GracePoint Sydney

bringing Jesus to the city of Sydney

God’s Master Strategy

When Jesus walked through the towns and villages healing and preaching the kingdom of God he saw the crowds and was concerned for them. He saw that “they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). He felt a great burden for them because they were lost. They needed teaching, leading and guiding. And there were masses of them.

But rather than despairing or working more frantically, Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He didn’t tell them that the problems of the world rested on their shoulders. Rather he taught them to turn to God and to ask him to send more workers. “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matt 9:38).

This is an important perspective for those who feel the burden of ministry. Those of us who are busy caring for people, leading small groups, or serving in different ministries, often feel the burden of ministry and the pressure of time. You feel a burden for the people who need encouragement, who need discipling, who need a friend or a phone call. You wish you had more hours in the day or that you didn’t need as much sleep so you could get more things done.

Those of us who feel this pressure need to learn from the way Jesus responded to the great need of his own day.

The first thing we can learn is this: on our own we cannot solve the problems of our world. Each person can only do so much in a day. Working harder or longer will not necessarily achieve more. If we rely too much on ourselves, we will ultimately become a bottleneck in ministry and burn ourselves out.

Rather we should look to the Lord of the harvest. God alone has the power to reach the millions who remain lost and helpless without Jesus. Ministry does not depend on how much time or effort we devote to ministry. It all depends on the blessing of God within the time that he gives us. Rather than work harder, devote more time to prayer.

And what should we pray for? This is the second great lesson to learn. Jesus teaches us to pray for God to send more workers into his harvest field. The answer is found not in working harder or longer, it is in finding more workers. God’s strategy for reaching the world is ultimately to multiply the number of workers who will do the work of teaching and discipling. This is what we should be praying for.

A vital implication of this prayer is this: we should not devote all our time to meeting immediate needs or serving needy people. We should also give time to healthy people who are growing and who ready to be trained for ministry. Instead of spending all our time trying to multiply disciples, we should spend time trying to multiply disciple-makers. This will involve short term sacrifices, but it is a longer term strategy to which Jesus himself was committed as he spent time with the twelve. Be committed to raising more workers.

Learn from Jesus by taking the pressure off ourselves. Turn to the Lord of the harvest and ask him to send more workers. Focus your energy and prayer on raising up more workers so that more people can be reached for Jesus. This is how the nations will be reached (Matthew 28:18-20).

August 27, 2010 Posted by | ministry, time | , | Leave a comment

Enough Time

One thing that marks life in the 21st century, at least in the city of Sydney, is a lack of time. We have more time-saving tools, faster transport and instant communication. Yet we seem busier than ever and more rushed for time. We go from place to place trying fit more into our already busy diaries.

The classic answer to this problem is that we need to manage our priorities better. And certainly this is a vital part of the solution. We need to be proactive about spending the time where it matters most. The Bible is clear that what matters most in life is our relationships – our relationship with God and with others (Matthew 22:34-40). Managing our priorities is a must.

But there is another vital perspective we need to grasp if we want to live life better. It is live life with the Bible’s view of time. In 2 Peter 3:8, it says that to God ‘a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day’. God is not limited like we are and he is not in a hurry when it comes to time. God’s purpose always prevails across the generations (Isa 40:6-8).

And God rules not only across time, God is also rules within time. In Psalm 127 we read:

1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.

Human success does not ultimately depend on how hard we work or how much time we have. At the end of the day it depends entirely on God’s blessing. God can grant success in a short amount of time or over a long period of time. It is his blessing that counts in whatever we are trying to achieve.

The great news is that God generously gives us enough time to do all that is necessary as well as to enjoy the fruit of that work on our day off. This is the basis of God’s command to Israel to not only rest every seventh day (Ex 20:8-11), but also every seventh year! (Lev 25:1-7, 20-22). God promised that he would provide such a bumper crop in the sixth year that they would be covered for a full three years. It was not time or effort that counted, but the promise of God’s blessing as they obeyed his command to keep the Sabbath. We can work all we like, but it is he who grants success to those who loves.

It is within this perspective of God’s sovereignty that we need to learn to be less frantic when it comes to time. God is not only sovereign over time, he generously gives us enough time for all that we need to do and to also enjoy his good gifts. He calls us to slow down enough to take stock of who is in control and what is most important. And God promises that when we set our priorities right, he will never leave us lacking anything (Mtt 6:33).

Pastor Owen Seto.

July 2, 2010 Posted by | christian living, rest, time, work | , , | Leave a comment