by RobertCummins | Dec 16, 2014 | 51. Involved In Ministry
Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don’t forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I’m locked up in this jail. Pray that every time I open my mouth I’ll be able to make Christ plain as day to them. Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don’t miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out. Colossians 4:2-6 (MSG)
If prayer is conversation with God, as those who pray have discovered it to be, then a paraphrase of this passage might read;
Enjoy your conversations with God. Be sure to listen to Him; being gratefully aware of His goodness. When you do speak to Him, ask Him, in our behalf, to give us access into men’s hearts so that we may plant the eternal seed of His Word there. Here is fair warning; it is for doing this very thing I have been jailed. Wisdom informs us that there are no “chance” encounters. Seize the opportunity to connect with those the Lord brings you into contact with. Speak with them and treat them as graciously as the Lord Himself has treated you.
What follows is the is how the listening part of this conversation with God is evolving for me…..
When I paraphrase a verse or a passage, I try and honor the text and the context. When I expand on an idea, I do it because I hear other truths from scripture amplifying a word or a phrase. This process is a way for me to carefully chew each morsel of spiritual food, enjoying its flavor and hopefully benefitting from the nourishing life within it.
I used to fret that I did not hear God’s voice like others seemed to. Looking back, I think that was a subtle (yet reasonable sounding) lie flavoring my inner conversation with doubt, fear and condemnation. I finally came to a place, not too long ago, where I decided that whatever “hearing God’s voice” involved, it was not going to be helped by entertaining this track of mournful, hopeless thinking however reasonable it sounded. This lie stuck because it seemed reasonable and natural that a depraved man’s receptors would be in a fallen condition and thus impaired for the task of listening to and hearing God’s voice. But, I had failed to fully realize that the temple veil was torn in two, signifying new access to the Father.
We were created in the likeness of God. We have been re-joined and reunited with the One who sits upon the throne by the One who hung upon the cross. In Christ, we share, at the core of our being, the same DNA as the Father. Oh the glory this world will see when the redeemed grasp that our new natures in Christ trump all things fallen and natural and that the channels have been re-opened between us and God and that they are 100% free of condemnation!
A young businessman man in China, who I don’t think would have known my phobia regarding hearing God’s voice, was praying for a team of three of us who were going to do some ministry in South Africa. As he prayed for me, he heard God say, “Rob does not hear my voice the same way others do. I have given him language.” For those unfamiliar with this sort of thing, this would be dubbed, “a prophetic word”. It is was not issued forth with the force of an old testament prophecy. (therefor no stones will be cast if this does not prove to be true. OK?) It was just a simple word received by one who is learning the art of listening as they pray and simply sharing it as a word of encouragement. I treat prophetic words as holy clues. God knows His children love to discover things and this is just one of the ways He chooses to encourage us to press on. Prophetic words are not directives to be robotically obeyed by slaves; They are invitations from Father to draw near and listen for possibilities on a particular wave length because there are presents to be unwrapped!
I love to read and I have always loved the language that God has given others. When I read I am typically savoring the thought as well as the art of its presentation. There is life in words. When the right idea is delivered in the right spirit at the right time, they have incredible power. When I picked up the Blue Book a few years ago, I was encouraged to experiment with reading the scriptures with a listening heart, not just an inquiring mind. I was also encouraged to start journalling. It was in this simple act I began unwrapping a surprise from the Lord. Indeed, he had given me language.
Consequently, the pen (now the keyboard) have become the rope and the bucket for me that I use to dip into a deep well of Living Water. Here is how this frequently plays out; After reading a passage several times (often starting the evening before) I listen for something that is vibrating at a bit higher frequency. In other words, what word, phrase or idea seems to be emboldened or highlighted? I will usually reread the passage and permit it to amplify and modify that original morsel. As a backdrop, I am just presuming that God is desiring to reveal Himself and make Himself known. I lower the bucket by writing out an initial observation and draw it up by meditating on it and typing out my reflections, seeing how they connect with the rest of the passage or the author’s intentions and especially to life right where it is being lived in the moment. I have discovered in the process of writing in this fashion I am also listening.
I know. There is a frightening amount of subjectivity in this. You may be asking how Rob, with his fallen nature and independent stiff will, will keep from drifting, in his subjectivity, from modest error today into gross heresy tomorrow. Good question. I have at least three things going for me that should serve as a hedge against this possibility.
