Guy Phanz is here with us in Slovenia and he had a rocking thought that he shared with us . . . if you think you want it more than God, then you are driving it, not God. What he meant by this is scary dangerous way out there kind of thinking. If you want your church to grow more than God does, or if you want to accomplish your mission more than God wants to accomplish it, then you drive it, you run it, you plan it, you live it and you take the credit for it. What an utterly powerful insight into how we do church, with our five year plans and how tight we want everything to run and the demographic studies we do, and the materials and conferences we bought last year, all with the idea of making this thing succeed. But what does God want? Really want? I don’t think most of us have a single clue.
Guy suggested last night, that when you get to the end of yourself, then you are ready to give your plans, you stop driving your own plans, then God can speak. When you know what God has to say, then obey at any cost! Let go of your plans . . . God wants it more than you want it. “It” being what He wants, not what you want. This is so not American/Western thinking. it was pretty revolutionary conceptually for me too, the anti-western dude.
Could we be driving the church so much so, that Jesus isn’t even in the church? Guy suggested that often we are . . . he gave Rev. 3 the church in Laodicea as an example of Jesus outside the church knocking hoping to get in . . . this was the rich church that had it all. Guy asked this question, “Do you think the world deserves to see a church that is grass-roots, Jesus driven instead of top-down driven?” This would be the church that Jesus was driving, not me or you.
In the end Phanz suggested that the way to know if we were doing this successfully or not was this; can you truthfully say this: “I don’t want to leave my fingerprints on this church, I want a church that only God could have done it.” Man that is a revolutionary idea in an age when personal accomplishment, bigger is better, numbers are important, performance mentality rules the world that we live in today. Even our organization measures us by this standard, but let’s face it, we measure us by this same standard. This idea represents an emancipation from the slavery of doing it ourselves, and riskiness of letting God do it . . . does He really want it more than us?
Guy suggested last night, that when you get to the end of yourself, then you are ready to give your plans, you stop driving your own plans, then God can speak. When you know what God has to say, then obey at any cost! Let go of your plans . . . God wants it more than you want it. “It” being what He wants, not what you want. This is so not American/Western thinking. it was pretty revolutionary conceptually for me too, the anti-western dude.
Could we be driving the church so much so, that Jesus isn’t even in the church? Guy suggested that often we are . . . he gave Rev. 3 the church in Laodicea as an example of Jesus outside the church knocking hoping to get in . . . this was the rich church that had it all. Guy asked this question, “Do you think the world deserves to see a church that is grass-roots, Jesus driven instead of top-down driven?” This would be the church that Jesus was driving, not me or you.
In the end Phanz suggested that the way to know if we were doing this successfully or not was this; can you truthfully say this: “I don’t want to leave my fingerprints on this church, I want a church that only God could have done it.” Man that is a revolutionary idea in an age when personal accomplishment, bigger is better, numbers are important, performance mentality rules the world that we live in today. Even our organization measures us by this standard, but let’s face it, we measure us by this same standard. This idea represents an emancipation from the slavery of doing it ourselves, and riskiness of letting God do it . . . does He really want it more than us?
3 comments:
The flip side of this is that we cannot possibly want certain things more than God wants them: the salvation of our family and neighbors, the spiritual growth of our churches, etc. We don't have to beg Heaven - if anything, God is tapping His fingers patiently waiting on us.
For a long time the western church has displayed many characteristics of the Laodicean church--even though we send out so many to other lands to preach the Gospel (ours? or God's). Sad that we have lost the ears to hear God's "wants" over our own.
Beth makes a really good point here, and it makes me think of the quote by Mark Twain to the effect that what was clear in scripture worried him alot more than what was not. We are given ample means to know God's will in the important things, by His Word, through His Spirit and other discerning Christians. It is our job to care for the Body and make disciples. Very thankfully that job is flexible enough to speak to any culture and any age. God's heart always beats for people, and we know He doesn't want any to perish. It's that hard and that simple.
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