What is the biggest threat to a Christian ministry? Success!
Giving God the Glory
What is the biggest threat to a Christian ministry? Success, so believe it or not, the Christian’s greatest risk for failure or falling is not during a trial or tribulation, but when they’ve just achieved something great. When we become successful in a ministry, it’s our tendency to believe that it’s by our own hand and not from God. Of course, this robs God of glory. How sad because not even a sparrow falls to the ground that our Heavenly Father is not aware of and whatever happens, He allows it for our good (Matt 10:29: Rom 8:28). One such example was when King Uzziah began to reign in Judah and “he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper” (2 Chron 26:4-5), but the king knew that “God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the Meunites” (2 Chron 26:7). He gave God glory for Israel’s success against her enemies.
Can’t Handle Success
King Uzziah prospered so much that “The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong” (2nd Chron 26:8). The problem was not that he prospered but his prosperity or success went to his head. It was “when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense” (2 Chron 26:16). Uzziah was a king, not a priest. He had no right to burn incense in the temple, but he thought he was an exception because of his strength, wealth, and success, but that led to his downfall.
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low … the LORD alone will be exalted – Is. 2:11
Turn Losing into Winning
When I was a Little League baseball coach, we were like the Bad News Bears. We could not win a game at all. The teams used to rub it in our face but we learned more during our defeats than we could have ever learned from winning so we came up with a plan. We decided to practice a little longer and a little harder at the skills positions while the other teams cut their practice time. We worked on the basic skills more, we examined the fundamentals more, and we also learned how to be good sports in losing. It’s easy to be a good sport when you are winning but the true test is how to be one when you lose…time and again. Slowly we began to be more competitive. Near the end of the season, we actually won a few games. We didn’t win the league, but we turned our season around. If we had been winning at first, we may have never learned some valuable lessons in the extra practices we held. We learned important lessons like how to lose graciously and how to work harder and improve. In other words, we learned more from our defeats than from our victories.
Pride, Then the Fall
During the zenith of David’s success as king, he had victory after victory, but his heart became full of pride. Only when David thought he was really something, Satan incited David to take a census and count his troops. It was a little like a rich man counting his money. Even though Joab tried to warn, David’s pride blinded him, and it can blind us too. Pride has a way of doing that. Of course, that angered God. David saw the great numbers of troops as being the real power of his kingdom, not realizing he ultimately depends on God. When he had failed to give credit to God for Israel’s source of strength, Israel paid dearly with the death of seventy thousand men (2 Sam 24:15-17).
Warning for Israel
Now, what about ancient Israel’s history? It seems that they followed the same pattern of success, pride, idolatry, and then, a fall; then repeat this over and over again. They prospered, forgot God, fell into idolatry, were sent into captivity, then humbled themselves, and God delivered them…again! Even though God had warned them numerous times, they refused to learn that the nation must not take credit for their blessings and safety where God says, “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deut 8:18). Let us never, ever say what God warned them to never say and that is, it was by “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth” (Deut 8:17). 
Warning for Us
Instead of saying, “How could Israel be like that,” I say, “How am I like that?” There are several important things we should take to heart in Deuteronomy 8. When things are going well, we better not forget the Lord. When our goods increase and our wealth (or success) is multiplied, don’t let our hearts become proud. When we are delivered out of our own trials and tribulations, let us remember that it is God Who delivered us. When things go well we are tempted to think, “My power and the strength of my hands have done this,” but that’s dangerous because that’s pride. Success makes us look in the mirror…struggles make us look to God. Isaiah writes, He is “the LORD” and “I will not give my glory to another nor my praise to graven images.” Sometimes that “graven image” (42:8) is our own success.
Give Glory to God
When I get a compliment for something I’m doing for God, I tell them about the moon. The moon has a dark side. As a matter of fact, it’s all dark. Without the sun shining on it, it would remain dark. The moon cannot support life. It is dead, decayed, and pock-marked by asteroids and meteorites. The moon is a waste land, but when the sun shines on it, it is beautiful. Why? It’s not about the moon…but about the sun! It reflects the sunlight and gives light to our nights. Likewise, I am dark, dead, and decaying and have no source of light except the Son of God Who shined His light on me. Only then can I be able to reflect that light to a dark, dying, sinful world. Even a tiny match can light up a large, dark cave, however, just as the moon has no right to boast, neither can I boast in my own good works (light). We all must give glory to the Son of God Who illuminates the darkness and is the light of men (John 1). God will not resist us if we give the credit and glory to Whom it is all due, and it’s “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1)!
Conclusion
When we are filled with pride we are just like Satan. When we are lifted up, we are exalting ourselves, but if we remain humble and give credit to God for our successes, God will continue to bless us. If we act like it’s our own doing, God will resist us every step of the way (James 4:6). If you have failed to repent, confess your sins, and trust in Christ, you have the wrath of God abiding on you right now (John 3:36b). Humble yourself today and know that God will give you grace. He wants us to prosper in all things (Rom 10:17), but He also wants us to acknowledge where that prosperity comes from.
Here is some related reading for you: The Christian’s Greatest Danger is Success
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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