"I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave Me to do." -John 17:4
When we think of the quintessential teacher Jesus comes to the top of the list. His ability and masterful way of communicating truth to the masses is unparalleled. When we think of the faithful and true pastor, Jesus is the model. When He declared that His work was accomplished, He spoke mainly about the twelve He called to follow Him.
Jesus' prayer that John wrote down in his gospel, was said shortly before going to the cross. What intrigues me is Jesus' measure of success. In today's judeo-christian american culture, I find myself fighting the metrics we tend to use for success. Not measures of success we say out loud of course. But those measurements as pastors we all see and feel. Success many times is measured by twitter and Facebook followers, books published, article write ups, number of speaking gigs outside of regular Sunday morning, church attendance, and not as often but sometimes... salary.
Jesus had the followers (many thousands of followers!), but as soon as He had them, He spoke about hating family members and eating His flesh and drinking His blood. This, conceivably so, sent the crowds for the exits. We know that He didn't preach a message of hate towards people, the second of the greatest commandments is loving your "neighbor" as yourself. He also didn't condone cannibalism, but to take part in His gift of salvation (His body broken for us and the new covenant He established). To those that didn't seek the truth, they were repelled when their sensibilities were offended.
When you read Jesus' prayer in John 17, it's clear to see that His measure of success was being faithful to the twelve people God gave Him. Judas was lost that scripture might be fulfilled, known to be the "son of perdition" as his brothers in ministry would call him, but the other eleven believed. Not only did Jesus pray for the eleven, but He prayed for all those that would hear their message and believe. That's you and me! I find it encouraging and helpful to remember what Jesus considered success.
We see lots of models on what church could, should, and "has" to look like. The pressure and standards that we have set for ourselves, those that we see speaking at the conferences telling us the "how-to's", the head trips that we put ourselves through, we can relieve some of the unneeded stress of being successful by remembering the measure of success that Jesus focused on; to be faithful with those whom God has given us.
May we be faithful with what and with whom God has given us. The ministry is all for the glory of the Lord, as we serve at His good pleasure.
Let me know your thoughts.