July-August 2011 – The call for excellence is heard not only in the business world, but also in the church. The concept of Christians doing everything with excellence, glorifying God with effort – and results – fit for a King, just sounds right.

We are as prone as anyone to making New Year’s resolutions to improve ourselves and endlessly thereafter promising to ‘kick things up a notch.’ Similar to those in the secular world, many Christians are drawn to the sanctified versions of self-help books and the seminars of Bible-spouting life coaches.

How many of those same Christians, however, find themselves collapsing into the recliner night after night, exhausted from work and the demands of church and family, weakly flicking television channels on the remote control? In those tired moments we are only too willing to embrace mediocrity like a warm blanket, realizing that “excellence” was probably something meant for someone else.

So are Christians just supposed to muck their way through life, relying on the mercy and grace of God and just being happy to be destined for the kingdom? Or are they supposed to strive for the excellence that issues its clarion call to God’s people?

Destined for the burn pile?
Building a scriptural case for excellence in the Christian life is not difficult, but like everything else, a person’s views on the issue begin with theological presuppositions. And what more basic concept is there than the nature of the world itself?

Are nature and society important to God – and thus to the Christian – or simply kindling wood awaiting the great eschatological fire of the Day of Judgment?

If a Christian answers affirmatively, he or she might think every activity other than the ‘spiritual’ pursuits – Bible study, prayer, church attendance, etc. – are a waste of time.

However, many Christians believe that the so-called ‘dominion mandate’ of Genesis 1:28 is still in force – that mankind is called to “fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over” it. They tend to think what we do on this planet is important – as is the question of how well we do it.

In this context it becomes clearer why the Bible seems to exalt diligence and hard work as a worthy end in itself. Proverbs 28:19, for example, says, “He who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.”

Work is placed in contrast with “empty pursuits,” as if work is concrete, while not working is like air – it is nothingness.

Financial planner Paul Williams noted on his Bible Money Matters blog that this verse plainly teaches that working hard – that is, doing things better – produces better results than slackness.

“The Bible warns against the dangers of laziness because it brings poverty, dishonor, and difficulties in life,” Williams said. “God wants to protect us from these dangers, and that’s part of the reason He calls us to work hard.”

So if work produces better results than sloth, it should also be true that excellent work will produce better results than mediocre work.

Demanding excellence
If we are honest, we are all impressed with excellence when it suits us. If a Christian needs surgery, does he want an excellent surgeon or a mediocre one? If a Christian is going to a concert, does she want to hear an excellent singer or a mediocre one?

Is this simply selfishness, or is there a deeper truth here? Many who argue for excellence do so based on the fact that mankind is created in the image of God. If we are His image bearers, we should have an innate desire to create and build as He did.

An examination of Genesis 1, however, goes beyond mere creation. After laying out God’s creative work in the universe, the chapter is punctuated with these famous words: “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (vs. 31a).

If we are created in God’s image, how can we be satisfied with anything less than “very good”?

The late, influential Baptist pastor and author Jack Hyles said, “If a task is worthy of our attention, it is worthy of our best.”

In this way we are not only faithful stewards of the opportunities God has placed before us, but we glorify Him by giving the proverbial 100%.

As Paul said in Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”*

Dangers of excellence
Unfortunately, if there is a danger in treating our earthly efforts too lightly, there is a ditch on the other side of the road, too. Human beings may struggle against laziness and mediocrity, but they also slip easily into legalism, idolatry, guilt and despair. These are all things that can come from an unbiblical view of excellence.

While trying to do all things as unto the Lord, here are dangers to avoid:

▶ Conflating natural and spiritual – While the world is not unimportant, Scripture plainly teaches that the spiritual life is far more worthy of our attention. Jesus said we are to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven – not on earth – and He asked rhetorically, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matt. 6:19, 20, 25).

Certainly it is not stretching the Lord’s words to extend His question to: “Is not life more than what we accomplish in this world?”

