How Jesus Measures Success

Last week I saw an ad in our local newspaper announcing the start of a new church in our relatively small town.   I reacted with mixed feelings.  Since it was advertised as a Christ-centered church, I thought it would be interesting to see where they are coming from.  “Christ-centered” is certainly what a church ought to be.  But I also had this opposite feeling that perhaps could be described as a territorial defensiveness not unlike that which occurs in the business world.  I was thinking “Oh great, more competition.” Churches today exist in a competitive environment similar to the commercial marketplace.  In our pluralistic society, with hundreds of different churches competing to win souls, it becomes easy to get caught up in the marketplace methods.  Success is then measured mostly in numbers of people filling the pews and the number of programs a church offers.  But how did Jesus measure success?  Or did he look for “success” at all?

In Revelation 2-3, Jesus provides us with several criteria by which he measured a church -- love and faith and faithfulness, doctrinal and moral purity, zeal and commitment, endurance, holding fast to his name and overcoming -- these are the things Jesus commended or sought in a church that would bear his name.  The church in Philadelphia had only a “little power” (perhaps they were small and poor), but because they had kept his word and had not denied his name, Jesus blessed them with an open door (Rev 3.8).  On the other hand, the church in Sardis had “a name” for itself and so must have been highly-regarded in the local community or in the brotherhood, yet it was dead (Rev 3.1-6).  They were “successful”, but not in Jesus’ eyes.

There is yet another measure of “success” that we might not expect.  In fact, this one is just the opposite of what we usually think of.  It is persecution (and our response to it).  Since persecution is promised to all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus (2Tim 3.12; Acts 14.22; Jn 15.18-20), then if a church is not experiencing persecution at least at some level, one has to wonder if it is doing the right thing.  Paul said that the experience of persecution is a sign of salvation (Phil 1.28) and that we are considered worthy (1 Thes 1.5; cf.  Acts 5.41).  For the saints in each of the seven churches in Rev 2-3, Jesus promised a reward to those who “overcome”, indicating that this was highly important to Jesus.  So perhaps we ought to think more in terms of “victory” than “success”.  In fact, the word “success” never occurs in the NT, but the word “victory” does.  John said, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Let us be careful not to take on the language and mindset and methods of the world.  While we ought to always strive for excellence (Phil 4.8), thinking in terms of “success” may cause us to focus on “what works” as opposed to what is right.  We then begin to rely on our own fleshly power, our intelligence, our creativity, our organizational skills, our business sense, etc., to succeed – rather than on the simplicity of faith to be victorious.

© 2006  Randy Hohf