Sometimes God works THROUGH us, but He is Always Working IN us

Any ministry any of us ever does is always being compared against what others do.  We compare numbers constantly.  It is what somewhere in our Western world we have determined is the gauge to call someone “successful” or “fruitful.”
     In 1 Kings 17 we are introduced to Elijah.  Now I get excited when I think of Elijah.  I have over and over again read the stories of all the great things God did through him.  What a successful, fruitful prophet he was.  And again my mind imposes on it all the same standard for gauging his ministry (and mine).  But recently God pointed out something I never saw.

Between Two Worlds - (Suffering and Joy)

I'm stuck in it.  You are stuck in it.  And for the time being, there is no way out of it.  We are ever in this grave reality that at times lessens, though at other times increases.  And it is not about to go anywhere, anytime soon.  That is because time is the great obstacle to this entire conundrum in which we find ourselves caught.  

Thank You ISIS

For those of us who claim to "know the Bible" to be regularly reading the Bible, we are in a very difficult reality.  We read a book written by men, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, which then through the human personalities contains the very Word(s) of God.  We place our lives, the current living out of these realities, and our eternal destinies in this Word of God.  And yet at times there is a massive breakdown in understanding just what some of these authors, even whose experiences were what God chose to report to us, are still today (some 3500-2000 years later) applicable to us.  It is to this I say: Thank you ISIS.

The Glory of Christ in a World of Lesser glories

Rarely do we anticipate the profound.  Rarely do we know where to find it, rather it finds us.  Indeed, if we knew where it was to look we wouldn't be so consumed by matters so small, which is really what we continually find ourselves preoccupied with.  But there is a grander purpose for which we have been designed, of which we above all creation have the bandwidth and capacity for, namely the GLORY OF CHRIST.  I wasn't anticipating this years ago, but I was awakened to something profound and life-changing.  Let me explain.

The Voice of God...from the Church Parking Lot

Given as our church gatherings take place on Sunday nights, I find myself often out and about working on Sunday mornings to prepare matters for the evening.  Inevitably I see so much that is going on around town on a Sunday.  It is a vantage point I enjoy in my incessant processing of matters of this new community I live in.  Of course with my passion and desire to see Christ glorified in, around, over, under, and through ALL THINGS, I love seeing the number or cars in the parking lots of those true Bible-based churches in my community.  It is evidence that there is likely a good amount of biblical content being taught, and songs sung, and relationships built and service opportunities being fulfilled.  And in these things I rejoice.

What's in a Name?

No matter where you currently are they are all around you.  The NAMES of so many brands and products whose logos you recognize are always all around us.  And without any statement being vocalized, we hear all of these various names and brand shouting for our attention.  They are ever in competition with one another. 

Kanye West and Standing Up - the Yeezus Tour

 

I wasn't there when it happened, so excuse some of my massive ignorance on the matter.  However, when I heard of news that rapper Kanye West halted his show recently in Australia and demanded that everyone stand up, I perked up.  It isn't so exceptional a thing to perceive.  After all, I have been to concerts and heard some seemingly far less self-absorbed artists requesting the same of their respective audiences.  But the news that he stopped the show altogether as two people in the massive audience weren't standing made me a bit curious.  Apparently as he continued to call them out and they refused to stand he got all the more agitated.  But there was a fundamental problem: neither of the two WERE ABLE to stand.  In fact the prosthetic limb one of them eventually held up helped indicate the inability.  While the shiny wheels likely glistening from the reflection of the stage lights, if not Kanye's bling, from the wheelchair in which this show-goer sat, indicated to all others the inability to stand.

But Kanye apparently hadn't noticed this.  And so he persisted that they stand, until this news was made apparent to him.  I wasn't there, but oh I wish I had been able to view this.  And while I know little of the scene, and less of the man, it has struck me as to how this entire picture appears but a microcosm of something much larger.  

This show (in Australia) was one of a larger tour simply known as the "Yeezus Tour."  It doesn't take anyone with any simple working knowledge of pop culture to know that Kanye West seems to have some significant desire to put himself up against Jesus.  The name of the tour certainly indicates something of that.  Further, he has been known to dress up an individual like Jesus who at one point during the concert walks out on stage.  It's been said by those who follow West and follow his tour that his efforts are not to glorify Christ, but rather to make a full out mockery of Christ.  Whether or not that is the case I do not know.  I can only say that there are significant inconsistencies between the Christ I read about and the Kanye West I read about that would at least lead me to question whether or not he really is a Christian as he says.  I am at least led to wonder if then West's efforts are really more self-driven, rather than an effort to glorify Christ.  To which, if I, or you, or anyone has to wonder, Kanye West needs to clarify his stance because of all these inconsistencies, since then his message is not being clearly understood.

So hear me when I say that this whole picture (and tour for that matter) strikes me as every bit ironic.  Kanye West is not worthy of glory and honor such that men, mortals every bit LIKE HIM, should stand up and essentially praise him.  Indeed, the words of this man were not effective to bring all to their feet in his presence.  Some just weren't able in that moment to rise up and praise him.  

I see something marvelous in Scripture about Jesus.  When he crossed the broken, the lame, the crippled...He HEALED THEM.  He and He alone was able to get anyone and everyone to stand in HIS PRESENCE.  That very fact speaks to some infinitely greater power in Jesus than in this one of the "Yeezus" Tour.  And as Jesus went on His way He was ever compassionate to meet people in their misery, brokenness, and pain.  It was this compassion of Jesus that is so bright shining, and unique, and powerful, all of which makes the lights and lasers of a Kanye West show appear as darkness at best. 

Kanye tried, he persisted, he put all else on hold in effort to get the two to stand.  But their limitations made his command appear ineffectual.  It is because Kanye West is a human and by definition then, ineffectual (at least unto getting what he demanded in this case).  And even stopping his singing, his dancing, his music, his everything to focus on getting these two to stand still did not enable him to bring about what he demanded. 

But the limitations of Jesus' audience never got in the way of the desire Jesus had to get them standing.  Jesus' power not only healed, but even caused the dead to come back to life, without even being near the deceased (Mark. 9:18-26).  And when the "tour of Jesus" stopped and one in his audience was dead, Jesus could use His own voice and speak and cause the dead to rise (John 11:43-44).  And even as Jesus was doing all this, He didn't have to pause His ability to keep the hearts of those around Him beating.  Nor did He have to cease to "hold together" the universe by His power (Col. 1:17).  Jesus was able to focus on everything on a massive, galactic, spiritual and physical, temporal and eternal scale, and even then was still able to bring about the resurrection of life in Lazarus. 

And so it stands for this, and an infinite number more reasons that Jesus rules and reigns and will do so forever and ever.  Indeed the picture of the coming day where "every knee will bow, and every tongue confess[ing] that Jesus Christ is LORD" is a most powerful one that daily Kanye West needs to consider.  And the reality is, I need to consider it, and you need to consider it.  And then we all need to ask for grace to learn to live in light of it.  This is the good news: Christ has no equal.  And He stands alone worthy of all glory and honor and praise.  So stand up and PRAISE JESUS!