1) The deepest truth about me is not that I have an independent and rebellious nature. The deepest truth about me is that I have a brand new nature and identity in Christ. Christ Himself and His Spirit reside in me. My new DNA (which is also God’s) is formatted in Truth. This new nature instinctively recognizes the Father’s voice – the Spirit of Truth. That’s the first thing.
2) God does not give a serpent to his children when they ask for a fish; nor does He give them a stone when they ask for a loaf. God is a really good Father! If I go ape with subjectivity, He has the ability to correct me. He isn’t going to let me drive the train off the track.
3) I also have you and others who I deliberately expose my heart to. If you are my true brother or sister, you will ask me, when something seems off, if I may not need to reconsider my thinking in light of the whole counsel of scripture. If you have that level of courage then iron will have sharpened iron and we will both grow as a result. If not, our apathy and cowardice will likely perpetuate our errors and consequently our lukewarm condition.
Father, as we move through our lives, help us to see the beloved people all around us. Help us to boldly, lovingly and wisely draw near to those who You have sovereignly appointed us to connect with. Grant us open doors into each other’s lost and wounded hearts. May Your Holy Spirit in us decode our inarticulate pleas for living water. Please re-pray them in our behalf. Grant that, from the water we draw from You, we can offer each other the refreshment of heaven that resides within us. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 15, 2014 | 51. Involved In Ministry
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Are you involved in ministry? Is the nature of your ministry full-time or are you just part-time? I have had people for years telling me that they could see me in full-time ministry someday. Since that had been an ambition of mine since Christ took up residence within me at 23, I was always pleased to hear this prediction. After all, I didn’t want to just give Jesus a part-time commitment. But, I have also been frustrated because my attempts at moving in that direction always felt like I was kicking against the goads.
It has only been in recent years that I discovered that I was already in full-time ministry and had been for years. Here is something that might cause you some surprise; if Christ is in you, you too are in full-time ministry. (And if you are a Christian, Christ is in you.) If you are not drawing a paycheck for your ministerial contribution, this passage drives home some of the advantages of the type of full-time ministry you and I share. You and I (non-staff ones) have much more in common with Paul than we probably thought!
Here are some observations from this passage about Paul’s ministry. *His conscience was so clear before God and man that he could defend his whole-hearted effort and motives without blushing and also without pride. *Paul clearly understood that in regard to his ministry, it was ultimately God, with whom he had to do. This was simply the orientation of his heart since he had become the tabernacle of the living Christ. This relieved Paul of the burden of trying to impress anyone or even assert the apostolic authority that was rightfully his. * He preferred to win their hearts and draw their choices from them as opposed to laying down a law and driving them with guilt and fear toward obedience. A key to Paul’s success comes to light in verse 2:8;
Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.
Paul knew something about different types of authority. He knew that the kind of authority that is earned by sharing life’s burdens was superior to the kind that came with his apostolic title. Paul was using the authority of a true spiritual father not that of a hireling. He knew from experience that, from this place of close relational proximity, he was more effective in the exhorting, encouraging and imploring necessary to equip men to become sons and ultimately spiritual fathers.
Paul owed nothing to anyone other than God. He was not obligated to meet the expectation of a congregation whose tithes would be the basis of his economic stability. In the Christian culture most of us have grown up in, there is a pastor who receives a paycheck and he is accountable to his employer which is typically represented by some kind of board or committee. And, if you have had the experience of being either the writer or the recipient of these checks, you know there is the always present dynamics of politics which Paul was fortunately unhindered by in Thessalonica.
I have had the opportunity to enter into the dynamic tensions between the writer and recipient of these checks. Consequently, today I thank the Lord for sparing me from “that type” of full-time ministry and permit me to see that we are all in full-time ministry with the same advantages that Paul knew. We have the privilege, just as Paul did….
…to walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls us into His own kingdom and glory. And for this reason we can thank God that when those (in relational proximity to us) received (and observed) the word of God’s message, they accepted it not as (just) the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in those of us who believe. (emphasis mine)
For the record, Paul did issue commands by the authority of the Lord Jesus but he didn’t just preach them, he demonstrated them. When he exhorted the Thessalonians that each of them must learn to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, as a member of their community, he was able to actually demonstrate how to abstain from sexual immorality and to live and to work free from lust and greed. The kingdom of God is learned by a combination of exhibition (example) and exposition (teaching).
