I admit it. I am ambitious.
I have dreams of being successful, making a name for myself, being recognized as one who gets the job done. I picture myself as a great speaker whose statements are listened to, appreciated, and noted. I see myself as the pastor of a large church, respected by my fellow clergy, and loved by my congregation.
Right now, though, I’m an assistant pastor.
I don’t disparage my position. I recognize that I’m doing important work for the Kingdom and that the Lord has placed me here. Really, I’m content.
Still, these flashes of ambition hit. When they come, I’m sensitive. I concentrate on not letting anyone despise my youth. I work at being sure others recognize me as vital, indispensable, and important. I insist on the title “assistant pastor,” not “youth pastor.” I see my peers who have their own churches and wonder, “Why not me, Lord? I know I haven’t missed your will. Why am I still a member of a church staff and not the pastor of a congregation?”
Being ambitious, and an assistant pastor, can be frustrating.
Some of the frustration comes from carrying out policy but not setting it. Some comes from being locked into a niche and not exercising all of one’s abilities. But most of the frustration comes from a more negative source—comparison.
Comparison is coveting’s cousin. Comparison looks at a peer or an elder and says, “See, that’s where it’s at. Your position isn’t that important. What you’re doing is just training until you’re ready to handle something important, some real ministry.”
It is supported by the notion that the person at the top is the best.
Comparison accepts the world’s value system. Insidious in its effects, it causes us to take our eyes off Christ and put them on people and their ministries, thinking that this preoccupation will make us better ministers.
Comparison leaves us feeling that we’re not really making it. Dread rises. Will I ever be anyone? Then, rebellion clothes itself in ambition. The disguise is taken on to compensate for the assaults on our self-esteem.
It’s complicated by the need for loyalty. How can I be a good assistant and become recognized and make a name for myself and be a great speaker? There are some highly successful and visible assistants. For me, though, ego gets in the way, perverting my motives.
Although the answer is not simple, Scripture provides a solution. 1 Peter 5:5-7 deals with assistant pastoring in a special way:
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Leadership is inherently stressful, but there are problems peculiar to being number two. The three imperatives in this passage—submit to the elders, humble yourself, and cast your anxieties on the Lord—speak to the stresses of the position.
Anxiety
Approached naturally, the cares of being an assistant are hopelessly maddening. In addition to low visibility, low salary, and high frustrations, the assistant pastor realizes that his job depends very much on the good will (and continued tenure) of the pastor. The assistant gets the sense that his life is out of his control.
When these anxieties are cast upon the Lord, however, a wonderful liberation occurs. We have been called by the Lord and placed by him. He knows our cares. He gave them to us. They come with the call. The Lord can handle the occupational hazard of additional anxiety. In fact, the experience develops character.
Humility
We are to clothe ourselves with humility precisely because the Scriptures point out that God opposes the proud. Humility is to be the essential characteristic of our personality.
To be humble is not the same as being unambitious. In proper perspective, ambition can motivate us to become all God wants us to be. Ambition causes us to be dissatisfied with our present circumstances and pushes us toward more. Humility, then, allows us to take the servant’s role while performing those important tasks. It teaches us to be content, whatever our state, abased or abounding.
Humility causes us to lead our lives according to God’s timetable and not ours. Humbling under God’s mighty hand comes with the promise of lifting in due time. The sense that our lives are out of control must give way to the realization that they are controlled by God.
Submission
This is why it is necessary to be submissive to the elder/pastor. God has placed us in a specific ministry under a specific person to mold us. We can accept this shaping or remain unformed and unusable.
Scripture gives several examples of ministering teams with an elder and younger: Paul and Timothy, and Elijah and Elisha, to name two. Even later in life, after Timothy had been pastoring in Ephesus for some time, Paul’s advice was still appropriate. Younger men should be submissive even to pastors who are not as dynamic as Paul and don’t have Elijah’s miraculous ministry. Submission is not merited by men but commanded by God.
The work comes in application. When the tension mounts and resentment builds, it’s time to cast these anxieties upon the Lord. We need to concentrate on humility and submission when we feel the least like being humble and submissive. This discipline will produce the character God requires. The Scripture promises God gives “grace to the humble.”
