“Keeping the First Things First”

Scripture: Matthew 9:35-10:23

Keeping the first thing first is never easy. We get distracted; we are convinced by others that our “first things” aren’t important; we forget; life gets in the way. The truth is that our “first things” can change without our ever realizing it! And it’s hard to get them back.

In an article by retired Presbyterian Pastor Joanna Adams, she wrote:
“I'm thinking of a family in a church I once served. Their second child was a beautiful baby girl with more congenital problems than you could count. The first year of her life was an unending series of surgeries and weeks in ICU. But I'm telling you, that baby was golden wheat. When her Mama said to me, "She is the greatest blessing of our lives," I knew it was nothing but the truth.

"Just leave the weeds alone," Jesus said. God knows what's good and what isn't.
Considered to be weeds - the needy, the afflicted, the outcasts, the alien, the other. What do you think? … Could it be that turning weeds into wheat is exactly the reason Christ came into the world?”

--Joanna Adams, "Why can't we pull up the weeds?," Day1.Org. Retrieved February 1, 2017.

That family knew how to keep the first things first by seeing all of the blessings that God had given them, while never being distracted by the weeds of the world.

Read Matthew 9:35-10:4

Jesus knew how to keep his mission to earth first. And we all know how often the distractions came against him! Between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Romans, the poor, constant demands for healing, and trying to teach his followers the ways of God, it’s a wonder that he had any time and energy to teach and preach to the people! But with all the worldly woes that stood before him, with the pain and struggle, the heartache and sin that the people were experiencing, he still made time for all who came seeking him.

Compassion was Jesus’ watchword. Compassion is a Godly trait, not a human one. Our self-centeredness gets in the way of compassion – it is a false “first thing”. And our text offers us two concepts to help us to reexamine our lives – shepherding and harvesting. Shepherding occurs when we put the needs of others ahead of our own, while harvesting, an event that will occur when Jesus returns, needs workers in the here and now to prepare humanity for the coming of that glorious day. Jesus’ compassion was focused on the people of earth, while we tend to be more concerned with them in second place.

Notice that Jesus asks for workers to be sent out, in his way, into the world. He isn’t looking for volunteers who will want to do things in their own way, but rather for workers who are chosen, authorized, and sent by God, for God, and in God’s way. Christian service is not about how gifted, how smart, how able we may be – it is about how faithful we are to the Lord’s call on our life.

And he called and enabled the 12 to work within his authority, not within their own. Remember Peter in the storm (Matthew 14:22-32)? When he saw Jesus coming toward the boat, he asked the Lord to call him out, and he went in the Lord’s call. But after he took those first couple of steps, he got distracted by the storm, and began to sink. He walked on the water by Jesus’ authority, but when he allowed the wind and waves to take control, he failed.
And when the 12 accepted Jesus’ authority, there was nothing that they couldn’t do, but on their own, there would only be failure. Disease, illness, injury, evil spirits – nothing could stand against them when they allowed Christ’s Spirit to work through them. And nothing can stand against us when we, too, allow the Lord’s authority to claim us.

Keep the first things first!

Read Matthew 10:5-16

Jesus’ mission was to Israel, not to the entire world. This may seem strange, but in Genesis, God tells Abraham that his offspring will be blessed, so that they can be a blessing to all the earth. (Genesis 22:17-18) The original plan for God’s workers would be Israel, but because they failed to follow the Lord’s bidding, others would be welcomed into the ranks of God’s servants. (Luke 20:9-16) But it wasn’t time yet for the gentiles to be ministered to, except for a few isolated instances. Israel was still the choice to spread the message of glory throughout the world, and that is where the Disciples were to concentrate.

And the Lord gives them specific instructions as to what they are to do. The message is that “The kingdom of heaven is near.” The rest of the call is, I believe, to convince the people that these men are truly working within the authority of God. And the gifts and abilities that are listed are given without cost to them, so they are to give them to others without obligation on their part. (“Freely, Freely”) Take nothing with you – just carry the love of Christ and the glory of salvation, and that will sustain you. That’s the call on missionaries and all who have been given the authority to proclaim Jesus Christ to the world – don’t let thoughts of your worldly needs get you off track.

