On Dependence and God’s Glory

Note: originally posted on my facebook… re-posted here by request

I’m not big on writing notes, but as a means to flesh out my thought process as well as remind myself (in the future) of what i learned at retreat, i’m making a note about what i learned this past weekend. It’s long, wordy and probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, so if you manage to make it through, well done.

With the retreat theme of “dependence” i have to admit i wasn’t super excited. A quick self-examination led me to think that dependence on God wasn’t something i struggled with. But wow after 4 very challenging messages (3 by Pastor James from Pillar Bible Church and 1 from Pastor Pat), my eyes were opened to how narrow my view has been. As Christians, depending on God comes hand in hand with justification. We all know that “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). So we rely fully on God for our salvation.

One might ask, “but why is it so important to depend on God in all situations? I understand God leads to me to salvation but in other areas my own abilities seem perfectly adequate.” The truth is, there are many Christians who live in exactly this way, myself included. When we live like this, a life in which Christ isn’t at the center of our decisions, it can result in very stagnant growth. A personal example for me is in church service. I desired to serve in certain areas in church to stretch myself. But as often happens in our lives, that initial desire gets lost as we become self-reliant. As we become self-reliant we get comfortable with doing the minimum, or to serve out of selfish or misplaced motives. We fail to grasp the purpose of ministry, to bring glory to God.

Pastor Patrick talked this morning about God’s glory. He reminded us that we throw around this idea so loosely. We say things like “We pray for God’s glory” or “we pray you’d be glorified in this.” But what are we asking for when we say these things? Romans 8:16-17 says “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” So trying to bring God’s glory to the forefront of our lives comes at a cost. Our pursuit of God’s glory is important to God, but it’s also important to satan. And as we pray for God’s glory, we must recognize that suffering is sure to follow.

So if we seek after God’s glory, and the result of this is suffering, why should we bother? Isn’t it easier to coast through life as a Christian? It is easier. But we’re not called to live an easy life. The verse from earlier, Romans 8:16-17 is followed with this great quote from Paul. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Mark 8:34 states, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” The Christian life isn’t easy and it should be marked with suffering. But this suffering only happens when we are seeking God, depending on God in our life.

The beautiful thing about all this: depending on God leads to suffering, and suffering leads to joy! 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 tells us of Paul’s thorn in the flesh and how “three times I pleaded with the Lord.” But how does God respond? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And he caps it all off by saying “for the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. James in his book relates the same idea, “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…” or Peter in 1 Peter 4:13 “Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory if revealed.” I remember thinking how absurd it seemed to rejoice in suffering, but the evidence is hard to ignore both in my own life and in the lives of others. These saints recognized, and so should we, that when we suffer for the sake of the gospel, God uses those times to grow us the most, to reveal to us a piece of little piece of glory. The same glory which James, John and Peter saw in Christ during the transfiguration.And how sweet that truth is.

So how do we go about receiving this blessing? Depend on God in all situations. Lean not on our own understanding, but come to God in prayer. Pastor James told us that the key to effectively realizing our dependence on God is by recognizing our inadequacy. He exhorted us to be marked by prayer. And even when prayer seems difficult, or we don’t know what to pray for, Romans 8:26 should bring us comfort. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

There is so much more to think through, but at the end of the day, I really marvel how little in my life i bring before the Lord. My hope is that in the end, instead of shying away from dependence on the Lord, i would actively submit to it. And even knowing that this submission comes with hardships, I pray that God would grant me the wisdom and courage to deal with suffering, to have an eternal perspective in mind. All this so that God would be glorified.

Why Blog?

Dear reader,

I’m actually pretty excited to start blogging. I’ve been putting it off for a long time. But after giving it some serious thought, i’ve decided to put those thoughts down on paper. There’s obviously a certain amount of anxiety that comes with posting thoughts in a public forum for all to read, but I will do my best to be honest and clear, to write without a fear of man or a desire for man’s approval (though this may be the hardest). But before we get into the actual entries, here are some disclaimers to keep in mind!

DISCLAIMER 1: I stink at writing! So 90% of the time, what i write will barely be intelligible. So if you manage to make it to the end of an entry, praise God!

