Reflections on Kingdom Work

            In Kingdom work, God is the constant; we are the variable. Read the Bible, and after all is said and done, God is the Hero of the story. We have the opportunity to embrace him and jump on board with his wonderful Kingdom activity.

            I know many of you read out of the version of the Bible called “The Message.” Eugene Peterson translated that. He’s written a lot of good books about God and Scripture. In one of them, CHRIST PLAYS IN 10,000 PLACES, he wrote something that absolutely inspired my imagination.

            In John Mark’s gospel, Peter is the prominent apostle. Peter appears to have the potential to move into place alongside Jesus. Then the wheels come off of Peter’s life. Peter does not become the lead apostle; instead, Mark portrays Peter as the lead sinner.

            Peter stays out of the limelight. That spot is reserved for Jesus alone. In Mark, there is only one hero–and he is Jesus.

            The incredible thing about this is we think we know where John Mark got his material–from Peter, who mentored him. And we think a significant influence on John Mark’s gospel were the sermons he heard Peter preach.

             I am absolutely blown away by that. Peter embraced the fact that Jesus stood alone as the hero, and he had absolutely no problem with us knowing that he was a sinner. Yet, Jesus reached out to Peter; Jesus called him, and Jesus was faithful to him.

            God is such an overwhelming hero in the Bible; he easily overshadows—and overcomes—the weaknesses of the people who follow him. So we do not even have to attempt to be cardboard cutouts of saints. We can simply be ourselves.

            As a matter of fact, the more real we are with God and with each other, the more he can form us into the image of his Son. We don’t have anything to be afraid of, and we have a lot to look forward to. It is exciting to watch God work in our lives.

            As I process what is next for me in my own life, I recognize the fact that some of you changed majors in college. Some of you graduated with a degree in one field, and God steered you to another. Some of you started in one career, and God led you to another. That is the exciting thing about God… he is always working on us and through us, to carry out his story and his purpose.

            Did you know that some of our greatest discoveries and inventions have occurred as a serendipity of the original intent of the discoverer? Alexander Graham Bell invented an instrument to inform people of the arrival of telegrams. He did not realize it would become the telephone.

            An Italian explorer sailed across the Atlantic Ocean hoping to find a new route to India and enrich himself trading for spices. Christopher Columbus, instead, discovered a new world, which literally led to seismic shifts in geography, world power, and, literally, worldview.

            All of these serve as a nice symbols of the Christian’s walk with God. Whether they are true failures or unplanned directional turns, Scripture teaches us God can work through both. This truth lends an atmosphere of excitement to the Christian journey. As my former colleague, Tim Henderson, put it in one of his blogs, “It is better living to be watching for the unexpected than expecting the living to follow our plan. May you enjoy a life of watching God do more than you can explain or imagine.”