastor!

How easy it is to lose sight of the fact that each and every pastor is a member of the body of Christ in just as much need of God’s grace, forgiveness and mercy as any other member. Yet, at least in the western church, we do a really poor job and maintaining this view. More often than not, we set the pastor up for failure before he even preaches his first sermon because we view him through the lens of a false reality. We mistakenly see the pastor as one who is above son, who has mastered every component of each of his sermons, who is in a different category than the rest of the body spiritually speaking. What’s worse, us pastors often go right along with the erroneous perspective and even fuel it through our own unhealthy practices. I love the way Tripp assesses this, “An intentional culture of pastoral separation and isolation is neither biblical nor spiritually healthy.”[vii] Unfortunately, because this is often the norm in the local church, pastors and their wives will at times go through months, years and even several different pastorates desperately in need of the ministry of the body of Christ but never getting it or even pursuing it. It’s a losing scenario and one that seems to have contributed much harm.

7. Don’t lose sight of the fact that ministry is war and much of that war is taking place on the battlefield of your own heart.

Circumstances and situations will always be ever-changing and challenging. However, the greatest single battle that each pastor will have to daily face is the battle for His heart. As Tripp accurately points out, it’s easy to become afflicted with the disease of “Gospel Amnesia”. Yet, this is precisely what we need…a daily rehearsal and recollection of the gospel to ourselves! We may excel at preaching it publicly but need to be busy and thoroughly committed to the task and ministry of preaching it privately to ourselves. Without doing so, we will at times consciously and at other times, subconsciously erect our own personal kingdoms of self and fail miserably at the goal of seeking the Kingdom of God. According to Tripp, when we fail to engage in this heart war through preaching the Gospel to ourselves, we, “…begin to seek from the situations, locations, and relationships of ministry what you have already been given in Christ. You begin to look to ministry for identity, security, hope, well-being, meaning, and purpose. These are things you will only ever find vertically. They are already yours in Christ. So you have to fight to give the gospel presence in your heart. Also, when you live out of the grace of the gospel, you quit fearing failure, you quit avoiding being known, and you quit hiding your struggles and your sin”.[viii]

8. Keep a careful watch for one of your greatest enemies…the “self-confident” you!

As the testimony of Scripture makes clear, God blesses each believer with gifts and abilities. He is actively engaged in the process of equipping us for the work of ministry and calls for Pastors, in some measure, to engage in the same ministry of equipping in the local church. Unfortunately, the challenge we each face, in view of this equipping, is to focus our attention so much on the gift that we forget the giver. This is particularly dangerous for the pastor. Consequently, when a pastor falls victim to this mismanaging of priorities, he is well on his way toward disaster. Believing himself to be more than capable, his self-confidence betrays an undercurrent of self-reliance and gospel forgetfulness. In Tripp’s perspective, this results in a pastor not grieving enough, praying enough, preparing enough, confessing enough and listening enough. (Page 106)

9. Learn to live in daily Awe of God!

The frailty of humanity is displayed in no clearer fashion than perhaps in our inability to maintain our Awe of God. Tripp compares our struggle to that of an artist who finds him or herself in a state of “visual lethargy” (115), no longer able to see…really see. On a far greater scale and with far greater consequences, the pastor is in great danger if he develops “spiritual lethargy”, no longer able to see…to really see the grandeur of God. Without such Awe…the pastor is relegated to a form of ministry motivated by something far less worthy than God’s glory. However, when that Awe is maintained, fought for and pursued, it becomes the fuel for our actions. It directs my words and thoughts, it becomes the thermostat of my actions…controlling their temperature. Listen to Tripp’s words, “Awe of God must dominate my ministry, because one of the central missional gifts of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to give people back their awe of God. A human being who is not living in a functional awe of God is a profoundly disadvantaged human being. He is off the rails, trying to propel the train of his life in a meadow, and he may not even know it. The spiritual danger here is that when awe of God is absent, it is quickly replaced by our awe of ourselves. If you are not living for God, the only alternative is to live for yourself. So a central ministry of the church must be to do anything it can to be used of God to turn people back to the one thing for which they were created: to live in a sturdy, joyful, faithful awe of God.”[ix]

