Godly Ambition
Introduction
Chuck Colson was a self-made man. As a student, he arrogantly turned down a scholarship to Harvard. He joined the Marines, he set up his own law firm and entered politics. By the age of forty he had become one of President Nixon’s closest advisers. Later, he described himself as ‘a young ambitious political kingmaker’. He was known as Nixon’s ‘hatchet-man’.
He pleaded guilty to his part in the Watergate cover-up scandal and was sent to prison. By then he had encountered Jesus. When he left the court after hearing the sentence, he said, ‘What happened in court today... was the court’s will and the Lord’s will – I have committed my life to Jesus Christ and I can work for him in prison as well as out.’
Colson did just that. After his release, he set up Prison Fellowship and became directly or indirectly responsible for leading thousands to Christ. I once heard him say, ‘I was ambitious, and I am ambitious today, but I hope it is not for Chuck Colson (although I struggle with that quite a lot as a matter of fact). But I am ambitious for Christ.’
Ambition has been defined as the ‘desire to succeed’. There are ultimately only two controlling ambitions to which all others may be reduced: one is our own glory and the other is God’s glory.
Psalm 116:1–11
Psalm 116
1 I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“LORD, save me! ”
5 The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
6 The LORD protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return to your rest, my soul,
for the LORD has been good to you.
8 For you, LORD, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
10 I trusted in the LORD when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”
Commentary
Be ambitious about your relationship with God
Make your relationship with God your number one priority. Like the psalmist, declare that your ambition is to walk before the Lord: ‘I’m striding in the presence of God’ (v.9, MSG). Make sure that your life is centred on a love relationship with God. This is the way to find ‘rest’ for your ‘soul’ (v.7).
This relationship is founded on the many ways in which we experience God’s help. Like the psalmist, I remember how God ‘heard my cry for mercy’ (v.1), how ‘when I was in great need he saved me’ (v.6), how God 'has been good to me’ (v.7) and how God ‘delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling’ (v.8). This is then the basis of our ambition to ‘walk before the LORD’ (v.9).
Prayer
Philippians 3:1–4:1
No Confidence in the Flesh
3 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.
Following Paul’s Example
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Closing Appeal for Steadfastness and Unity
4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
Commentary
Be ambitious for Christ
Sometimes Christians wonder whether it is right to be ambitious. They associate ambition with pride and think that humility means not being ambitious.
However, Paul was fiercely ambitious. Before he was a Christian, Paul had been ambitious in his zeal for Judaism, which led to a desire to persecute the church. After his conversion, he did not lose his ambitious nature, but its direction changed. If anything, he was even more ambitious! He describes himself in this passage as being like an athlete desperate to win a race (3:13–14).
Paul contrasts his great ambition for Jesus with two wrong types of ambition. The first is his own ambition before he was a Christian. He describes how he put his confidence in the flesh (‘outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances’, v.3, AMP), trusting in the different marks of his old religion (vv.3–6). But, as the great theologian Karl Barth once said, ‘Jesus Christ came to destroy human religion.’
God wants you to be confident, but not ‘in the flesh’. Rather your confidence should be in God alone – his love and provision. Paul’s religious ambition and zeal were misdirected. He ended up ‘persecuting the church’ (v.6).
The second wrong type of ambition is the material and earthly focus of so many in the world around us: ‘Their god is their stomach [‘their appetites, their sensuality’, AMP], and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things’ (v.19).
Paul now had a godly ambition. He describes the ‘surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’ (v.8), and the ambitions that flow from it (vv.8–11).
Paul realised he could never attain perfection. All his ambitions to attain ‘a righteousness on my own’, he now regards as ‘rubbish’ (v.9). Like Paul, enjoy the fact that, through trust in Christ, you too have now received ‘the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith’ (v.9).
We will never achieve perfection in this life. Our weaknesses keep us dependent on God; leaning on him and on his love and grace.
What should your ambition be?
