A Diligent Pursuit of God
with Pastor Mike Focht
“But that the world may know that I love the Father. And as the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Arise and let us go from here.”
John 14:31
So we know that’s where Christ is speaking with his disciples. And essentially what He says is one of the things about the cross we don’t think about, which is that it was an expression of His love to the Father. He tells us, Let’s get up and go, and heads to Gethsemane.
Pursuing God in Every Arena
What I see in that, and kind of what the Lord had ministered to me, is that my pursuit of God is always the real goal. My obedience in whatever arena in life, whatever it looks like, is to show that I love the Father and to express that love to Him as Jesus Christ did, ultimately.
Pastoring is a way that I pursue God, but not the only way. God has given us a lot of arenas in our lives, and I think we all know if you’re married as a husband, that’s one arena. If you’re a father, if God gives us children, that’s an arena. As a friend, as a son, if you have a career, all those things are various arenas, and in all of those, we should be able to say,
“So that the world knows that I love the Father; watch me as a husband, watch me as a father, let me be obedient to God in this arena.”
So pastoring becomes one of those. It isn’t necessarily even the ultimate way. It’s just a way we do it.
Ministry Changes, the Goal Does Not
I would say that our love for the Father shouldn’t change, even though our ministry will. That pursuit of God becomes something that isn’t just a portion of our lives, while our ministry is a portion of our lives.
There’s a time we’re unsaved, a time we got saved, a time we began to serve him, and then pastoring became a part of our service to Him. And at some point, we’re all gonna give it up.
But pursuing God is never something we give up.
Eternal Life: Knowing Him
Jesus was saying, John 17, that this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
So I don’t know what it’s gonna look like in heaven, but I don’t think they’re gonna need pastors. But I’m never gonna stop pursuing God.
That’s what eternal life is —knowing Him, following Him, doing what He gives me to do as an expression of love to the Father.
Finding God in the Work
I would encourage you to think and know that pastoring is a blessing because it’s a way He’s called me to pursue Him.
Jesus going to the cross was a unique way, and we don’t carry His cross — we carry our own — and the blessing that we get to have in pastoring and ministry is that it’s a wonderful job and arena.
We get to find God in unique ways, get to see God working in so many other people’s lives, and it pushes us towards spiritual things. And I’m thankful for the way that I get to pursue Him as a pastor. It is the best thing for me, I know individually, and you as well, that’s why he’s called you to it.
The Method Ends, the Goal Remains
But at some point, the method ends, but the goal doesn’t change.
So I would encourage you in your pastoring as pastors to keep the goal centered, so that the world can know that you love the Father.
That’s why I pastor. I can walk into my day and say, This is all so that everybody knows I love my Father. And I’m going to be obedient to what He calls me to do.
So let’s get up and let’s go do it.
And if God calls us to something else, we should be just as pleased and just as content.
The Danger of Losing Focus
Maybe the danger for us to think about is if this were removed from me.
- The goal is not the pastoring.
- The goal is not the ministry.
- The goal is to walk with God.
And pastoring becomes our personal way of walking with God. But it can’t become the goal, which is the danger.
We can get focused on the ministry as an end instead of a means to an end.
Keeping the Lord as the Goal
A diligent pursuit of the Lord is always gonna have the Lord as the end. He’s not a means to some type of ministry success or building up of things.
The only way, at least the way I challenge myself in that, is to think,
- What if I stopped today?
- What if God called me to something else?
- What if I left the ministry/pastoring and stepped into some other role in life?
– - Would I be as obedient?
- Would I be as diligent in my pursuit of the Lord?
- Would I be as content?
Because I can seek Him anywhere. He could call me to be whatever. And the pursuit and plan haven’t changed.
Conclusion
The beauty is, as long as he has us doing this, it’s a wonderful place to find Him. But I think it’s important for us to look back again at Jesus Christ and realize, yes, there’s a lot in the cross. Obviously, it’s the salvation of the world. It’s the only hope that we have.
But also, the man Christ Jesus said it was the way the world could see that he loved the Father. As he received the commandment, that was what he was going to do. He was going to follow His Father’s mission to show His love to Him.
So you and I, a diligent pursuit of the Lord looks like keeping him the goal and being obedient where he has us. And no matter what the method is — a role of a husband, a role of a father, a role of a pastor, a role of somebody in the military, or working a trade, or wherever he has us at the moment — the goal hasn’t changed.
So keep that focus. Don’t let the ministry become the goal. Enjoy walking with God in what He’s called you to do.
If you’re a pastor, then that’s the best place for you to walk with Him. And He wants you to find Him there.
God bless, guys.