Ministry and mission has never been, and never will be, about earning a living. The people who have received the ministry will, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, be led to provide for the messenger’s needs. But Jesus also warns these early missionaries that there will be those who will not assist or provide for them. And are the Disciples supposed to condemn them? To punish them? To get even with them? Not at all. Just “shake the dust from your feet”, and move on. The implication here is that they are not to take anything from that home or that community - not the hatred, not the opposition, not their ways, and not even the dirt from their street.

Keep the first thing first, and don’t worry that some have refused to hear the good news – don’t think that it is your fault, don’t worry about revenge, don’t worry about taking extreme measures to convince the people, don’t even fear the possibility of persecution – just do what you have been sent to do, and that will be enough. Anything more, and you are no longer serving under the authority of God – you have gone off on your own, spreading selfishness and hopelessness, instead of life and love. We don’t have to deal with those who deny the Lord – Jesus will do that at the Judgment!

Read Matthew 10:17-23

In Luke’s gospel (Luke 6:22-23), Jesus tells his followers that the very fact that others will persecute them isn’t a reason to fear – instead, it’s a reason for rejoicing! And in John 7:7, we read that the hatred isn’t actually being directed toward them, but rather against the Lord. It is Christ’s message, that the ways of earth are evil, that they object to, not to the one who proclaims it. Actually, the world’s hatred for the word of God is a reason for great sadness, for they are shutting themselves off from divine grace, as well as Jesus’ great sacrifice, made on their behalf, at Calvary!

And the persecution is defined. There will be arrests and floggings and all sorts of hateful expression, but they aren’t to be swayed from the task. Even when they are accused and questioned by the Jewish authorities, don’t try to justify why you are doing what you are doing – just let the Spirit speak for you. And from personal experience, if the Spirit gives you nothing to say, then that is exactly what should come from your mouth. Nothing more.

Always, keep the call that Christ has placed on you the first thing in your life and ministry.

And how extensive will the world’s hatred be toward you? It will be greater than anything you have ever encountered. Family, friends, and strangers will oppose you. The very people who you believe will support you won’t. But the Lord says that we are never to give up, never give in, never change the message, never surrender to the world’s animosity. Titus 3:9-11 tells us that we aren’t to argue with those who oppress and oppose us – just warn them twice with the Lord’s truth, then “shake the dust” off, and move on.

And never keep a record, never keep a count of those who you lead to the Lord – they aren’t your victories anyway – they are Christ’s! Just continue to do as the Lord tells you, and as the Spirit leads you, and you will never go wrong. The Spirit will keep us on track, and will continue to remind us of what must truly be first in our lives. And that will be enough.

“Trinity – The Unifier”

Scripture: John 16:7-15; Matthew 12:30-32

In striving to understand the Trinity a little better, we have already considered the first two Persons – the Father and the Son, and today, we consider the Third Person – the Holy Spirit, who Augustine saw as the power of unification. As we previously discovered, the Three, even though they have unique responsibilities, they exist within a common purpose, with a common goal, and proclaiming a common truth. None of them lives outside any of the others (John 14:15-17), and what one does, the others comply with, so that the message is enabled and reinforced.

But not only do they have an inward focus with each other, they also have a common outward purpose - one that is placed firmly on humanity. Augustine wrote in his “Confessions”, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” That, I believe, is the Spirit’s unique purpose – that of reminding us that we are made for the Lord, as well as instilling within us that sense of “restlessness” that leads us into the eternal rest of Almighty God.

As we have discovered in our Tuesday morning Bible study, the Greek word for Spirit, found primarily in John’s gospel, is “Paraclete”. The word has a very wide and encompassing significance, even though biblical translators seem to focus on only a couple of its meanings – such as Comforter or Advocate. But Paraclete means far more – it denotes one who exhorts, who encourages, who comforts, consoles, helps, and appeals to and for others.

