Weak and Foolish
Sherri and I are on the road, driving back to Pensacola, Florida, from High Point, North Carolina. It was a great weekend. Our plan was to secure an apartment, but God provided beyond our expectations. A relative of one of Embrace Church’s members was preparing to list a condominium next week. We saw it, liked it, and told her we would buy it. God is good . . .
These next couple of months will be busy. Because of that, I may not be posting as often. My priority will be on Tuesday’s Galatian’s podcasts, which consume most of my time each week. Meanwhile, I’d like to ask you to pray for Embrace Church and Church on the Edge in the days ahead.
One of our members, gifted in technology, which I definitely am not, asked me about Twitter and Facebook, and the Church on the Edge website. I’m beginning to sense that God is going to wrap these two ministries, Embrace Church and Church on the Edge, together. How could He not? In so many ways, Embrace is a church on the edge.
Embrace is a small church. Tiny might be a better word. Think mustard seed. That is one of the things that appealed to me most about this church and its people.
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (I Corinthians 1:27-29)
Honestly, self-promotion is not something I’m comfortable with. I guess, in that sense, I’m a classic underachiever. But throughout my life and ministry, I have experienced the power and presence of God, the miraculous. And I’ve come to the place where, more than ever, I relish serving in places and circumstances where God’s people clearly understand the words of Jesus, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.”
It is possible to experience church growth without experiencing the growth of God’s eternal kingdom. “Your kingdom come, your will be done” should be on the lips and hearts of those who seek to follow Jesus. And as God answers that prayer, it may not always look like we expected, as the cross clearly demonstrates. And in this regard, the way of the cross continues to appear foolish and weak. Is it possible that history will reveal a great divide between the “church” and the kingdom of God in our day?
More than ever, I sense God calling His people back to the weakness and foolishness of His kingdom and the cross of His Son. And this means that following Jesus will make us appear weak and foolish in the eyes of the world, including the world found in so much of the church in our day.
We are not there yet, but Jesus’s words to his disciples, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you” referred to the days when local synagogues would reject those who chose to follow Christ. It happened in Germany in World War II under Hitler and the many church pastors and leaders who supported the rise of the Third Reich. It is never as far away as we might think.
Whatever the future holds, let’s cling to the words of the psalmist, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7)
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.