ECIPLESHIP for Passionate Christ-Followers

God LOVES to accomplish His work through those deemed inferior. (From yesterdays look at Isaiah 54) Want a quick list? Moses the murderer, Gideon-the-nobody beating out wheat, Rahab the harlot, David the shepherd (even family knew he couldn’t be the one chosen by God), and the strange assortment of misfits and leftovers that Jesus called as disciples. God LOVES to accomplish His work through those deemed inferior.

Here’s one more for the record: Caleb the warrior. It states in Scripture numberous times that Caleb was “the son of Jephunneh the Kennizite.” In fact, it is mentioned 15 times! It’s like saying, “Do you get this? Are you catching the significance of this fact? Do you know what this means?” In other words, realize that Caleb was only one half Israelite. He was not really of the true people of God–he was sort of grafted in, you might say. He was more like an Old Testament samaritan–an unwanted half-breed. He certainly was not the candidate to stand out as a great spiritual leader among the 12 tribes.

The Kennizites were a tribe in the southern portion of Canaan, a tribe God told Abraham he would overtake (Genesis 15:19). These were the peopleIsrael was to have no mercy over. These represented sin, waywardness, temptation, doorways to idol worship, and their greatest threat to family disintigration. But here stands Caleb, one who God states “has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it,” Numbers 14:24. Amazing.

Even a quick study of Caleb is fascinating. He was a man of great character, oozing with leadership gifts, decisive, courageous, willing to stand out in the crown in all oppostion to popular opinion. Caleb never lost sight of God’s dream for His people, even while suffering for 40 years in the wilderness because of OTHER PEOPLE’S FAITHLESSNESS. Even when he was 85 years old, he states, “I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. 12 So give me the hill country…” Joshua 14:11-12.

God LOVES to accomplish His work through those deemed inferior. He seeks those who have A DIFFERENT SPIRIT and who FOLLOW HIM FULLY. Everything else is meaningless. In fact, he is looking for those who don’t expect God’s blessing. He loved to work this way long ago…and still loves to do it today.

I know…

I love the way God works in crazy and unexpected ways. He is the inventor of the underdog, the power behind the superhero, the One who makes “silly” dreams come true.

Isaiah 54, of course, comes right after Isaiah 53. The “shout for joy, O barren one” of chapter 54 comes right after the “He bore the sin of many” in chapter 53. The idea is simply this: Once Christ has accomplished His work in behalf of all sinners, there is reason to get excited because God will work in new and mind-blowing ways. Take a quick look at what this looks like in this passage:

Verse 54:1, “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah.”

This verse is written in a Hebrew nuance giving us the sense that those who have experienced numbing disappointment in life–those that are considered inferior–are the ones who God will bless in unexpected ways in the New Kingdom economy.

Verse 2, “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.”

Using the imagery of the Old Testament home, God is telling His people to take concrete actions of faith to prepare for what He’s going to do–in this case, they better make their houses bigger because they’ll need it.

Verse 3, “For thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall possess the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.”

God intends for His “blessed ones” to infiltrate the earth. Scripture is emphasizing the fact that God blesses us to bless others — He rescues us so that we become rescuers!

• If you feel inferior for any reason, this is a passage of great hope and promise for you.
• If you believe God wants to do something significant in your life, take concrete action so that God’s blessings can be received and utilized when they come.
• If you have been blessed, don’t you dare get the idea it’s just for you to enjoy. You must go and infiltrate the earth so that others can have what you have.

We had a short-term Brazil missions team return and report their experiences in church yesterday. I was reminded of the transformation that happens in people’s lives when they step out of their comfort zone in obedience to the Great Commission. This is especially true in a cross-cultural setting when a supportive team is involved. Amazing things happen like in no other context. Besides what happens to the goer, this team also prayed with 257 individuals to receive Christ as Lord and Savior! Is that cool, or what?!

With that in mind, I came across a humorous short article on 7 Reasons Why You Should Never Go on a Short-Term Mission Trip by David Armstrong:

You never know how God will get His work done. He loves to keep us trusting in Him every step of the way.

So we have this Missionary Summit we’re holding. My fellow team-members have worked laboriously to have a top-notch experience for our home assignment and newly appointed Converge Worldwide missionaries. We want to encourage them, love them up, clarify our partnership, and communicate some essentials. On the night just before we started (last Friday), a monster storm moved through the Washington DC area and created infrastructure havoc. A huge percentage of the city will be without electricity for a week. On our particular site, we’ve had power outages, people stuck in elevators, fire alarms blaring for hours, sprinkler systems destroying our conference rooms, and scarce resources to find food for a group of fifty.

So here’s the result of all of this chaos:

• Not one complaint has been heard by our missionaries or their children. In fact, I think this has made them feel right at home!
• The experience has bonded us together–sweating in the 100-degree heat, adapting our schedules, figuring our how to find food, etc.
• We’ve been powerfully reminded of how little we can control our lives and circumstances — a great reminder for all of us in ministry.
• We made a connection (because of the events) with a local pastor who has a passion and call to  inner city evangelism and needs a “covering.” I think it may be a divine appointment.

On Sunday morning, after major chaos the night before, our Converge president, Dr. Jerry Sheveland, awoke with a fresh message from the Lord for us. From James 4:13-16:

¹³ Come now, you who say, “ Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” ¹⁴Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.  You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. ¹⁵Instead, you ought to say, “ If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” ¹⁶ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance;  all such boasting is evil.

His points:

1. When we grasp a false sense of control through our planning, it is evil.
2. We must plan, but with a dependence and trust upon God’s intervention with a better plan…especially when we simply cannot see the value of it at present.
3. To plan with an eagerness for God to step in and do what He wants with it.

You just never know what God will do next. It keeps life really exciting…and a whole lot better with Him in charge.