10. Keep a careful account of your “fear tank”!

Fear is a common experience to man…we all fear something and most fear many things. When it comes to the Christian life and more specifically, when it comes to pastoral ministry, the temptation to fear man is significant. We want to please people, don’t want to upset people, we want to draw people in, not run people off, we want to be liked, not be disliked. The problem here is that certain things in life should cause us a greater measure of fear than others. For instance, we would do well to have a greater fear of displeasing our wives by missing our anniversary than our fear of letting the guys down on game night. This is, of course, a trite example but the point remains the same. Some matters in life deserve a greater measure of fear than others. Such is the case in the life of a pastor. Tripp’s words are insightful here; “Fear can make God look small and your circumstance loom large. Fear can make you seek from people what you will only get from the Lord. Fear can be the soil of your deepest questions and your biggest doubts. Your heart was wired to fear, because you were designed to have a life that is shaped by fear of God. But horizontal fear cannot be allowed to rule your heart, because if it does, it will destroy you and your ministry.”[x] So then, the principle is simply this...though we may never rid ourselves of the many fears that naturally develop in the heart of frail feeble people…we must be ever so diligent to make sure our tank has a greater amount of the “Fear of God” than fear of any other variety.

11. Be diligent to root up the weeds of mediocrity…especially as it relates to preparing and delivering sermons.

Mediocrity is the enemy of excellence but perhaps even more serious is the fact that it is the product of a heart soil that has failed to be tilled. In other words, when we fail to allow God’s Spirit and Word to do the ever-important work of tilling our hearts, we make ourselves prime candidates for the nasty weeds of mediocrity. The result is that many a Saturday is spent in fruitless and inadequate preparation and many Sundays are spent in heartless regurgitation. Tripp comments on this quite pointedly, “Preaching is more than the regurgitation of your favorite exegetical commentary, or a rather transparent recast of the sermons of your favorite preachers, or a reshaping of notes from one of your favorite seminary classes. It is bringing the transforming truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ from a passage that has been properly understood, cogently and practically applied, and delivered with the engaging tenderness and passion of a person who has been broken and restored by the very truths he stands up to communicate. You simply cannot do this without proper preparation, meditation, confession, and worship.”[xi] Perhaps the reason so little life change takes place in so many preaching environments is that so many preachers study sessions are filled with so little Godward dependence and Awe-motivated diligence.

12. Become an avid destroyer of the carnival mirrors of ministry and life.

Similar to the earlier principle that focused on the mirrors of our own making, carnival mirrors in function do essentially the same thing. Whereas a mirror of our own making will show us a reflection of ourselves just as we wish it to be, carnival mirrors show you a reflection of yourself that is simply exaggerated and inaccurate. As Tripp points out, the problem isn’t that you aren’t seeing a reflection of yourself in the carnival mirror, the problem is that it shows you an image of you with distortion. (pg 152) It just isn’t showing you a “true to life” image. Unfortunately, our greatest danger when it comes to carnival mirrors is not that they will exaggerate our “badness” but rather or “goodness”. The danger for ministry then becomes very real and can result in disaster. Consider Tripp’s words regarding this, “The reality and confession of personal spiritual weakness is not a grave danger to your ministry. God has chosen to build his church through the instrumentality of bent and broken tools. It is your delusions of strength that will get you in trouble and cause you to form a ministry that is less than Christ-centered and gospel-driven.[xii]

13. Never allow your ambassadorial position to be confused with kingship.

Dangerous is the drink of “self-glory”. In Tripp’s assessment, the praise of men is perhaps the strongest of intoxicants. (pg167) Yet, we do it…we run after, fight for, live for, die for, clamor for and strive for the praise of men. The end goal is of course always the same…we desire the thrill of drunkenness…we quite enjoy the experience of being drunk on our own glory. But take not of the dangers as laid out by Tripp; “It has the power to reduce you to shocking self-righteousness and inapproachability. It will make you someone who is hard to work with, and it will make it nearly impossible for those around you to help you see that you’ve become hard to work with. It will make you look down on people who are more like you than unlike you. It will cause you to surround yourself with people who too often say yes and too frequently are ready to agree. It will leave you spiritually unwise and morally unprotected. And all of this will happen without your notice because you will remain convinced that you are perfectly okay. When confronted, you will remind yourself of your glory. When questioned, you will defend your glory. You will deny your complicity in problems and your participation in failure. You’ll be far too skilled at assigning blame than shouldering blame. You’ll be better at controlling than you are at serving. You’ll resist work that you think is below you and take offense at those who would presume to tell you what to do. You’ll constantly confuse being an ambassador with being a king.”[xiii]

