Should I “Dream Big” for God When I Have a Huge Ego?

00:00:00.000 | Well, we should dream big in our service for God and the church.

00:00:08.920 | Ambition is a necessary part of the church's mission in the world and that includes our

00:00:12.040 | own big lofty goals.

00:00:15.200 | But how do we guard against those lofty plans really just being an expression of our own

00:00:18.880 | self-aggrandizement?

00:00:19.880 | Here's a specific question from a listener named Natalie.

00:00:23.160 | "Hello, Pastor Jon.

00:00:24.160 | I hear a lot of Christians today talking about having big dreams and dreaming big for God.

00:00:28.480 | In light of God's sovereignty, how do I think about this?

00:00:31.000 | I don't want to use God's sovereignty as an excuse to not work hard and achieve all I

00:00:35.280 | can, but how do the concepts of having big dreams and waiting for God's plan work together?"

00:00:43.200 | Seems to me that the concern behind this question is that our ego in the pursuit of big dreams,

00:00:51.160 | we may be so eager in that pursuit that we try to make a name for ourselves and either

00:01:00.640 | miss God's plan for us or maybe fail to rely on God's power in us.

00:01:06.160 | So at root, I think Natalie is saying there's a possible ego issue here.

00:01:13.720 | But here's the catch.

00:01:14.720 | This is so helpful to me to realize.

00:01:17.400 | Here's the catch.

00:01:19.180 | Whether you have no dreams, cautious dreams, or big dreams, there's always an ego question,

00:01:27.960 | an ego battle.

00:01:29.680 | You can't escape it by choosing small dreams.

00:01:33.340 | If you have big dreams, this may be owing to ego exhibition.

00:01:38.420 | If you have cautious, careful dreams, this may be owing to ego protection.

00:01:44.520 | And if you have no dreams, this may be owing to ego paralysis.

00:01:49.480 | And in every one of those cases, it's an expression of pride, not just the first.

00:01:56.160 | We often don't recognize pride in the wallflower who hides in the corner, doesn't put herself

00:02:03.420 | or himself forward at all, when in fact, the withdrawn person who looks humble may be just

00:02:12.640 | as consumed with concern for ego as the guy who's out there in the middle of the floor

00:02:19.620 | attracting everybody's attention to stroke his ego.

00:02:22.740 | They may be exactly equal proud people in God's eyes.

00:02:28.140 | Here's the illustration.

00:02:29.140 | When I was just starting out in my academic career at age 28, I had some big dreams about

00:02:34.980 | making a contribution academically to the discipline of academic New Testament studies.

00:02:43.540 | So I wrote two or three hard academic technical articles and published them in big shot journals.

00:02:53.820 | And then after a while, I feared that maybe I was being motivated by ego exhibition.

00:03:01.000 | So I said to myself, "Okay, got to watch out for that.

00:03:05.020 | I'm going to stop that at least for a season and devote all my energies to being the best

00:03:10.340 | teacher I can be for these students and serve them well."

00:03:13.060 | Well, do you know what I discovered?

00:03:15.860 | The battle with pride did not go away.

00:03:19.420 | It just shifted onto a new battlefield.

00:03:22.060 | Now I found out that I could get high student evaluations if I taught in a certain way.

00:03:30.980 | So the very same question had to be faced.

00:03:35.420 | Was I teaching for the sake of ego exhibition or for the good of the students and the glory

00:03:41.420 | of God?

00:03:42.420 | And what I realized was that no matter whether you're a public figure or a private figure,

00:03:48.940 | the battle rages.

00:03:51.180 | We're proud, selfish, fallen, corrupt, ego-protecting, ego-exhibiting people, all of us, all the

00:04:00.340 | time, without the Holy Spirit.

00:04:02.780 | And so I made a choice to put writing back into my life, not because there was no danger

00:04:11.120 | of pride there, but because there was a danger of pride everywhere and there was no escaping

00:04:15.660 | it.

00:04:16.660 | And in writing, I thought I could do the most good.

00:04:20.900 | So that's where the fight and the monster would happen.

00:04:25.980 | So what's the answer to whether we should have big dreams or not?

00:04:33.340 | Let's just take the Apostle Paul as an example.

