Redefining Success

One of the interesting conversations I’m having with people right now (especially church planters), is the question of success. How we measure success, what it looks like when we succeed, and how we can tell if we’re not succeeding?

Success, by definition is, “The achieving of objectives or personal fulfillment.” In order to answer theses questions, I’d like to start out with four True or False questions:

Question #1- True or False- The real test for success is my family’s well-being and happiness.
In other words, my ultimate goal in life, the way I really can be successful, is to provide for my family and make them happy.

Question #2- True or False- Having nice things is a good indication of whether a person is truly successful.
If I own a house, at least one car, and have a few nice things, then I am successful. This doesn’t mean that I am filthy rich; I just have some nice stuff.

Question #3- True or False- Receiving a promotion always demonstrates a person is successful.
In other words, if I move up in my career towards better things and more influence then I must be a successful person.

Question #4- True or False- Having time to do the things I love is the ultimate measure of success.
Let me put it this way, if I retire with a little nest egg and good health and my wife and I have time to pursue our hobbies then, we have succeeded at life.

What are your answers? In a way I feel like I may have tricked you, because the answer to all of these questions is False. We all want to be successful in whatever we do, but neither family, nor possessions, nor career, nor pleasure, nor church attendance have anything to do with true success. For believers, success depends on the faithfulness of God. The danger in success is that it can lead us to dependence on our own strength, instead of upon God.

The trouble is that we don’t usually even realize it’s a problem for us. Most of us don’t see success as a problem because we often picture success as a yuppie in a suit, holding a briefcase in some metropolitan area, sipping a Grande, decaf, triple-shot, non-fat, café Latte.

That is why I want to look at the Biblical View of Success, to show that it is not wrong to want to succeed, but also to offer a good way to measure true success.

Let’s begin with the Biblical Views of Success:

1) God Created Success (Genesis 1:31).
Success is talked about and pictured throughout the Bible. Based on this truth, I think there are some things we need to understand about success.

We Need To See The:
The Evidences of Human Success:
1) Wealth (Ecclesiastes 2:4-9 & 1 Kings 10:23-26).
2) Power (Genesis 41:41-43).
3) Knowledge (1 Kings 4:32-34).

The Limitations of Human Success:
Success Can Lead Us To:
1) Pride (Deuteronomy 8:17-18 & Isaiah 10:12-15).
2) False Security (1 Timothy 6:17).
3) Success Does Not Lead Us To Justification (Galatians 2:15-16 &
Romans 3:23-25).

The Evidences of God’s Success:
1) God Always Accomplishes His Purposes (Isaiah 46:9-11 & 55:10-11).
2) Lives Reflect God’s Grace (Joseph in Genesis 39:1-3 &
David in 1 Samuel 18:14).
3) Jesus Is God’s Gift Of Salvation (John 17:4, Acts 4:12 &
1 Timothy 2:3-6).

Human beings can achieve many things, but any success, which disregards God, is futile. God always achieves what He intends. Anything of eternal value needs God-given resources. True success is not measured by the happiness of our family, our influence, our position at work, the attendance in our church, or our possessions. True success is measured by our faith in Christ and our level of obedience to Him. If we obey Jesus, that’s enough…everything else will follow because of God’s unmerited Favor, Sovereign Grace and Unexplainable Mercy.