Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Why do we do what we do? Almost always there's something in it for me. I work to make money to buy stuff because deep down I think stuff will make me happy. Often I go to church because I need a pick-me-up or I feel like I have to or that somehow the church needs me. I do things around the house so I can enjoy them like clean the pool or clean the garage or wash my car. I... well you get the picture. Did you see the focus - me! (and the sooner you all recognize this the better off we'll all be!).
Agape is not a me-focused love, it is always focused on others - either people or God. I've been focusing on the evidence of God in our lives and concluded that since God is agape, that agape is the evidence of God and to grow in faith and demonstrate faith is to show agape. How do we do that?
So often in church we press to hard to demonstrate agape and miss the whole point. I recall the Rose Bowl where Jameis Winston ended up looking like a complete fool by the middle of the third quarter because he tried too hard to make something happen for FSU. Coaches always say "take what the defense gives you," but he got too impatient with high percentage, short yardage plays and ended up giving up a fumble for a score while looking like a total buffoon. We often do the same in church. We've accepted Christ who died a horrible death for us and we are compelled to do something in return. That drive is evidence of agape in and of itself, but we often play like Jameis, and leap out to do something big, grand, and glorious for the creator. What is it that compels us to make a big play? Often it is pride.
We have visioning conferences, brainstorming sessions, committee meetings, focus groups, staff meetings, and commission special studies. We draft mission and vision statements, draw up budgets and finance plans, develop long-term strategies, and write committee reports all the while praying that God will bless OUR efforts. Often we are simply serving ourselves verses seeking a revelation or calling from God. Don't get me wrong, the deep-rooted motivation is correct, but the method is all screwed up!
In Job beginning in Ch 38, God goes on a rant for about 4 chapters beginning in vs 4 with the question "where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" In essence, what is that man can do for the creator of the universe? The answer is only to love and obey him! Even Jesus said he could do NOTHING by himself. So where does that leave us in the church?
How we make decisions matters. When we decide what we're going to do for God and ask Him to bless it, we've put ourselves on the throne and demanded that God honor us. I don't think most people intend to do so, we simply do it out of ignorance as to how to discover God's will or even ignorance that we need to do so.
There are recent examples of people clearly answering a call from God: The forthcoming Tuesday morning breakfast seems to be coming from the heart of a good many folks in our church. How do I know? Because these people begin meetings with statements like "I'm not sure how this is going to work, but I feel an overwhelming call to do it. Another example is our Stevens Ministry wherein Margaret Nordlie shared that she wasn't comfortable with it and couldn't afford the training for it, but felt called by God to initiate the ministry in our church. Both of these examples clearly follow the scriptural pattern that when God was about to move, he raised up a leader, shared the next few steps that leader was to do and didn't share the complete story (after all, God's word is a lamp illuminating our next few steps - who could handle the whole story?).
There are other examples of activity in our church that have begun with "I think this church needs to..." and now that I'm older I've seen many of these activities fail. I guess with age comes experience and I can clearly see two definitive patterns emerging: evidence of people answering a clear call from God and evidence of well-intentioned people trying to do something for God. The former has always brought glory to God. The latter has always resulted in at least division in our church - a clear sign Satan was involved.
Why do you do what you do? Are you trying to do something big for God's team or are you patiently waiting for God's call? Do you even care about a call from God?
Don't just like this - give me a comment and let me know you at least read it!
2 comments:
Excellent.
The longer time passes and I watch the debt of the church and such, the more I see where your Dad had it right. The new building should not have been built at that time.
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