Release Control

We live in a culture that loves to be in control. We are sold all manner of gadgets that we can control from our smart phones. We control and curate everything from our watch lists to our playlists. We like to have it our way. We, without doubt, like to be in control. But what if I said our need for control was killing the growth of the Church? What if our belief that we know best and that others couldn't do it as well as us is keeping the church from rapid and far reaching multiplication. What if our self-imposed requirements for seminary, sufficient funding, and denominational authorization are slowing to a halt the spread of a movement that was meant to be a wild fire? (These aren't bad things, but what if we began to see them as resources rather than prerequisites.) Think about it, when Jesus was passing the baton to His disciples He said, "it is better for you that I go." Jesus (the One who is perfect I every way, who certainly could have retained full control and been in the right) modeled a release of control. He didn't stick around in the flesh to oversee the founding and growth of the church. He didn't outline a careful franchising plan complete with brand guidelines and guest services processes. He simply said, "WAIT for the Holy Spirit which I promised to you." And "He will lead you into all truth." What does this tell us? It tells us that the people of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, and armed with the Word of God are enough to carry out the work of God. Acts 2 gives us a fairly simple list of non-negotiable elements the church is to hold to. With the Word of God and the Spirit of God as our guides we will move in the same direction because those who draw near to God find that He draws near to Him. As we seek Him we are continually conformed to His image. A man or woman truly surrendered to Jesus Christ will move toward Him and as we walk with others we'll be drawn in unity toward Him together. Will there be differences? Yes. We will be led through our context and gifting and passions to express service and worship and fellowship in different ways. But the message and the method of making disciples that Jesus entrusted to the disciples will remain constant. When Jesus is lifted high, men and women are drawn to Him. He unites us and aligns us with His vision and mission and His dreams for the church. Do we trust Him? (Seriously, ask yourself that. Do I trust Him?) Do we trust that the people of God, the Spirit of God, and the Word of God are enough to do the work of God? If we do, let's takes steps toward empowering people to carry His church to places where it has't been. Let's lay down our control and lift up men and women in prayer to God, asking Him to deliver more workers for the harvest. Let's refuse to micro-manage at the cost of Kingdom expansion. Instead, let us pray to the God of the harvest to raise up more workers than at any time in history because the need is greater than ever before. Let us give them a vision for a church tasked with reaching all nations, all people groups, every language. Let us teach them to love the Word and listen to the Spirit and invest in leaders who will reach people in new and better ways than we could have imagined. Let us pray with boldness that God would make those we disciple more effective and more passionate and more contagious than us. Let us live to make others great as Jesus is magnified through our surrender. Where am I trying to control the work God wants to do? Where am I passing on the traditions of men rather than the Word of God? Where am I making a law of something that God has not called a law? Where am I impeding the move of the Spirit of God?

Imagine what could be done if we prayed and taught and discipled with the goal of Jesus lifted high, men and women saved by grace through faith, and disciples raised up to multiply the Kingdom to the ends of the earth. That's the goal of the Father. (And not just the goal, but the inevitable outcome.) One day the knowledge of the glory of God will fill the earth, just as the waters cover the sea. (Hab. 2:14) If God's goal is to saturate the earth with His image bearers, maybe our efforts, which look more like a slow, controlled burn, need to be reconsidered. The church in the book of Acts resembled a raging forest fire that reached all of Asia Minor in a matter of decades following Jesus' ascension. This happened apart from seminaries, before denominations, and without the aid of major fundraising strategies. It happened apart from mega churches and satellite campuses. It happened without perfect worship transitions and catchy sermon graphics. (Again, good things. But not certainly not deal breakers without which we cannot move forward in planting churches and Kingdom expansion.) It happened because men passed the baton of faith and allowed others to run. It happen because people prayed and invested and released control. Who has God placed in your life that is ready to take the baton? Who is running beside you today that is ready to run farther and call new runners into the race. Give them the Word of God, teach them to hear the Spirit of God, and entrust their work to Lord of the Harvest.

They are where we all once were (or may be today). Clueless. Fearful. Green. But full of faith and armed with truth and love and the Spirit of God.

Give them what you know. Lay down your life for them in prayer. Then send them out to experience leaning on the fully sufficient and faith-strengthening leading of the Father. "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." John 12:24