So in this regard, let’s see how the Spirit is also a force for unity.

Read John 16:7-15

This passage is part of Jesus’ teaching at the Last Supper. John’s treatment of that time is far more extensive than the other Gospels – 4 complete chapters, versus a few verses of a single chapter in the others. And in this passage, Jesus tells his friends that his impending departure must be seen as a good thing. And his leaving shouldn’t surprise anyone – after all, if he hadn’t died on the Cross, he would surely have died of old age within a few more years.
But the goodness that is inherent in Jesus’ death and return home is not so much in his leaving as it is in the ability of the Spirit, the Paraclete, to come to the disciples, and us, for the remainder of human existence.

Jesus had come to present the truth of God. He exposed the ways of earth, including the Law of Moses, as futilely inadequate as a means to righteous living. But in his humanness, he was limited in the number of people he could reach, and even in that small number, there were only a handful who would accept his teaching. A permanent, godly Presence would have to be established among the people of earth if the Lord’s lessons were to remain in our minds and hearts.

And in verse 8, we read that the Spirit, the Paraclete, will convict the world of guilt in regard to three things - of their sinful condition, in the way to true righteousness, and in the judgment that is upon all who have not chosen to follow the ways of Christ Jesus. And John’s writing explains the basics behind each of these – first, that sin reigns in our lives unless we give ourselves totally over to Jesus; second, that righteousness comes to us because the Lord has completed his work among us and has returned to Glory; and third, that judgment is already upon Satan, the prince of the world, and will also, one day, be on those who follow the devil, either intentionally or inadvertently.

It becomes quite clear, then, that the Holy Spirit’s responsibility is to continue the ministry that Jesus began by keeping all that the Lord did and taught in a fresh and vibrant way within our lives. But note that the Spirit introduces nothing new to the ministry! There may be new ways and new opportunities to introduce the ministry to people of the world, but the foundational principles, the complete truth that the Spirit enables, is absolutely in tune with the heart of both Jesus and the Father.

And this leads to one more name and purpose for the Spirit – that of “Guide” for our lives. This isn’t in a new way, however, but continues to be in the truth and way of Jesus. The Paraclete will guide us to know and remember all that Jesus is for the life of humanity. And just so we don’t think that we will be learning anything new, we are told that the Spirit knows nothing and says nothing that he doesn’t hear from Almighty God.
But he will “tell what is yet to come”. This, too, will not be new, will not be prophecy, will not necessarily be of our future. Remember that this word comes before Jesus’ death, so it may very well be referring to an understanding of what his death, as well as what the Spirit’s coming, will mean for us.

Just as Jesus’ purpose was to bring glory to the Father, the Spirit’s purpose is to bring glory to Jesus. Isn’t it interesting that neither Jesus nor the Spirit seeks any glory for themselves – that all glory passes through them to the Father - the One who has initiated all that is. The very work of the Spirit proves that there is unity within the Triune God, and that nothing can disrupt it.

Read Matthew 12:30-32

In Matthew’s gospel, we begin to see another aspect of unity in the Spirit – that which is to exist between God and humanity. Jesus begins his thoughts by making the point that “If you aren’t with me, you’re against me.” The Lord tells us that there is no middle ground, no fence-sitting, when it comes to faith – either you believe, or you don’t. And the corollary to faith is that if you aren’t focused on unity in God and with each other (Luke 10:25-37), (in that order!) then you are divisive and are making your own way in life.

And the Lord discusses forgiveness, in the context of unity. He tells us that, through repentance, all things that are said contrary to him, can be forgiven. The condemnation that comes from every sin (action) and every word (blasphemy) that is against him can be forgiven. The assumption is that the sinful ways and hateful words in our life before Christ, before we began to learn his ways, before we understand the life he promises, before we hear of the difference that exists between the ways of earth and the ways of God – these can be forgiven through the atonement that Jesus offers.
But it appears that once we have learned of his ways and his plan for eternity, and still reject the leading and guidance of the Paraclete, forgiveness becomes a thing of the past.

