Faithful, Not Successful
PH Bible Teaching
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Homefront Family Services, here is this week’s Bible teaching clip, “Faithful, Not Successful.” Many Christians are crushed under a burden God never asked them to carry. God did not call Gideon to guarantee victory. He called him to trust and obey. The same is true for your marriage, your children, your work, and your ministry. Faithfulness is your responsibility. The outcome belongs to God.
Check out the clip below, or view the full message below the transcript!
Audio version only…
Clip transcript…
We assume that our calling, when God calls us, we assume naturally that the calling is to produce a specific outcome, and so we measure ourselves by that:
o We are called to have a successful marriage.
o We are called to have children who turn out the right way.
o We are called, as believers, to have a ministry that grows and expands.
o We are called to have a career that prospers and is beneficial to those around.
We believe that when God calls us, we need to achieve a certain outcome. And if we don’t achieve that outcome, what have we done? We’ve failed.
So, when our marriage starts to struggle, when our children start to rebel, when our ministry stagnates, and it seems to be petering out, when our career is failing, when all of that is happening, we begin, ourselves, to feel as though we have failed. We have failed the people around us, and we have failed God. We measure our faithfulness by whether that outcome, whatever it is, whether that was achieved or not.
Friends, look at Gideon. That is … The outcome was not what God had called Gideon to accomplish. Look at the line (Judges 6:14), “Go in the strength of yours, you shall save Israel.” He’s already declaring what’s going to happen: “You shall save Israel. Have I not sent you?” You are going to save Israel, because I sent you. That’s how this ends. You aren’t responsible for the victory, I am.
What are you responsible for, Gideon? Go. Trust Me. That’s your end of the bargain. I will deliver the victory.
The going was the responsibility of Gideon, not the victory. God handles the victory. The outcome always belongs to God. Gideon’s obedience was his part of the deal. Are we following this? Are we getting this?
This is the distinction that will remove from our souls the burden we aren’t meant to carry—that fear of failing people in our lives.
God did not call Gideon to win the battle—He assured him he would win—but He didn’t call him to win the battle. He called him to trust Him enough to enter the battle, and to trust that God would bring about the conclusion.
Friends, that’s you and I. You and I are called to obedience. We are called to faithfulness.
I spoke at a men’s event yesterday morning. This men’s event started at 7am on a Saturday. What in the world? But anyway, so after the thing was over—I don’t even remember what I said—but then, we’re all standing around talking afterwards, and I started to come to consciousness at that point, and Noah came up—you know, the guy with the boat. And I may have mentioned this to you before here, but I mentioned to the guys there: Noah preached for 100 years while he was building the ark. We do know that, right? He preached righteousness to the people of his generation for 100 years. How many converts did he get in 100 years? Zero.
Imagine preaching for 100 years and getting no convert— kind of like Jason. <laughter erupts> I mean, that would be … He’s not here this morning —bzzzt! Anyway. Joe, I’m counting on you sharing that with him, all right? Make sure he hears that. But yeah, good.
So, you preach for 100 years, you don’t think that you would start to feel a sense of failure? Nobody’s … But what did Noah realize? He was not going to be judged based on how many people he got to get on the boat, that wasn’t … he wasn’t called to an outcome, he was called to faithfulness and obedience. Noah realized that. Why is he in the hall of fame of faith? Because he obeyed, regardless of the outcome, he obeyed God.
Apply that, then, to our lives and the things that you and I are doing. God never asks you to control what your spouse does with your love. You can’t control it. They will respond how they will respond. What does He call you to? He calls you to love your spouse. Love your spouse more than yourself. Sacrifice for them, put their needs ahead of your own. That’s your job. The outcome is not in your hands, that’s your job.
He never calls you to guarantee that your children’s choices will always be right. He doesn’t call you to do that. What does he call you to do? Raise your kids the right way, ground them in the Word, teach them who I am, and to obey My ways. And ultimately, they will have to decide for themselves. You aren’t responsible for their choices; they are. You be faithful.
God never asked you to guarantee that your work is going to make millions of dollars and impress a bunch of people. Don’t feel that burden. What has God called you to do? Be honest in your dealings. Make proper priorities. Order your loves properly. Love God above your work. Love your family above your work, and then work hard for God’s glory. Do those things, and He’ll handle the outcome.
God never - this is one for me - God never calls you to build a ministry platform that edifies millions, and if you’re not edifying millions, feel failure that that didn’t happen. He never calls that. He calls you to preach faithfully to whoever is in front of you; that’s it. If that’s five people, if it’s 10 people, whoever it is, that’s what we’re called to do.
Well done!