The Secret to Being a Successful Pastor: A 5-Day Challenge by Andrew HébertSample

DAY 2

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus says. The first beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount confronts us with an unsettling truth: we are spiritually bankrupt. We do not have what it takes.

We observe spiritual poverty in several ways. First, we do not have what it takes for our salvation. We cannot save ourselves. Our account of righteousness is empty. Second, not only do we not have what it takes for our salvation, we do not have what it takes for our sanctification. Not only do we need God’s saving grace, we also need his sustaining grace. Third, not only do we not have what it takes for our salvation or for our sanctification, we do not have what it takes for ministry.

Pastoral ministry is overwhelming. If we are going to be pastors who are shaped into the likeness of Christ, we must begin by acknowledging our spiritual bankruptcy.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” is the second beatitude. When we come to realize our spiritual unworth before God, it should lead us to deep mourning and brokenness over our sin. This mourning comes on the heels of recognizing our spiritual poverty. When we come face to face with the reality of our own sin, the result should be a deep mourning over our sin.

As pastors, we are pretty good about leading the church in vision, in strategy, in exciting new endeavors, but more important than any of those things is that we lead in brokenness over our sin. We should be the first to recognize our sin, the first to confess, and the first to repent. We cannot properly grieve over anyone else’s sin until we have first grieved over our own.

“Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5) is the third beatitude.

Jesus modeled humility. Even though he was God himself, he emptied himself of his divine right and embraced the posture of a servant who would be humbled in pouring himself out for us on the cross. Jesus showed his disciples what humility looked like when he took the towel and the basin in John 13 and washed his disciples’ feet. He not only explained what humility looked like, he clearly expected it from those who would lead the church, telling his disciples not to use their position to “lord it over” those who would follow them, but rather to become great by embracing servanthood (Mark 10:42-45).

True greatness is not found in exploiting your position over others, but in emptying oneself for others. That’s the essence of humility.