by Marc Carrier
excerpted from Keys to Kingdom Expansion,
available as a free ebook at www.ValuesDrivenFamily.com
I would venture to say that for most of us, God’s redemptive plan for humanity is people-centric rather than God-centric. We focus on salvation and the benefits of having some kind of relationship with the Lord. As a result, we live our lives and design and execute our ministries with people in mind, rather than God. If we were honest and looked at our hearts, we might even find that our ministries minister to us. At some level we seek ministry success to satisfy our desire to accomplish a lot for God; however, the aim is misguided by our insecurities and deep needs, rather than motivated by God’s glory.
The truth is, our holy and righteous God is somewhat ego-centric—and rightfully so. Everything that was and is and ever will be is for God and His glory. Therefore, our raison d’être in life and ministry is to glorify God, and nothing more.
Through the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan thwarted God’s plan to glorify Himself through His Creation. Satan mocks God, as if saying, “Look, the humans you created for your glory follow me—all of them listen to me and sin.” This is a complete affront to God. Therefore, God’s redemptive purposes—bringing our submission and allegiance to our Creator rather than our deceiver—are designed to restore deserved glory to God, not simply to give us a get-out-of-hell-free card.
The big picture is this: we are in the center of a custody battle. There is a war raging on between God and His foe, Satan, for the hearts and allegiance of men. We are in the middle of the battle, but we are not the focal point. It’s all about them. As stated earlier, glory that rightfully belongs to God has been directed toward the devil and his works via our sin.
He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8)
God, through Jesus Christ, has restored glory to its rightful recipient by turning our allegiance to Him and transforming our lives. Anything less than full allegiance and radical transformation falls short of glorifying God. Yet God deserves our hearts and our allegiance, and we are blessed when we catch the vision of serving for His glory!
Unfortunately, in the pursuit of God, we often assume that reaching and ministering to the lost is the end, rather than a means to the end. As a result, we focus on conversion (saving souls) rather than transformation and seek to meet needs rather than invite folks into Kingdom life. However, I say it again: the end is to bring glory to God. God’s redemptive purposes ultimately point back to Him.
Conversion without transformation seems to rescue some from a fiery end. However, it fails to bring God glory. You can imagine Satan still mocking God: “The man you created continues to believe my lies and loves the world and sin even though he knows you suffered and died for that sin.” The untransformed “Christian” is an affront to God. Satan knows full well that an unfruitful “believer” makes a mockery of the cross, denies the power of the Spirit to change a life, and makes the faith unattractive to outsiders. You can see why it is so vital that all of our ministry efforts focus on the Lord and His glory, not on us and our plans.
Pursuing works without a Kingdom invitation likewise misses the mark. Do you think government welfare or the wonderful works the oil rich Muslim nations do throughout the world glorify God? No way! In fact, they steal God’s glory, because the Body of Christ should be meeting those needs. However, simply meeting a physical need is not “the end.” The goal should be to offer freedom by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ—giving living water to quench the underlying thirst, real food to satisfy the soul’s appetite, and true victory, to give peace that multiplies. We were created for good works, and faith without works is dead. However, radically transformed people labor for the Kingdom, not for good works alone.
Nothing short of a radically transformed life brings God glory. Changing allegiance from Satan to God, death to life, flesh to the Spirit, sin to obedience, the world to the Kingdom—that glorifies our Creator! Satan has no recourse. Extreme transformation results
in a passion for God and fellow man that is unquenchable and leads to works of service, in love. The result: a radical departure from the world and even cultural Christianity that leaves onlookers strangely curious about the God who can change a person so substantially. As a result of true transformation, the Kingdom expands organically.
How does your life reflect God’s glory? What about your ministry—what fruit is it bearing for God’s glory? Meditate on such things.
Related Values-Driven resources:
Keys to Kingdom Expansion: Truth, Freedom, and Power
The Gospel According to Jesus: Unwrapping Centuries of Confusion