The Need for Ambition in the Church

"Desiring the office"

Despite what you may have heard, ambition isn’t a bad word.

In the era of “servant leadership” (a good term woefully misapplied), we think anybody who wants to be a leader is suspicious. Authority is solely derived from the consent of the governed, power is bad, etc.

The ideal leader, then, is the man we have to beg and press into service, who says “Aw shucks, me? Are you sure?”

We tell men ambition is bad and then we’re baffled when we don’t have any leaders to appoint.

Not only does this approach fail to produce leaders; it’s just not biblical.

The elder qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 start with this introduction:

”It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do” (3:1 NASB95).

Before a man can be an overseer (shepherd, elder, bishop, presbyter), he has to aspire to the position. Aspire just means “desire.” In other words, “if any man wants to be an elder.”

The definition of ambition? “An earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment” (dictionary.com).

“Wants to be an elder…” “earnest desire for some type of distinction.”

Ambition toward eldership is a requirement for the position.

It’s what drives the ambition that is the key.

We all know what selfish ambition looks like. It’s the guy who wants to “lord it over” (1 Peter 5:3), who openly campaigns for power to get his way. There will always be those guys, unfortunately, but we have to stop throwing the baby out with the bath water on their account.

Good ambition is embodied plenty of times in the Bible, and perfected in Jesus.

Two episodes come to mind.

In Mark 6:34 it says,

“When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.”

Jesus saw the people had a need. He cared about them. So He gave them what they needed. Before He distributed the bread that would feed 5,000 of them, He gave them the teaching bad leadership had deprived them of.

We see a similar tone in Matthew 23:37:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.“

‭‭Once again, Jesus saw people in need and wanted to help them. Even though they rejected Him, this is what Godly ambition looks like.

He was capable of giving them leadership they could not give themselves. It’s a parable of the talents situation—some have more to contribute than others, and if they do, they have a responsibility to use what they’ve been given.

This is where humility comes in. It’s not “I’m better than you,” it’s “I’ve been given sufficient strength to bear my own burden and part of yours, and so I’m going to help you with it.”

This is part two of the definition of ambition: “the willingness to strive for its attainment.”

I have to desire the role if I’m going to do the things necessary to attain it. I have no shame in saying I earnestly desire to be an elder someday—not so I can pick the color of the carpet or fire the preacher, but so I can shepherd souls who need help.

Accepting this duty is neither walking over people nor making myself their doormat to coddle their feelings and give them whatever they want. It’s about being able to put enough spiritual food on my own table that I have excess to share with others. It’s about having moral authority to praise what is good and call out what is wrong because everyone can see I do that in my own life first.

In order to get there many years down the road, Lord willing, I have to prove I can do it by cleansing my wife in the water of the Word and raising my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I have to have other Christians around my kitchen table. I have to develop a concern for the members whose attendance record is flagging. I have to learn how to have tough, confrontational conversations in love. I have to be firm enough in my holiness to encourage and exhort others in their growth.

I have to have the ambition to prove myself to be somebody others can trust with their spiritual guidance.

But it’s not about me—every eligible Christian man should be able to sign on to these last four paragraphs.

One of my biggest aims with this site is to reach men who are pointed in the same direction, and to encourage other men to start pointing themselves in that direction. And, I want to help prep them with what I’m learning on the journey.

Are you that kind of man? Do you have an ambition to lead for the good of others? Get ready to serve.

I get frustrated at how much of our teaching stays at the level of platitude and avoids the specifics, because specifics are where things get a little sticky. But we have to put the meat on the bones and make application when we say something like “Jesus said the greatest of you will be the servant” (Matthew 23:11).

Yes, He did say that. But what did He mean? Not that you’re supposed to be a glorified waiter, but that you will gladly take on the difficult duties that others can’t and won’t. That you won’t be above any task or view any person as unworthy of care.

Aspiring to eldership is not a popularity campaign. You will not always be liked for taking on these tasks. You may even be accused of lording it over when you draw a hard, but necessary line others won’t. But, so long as you’re not actually lording it over, you’ll be the man they need—if not always the one they want.

So, be that man of ambition. Pray for men with this ambition. Raise your sons with this ambition. Desire the office, figure out what it’s going to take to get there, and start working on it.

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