MOTIVATION FOR MINISTRY

Fear is a negative motivator. If we fear the consequences of disobedience we may chose to obey. We obey the speed limit out of fear of the consequences. The threat of punishment is the power behind all law. This was true of the Mosaic Law that the children of Israel were under. They knew that if they did not keep the law they would be disinherited and cut off from their people.

Fear of punishment is what keeps people from breaking the law. Romans thirteen speaks of how that government does not bear the sword in vain. In other words, government backs up its laws with punishment and by force. The motive is fear, not love. No one enjoys keeping a law they don't like. If you don't believe that just examine how you feel at tax time. When the fear of punishment is taken away, people become lawless. If we knew that we could speed without worrying about getting caught, the majority of us would speed. By itself, law has no power to control people. It has to be backed up with punishment.

We see this principle in Israel's history. Because God did not judge Israel immediately when they stopped keeping His law they were inclined to break it all the more. That is true today. When the fear of punishment is not before people, when they feel that punishment is not soon coming, they are encouraged in their heart to do evil. We only have to look at today's headlines to see that this is true. The power of the law is punishment and it does not lead to joy.

On the other hand we may do something out of love. The best example I can think of to illustrate this is that of a grandparent with a grandchild. The grandparent is motivated by love for the grandchild. No one is forcing to grandparent to do anything. He does things for his grandchild because he loves him.

Now out of these two examples, which motivation gives joy? Is anyone joyful about obeying laws that they don't like? I doubt it. The grandparent is joyful because he is motivated by love and not by obligation or fear. The keeper of the law is not joyful because he does it out of a sense of obligation. One is negative and the other is positive. So today as we examine our Christian life, maybe we can determine what motivates us to serve God and whether or not it's the proper motive.

First, I would like to make an observation. I have observed that Christians who serve out of fear have no joy. Go back with me if you will to the time of Christ. His main opponents were the "religious" people of his day, the Scribes and Pharisees. Christ told how they put a yoke of bondage on the people that neither themselves nor the people could live up to. It was grievous and burdensome. That is why Jesus said to them, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." They were laboring under the burden of man's law. No one could live up to God's standard as it was, yet they had added to that. And today I see people still laboring under law. Oh sure, they say that they are under grace but they still are under the bondage of the law---man's law.

In many churches it is taught that you are saved by grace alone through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and that is most certainly true. But then we find that works are subtlely added in. No one says that you are not saved, but we find a sort of class system developed. You're accepted by God through grace, but acceptance by man requires works. Our spirituality starts to be measured by external things instead of the attitude of the heart. Sound familiar? It should. That's the same way the Pharisees operated. Yet we forget how our Lord rebuked them for their hypocrisy. They had the outside all cleaned up but the inside was "full of dead men's bones" as the Lord put it.

Christians allow themselves to be put under a yoke of bondage that God never intended. Just like the Jews, they struggle to keep a long list of regulations and do's and don'ts. Of course the problem with living under legalism is that people have a knack for finding loopholes in the law. For example, the Jews had a set limit of how far they could travel on the Sabbath--you may have heard the expression, "a Sabbath days journey." Now if they had a friend they wanted to see on the Sabbath that lived farther away than the distance they could legally go on a "Sabbath days journey" they would just make as many short trips as needed to get to their destination. That way they could technically say that they did not break the Sabbath by traveling too far. They went the same distance but instead of calling it one journey, they stopped a couple times along the way and thus made two or three little journeys.

Today we have very similar thinking. Some try to serve God based on legalism. Some teach that you should never set foot in a movie theater. Now by and large that's a pretty good standard since 99% of movies today are trash. But a person who would never dare set foot in a theater will watch the same filth on his VCR or TV and think that it's okay. And then he will look down his nose at a person who watched the same thing at a theater. Just like the Pharisees, he's missed the whole point of the law. They end up keeping the letter of the law but not the spirit or intent of the law. They struggle under the watchful eye of "Gestapo Christians," always worried whether or not they "measure up." Then they wonder why they do not have any joy! We are saved by grace beloved! And we live by grace!

