Nobody keeps a job if they don't produce results. No stock is viewed as worthwhile if it doesn't bring good results. The horse at the racetrack that everyone once fancied becomes dog food if it doesn't get the desired results. There is nothing wrong with results, but to be ruled by them is rather dangerous.
First of all, so much is outside the control we possess. I am quite confident there are farmers who have cultivated, planted, watered, and nurtured their crop-to-be, all for naught because of the deluge that killed the crop. That is no result. At least not the desired result. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the farmer. Let's face it, some results end up as they do for no reason of our own doing.
That is true on the other side as well. Someone may work hard their whole life and lose it all with some cataclysmic episode. Another may go from rags to riches not because they worked. On the contrary, there is one who chose never to work, but instead to play the lottery. And upon purchasing a winning ticket had the profitable results handed to him.
But secondly, is results really what it is all about? It may appear as such, and in some sense it is. But maybe it is not as much as we make it. I fear this in the church. We are immensely results driven. Were results ever to be the motive for why we do what we do? Clearly we need to be assessing what we do and if and how it is working. We would be poor stewards unless this were the case. But again, results are sometimes out of our control. And of course there is God, what does He say should motivate our action?
The unhealthy preoccupation the church has had notably as of late has undoubtedly caused us to look more at numbers, and less at stories. It isn't so much about life-change, but just getting people in seats. It isn't so much about holiness, and/or victory over sin, as much as it is quantified metrics. All of this of course has been evidenced with the church growth movement that dominated much of the past two decades. The remnants of this are still alive and well to varying degrees in our church events.
It is not that our hearts were entirely in the wrong spot. We wanted to see lives changed. We wanted to see people saved. But again, those are results. Results are not proper motivation. So what is?
How about obedience? How about simply doing as God calls us to do not because of what it may result in, but because of He who calls? I have had to think lately of this in light of my relationship with my son. He loves playing ball with me out in our yard. I'll get a few baseballs and he'll grab his bat. I used to toss it to him and he would hit about everything. He loved that. I loved that. But now I pitch to him and he actually hits them less frequently. He loses interest. He gets frustrated and just puts the bat down. He says, "Daddy, I don't want to play."
At that time I just go over to him and say, "I want you to keep trying." I then re-position him. I explain what we are trying to do. And I tell him I am going to go back to my spot and toss a few his way. Sometimes he's not willing to even swing the bat again. The reason he's lost interest: he fears a bad result. But all I am looking for him to do is to swing the bat. Obedience is all I am looking for in that moment. I am not at all concerned as to whether he hits the ball, hits it far, or misses it entirely. I just want him to swing. But make no mistake, from my vantage point I am only interested in getting him to obey my instruction. That is because it is more about the development of my son as a person, not as a baseball player. And for me I realize the goal is more about participation with me. It is only an event we do because we enjoy it, but more importantly, it brings us close together.
And with God we view his purposes all wrong if it is all about results. With God the only adequate and pure motivation is where obedience is present. Obedience IS the result God is looking for and in which He is pleased. And what if God calls you to something not because He won't get it done otherwise, or because He needs the results, but rather to bring you to a place with Him, where you get closer to Him. Obedience does this, results do not.
So don't even ask how many people showed up on Sunday. Instead ask whether you were obedient to God in what He called you to do. Don't ponder how many people came to faith in Christ. Ask only if you obediently shared the gospel as He called you to do. Stop measuring your worth based on the blogs you write, the books you read, and the exposition you give. Instead put your heart before God and ask if you've done all from a heart of faith seeking only to be obedient to God.
The motive of results will only leave you with a ministry that serves ego, anxiety, and will become its own form of idolatry. Make obedience to God your motive and I trust the results He's purposed will follow.
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