00:04:35.580 | Paul said, Romans 15, 20, "I make it my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ has not

00:04:44.140 | already been named, lest I build on anyone's foundation.

00:04:48.260 | And now since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, since I have longed

00:04:52.220 | for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain."

00:05:01.100 | So Paul was a driven man.

00:05:03.980 | Christ had given him a mission, and he poured his life into it.

00:05:08.940 | He would reach as far and as many Christless places and peoples as he could.

00:05:16.500 | He was going to Spain.

00:05:18.460 | Who knows what might happen in Spain with those barbarians?

00:05:22.180 | And that's where he was going.

00:05:24.620 | And he tells the rest of us that in view of the resurrection of Jesus and our own resurrection

00:05:31.860 | and how every sorrow and every pain and every inconvenience will be rewarded a thousand

00:05:36.900 | fold in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, "Therefore, be steadfast, immovable, always," and here

00:05:44.700 | comes this phrase, "abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your

00:05:50.900 | labor is not in vain."

00:05:51.900 | What does that mean?

00:05:52.900 | Man, I have thought so much about this phrase, "abounding in the work."

00:05:58.820 | You know what that means?

00:05:59.820 | Lots of work.

00:06:01.420 | Lots and lots and lots and lots of work.

00:06:04.940 | That's what "abounding in the work of the Lord" means.

00:06:08.740 | It means lots of work, and that's a big dream.

00:06:14.660 | The key to whether that lots of work is going to be an exhibition of ego or deep reliance

00:06:24.620 | on Jesus is found in 1 Corinthians 15, 10, where Paul says, "By the grace of God, I

00:06:33.380 | am what I am.

00:06:35.580 | His grace toward me was not in vain.

00:06:37.420 | On the contrary, I worked harder."

00:06:40.980 | So that's that "abounding in lots and lots of work."

00:06:44.460 | I worked harder than any of them, "though it was not I, but the grace of God that was

00:06:51.500 | with me."

00:06:52.820 | So my response is, go ahead.

00:06:56.940 | Dream your big dream.

00:06:59.980 | Do your work, lots and lots of it, but never, never presume that you're doing it on your

00:07:07.500 | own.

00:07:09.980 | What do you have that you did not receive?

00:07:11.780 | 1 Corinthians 4, 7.

00:07:13.740 | What if you received it?

00:07:14.900 | Why do you boast as though it were not a gift?

00:07:19.260 | Every dream is a gift.

00:07:20.920 | Every accomplishment of a dream is a gift.

00:07:24.020 | And when we get to the end of life, we are going to say, I hope we're going to say,

00:07:30.060 | with Martin Luther on his deathbed, last words out of his mouth, "Wir sind betler deses

00:07:37.820 | wahr."

00:07:38.900 | We are beggars.

00:07:41.300 | That is true.

00:07:42.300 | Wow.

00:07:43.300 | That is true.

00:07:44.300 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:07:45.300 | Excellent question, Natalie.

00:07:46.300 | Thanks for sending it in to us.

00:07:47.540 | And as you can hear, we're still working through some audio issues on Pastor John's, and I

00:07:51.860 | thank you for your patience as we work through it.

00:07:55.220 | Next week, we have a couple of really good questions.

00:07:56.980 | The first one is, "Would God want me if his glory was not on the line in me?

00:08:02.620 | Would he want me for me?"

00:08:04.500 | And then we have a number of emails from moms of newborns who want care for their own souls,

00:08:08.380 | as they're called to care for this new, dependent, and draining newborn infant.

00:08:13.420 | And Pastor John has some thoughts on soul care for new moms.

00:08:17.720 | Until then, subscribe to our audio podcast and find our feeds and search our episode

00:08:21.740 | archive.

00:08:22.740 | Even reach us by email with a difficult question you may be facing.

00:08:24.620 | You can do all of these things through our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

00:08:30.700 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:08:31.700 | Have a great weekend.

00:08:33.140 | We will see you on Monday.

00:08:34.740 | [END]

00:08:35.240 | Desiring God's Care for Newborns

00:08:37.240 | You

00:08:39.240 | You

00:08:41.240 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Should I “Dream Big” for God When I Have a Huge Ego?

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