Every Christian Is Called To Participate In God's Global Purpose

As promised (I know you've been on the edge of your seat) I'll quickly describe the breakout sessions I attended at the Ignite Conference. Jeff Lewis led discussions on "The Knowledge of God's Glory Among the Nations" and "The Context of Our Faith". Both sessions were fresh and enlightening.

Each discussion is usually a semester long dialogue under Jeff's direction so it was difficult to thoroughly discuss each topic, but we did manage to understand the thrust of his thoughts.

The premise of the first discussion was that God's glory is clearly communicated in Scripture, however Satan strives to blind people's eyes to the knowledge of that glory.

II Cor 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Then, as Christians, it is our calling to be used as tools to unblind the unbelievers.

We do that primarily through Kingdom based communities.

Deut 4:5-9 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

Acts 2:42-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

In short, God's intention is for his people to live in community with one another, not only for their own benefit, but so that outsiders to the community will see the value and righteousness of the community and realize that it is a manifestation of God's glory. One might think, an outsider might not necessarily attribute the value and righteousness of the community to God's glory, but this theme is prevalent throughout scripture. God uses his people's community to expose his glory to others. Regardless of whether we think it effective, this is one of God's strategies to find reconciliation with his image bearers. I'll discuss this point a bit more in the next post (it's just cliffhanger after cliffhanger around here).

We are also used to unblind the unbelievers through our intimacy which leads to conformity to Jesus.

II Cor 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Rom 8:28-30 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

This tranforming conformation that occurs in Christians brings the characteristics of God's Spirit into the world so that all the nations can see God's glory. The transformation shows up in our lives in the form of the fruit of the Spirit. Those fruit are the characteristics of God and when we exhibit those characteristics in the name of the Christ, then God is glorified.

Finally, God uses spiritual awakenings/revivals (not tent revivals, but rare, large movements in cultures that bring people back to God) to awaken his people to his transcendent nature and to the reality of their condition before him, which leads to confession, repentence, and restoration, which results in authentic worship, obedience, and engagement in God's global purposes.

While three (or four) Great Awakenings have been identified in American Culture, God uses similar times of awareness in all cultures to draw his people closer to him.

I take a slight different stance than Jeff on this point. I think that God can use cultural events to draw masses to him, however, I have a hard time classifying these periods of time into "Great Awakenings" with beginning and end dates. I am convinced that God is always at work and constantly restoring his people. These period of "Great Awakenings" might be more faddish than God's work. Then again, God certainly may choose a 20 year period to really do some great things. What do I know?

These were the three main methods we discussed by which God uses his people to do the work of the unblinding of nonbelievers to the glory of God.