No "How-To's"—A Living Relationship
11/1987
The following is an attempt to answer some more practical questions about where do we go from here. That some of the seeds that have been planted in hope are from the Word of God and, therefore, cannot be ignored, cannot be trifled with, and cannot be pushed aside. They’ve got to be reckoned with if, in fact, it is the Word of God regardless of what any of us grew up believing or thinking.
Things always come to a practical application, and there are times when I personally shy away from that. I know when Jesus was approached by the man who said, “Tell my brother to share his inheritance with me,” Jesus said, “No, who made me your arbiter.” And He went on to teach a principle about greed. I think really there is something to that because if God Himself refuses to be an Arbiter about ‘tell my brother to share the inheritance with me’ and He doesn’t just sit down and say, “Well, now tell me about it. How old are you? Tell me about the circumstances. Who has more need than the other one?” He didn’t deal with that. He said, “Who made me your arbiter.”
If God Himself refuses to be an arbiter of practical application, I think it’s true that we need to be cautious of doing that, too. In Matthew 23, Jesus said, “You are all brothers and you have one teacher - one Rabbi, one Lord and you are all brothers.” I think it’s our job more than anything else to be faithful with the Word of God, not to be Arbiters. Our job is not to push practical applications. As soon as we do that, as soon as we say “here is how to,” we end up with something that is not a response to a living Jesus, but to an external form that’s supposed to somehow appease this living Jesus.
And no matter how Biblical it is, if it’s not a natural relationship with Jesus - as Jesus’ brother and as an adopted son or daughter of the Father - if it’s anything other than that it is just going to deteriorate. It might start off with a bang, and it might be exciting to begin with because of its novelty, but you’re going to have to try and pump it up somehow again or throw in a new novel thing in order to make it exciting like it used to be in the old days.
So it has to be a living relationship with Jesus. Our job is to clearly and faithfully and even sacrificially plant the seed of the Word of God and let God give the increase. We can plant seed. We can water, but only God can give increase.
In Mark 4, Jesus talks about the farmer who sowed the seed. It says that night and day whether he slept or was awake, that the seed grew, but he knew not how. And he says it’s the same with us. It’s first the seed, and then the stalk, and then the head, and then the full kernel in the head, but the farmer knows not how.
Back to something we were talking about earlier is that when we start trying to plant trees instead of planting seeds, then what we end up with is a whole orchard full of plastic trees that just become a drain on the land. It just takes up space, and we might as well just start all over again. It’s a matter of trusting God more than anything else. To just be simple servants of His, to be children that love one another and care for one another. We’re not caught up in details. We don’t have an agenda and we’re not trying to accomplish anything. We’re not trying to build a great church for Jesus. We’re just trying to be His children and to love one another into being better children of His. And with that kind of attitude- it’s kind of neat to watch what God can do.
But as soon as we take a step back and say “This is great” - rather than “He is Great” - or “We need to get everybody to do this” - rather than “We need to get everybody to love Him” - as soon as we take that step back and evaluate ourselves rather than fixing our eyes on Him, it immediately starts to degenerate. Because He is absolutely committed to making sure that we’re joined to Him as the Head and that we’re joined and knit together. That we all have a life that’s common and organic rather than organizational.
As soon as we take a step back, what once was a monument to God’s Greatness becomes a mausoleum. It fossilizes as soon as we say, “Here’s what we’re going to do for God. We have a new way. It’s a better way. It’s a more scriptural way.” People have been saying that for hundreds of years. “Our way is more scriptural than yours.” Give them six months and it’s death warmed over all over again. It’s no different. The belief system is different. The format is different. They have a new set of rituals, instead of an old set of rituals. And it’s just empty inside.
Now the thing that makes it empty inside is when somebody says, “I’ll be your arbiter and I’ll plant trees instead of seeds. I’ll make you a garden that you won’t believe” - rather than letting God give the increase and us simply living with the Seed of the Word and planting it in our own heart and lives; and individually deciding that we don’t have to be anybody. I will serve my brothers and sisters. I will share the life of Jesus with other people whether Christians or nonChristians. I will be everything that God has asked me to be, and I will challenge other people by popping their bubble into being everything that God called them to be. And I’m willing to risk people being mad at me, because I want for them to please God. If I’m wrong, then they can pop my bubble, and I’ll start over again too - if I was too arrogant and callous to see that it wasn’t them, but it was me…then I’ll start over. It’s the freedom to be honest with each other and with ourselves.
What happens is the seed that is planted that way, whether day or night we know not how, it grows up to be a harvest for God. God desires to have a harvest, but it’s not our job to go out and plant trees. It’s our job just to live a real simple, child-like life that trusts Him, walks with Him, and empties ourselves of our burdens and our responsibilities of trying to pull this thing off for God. If you ever feel like you’re trying to pull something off for God, you’re working in the wrong field. That’s not God’s field. He just asks us to be faithful with the seed having good and honest hearts and to also keep moving out and finding others with good and honest hearts. (He’s asking us) to go forth and multiply and fill the earth with Jesus not with “our” church or “our” movement, but with the Life of God and a simple response to the Word of God.
It just takes an immense load off when we realize that He’s not called us to be anything or to do grand and miraculous things - to have a better system than the old system. He’s not called us to do that. He’s just called us to be simple children and walk in faith and not by sight and lay down our life as a drink offering for many. And as those things begin to happen, then we’ll see God doing things. But as soon as we take our eyes off of Him and put them on what He’s doing, then we get arrogant. We get competitive. We get judgmental. It just divides and messes up our heart. So maybe that’s a good place to be in that it’s a very simple, freeing thing. We’re not trying to accomplish anything. We’re just trying to be simple children expressing His love by our lives and by our words. So maybe that’s a good place to start.
