Problems of Christian Leadership

John Stott

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780830871926
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Christian leaders face challenges. But God works with us and through us to accomplish his purposes. Available here for the first time in English is John Stott's practical wisdom for younger leaders. Speaking personally from his own experience, Stott addresses issues of discouragement, self-discipline, relationships and youth. Also includes reflections on John Stott's ministry from two of his former study assistants, Mark Labberton and Corey Widmer, plus excerpts of Stott's writing about ministry, leadership and service.

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The Problem of Discouragement

How to Persevere Under Pressure

The pressures on Christian leaders are intense and often unrelenting. Let’s think of some of them. There are our busyness and fatigue, with inadequate time for the family, not even for vacations. Then there are the responsibilities that recognized leaders have. If their ministry is criticized, they bear the brunt of the criticism, and they have the responsibility of making difficult decisions.

There are also the disappointments of the work. Promising potential leaders do not always live up to their promise. Some even fall away. Promising ministries begin to decline in numbers or in vision, and that is a great disappointment to the leader. In addition there are the personal temptations with which the devil attacks all leaders, and there is the loneliness that we experience at the top. We may have no peers in whom to confide.

All these problems can lead us into discouragement. In fact, discouragement is the greatest occupational hazard of a believer, as it can lead to loss of vision and enthusiasm. So the question is how to persevere under these pressures.

I’d like us to turn to 2 Corinthians 4, and I hope you won’t mind if I give a little Greek lesson. The first verse reads, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” And then verse 16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

Notice the phrase that is repeated in these two verses: ouk enkakoumen. That is the Greek phrase that comes in verse 1 and verse 16. Most modern English versions say, “We do not lose heart.” Another is “we refuse to become dispirited,” another is “nothing can bug us.” There is a similar expression that comes in chapter 5 to which I’d draw your attention: verse 6, “Therefore we are always confident,” and again verse 8, “We are confident, I say.” That means we are of good courage.

You may know these chapters well enough to know that in chapter 3 Paul unfolds the glory of the Christian ministry, but in chapter 4 he unfolds the problems of the Christian ministry. This is his argument: because of the glory of the ministry and in spite of its problems, ouk enkakoumen. We refuse to become discouraged.

Two Problems: The Veil and the Body

There are two questions before us: what problems tempted Paul to lose heart? And second, what solutions or antidotes did he find to them? There are two problems that caused discouragement in this chapter. The first is an external and objective problem in our listeners, and the second is an internal and subjective problem in ourselves.

The first he calls the veiling, which is kalyma. This is the veil that lies over the minds of un­believers, and it blinds them to the truth of the gospel. The second is soma, the body. That is our own body, its frailty, this fragile human vessel, which maintains the treasure of the gospel.

So the first problem is spiritual: it is the blindness of the people we preach to. The second is physical: it is our personal fragility and mortality. When you have a weak preacher and a blind congregation, you have a problem on your hands. These are the two problems, and I do not think there is anything that causes more discouragement than these.

Where is the veil? Look at 2 Corinthians 3:12. “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face.” In other words, the veil in the people’s minds is not our doing. On the contrary, we are very bold in our preaching and we set forth the truth plainly. Therefore the cause of this human blindness is diabolical; it affects both Jews and Gentiles. Look on to chapter 3 verse 14. In the middle of the verse, “for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read.” Again, verse 15, “Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.” So twice Paul says it for emphasis: the Jews have a veil over their minds and hearts. Then Paul goes on to say: so do the Gentiles. Chapter 4 verse 4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers.”

Now think with me, is this not one of our major problems? We make the gospel crystal clear, but people cannot grasp it. We spell it out so simply that we think even a child could under­stand it, but they don’t. We explain it, we argue it, we plead with people until we think they are bound to yield, but a veil lies over their minds. I doubt if there is anything more discouraging than that to the Christian worker. It can lead to great frustration. So (a) the first problem is the veil, which we’ll come back to in a minute when we think of the solutions to the problems, and (b) is the body.

