What God is busy with at 3ci

What is God busy with, here and now? – Heinz Schrader
March 01, 2011

I’m sure God is always doing these things everywhere, but still, I feel that God is acutely active among us, doing the following couple of things…

ACCLAMATION. The glory of God comes at the expense of horizontal glory. (John 5:44) We want to be of those who CAN believe, because we desire only the glory that is from above.

God is saving us from the importance of polls, opinions and too much dignity.

SIMPLIFICATION.
Gospel. Gospel. Gospel. We are here to understand, proclaim and live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel has become our preoccupation. We want to know it’s “sound” (Tozer), and want to never move beyond the gospel. By implication, this means that we also know what we are not called to. We cannot do every good thing, but choose to concentrate on what God has called us to, more specifically.

God is saving us from taking too many open doors, getting too widely involved and overcomplicating the message.

MULTIPLICATION of ministries and ministers, also talking about new church plants. Watch this space.

God is saving us from complacency, that leads to criticism and carelessness.

DISTILLATION of our devotion. We feel more songs welling up, deeper reality in our responses to God and honesty with our true state.

God is saving us from a functional partnership with Him.

RESTORATION of cost/value ratio. Giving ourselves wholeheartedly to the kingdom of God, increases the value of the kingdom in our lives. We are urging one another unto greater service, generosity and self-abandonment.

God is saving us from our idols.

REFORMATION. We are committed to expounding scripture, and for our lives to be conformed to God’s revealed will, by joining with God’s greater story.

God is saving us from seasonal ideas.

REVELATION. Intense desire to walk unhindered with the Holy Spirit, forgiven and forgiving, with clear consciences ever-learning walk with a greater sensitivity to the person of Holy Spirit.

God is saving us from “therapeutic deism”. (Borrowing from Horton)

TREPIDATION. An increase in the fear of the Lord. The friendship* of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. – Psa 25.

God is saving us from overfamiliarity and presumption.

ACTIVATION. Faith as followthrough on intimacy, or “hearing and obeying God”. We believe faith simply means to hear and obey God. Primarily, God speaks through His Son, Jesus. (Heb 1:3) The bible speaks to us. The obedience of faith, neither works nor law, but faith, is what activates us as useful believers to a lost world.

God is saving us from missing the point.

CULTIVATION. We believe in an “all-of-life” approach. The idea of “culture making” (Andy Crouch); taking care of society, being invloved politically, municipally, artistically, societally, culturally and celebrating every job, every calling and every life. Every person is a minister with every hour of his life. We do not want to be a meeting-oriented church, but edify people for all the facets of life, all days of the week, all spheres of society.

God is saving us from Sunday-based Christianity.