Greatness

Readings for today: Matthew 4:23-25, 8:14-17, Mark 1:21-39, Luke 4:31-44

We arrived in rural East Africa today. A place full of great beauty and great brutality. A community that has known a great deal of conflict. The people here are intimately familiar with pain and suffering. Famine and malnutrition are constant companions. Disease and death stalk these lands. Demon-possession is not uncommon. Truly this is a place where the devil roars and prowls about, looking for someone to devour. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy any and all hope. But God is at work here. The Kingdom of God is advancing with power and authority. Disease is giving way to healing. Death is giving way to life. Darkness is giving way to light. All because faithful, indigenous men and women are willing to sacrifice it all for the sake of the gospel. I am in awe of them. They are my heroes and heroines. Every time I stand before them, I am deeply humbled. They are truly the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven and I am among the least.

What makes them so great? They simply do what Jesus did. They travel from village to village preaching the gospel. They heal the sick. The cure disease. They deliver the demon-possessed. They raise the dead. Every time I’m with them, it’s like I’m reliving the gospel story. “Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Then the news about him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And he healed them. Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.” (Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭23‬-‭25‬ ‭CSB‬‬) You could literally insert any one of our church planter’s names for Jesus, shift all the coordinates on the map, and the stories would sound much the same. These men and women are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. They perform all kinds of miraculous signs and wonders. The gospel is proclaimed. Churches are planted. Heaven is filled. Hell is emptied. And all kinds of redemptive lift comes to these communities.

What does it mean to be great in the Kingdom? In America, we define it by influence. Power. Wealth. The size of our churches. The number of book deals. The extent of our social media reach. But here in East Africa, it’s defined by sacrifice. Humility. Poverty. Pain and suffering. A willingness to go to the hardest to reach places and preach to the hardest to reach people. It means placing one’s life at risk over and over again. Leaving everything behind including jobs and homes and families to carry the good news to communities who have never heard the name of Jesus. It means laboring in complete obscurity and anonymity and insignificance. Your name and work known only to God. Your eyes fixed on heavenly rather than earthly rewards. This is why God moves so powerfully over here and it’s why the church in America continues to struggle. We refuse to give up greatness in our kingdom for greatness in God’s Kingdom.

Readings for tomorrow: John 3-5

The Example of Children

Readings for today: Matthew 17-18, Mark 9:2-50, Luke 9:28-56

I love children. Always have, always will. I love them at every age from baby to teenager. I’ve loved being a dad to all four of my children. In fact, I still send them texts about once or twice a week just to let them know what an awesome privilege it is to be their father. My son recently told me it’s like receiving a note in his lunchbox. Ha! Love it. I love teaching the children at church. It might be during Kid’s Time in the worship service or during Kid’s Ministry on those Sundays when I’m off the platform and get to serve. There’s simply nothing better than being around kids and talking about Jesus.

Jesus loved children. He often used them to illustrate faith. Their simple trust and wide-eyed wonder at the world served as examples for all who followed Him. When His disciples argued over who was the greatest, Jesus pointed to a child. He challenged His disciples to seek to a simple faith. A humble faith. A generous and trusting and accepting faith. When His disciples wanted to correct a man for using the name of Jesus to set people free because he wasn’t part of their group and perhaps didn’t have his theology quite dialed in, Jesus once again challenged them to take a childlike posture. “If you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck.” (Mark‬ ‭9‬:‭42‬ ‭MSG‬‬) When His disciples lost focus and started talking about fame and fortune and power and authority, Jesus once again used a child to bring them back in line. “Whoever accepts this child as if the child were me, accepts me,” he said. “And whoever accepts me, accepts the One who sent me. You become great by accepting, not asserting. Your spirit, not your size, makes the difference.” (Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭47-‭48‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

I love that last line from the Message version. “Your spirit, not your size, makes the difference.” Greatness in the Kingdom of God is not determined by influence, power, wealth, success, achievement, possessions, the number of books sold, the number of downloads on Spotify, or the number of followers on Instagram. Greatness in the Kingdom of God is not determined by the social circles you run in or the famous people you may know. It is your condition of your soul that matters most. It is your spiritual maturity that makes the difference. And the key mark of spiritual maturity is not age or station in life. It’s not how long you’ve been attending church or how many leadership positions you’ve held in your life. It’s not connected to a title or a degree or some ordination credential. It’s marked by humility. Grace. Peace. Love. Sacrifice. Submission. Trust. All things that mark most children. In fact, one of the best spiritual disciplines you can put into practice is to spend time with a child. Not to teach so much as to learn. Not to discipline so much as to play. Not to guide and correct so much as to simply enjoy the wonder and joy of their life.

Readings for tomorrow: None