As much as a pastor might like to imitate Paul and personally exhort and encourage the flock, his organizational and managerial responsibilities usually require so much of his time that relational proximity to others is nearly impossible. There is another complicating feature for “pastors” in experiencing true relational proximity (and intimacy) to others in our current church culture; that is “compliance”.
I hate this word because our construction business contracts with government entities who are really heavy into “compliance”. If we do not comply with their specifications and regulations which are numerous, and sometimes onerous, we do not get our paycheck. I believe I see this same dynamic in-play within church (the way our traditions have taught us to do it). It may in fact be worse in churches than in government. At least in our business (where God is not confused as its sovereign author) we have written contracts, specification and prescribed means of resolving disputes.
Within church cultures there are some written codes but there are also myriad unwritten ones -spelling out the righteous standards that must be complied with. It is very complicated because over time these standards become embedded into the group’s culture and are hence sacred (assumed to be ordained by God). If one wishes merely to remain employed or in good standing, it would serve them well to understand the religious culture in which they serve and live in compliance with it. If however you are a re-former of church culture brace yourself for an inevitable and messy battle where the disputed territories being fought over will seldom even be understood or acknowledged for what they really are – strongholds of tradition, birthed and sustained by status quo-old wineskin thinking.
Non-compliance does however often lead to gossip. There is typically a whole undercurrent of discussion within the local assembly as to how the “pastor’ (and others) are doing in their compliance. Sheep may look innocent but they bite like crazy. Just ask all the pastors who have distanced themselves (for safety and sanity’s sake) from all the self-appointed code-enforcers.
I have drifted. My point is that those of us who do not draw a paycheck for our service of worship have an unprecedented opportunity and responsibility. The pastor does not have the same congregation as we do. Only you and I have our particular network of friends, co-workers and family. It’s not the pastor’s job to reach them. Only we, who are unencumbered with title and have been uniquely gifted, equipped and strategically located must serve those nearest us. Only in our unique relational proximity to these people can we impart our lives.
1 Thessalonians has much to say about life together but here is one of Paul’s most precious pearls…..
Encourage one another and build-up one another…..and always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men.
Father, may the light come on within us and help us see and take ownership of those you have placed near to us. Help us to love them with the gifts you placed uniquely in us for this purpose. Deliver us from the idea that the kingdom was left to be built by salaried professionals. Give us new strategies that will equip and commission the saints to impart our lives and the gospel to those You have placed near to us. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 22, 2013 | 51. Involved In Ministry
Acts 8:26-40
I recall Henry Blackaby’s counsel from His excellent Experiencing God study; To find the will of God for your life, look around, see what God is doing and get involved in it. That remains wise counsel, but on this particular day, the Lord was not leaving the discovery of His will to Phillip’s powers of observation alone. He used an angel to issue a directive, “Go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” The next thing we know, the Holy Spirit Himself gets in the action, saying, “Go up and join the chariot.” It does seem that once Phillip connected with God’s target along that desert road that he found what God had been doing. He discovered the eunuch was a reader and simply asked him how that was working out. It was not long before this foreigner was a member of the family of God.
Why do some come to Christ and others do not? If this story is representative of God’s ways, it is pretty obvious that people come to Christ because the Good Shepherd locates the 1 in 99 then, using supernatural prompts along with His disciples, hunts them down and leads them into the fold. The story reveals to what extent God is willing to go in rescuing lost sheep.
He used the supernatural to maneuver Phillip and the eunuch into close proximity and then He used the most natural of means, Phillips’s ability to engage the man in a conversation. When Phillip was trying to determine what God had been doing, He did so by inquiring as to what questions were churning inside the man’s heart.
Don’t you know Phillip’s heart leapt when he discovered that the man just happened to be reading about Jesus, the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. Phillip was able to relate that the One he had been reading about had just recently come to earth from heaven as a sacrificial Lamb and left as the resurrected King, securing eternal life to all those who would simply believe that He was the Son of God.
