Had some marvelous good stuff come to me recently and just wanted to share. I was in a discussion recently, where the question was whether or not Paul had a standard model for The Great Commission [establishing churches] and I had a thought strongly come to me in the midst of that discussion. In Acts, Philip went to Caesarea and preached the gospel and Gentiles came to faith and had the Holy Spirit come upon them in the same way the followers at Pentecost did. It seemed to me that God was out ahead of his church guiding them in that Peter [and eventually all the Jewish Apostles] had to come to see for himself that God was indeed intent on including the Gentiles. At the point where I raised this initial part of my observation the leadership of the group I was sharing it in voiced to me that I was off topic - that the Philip story was anecdotal. I did not go any further during this group discussion. However, I did send my questions and further commentary regarding the full point I was going to make to the group leadership for clarification. The point I had been coming to is that despite any standard elements that we may draw from Paul's methods of establishing churches - we must keep in mind that God is more than able and willing to steer His people in directions that may fall far afield of their comfort, patterns, established ways and "standard models". That while it is helpful to look at what Paul did in establishing churches and that indeed elements may still be effective and worthy of incorporating today,that God, first and foremost, is still the one who has plans that we do not always see (Peter and the other Jewish believers clearly did not see it coming). And that He, at times, will take us far outside of our plans, in fact in directions that may make our jaw drop (in the case of Gentiles – diametrically opposite in some ways to Jewish tradition and laws)! This did not seem anecdotal to me as a theme drawn from Philip's excursion and results. There is tension throughout God's word and paradoxical themes as well. We get to learn to trust God in the tension. To see He is big throughout what we cannot seem to reconcile at times. The model I took away is that God is able to guide His people and to effectively fulfill His plans. It was re-enforced in that I observe in scripture that in Jesus’ day the Jewish leadership is a perfect example of having great confidence that they knew the law and therefore represented and operated rightly on behalf of God. It actually gave them a false confidence in their ability to observe rules over relationship with and trust in God. We see Jesus harshly condemning this. Peter and the other Apostles and Jewish believers would have followed that Jewish model if not for their sensitivity to and strict adherence to acting in accord with the Holy Spirit's confirmation of the situation at Caesarea (even though you can see that they clearly struggled with walking that out over time). I believe it takes being willing to put our gifts, callings and understandings into God's hands at every turn and in all things seek His counsel to see with His eyes and in submission to His heart in all of our plans to rightly fulfill His plans. The same thing is true of the selection of church leadership. The Jewish Apostles walked with Jesus. They took this to mean their appointment was by man’s selection – Jesus selected them and they selected a replacement for Judas from those who had been among them with Jesus. And that would be a great reliable model, except the irony is that the one Apostle chosen to go out reaching to the Gentiles and expand the church (Paul) did not walk with Jesus while He lived and was not selected by the Apostles, but had a supernatural encounter with Christ and that changed everything. Those apostles who walked with Christ when He was alive on earth had to eventually also come around and they went God’s way in recognizing that Paul was chosen by God for this work.
Acts is peppered with such paradoxical representations of how things work. Hold the model loosely and be willing to trust and cling tightly to God. Do you know the plans of God? The Jews thought they did – they thought sacrificing animals, eating kosher and many other rules given by God would always be the standard way of being God’s people. For a time, they were! Then God brings Jesus, fulfills the blood requirement and messiah in a way completely outside of what they expected and then He brings in the Gentiles (WHO KNEW?!). We can easily fall into the same trap of thinking that our systems and models (drawn from outlines in God’s word) effectively fulfill God’s plans. Part of the reason I believe people get so mesmerized by models is that we feel so safe in them, so much in control. It’s not so much that models are bad – it’s when we put more of our trust in them than we do God. Seeing rightly and having proper discernment of God's word and how to walk takes relationship with God (it’s what we’re made for). These things seem particularly important because they fly in the face of self-sufficiency (which can easily creep in with models and formulas). People get really scared about relying on God. It absolutely crucifies the flesh and "self reliance/self-centeredness" to do it. It’s painful and worrisome, UNTIL, we see that God honors it and supports it and requires it and works His plans amazingly through it. It's a journey we grow in doing as we continue on in our faith into the image of Christ - no person is able to do it perfectly. Dependency on God requires true deep humility. Do we trust God’s word – of course we do! And we can only walk in properly interpreting God’s word through His Spirit. God loves humble submitted hearts and those willing to consult Him, ask for His vision and immediately follow His leading are never put to shame.
The group leadership that I came back to with my further observations noted that they saw what I was getting at. God brings people into awareness. And, those who are still not convinced in their own minds – the great thing is that God is the one who unfolds things in line with where He is going. Everywhere in the Church - I believe the most important thing a person can do is to intentionally seek God and deepen and develop their intimate relationship with Him - #1 thing. Doing this through exposure to His word and relationally through His spirit. God’s partnering in a way right now that is breathtaking!! So excited!! Embrace the paradoxical nature of God and rest in sureness that He is able to fulfill His plans.
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