Know Christ intimately
Paul’s ambition was ‘to know Christ’ (v.10). The Greek word for ‘to know’ means far more than intellectual knowledge – knowing things about something. Instead, it is a personal knowledge. Like Paul, make your ambition not just to know about Christ, but to know him more intimately.
Experience Christ’s resurrection power
Paul describes what this intimate relationship with Christ looks like. It means to know ‘the power of his resurrection’ (v.10), not just as a past event in history, but as a dynamic and exhilarating power at work in your life.
The Spirit of God brings this resurrection power to your life. By the power of his death and resurrection, Jesus disarmed Satan, broke the hold of sin and defeated death. This power is available to you to enable you to live a holy life and to minister to others with his resurrection power. Make it your ambition to know this power more and more.
Partner in Christ’s suffering
For Paul, ‘knowing Christ’ involves ‘the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death’ (v.10). He sees suffering as an inevitable part of knowing Christ. It is not a penalty but a privilege.
The suffering and death of Jesus is different from ours in that he died for our sins to save us from what we deserve. You will never suffer in exactly the way he did. But sometimes you will suffer for your godly ambition.
This suffering is the practical result of our Christian life. For some, this will mean severe persecution.
For all of us, it will include ‘all the pangs and afflictions... in the struggle against sin either within or without’ (J.B. Lightfoot). It is at these moments of suffering that we experience ‘fellowship’ with Christ. Make that fellowship your ambition whatever the cost.
Know your destination
Knowing Christ means sharing his destiny, ‘somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead’ (v.11). When Paul says ‘somehow’, he is not doubting this hope but acknowledging that this is a wonderful mystery.
Jackie Pullinger says that God gave her ‘resurrection eyes’. She says, ‘Only Jesus opens eyes... but all who believe in the resurrection of the dead know their destination is a place of comfort, a better country, a heavenly city.’
Paul says he is not there yet but it is his aim and ambition (v.12): ‘I’ve got my eye on the goal’ (v.14, MSG). Don’t focus on the past – how far you have fallen, your failures or even your successes. Rather, ‘forgetting what lies behind’ keep focused on Jesus, be single-minded, press forward and respond to his call.
Prayer
Jeremiah 4:10–5:31
4
10 Then I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats!”
11 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; 12 a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”
13 Look! He advances like the clouds,
his chariots come like a whirlwind,
his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us! We are ruined!
14 Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.
How long will you harbour wicked thoughts?
15 A voice is announcing from Dan,
proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
16 “Tell this to the nations,
proclaim concerning Jerusalem:
‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land,
raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
17 They surround her like men guarding a field,
because she has rebelled against me,’”
declares the LORD.
18 “Your own conduct and actions
have brought this on you.
This is your punishment.
How bitter it is!
How it pierces to the heart!”
19 Oh, my anguish, my anguish!
I writhe in pain.
Oh, the agony of my heart!
My heart pounds within me,
I cannot keep silent.
For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;
I have heard the battle cry.
20 Disaster follows disaster;
the whole land lies in ruins.
In an instant my tents are destroyed,
my shelter in a moment.
21 How long must I see the battle standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “My people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are senseless children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil;
they know not how to do good.”
23 I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty;
and at the heavens,
and their light was gone.
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking;
all the hills were swaying.
25 I looked, and there were no people;
every bird in the sky had flown away.
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;
all its towns lay in ruins
before the LORD, before his fierce anger.
27 This is what the LORD says:
“The whole land will be ruined,
though I will not destroy it completely.
28 Therefore the earth will mourn
and the heavens above grow dark,
because I have spoken and will not relent,
I have decided and will not turn back. ”
29 At the sound of horsemen and archers
every town takes to flight.
Some go into the thickets;
some climb up among the rocks.
All the towns are deserted;
no one lives in them.
30 What are you doing, you devastated one?
Why dress yourself in scarlet
and put on jewels of gold?
Why highlight your eyes with makeup?