Paul writes about the body in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18. Verse 7, “we have this treasure in jars of clay”—that is, as in an old-fashioned oil lamp, so in the Christian worker, there is a contrast between the treasure and its container. There’s no doubt that Paul is referring to our physical frailty in which we hold the gospel. Written all over the human body are the words “fragile: handle with care.” The immediate reference is to his persecution, which is clear from verses 8 and 9, but it refers to this weakness other contexts. In 1 Corinthians 2:3 he says, “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.” The weakness seems to be more psychological than physical: it was his natural nervousness when going to Corinth with the gospel. Then the third example in 2 Corinthians 12:7 where he referred to his “thorn in the flesh”: “To keep me from becoming conceited [because of these surpassingly great revelations], there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me . . . and [Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”

Paul goes on in verse 10 to refer to weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties, so it seems once again that this is a physical disability. It may have been a sickness or a disability of some kind. We can probably add frailties of our own to this list. You may have the shyness of an introvert, the liability to depression, or you may have headaches. All these are examples of the weakness of the human body. It is the weakness of the container, which holds the treasure of the gospel.

Here are two major problems that we cannot handle by ourselves. We cannot lift the veil, we cannot cure the blindness of unbelievers, and we cannot overcome the frailty of our own minds and bodies. Yet it is in spite of these apparently insuperable problems that Paul says ouk enkakoumen. We do not lose heart. How then can we overcome this discouragement when we are faced with these problems?

The Antidote to Discouragement

Let us turn secondly from the problems to the antidotes to discouragement. Rather, I think we should say “antidote” in the singular, for although there are two problems, there is only one solution: the power of God. Let’s look again at the veil and the body.

First, the veil. What do we do when people refuse to respond to the gospel? Well, you know what our temptation is. We are tempted to force them to do it. We are tempted to resort to emotional and psychological techniques to manipu­late people into believing, or to manipulate the gospel to make it easier to believe.

But although the temptation to some kind of manipulation is very strong when people don’t believe, Paul specifically renounces that temptation. 2 Corinthians 4:2, “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience.” You reject manipulation but on the contrary make the plain proclamation of the gospel.

Now read 2 Corinthians 4:4,6. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” I think these are very important verses for us to understand. In verse 6 Paul is referring back to Genesis 1:2-3. He likens the unregenerate heart to the primeval chaos, when everything was formless and empty and dark until God said, “Let there be light,” and light shone into the darkness. There is Paul’s picture of regeneration. This is what happened to him on the Damascus Road. The God who in Genesis said, “Let there be light,” has shone in our hearts. Thus regeneration is nothing less than a new creation of God, and it does not take place until God says, “Let there be light.”

Here we have two gods in conflict with each other. In verse 4 Satan is called “the god of this age”; in verse 6 Paul speaks of the God of creation. The god of this age blinds people’s eyes, their minds, while the God of creation shines into their hearts. There is a complete and absolute contrast between them. One god is blinding and the other is shining. What then can we hope to contribute to this conflict? Would it not be modest and wise perhaps to retire from the scene of conflict? Shall we not let these two gods fight it out?

But no, Paul’s conclusion is a different one. Look at verse 5, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” You see the battle between God and the devil concerns the light. The devil seeks to stop the light from shining, but if God is causing the light to shine, what is this light? It’s important to notice that it is the gospel. Look at the end of verse 4, “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God,” and the end of verse 6, “the knowledge of the glory of God.” So the gospel is the light. It is the means by which God overcomes the darkness and shines into people’s hearts.

So if the gospel is the light, we’d better preach the gospel. Far from being unnecessary, evangelism is absolutely indispensable. Preaching of the gospel is the God-appointed means by which the prince of darkness is overthrown and by which God shines into people’s hearts. So ouk enkakoumen. We ...