Jared Wilson said the past few years “have taken the successful façade off of a lot of churches.”
It’s a reality that’s “bringing clarity to what we’re supposed to be doing,” said Wilson, assistant professor of pastoral ministry at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
But it has also brought a season of great trial for a lot of pastors, he said as he spoke at the Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference on Nov. 13 at Taylor Road Baptist Church in Montgomery.
“Pastors are feeling a kind of grief … a series of little deaths that tempt us to doubt God’s grace for us,” he said.
But sharing from 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 — which talks about how “this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” — Wilson challenged pastors to cling to God’s grace in the midst of tough times.
“What we have learned over a very difficult season is to have the vision Paul commands in this passage — God’s eternal faithfulness to us,” he said.
Wilson reminded pastors of three ways God’s grace sustains them in their life and ministry, especially when it’s tough.
1. God’s grace sustains us in life.
To tune your heart to how things are going temporarily is “a losing proposition,” Wilson said. “He might’ve disappointed you … thwarted your ideas or plans for you or your church … He might’ve hijacked your agenda and replaced it with His own, but He has never failed you. His grace is the one steady, unchanging current you can rely on.”
Focus on the reality that eternity is weighty enough to make the present situation look light by comparison, he said.
Viewing life through that lens gives followers of Christ “an entirely new perspective not just on the afterlife but in daily life,” he said. “We’re united to Jesus by faith … Heaven in effect comes to us while we live.”
2. God’s grace sustains us in suffering.
In 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, Paul puts the normalcy of suffering in the context of God’s grace, Wilson said. The Apostle Peter in his letters also treats hardship as normal for pastoral ministry.
“As we share in Christ’s sufferings, we become more like Him,” Wilson said. “This is a grace greater than if He took away our suffering or alleviated our pain.”
The greater grace “is not escaping suffering; it’s becoming more like Christ,” he said. “There’s something greater than comfort — it’s Christ. And Christ is everything.”
Followers of Christ have the hope that the mess here “will somehow get restored, redeemed, healed, and that every tear we cry is being stored up as a treasure awaiting us,” Wilson said.
3. God’s grace sustains us in death.
“God is gracious, and He will be gracious until the very end,” Wilson said. “We shouldn’t fear death because it’s just the reality of losing what we can’t keep anyway. Do you really want to keep this body?”
While pastors shouldn’t be afraid of death, they should be aware of it, Wilson said — they should live as though they aren’t promised tomorrow and keep pressing on until the finish line.
“Some of us will die young, some of us will die old, but precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all His saints,” Wilson said. “Don’t you want to finish well? … Let’s live today with the aim of persevering in faithfulness to the finish line of old age … with a gleam in our eye — ‘By Christ I finished it.’”
Because of God’s grace, pastors who persevere will hear “well done,” he said.
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