Co-Creation

Partnering With The Presence Of God

To stand in the presence of God, that is what the Gospel is. The Gospel is not primarily about forgiveness. It’s not primarily about good feelings. It’s not primarily about power. All those things are byproducts, sparks. It’s primarily about the presence of God. ~ Timothy Keller

Now that the issues of identity and calling are settled... Now that we have examined our heart motives and faced our own brokenness... We can begin to explore the how - how does the Christ within us effectively influence the world around us?

Ephesians 4:11-12 says that Christ gave to the church 5 gifts that would equip us to do the work of the ministry. These gifts are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. While some people believe that apostles and prophets no longer function today, I am not going to argue that point one way or the other. What I am going to do is illustrate how Christ embodied all of these functions and how, as we follow Christ, we must also function in these 5 dimensions in order to effectively influence our world.

Let's begin with the apostolic. An apostle is a 'sent one'. The term does not mean to be sent to visit but to be sent to conquer and transform. An apostle's mission is to transform a new territory to be just like the apostle's homeland. In John 20:19-22 the risen Jesus explains to the disciples that as the Father sent Him, so He was sending them. This is the apostolic sending that Jesus received from the Father and is passing on to the disciples. So, I would argue, that the most important question is, "Where was Jesus sent from?" Where is the homeland that will be reproduced wherever He goes? The answer of course is heaven. The most important characteristic of heaven is the Presence of God. Heaven is the Presence of God. We are meant to carry the Presence of God (heaven) into every sphere of human affairs. (Matthew 6:10 - "May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.") This is why the next thing that Jesus does after he commissions the apostles is to breathe the Holy Spirit into them. We are not just carrying a message or kingdom principles. What we carry is much more potent and valuable - it is the Spirit of Christ! This is the what, or rather the who, that transforms the world!

This resurrection power of God is available to us only if we are committed to walking in complete obedience and dependence. The resurrection power only comes upon dead men and women - those who have died to their own will and preferences. This is the great challenge here. Our competence as kingdom leaders comes from obedience to God and dependence on God not from our intelligence, gifting, or efforts. The secret of Jesus' effectiveness was that He did only what He saw the Father doing. Paul, arguably the most learned of the apostles, said that all that he knew was like dung when compared with knowing Christ. When he preached, his speech and his message were not with fancy words but with the demonstration of Spirit and of power.

To lead with total dependence on God for results is challenging because we cannot control the outcome and we risk our reputation if we fail. What if God does not turn up? What if He asks us to do something embarrassing? This is the risk but the alternative is far worse - transforming the world in our image and to our will instead of God's. Sadly, sometimes we just do not trust God to be a trustworthy partner. When we lead outside of partnership with the Presence of God we often rely on:

• Gifts (intellect, charisma, healing)
• Position (shame, social pressure, threats, punishment)
• Formulas (particular prayer formats, management techniques, marketing gimmicks).

Anything accomplished in these ways will be burned up on the day we are called to account. No matter how big and grand our empire (like the tower of Babel) may be in our eyes, it will be nothing in God's eyes.

Success in God's eyes is simple - Were you obedient? Did you do what God wanted you to do the way God wanted you to do it? Did you work in partnership WITH God or were you doing your own plan your own way FOR God?

Journal with Holy Spirit: How do you achieve results? What has been your experience of partnering with the Holy Spirit?