by Steve | Mar 18, 2021 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, March/April 2021
By Sarah Parham –
Everything from air travel to celebrating holidays to childhood education to church life has undergone dramatic shifts. As we watch the evening news, it seems as if our worlds are being completely shaken.
But are they? I have a framed quote on my desk right now from James Bryan Smith. It reads, “I am one in whom Christ dwells and delights. I live in his strong and unshakable kingdom. The kingdom is not in trouble, and neither am I.”
In other words, while our worlds are being shaken, the kingdom is unshakable. The kingdom is unshakable precisely because it is ruled by an unshakable king, who has an unchanging mission: to save and transform humanity and all creation. We need never to worry about transitions of power in the kingdom. There will not be a new administration, or a new cabinet with new priorities. The priorities of the kingdom will forever remain the same: to seek and save the lost. This is good news! We ourselves, somewhat lost in these transitions, have a mission.
There are three moments in scripture that come to mind when I think of our world being shaken. The first is when Moses met with God on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. The Scripture says that “the Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai” as smoke covered the mountain, and the entire mountain trembled, and a trumpet sounded. This scene is enough to put the fear of God into the most skeptical among us. And yet, God is descending for the purpose of meeting with his people. Yes, it is terrifying, and yes, the earth is shaken, but God is coming down!
The second moment that comes to mind is at the crucifixion. Matthew 27 tells us that at the moment when Jesus gave up his spirit, there was an earthquake which split rocks and opened tombs.
The third shaking is found in Acts 4. Immediately following a prayer meeting, the place where the believers had gathered was shaken, in a move of the Spirit reminiscent of Pentecost found in Acts 2.
All of these shakings have two things in common. First, they are at moments when God is working to draw close to his people. At Sinai, he was making a covenant. Same was true at Golgotha. In the prayer meeting, God is filling his people with his Holy Spirit.
Second, in all of these moments, the mission of God is clear. At Sinai, the people were chosen to be God’s blessing to the nations. On the cross, Jesus died in order to bring all nations to himself. At the prayer meeting, the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit to proclaim the word of God and to live as signs of the kingdom.
So, these days, as we sense that our world is being shaken, we can look to the heavens – to the realm of the kingdom – and ask how God would like to come close for the sake of his mission. We can rest assured that our king has not changed, nor have his priorities.
“As far as you can, hold your confidence,” writes poet John O’Donohue in his book To Bless the Space Between Us. “Do not allow confusion to squander this call….” This call, to proclaim boldly the word of God and to live as signs of the kingdom, is far too important to be lost in the shaking.
In fact, when the world shakes, what is unshakable becomes even more clear. Like a chimney standing tall, unrattled, and unmoved after an earth-moving tornado, God’s call to his people remains. Let us not squander our call. In the unshakable kingdom of God, the rule of the king is unchanging, the power is steady, and the mission is always the same.
Sarah Parham serves as senior director for domestic mobilization at TMS Global. She is also co-moderator of the TMS Global podcast – Thy Kingdom Pod: Living in the Unfinished – that goes deeper into kingdom living in the here and now. To learn more visit www.tms-global.org.
by Steve | Mar 18, 2021 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, March/April 2021
By B.J. Funk –
“Plan your work and work your plan.” Sometimes, however, those plans have to be laid aside.
That’s where churches found ourselves this past year. Covid-19 took the lead role in the play called, “Think Again … You Actually Thought You Were in Charge?”
Actually, yes. We did. If not us, then who? Well, that would be God, of course. Proverbs 16:9 speaks of this: “We may make our plans, but the Lord directs our steps.” It could not be clearer. We must recognize that he has the last word.
No wishing or hoping can override the plan of God. If we can understand this, then we will move forward with a feeling of security. Deep down, we are thankful that One who is omnipotent actually makes the plans.
Napoleon, at the height of his career, is reported to have given this cynical answer to someone who asked if God was on the side of France: “God is on the side that has the heaviest artillery.”
Then came the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon lost both the battle and his empire. Years later, when he was in exile on the island of St. Helena, completely humbled, Napoleon was reported to have quoted the words of Thomas à Kempis: “Man proposes; God disposes.”
Throughout this time of international pandemic, it is too easy for us to throw up our hands and completely give up on God with questions like, “Why is God doing this?” and “What purpose could he possibly have in mind?” and “Is this the beginning of the end of time?”
In answer to the first question, not one person on earth, even the wisest of scholars, has the perfect answer. His purposes, as the second question asks, are far too wide and too high for our finite minds. In answer to “Is this the beginning of the end of time” the answer would be, “Absolutely not. It is a continuing of the beginning of the end of time that entered our lives two thousand years ago.”
Jesus ushered in the last days. Since we are two thousand years into that ushering, it seems that God is not in any hurry to bring this truth to its final purpose. At least as we understand earth time.
A month into the pandemic, Maxie Dunnam provided this succinct explanation. “The coronavirus is not the will of God; this is not his deliberate judgment upon a sinful nation and an unfaithful church, and it is not any sort of announcement about end times. Listen to me now, listen carefully. I am not questioning God’s power. Even the winds and the waves obey God simply through the word of His Son. This is not God’s will, but God has a will in the midst of it.”
What we can all possibly agree on is that our lack of speaking out against sin has come home to haunt us.
One of the strongest “What were we thinking?” realizations is that most of us have closed our eyes. Simply closed our eyes as Satan brought forth one area of tolerance after another.
So, what do you see as God’s will for you in this virus? Maybe God is pointing out to us our need for a moral compass. Somewhere in these past years, we lost ours. Also, our spending habits might need a death and new life revival. Had we only known our income might be at risk through a virus, would our savings have been more important? Have our spending habits been over the top? Could we have said “no” to some of our newest possessions?
The solution should be fairly simple and yet decidedly difficult to carry out: Just open our eyes. Then, allow our disgust to move to our hearts, voice box, and hands. Speak out against injustice. Write letters to those in charge. And one more thing. Recognize who the enemy is. He is a very real, very alive, ruler of this world, and he is out to get you and your children. Don’t let him. “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
If you are a believer, then the power that created the world lives in you. Your enemy has already been defeated.
He just didn’t get the memo.
B.J. Funk is Good News’ long-time devotional columnist and author of It’s A Good Day for Grace.
