Clean Stables or A Large Harvest

Proverbs 14:4 "Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest." As a leader you can have a clean stable or a large harvest but you can not have both. Ministry is messy and it requires a lot of leaders to make it happen. People lives are never changed without great sacrifice. Our salvation is rooted in sacrifice, the cross was not clean and tidy. True discipleship is hard work and very messy, in order to grow people up in the faith you are going to have to change a lot of dirty diapers. Too many pastors want clean stables, they want pretty churches, filled with pretty people. But Jesus came for the sick and not the well. Hospitals are sterile but if you have ever been in the operating room it gets messy. Why? Because dealing with the stuff in people's lives that keep them sick and unhealthy means going beyond the surface of Sunday morning Christianity and ministering the healing and wholeness of Jesus Christ. True discipleship is hard work but one life becomes a seed that changes future generations, it is worth the effort. Raising up leaders also messes up the stable. The more hands you have serving the more chances you have that something can go wrong. And all leaders especially new one make mistakes and sometimes dig holes that have to be mended. It is easier and cleaner to just do the job yourself, but that decision limits the size not just of your church but also the harvest that you reach for Christ. We need all hands on deck if we are going to reach a dying world. Both sides of discipleship is necessary for a healthy growing church. We have to reach out to the sick and hurting and we have to raise people up (leaders) to do the work of the ministry. If you just reach out to hurting people you will be overcome by the enormity of the need. If you just raise up people to do ministry then you will run out of people to raise up and will have a group of spiritual couch potatoes. But if you do both you will have a thriving church that is filled with the sick and the well. You church will become a hospital for the hurting and a training center for those who have been made whole. It will be messy and it will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it. So as a leader you have to make a decision, do you want a nice, neat stable or do you want a large harvest. I believe the success of your ministry will be determined by your choice. So what do you want?