Little Things
Let’s begin by looking at Isaiah 55:8-9
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
This sounds simple, but it is a hard concept to grasp for most of us. Throughout
the Bible we are told that human nature and the will of God are in conflict.
Romans 8:8 tells us that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Galatians
5:17 tells us that the flesh desires things that are contrary to God’s Spirit
and the Spirit is against the flesh and these two cannot agree. So when it comes
to the church, we must realize that God works His will in ways that do not seem
wise to the fleshly mind, but equally true is that the ways that seem right to
man are not God’s will. There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of
it are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25).
When it comes to the work of God in the church and the ministry of the church, we must realize that the ways of man often are not the way God chooses to work. In our secular culture, success is everything. Hard work is not praiseworthy until something big happens. A team gets a parade if they win the Super Bowl or World Series, but they are overlooked if they come in second. The blue collar laborer can work 14 hours a day and no one cares because he doesn’t have trophies of success. People respect those who wear nice clothes, drive nice cars, live in large houses and have the symbols of success in our culture. When you have worldly success, you will be praised, but even if we obtain all that our heart desires, it means nothing if we have failed to gain the understanding of God’s ways. Look at Psalm 49:18b-20
…men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. 19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. 20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.
The above scripture catches the conclusion of the scripture’s discussion about those who are rich but are walking contrary to the Lord. They are praised by the world, but in the end, those who are rich in this life and not rich toward God are no better than the beast which has no understanding. The world lives by a temporal standard and their attitude highly values pleasure and wealth. This attitude is not only in the secular culture, but it affects the attitudes of those in the church. This is not unique to our day and time, but has always been a challenge for God’s people. Look at James 2:2-5
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
Mankind looks at the outward appearance and the secular trophies of success, but God looks at the heart. We already know that God’s thoughts and ways are not like ours; therefore, we as people of God must take on the mind of Christ and let the word of God shape our focus rather than allowing ourselves to be shaped by the culture of the world. The world declares its value system and God has declared His and we will adopt one or the other. The secular thought comes by default for we are all born into a world of sin, but we are commanded not to be judges based on evil thoughts. Our judgment is to turn to the ways of God and hold forth the word of truth.
The modern church culture has turned completely to the secular standard through the church growth movements, the emergent church movements, and prosperity movements. The new movements of this modern church era call us to put our focus on human standards. Wealth is called blessing even though the Bible says that corrupt minds teach that godliness means gain (1 Timothy 6:5-6). The world focuses on large crowds and now the church teaches that the larger the masses the more God is moving. In truth, the Bible gives countless examples of the crowds abandoning the truth, following false prophets and only a few truly answer God’s call to seek His ways.
The new movements tell us to ‘dream big’, triple your congregation size, draw in the masses and have all the worldly symbols of success. Just think for a moment and identify those whom the world acknowledges as successful in the church. Look at which pastors get invited to conferences and seminars as keynote speakers. Is the standard for picking leaders focused on determining who has shown themselves faithful to the word? Or is it those who have the largest churches? Does any denomination look at a church and see how many people are going out to carry the gospel to all the world? Or do we only seek to keep everyone inside the church so we can say we are growing?
The true evidence of a church fulfilling the commission Jesus gave the church is that our members are going out to do ministry and disciple others. We have got to get out of this humanistic mindset that the church’s highest priority is to grow numerically. I have seen pastors spend years teaching others, but then when God begins to move in the lives of church members, the pastor and the church tries to prevent them from following God. If someone is called by God to go out to serve, we should rejoice in their calling and support them. Most churches treat the person who answers the call as though they have betrayed the church. When I first began to respond to God’s call to minister, I began to preach in a local prison on Sunday mornings. One day a situation came up where I was identified as being unfaithful and disqualified for leadership in the church because I did not attend Sunday School. I rushed to a prison that was thirty miles away, conducted services and then rushed back to make it to church, but since this was not building their numbers in Sunday School, this was not acknowledged as ministry by the church.
A few years later, God called me to minister in a start up church. When I left the local church to start a new church, this was looked upon as a betrayal. The pastor was very upset and called me. I tried to explain that this is what our time of discipleship training was all about. Now God was calling me to go out and do. He disagreed and was hurt that I left the local congregation. Set your minds to get out of this way of thinking. If we fulfill Jesus’ commandment to go out into all the world and make disciples, we should not be so blind as to think that those disciples should not fulfill that same command by Jesus Christ. If someone gets angry and leaves the church, there should be cause for concern; however, if someone grows spiritually and then begins to hear God’s call and responds by going out to minister, this is true success! The true measure of God blessing our efforts is that people are maturing in Christ and going out from us to spread the word and do the ministry that God has used us to train them to do.
The problem is that we have adopted a misguided view of success. If your measure of success is the size of your building, the amount of money taken in, or the number of attendees on Sunday morning, then when someone goes out to reach the world, it will bother you. We are not building our kingdom – nor are we to build the church. We are to be seeking God’s kingdom and God alone builds His church. Jesus said, “On this Rock I will build My church”; He did not say ‘you will build His church’. The Bible says that God added to the church daily those who were being saved; the Bible does not say that we add to the church or our programs add to the church.