Note: This paragraph presumes you read yesterday’s post. Our passage today strongly reinforces the doctrines of “election” and “the sovereignty of God”; biblical truths that are foundational which I subscribe to. However, when these doctrines are regularly fed to and incorporated into a Sunday/Wednesday / “spectator” Christian culture where discipleship is optional, I think our mission as ambassadors of reconciliation gets derailed. In this case the spectator is one who is depending on the pastor, his staff and the missionaries to be the front line for the gospel. They are comforted that God is in control so their passivity does not play into any eternal outcomes. I could not take this same comfort. I believe God wants us to recover our initiative as individual Kingdom citizens and envoys who are honoring God’s sovereignty by recognizing where he has intentionally placed us within our own unique existing networks of relationships where we are the front lines of the kingdom of God.
Another besides Henry Blackaby, attempting to recommission the saints into ministry, is Dr. Bruce Wilkinson. His book, You Were Born For This makes a great biblical argument, within a “reformed” framework, that we have all been sovereignly maneuvered, with angelic and Spirit assistance, to arrive where we currently are, fit geographically and spiritually into networks of people who have questions rumbling around inside them that we alone are positioned to inquire into. The book provides numerous accounts, no less fantastic than Phillip’s, that demonstrate that God’s supernatural resources are available to reach out to the “1 and 99’s” who are everywhere around us. The only question is in regards to our wineskin mindsets. Have we been conditioned to “attend” church or to “go” out into the ripe fields we are daily walking in?
An application of this passage is right in front of us. A Blue Book has been placed in the hands of a group, which I assume God has sovereignly assembled, that has both answered and provoked questions regarding the same One the eunuch was inquiring about. Some of us have been coming together regularly and asking each other, “Do you understand what you are reading?” Over time a priceless dialogue has resulted. Safe spaces have been created, inviting us to risk going beyond our religious pretense, where we have given each other permission to be ourselves. Networks have been identified. Members of those networks are taking ownership and investing into these holy friendships. Hearts have grown closer to each other and to God. This was accomplished because a few people took the initiative to reach out with this Blue Book. What would happen if those who have been infected with Blue Book fever contaminated others in relational proximity to them?
Father, awaken us from any slumber that has come over our spirits that would suggest that “ministry” is for professionals and that we are here to just attend church, cast our votes and pay a tithe in behalf of others who actually do the work. We pray that you would even use the Blue Book network to help us and others discover our identities as sons and ambassadors; reclaiming our unique destinies as those who tear down strongholds and destroy the lofty speculations that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God. Grant us ears to hear. Grant us courageous hearts to respond to Your voice that is calling us out past our comfort zones. Help us to see that our choices are essential in the mysterious outworking of Your sovereignty. And may we see a great harvest of new kingdom sons and citizens. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 21, 2013 | 51. Involved In Ministry
Matthew 28:16-20
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
May I begin by saying that there are wonderful exceptions to this but for many in the evangelical community, perceived success in fulfilling this command is realized when red hot zealots arise from the lukewarm pack and head the call to ministry. They make preparation and ultimately find their way into professional ministry as missionaries or pastors. The Body of Christ then looks to these called ones as their leaders. They in turn, spend their lives preaching the gospel in order to save souls from hell and preserve them, through church involvement, for heaven. But, with this paradigm, how are we doing in the making disciples department?
As hard as professional clergy may try, it is nearly impossible for them to to prevent an us versus them culture within the groups they oversee with us being, the called professionals and them being the less-called unprofessionals. This mindset promotes a crippling idea; that one can be a disciple who is actively engaged in ministerial activity or that one can be a mere believer who attends church. If the adage is true that 20% of the people do 80% of the work, then the effect of this error is that 80% of the army has not been commissioned. Infecting the Body of Christ with the notion that one can believe without being a disciple has been one the enemy’s most effective fiery missiles. (If I am missing something in the scriptures on this, I pray someone will enlighten me.)
The original mandate to make disciples has effectively been derailed by an idea that has gone largely unchallenged within institutional Christianity. Consequently, many bible believing followers have been breaking away from traditional churches to engage in missional communities where the assumption is that all are called and that the primary mission of leaders is to recognize this and equip them as disciples through their teaching and the example of their own lives. Does seminary or bible college equip people to lead in this way?
Jesus said, “As I am so are you in this world.”
