The True Measure

Big works of God in this world begin small with ordinary people of God working for the glory of God. Many hands make light work. And many hands accomplish much work. This is how revivals begin, Reformations are launched, churches are established, missions are founded, and cities and countries and the world are changed. The ordinary people of God working for the glory of God.

Every member ministering according to our ability is the calling of the church (Nehemiah 3, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, etc.). Every member! We easily fall into the trap of thinking the work of God is specialized work for those who possess a special calling. Yet, the Scriptures make it clear that all are called to service. We all serve as ministers of the gospel and all have our part to play. In fact, as Paul points out in Ephesians 4, pastors and teachers are simply to "equip the saints for the work of the ministry." We are all to engage in the work. And when we do, mighty things are accomplished.

But as James Montgomery Boice once said, "It is said that today the churches resemble more than anything else a football game played in a large stadium. There are 80,000 spectators in the stands who badly need some exercise, and there are 22 men on the field who badly need a rest."1

Now, some may not have the gifts of others. All cannot be the eye or the ear. Some members remain less visible than others in the body, but none are less important. All are needed--doing their best to labor for the sake of the Kingdom according to their gifts and stage in life.

John Newton wrote a helpful letter along these lines. In his day, George Whitefield was the great celebrated pastor. God used Whitefield mightily and his was a household name. In a letter John Newton wrote to a fellow pastor, he commented:

"One man, like Whitefield, is raised up to preach the gospel with success through a considerable part of the earth. Another is called to the humbler service of sweeping the streets, or cleaning this great minister's shoes...." 

He then said the following:

"I am inclined to think that if you and I were to travel in search of the best Christian in the land, or were qualified to distinguish who deserved the title, it is more than two to one we should not find the person in a pulpit, or any public office of life. Perhaps some old woman at her wheel, or some bed-rid person, hid from the knowledge of the world, in a mud-walled cottage, would strike our attention more than any of the doctors or reverends with whom we are acquainted. Let us not measure men, much less ourselves by gifts or services. One grain of grace is worth abundance of gifts. To be self-abased, to be filled with a spirit of love, and peace, and gentleness; to be dead to the world; to have the heart deeply affected with a sense of the glory and grace of Jesus, to have our will bowed to the will of God; these are great things more valuable, if compared in the balance of the sanctuary, then to be an instrument of converting provinces or a nation."2

I love the line, "Let us not measure men, much less ourselves by gifts or services." It is not what we do for the Lord but what we do with what we have for the Lord that matters. Many of us are consumed with desiring greater gifts, better opportunities, extended time. All the while we neglect what we have been given. We long for much when we struggle with little. Let us simply labor according to the strength and grace the Lord gives us. We need no more or we would possess it. Whatever is before us today, let us tackle it. Whatever gifts we possess today, let us exercise them. Whatever opportunities present themselves today, let us seize them. Let us work hard in our little spheres and see what the Lord does. O, what monumental things the ordinary people of God can do when they simply use what He has given them for the glory of God.

1. James Montgomery Boice, Nehemiah: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005) p. 47

2. John Newton, The Works of the Rev. John Newton (New Haven: Nathan Whiting, 1824) p. 339

Jason Helopoulos is senior pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan, and is the author of A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home (Christian Focus, 2013).