“TRANSITIONING FROM STAGE #3 TO STAGE #4”
Romans 7: 14-25

It is a part of life for people to begin new activities or projects at times. These new projects start out with excitement and enthusiasm. Yet, within a short period of time quite often a subtle change takes place. Now, the peoples’ approach to doing the work (which originated from their zeal concerning a new idea) disintegrates into just “putting in their time”, “going through the motions”. Christians are not immune from this subtle change in activity either. What started out as a vision for meeting needs in people’s lives becomes boring and empty routine. Thus, an exciting, vibrant and alive ministry can become disillusioning and discouraging.

Stage Three of the Spiritual Journey is all about being involved in ministry with God. But, “something happened on the way to the ranch”! To give a brief summary of where we’ve already been in this study of “The Spiritual Journey”, we discovered God in Stage One, by entering into a personal relationship with Him. In Stage Two we received instruction concerning God and what He is all about, by studying the Bible and learning what He was doing in the lives of His children. Such knowledge moves God’s people into serving God. Welcome to Stage Three. Ideas of ministry arise in the minds of the children of God as they sense God calling them to work with Him in specific things.

Now you understand why I interrupted the description of the journey with a three week presentation of the “wall experience” in spiritual living. Usually, at least in Stage Three, ministry begins with a vision and reliance on God to accomplish His work through the one involved in ministry. BUT, ministry necessitates submission on the part of God’s servant. It is a willingness to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in one’s life. It is surrender of control in order to do things UNDER God’s control and leadership. In the midst of this reality, several things can happen. Opposition may arise from certain folks. Obstacles pop to the surface we didn’t expect. Lack of partnership on the part of other Christians also comes into play. Ministry demands continuous surrender and humility toward God at every single step of the way. And when we refuse to practice such ongoing humility, the very facets of our specific ministry begin to become difficult for us to handle.

Before we can blink an eye, things undergo change. Our focus has been to work diligently for God. While doing so, often we are praised by others for what we are doing. But sometimes with such accolades, rather than ministry issuing from an intimacy with God, which is how our ministry began, the emphasis now is given to external things like: the number of converts, programs, attendance or dollars. If Christians are not careful, spiritual maturity gets defined as busyness and productivity. Unfortunately we can work FOR God and not be close to Him. This can leave us empty, resentful or exhausted! Before we realize it, though we continue to have a willingness to serve God, we simply depend on our own abilities to get things done. We substitute faithfulness in doing activities for growing closer to our God!

We see examples of this throughout the Scriptures. Elijah went through this on Mount Carmel. David went through this establishing the kingdom of Israel. Moses, while leading the children of Israel through the wilderness. Jonah, as a prophet of God before submitting to go to Nineveh. Paul describes his ministry under his own energies in Romans 7, as we have just read.

Simply put, we move from being an instrument that God can use in HIS ministry, to being the owner of the ministry as our own possession. This change can take place real slowly, or in a cataclysmic change of attitude and heart. It’s not difficult to be caught up in being “successful” for the Lord. In the process such a Christian can move into a new way of thinking where they see their success and activeness as a means of being accepted by God.

Paul speaks of his being a “wretched man” in this condition. Instead of possessing feelings of spiritual accomplishment, now burn out and disillusionment set in. This is how Christians can “get weary in well-doing”. This is when God’s servants begin to feel indispensable for God. No longer is “LOVING GOD” about “who we are” but it has become “what we do”! That, my dear friends is a major change in outlook and life. Instead of serving God, we now attempt to earn God’s favor and be a “good and faithful servant”.

A borrowed nursery rhyme concerning Christian burnout goes like this:

“Christian, Christian sat on a wall,
Christian, Christian had a great fall,
All the right energies, even a plan,
Couldn’t put Christian together again!”





Listen to how Paul describes his predicament in these verses, coupled with what that really means:

o “I am unspiritual”                                                “doing my own thing”
o “I do not understand what I do”                         “confused in ministry”
o “what I want to do, I do not do”       “not submitting to God’s control”
o “but what I hate I do”                                            “take control myself”
o “I have the desire to do what is good”       “simply be obedient to God”
o “I cannot carry it out”                                        “my efforts are useless”
o “I keep on doing this”                           “left to myself, sin controls me”
o “by nature I am enslaved to self”                “again, I do my own thing”

Stage Four is going to be a rediscovery of God, once again. As we’ve just shown, the transition between serving God in Stage Three and rediscovering God in Stage Four is filled with confusion and the temptation to retreat from commitment. All Christians, at times, move from being dedicated in ministry to being uncertain of what they are doing. They enter a place where after serving God, through an active faith, they are haunted with questions for which they have no answers. They mostly draw into themselves in privacy. These same Christians experience a crisis in faith or personal life: perhaps even both. The crisis makes many of their former truths seem inappropriate or inadequate. This initiates a slow, deep, anguishing questioning of faith and God.

At this transition point, in the Christian life, believers regularly “FEEL” abandoned by God. Our DVD presentation of last week spoke of this at length. At such a transition point we sense a loss of God. Our cry is “Where did He go?” We feel overwhelmed. We sense others have pulled away from us as well. Often they do because our confusion scares them. On occasion this harrowing experience brings judgment on us by Christian brothers and sisters.

We, at the same time, look for direction. Our relationship with God needs deepening! In order to grow further, we must move into spending time with God, allowing Him to give us new insight into who we are. This is sometimes very painful. Instead of living the way we have been living, any focus on surface issues must now cease and desist. We don’t need to rivet our attention on trivialities. We must literally allow God to show us exactly what He wants our life to be like!

Lastly, we must stop doing ministry for God in order to accomplish success. We are at a place where we sense we have lost something and the ministry successes we counted on for encouragement no longer work. Grief usually accompanies this awareness. We struggle doing what we must do: accept vulnerability with God. Paul is right; it is as he named it, “wretchedness”.

But notice how Paul finishes this chapter. He asks a question and then gives the answer. In verse 24 this Apostle asks, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” He is a believer in the Lord as he writes this. This has nothing to do with his justification. It has everything to do with his sanctification. AND, He answers his question. He tells us the answer in verse 25, “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

In two weeks we will move into this Stage Four and see how the Bible portrays a rediscovery of the Lord…this time at a deeper level. So let’s wrap up our study for today. I used Paul only because he most graphically describes this time of confusion in a believer’s life.

Serving God in ministry is not the end of the journey. It is the end of one step of the journey. At times when any of us make a new commitment to our Lord it is usually accompanied with this period of transition. It can appear to be confusing, a step backward even, but it ultimately has the potential to move us to a new level of intimacy with our living Lord. We need to welcome these times. We need to understand when our brothers and sisters in the Lord go through these times. They are not losing their faith. They are readjusting their focus in order to learn more about their God and what their next steps in serving Him will be.

Whatever you do, don’t throw in the towel! Instead hang in there and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you through the questions and eagerly await the new vision of where He is taking you next!