You adorn yourself in vain.
Your lovers despise you;
they want to kill you.
31 I hear a cry as of a woman in labour,
a groan as of one bearing her first child—
the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands and saying,
“Alas! I am fainting;
my life is given over to murderers.”
Not One Is Upright
5 “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
I will forgive this city.
2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’
still they are swearing falsely. ”
3 LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain;
you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.
4 I thought, “These are only the poor;
they are foolish,
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
the requirements of their God.
5 So I will go to the leaders
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the LORD,
the requirements of their God.”
But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
and torn off the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
to tear to pieces any who venture out,
for their rebellion is great
and their backslidings many.
7 “Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I supplied all their needs,
yet they committed adultery
and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing for another man’s wife.
9 Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the LORD.
“Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?
10 “Go through her vineyards and ravage them,
but do not destroy them completely.
Strip off her branches,
for these people do not belong to the LORD.
11 The people of Israel and the people of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to me,”
declares the LORD.
12 They have lied about the LORD;
they said, “He will do nothing!
No harm will come to us;
we will never see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are but wind
and the word is not in them;
so let what they say be done to them.”
14 Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says:
“Because the people have spoken these words,
I will make my words in your mouth a fire
and these people the wood it consumes.
15 People of Israel,” declares the LORD,
“I am bringing a distant nation against you—
an ancient and enduring nation,
a people whose language you do not know,
whose speech you do not understand.
16 Their quivers are like an open grave;
all of them are mighty warriors.
17 They will devour your harvests and food,
devour your sons and daughters;
they will devour your flocks and herds,
devour your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
the fortified cities in which you trust.
18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely. 19 And when the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’
20 “Announce this to the descendants of Jacob
and proclaim it in Judah:
21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear:
22 Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD.
“Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say to themselves,
‘Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains in season,
who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
your sins have deprived you of good.
26 “Among my people are the wicked
who lie in wait like men who snare birds
and like those who set traps to catch people.
27 Like cages full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
they have become rich and powerful
28 and have grown fat and sleek.
Their evil deeds have no limit;
they do not seek justice.
They do not promote the case of the fatherless;
they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
29 Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the LORD.
“Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?
30 “A horrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy lies,
the priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love it this way.
But what will you do in the end?
Commentary
Be ambitious to speak God’s words
The Lord speaks through Jeremiah and says, ‘My people are fools; they do not know me... they are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good’ (4:22). He warns that judgment is coming because the people have focused their ambitions in the wrong direction.
Jeremiah thinks that surely the leaders will know the right way: ‘So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God’ (5:5). But they, like the people, ‘refused to repent’ (v.3c). Their ambitions were focused on the false gods of money, sex and power.
Only God can satisfy our deepest needs (v.7b, MSG). God says to them, ‘I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife’ (vv.7b–8).
He goes on to say that their houses are full of deceit. They have ‘become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek’ (vv.27–28a). Although they were rich and powerful, they did not care for the poor: ‘Right and wrong mean nothing to them. They stand for nothing, stand up for no one, throw orphans to the wolves, exploit the poor’ (v.28, MSG).
God calls Jeremiah to a new level of powerful speaking: ‘I’m putting my words as fire in your mouth’ (5:14, MSG). Now you too can have this experience of speaking God’s powerful life-changing words to those around you.
Prayer
Pippa adds
Philippians 3:13b says:
‘One thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining towards what is ahead…’
It is important not to be hindered by the past in any way – either the failures and disappointments, or the successes, which might make us over confident. But instead, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Verse of the Day
Psalm 116:3b–4a
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the LORD:
‘LORD, save me!’
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References
Charles W. Colson, Born Again (Chosen Books, 2008) p.37.
The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (commentary formerly known as Bible in One Year) ©Alpha International 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Compilation of daily Bible readings © Hodder & Stoughton Limited 1988. Published by Hodder & Stoughton Limited as the Bible in One Year.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.