Nov 7, 2010

Mountains and Mustard Seeds: A fresh look on a familiar scripture

Jesus told them "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'move from here to there' and it would move.  Nothing would be impossible." 
-Matthew 17:20

Currently Aaron, the pastor of Real Life on the Palouse, the church i attend is doing a sermon series entitled "The Gospel of the Kingdom,"  the focus of this series is on living out Kingdom lives. No matter what you do with your life vocationally you must live out the Kingdom, for the gospel is not just about salvation but about Kingdom living.   The sermon series is about applying Kingdom principles, all the things God calls us to live out in the Bible, to our every day lives.

We are called by Jesus to "make disciples of all nations as we are going" paraphrase of the great commission  (Matthew 28:18-20).  So how does this all tie together?  For myself, the connection  came when Aaron started explaining the point behind the new sermon series.  There is this guy who came up with what he calls the 7 mountains of culture, which are basically the 7 areas of influence that drive culture and society,  they are Religion, Family, Education, Government, Media, Arts & Sports, and Business & Technology.

(disclaimer:  what follows is not "inspired" it is my own personal hermeneutics and theology. So feel free to take it however you choose.)

As soon as Aaron mentioned the seven mountains and the fact that each of us is called to one of the different mountains, and that God has wired us to truly thrive in that setting, an that each of our callings is unique I though of the verse about moving mountains.  We must remember that serving God does not require entering vocational ministry, but it might, for me that is my mountain.  That is how i am called and designed to serve the Kingdom.  But for most people that is not their calling, nothing wrong with that.  With in that mountain there are specific spheres of influence, we are called to champion that sphere for the Kingdom of Heaven, to advance the Gospel, God's mission, and make disciples as we are going. The cool thing is that when we find that sphere God grants us an amount of authority.  We must step boldly into it and accept this authority, if we don't Satan will take it.  So i thought to myself, maybe this is what Jesus meant by moving mountains?  Maybe he meant mountains in a metaphorical sense, and that if we live out our lives through faith and Kingdom principles we can move those "mountains" for God, we can make them Kingdom centered instead of worldly centered.  How awesome would that be? What an awesome legacy to leave, what a Godly way to "Out live your life".

So what ever your mountain is, climb it with confidence and faith in the Lord, step boldly into the authority that God has given you.  To do anything less would be to sell God, the people around you, and yourself short.  That is exactly what Satan wants.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."  
-Marianne Williamson

1 comments:

paige 19 said...

Powerful blog homie! As I listen to the series you are at church, it makes me really think of what mountain I am called conquer. You are such an inspiring man! See you soon :)

November 18, 2010 at 6:26 PM  

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