The Most Undesired Ministry Success Ever

Soon after thinking about a summary of Noah's ministry, I recalled a sermon my husband preached at a supporting church on the book of Jonah. We had fun contrasting the two "ministries."

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Noah

Mission field: the very wicked people of the world
Message: total destruction
Converts: only his family (eight people)
Reaction: a sacrifice of thanks

Jonah

Mission field: the very wicked people of the capital city of Israel's enemies
Message: total destruction
Converts: everyone, from the greatest to the least
Reaction: anger, wishes to die

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What fantastic irony! Can you think of two more polar opposites in Scripture? Noah preaches and prepares an ark for salvation but sees no fruit from his efforts outside of his family. But he praises the Lord for their salvation, this little fruit that came from his long ministry.

Jonah, on the other hand, doesn't want to see the salvation of the Ninevites, even though he himself has been so miraculously saved from a watery death. His sermon is as short and perfunctory as can be (eight words in English), and yet he has incredible success in a mass revival that involves even the beasts fasting and wearing sackcloth!

Jonah by George Frederick Watts

His angry reaction is even more incredible. I mean--what missionary doesn't long to see a revival like that? We can't even tell if he made it the three days the Bible says it took to cross the city before repentance falls on the people. But he is angry at God's great mercy, at His goodness. His emotions are extreme: "It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry."

He spits out his prayer, which with your permission, could be summarized in modern speech, "I knew you'd be like that! You know... GOOD. I'd rather die than see this!"

We can learn so much from the book of Jonah. But for now, what can we learn from a comparison of Noah's and Jonah's ministries? I think we can be encouraged by the answer to a natural question that might come up when comparing the two ministries.

Why was Jonah's ministry so successful, though so vehemently undesired, when Noah's ministry was dry as a desert? (That is, ahem, until the waters covered the earth.)

There is only one answer. I'll use Jonah's words:

SALVATION is OF THE LORD.

That is the only explanation for such vast differences between the two ministry results, especially when we consider that Jonah actually worked and prayed against the salvation of the Ninevites!

Look at all the actions the Lord does in the book of Jonah:

• He calls Jonah. "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah..., saying, 'Arise, go.'"
• ...the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea...
• ...the Lord...which hath made the sea and the dry land...
• ...the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
• [according to Jonah] "He heard me...thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep....Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
• And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
• And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go...and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee."
• And God saw their works...
• And God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.
• He gently questions Jonah, "Doest thou well to be angry?"
• ...the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief.
• But God prepared a worm...
• ...God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun...

After being attacked by criminals, a few pastors asked if I was struggling to believe in God's goodness. Honestly, at the beginning, I wasn't struggling very much on that point. I knew God was good, if for no other reason than that He saved our lives!

Actually I admitted that where I struggled to believe in God's goodness and love towards us was in the extreme difficulty and scant results of our evangelism efforts. I am sure many missionaries can relate to struggling with a feeling of bitterness towards our Lord. "I gave up all ___ for You, and where are You? Why aren't You blessing our ministry? Where's the fruit?"

This is actually nothing but a feeling of entitlement that God owes us certain glories for what we've sacrificed for Him, an expectation of a certain minimum of results. But hasn't it been said so many times in the Bible, that God is the One responsible for our ministry successes?

• "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
• "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."
• Even the pagan sailors whom Jonah sailed with admitted, "...thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee."

It is initially discouragingly humbling for us to realize that it is not our charisma or plans or goodwill or activities that effect revival. It is the wind of God blowing where it will.

But there is one thing that we can do, that we must do, in order to see God's hand at work. We must go. And we must preach.

Why God, with all of His amazing power and mercy, has chosen to use such a weak tool as the foolishness of preaching, is a mystery to me. But He told us to go, and He said that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and He said that they cannot believe unless they hear, and they cannot hear without a preacher. So...

...don't be discouraged by the truth that God is ultimately responsible for the salvation of souls on your field. Let that truth encourage you. He said He would do it. It may not be as immediate as it was with Jonah; in fact, it could take a long time, but He will go with you, and He will build His church.

And what should be our only response?

Definitely not anger:
"Why are You doing it this way?"

But gratitude and humility. Embrace humility:
"Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?"

And gratitude:
"You saved me and included me in Your plan of salvation for the Tsonga people? Thank You, Lord. You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You."

Salvation is of the LORD.

Did We Fail?

Photo by: David Castillo Dominici

Here are a few true ministry scenarios. These examples are typical of ministries all over the world, including yours. My purpose in sharing is to encourage. (Hang on, the good stuff’s coming!) 

1. Many years of effort and hundreds of dollars help a young man with a heart for missions get a college education and start on deputation. He marries, divorces, remarries . . . .
2. A young woman comes to church, gets saved and baptized. She drops out of church, marrying an unsaved man and having other immoral relationships. A life issue brings her back to church, and she starts to grow and change. Later, she backslides and goes back to old habits, including dating another unsaved man.
3. A person makes a business decision that harms another believer. When confronted, there is no favorable resolution, so the offended party gets the pastor involved. Instead of resolution, the whole family leaves the church.
4. In counseling, a divorced woman is advised to give up the boyfriend she’s interested in. There are red flags all over the place. (This will be yet another abusive relationship.) She continues toward another harmful marriage.
5. A man ignores all sound, biblical advice and does exactly the opposite of what he should. Now, he wishes the consequences of his actions hadn’t happened.
6. A mother balks at the teaching that she can and should protect her children from the world. She criticizes. How can her teacher be so narrow-minded? Years later, sadly, this lady only has one out of her many children attending church services.
7. A wife will not respect her husband. She puts him down, criticizes, and is unthankful. She doesn’t see the problem, though she has been counseled many times to change how she talks to her husband.
8. The pastor’s wife has to confront several young women one-on-one about their lifestyles, specifically fornication. The women never return to church.

Sometimes, it seems there are more failures than successes. We did and said exactly what the Bible says to do. We did our best to be kind, loving, and Spirit-led, but we got the result we least wanted:

• We wanted resolution and got rebellion.
• We wanted restoration and got leaving the church.
• We wanted to encourage growth in the Lord and got more sinning.
• We wanted to warn and got stubbornness.

Now, for the encouragement:

• Our ministry is not in vain. God says so. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).
• When you take biblical, loving steps, God honors them. You might not see the results you want, but you’ve been faithful. That’s what counts! God judges our faithfulness. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry (1 Timothy 1:12).
• Each person is responsible for his own reaction to admonition or correction. Your responsibility is to give godly advice in a sweet, loving manner. The other person is responsible for heeding it. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me (Ezekiel 33:2-7).
• God uses His Word in His way and in His time. Never think what you have shared from the Bible was useless. You never know how or when the Holy Spirit will speak to hearts. The word of God is not bound (2 Timothy 2:9b). For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

In this New Year, remember:

• When you see failure, God sees faithfulness.
• When you are disappointed in people, God is not disappointed in your biblical message and actions.
• When you followed the right steps toward conflict resolution, God knows you did right.
• When you warned, you did the right thing. It’s the listener’s responsibility after that.
• When you see no “results,” you might not be seeing the whole picture. There are many testimonies of Christians who never knew in their lifetimes the impact of their consistent witness. Remember to Whom we’re responsible. It’s God’s work, after all.

In 2015:
Love your Lord! (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Be zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14)

Don’t lose hope! (Romans 15:13)

Be thankful. (Ephesians 5:20)

Be joyful. (Philippians 4:4)

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Now thanks be unto God,

which always causeth us to triumph in Christ,

and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge

by us in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Illustration by: franky242

May God bless your life and ministry!