DISCLAIMER 2: I’m not sure I have many interesting things to say. So coupled with the fact that i don’t write well, blogging my end up being pretty rough.

DISCLAIMER 3: My grammar is horrible. I think this kind of ties in with being bad at writing…

DISCLAIMER 4: I can be kind of opinionated and stubborn. I’m sorry in advance if i offend you with something i write.

So why blog?

My reasons are probably similar to why many people start blogging… I have important things to say and people need to hear it! haha ok not really. I’m blogging because in general i have a lot of half-formed ideas in my head that i’d like to think through. Most of these ideas go forgotten, but by blogging, my hope is that i can put more substance to these thoughts. (on a sidenote, that lame joke i bolded up above just helped me realize how hard it will be to get people to laugh. spontaneous, witty humor is the only kind i know and after reading my lame joke, i was awfully tempted to delete it.. oh well. lots of bad jokes incoming)

As for my target audience… ultimately i’m writing for myself. But hey if my thoughts can provide comedic relief, or encourage a fellow brother/sister, challenge ones way of thinking, or remind you that the giants/sharks/kings all stink, then all the better.  I’ll do my best to address topics in my life in a manner that even one who doesn’t know me would understand. Enjoy!

-Michael

Is it your MVP?

Though i have yet to go live, i’ve already managed to create like 6 different drafts for blog entries… topics ranging anywhere from the lakers, to my top 50 songs of all time, to the cross, to random gibberish.

None of them really jumped out at me. Nothing felt appropriate with which to launch my blog, where i can look back and think, this is why i wanted to blog.

But then on Sunday, I was sitting at the missions orientation meeting listening to Pastor Patrick talk about what Lighthouse’s missions goals are. As I sat there, i was both reminded and convicted of a particular area of my life through which God’s been challenging me.  And as this conviction was renewed, I immediately knew I had found what to make as my first blog post.

Last year, our church decided to renew Vision Quest.  A tradition once held by our church, the purpose of this quarterly event was to remind us of the MVP (Mission, Vision, Passion)  and bring our focus back to these truths. At the first Vision Quest, Patrick exhorted us to consider what we were doing with the MVP. Was it something we just memorized and put off as a church mission statement, or were we making it something personal? He talked about Matthew 28:18-20 (our Mission) and that served as a catalyst for my decision to join college staff. But that’s a blog post for another day. He then proceeded talk to about the Vision.

It’s been nearly a year since LBCSJ had started. When Pastor John was first talking about church planting, I remembered thinking how cool that was and wondered who would be willing to go. But from the point that it was first announced, to the point where the team actually left, I never once seriously considered going. At Vision Quest, Patrick asked us if we were committed to the vision of our church, to plant churches. The answer to that question was a resounding no! As i sat there, i felt awfully convicted about my lack of desire to spread the good news and the lack of commitment i was showing to our MVP. It didn’t end there, he talked about how planting one church doesn’t mean our goal is accomplished either. As we look to the future, it shouldn’t be considered crazy the possibility of additional church plants. The question then becomes, will i be ready then? Or at the very least, will i consider it?

These thoughts have really been convicting me over this past year. At first, it instilled a burning desire to drop everything, go on missions, or go join the church plant. But as reason, real life, fear of man and a million other excuses filled my brain, those convictions slowly faded. God would give me reminders here and there (ryan chan constantly telling me to move to norcal) that i ought to be more evangelism-minded, but all in all i was settling back into a very content attitude.

And so when I sat there at the missions orientation meeting, all these thoughts came flooding back to me. Every year i claim i’ll consider missions, and every year i find excuses not to go. But this year, I pray things will be different. Regardless of whether the end result is me joining our church for our summer mission, my prayer is that God wouldn’t allow me to be content in my own complacency. God’s truth is real, and living, and every day He reminds me of my desperate need for a savior. It’s when i’m content that I forget these simple truths. I don’t know if His big picture plan includes me overseas somewhere, but at the very least I should put myself in a position where I can be obedient to His calling. At the very least, I should be willing.