NINE

AMBITION
Desiring to see the Kingdom of God come

the missional life course

Nehemiah 1:1-4

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani,

one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about

the Jewish remnant that had sur vived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to

me, “Those who sur vived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and

disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.

” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted

and prayed before the God of heaven.

the missional life course

 PRINCIPLE
When we have Holy Ambition, we are caught up in God’s mission for
the sake of the world. We shift our desires from our own personal
agenda to that of the Kingdom of God. We are about the things God
cares about and act on the things God has called us to.

the missional life course

LEARN
“Caught up in God’s mission
for the sake of the world”

James K.A. Smith

THE DANGERS OF AMBITION

Ambition is one of the dominant values in the culture that we live in. But for followers of Jesus,
ambition is a complex thing. So, how can we think about it?

“If you keep walking around the phenomenon of ambition, you’ll start to note a couple of features.
First, the opposite of ambition is not humility; it is sloth, passivity, timidity, and complacency. We
sometimes like to comfort ourselves by imagining that the ambitious are prideful and arrogant so that
those of us who never risk, never aspire, never launch out into the deep get to wear the moralizing
mantle of humility. But this imagining is often just thin cover for a lack of courage, even laziness.
Playing it safe isn’t humble.” - James K.A. Smith

The tension of ambition is domination and recognition and the opposite is sloth. The heart of worldly
ambition is a desire to dominate and to be recognized for doing it.

“It isn’t wrong for an actor to want to act his part as well as it can possibly be acted, but the wish to
have his name in bigger type than the other actors is a bad one...What we call ‘ambition’ usually
means the wish to be more conspicuous or more successful than someone else. It is the competitive
element in it that is bad. It is perfectly reasonable to want to dance well or to look nice. But when the
dominant wish is to dance better or look nicer than the others––when you begin to feel that if the
others danced as well as you or looked as nice as you, that would take all the fun out of it––then you
are going wrong.” - C.S. Lewis

Scripture has something to say about this exact issue:

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the
humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do
not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly,
unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every
evil practice.” - James 3:13-16

James warns us to not let domination and recognition become selfish in our hearts because it is
ungodly in its fruit and unleashes demonic power. A lot of damage that has been done in the Church
can be pinned down to a selfish element of ungodly competition. We’ve lost our sense of calling and
lean on “drive” to motivate and move us forward. Gordon McDonald speaks to the fruit of being simply
“driven,” rather than called when he says:
the missional life course
“Driven people are most often gratified by accomplishment.

Driven people are preoccupied with the symbols of accomplishment.

Driven people are usually caught in the uncontrolled pursuit of expansion.

Driven people tend to have a limited regard for integrity.

Driven people are not likely to bother themselves with the honing of people skills.

Driven people tend to be highly competitive.

Driven people often possess a volcanic force of anger.

Driven people are usually abnormally busy, are averse to play, and usually avoid spiritual worship.”

If ambition can be used for good or evil, how do we cultivate holy ambition? This session’s Scripture
helps guide us toward an answer. In it, Nehemiah shows us the three components of holy ambition: a
Kingdom vision, the crystallization of discontent, and radical sacrificial actions.

Kingdom Vision

The component of holy ambition is a vision beyond the boundaries of our own concerns to the needs
and cause of God in our own generation. Nehemiah is concerned and actively asking questions to
learn and understand the status of things outside himself.

“...I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
They said to me, ‘Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and
disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire…” -
Nehemiah 1:2b-3

We are often hindered from this vision due to “incurvatis”––the idea that sin causes us to turn inward
on ourselves. Jonathan Edwards expands on this barrier to Kingdom vision:

“The ruin that the Fall brought upon the soul of man consists very much in his losing the nobler and
more benevolent principles of his nature, and falling wholly under the power and government of self-
love. Before, and as God created him, he was exalted and noble, and generous; but now he is
debased, and ignoble, and selfish. Immediately upon the fall, the mind of man shrank from its
primitive greatness and expandedness, to an exceeding smallness and contractedness.”

If there’s any phrase that describes our modern life, it’s: PROJECT SELF. This means our vision
extends only as far as our own bodies, interests, needs and desires go. It means the whole point of life
is for society to present a blank canvas for us to maximize self-expression and personal ambition. It
means our focus is completely turned inward––it’s disordered.

A great litmus test to understand where we are in relation to this is to look to our prayer lives. We see
in the Lord’s prayer a proper ordering of focus...it starts with God, the glory due to His name and a
vision of His Kingdom. Do our prayer lives reflect Jesus’ order of things in his prayer? Or would they
line up more closely with the Lord’s prayer in reverse, starting with our personal needs?

