How Strong is God's Bench?
Rethinking common wisdom about, "God will raise up someone else to
do it, but you will miss out on the blessing."
I was sitting in
church recently and heard a familiar line, but I don’t buy it.
The pastor was vision-casting about what a
great future the church has. Souls to reach, ministries to start,
projects to complete. So far, so good. Then, he turned a corner.
“But, if we fail to live out the dream that God has for our church,
God will raise someone else to fulfill this dream, but we will miss
out on the blessing.” The house erupted with a thunder of “Amens.” I
sat back thinking, “Hmm.”
“I am not sure I believe that,” I told my wife
afterwards. A long conversation, lasting on and off for several
weeks, followed. The more I thought about it, the less comfortable I
was with this statement. Three reasons came to mind.
The workers are few
“God will raise up someone else to do it”
doesn’t seem to square with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 9:37, “The
harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” (NIV)
God can, of course, do anything he wants to do. That is one of the
great things about being God. Psalm 115:3 records, “Our God is in
heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” (NIV) He can do whatever he
wants. But, He (apparently) wants to limit His activity. And the
limit has to do with workers. The bottleneck of the evangelistic/
disciplemaking process has always been workers. In big churches and
small, the bottleneck is always the same: workers.
In small churches people seem surprised by this.
"The problem around here is, we are so small. Being so small, we
can't find enough workers and the same people keep doing
everything." In big churches people seem
surprised by this. "Do you have any idea how many workers it takes
to run a Sunday School the size of ours?"
For some ideas about how to recruit workers,
consider Bill Hybels'
ACTS plan. God is not pictured
in the Bible as a coach with a really strong bench. That is, he is
not pictured as a coach that has lots of workers, lots of capable
players. If the someone on the first string blows a knee, no worry,
we pull someone off the bench--and we have plenty of them.
No. God is pictured in the Bible as the owner of
a huge farm. The harvest is plentiful and abundant. Still, we may
not get all the harvest in. What is the shortage? Workers.
I am aware that this discussion touches on the
whole issue of predestination and free will. If you are strong
enough in your Calvinism, this problem goes away. Pushed too far, we
echo the words of the men who scolded William Carey: "Sit down,
young man, if God wants to save the heathen in India, He will do it
without your help or mine." Truth is, He won't. Whatever else you
believe about predestination, you have to believe this: "And how can
they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can
they hear without someone preaching to them?" Romans 10:14 (NIV)
According to Romans 10:14, no one ever gets saved except that
someone preaches to them. The mission
angle
From the viewpoint of a missionary's kid, I
will tell you that most missionaries don't feel this way. Most
missionaries don't feel like, "If I don't do to Africa, God will
raise up someone else to go; but I will miss out on the blessing."
Most missionaries have a profound conviction that unless they go, no
one might go. That group of people in that country at this time,
just might not hear the gospel unless I go and tell them.
This conviction drives them to action. It
pushes them out of complacency. It compels them to leave family and
friends and the comforts of an American lifestyle.
If God will raise someone else anyway, but I
will just miss out on the blessing, well, I might can do without
that blessing if I get some other stuff. If I get to raise my kids
in nice English-speaking schools in the suburbs with nice
shopping and nice restaurants and where everything is nice. If I
don't have to leave my parents or leave my grandkids and leave the
home I love, I might can live without a blessing or two.
Paul said, "The love of God compels me." It
leaves me without any other choices. It restricts my options. I
think Paul had a conviction that if he didn't do it, it just might
not get done. That is how the first missionary thought and that is
how most missionaries think. The
parenting angle
Another perspective on this is the parenting
angle. I have a profound conviction as a dad that there is something
I need to give my kids that no one else can give them. If I don't
live out my calling as a dad to my kids, God won't raise up someone
else to do it. It just won't get done and my kids will grow up with
a hole in their heart because I didn't fill it with the love and
attention that only a dad can give.
I feel the same way as a husband. I have a
calling from God on my life as a husband. There is a love I am to
give my wife and if I don't give it to her, it just won't be done.
In every arena of life, this is true.
The Bible says, "for each one should carry his own load." Galatians
6:5 (NIV) If I don't carry my load, my load just may not be carried.
I believe that God has certain things for me
to do and if I don't do them, they just might not be done. I believe
the same of you. He has people for you to love, kids for you to
raise, lessons for you to teach, a class for you to grow.
I believe for many of you, part of God's
calling on your life is to work with a small group or Sunday School
class that grows and divides, grows and divides, grows and divides.
If you don't do it, it just might not be done. You can reach
1000 people in 10 years
by doubling your group every two years or less. You can launch a
class planting
movement. It may be God's calling for you, and if you don't
do it, it might not get done.
Live with passion.
Live with urgency. The night is coming when no one can work. "For we
are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephes. 2:10 (NIV)
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