While Pastor and the gospel have had their place, I can see a day when the disciple and the Kingdom will have theirs. A disciple is nothing more than a person in whose heart Christ’s kingdom is operative and expanding. The Kingdom of God is simply that domain of activity where Christ’s government is prevailing. This is why Jesus said, in Him the kingdom of God had come. This is why He said the kingdom of God is within us.
The leader who is deconstructing the us vs them and the disciple vs attender–wineskin myth is partnering with the kingdom of God. The leader who is helping believers discover their identities in Christ and laying hold of their kingdom destinies are partnering with God in His grand kingdom objectives. The leader who is intentionally helping believers discover their individual giftings and helping them to see how relevant and essential they are to their imediate network of souls is making disciples and fulfilling the Great Commission mandate. When believers become disciples who recognize they are here only temporarily and that now is their opportunity as both sons and soldiers, the rulership of this planet will shift from the Prince of this world to Lord of Life and King forevermore.
Father, we acknowledge that you have commissioned us as ambassadors to make disciples in all nations. Help us to prepare by living out Your life in our neighborhoods and our networks. Help us to see our wineskins from Your perspective. May Your Kingdom inform our reality. Help us to embrace the Kingdom of God and may that eternal paradigm govern our lives individually and corporately that the world may see that special and long-awaited glory upon us and credit You for the miracle. In Jesus name. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 20, 2013 | 51. Involved In Ministry
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
The reading of this passage has provoked some thinking that I usually avoid in conversation because of the fact that whatever “skin” we are in, when it comes to a discussion of “wineskins”, our skin is typically pretty thin. I think of wineskins as the paradigms have and the perceptions we use to explain reality to ourselves. Within the Church, our wineskins are the individual and collective thought structures in which we attempt to contain the life of God. Every human has one, and the simple fact that we each believe that we came by ours honestly through our experience and study makes them nearly, if not completely, sacred. And, what is sacred must be protected. Thus; the thin skin. Thus division.
The combination of yielding to His Word, imperfectly to be sure, through 60 years of experience and trials, some of which He appointed; others which I created, all of which He has redeemed or is redeeming, is how my wineskin has been shaped and painfully reshaped. Note; I have not been a Christian for 60 years. But, His light shining retroactively on the 23 years I was stumbling through the darkness without Christ, has been one of the most redeemed and instructive aspects of my life. While I am aware my story does not reflect “perfected” theology, neither can I apologize for it if it does not happen to fit in with your wineskin. Even in its imperfection, I believe that it is His story finding expression through me. And, as Paul would pray, “May it be made manifest to your consciences.” If not; no harm, no foul.
As one who attempted to transition from a community-oriented local assembly to a traditional local church, I found myself frustrated because I had become a spectator to Christianity as I sat in my typical seat at the Sunday and Wednesday events. After a few years, I made the team, so to speak, when I was invited to become an elder in this “elder-governed” church. As much as I appreciated this gesture, my discomfort was not relieved. I could not escape the sense that the way we did church unintentionally created spectators. I do not anticipate that every one will understand this or agree, but I would like to attempt to better explain myself by drawing from the theological meat of this passage….and reasoning forward. The meat:
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him…..He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf……Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come….. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and GAVE US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, AND HE HAS COMMITTED TO US THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION. THEREFORE WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST; AS THOUGH GOD WERE ENTREATING THROUGH US; WE BEG YOU ON BEHALF OF CHRIST, BE RECONCILED TO GOD.”
Paul, as well as any man alive, understood wineskins. He was an outspoken and proud advocate of his previous wineskin – The Law and the hyper-religious Jewish culture. It was while Paul was operating with zeal under the authority of his old wineskin that Jesus asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” It is this same man who has become in tune with his heart where Christ now dwells. There are no wineskin large or strong enough to contain the kingdom of God. Paul’s understanding is essential to the process of being a disciple. He says…….
“We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, that you may have an answer for those WHO TAKE PRIDE IN APPEARANCE, AND NOT IN HEART.” I believe I am reasoning from scripture, when I say Paul was deeply concerned with pretense. Note; The event with Annanias and Saphira suggests that God may be as well. This is why I think Paul would cry foul if He saw any type of wineskin forming that encouraged, intentionally or by default, the potential of pretense. Pretense is that place where people can conceal their hearts from each other while outwardly living a religious lifestyle compliant with the existing wineskin. Does this sound at all familiar?