If we are putting our trust in human efforts and programs to build the church, we are following a false vision and have a misguided view of God-given success. While there is nothing wrong with programs and tools we used to reach the community around us, these are secondary to our primary call – go into all the world, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey all that has been commanded. If God grows the numbers – fine, but we should also be willing to be a place God uses to train those who will go out from us. No one wants an empty congregation, but the true success is God using us to reach the culture with the gospel – not in the size of our congregation. Seeing people come to maturity in Christ is the mission of the church. How God uses the people we invest our lives in is not for us to determine.
Secular Standards
Everyone wants to do BIG things and no one wants to be associated with a humble, unnoticed group that gets no glory. I frequently go to the websites of new community churches that advertise on radio or billboards. I like to read the biographies of the staff. Many times the staff will have questions and answers about themselves. On several sites you will see questions like, “Why did you decide to join the staff of this Church?” The answer frequently is something like, “I want to be a part of something that God is doing big”. Or, “I wanted to be a part of something big”. It is only human nature to want to be a part of something that puts us in the spotlight or associates us with glory. But is this what God is doing?
I have been a part of four startup churches over the years. One of those churches prepared to start their church plant and seemed to be on the right path until the pastor went to a church growth conference. When he came back, everything changed. No longer were we a church plant, but a ‘church launch’. Now we were going to do BIG things and our launch was going to shake the walls of the community. They showed a video clip of a movie where there was a scene of a rocket launching. As the rocket went up, there was a great noise, everyone watched it launch and the windows of the houses rattled. Rattling the windows of the community was now the focus of the church. Sounds exciting, but is this God’s way? Consider John 12:
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Do we launch or plant? This is a subtle shift of focus but it has a dramatic change in mindset. A church launch puts all the focus on the people and what we are doing ‘for God’. A church plant is a group of people who hear God’s call, die to themselves and allow God to raise them up to produce fruit. One focuses on drawing the crowds, but the other focuses on God producing fruit through His word and our submission to Him. Human nature says, “Let’s do something really big that everyone can see”, but the scripture calls us to humble ourselves and allow God to exalt us as He sees fit. Both mindsets claim to be of God, but unless we are walking in His truth, our efforts are in vain. Everyone claims to be of God, but the only evidence for God is the fruit of discipleship. The Bible says that we will know them by their fruits. The fruit of the individual’s life is the fruit of the spirit (see Galatians 5), and the fruit of teaching is that we are making disciples who will obey all that has been commanded – including to go out and reach the world with the same gospel of the Word that we have been teaching to others.
Shifting our Focus
Look now at Luke 16:
10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
In this passage, Jesus is teaching about money, but the principle applies to much more than money. If we cannot be faithful in the little things, how can we expect to be given big things? The Bible commands us to study the word – which is a little task, but this little task is the foundation by which we establish everything else. If we are not faithful to study the word, how can we ask God to give us a greater mission? Some people have the charisma to lead, but if a pastor is not in the word, even if they can draw a crowd, God cannot bless for the basic commands given are not being followed. While we may be able to achieve the appearance of success, if God is not in it, our success is in vain. Jesus condemned the religious leaders of His day by saying, “You seek the honor from one another but do not seek the honor that comes only from God”. We can be praised by men and grow the numbers in the organization, but if we are not faithful in God’s eyes, our outward appearance of success means nothing.
We must shift our focus on accomplishing the little tasks God has ordained every person to accomplish. We are not called to do big things for God; we are called to be faithful in what God has called us to do. The scriptures teach us that God gives us abilities and spiritual gifts to fulfill our individual part in the body. Look at 1 Corinthians 12:4-12
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
All of our talents, gifts and abilities work together to fulfill the work of God in our local congregations and the work of God as a whole. There is one Spirit and one Body of Christ. We all have our appointed role in God’s work and we are called to be faithful in what God has appointed to us. As we are faithful in the little things, God will begin to reveal to us our role in His plan. You have no power to choose what God calls you to do, but you are equipped and each person plays an important role. This passage goes on to say that we have no right to look down on someone else and say that they are not needed, but the opposite is true as well. We have no right to look upon ourselves and question God’s call on our own lives. We cannot say to one member that the church has no need of you – nor can we look upon ourselves and say that the church has no need of us. When we look at God’s calling from a fleshly perspective, we devalue the callings that don’t appeal to our human standards of worth. It is not status or worldly standards that God honors, but our faithfulness to His call. Look now at 1 Corinthians 12:28-31
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? 30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? 31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
The early church struggled with some of the same issues we deal with today. The wording of verse 31 can be a little confusing, but you have to look at the context of what is being addressed. The Corinthian church was looking at roles from a human perspective. Those who did not hold positions man considered honorable were being pushed aside as unnecessary. Look at the apostle’s explanation in 1 Corinthians 12:23-25
23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
Rather than pushing the members to the side that didn’t stand out as necessary, we are commanded to give more abundant honor. The reason is explained: those who hold positions seen by all do not need honor for they are already recognized and have no need. Our focus is on giving honor to those who are not recognized. Why is this necessary? Those who go unnoticed often feel that their role is unimportant, but in reality it is necessary. So that none of our members become discouraged, we must show more abundant honor to those ‘less desirable’ positions God has appointed so that each member remains engaged and recognizes the value of the calling God has appointed to them.
