The perils of pride in leadership

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you can to believe - as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

1 Corinthians 3:5

The greatest temptation of a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to rob our Lord of his glory. We do that in many and subtle ways. Our thirst for applause, recognition and status are powerful motivations that we never fully over come this side of heaven.  Our foolish pride is greatest limiting factor to the success of our work for the Lord, and needs to be repented of daily. 

Who are we as ministers? Firstly and fundamentally, we are redeemed sinners, no better than any one else, and just as desperately needing God's grace as our fellow human. As Dr. Timothy Keller often says, the cross of Christ tells us we are more sinful than we imagine, but more loved than we ever dared to dream. That in itself should check our pride. 

Secondly, as Paul says in the above text, we are only servants. The work we do is God's work, as he has assigned it to us. He is the author of faith, and therefore of any success we might see in our ministry. How can we boast in it? How can we look at other ministers with envy when they have greater success ? How can we focus so much on the numbers in our churches? How is it that we take pride in our status as ministers? How is it that we desperately need to be noticed? God forgive us for our stupid, stubborn and sinful pride!

It is enough that we belong to Christ. And it is a great privilege and joy to be his servant in ministry. May the Holy Spirit work in us and help us to fight pride in our lives, so that we may rather be servants of humble child-like trust, who live for God's glory alone.