Sunday, July 27, 2008

Who is in Charge

I had lunch with a friend this week. As I reflected upon lunch I was remembering this verse from Galatians 1:1

Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead, and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia:

The above scripture points out that Paul's calling was not from men or through men. In other words Paul isn't an apostle because a man handed him a diploma or an agency gave him that title. He doesn't minister in a local body because man put him there. The principle here is that God is the one who calls us and empowers us to do what he has called us to be.

As we mature as Christians God will take us through processes that help mold His image and nature in our character. He does this by given us specific life lessons in our day to day lives. God will give you times where you have favor with men or agencies of men and from a human eye it could look like they are promoting you. The test here is remember that it is God who calls and God who put us forward or promotes us. The first test comes when we are promoted by men or an agency of man (not that we really are, God promotes us but that is what the perception is) and are challenged to think we have earned that promotion, when the truth is we were faithful and God has promoted us. When it is in our thinking that men or an agency of man promotes us then we are vulnerable to the expectations of those men and our own expectations of that those men should do for us. There comes a second testing time when we don't have the favor of men or an agency of men. Again this tests whether our faith is in Christ alone. I think it is a given that these two processing situations will come into our lives that we can know that God alone is our supply. He is the one who calls, He is the one who appoints.

Having said this, I believe a second lesson is to be respectful of agencies or denominations or seminaries. God can call us to be involved in all of these because they are the place He is teaching us or ministering through us or allowing us to be stewards of the Kingdom of God. But these systems are not our primary source, they are just the environments God calling has us in at that time.

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