God Does Give a Honk 2

God Does Give a Honk 2

2/19/14

Many moons ago I wrote an article that uses this title.  It was directed at leadership of the Church and how important it is to have steadfast leaders within the church community.  Direction, mission, unity and goals are fundamental practices that we all need to have when it comes to church standards yet we tend to fray ourselves into fragments when trying to achieve this status and end up a tangled mess of individuality that enforces our hap hazard ways.  Our enemy loves us in this state for he can use us in any way possible to destroy our vision and to keep his will intact for our destruction.

One of my first articles that I wrote dealt with how a flock of geese come together and eventually form a perfect shape in order to fly and to move towards their final destination.  In this article I referred to how at some given point the lead goose will fall out of position and hen allow another goose to take its place at the head all while maintaining the same directional flow that is needed by the entire formation. While the flock is flying in this formation their alignment is in such a manner that it forms a lift within the shape that allows the geese to have an added help while traveling.  The geese may not be all flapping their wings at the same time but while they are in their group formation it acts as one functioning unit in which every participant has benefits.

As long as the geese are flying together in one group they can perform at their best while using the least amount of energy.  Isn’t this the optimal goal that we wish to have in our lives as well?  What about our church life and the mission that we have been instructed to complete?  Ever wonder how God sees His Church and how her directional flow is going in order to complete her mission?  These are questions that some of us tend to forget and thus bury them within our doctrinal support system while we are campaigning for acceptance reform.  Those are harsh words but ones that ring loud and there is a reason why these words play such a part in our roles within the church walls.

As soon as Jesus uttered the words that He was building a Church here on earth through the teachings and people that He taught the games of division have been sought after.  We should have known this to be evident just because of the scene that was described within the New Testament when the disciples were arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest among the group.  I understand this concept because at one time I had similar ideas concerning the denomination that I was raised in and believed that it provided the sole “right” answer.  I never took my belief to an extreme outside of my own personal walls and I thank God every day that He broke through that wall and crushed that ideology from my heart.  But my actions provided the basis for the topic of this article in that if we continue our beliefs that our individual denomination is the best that it will provide nothing but a broken foundation to which our relationship with God will stand upon and we all know what happens when a faulty foundation is laid.

As most of you know I love to watch geese.  For some reason it provides me an unusual setting for peace.  It seems kind of weird that a group of birds flying in the air could bring such a serene feeling from a person that is not involved in that group and is actually standing hundreds of feet away.  Whatever the cause for this feeling of mine I know that if I have the opportunity I will stop what I am doing and just stare up at the sky and watch the flock fly towards their destination.  I stand there and watch them for as long as I can and then I anticipate the next flock to come along. 

The other day I was walking across the parking lot and I heard several geese honking, but this time there was something different about their honks.  The honks were coming from many different directions and it sounded so unorganized.  It took me a few seconds to hone in on all of the geese and to locate them in the sky but when I did I saw that they were flying in many different directions.  This seemed very unusual to me especially since each small group would change their own direction trying to form one large group in order to fly properly. Yet as each group continued their turning none of them formed anything like a group and ended up just flying in circles.  Now even though I was on a mission I had no choice but to stop in the middle of the road and stand and watch these geese try to get their act together.  I had never witnessed anything like it before and I could not let this Kodak moment pass me by.

I could not help to but to chuckle to myself a bit because these five groups of geese were acting like they had no clue of how to form a group yet it was plain to see that they were large enough to have done the flying act before.  But at the same time to have a guy stand out in the middle of the road and for him to be staring up in the sky and turning in circles himself is a pretty comical sight, but even though it only lasted a few seconds it still would have been funny to watch I guess; I know I would be laughing at myself if I watch witnessing this scene.

After a few moments the geese finally began to get their act together and while they were still flying around in circles the numbers of geese that joined into one group increased.  The small circular flying pattern began to take a directional flow and within a few more seconds the entire group began to fly into a single direction and off they went in one large formation as they were supposed to be.  It was a beautiful formation and it was wonderful for them to see them being able to perform as one unit.  What a concept I witness that morning but God did not immediately share with me what He had for me to write about concerning this scene.  And for some reason I could not get what I saw out of my mind and every time I went outside and crossed that parking lot I would think about those groups of geese coming together as one unit.  Then God said…oh, by the way.

Each small group of geese contained two or three geese and they themselves were in perfect flying formation.  Each group was coming from a different direction and it was obvious that when one of the other small groups of geese saw another group they would turn to accept them into their flock, yet each time they turned so did all of the other small groups of geese and it ended up that none of the small groups succeeded in coming together at that moment.  These small groups represent the denominations that mankind has created in order to proclaim their ideas concerning the direction of the Church above God’s mission for the Church.  I guarantee that God did not send His son to this earth and to die for everyone’s sins just to have His embassy broken apart by a bunch of know it all humans.  Jesus said that He would build His Church.  Jesus did not say that you would build His churches.  Humans do not have the authority to represent God completely, for only God can do that.

Denominations were created for a reason and this division plan began very early within the Church.  In all truth the Church had a perfect start in that it came from nothing and then after a few years of growth was persecuted and harshly tested by fire.  This fire and torturous conditions ignited a revival that has not been witnessed ever since but while revival was ongoing our enemy began his manipulation within the minds and hearts of man to divide the Church through selfish means.  It took a while for this seed to go from being in a planted state to a sprout stage, but when it reached this level it took off and did exactly what it was supposed to do.

