Marks of Success
Marks of Success
Like moths to flame, and bees to honey, so it is that multitudes of Western Christians are flocking today to those churches and ministries which they judge successful. I have spoken to such people who frankly admit (without any trace or hint of embarrassment!) that their choice of local church is entirely about it being successful...the fastest growing, the trendiest, most excellent etc etc.
But what exactly is success so far as Christianity is concerned? Is it a word that ever should be a part of our vocabulary? If so, precisely what should it in fact mean?
If by "success" you mean "fruitful", then in the light of John 15.16, you probably have at least half a leg to stand on.
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you."
No doubt we might argue forever over the nature of this Biblical fruitfulness. So, let me short-circuit the debate by anchoring it in history, because God's saving of the human race is always tied to people, places and times.
The great fruit-bearers (the successful) of the 16th century were those who recognised God's priority of reforming His Church and served that particular purpose. The great fruit-bearers of the 19th century were the missionaries who cooperated fully with the Lord's determination to finally press the Gospel through to "the remotest part of the earth".
You see, success for Christians is all about what God wants, not what we yearn and hanker after. So then, the great question is not, "What is success?" It is, "What is God's ultimate purpose for the world today?"
"That He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the time of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time." (Acts 3.20-21)
The great fruit-bearers of the 21st century will be those for whom every act of obedience and deed of faith is subsumed in the greatest task of making all things ready for Jesus to return to be this world's final, ultimate and absolute King of kings. The earth is already being lashed by the destructive gales of hell, and the creative storms of Heaven, competing violently for the souls of mankind. This conflict will intensify during the Tribulation, and then peak on the killing fields around Jerusalem immediately before "the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations" which have attacked God's city. (Zechariah 14.3)
"And the angel swung his sickle to the earth, and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles." (Revelation 14.19-20)
The false doctrine (of man or demons?) of a pre-Tribulation Rapture is currently tearing the spine out of Western Christianity, and filling the minds of leaders and people with hyper-heated fantasies of perpetual bliss and prosperity and success. ("When the going gets tough, then the tough get going"...out of here? Yeah...right!)
"These are the ones who come out of the great Tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the Throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the Throne shall spread His tabernacle over them" (Revelation 7.14-15)
