I was reminded earlier this week of how easy it is to get diverted from the central task of pastoral ministry. Momentarily, that’s what happened to me.
Let me explain what took place. On Monday morning my wife Nola and I spent time talking about her developing ministry in our local church in Wyndham and within our denomination. At one point we were discussing her responsibility in the Women’s sub-committee of the wider church. As we grappled for a clear focus for this committee we came up with the idea that one of its main tasks was to promote a complementarian view of biblical womanhood (the view that women were created by God to serve as the complementary helpers of men). Our denomination is one of the few in our country that holds to this position and consequently it has a big educational and apologetic task in regard to it.
Before we knew it, Nola and I found ourselves thinking of the total task of the committee in terms of defending and promoting complementarian womanhood. When we stopped and thought about it, however, both of us felt uncomfortable. As valuable as the cause might be, it didn’t seem right to define the mission of a sub-committee in this way.
It only took a moment to realize the cause of our unease. It came down to this: Where was Jesus Christ in this view of things? Where was the gospel? Instantly we realized that we were focusing on something secondary to the gospel rather than on the gospel itself. A valid application of the gospel had in fact displaced it, and especially the Lord Jesus himself, from centre stage. We realized that we were in danger of becoming crusaders for a cause rather than faithful followers of the Lord.
Of course, in thinking about complementary womanhood we did have the glory of God and the honour of Christ in view. The reason we stand for that position is our conviction that it represents the way God made men and women to relate to each other. Consequently, promoting and defending it was easy to justify theologically.
But the point remains that we could easily have done that without any immediate reference to Jesus and to the gospel. We might well have relied on him to help us in our work, but that wouldn’t be the same as doing it as an expression of our new life in him. And that is what the gospel is about – being “in Christ,” and “growing up into Christ,” and having our lives “hidden in Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 4:15; Colossians 3:3). The fact is that as Christians we are not our own; instead, we belong to the one who bought us with his blood (1 Corinthians 6:19f.; Acts 20:28). The whole of our life has to be seen in terms of our relationship to the Lord Jesus through the gospel.
Seeking to promote a complementary view of womanhood still fits within this approach to life. Jesus did not come to do away with the order he established in creation but to redeem it. So it is possible to make this a specific concern as we live in him. Indeed, we should do so simply because it is what pleases him. Upholding this position is really part of being a disciple. A mission statement for the committee that reflects this might read: “Our committee exists to glorify God and see women become fully devoted followers of Jesus by promoting a complementarian view of their relationship to men.” While that is hardly an adequate mission statement for the committee in terms of its total task it does illustrate how a specific concern flows out of a relationship with God in Christ rather than being an end in itself.
That, sadly, is what so easily happens in Christian ministry. Legitimate means become dominating ends. A group of church musicians, for example, can make “the development of high class instrumental and vocal music for worship” their goal. In itself this is a worthy ambition. But as an end in itself, it can become an idol. The Lord Jesus Christ can readily be forgotten or relegated to a subordinate, supporting role. All that matters is getting “the very best music for our Sunday worship services.” Such a pursuit is only safe when it is placed under Christ and considered as the outworking of our life in him. It can never be truly Christian until it seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus by having people know him and grow up into him. Otherwise it unwittingly becomes a diversion – a subtle, but very serious diversion from a life centred in Christ alone.