Same-name meetups are a thing now, thanks to Facebook and Instagram.\u00a0 Take the Josh Fight, for example, a charity fundraiser where dozens of \u201cJosh\u201des brawl with pool noodles for the right to be called \u201cJosh\u201d.\u00a0 Recently, 256 people named \u201cMilica Jovanovic\u201d gathered together at a mall in Belgrade to set a new record for the largest gathering of people with the same name.\u00a0 The previous record was set in 2022 by 178 people named \u201cHirokazu Tanaka\u201d in Tokyo. <\/p>\n
Another same-name meetup occurred at a UK pub recently when 433 Nigels got together to \u201ccelebrate Nigelness\u201d.\u00a0 The name is endangered; no one in the UK named their baby Nigel in 2020.<\/p>\n
Like the diminishing Nigels, gospel-centered pastors also seem to be an endangered species; fewer and fewer brothers are taking up the mantel or sticking it out.\u00a0 Those who remain often feel beleaguered by hostile forces:\u00a0 a media that brands them fools in every movie and sitcom; disappointed church members who want savvier chaplains to serve up the message according to their preferences.\u00a0 Between external pressure and internal woes, is it any wonder that many pastors feel like nobody?\u00a0<\/p>\n
In this post and the next, I want to zoom in on the nobody struggles that many pastors have, expanding on what I wrote in \u201cGod Loves Nobodies,\u201d specifically the chapters entitled \u201cproductive somebodies\u201d and \u201cthe Resurrection Gets Personal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
What a glorious moment Jesus\u2019 baptism must have been!\u00a0 God the Father proclaims to him and all the people around him:\u00a0 \u201cThis is my boy!\u00a0 I love him!\u00a0 I am well-pleased with him!\u201d\u00a0 God the Father affirms his love and Jesus\u2019 identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then Mark tells us that \u201cat once\u201d the Spirit led him out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.\u00a0 Jesus goes from the highlight of his life to his greatest struggle so far within hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Satan\u2019s no idiot.\u00a0 God decided that it was important to affirm Jesus\u2019 identity; so, Satan immediately targets what?\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 identity.\u00a0 Matthew 4:3, \u201cIf you really are the son of God\u2026\u201d Verse 6, \u201cIf you really are the son of God\u2026\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGod thinks you\u2019re something special, but how do you know for sure unless you do something great<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p><\/a>Photo by Ben White<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/div>\n My very first call into the public ministry was to an old country congregation with tombstones dating back to the Civil War.\u00a0 I grew up in the suburbs, and now I was thrust into area where it seemed every second person was missing a digit from some sort of farm accident.\u00a0 My neighbor across the street said \u201chi\u201d to me one afternoon.\u00a0 I asked him what he was up to.\u00a0 He waved a little plastic baggy in my direction; \u201ccut my finger off choppin\u2019 wood.\u00a0 Going to the hospital to get \u2018er sewed back on\u201d\u2026like he was going to get his hair cut or pick up some milk for supper.\u00a0<\/p>\n In that little country congregation, the old timers would call me \u201cReverend\u201d in the gruff way that they spoke to everyone \u2013 \u201cRev\u2019r\u2019nd\u201d!\u00a0 I was only 25 years old; the ink from my Seminary diploma was still wet, and I was being called \u201cReverend,\u201d that is, \u201cone who is revered.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think it was this old country title for pastors that got me off on the wrong foot in public gospel ministry; but it was my natural, sinful desire to be revered<\/em>, accomplished, known, respected above others\u2014In short, my sinful desire to be somebody.\u00a0<\/p>\n Satan knows my weak spot.\u00a0 He knows that, by nature, I am not secure in my Christian identity, not confident in God\u2019s baptismal promise, \u201cyou are my son whom I love; with you I am well-pleased!\u201d\u00a0 I am not well-pleased with me, so I assume God and others must not be well-pleased, either\u2026not unless I accomplish something magnificent or say something interesting, funny, or profound.\u00a0 Therefore, Satan\u2019s most powerful attacks are directed at my identity in Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maybe you can identify.\u00a0 He tempts you to authenticate your right to be God’s Son or to be loved by people by doing x<\/em>.\u00a0 For example, X <\/em>is\u2026<\/p>\n Preaching a good sermon so that people offer identity-affirming comments.\u00a0 \u201cGreat job, pastor! You really gave it to \u2018em!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Telling people that a sermon or Bible study was not good because you are fishing for their affirmation that it was fabulous.\u00a0<\/p>\n Writing articles or seeking positions so you can be somebody in the denomination, accepted by the brothers and sisters, somebody whose name people breathe with reverence when they see it on blog posts and promotional videos.<\/p>\n Saying something funny that cuts someone down so that other pastors think, \u201cThat guy\u2019s a hoot!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Ignoring the needs of your spouse so you can woo other people you want to like you, trust you, and support you.\u00a0 After all, she has to keep liking you; God says so.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why is all this so wrong?\u00a0 Consider this quote:\u00a0 \u201cThat man is an enemy to his Redeemer who on the strength of the good works he performs, desires to be loved by the Church, rather than by Him. Indeed, a servant is guilty of adulterous thought, if he craves to please the eyes of the bride when the bridegroom sends gifts to her by him.\u201d\u00a0 OUCH!\u00a0 Imagine if you had caught your best man flirting with or, worse yet, kissing your fianc\u00e9e minutes before the wedding.\u00a0 How blasphemous when the groomsman woos Christ\u2019s bride for himself\u2026worse yet, he does it not even for love of the bride, but for the love of himself, to prove that he is somebody.\u00a0 It\u2019s no minor misdemeanor that we would use gospel ministry to juice up our wounded sense of self.<\/p>\n When you don\u2019t appreciate who you are as a beloved child of God, you will use ministry to fill yourself up instead of filling others up with your ministry!\u00a0 And that leaves a bloody trail of collateral damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n The longer you use ministry to fill yourself up\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026the more your lovely bride sees gospel ministry as a threat and as a mistress far more interesting and sexier than she could ever be.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026the more your precious children question their own value before God, since you are the hands, feet, and voice of the Father to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026the more depressing Mondays become.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026the more easily you are hurt by those who criticize you and annoyed by those who don\u2019t agree with you.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026the more that you fret over previous conversations and pre-fret over future ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026the more your heart is dragged back into the icy tyranny of the law.<\/p>\n \u2026the less you rest as you obsess over proving that you are valuable and acceptable.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026the less you return to the gospel for you own comfort, terrified that God won\u2019t know you and still love you; you avoid the precious gospel you preach to others.\u00a0<\/p>\n I am thoroughly crushed by my pitiful attempts to achieve pastoral somebody status.\u00a0 What a wretched man I am; who will rescue me from this body of death?\u00a0 Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ!\u00a0<\/p>\n Next: Part 2 – Healthy Identity<\/em><\/p>\nIdentity Temptations<\/h2>\n
Collateral Damage<\/h2>\n