Serving God's Purpose, part 2

I just love something I read by Dick Brogden, one of our A/G Missionaries serving in the greater Arab world (he also leads what we know as the “Live Dead Experience”): “Two uncomfortable truths make up the Good News: Everyone is a sinner, and God died for everyone’s sin. The Good News is weird and wonderful. Our role is to witness to the mystery. If we are but a voice for the marvelous, it does not matter what others think of us. We are not the point of the Gospel. If our voice is rejected or silenced, another voice will rise, for the power is not in our voice, the power is in the message.”
 

Doesn’t that address this whole issue of everyone wanting to be different from what they are? I think one of the great hindrances in us sharing the Gospel is that we fear rejection. We want to be liked, and yet, as Brogden brought out, our role is to witness to the mystery… it does not matter what others think of us. When I think of my friend in ministry, Dean Niforatos, he could care less if you like him or not. He feels God has given him an assignment in life and he is determined to serve God’s purpose in his generation whether we like him or not. That’s part of what makes him a most effective evangelist. 

Here is a second quote from Dick Brogden: “A worldview driven by cultural anthropology leads people to make concessions to culture in order to be accepted. Missional living guided by biblical theology leads people to prioritize the King’s message, which inevitably makes a majority of the populace dislike them. This tension cannot be reconciled without heresy, so it must not be reconciled.” 
 

We are going to focus a little on people who are living “missional” lives, meaning they are guided by Biblical theology, which often puts them in conflict within the cultures they live. In a word, they are “missionaries.” I consider today’s missionaries to be modern day Apostles, and to be that, you need to have a heart like the Apostle Paul (another person who couldn’t have cared less about what people thought of him - as long as he was serving God’s purpose to his generation). 

In one of my Bible reading plans, I have been reading through the book of Job for a number of weeks. One of the things I find interesting is how all of Job’s comforters were determined to find out what was wrong with Job, or how Job had to change, or repent if he was ever going to rid himself of all the things plaguing him at the time. But Job holds his ground, doesn’t he? He never gives in to his comforters’ challenge for him to change. And in the end God tremendously blesses Job’s life so that the end of his life was even greater than the first of his life. 

Serving

Having said all of that I now want to turn our attention to the subject of serving. There is an old saying: “Salvation is for all. Service is for those willing to serve.” 

Just to be clear, there is a difference between our service to God and the use of our talents. If God hasn’t given you the talent to play the guitar, then He is not expecting you to play the guitar. Within our service to God, we take advantage of the talents God has given us. But certain talents are not required before we can serve God.

Continued tomorrow