Christ turned the world’s accepted standards upside down. It was the poor, not the rich, who were blessed; the weak, not the strong, who were to be esteemed; the pure in heart, not the sophisticated and the worldly, who understood what life was about. Righteousness, not power or money or sensual pleasure, should be man’s pursuit. We should love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use us, in order that we may be worthy members of a human family whose father is in heaven.
~Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990)
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, He began to tell them what was to happen to Him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him and spit on Him, and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days He will rise.” And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Him and said to Him, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And they said to Him, “Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at My right hand or at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to Him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Christians often accept the adage “the bigger the better.” We measure success by the number of people involved in our ministry. We seek spectacular displays of God’s power. We must learn to view success as God does. God is interested in the heart; He is pleased with obedience.
~Henry & Richard Blackaby
Oh beloved, it is true. There is within us a belief that what we need to do, is to make some sort of a mark on the world for our ministry to be effective. There is however, a very tough problem with this idea.
It is not true.
Let’s do a little math here just to make the point.
Take the example of the highly-visible servant; a preacher who reaches some 50,000 people a week and they accept the good news with great joy. Now, this fool of a writer (and hopefully those foolish enough to read this blog) would give great glory to our great G_d for the fruit being born through this servant. For, in seven years, this preacher would reach some 17,500,000 souls for Jesus (assuming a couple weeks vacation a year). Gorgeous!
But now, take a lowly group of believers, say 100, who simply pour out the story of His Great Love they have found to a few people a month – and one of those per month, that this lowly person reaches, believes. And then, after a bit of time for growth, each one of these new believers begins to share the Love they have found with a few people, in the same cycle for the same seven years. Are you ready? nearly 2 BILLION (2,000,000) souls come to know Jesus. And yes, the numbers scale linearly from the base (so, what if we started with 300? Yeah, the entire globe could come to know Jesus in seven years).
Could it be that we are doing it wrong?
Hey, the big splash preachers and teachers are wonderful! They have sent incredible resources to those of us in the Great Commission. But they have not crafted the resources for consumption beloved. They have passed the knowledge they have been given unto us – that we might pass it on to others.
So, instead of sitting back and letting the big players play alone, what if we stood in fellowship with them, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and started with the same model mentioned above (but with 50,000)? Yeah, we would reach the entire globe in less than 5 years.
Can we see it? What if we let go of the world’s idea of what an organization should look like? Oh yes, surely we should do things with decency and in order, but what if that organization were wrought by the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, instead of the wagon-circling instincts of power-hungry women and men?
What if that what passes for human institutions are just that? What if they actually drains to the resources of the Kingdom of Heaven? What if they are but the frozen shadows of fleshly effort? What if we abandoned the idea that we had to spend enormous amounts of money to build edifices (that are no more movable than trees), and spent the monies instead to sustainably mobilize ever-larger groups of believers around the world?
Yeah. What if?
So, surely many will tell this fool of a writer that they do not like his model. They will say that they do not like the way i might play “sendero” and channel the Grace of G_d to share Jesus where He is needed in the Great Commission… However, this fool might answer the way another one answered an irate church lady: Dwight L. Moody, the famous evangelist, was once told by an irate church lady, “Mr. Moody, I don’t like the way you do your evangelism.” In reply, Mr. Moody said, “I don’t necessarily like all of it either, but it’s the best way I know how. Tell me, how do you do it?” “Oh, I don’t,” was the reply. “Well,” said Moody, “I like the way I’m doing it better than the way you’re not doing it.”
