Ministry Success (and Failure)

Isaiah 1:1,2 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.

We are tempted to think of this first chapter as being one of Isaiah's first prophecies, but internal evidence would suggest otherwise. Remember, what we have with the book of Isaiah is a compilation. Isaiah's prophecies were written down on various scrolls, grouped together for various reasons, and then compiled likely at the end of his life. If we accept that he was probably the one who compiled these, and if we consider the similarity of this chapter with the last two (65-66), and if we combine that with the internal evidence contained in this chapter, there is a strong possibility that this was written at the end of his life (when the compilation was made) and serves as an introduction to the whole--in the same way that a modern author might write an Introduction after the completion of the rest of his manuscript. Remember also for how long Isaiah lived and ministered. We're talking a minimum of forty years or all the way up to perhaps seventy.

Now look at the content of this first chapter. Look over the list of sins and crimes and failures of which the people are guilty. As I read that list it occurs to me that in the eyes of the world Isaiah did not have much success. Is the spiritual condition of the people now any better than when he began? Where are the masses of converts? Where is the evidence of revival? Has society as a whole improved at all as a result of fifty, sixty, maybe seventy years of Spirit-imbued preaching?

The ministry of the prophet Isaiah meets none of the criteria for success espoused by many (most?) in modern evangelicalism. Perhaps I paint with too broad a brush. I certainly hope I do. But it seems to me that for the past one-hundred fifty years the Church has been far too results-oriented. How many did we have in Sunday School? How many for church? How many were saved? How many did you baptize? By any of those measures (or any other results you might be able to think of) Isaiah was a failure. For that matter, so were Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or just about any other prophet you could name. So what should we think of Isaiah? Was he a failure? Where did he go wrong?

Of course, my last two questions are absurd. Isaiah was no failure. And that should tell us something about our own thinking. Ministry success or failure is not determined by outward visible results. Paul said something about this:

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Paul and Apollos minister. The results are up to God.

But if that is true, then how do we measure success? Well, what has God commanded? Has he demanded results or has he given a message and then promised results? (If you opt for the former as opposed to the latter you might consider re-reading the New Testament.)

Again, if the results are the responsibility of God and he gives them as he sees fit and according to his plan then what is our responsibility? Our responsibility is simply obedience.

God has given us a ministry as a Church and each of us as individual members have a role. Are we faithful to our role? The ministry of the Church involves a message. Do we present it faithfully? Are we true to it? Or do we pare it down, try to cut off the rough edges? Are we tempted to only present part of it? to try to make it more palatable?

Isaiah was given a ministry to perform and a message to proclaim. He did so faithfully and in dependence upon God. That is all that is required of any of us. Isaiah's success, then, is measured by his faithfulness to the ministry and fidelity to the message--not by any outward, visible results.

By this measure Isaiah was very successful. Isaiah was very successful indeed.

(I just wonder if perhaps a modern Baptist mission board would have considered dropping his support since he obviously wasn't "getting anything done.")