Fellow Pastors, Let Us Never Forget That God Does Not Need Us
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13
There is something hugely important in this verse that we often miss. It is the first verb: “He gave”. This verb means that Christ is the Giver while we are the recipients. The idea here is that Christ is the Sovereign Supplier of His Church. He initiates. He calls. He equips. He chooses. We are the recipients.
Brothers, those of you who are fellow pastors, we must always remember that God does not need us. Remember that when Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey the people cried out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38). Do you recall what the Pharisees—the “pastors” of their day—said to Jesus? “Teacher, rebuke your disciples” (v39). And what was Jesus’s response? “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (v40).
Brothers, God does not need us. To write it a different way: Not only does God not need us but He certainly does not need us.
Do we forget His absolute self-sufficiency? Psalm 50:12 says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.” Again, Romans 11:36 says, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” God does not need us. He does what He does in ways that are pleasing to Him. He does not need our permission. He does not need our expertise, wisdom, knowledge, gifts, opportunities, or connections.
Where did our gifts come from? Where did our knowledge come from? Where did our opportunity for seminary degrees come from? Where did our books come from? Where did our churches come from? Where did our opportunities come from? Where did our Bibles come from? Where did our conversion come from? Never forget that last question!
Who do we think we are to boast when we have any level of success in ministry? How often our prideful hearts forget what Jesus says in John 15:5b, “for apart from me you can do nothing.”
To address a potential elephant in the room: I am not writing this to anyone else but primarily myself. The primary “we” in this is me. I don’t expect—nor really desire—this to go viral. This is mainly an overflow for my own heart to be reminded that I must die to myself and take up my cross and follow Christ. And if it helps another pastor, praise the Lord.
Oh, how subtle is pride in the heart. How easily we look up from our pulpits to see more members and visitors gathering to hear the gospel and somehow twist that to think that they’ve come to hear us. We must mortify such wickedness! We are nothing. We ought to embrace what Nikolaus von Zinzendorf once said, “Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.” Even more so, read what was put in Scripture by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “[Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
Brothers, we are errand boys. We are ambassadors. We are no more useful to God than Balaam’s donkey. And without being too crass and using the other word for “donkey”—let us not make a fool of ourselves and elevate ourselves above the One we proclaim.
Our sheep don’t need us. They certainly don’t need us. They need Christ. Yes, Christ has indeed provided ordained men to shepherd the sheep (see 1 Peter 5:1-5). In that sense, they do need pastors because that is what Christ has ordained. But, could He not have put anyone in our position? Could He not have converted and sanctified anyone? Could He not have supplied the gifts to anyone? Who are we to think that He needs us?
Our people don’t need us. They need us to proclaim Him. We are mirrors. We are the moon that reflects the glory of the Son onto the world through preaching the Word and pursuing godliness. We are ambassadors who only have derived authority. “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:5).
Yes, our people ought to obey us and submit to us (Heb. 13:7). There is much to be said about the need for this in our local churches today! But, we ought not to think that they are submitting to us for our own sake but rather for Christ’s sake.
Let us be all for Christ! Let us be totally in submission to Him. Let us proclaim Him. Let us delight in Him. Let us follow Him. Let us never identify ourselves but by Him.