Why should there be such a difference? Isn’t the Spirit completely in synch with Jesus?
William Barclay, in his Commentary on Matthew, (Vol. 2, Westminster Press,|Philadelphia, 1975, pg. 44), wrote:
“Why should that sin be unforgiveable? What differentiates it so terribly from all other sins? The answer is simple. When a [person] reaches that stage, repentance is impossible! If a [person] cannot recognize the good when he sees it, he cannot desire it. If a [person] does not recognize evil as evil, he cannot be sorry for it, and depart from it. And if he cannot, in spite of failures, love the good and hate the evil, he cannot repent; and if he cannot repent, he cannot be forgiven, for repentance is the only condition of forgiveness.”

If we merge Barclay’s thoughts with Augustine’s, we begin to see that abject refusal to accept the truth of the Holy Spirit is paramount to rejecting the unity that is the very basis for all that the Spirit is for us. And as Barclay wrote – if we won’t recognize goodness and truth when we see it, then there is no hope that we will ever turn away from that other life.

We need to understand that the sinfulness that we continue to commit, even after we come to Christ and his promises, is not what this passage is referring to. Blaspheming of the Spirit is a total rejection of all that the Spirit stands for and all that we are called to know. Rejection of the Spirit and his truth is a rejection of God.

But when we allow the Spirit of God to work and correct and speak and live within and through us by faith in Jesus Christ, all things are possible (Philippians 4:13), including unity with each other, and especially unity with the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

“Trinity – The Mediator”

Scripture: Romans 5:6-11; Romans 8:34-39

The second Person of the Trinity is, of course, Jesus Christ, and scripture gives us many names for the Lord. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Matthew 12:8 refers to him as Lord of the Sabbath, and, of course, there are even more, such as Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8), and the 7 “I AM” statements (“Bread of Life” – John 6:48; “Light of the World” – John 9:5; “Gate” – John 10:7; “the Good Shepherd” – John 10:14; “Resurrection and the Life” – John 11:25; “the Way, the Truth, and the Life: - John 14:6; “the Vine” – John 15:1). But none of these names refers to the intercession that Jesus brings to defeat the hold that sin has on our lives. But Jesus is also our Savior (Luke 2:11), and that is what a savior does – he intervenes to end the death threat that is upon each of us.

Augustine was a Neoplatonist – a philosophical school of thought in the 3rd and 4th centuries that considered the truth surrounding reality. It was anything but a faith process, but Augustine, searching for an understanding of what “abiding in Christ” was all about, would only later made the connection to Christ’s sacrifice as a means to his atonement. But it did come to him through the Book of Romans, and he did discover that Jesus was holding out a unique relationship to not only him, but to the entire world.

This is what he found in Romans, and this is what led him to understand the “mediation” that the Lord achieved for him.

Read Romans 5:6-11

Even with all the intelligence that Augustine possessed, it was this passage that gained him insight into his unworthiness. He could argue philosophical thought with the best of them, and yet, for all his intellect, could never quite grasp the salvation that Jesus offered to him simply by faith. There was no price, there was no effort, there was no great act demanded of him. And the gift was prepared for him long before he was ever born and long before he ever understood.

Two weeks ago, we talked about the love of God, and how it led the Lord to give his all to become Savior of the world, and all that we had to do was to believe in him (John 3:16). For the logical mind, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, unless, that is, until we ask the questions “How good a life must I live before I can gain the righteousness of God?” And the only “logical” answer must be “We must become as good as God!” And as Jesus tells us in Luke 18:18-30, that “No one is good except God alone”.

Paul tells us that Christ’s coming into this world occurred at just the right time, and that he surrendered his life to the ungodly, on behalf of the ungodly, also at just the right time. This “time” wasn’t chronological in nature, but spiritual. God’s timing will never be understood through logic or examination – it only comes to us by faith. And by faith, God’s timing, or more importantly his actions, are always right. The Lord’s Plan - its implementation, its effect, its call, its offer – is available to all who will accept it, and we are never expected to understand it. Believe that “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”! And that is a lesson that Augustine, and we, must learn fully.

