Elias planted Grace Community Church with nothing but a borrowed folding table and a heart burning to see people saved. He preached repentance. He fasted. He visited the sick at 2 a.m. and gave away most of his meager salary. His wife, Sarah, had stood beside him in those early days, folding bulletins late into the night while their two children slept on the nursery floor.
Unfortunately, success can be corrupting. The first subtle shift came when a wealthy businessman joined the church and offered to fund a building campaign. The man wanted the new sanctuary named after his late mother and insisted on a more “uplifting” tone in the sermons. “People are tired of hearing about sin,” he said with a friendly clap on Elias’s back. “They need hope.”
Elias prayed about it for three nights. On the fourth day, he agreed. The building went up—glass, steel, and warm lighting that looked more like a conference center than a sanctuary. Attendance doubled. So did the offerings. Elias bought a nicer car, then a larger house in the better part of town.
He still opened his Bible every morning, but the readings grew shorter. The long hours of prayer became ten-minute devotions squeezed between meetings. He told himself he was “multiplying his impact.” After all, wasn’t the church reaching more people than ever?
The compromises arrived one by one, each wearing the mask of wisdom.
When a popular worship leader was caught in an affair, Elias chose not to remove him publicly. “Restoration is biblical,” he said in the elder meeting. Privately, he worried the man’s departure would hurt the music quality and, with it, the young adult attendance that had become the church’s pride. The leader stayed on stage, smiling, while the affair continued quietly.
When the youth pastor asked for guidance on how to handle a student identifying as transgender, Elias researched the latest cultural language instead of Scripture. He told the youth pastor, “We need to be a safe place. Let’s lead with love and avoid anything that sounds like judgment.” The student was affirmed. The youth group grew. Elias felt a strange relief that no one had called him “bigoted.”
One evening, after a particularly well-received sermon on “living your best life now,” Elias stood in the parking lot watching families drive away in their nice cars. A young couple approached him, excited. “Pastor, that message changed everything for us,” the husband said. “We finally feel like we can be Christians without having to give up the things we enjoy.”
Elias smiled and shook the man’s hand. “That’s what grace is all about.”
As their car pulled away, Elias caught his reflection in the tinted glass of his own vehicle. He looked successful. He looked like a man serving God. But deep inside, where only God could see, he knew the truth. He had become exactly what the world wanted a pastor to be. And he was no longer sure he remembered how to be anything else.
It is very easy to become influenced by the world and lose sight of the fact that ministry has to be done God’s way. Numerical growth is not the proper measure of success. The Bible is the standard we should pursue.
The Israelites were told to offer animal sacrifices to Yahweh. The 15th chapter of Numbers lists the grain, oil, and wine that had to be brought with each animal sacrifice. Simply bringing an animal was not enough. It had to be brought according to Yahweh’s requirements. This illustrates that the appearance of ministry is not good enough. Ministry has to be done God’s way.
Num. 15:1 ¶ Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Num. 15:2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land of your places of habitation, which I am going to give you,
Notice the word “when”. The following instructions applied after the Israelites took possession of their land.
Num. 15:3 then make an offering by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow, or as a freewill offering or in your appointed times, to make a soothing aroma to Yahweh, from the herd or from the flock.
The following instructions apply to burnt offerings, special vow offerings and freewill offerings.
Num. 15:4 And the one who brings his offering near shall bring near to Yahweh a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil,
An animal sacrifice had to be accompanied by a grain offering mixed with oil.
Num. 15:5 and you shall prepare wine for the drink offering, one-fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.
There also had to be a drink offering with each animal offering.
Verses 4-5 list the quantities that had to accompany a lamb offering.
Num. 15:6 Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil;
Verses 6-7 list the quantities that had to be brought with a ram.
Num. 15:7 and for the drink offering you shall bring near one-third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma to Yahweh.
Num. 15:8 And when you prepare a bull from the herd as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a special vow, or for peace offerings to Yahweh,
Verses 8-10 list the quantities that had to be brought with a bull.
Num. 15:9 then you shall bring near with the bull from the herd a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-half a hin of oil;
Num. 15:10 and you shall bring near as the drink offering one-half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to Yahweh.
Num. 15:11 ¶ ‘Thus it shall be done for each ox, or for each ram, or for each of the male lambs, or of the goats.
Num. 15:12 According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do for everyone according to their number.
Num. 15:13 All who are native shall do these things in this manner, in bringing near an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to Yahweh.
Notice the word “native”. These instructions applied to the native Israelites.
Num. 15:14 ¶ And if a sojourner sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he offers an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to Yahweh, just as you do so he shall do.
Take note of the word “sojourner”. Any one who sojourned with the Israelites had to follow the same rules.
Num. 15:15 As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the sojourner who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the sojourner be before Yahweh.
Num. 15:16 There shall be one law and one judgment for you and for the sojourner who sojourns with you.’”
Just as the animal sacrifices had to be accompanied by the appropriate amounts of grain, oil, and wine, so too modern ministry needs to be done according to God’s standards, not the standards of the world. Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as living sacrifices, but that command is immediately followed by verse 2 which tells us “Do not be conformed to this world”. Furthermore, James 1:27 tells us pure religion is keeping ourselves unstained by the world. If our ministry is successful numerically, but we are conforming to the world, then our ministry is stained and defiled.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”