Imagine you’ve just finished giving your best effort preaching the parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15. One well-meaning parishioner rushes to meet you after the service ends and says, “Pastor, have you heard Tim Keller’s message on this passage? It’s awesome. I’ll send you the link.” He makes no comment about your message or its impact. He just goes on and on about Keller’s sermon.
Later that afternoon, you still find yourself somewhat deflated by the conversation. It’s not that you don’t appreciate Keller’s ministry. You honestly do. But you don’t appreciate having your sermon compared to his—especially when it’s clear your message didn’t measure up. You think of witty replies your unsanctified self would have loved to make: “Why don’t we just play Tim Keller’s sermons on Sunday mornings at church so people can really be fed well?” Or “Next time you are in the hospital, why don’t you call Tim’s office and see if he will stop by for a pastoral visit?”
Even after fending off your fleshly responses, you still feel disappointed with yourself: “Why does this bother me so much? Why am I so insecure? Why can’t I rejoice that God used Tim’s sermon to shape the spiritual life of someone in my congregation?” This is what comparison does.
Comparison Categories
As I’ve reflected on my own battle with comparison, I’ve realized this heart test comes to us as preachers in at least four different ways.
Comparing abilities. According to Romans 12:7, teaching makes the list of spiritual gifts used to strengthen the church. While God uniquely gifts some to be pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11), he doesn’t gift them uniformly. Abilities vary. What’s more, even Spirit-given giftings must be developed.
Having been a homiletics professor for years, I have seen how teaching gifts can be developed through insight, effort, and experience. However, even when students work equally hard, they don’t preach equally well. Some have greater capabilities when it comes to effectively exegeting and expositing a text of Scripture.
Preachers recognize excellence when we hear it in another’s sermon. As we listen to an exceptionally gifted expositor, we can feel simultaneously impressed and diminished. On the one hand, we admire his ability to preach so well, the same way we would a piano virtuoso playing a Bach concerto or a Cy Young-winning pitcher painting the corners of home plate. We know he’s worked hard to do what he does. We also know that no amount of hard work would allow us to duplicate his efforts.
Most of us don’t aspire to become a concert pianist or to pitch for the Yankees. However, we do want to be effective preachers. So while we don’t compare ourselves to great pianists or pitchers, we sometimes do with great preachers. And the comparison doesn’t usually flatter us.
Comparing opportunities. Like spiritual gifts, ministry opportunities aren’t distributed equally among God’s servants. Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16) has some working a full day, some a half a day, and some only an hour. At quitting time, the Master pays them equally. Until pay time, the last group of workers may have felt rather short-changed by life. They had been overlooked, left on the sidelines while others were given opportunity and responsibility.
Preachers sometimes feel that way as we evaluate the ministry opportunities we’ve been given compared to those of others. We have friends from seminary who serve congregations that are impressive in size or standing. We watch others receive invitations to preach at denominational gatherings or high-profile conferences. We can see ourselves as one of the workers relegated to stand on the sidelines watching others step into amazing opportunities.
Comparing impact. While we know the full effect of our preaching will not be known until heaven, we long to see evidence of impact here on earth. We ask God to use our sermons to bring people to salvation and greater sanctification. When we hear God is working powerfully through the sermons of others, we can sometimes struggle with comparison. Why isn’t God working that way through us?
Comparing perks. This category is awkward to mention. After all, preachers are servants of Christ, not divas. We didn’t go into ministry for fame or money. But that doesn’t mean we don’t notice the material blessings some preachers enjoy: the make or model of their cars; the size and style of their homes; their seemingly unlimited expense accounts for books and conferences. We know this kind of comparison is fleshly, but our flesh still compares.
The Comparison Conundrum
So what’s a preacher to do? What does the Bible say about comparison and how we should handle it in a godly way? I see Scripture giving two appropriate but contrasting responses: kill it quickly and use it wisely.
Kill it quickly. While you won’t find comparison mentioned in the “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19–21, comparison is a close relative of several characteristics that make the list: jealousy, rivalry, and envy. Comparison also shares the same spiritual DNA as selfish ambition.
While I hate to admit it, my tendency to compare myself with others is often fueled by a high-octane, competitive spirit. That makes comparison a refined byproduct of pride. C. S. Lewis explains the connection between competition and pride in his book Mere Christianity:
Pride is essentially competitive—is competitive by its very nature—while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. … Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.[1]
The comparison that grows from the root of pride is sinful and deadly. Scripture speaks clearly on what we should do with sinful attitudes and actions: put them to death through the power of God’s Spirit. Listen to Romans 8:13: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Paul’s language sounds stark, even grisly. Sin must not find sanctuary to live as a fugitive in our souls. This is a matter of spiritual life or death. As the seventeenth-century Puritan John Owen put it, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”[2]
So when I notice comparison pushing its way into my thinking, stirring up my competitive juices and selfish ambition, I must quickly hand it over to the Spirit to be killed. “Lord,” I whisper, “I hate this struggle with my competitive comparisons toward another servant of yours. I confess this as sin and ask you, by the power of your Spirit, to help me put it to death. Thank you for your grace that both convicts and cleanses.”
Use it wisely. Because of comparison’s close ties to selfish ambition and pride, we might conclude it is unredeemable, always and only sinful. But surprisingly, Scripture teaches otherwise. In fact, comparison has a legitimate role in the life of a minister—if we use it wisely.
Read through the New Testament and you’ll discover Paul sometimes used comparison to assess himself and others. He benchmarked his work ethic against other ministers and concluded, “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). While Paul gauged his level of effort, in part by comparing himself to others in ministry, he intentionally fought against pride by crediting God’s grace for his efforts and accomplishments.
Comparison can sometimes aid us in our own efforts at self-assessment. While the primary standard for life and ministry must be God’s Word, we can benefit from looking at our lives in light of other committed servants of Christ. Over the years, I’ve been greatly challenged by reading biographies of Christian leaders from previous eras—Charles Spurgeon, George Müller, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Comparing my commitment and devotion with theirs spurs me to pursue further growth.
When done wisely, comparison not only helps us evaluate ourselves, it also assists us in assessing others. For example, Paul compared Timothy to other ministers and ranked Timothy at the top of his list: “For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare” (Philippians 2:20). This kind of comparison is an essential part of making wise leadership decisions. When done realistically and charitably, comparison allows leaders to assign the right people to the right positions.
There is still another way comparison proves spiritually useful for ministers. Here again, we learn from Paul. He constantly compared the sufferings he experienced while serving Christ with the glories that awaited him in heaven. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18). When Paul put earthly hardships next to eternal glories, there was no comparison.
Comparison Cholesterol
In a way, comparison functions a bit like cholesterol. We can’t live without cholesterol in our bloodstreams; that’s why our bodies naturally produce it. However, the wrong kind of cholesterol elevates our risk of heart disease.
Like cholesterol, comparison is both necessary and potentially deadly. When done in the wrong way, it raises our risk of spiritual heart disease. However, under the Spirit’s control, comparison can help us assess ourselves and assign responsibilities to others. So while irritating and insensitive, the guy who rushes up after Sunday’s sermon to gush about another preacher’s message may be doing us a favor. Unwittingly, he is forcing us to face ourselves—to see the sanctifying work remaining to be done in our hearts. As we embrace the upside of God refining our character, the painful comment that triggered it pales by comparison.
[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 122.
[2] John Owen, On the Mortification of Sin in Believers, The Works of John Owen 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1862), 9.
This chapter is taken from Rick’s book, The Heart of the Preacher. Used by permission. You can get a copy of the book here.
Rick and Linda Reed 