For many, though, there is a troubling phrase in this passage – that reference to the time when we all were enemies of God. Think about that – how much would you give for the benefit of an enemy – one who hated everything you stood for, one who wanted to rid their lives of you and your attitude, one whose only desire was for your message to dry up and die? That is who we were before grace came into our lives! And in Romans 1:18-19, Paul addresses one possible response of God toward the “godlessness and wickedness of men”, and it is called “The wrath of God”. Paul writes that godlessness isn’t necessarily a hatred for God, but simply the suppression of his truth.

Jesus came to act, on our behalf, to overturn that wrath, and to replace it with righteousness – the very thing that we need, but have absolutely no way to gain on our own. Christ has become the Mediator between the ones who are wicked (that’s you and me!), and the One, the only one, who is good. And it didn’t require gifted speech or a monetary ransom – it required his death on the Cross.

By faith in the salvation that comes through the blood of Christ, wrath and destruction are trumped every time. And that, my brothers and sisters, is a reason to rejoice!

Read Romans 8:34-39

Who condemns? Jesus! But is it Jesus alone? No - it is God in his entirety! But this condemnation isn’t what will occur on Christ’s Day of Judgment – it is the sentence right now for all who suppress and reject the truth of God. So the very one who condemns is also the only one who can save. But remember that salvation doesn’t come because our Mediator has changed his mind and heart – it comes when we change ours.

And when we come to that realization, when we come to our senses, when we make the decision to allow our life to be a reflection of Jesus Christ, it is then that salvation becomes a reality for us. But what about the sin that continues to crop up and haunt us every day that we live? Won’t that damage our salvation?

Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ! It is important that we seek his forgiveness, though, but the love that led Christ to Calvary will never leave us. And there is nothing that the world can throw at us that will ever change that. Satan’s world has no power over God, but the power that exists in the love of Christ can, and will, overcome everything that the world stands for.

And by faith, the strength and blessing that comes to each of us will be beyond anything that we can ever imagine. And the list that Paul offers – those things that we might think can cause the Lord to withdraw his love from us – assures us that it will never happen. Think about it!

Not death or life. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, there is nothing that we can ever do in this life that would break his love. The allure of earth will always be before us, but it can never put salvation in jeopardy. And by the Lord Jesus’ death and bodily resurrection, we are promised that death can never hold us, either.

Not angels or demons. By faith in Christ, there is no power in heaven that will ever re-condemn us and doom us to death. And as we discussed before, the love of Christ will always defeat the power and hatred of Satan and his minions. The Darkness has already lost, and even though he continues to try to mislead us, every effort that he makes is futile.

Not the present or the future. The love of Christ is eternal, and it exists beyond earthly time and sinful condemnation. Notice that Paul doesn’t include our past! Our past life has already been defeated in that moment that we gave our life to Jesus Christ, so it no longer can have any influence on either our now or on our tomorrow.

Not any power. The rulers of earth’s tribes and nations have great authority. Romans 13:1 tells us that human authority has been established by God Himself, and that we are to submit to that authority. But that doesn’t mean that the authority that our leaders have is greater than, or even equal to God’s! No power on earth is sufficient to intervene between us and our Lord.

Not height or depth. There is some thought that this may have referred to astrological beliefs, a form of false spiritual power, a power which we can also take as satanic power. There is nothing that can give us more than we receive through the love of God, and there is nothing that can diminish the love of God.

Nothing else in all creation. I think that Paul threw this thought in, just in case he missed something! He wanted Augustine, and he wanted each of us, to understand that nothing exists and nothing ever can exist, that could even remotely have a chance of “separating us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus mediated our salvation and there is nothing that can interfere with that, and for Augustine, that was a huge revelation. He would come to understand that justification by faith in Christ would be the only way to eternal life. He would come to understand that the only reality that we can depend on is that which resides in Almighty God.