I believe one of the reasons Paul may have been “beside himself’ (vs 13) is because environments where pretense exists are “unsafe”. They are unsafe because there are unspoken agendas at work behind the scene eroding away the potential Life of Christ within a faith community. In these environments, there are typically, freight car loads of unreconciled offenses which completely derail the train from its mission of reconciliation. Why? Because It is not likely that the world is going to accept the Ministry of Reconciliation from us unless they see that we are first reconciled to each other. Remember; for us to be reconciled to God, Jesus taught us that we must be first reconciled to each other. (Matt 5:23-24, 18:21-35)
A related an aside; I believe the scriptures are inspired in an overlooked way. I believe it is God’s genius that there is so much in the Bible that we cannot intellectually reconcile. Some of the world’s best minds and hearts end up with opposite conclusions on various biblical topics. The great need we seem to have for certainty has led to the division of the Church organism into ever increasing numbers of wineskins. However bad this train wreck may appear, the intellectual gulf between us has left opportunity for the Body of Christ to be reconciled to each other by way of the new nature within us which has the capacity to be constrained by the love of God. It is CHRIST IN US, THE HOPE OF GLORY!
We will one day be a united and loving family, due not to a reconciliation of doctrinal differences or a synchronization of understanding, but rather due to the fact that we learned, like Paul and his team, to recognize no man according to the flesh (i e; according to titles, performance, pedigrees or wineskin affiliation). We will recognize and honor the new nature within each other. The love of God that our hearts, as His disciples are constrained by, will be made manifest to each other, to God and to the world. It is then that we will persuade men. We are not made manifest (i.e.; our testimony does not ring true) to the consciousness of the world, not just because they are vile, unclean enemies of all that is holy, but because our claim that Jesus is both savior AND LORD appears, at least at this time, to them as a half-truths at best.
I am not sure what is required to change a wineskin for everybody. I only know that it seems like mine has had to suffer some violence along the way in order to experience much transformation. In this current season of reflection, my understanding is that there are no wineskins capable, however impressive they may be outwardly, of containing the Life of God other than the one Jesus announced had come; THE KINGDOM OF GOD. I also suspect, where we are the great advocates of our particular wineskin, God may be saying to us, the same thing He spoke to Saul, “Why are you persecuting me?”
One day the over-arching, eternal, ever-expanding authority of God’s Kingdom will swallow all our wineskins whole. I believe as we, on that Great Day, stand before Him, this is going to create some significant embarrassment for us, perhaps even some weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This passage began with, “Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord……..” I confess, If there is anything that I personally fear, it is that Jesus is not receiving the reward of His suffering, which is, at a minimum, reconciliation between Himself and men for the reason that we have become a stumbling block, a discredited example, to those He loves and desires to draw to Himself.
Father, ultimately Your will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. Help us to find the balance of trusting in this and working with You toward that end. Give us new wineskin hearts that are thirsty for the Living Water that You intend to fill us with. May the new wine spill over into our relational networks bringing healing, salvation and deliverence to all. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 19, 2013 | 51. Involved In Ministry
Matthew 10:1-20
I am just being honest. At times I find myself wanting to skim over some of Jesus’s troubling words. Yesterday it was;
“If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
Today it’s, “Heal the sick and raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…” I think I am seeing a trend in these verses that trouble me. They are verses that require that I think and live like Jesus Christ. My first reaction as I reluctantly processed this was, “This idea of us doing the miraculous is scandalous! We are talking about God incarnate here! I am just a man! And, I am fallen one at that!” Yet, here it is again, as we saw it yesterday, “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” Only today the Lord’s words are loaded with supernatural specifics. In discussing miracles we are treading on one of the major fault lines dividing the Body of Christ.
I frequently get the impression, as I read the New Testament, that Jesus has given His children a frightening amount of authority that we simply do not know what to do with. But, as I give it more thought, we do come by this authority honestly. After all, with His Holy Spirit, He imparted to us His nature (His DNA). The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that healed and set people free, that spoke the cosmos into existence, resides within us. So now, in spite of our personal opinions regarding our potential, God’s DNA is our DNA. That is huge!…. and I believe, should provide for a more flattering view of ourselves individually and collectively than we are accustomed to entertaining. Which is truer of us; that we are fallen or that we are new creations? Does this matter of our core identity affect our expectations and faith?