14. Be a person of private worship and not just a public persona.

The challenge is real…only 24 hours exist in a single day and many of those are taken before our eyes even see the first glimmer of light. Added to that is the responsibility of being a husband, a father, a son, a neighbor, a steward of one’s body, a needy person who requires food and drink, a pastor, shepherd, leader, teacher, student, and of course, the list goes on and on. Yet, in spite of all these responsibilities, if a man desires to be a balanced pastor, he will have to spend adequate time getting his balances calibrated in times of deep, intimate communion with the savior. To fail in this area is equally to agree to mass failure in all other areas. Don’t misunderstand, the failure will not come because a dutiful checklist is left incomplete, not because a religious exercise or foregone, but because a man’s heart, pastor or not, is in constant need of death. Tripp describes it this way, “Your private devotional life has the power to kill you like nothing else does. By “kill you,” I mean that it has the power to kill the “me-ism” that is inside you (and me) that will again and again cause you to be in the way of, rather than part of, whatever it is that God is doing at the moment. Private personal worship is an effective tool of grace in the hands of God to kill those things in you that must die in order that you be what you have been called to be and do what you have been appointed to do in your place of ministry.”[xiv]

15. Beware of the temptation of becoming a duplicitous man.

James had a few things to say about the two-headed man…a man who might, in fact, engage in the act of praying but who does so as one with two allegiances, two trusts, two hearts, and two heads. Such is the danger in pastoral ministry. With every word of grace, challenge and exhortation spoken to the listening ears of a congregation that has not first been spoken to our own hearts, we take part in the nasty business of creating a two-hearted man. Admittedly, it is rather difficult to know how transparent to be and how much to divulge and to whom you can open up with; however, this can never be an excuse for duplicity in a pastor’s life. The need to apply the truths we study, the messages we proclaim, the Gospel we champion and the challenges we deliver to our own hearts is a matter of significant importance. Listen to Tripp’s challenge, “Pastor, there is no congregation you need to preach to more than yourself. There is no more important place to exegete and expound grace than in your own heart. There is no more important place to teach what it means to apply that grace to the concrete situations, locations, and relationships than in your own life. There is no more important place to fear the harvest of duplicity than in your own heart. There is no place to be more concerned about functional religiously acceptable idolatry than in your own life. Ministry is a war for the gospel in your own heart. Grace enables you to be a good soldier. You and I cannot and must not allow ourselves to become comfortable with things that God says are wrong. You and I must not learn to make things work that simply aren’t working. You and I must not work to convince ourselves that our idols aren’t really idols. You and I cannot permit ourselves to live a ministry life that lacks consistency and integrity. You and I must understand that we have been called to battle for the gospel of Jesus Christ and that war begins in our hearts”.[xv]

Conclusion

So much more could be said about this book and about the need to strive to become a balanced pastor. Although the above principles have not been assigned to a particular area of pastoral ministry, it is my belief that these, and perhaps many other principles found in Tripp’s book and rooted in the Scripture, are the answer for a truly successful ministry in God’s eyes. Balancing the numerous roles and responsibilities in a pastor’s life is no doubt a great challenge; however, when the Kingdom and the King who embodies it is first in our lives, all other matters will have a much greater chance of being healthy. At the end of the day, God’s plan includes me….but I must never make the mistake of believing that it is “about me”!

In Tripp’s words, “Here is the bottom line: wherever you are in ministry, whatever your position is, no matter how many people look up to you, whatever influence your ministry has collected, and no matter how long and successful your ministry has been, your ministry will never be about you because it is about him. God will not abandon his kingdom for yours. He will not offer up his throne to you. He will not give to you the glory that is his due. His kingdom and his glory are the hope of your ministry and the church. And when I forget my place and quest in some way for God’s position, I place my ministry and the church that I have been called to serve in danger.[xvi]

Personal Note: I can’t begin to express how this book and the truths found within it have ministered to my heart. I found myself feeling as though a magnifying glass had been placed on all the small, barely noticeable, blemishes of my own heart over and over again. Yet, by God’s grace and as a result of a book that is thoroughly biblical, I also experienced over and over again the refreshing experience of God’s careful handed scalpel cutting away the stuff that for far too long I had allowed to fester in my heart. Praise God for His abounding love…a love that refuses to simply leave me alone…a love that pursues me and changes me…Praise God!

*For those reading this work with interest in the book on which it’s based, the following pages are being shared simply to introduce the book’s content. I encourage you to pick up your own copy and feast!

[i] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 22

[ii] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 23

[iii] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 25

[iv] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 33

[v] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 28

[vi] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).Page 64

[vii] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 70

[viii] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).Page 99

[ix] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).

[x] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 128

[xi] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 145

[xii] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 152

[xiii] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 167

[xiv] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012). Page 190

[xv] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).

[xvi] Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).Page 215