He would write of his new found faith, and those writings from the 3rd and 4th centuries would be preserved. And when Martin Luther, a Roman Catholic priest in the 16th century, read those dissertations, they would lead him to reexamine the Book of Romans. And as he did, he too would discover a new outlook on his faith. And Luther’s writing - “Introduction to the Book of Romans” would also touch the heart of John Wesley on that night when his “heart was strangely warmed”.

The faith that Augustine, and Luther, and Wesley discovered, is the same faith that Christ is calling us to claim. Romans isn’t just for the perverted of Rome – it is for all who subscribe to the authority of earth, and search through it to find the truth of reality. Jesus Christ is the only reality that we will ever need. Claim it, and live.

“Trinity – The Initiator”

Scripture: Exodus 3:1-10; Genesis 1:1, 26; Luke 1:26-27; John 14:10

John Wesley described the Trinity in a rather complex and totally unhuman way - that he is “Three-and-One”. And as God is eternal, both before time and after time, there has always been this Three-and-One. We see the Three at work at all times, even though, in general, only one of them is obvious. In this regard, we typically associate The Father with Old Testament times, the Son with the Gospels, and the Holy Spirit with the epistles.

But God is nowhere near as “cut and dried” as we would like him to be. And even while we see and proclaim one God for our lives, we can identify some uniqueness to each of the Persons. Today, we will consider certain attributes of the First Person of the Trinity, the one we call Father, the one who Augustine referred to as “the Initiator”.

The word “initiate” can suggest several concepts, such as an origination or the beginning of an event. It implies an opening or introduction of something new, and can even refer to an instruction or teaching. This is the one who we will be considering today.

Read Exodus 3:1-10

Of course, this isn’t the first time that the Lord “initiated” a new direction in the life of humanity. In Genesis 12:1-7, he tells Abram to leave his home and travel to a land that one day will be home for his descendants. Neither Abram nor Moses had any personal inclination to go, but they would go.

Abram seemed to go willingly – at least there is no indication in scripture that he questioned or objected to the call, but Moses was a different story - he would have quite a litany of concerns. He needed to know the name of the One who was sending him, just in case he was asked, and he received the name of God of Israel – “I AM”; he needed proof that it truly was the Lord who was sending him – he wanted something to show to any unbelievers, in both Israel and the Egyptians, and probably for himself, and he would receive two proofs and a promise for more; he was not eloquent in his speech, and may have been asking, and expecting, God to give him perfect speech, but instead, he was given his brother Aaron who would help him with the oratory.
Moses was understandably nervous about going back to Egypt, as he had been forcibly ejected from the nation, and feared for his life if he should return. But the One who was Initiating this rescue of his people would also see the project to completion.

This First Person of the Trinity not only initiates his call on people, he ensures that they are enabled to complete the task as well. Abram would be sent to a new land - not for his benefit, though, but for his descendants, and with all the twists and turns that we read of in Genesis, God would use each and every turn to his own advantage, and sometimes it would serve as proof for a specific person that the promise was still in effect.
Abram would see the promise at work through the substitution of a ram for his son Isaac’s life (Genesis 22:1-18), and he would be filled with faith. Moses would see the proof each and every time that God would work through him in the giving of 10 plagues (Exodus 8:14-Exodus 11), and his confidence would grow every time. Whatever the Lord begins, he will complete. Whatever God promises, we can rest assured that it will happen. Abram would never see the ultimate promise be carried to fruition, but he was given assurance that it would, one day, be accomplished. Even Moses, who hundreds of years later, would lead the people right up to the boundary of the Land, and would be given a glimpse of it, but would never enter.

Consider the call that God placed on the Gibson Corners church nearly 20 years ago. God spoke through Pastor Gary Bryden, and challenged the people to pray for what the Lord wanted them to do, and yet were unable to do themselves, and this small, faithful congregation believed. They wound up being called to go to Ecuador, not knowing what they would do or even how it would be accomplished. And over a ten year period, a school would be built – not a 2 room school, but a 3 story school; it would be a project that they had nowhere near enough manpower or financial resources, but the Lord would bring other churches, other denominations, and many other people along side to make up the difference; it wouldn’t be a school to teach 20-30 children – it would be a school, at last report, for nearly 250 children, with plans to add a fourth story to accommodate even more.

