Ministry never ends

John 5:17 (CEV)

Jesus said, “My Father has never stopped working, and that is why I keep on working.”

We all know what the term “burn-out” means.   People working in stressful occupations, particularly those where the main focus is helping others, can easily experience exhaustion resulting from prolonged stress and frustration.  Burnout is common in Christian ministry.  Pastors quit the ministry, church leaders give up leading, teachers stop teaching, volunteers stop or reduce the amount of service, and, in general, people who started their ministries with high enthusiasm cannot maintain it and lose passion for ministry.  The stress of Christian service, particularly on the part of pastors, can be so enormous that they cannot keep going and give up.   When you think about it, Christian service, by nature, involves self-sacrifice, firm commitment and lots of work that eventually can take its toll. A biblical example of burnout is Elijah (I Kings 18-19).

Even if burn out doesn’t occur, apathy can creep in.  The longer the length of time in ministry the more likely that apathy will occur.   Apathy is manifested in various ways—reduced time and effort in prayer and Bible study, fading interest in fellowship and church attendance, and little to no effort in identifying new or different ministries. Your heart just doesn’t have the desire you once had.  Additionally, you may have the thought that you’ve worked so hard and now it’s time for someone else to take the baton of service while you retire from Christian service, like you do with a secular job retirement.  Burnout and apathy are very common problems in the church and Christian ministry. 

The good news is that this verse affirms that God never burns out.  Jesus, equating Himself with God in this verse, never burns out.  The Spirit of God never burns out.  The word Jesus used for “work” is “ergazamai”, a word that looks and sounds energetic, doesn’t it?  It means “to labor”, “do business”, “work out”, “produce”, and/or “to earn by working”.  While humans can wear out, God through Christ and His Holy Spirit never wear out, never stop working.  Why?  Jesus said in John 6:29 that the work of God is to bring salvation through Christ to everyone.  Philippians 2:13 says that God is always at work in you.  When the purpose of God’s work is to save every human being on earth (I Timothy 2:4) and to complete His good work in every believer (Philippians 1:6), His work is never done, not until the Second Coming of Christ.

While God never stops working and His Spirit never stops working, you can cause His Spirit to stop working in you by quenching Him (I Thessalonians 5:19).  Quenching the Spirit occurs when you sin and stop praying for forgiveness.  Burnout and apathy can quench the Spirit.  You simply have to persevere and rely on the Spirit to keep you going spiritually.  Physically, you can overcome exhaustion by giving yourself appropriate breaks, time-outs, respites, vacations, and “re-create” yourself so that you can resume your ministry.  You also need reliable, trustworthy Christian friends with whom you can stimulate and encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25).     

In the secular world, people often look forward to retirement from their jobs.  Of course, in today’s economy, people are forced to keep working, but retirement is still an eventual goal.  While retirement from a full time secular job is a worthwhile goal, retirement from ministry should never be an option.  Even if you become handicapped or otherwise cannot do what you used to be able to do, you can still pray for others and be an encouragement with whomever God brings into your life.  Remember that you are called to be “salt of the earth and light to the world” (Matthew 5:16) for your entire Christian life.  Never grow weary of doing good (Galatians 6:9, II Thessalonians 2:13) for the Lord never grows weary and He is available through His Holy Spirit in you to pick you up when you “wait for Him” and ask for His strength (Isaiah 40:31).