Three common
models of decision-making in the church are organized around making plans,
living out purposes, or following priorities. The fourth, which is really the
first, is the not-so-common model of keeping in step with the presence of the
Holy Spirit in our lives and churches.
Let me give a
brief explanation of why the Christian life cannot be lived by following plans,
purposes, and priorities, followed by an explanation of why we must follow the
Holy Spirit so that all our plans, purposes, and priorities fall into
submission to him.
The Planning
Model is all about developing a vision, putting it into a statement, setting
goals to attain that vision, and making plans to attain those goals. I can
still remember the week over twenty years ago when I experienced the joy of
learning that I did not have to follow such a model because there was a better
way. The church is not called to make and follow plans and strategies devised
in boardrooms. God has already made the way for us to follow, and it is a
person, not a plan.
The Purpose
Model is the mindset that the Christian life can be reduced to a collection of
purposes, and church life is about doing our best to fulfill those purposes. Decisions
are made on the basis of how well or poorly something will enable us to attain
the purpose that is uppermost in our minds. While there is no doubt that God
has purposes he is carrying out, and that we will be part of fulfilling his
purposes when we join him in his work, he did not call us to be led (or driven)
by purposes. He has a better way, and it involves being led by a person.
The Priorities
Model is the view that life can be defined by a hierarchy of priorities. Every
situation we face simply requires us to choose whichever option satisfies the
highest of whichever priorities are in question. We are considered successful
if we consistently choose the highest priority.
The Presence
Model of decision making, is all about relying on the presence of the Holy Spirit
in our lives and churches for us to know what God is doing, and how we should
join him in his work. God’s word says that, “all
who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”[1] As
the sons of God we are called to “walk by
the Spirit,”[2]
be “led by the Spirit,”[3] “live by the Spirit,” and “keep in step with the Spirit.”[4] All
these things describe our lives in relation to the personal presence of Jesus Christ
in his Holy Spirit.
This means
that, the ultimate deciding factor in our decision making is not whether it
fits our plans, satisfies our purposes, or meets our priorities. The most
important thing is to be led by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Now, to be
clear, I am not in any way suggesting that the Christian life has no place for
plans, purposes, and priorities. I am only saying that we can only know how
those things fit into the picture when we are led by the Spirit to do whatever
God has planned, whatever he has purposed, and whatever he considers the
highest priority in a given situation. Since he looks at these things from an
unrestricted view of time, space, matter, the spiritual realm, and all of
eternity, the only thing that matters to us is what he is leading us to do by
his Spirit.
This is very
clear when Jesus’ disciples asked him more of their questions about the end
times. Jesus told them, “It is not for
you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”[5]
Jesus did not
want his church focusing on things that we could plan, things that we could purpose,
or things that we could prioritize. He wanted us to wait for a living
relationship with the Holy Spirit who would empower us to be his witnesses
throughout the last days. As we daily keep in step with the Spirit,[6] as
those who are led by the Spirit,[7] we
will be right in step with whatever God has planned, whatever purposes he is
immediately fulfilling, in whatever he considers to be top priority at the
moment.
As God is
looking after those things, including the times and seasons we are in at the
moment, we can focus on the one thing of being those who are led by the Spirit.
If a day ends with us feeling confident that we kept in step with the Spirit in
everything we did, it doesn’t matter one little bit whether we did anything
that fit our imagined plans, purposes, and priorities. If we were led by the
Spirit, we fulfilled all that God had in mind for us to do, and that is all
that matters.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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