Nothing keeps me awake working late at night better than some good coffee and listening to Mark Driscoll yell preach. The latest message I listened to was The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World from the 2006 Desiring God National Conference.
During a portion encouraging pastors to unashamedly preach penal substitution as the central focus of Jesus’ death on the cross, he dropped this:
“Our job is to preach, not to worry about the results. We leave the results with God – we sleep like Calvinists, that’s what we do. I yell, God’s in charge, nighty night. “
Amen!
We are called to faithfulness first, not fruitfulness. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 3:6
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. (ESV)
Faithfulness expectantly relies on God to work through our lives to accomplish His purposes. Focusing on fruitfulness prematurely gazes ahead to the presumed results of our labor.
One exalts God as the source, means, and goal of our efforts. The other, ourselves.
1 Comment
March 16, 2009 at 1:32 am
yes, we are first called to be faithful.
but we shouldnt forever feed on spiritual milk, thus hindering and not bearing fruits.
fruitfulness means different things to different people. is it the results of our own works n efforts?
or is it the outpouring of the love of God that prompts us to be not just nato (no action, talk only)?