I have a knack for doing things well. I thank God for that. You’d think that makes me good at what I do, sometimes yes, sometimes no.
In his book “Brothers, we are (Still) not professionals,” John Piper defines the phenomenon of distracting Christian activity, stating, “The adjective “undistracting” means that the quality of an act must help, rather than hinder, the spiritual aims of the ministry.”
And I get the feeling that’s where many of us Christian ministers are, we do awesome things (or we think we do) in our speaking, writing, singing, leading, industry, but not always perfectly because, precisely, the last perfect man was (and is) God, namely – Jesus Christ. And we are not him, even when we have been called to follow him.
Yet if a typical fellow like me walked into a random megachurch one of these days, I would be urged to “be excellent” to demonstrate “a kingdom life” in the way I do what I do. The impulse is often right, we are meant to “let our light shine before men…so they can glorify our father in heaven” (Matt 5:16) – not us.
Yet most of the “go for excellence” talk across our Christian platforms today fails to account for the fact that sinful self-centeredness can fuel us into pursuing good works in a way that distracts from Jesus. You can do the best work in the most carnal way there’s ever been.
Let’s think through it this way, suppose I did my best to “write more and better for the Lord”. Supposing I started a writing club and eventually let no one in, if they were terrible writers for example, (even if they loved the Lord).
Suppose I regularly scheduled my writing practice in times that clashed with my Bible study commitments, and personal devotions, after all, I would be “pleasing God with my writing gift”. Well, I suppose the same Lord that told Isreal through Amos “away with the noise of your songs” (Amos 5:23) , would tell me “away with your cute paragraphs and writing clubs!”
Or let’s imagine you the musician, If you, focused on sharpening your voice, what if the best voice coach in town kept offering you subsidized voice classes in questionable spaces, Would you still go? even if it put your pursuit of holiness, and Christian testimony at risk? What would you choose?
Or maybe that’s a little extreme, let’s bring it home, what if fellow choir members never speak of you as “loving and gentle, friendly, convicting” despite your vocal skills, what if you are there on time for rehearsal, yet you wouldn’t know what to answer if the guitarist asked you, “what are you learning from the word lately? “
What if singing on the pulpit begins to actually feel empty especially when “no one compliments on Sunday”. (I am speaking to you Eddie too, when nobody comments a thing about your recent blog post)
There are so many things Christians can be, and should get good at doing, but what happens behind the veil matters more to God who “does not see as man sees..” (1 Sam 16:7)
Showmanship will always be the temptation of gifting. We therefore do well in our pursuit of good works not to get caught up with replacing the perishable with the imperishable, the created with the creator. By Paul’s Romans 1 implication, the glory of an immortal God must guard us from the tempting exchange of lesser created things. Our stewardship of skill, talent, gifting better always be God-centred, lest we run on empty.
In other words, the good works God prepared us in advance to do (Eph 2:10) only come after it’s been clarified that we are saved by “grace through faith alone and not by works..” (Eph 2:8). And we could argue from all other New Testament Epistles, (like 2 Peter 1:1-8) that the super-excellent realities of the new birth always come before the excellences of good works expected of the converted, partly as confirmation of their newness in Christ.
See, there is a kind of excellence that does not distract from Jesus. Go for it! Especially because the cross has already made going for it possible. (As long as you don’t substitute Jesus for the real thing)
So what is God’s worth in the things you care most about? Check again, you may realize Jesus is no longer anywhere near, even when you keep insisting he’s the one “I do everything for.”
