Dear Church family,
It’s rare that I write two letters to you in one week, but this week must be special. I was thinking and praying over Genesis 21 for myself and for you, and my prayer sounded like this, “I pray that You, Lord, will do ‘who would have said’ (v7) kinds of unexpected things in our Church’s life for the sake of Your glory.”
That last part, “for the sake of Your glory” is of utmost importance for us to understand. The reason that God works beyond our ability through us to build up His Kingdom is so that He ultimately gets the glory and we don’t. When God receives the glory, it’s healthy for us, as you know the statement, “for Your glory and our good.” Those two things go together. God is the One and only One Who honestly deserves glory and praise, so it’s proper that He helps us take the attention off ourselves (which we are so prone to do, and this = idolatry), and He helps us take the attention off ourselves when He performs supernatural growth in His Kingdom apart from our perception of human skill and strength.
Therefore, the reason that we ought to want God to surprise us with these unexpected “who would have said” moments is not so that we experience an interruption to our boring life or entertainment or bragging rights for our Church. In fact, we should not want God to do unexpected supernatural things even for the sake of people, not ultimately, partially yes, but not ultimately, because our ultimate goal should be all for the glory of God.
I found myself asking myself this past week, “why do I want Church Kingdom growth?” And there could be all kinds of answers for that, like feeling a sense of accomplishment and success as a pastor or member of the Church, or I might even say, “so that people can be saved and experience the wonderful nature of God.” Or maybe we answer: “I don’t really know, just because growth is good, right?” Or “it’s what I’m supposed to want, right?” But why should I want Church Kingdom growth (which is honestly much bigger than our little local Church)? I want it because I want God’s glory to be seen! Notice these two verses…
Ps. 67:3-5 says, “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. 5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!”
You should be able to see the theme of “for Your glory and our good” in these verses, or “for God’s glory and our joy.” It makes people glad when we focus on God’s rule and God’s praise. The desire of this worldwide missions’ verse is that God’s Kingdom rule would be one where people praise God. It’s all God centered. But the result is that the nations are glad and sing for joy.
Finally, Romans 4:19-20 says this about Abraham’s life and the real motivation behind his growing faith in God’s supernatural fulfilment to His promise:
“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.”
Abraham grew strong in his faith through the process of experiencing God’s supernatural against all odds fulfillment to His promise. And his faith gave glory to God. And that’s the whole point of God’s unconventional methods for advancing His Kingdom, to grow our faith in Him and give Him the glory!
May the Lord receive glory through the supernatural ways that He works among us!
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen!” -Eph. 3:20-21.
With love in Christ, all for His glory,
Aaron