We are not going to heaven just because of some legal-heavenly document that has been stamped “SAVED”. While that may be true, we are going to heaven because our nature is now compatible with that realm. We have been born-again into a race of beings who, in-Christ, originated there. Heaven is our native land. Heaven is in our new natures. Jesus’ life (His DNA) is our life. Christ lives in us. He is the first-born of a new race of men of which we are a part. We are so much more than just sinners saved by grace!
Of course this line of reasoning must be discounted entirely by those who believe the show of miraculous power was an anomaly of the first century when there were legitimate apostles and the Christian religion required a good push out of the starting gate. As convenient and comforting as secession reasoning might be, I still have a sense that our deficit of the supernatural is not God’s intention.
I don’t know all the reasons why we are lean on miracles but I could reason from scripture that the enemy of God’s kingdom, Satan, whose reign on this earth happen to be directly connected to the realization of God’s kingdom, is violently opposed and is leveraging every available deception to prolong his temporary influence. So, as long as he can promote any line of reasoning in the Church that will discount how we see ourselves and the authority that God has delegated, the Church will continue to fall short of her glorious destiny and the father of lies will prevail in his stall tactics.
I could also speculate that we may be frightened by the immense authority He is attempting to delegate to us. We are probably also intimidated at the responsibility this would bring. Our reasoning might be: “Oh my! – Delegating authority of this magnitude to men in their fallen and depraved condition would be like nuclear power in the hands of foolish children. Our egos would never stand the strain.” We are all familiar with the quote; “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We think, “No, we would screw this up so bad and we would end up on the evening news every night bringing further shame to the name of Jesus.”
I believe this line of thinking comes not just from secessionist school of thought but from from those of us who have not fully discovered and reclaimed our new identities in-Christ. Until this matter of whose DNA is primary in us, God the Father or the father of lies, any transformational Christian life, especially ones that include “the miraculous“, is going to be hard slogging.
I believe another issue for us is that most of us have received a gospel in western culture that has been divorced from the Kingdom of God. It’s emphasis has often been the forgiveness of sins, escaping hell and getting to heaven. The greatest expectation for many of us has been the rapture so we can escape this defiled and unholy world. Unfortunately, the message that our kingdomless-gospel has produced has quite a different flavor, effect and outcome than the message Jesus introduced. By the way, our kingdomless-gospel has also helped produced a disciple less-Christianity. Here is what Jesus told His disciples to preach and to do….
“The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received, freely give.”
I believe that God has always desired for earth to be overrun and managed by a new race of kingdom citizens – children who resemble Him in character, thought and deed. I believe, whether we get it yet or not, that He really has called us to think and live like Jesus. I think that the Church will one day rise to her appointed and glorious destiny as kingdom heralds. In that day, we will realize that He actually did delegate outrageous authority to those with the faith and confidence of children.
I believe God has a plan in these later hours, to rejoin the gloriously good news of the gospel to the all-encompassing, ever-expanding enterprise of His kingdom. The children of this kingdom will be as shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves in the use of their authority. With new identities, grounded in Christ, they will discover and live out their destinies as strategically placed agents of God’s eternal kingdom. I believe there are glorious days ahead for the church!
“Christ in us” is a “now” reality as is the kingdom of heaven that Jesus introduced. “Christ in us” is the hope of glory. Like Paul, I believe that there will be suffering; but however it presents itself, it will not be worthy, compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us and through us. At some point in the future, and perhaps it is near, a radical transformation is due within the Church. Paul indicates that creation itself will, with us, escape our joint-slavery to futility and corruption and that the cosmos will be enjoined into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Father, may we recognize and receive the inheritance of our new natures and our new identities which have been so firmly established in-Christ. May we discover as kingdom children that we have been united in an enterprise that exceeds all earthly agendas and brings redemption, healing, sanity and efficiency into all human endeavor. May we repent of our beliefs that, in any way, have discounted your “now” intentions for us and Your kingdom. Anoint us to be catalysts every where that our feet trod. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