So many start out in grace and try to continue in the flesh. How futile! As Paul says in Galatians three three, "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" And the implied answer is "Of course not!" Now as then legalizers are trying to put a yoke of bondage on Christians.

Many have been taught that if they don't do "such and such" that God will get them. As a result they do not serve out of love for all that God has done for them, but rather, they labor based on the fear of punishment. That's why there is no joy. Serving out of fear not only gives no joy, it is not lasting and the few who do stick with it become just like the proud judgmental Pharisees and start judging others who don't live up to their standard of righteousness.

Legalism and external rules cannot effect lasting change because the heart has not been changed. That's the problem with external motivators like fear, once the motivator is gone behavior goes back to what it always was. Only motivation from the inside is lasting. And the only way to be motivated from the inside is through the Spirit of God. We do not serve based on the principle of law. Or at least we shouldn't.

Second Corinthians chapter three verse six reads, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; FOR THE LETTER KILLETH, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVETH LIFE." Now the context here shows us that Paul had been talking about how much better the Spirit is over the Law in making man holy. In verse three he says, "ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written NOT with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God; NOT IN TABLES OF STONE BUT IN FLESHLY TABLES OF THE HEART." He goes on to show how that the law was the ministration of death. It was Jesus Christ who brought life. And today I've observed that trying to keep the law brings death to our spiritual life. Sure we are saved but we have no joy. It is the Spirit that gives life. Serving God through the Spirit, following the law of God written in our heart is where we find true joy, not in trying to keep the legal requirements of the law.

So I go back to my original question. What is proper motivation? The proper motivation is love. It is God's love and grace that brings us to salvation. Second Corinthians five nineteen says that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. It is the same love and grace of God that enables us to live the Christian life. It is God's love and grace working through me that gives the power and ability to do His will.

Only love for God will enable us to stick with it as Christians. I have seen many ministers quit because they became bitter of people taking advantage of them. Many become resentful because they don't feel appreciated. Many talented men have quit the ministry because they were not properly motivated. We have to love the Lord! It is based on our relationship with Jesus, not our resources! All that we do must be based on our love for him. The Bible says that we love him because he first loved us. It was his love and grace that brought me to salvation and it is that same love and grace that enables me to live for Him. As one has said, "To know him is to love him and to love him is to serve him." Love should be our motivation for ministry.

Another area where motives get confused is in the area of separation. Our separation standards should not be based on a list of do's and don'ts. We should be separated based on love. Second Corinthians six three says "Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed." I love God and I do not want to do anything that would bring dishonor to His name. I love my fellow Christians and do not want to do anything that would cause them to stumble in their walk with God. I love the unsaved man and I don't want to do anything that would hinder my ability to tell him about the good news of Jesus Christ. Only love can properly motivate us in the area of separation. Any other motive turns us into legalistic holier-than-thou's that no one likes. Legalistic standards of separation lead to pride. We must not only be separated from the world, but also separated unto God.

Our work in the church should be energized by love. It is love that should motivate us to exercise our gifts in the body of Christ. We are to build each other up in the faith. In Ephesians chapter four Paul writes about how gifted people are placed into the body of Christ in order to edify and strengthen believers. That requires love. Any other motive is wrong and we know that our motives will be part of the criteria at the judgment seat of Christ.

In first Corinthians chapter thirteen Paul says that if we are not exercising our gifts based on love, it is useless. Love for Christ and love for others. Perhaps our problem in serving God with joy and gladness is that we love ourselves more than we love God and his people. Paul says that we are to esteem others better than ourselves. I know that goes against modern psychology. But then God's word always goes against the foolishness of man. God says that man is a sinner. Man says that he's okay. God says that salvation is through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ His Son. Man says that he can do it on his own. Perhaps you cannot serve God with joy because you do not have His Spirit within you. In Romans chapter eight Paul says that they who are in the flesh cannot please God. Only by His Spirit can we please Him. And the only way to receive the Spirit of God is by putting our complete trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation.

Copyright © 1998, Pastor David M. Havard of the Berean Bible Society.

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