"Think Possibilities--Gifted by God". (Unlimited Possibilities)

“Think Possibilities—

Gifted by God”

 

August 1, 2020

 

Larry R Evans

 

Introduction

 

Dwight L. Moody was a poorly educated, unordained shoe salesman who felt the call of God to preach the gospel.  Early one morning he and some friends gathered in a hay field for a season of prayer.  During that meeting a friend said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”

 

Moody was deeply moved by those words. Later he heard Charles H. Spurgeon preach.  Afterwards he said, “If God could use Mr. Spurgeon, why should He not use the rest of us, and why should we not all just lay ourselves at the Master’s feet, and say to him, ‘Send me! Use me!” Moody gave up his lucrative boot and shoe business to devote his life to revivalism.

 

One of his most famous quotes was, “Faith makes all things possible...  Love makes all things easy.”  He toured the country and the British Isles, drawing large crowds with a dynamic speaking style that preached God's love and friendship, kindness and forgiveness rather than hellfire and condemnation.   On several occasions, he filled stadiums with capacities of 2,000 to 4,000.  According to his memoir, in the Botanic Gardens Palace, he attracted an audience estimated at between 15,000 and 30,000.  

 

It becomes clear from people like Moody and countless others that God does not call the qualified but rather He qualifies the called.  Today in the Adventist Church a global movement has taken hold.  It could easily be characterized as a movement of compassion.  It is called, “Adventist Possibility Ministries.”  This movement seeks to make change not by protesting nor by institutional mandates, but rather by treating the marginalized with respect and dignity. That is why it is a “people” movement and not a “program.”  The gospel must not be detoured by cultural stigmas and prejudices.  It doesn’t ignore them.  It does see them, but it confronts these stigmas and prejudices as Jesus did.  Note the insight found in the Desire of Ages, p. 509.

The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses,—extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart. DA 509

The motto of Adventist Possibility Ministries expresses it this way, “All are gifted, needed, and treasured!”  It doesn’t matter what the gender is, nor what the racial nor the social-economic status may be.  Every person is created in the image of God and must be related to and be seen as a person with an inherent dignity. 

 

Called to Mission but Whose Mission?

 

Knowing that we are “called” and “by whom” is important. It puts in perspective how we understand our commission, what and how we go about our part in the mission. If we begin with the idea that we are the initiator of the mission, then our ingenuity is the most critical factor.  We must recognize that the essence of sin is a shift from a God-centered to a self-centered life. That can happen even when we are doing “the Lord’s work.” However, if it is God’s mission and we have been called to partner with Him in His mission then our beginning point is different.  

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.– 2 Cor. 5:17-20

 

The gifts and abilities that God has given to each of us are seen in a very different way.  We begin by listening to Him and watching Him at work.  If it is God’s mission, then we must recognize one very important principle:  God wants us to adjust our lives to Him so He can do through us what He wants to do!  This means God is already at work!

 

As we see the great leaders at work in the Bible, we never find God asking persons to dream up what they want to do for Him. The pattern is that they (and we) were to submit themselves to God.  They waited until God showed them what He is about to do, or they watched to see what God was doing around them and they joined Him.  This was and is God’s mission and He had invited them to be part of it.  That invitation to join God in His mission is open today but we need to listen, observe, and act.  Let’s see how Jesus lived out the mission God had given to Him.  It is then that the spiritual gifts have a context for accomplishing God’s purpose for giving them.

How Was Jesus Able to Discern His Father’s Will?

Jesus came to this earth as part of the joint mission of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The first thing Jesus recognized is that His Father was always at work.  God didn’t just create the world, give it a good spin, and then leave it.  If the coming of Jesus to this earth means anything, it means that all of heaven is deeply involved with what happens here!  Not only did Jesus acknowledge that His Father was working but He also said that His Father now had Him working.  Carefully note what Jesus says when being questioned about His authority.  See John 5:17-20.

In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.

There are seven points that we should note in this passage:

1.     The Father had been working up to this very time. (17)

2.    The Father had Jesus working. (17)

3.    Jesus does nothing on His own initiative (19)

4.    Jesus watches to see what the Father is doing. (19)

5.    Jesus does what the Father is already doing. (19)

6.    The Father loves Jesus (20)

7.     The Father shows Jesus everything that He is doing (20)

 

If one thing stands out in this passage it is the intimate relationship the Father and Son had. That relationship enabled Jesus to do what He did. Note carefully the following from John 17:25,26,

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Jesus assures us something very important.  The mission Jesus was on came from the Father and the love that empowered His ministry can empower ours as well.  We are empowered ambassadors for God! (2 Cor. 5:17f).  God empowers us but He also depends on us.  Jesus spent time in prayer.  How important is our prayer life in relation to God’s mission?  Note this statement from Ellen White in the book, the Great Controversy,

It is a part of God's plan to grant us, in answer to the prayer of faith, that which He would not bestow did we not thus ask. GC 525.2

God’s Mission Field

 

John 3:16 reminds us that “God so loved the world” yet when Jesus walked through a crowd not all responded.  In fact, some in these crowds were openly and silently His accusers.  This should cause us to pause and ask ourselves, “Did Jesus see the crowd as the “harvest” field?  As a boy, I lived on a couple farms. One thing we learned was that the hay or wheat fields did not ripen at the same time.  Jesus knew how to tell when the “harvest” was ready and when it was not.  Jesus knew how to listen, and He knew how to ask questions.  What was He looking for?  Based on what we’ve learned so far about this being God’s mission, what was He looking for?  Let’s look back to John 5:17,

“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”         

So, what was Jesus looking for?  Jesus was looking for signs where the Father had been working.  If Jesus could discern where His Father was working, it was an indication that He should join Him there.

