Competition in the Church

Competition in the Church is simply a reflection of the competitive nature of today's society. Some might argue that that's a good thing, and that it challenges people to do their best. However in ministry, that can cause a major threat to the Gospel. The Gospel in its core is about God: the character of God, the will of God, and finally the act of God.

• God is trinity. Equality, respect, devotion and love are in His very being.
• God's will is to give His best to mankind. That is how He created man to be.
• In order to accomplish that, He sacrificed His Son to reunite man with Himself.

If God was in the competition game, He wouldn't be God and He wouldn't have conquered death. The very thing that made Him succeed or makes Him God is that He is most powerful and capable of all, NOT by might, but by His very nature of mutual trust, dependency, respect and love. He didn't use force to defeat the enemy. He used love. He used His being. He just used Himself. He simply went there. He gave Himself. He died and was raised on the third day.

Nothing in God is about competition. There is no match for Him, and He wills that all His sons and daughters enjoy Him as equally as He enjoys Himself in the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity.

Now in fallen nature, man had to face a battle, A battle against the ways of the world, a battle against sin, a battle against a curse, a battle against pride, a battle against greed, envy, lust, hatred and prejudice. To be honest, man tried that already. Man tried to get in that competition game and failed miserably. That is why God took upon Himself to become man and fight man's fight for man and AS man. He came out victorious and gave that victory to all men, as the resurrected Son of God / Son of Man, who ascended on high at the right side of the Father, where our lives are now hidden (Colossians 3).

So where does that leave us? Does that mean that since the fight is won and victory is granted to everyone, we can cease from competing and start resting. YES! That is exactly what the Bible says (Hebrews 4). However, the challenge now becomes TO REST. To rest means to trust. That implies NOT competing or fighting a fight already won. Our enemy will try to deceive us into believing that there is more to do, in order to achieve or become. The Gospel invites us to rest. To rest might seem like an easy thing to do, but actually it is not. All of society, religion and politics are performance-based. And although performance and labor are God-ordained from the very start of creation, to rest in God's accomplishment is key in performing at our best, which may be very different from the next person. God's grace works in different ways in each one and makes each perform differently, not in competition with each other, but complementing each other for the greater good of mankind. For those who have children, they can very well relate to what I just stated. Listen to what Paul says regarding this subject:

"For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed." (1 Corinthians 15:9-11)

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." (Romans 12:3)

In Philippians 3, Paul talks about forgetting what is behind and pressing towards the prize for which God has called us. He stresses the fact that he has not yet attained it and hopes to be found in the righteousness of Christ and be completely depleted from any righteousness he may still attribute to himself based on his own works, which he considers the major obstacle in attaining that prize. He encourages the church to be completely depleted of any effort or agenda of their own, and to love and serve only out of the love of God.

This doesn't always happen overnight. It takes time and sadly it is usually marked by people beating themselves up with feelings of failure, guilt, rejection, dissatisfaction, etc... I believe that a proper representation of the Gospel not by words only, but more so by example is the best way to preach the potential each human being has in Christ. I believe that learning to love by becoming vulnerable is not an easy thing for those who have built a defense mechanism, by which they have secondary hidden agendas to maintain their own righteousness and/or reach certain positions. The disciples of Jesus had the same problem and Jesus had to teach them what His grace was all about, by modeling it for them through the washing of their feet. He said that unless He does this they have no part with Him. In the end of that passage in John 13, Jesus gives a very valuable hint on how to run this race. He says:

"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:14-17)

So we are not competing against each other, but are competing against selfishness to reach the full measure of our calling, not to please God or to accepted by God, but to know our true selves and to know Him by serving others. To know and to rest in who we are in Christ, and grow to know, by transformation, the extent of that identity and potential is what Jesus calls "carrying the cross and following Him" (Luke 9:23). In that journey, competing against each other is obsolete, infinitesimal in value and even mediocre.

I hope to have challenged you to make every effort to enter His rest though the cross, to enter the 7th day prepared for you from the beginning of creation. I wish you a blessed journey and may all your sufferings be turned to glory, through the beautiful cross of Jesus Christ and indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory and praise of the Father. Many Blessings!