Now if we go back to verse 31 with this understanding, the meaning is clear. Each person desires (or covets) the ‘best gifts’, but the Lord has given us this instruction so that we see the more excellent way. The more excellent way is that we do not covet positions of status or honor, but rather that we look to the Lord to equip us to do what He has gifted us to do. The more excellent way is to quit looking BIG and begin looking at our individual role – regardless of how small it may appear to be in our limited understanding.
Small Things
Look at the small things. Your role and my role is not to do big things, but to do the small things God has entrusted to us. God does the big things and will accomplish His mighty work through us if we are faithful in the small things. God has appointed you something to do and you must look to that thing and be faithful in it. That is what spiritual gifts are all about. One of the gifts is helps. Helps is a supporting role. Consider the roles needed for the Tabernacle of Witness that the children of Israel had to constantly set up and take down in the wilderness. Someone had to set up the curtains, carry the equipment, drive the stakes, set up the furnishings, clean, and one family was even appointed by God to carry the curtains of the Tabernacle. We can be assured that no one was amazed when they found out someone’s role in worship was to drive a stake or carry the curtains; however, this was necessary.
One spiritual gift mentioned by name is the gift of government (or administration). You have likely seen ‘pastor appreciation week’, but have you seen a national ‘administration appreciation week’? There are many necessary gifts God has appointed within the church that get little public honor, but those who are faithful will be rewarded by God. A spiritual gift is something that God has given you; it is not something you take upon yourself. God does not reward us for our positions in the church, rather we are rewarded for our faithfulness and our obedience. If God has not revealed your role to you then you need to set your sights on being faithful in the basics of your personal discipleship. Why would we expect God to call us into more responsibility when we have not been faithful over the small things? We all have the calling to study to show ourselves approved and set our hearts to diligently seek Him. Consider Hebrews 11:
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
If we are walking in faith and seeking Him, He has promised to reward us. Our calling is part of that reward. As you get to know the Lord and faithfully seek Him through the word, you will gain understanding and God will begin to reveal the plan of your life to you. We must set aside our assumptions of our roles that are based on worldly standards and look at our calling and fulfill our individual roles and let God worry about the big things. Success belongs to God; obedience and faithfulness belongs to you. If you are faithful in the little things, God will accomplish His work through you and through the church. It begins with you. The Bible says that if one member suffers, we all suffer with them. If you are not faithful in following the Lord, it affects the whole body. If you are faithful in the little things, God will honor us and use our little efforts to conquer mighty obstacles. Look at 1 Corinthians 1:21-29
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Most Christians never grasp this vital principle. Do you see how that God’s ways are so counter to our culture? The way of the culture is to rocket to stardom, but God calls us to humble ourselves and die to this life. Our culture says that we must appeal to the culture and use celebrities, entertainment and fleshly desires to draw in the culture, but God says that the foolishness of the preached word is the way to reach those God is calling. The culture tells us not to offend anyone but to make sure all feel comfortable in the church, but God said that true wisdom and the message of the gospel is a stumbling block, an offense, and foolishness to those who reject the gospel. So our question should be, do we want to reach the culture, or those whom God is calling to come out of the worldly culture?
It is ok to be despised, rejected, and be called a fool, for Jesus even stated, ‘woe to you when all men speak well of you’ and ‘all who desire to live Godly will suffer persecution’. We should consider who is speaking well of us and who despises our message. If those who are in rebellion against Christ speak well of our message, then we likely are in rejection of the word of God as well.
Equally important is that we realize that it is fine to be weak, despised, humble and foolish according to the wisdom of this age. We don’t need to be mighty, but humble. The weak and humble submit themselves to God and trust Him to accomplish mighty things. God uses the weak and small things to accomplish His ordained work. If it was our might, then God’s glory would be missed. This is all so that no flesh should glory in His presence, for if the weak things conquer the might of this world, then all can clearly see that God is the strength behind the work. Unless you are willing to humble yourself, you cannot truly experience the mighty hand of God. Look at James 2:
5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. When you trust the word of the Lord and are willing to set aside worldly wisdom, the might of God will not be absent from your life. We are told to NOT lean to our own understanding, but trust in the Lord and depart from evil. Jesus also said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Do you see how all these things are preaching the same message? If you are dependent on your own wisdom, might, abilities, money, or talents, you will not experience the richness of God. However, if you humble yourself, become poor in spirit by looking dependently and expectantly to God to reveal Himself in you, He will make you rich in faith. Don’t put your trust in movements, but keep His word and put your hope and trust in the Lord to do His work. No longer will the burden be upon you, but your trust will be in God to do His work.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
Go to Home Page | Sermons | Feedback | Creation | Humor
Contact me on Google Talk. Search for my contact ID 'gesnipes'.
_________________________________________
Or chat on Yahoo Messenger by clicking here.