Month: May 2016

I’ve noticed a trend in the past 10 years or so in the church, especially in the charismatic/non-denominational circles. It appears that everybody needs a title. Ok, maybe not everyone, but sometimes it seems that way. In the past month I’ve received at least 3 friend requests on Facebook from Apostle so-and-so or Prophet what’s-his-name. A friend of mine told me that he received one from Linda Notitleneeded Smith. The fact that she used that name suggests that she may need a title!

Just to be clear, I believe in apostles and prophets and their function in our present day, but that’s not what I take issue with. Titles are not the real issue. It’s the need for recognition. If I can let you know right up front that I’m an apostle, prophet, minister, bishop or whatever, then I’ve given my ministry some legitimacy. Here’s a novel idea, why don’t you do the stuff and we’ll figure out whether you’re one or not.

I used to need a title. I needed one because I had the wrong idea about what ministry was. When I was young, I felt what was then referred to as “a call to the ministry.” That meant that I would go to bible college and seminary, resulting in having the title of pastor or evangelist (we didn’t believe in modern day apostles and prophets). The only thing that concept resulted in for me was frustration. By the way, I only made it through one year of bible college. It took me many years to realize that the frustration came because I didn’t really know who I was. When you don’t know who you are, you need someone to give you a title or you just give yourself one.

My concept of ministry changed when I began to see myself as a son. A son of God. When it comes to ministry, sons do it like the Son:

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28 NLT)

And this:

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death – and the worst kind of death at that – a crucifixion.” (Phil. 2:5-8 MSG)

If you are born again, you are called to ministry. We are called to serve. What does that look like?

Jesus.

After years of looking for a title, I’ve come to realize I had one all along – SON! I am His beloved son, and He is well pleased with me. That’s all I need.

 

His son,

 

Kevin

The title of this week’s blog was not intended to be an attention grabber. Or, well…ok, maybe it was. Actually, it’s a pretty legitimate question. Is God really in control?
I’m sure most all you reading this has either heard or said these words yourself, “God is in control.” Maybe it was in this context – “I don’t know what the result of the test will be, but God is in control.” Or maybe it was something like this – “It doesn’t really matter who wins the election, but God is in control.” Or “Wasn’t it awful what happened to those poor children? Well, all I know is God is in control.”

A couple of years ago, I began to think about this common, overused cliché. I know what you may be thinking right now – “Kevin, aren’t you being nitpicky about this? After all, it’s just a cliché.” If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll realize like I did that it’s more than just a common saying.

I’ve come to understand that there are two reasons why this phrase is used so often: 1) We don’t know how to handle mystery. In other words, something bad has happened or is happening and I can’t explain it, so it must be God’s doing. After all, He is sovereign. 2) We believe God really does control everything, therefore I must resolutely accept it as His divine will, however evil it may be.
Before you accuse me of heresy, let me say that God is absolutely sovereign. He is the creator and He is supreme. He is totally in charge of all His created order.

However, He is not in control. We are.

And I’m glad.

To say that God is not in control would be considered blasphemy in many religious circles today. The assumption is made that since God is sovereign, nothing can happen without His approval.

2 Peter 3:9 says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So that must mean that God, being “in control” should make everyone repent since He’s not willing that any should perish, right?

God has chosen us to partner with Him in His great world-restoration project. That has been His plan since the beginning. N.T. Wright, in his book Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues says,

“The point about God’s authority is that the whole bible is about God establishing his kingdom on earth as in heaven, completing (in other words) the project begun but aborted in Genesis 1-3.”

Who aborted that project? Adam and Eve. Yet, as perfect as that beginning was, God chose not to control. Instead, He took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. (Gen. 2:15)

God restarted the project through Jesus (The Second Adam), and He will complete it through us!

If you need your god to be a control freak, then there are plenty out there to choose from. There are even a few cults that will be glad to have you in their control. Heck, you can even find some Christian churches that will be glad get you under control! I’ll save that topic for another blog.

The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s;
But the earth he has given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:16)
And…
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)

Is they contradictory to one another?
No.
In tension with each other?
Yes.
It must be one or the other. Or can it be both?
Yes. It must be both. It has to be both. God would have it no other way.

I’m so glad He doesn’t control me. That’s my job to do as I allow His Holy Spirit (one of His fruit is self-control) to do what He was sent to do – work with me, and I with Him. As a son of God I am in partnership with Him in His world-restoration project.

If the thought of changing the world seems too large, it’s because it is. You begin to change the world by changing the world inside you. You start by casting aside your preconceived ideas about how this whole God-saving-the-world thing works and ask Him to give you His thoughts. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I was and still am.

Ask Him.
Kevin

“Daddy, how big is God?” I remember being asked that question more than once when my kids were young. The question itself says a lot about how big God is in a child’s eye. They already believe He’s big. Real big. But they want to know how big!

What has happened to us by adulthood that caused us to lose that divine sense of wonder? I can’t seem to figure that out. But I’ll tell you why I call it divine.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has implanted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMP)

If the Creator of the universe has divinely implanted eternity in the hearts of men, why do we limit our thinking when it comes to divine matters? God is not getting any bigger. At least I don’t think so. However, what should be constantly growing is my understanding of Him. My view of Him should be ever expanding. Perhaps that’s what David meant when he said this:

“Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

 (Psalm 34:3).

I remember as a young boy sitting in the church pew, listening to the preacher Sunday after Sunday, and thinking to myself, “This is good, but I know there must be more. After all, He is a very big God.”

I knew there was more, so eventually I left the denominational church I had been brought up in joined in with some people who were looking for the “more.” Don’t misunderstand the “more” to mean something other than Jesus Christ. We just knew He was way bigger than the neatly packaged, boxed up version we had been shown.

At this point, you may be saying, “We’re going to know it all when we get to heaven anyway, so why bother now?” Because that desire has been implanted in my heart by the One who knows all things, and he beckons me to join Him now.

One of the most marvelous mysteries of all is that we can know our God intimately. You see, as a child I was introduced to Him, but one who has truly met this Redeemer can never be satisfied with just a meeting. He must be searched. He must be sought after. He must be known.

I’ll leave you with this:

“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” (Eph. 3:8-12)

You and I have access. Let’s search.

Still seeking and still finding,

Kevin