Lord’s Prayer
Reversed Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven

Deliver us from evil

Hallowed be your name

Lead us not into temptation

Your kingdom come

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

Give us this day our daily bread

Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

Your kingdom come

Lead us not into temptation

Hallowed be your name

Deliver us from evil Our Father who art in heaven

the missional life course

God is looking for people who care about what He cares about:

“Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who wil stop to ask how you are?” -

Jeremiah 15:5

Crystallization of Discontent

The second component of holy ambition is a spirit of resolve, a belief that things must and will

change. This is where an awareness of things not being right solidifies into a tangible response. When

Nehemiah hears what has happened to Jerusalem it immediately causes a reaction for him:

“When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed

before the God of heaven.” - Nehemiah 1:4

Holy ambition is birthed out of this place. The challenge is that most of us see the need of our

generation but have inadequate responses to the urgency of that need. We hear about some aspect of

brokenness in the world and instead of responding we dismiss, we numb, and distract our

discontentment away because we can’t handle the emotional angst and overwhelm of sitting with

that brokenness.

To cultivate holy ambition we must sit with the discontentment and let it crystallize. We need to allow

it to take form in some sort of response. Then our ambition will be birthed out of a healthy place

rather than a pursuit of recognition or domination. Nehemiah could not bear the brokenness of his

generation and we shouldn’t either.

Radical Sacrificial Action

Nehemiah also helps us understand the third component of holy ambition. In the previous section,

Nehemiah felt the burden of brokenness but he did not jump straight to action. He started by seeking

God. Then he prays and owns the problem and repents on behalf of his generation. We will never have

influence if we don’t accept responsibility:

“I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you.

We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you

gave your servant Moses.” - Nehemiah 1:6b-7

Then he prayed a prayer of faith:

“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those

who love him and keep his commandments.” - Nehemiah 1:5

Only now, after these prayers, do we see Nehemiah begin to take bold, radical, and sacrificial action.

It is instructive to see the order in which Nehemiah operated. Radical sacrificial action will always be

part of holy ambition but taking those bold steps will never be done in isolation. It will always be in

concert with a Kingdom vision, a brewing discontent and intimacy with God.

Holy Ambition

“Resting in the love of God doesn’t squelch ambition; it fuels it with a different fire. I don’t have to

strive to get God to love me; rather, because God loves me unconditionally, I’m free to take risks and

launch out into the deep. I’m released to aspire to use my gifts in gratitude, caught up in God’s

mission for the sake of the world. When you’ve been found, you’re free to fail.” - James K.A.

the missional life course

Holy ambition leads to divine acceleration. We can have ambition and flourish when we are motivated
by a sense of calling from God. Gordon McDonald also describes the other side of being driven––
being called by God. He says:

“Called people value obedience over results.

Called people focus on who they are becoming, not just what they are achieving.

Called people focus on the Day of Judgment rather than judging other people.

Called people celebrate God’s work in others without comparing or criticizing them.

Called leaders worry about the lives of those they are serving, not the profile they are growing.”

If we ever find ourselves confused again about how to approach ambition, we need but look to Jesus.
Jesus’ life was the ultimate example of one lived with good and right ambition. He had a Kingdom
vision, crystallized discontent and moved out towards others in radical sacrificial action. He perfectly
embodied holy ambition.

the missional life course

REFLECT + DISCUSS

MY VIEW OF AMBITION

Coming into this session, what was your posture toward ambition? How did you view it? What has
changed in your understanding of ambition as a result of this session?

JESUS’ AMBITION

When you look at Jesus, the perfect embodiment of holy ambition, how does he model ambition for
us through his life? Where do you see the individual components of Kingdom vision, crystallization
of discontent and radical sacrificial action?

CULTIVATE HOLY AMBITION

Which of the three components of holy ambition comes most naturally to you? Which feels like the
most work? Why? How might you engage the one that is most difficult for you this week?

the missional life course

 PRACTICE:
PROJECT SELF

Open your heart to God and spend some time examining your prayer life with Him. Ask Him
to reveal what’s in your heart and review the Lord’s prayer section of this session. As you
read through each prayer, what is God speaking to you? What is He highlighting? Does your
prayer life match the structure of the Lord’s prayer or the reversed Lord’s prayer? How do you
sense God inviting you to cultivate a vision that is beyond the boundaries of your own
concerns?

DRIVEN vs. CALLED

Worldly ambition often stems from losing a sense of calling and allowing drive to motivate
and move us forward. When you read through George McDonald’s lists of people who are
driven vs. called, which descriptions does your current lifestyle resonate with most? What is
motivating the ambition behind your engagement in God’s mission? What are your next steps
to move away from worldly ambition and towards holy ambition?

GO:
This week, pay attention to where you are living out of worldly ambition and begin to
cultivate more holy ambition. Nehemiah cultivated holy ambition and saw more
accomplished for the Kingdom in 52 days than had been done in 52 years. How will you
engage a Kingdom vision, crystallize your discontent and take radical sacrificial action?

the missional life course