God’s plans are nothing like ours, but when we follow him into the unknown, we will always discover just how big our God truly is.

Read Luke 1:26-27

We see many instances of God initiating grand events throughout the Old Testament, but the New Testament has its own examples. Consider the coming of God into our world – now that was an initiation unlike any other! It would have been so easy and so much more effective if Jesus had simply arrived, unmistakably, as God in all his glory, power, and authority. People would have believed, without hesitation! But the Divine Plan had characteristics unlike anything that we could ever conceive of.
Salvation would arrive for you and me – not as a mighty and respected Being, but as a humble, insignificant, totally dependent, fleshly baby; he wouldn’t come full of knowledge and hope, able to instill faith and trust with a single flick of his finger, but as one who would have a very limited success (at least by human standards!) and would look to humanity to complete his mission; he came, not as a conqueror, but as one who would surrender to human hatred and would be assassinated by his own creation as a criminal,; he did not come as royalty, but as a commoner; he came not by man’s action with a woman, but by God’s action and the woman’s faith and acceptance.

And the result of this “initiation”, while known and believed, has yet to play out fully. 700 years elapsed between Abram and Moses; over 2,000 years has passed since that miraculous birth; and nearly 20 years have passed since Pastor Gary allowed the Lord to speak though him, and we are all still waiting for the fulfilling of these, and more, promises. But still, we believe that God is exactly who he is, and that the promises he has given, and the glory he has initiated, will be seen through to fruition.

Read John 14:10

Does this First Person, the Father, the Initiator of all good things, work alone? Of course not. The process that created order out of chaos in the first 2 chapters of Genesis was a singular, but unified effort by the Triune God, and when creation was finished, did God sit in command of it all? Not on your life! In Genesis 1:26, after humanity had been created, they were given the responsibility to oversee, to use, and to care for God’s Creation.
Could God have initiated and created a solitary, a special, a unique people to be his example to the ones of earth? He could have, but he chose a single human couple – Abraham and his wife Sarah – to give birth, and by that one descendant Isaac, to give more birth, over and over again, always in a human way, to bring the chosen people into being.
Could God have lead the people, and cared for all of their needs, all the way from Egypt to the Promised Land by himself? Of course he could, and we even read that the Spirit of God led them in the form of Fire and Cloud (Exodus 13:21-22), and provided food (Exodus 16:11-12) and water (Exodus 17:5-7) to sustain them, even while he included Moses, Aaron, and others in all that he did.
Could the Lord have initiated and enacted salvation for the world all on his own? Certainly, but the Initiator would work through Jesus the “Mediator”, and by faith, would spread the Gospel message throughout the world through human involvement, through your and my witness, led by the “Unifying” Spirit.

The Lord comes to us in three distinct ways, but it will never end there. The fourth aspect of God’s great plan includes you, and me, and all who will believe. The Lord is always in need of more human partners, but it always seems to be the faithful who are involved in bringing them to God’s way through the guidance, by the inspiration, by the initiation, of the Lord God Himself.

You and I will never start anything that can bring glory to the Lord; you and I will never be able to carry out the divine tasks that are given on our own; you and I will never accomplish a single “good” thing without God’s involvement. Isn’t it interesting that humanity is the only created thing that God uses to bring people into his glory? Oh, it’s true that other aspects of creation can sometimes inspire us – the beauty of a Spring day, a freshly fallen blanket of snow, a flower, a mighty oak tree, the early morning song of a bird, and other gorgeous visions of creation, but it always comes back to human involvement with our Triune God that becomes a testimony to the Lord’s presence and grace at work in this world.

Father, Son, and Spirit – Initiator, Mediator, and Unifier – and you and me. And the story doesn’t stop there, because the one who began all good works in each of us, will always bring them all to completion within us (Philippians 1:4-6).