There is admittedly only the width of a razor’s edge between properly trying to excel in this life and forgetting what is most important. Perhaps this is what composer Ludwig Beethoven meant when he said, “Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience.”

▶ Requiring what cannot be obtained – This might disappoint – or even irritate – some hopeful parents, but it is patently not true that every kid can become president or a doctor or a lawyer if they just try hard enough. Gifts and natural abilities matter.

For example, Michael Jordan was gifted as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He undoubtedly honed those gifts by hard work and practice, and, of course, he could have squandered those same gifts by sitting in his recliner and getting fat. But can anyone simply decide that he will work hard enough to eventually reach that level of talent?

There really are limits on what we can achieve. Perhaps – like everything else – excellence is in the province of God, too, and not just hard-working men and women. He calls and bestows gifts according to His purposes, and He is also sovereign over the crushing disappointments of life that can sweep away a lifetime of hard work in a single, brutal storm.

▶ Forgetting the trade-offs – There is only a set amount of time in a day or a week or a lifetime. Therefore the desire for excellence in one role requires that less time be given to another. Life involves trade-offs. Some people call them compromises.

Perhaps being the best lawyer might mean being a mediocre husband or father. Is that a worthwhile trade-off in the pursuit of occupational excellence? Or, as a lawyer, should a Christian be a “6” rather than a “10” so he can be an “8” as a father?

▶ Confusing excellence and success – In some respects, the concept of excellence is somewhat ethereal. How is it measured? Does excellence mean “best of all” – better than everyone else? Is excellence to be measured by success – e.g., fame or money or the accumulation of stuff?

If yes, then how do we address the exhortation of Paul in Ephesians 4:28 when he says the Christian must work “in order that he may have something to share with him who has need”?

This seems to imply that much of our effort is to be expended with the benefit of others in mind – and that makes quantifying “excellence” much harder.

“Regrettably, we often lose our way by uncritically adopting worldly understandings,” said L. Gregory Jones, dean of Duke University Divinity School and co-author of Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry. “Excellence has become the holy grail of American culture. It is the aspiration of the athlete, the benchmark of business and industry, the essence of personal coaching. This culturally conceived excellence promotes individual effort and puts a premium on exceptional competence and skill.”

▶ Ignoring the cross – Jones does a magnificent job in both promoting Christian excellence and warning Christians against measuring excellence by worldly standards.

That warning is anchored in the cross and its implications for the Christian life. He reminds us that the foundation of our faith is a crucified Savior who calls us to suffer and sacrifice. You won’t hear that message at many slickly-produced self-help seminars.

Moreover, those honored in the kingdom of heaven are also often very, well, unique. Christine Pohl, professor of Christian ethics at Asbury Theological Seminary, said: “[T]he kingdom of God privileges ‘the poor, crippled, lame, and blind,’ and faithful followers of Christ have a distinctive call to welcome ‘the least’ to our tables and into our congregations.”

That’s not exactly the kind of thinking that will get your name in Forbes magazine, but it highlights the distinctiveness of the Christian ethic.

“How do we calculate the effect of reconciling forgiveness, the value of deepened prayer life, the impact of passing on faith to a child, the quiet presence of sitting with a dying parishioner or hammering nails to help provide housing for a homeless family?” Jones said. “Such activities are crucial to the way of discipleship, yet they often seem less significant when measured against the ways of the world.”

Devoted stewards
Like everything else in the Christian life, there is plenty on which to meditate when the subject of excellence arises.

We don’t need our lives to be hollowed-out exhibits of mediocrity, but there’s nothing wrong with being average, either. Perhaps a case can be made that, at least in some areas of our lives, mediocrity is not that bad – especially when you have no choice.

Neither should we be driven by success-crazed, worldly ambition, nor should we destroy the lives of loved ones by our obsession with perfection. If we are faithful stewards with what God has given us, if we seek to glorify Him and bless others, we are certainly on our way to reaching a more biblical standard of Christian excellence.

And that’s not a bad way to spend a life.  

*Unless otherwise specified, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible.