What God gives to satisfy the spiritual longing He has
placed in every human heart is the only product the church has to offer[1] –
Jesus Christ!
“This, the first of
his signs, Jesus did at Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory…” [Jn
2:11]. It did not take long for Christ to expose his identity and for glory to
start flowing out of him like a mighty river. Jesus talked in a way that was
different from other. Jesus thought differently from humans. Jesus loved in
ways that humans had no category for understanding. His miracles manifested the
glory of God. It is safe to say that where Christ is at work, things are
happening that cannot be explained by rational channels of comprehension.
So who gets the glory by our definitions of doing church in
2012? Consider the words of Christ in John 5:44; “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not
seek the glory that only comes from God? This passage should arrest every
minister/leader/teacher. Isn’t Christ suggesting that taking the glory that
belongs to another is sin? The miraculous is plausible in our midst when
leaders intentionally deflect the glory to its rightful place. Failing to
deflect the glory to its rightful owner restricts the glory that God wants to
pour down. Let us learn to confess our preoccupation of exalting one another.
If we allow the culture’s compulsion to celebrate celebrity to carry our
church, we inhibit the glory of God that s desperately needed on the people of
God![2]
When people are taught that their ultimate purpose is horizontally
reaching the lost or building a church or extending their hands to the poor,
these people run the risk of derailing during difficult times of life. I come
back to my opening passage in John 2:11 – Jesus simply talks, thinks, and
performs miracles in ways that I cannot replicate, but I can give him the glory
and challenge others to do the same. Yes, God’s glory brings the prospect of
the miraculous!
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