Marriage is one of God’s greatest tools for ministry. For example, consider the impact of Priscilla and Aquila’s marriage. Somewhere in the streets of Corinth, they stumbled across a man down on his luck.
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Paul was . . .
- Weary
- Homeless
- Alone
- Fresh off a demoralizing trip in Athens
- He needed a place to stay
They cleared out a room. Not for one night, not for one week, but until Paul was called to move on.
Then an up-and-coming young evangelist breezed into town. After his eloquent sermon, Priscilla and Aquila invited him over for dinner.
Acts 18:24–25 states that Apollos was gifted and passionate. Though he was accurate in his teaching, he was incomplete in his theology. This couple corrected his doctrine without quelling his desire.
Priscilla and Aquila simply opened up a room for Paul and a seat at the table for Apollos. Through their hospitality and instruction, they impacted two of the greatest early church leaders.
What about us? Who could we impact that may in turn impact the world?
God has no grandchildren. He only has children. As much as we would love it, there is no automatic transfer of God’s truth to others. Everyone must make his or her own spiritual journey.
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Moses knew this truth. The mighty leader of one of history’s greatest journeys spent his last words encouraging the Israelites to pass on God’s truth to their children.
To get the full impact of his words recorded in Deuteronomy 6:1-9, understand where the Israelites were. After wandering for 40 years, they stood on the banks of the Jordan River . . . at the very edge of the Promised Land.
Their children and grandchildren would grow up in the new territory before them.
At the beginning of this new life for God’s people, Moses gave a number of directives. I want to highlight one in particular for us:
The conflict between the urgent and the important is inescapable. How easy to get the two confused! It is common for us to think that by staying busy and working hard we’re dealing with the important things.
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But that is not necessarily the case. Those things most urgent rarely represent things that are most important. And therein lies the reason so many people today feel such a lack of satisfaction after working so hard and for so many hours each day.
Not only is that frustration true in the world in which we live, it is all-the-more true in the church. When we substitute the urgent for the important in the church of Jesus Christ, we emphasize . . .
Let me ask you two pointed questions—from one pastor to another. First: What makes you afraid of taking a risk? Walking with the Lord is a risky path, and everything within us, when we lean on our own understanding, screams . . .
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Just keep it like it is. Just leave it alone. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
But sometimes things need to be rearranged even though they aren’t broken.
Sometimes we need a major change of direction, not necessarily because we are going in an evil direction—it’s just not the direction God wants for us.
Now, here’s my second question:
Christ’s claim to be the only way to God is a hard pill to swallow for many people. Even in some Christian circles, people choke on His words.
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Is Jesus the only way to heaven? Will a loving God really confine someone to eternal punishment for rejecting Christ?
It’s a current debate . . . but it’s not a new one. The issues have been argued for centuries. In fact, Jesus Himself was asked a similar question:
God is at the helm of His creation. Not fate, not chance, not some impersonal force of nature but the Lord alone is in full command of your life.
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He is the sovereign ruler of the universe, and His decrees govern what happens in His world.
God’s decrees are:
Do you ever have those unidentified inner promptings? (Don’t worry; Swindoll hasn’t lost his marbles—at least, not yet!) I’m talking about when the Spirit of God urges your spirit in a very specific direction.
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The book of Jude offers a wonderful example of the powerful prompting of the Holy Spirit:
We pastors are great at telling people the will of God for their lives. But what about following God’s will in our own lives? Truth be told, it’s a lot easier to preach it to others than to put it into practice for ourselves.
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The apostle Paul’s words come to mind:
[If you] know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? (Romans 2:18–23)
Paul’s words were directed to Jews who knew (and believed) the Word of God. By principle, that’s us as well.
Let me ask you a penetrating question: are you willing to do God’s will? Really?
No doubt, you’ve run across people who believe that the One who created us is too far removed to concern Himself with the tiny details of life. But that is not the case. God’s plan is running its course right on schedule, exactly as He decreed it.
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This world is not out of control, spinning wildly through space. Nor are earth’s inhabitants at the mercy of meaningless chaos.
Thinking theologically can be a tough thing to do—even for us pastors. That’s because we focus most of our energy and attention on what I all “the horizontal” aspects of ministry. Thinking vertically is a discipline few have mastered.
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We much prefer to live in the here-and-now realm, seeing life horizontally as others see it, dealing with realities we can . . .
- Touch
- Analyze
- Prove
- Explain
We are much more comfortable with the tactile, the familiar, the logic shaped by our culture and lived out in our times.
But God offers a better way to live—one that requires faith as it lifts us above the drag and grind of our immediate little world.