 

Blackaby in his book, Experiencing God, suggests that when Jesus was walking through a crowd and saw Zacchaeus in a tree, he may have said to Himself, “Nobody can seek after Me with that kind of earnestness unless My Father is at work in his heart.” (p.44). Jesus had such relationship with His Father that seeing Zacchaeus in a tree that He knew the Father had been working on the heart this man – no matter if he was a tax collector!  Take the woman at well or the woman who “touched” Jesus in a tightly packed crowd.  Jesus was so identified with the work of the Father that He instinctively knew the working style of His Father.

 

Is it possible for God to be working around us and we not even see it? Certainly!  Remember Elisha and his servant when they were in the city of Dothan and were surrounded by an army.  The servant was terrified, but Elisha was calm.

And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:17

Perhaps our biggest challenge is not “unanswered” prayers but rather having eyes that are not open.  But that’s not our only challenge.  We sometimes misunderstand the difference between an “assignment” and having the “right” “spiritual gift.”

 

The Danger of “Spiritual Gifts”

 

I live with a gifted perfectionist (perhaps that says more about me than her) and I say that as a compliment.  No doubt I have been placed in this world to help her develop patience!    There are simply somethings that she does better than I do.  HOWEVER, there are those moments when her best can’t be done unless I assist her.  Cleaning the mirrors in our bathroom is hard for her but easier for me.  I can easily reach the top.  She can’t—at least not as easily. When I am not around, she still cleans the mirrors.  When I am home it is much easier if we do it together.

 

Here is my point.  To hear some teach about spiritual gifts, we can get the idea that God only asks us to do those things for which we are gifted. If asked to do something for which we are not “gifted” it can easily be assumed that it could not possibly be a request from God since that is not in my gift mix!  However, if we aren’t careful, we can become self-absorbed rather than mission-driven. 

A Biblical Pattern

 

Throughout Scripture we find God giving an assignment and then equips the one who is called.  This doesn’t mean God doesn’t recognize the giftedness of people.  We have all seen it happen when someone is given a job they are not prepared for.  In some situations, they are called to fail.  We aren’t suggesting that is always the case, but take Moses for example.  God gave him an assignment and then with time and various experiences God equipped him to lead His people out of Egypt. The assignment was the call and God saw the assignment ahead of time and prepared Moses for the coming assignment. Actually, some of that preparation occurred, as strange as it may seem, by living in Pharaoh’s house!  But consider the following,

At the time God was about to deliver the children of Israel, the important factor was not what the will of God was for Moses.  The important factor was what the will of God was for Israel.  God was at work with Israel, and He was preparing to bring Moses into the mainstream of His activity. (Blackaby, p.34)

Growing with God and In Our Service for Him

I am a strong believer in the “priesthood of believers.” (Heb. 7:25; 1 Pet. 2:5-9; Heb. 3:1) This was at the heart of the Protestant Reformation but there is a problem.  It is easy, while embracing the priesthood of believers, to lose our sense of corporate identity.  It is easy to take the step from standing alone before God to assuming we are not accountable to anyone else, including the church.  However, when God gives an assignment, He does so knowing that it takes many parts to make a whole.  The Great Commission to go into all the world assumes we do so collectively.  Consider a few passages in 1 Corinthians 12.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. (v.12)

 

Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. (v.14)

 

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (v.27)

Spiritual gifts for each individual? Yes! Yet without our gifts the body is not completely whole. We need each other and we grow together individually AND corporately. 

 

Concluding Reflections

 

Perhaps you’ve heard the children’s song that goes something like this:

O be careful, little eyes, what you see,

O be careful, little eyes what you see,

For the Father up above is looking down in love,

O be careful, little eyes, what you see.

Richard Mouw suggests another way to sing that song,

Do be careful to see what God sees,

Do be careful to hear what God hears,

Go where God goes,

Set your mind on things above.

“In other words, absorb the priorities of the kingdom of heaven and put its reality into practice.” (Philip Yancey in Rumors of Another World, p.208). I like the way Oswald Chambers puts it,

 

His purpose is not the development of a man—His purpose is to make a man exactly like Himself, and the characteristic of the Son of God is self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that counts. It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all.-- Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest, p.181

 

As strange as it may seem, being “squeezed by God” opens doors for great possibilities and it all begins by getting to know Him more and more each day.