First came the spilt of the Church and if formed two churches, one in the west and one in the east.  All over who was the leader of the Church and what type of authority this person had.  This is exactly what the disciples were arguing about when Jesus was alive and then had the audacity to ask Jesus to settle their argument.  While this event took some time to develop and to actually occur, the thoughts, processes, arguments and meetings of Church leaders continued throughout the period of time before the actual split.  So, one could say that a split was already present even though the actual deed was not completed years down the road.

While it was plain to see that this one split literally tore the Church into two parts it also tore the spiritual aspects of the Church to shreds and it is this aspect that forms our little groups that fly around in circles and have no meaning to their beliefs what-so-ever.  These divisional thoughts continued over time and eventually another split occurred and another group was formed.  In essence a rebellion of a rebellion was created all because certain people did not like the way that things were being run.  Now we all understand that there were reasons that these groups were being formed and I also understand that some of these reasons were legitimate.  But God never said to divvy up His Church in order to get things corrected.  Divvying up anything only creates division and doubles the potential for something to go wrong. 

I am going to make a statement that some of you might not care for but God wants you to know this so take it up with Him and not me. God does not care if you are a Baptist.  He does not care if you are from the Catholic Church or apart of the Assemblies of God or if you are a member of the Lutheran Church.  God does not have a relationship with any of these denominations, He wants a relationship with you, the individual not the building or the organization.  He cannot do anything with the Episcopal Church.  He only can use the people that attend those services and those who actually believe in God and what He can do for the dying.

I have mentioned a particular singer’s name a couple of times in my articles and his name is Keith Green.  Even though Keith is not with us anymore his music still resonates through my heart and the words that God gave him to sing are still true today.  Keith liked to tell people about God and what Jesus did in his life and many times would spend a few minutes telling his audience about God before he sang a song. On one of his recordings Keith was talking in this manner and he addressed the importance of having a relationship with God and he made the statement that God cannot cash out of state checks in heaven, he needs you.  And through this statement God reinforced the need for your life and not the systemic patterns of organized denominations as His instruments of the truth.

A few days ago my father made a similar statement when he said that the Church has wrapped herself and buried herself in her Theology that she has totally forgotten how to have a relationship with God.  What an accurate and truthful statement this is, yet at the same time it is a statement that brings tears to God’s eyes for He knows that we have gone our separate ways in order to prove our own beliefs to be correct.

Many decades ago my mother was in serious condition with a back problem.  The doctors honestly believed that my mother was not going to pull through and that it was only a matter of time before she departed this world.  My parents were in the ministry then and many of the pastors around the area and region knew the condition of my mother.  Mom and dad say that many people came to visit her and to pray for her, which is exactly what we need to do.  But it was the simple prayer of a lady who did not share the same denomination as they did, that mom said as soon as she was praying that she felt a change inside of her body and that she knew that she was healed.  This did not prove anything about the lady’s denomination nor did it take away from their denomination but it joined together two small groups of geese to form a larger group of geese that exemplified a true direction.

I thank God every day for this little lady who I never met but I know that it was her desire to have a relationship with God along with my parents’ desire that healed my mother that day.  This is what God shared with me with the small groups of geese that I saw flapping around totally lost and having no direction or meaning of their mission.  By no means am I suggesting that one denomination is better than another, nor am I stating that denominations should be abolished.  However, I will state that if a person places more emphasis on their denomination than they do the mission of what Jesus commanded us to do, then the true concept of denomination is at work and should be ignored.

God cannot use a denomination simply because God is a complete God and His ways cannot recognize division.  All of us should know that the root word for denomination is “divide”.  So by this definition alone God cannot use this word or any form of the word because His Kingdom does not recognize its division.  This does not mean that God cannot use a person that goes to a certain denominational church; in contrast, God will use that person to spread His ways and to bring in those who are hurting and dying from the attacks of the world. This is exactly what Jesus wants us to do.  Not to place denominational boundaries around us and proclaim we will not do this and that because we attend this or that church.  He told us to go out into the world and to reach the lost.  Jesus did not say only go to certain neighborhoods or cities, He said to go into the entire world.

When we forget these denominational boundaries and complete what God has ordained our small little groups of geese begin to have direction once again because they systematically join together through God’s Kingdom and to form a large unified flock that sees its true direction.  Those geese may be a part of different families and groups but when they unite together their mission is clear and will be unabated as long as they listen to their true leader.  I would have never dreamt that I could have learned so much about God’ Kingdom and it operates through a group of geese.  This is more proof that God has a sense of humor even when He is trying to get His message through a hard headed person like myself.

If individuals who truly believe that God is in control of their lives and have a true heart to spread the gospel of Christ to the world then there is no way that God will deny these hearts access to His Kingdom at work.  This large and unified group of geese will follow their leader to a destination that He deems relevant for their lives.  This destination will be to the dying world and will give them the opportunity to choose God and His ways and to shed the weight of the world that has held them down.  God shall not use a denomination to accomplish this task, He will not even use more than one denomination either but He will use people within all of these denominations that have a true burden for the hurting.

Placing our stock into a denomination alone will only provide a meandering and a confused circling that will have no direction.  If we allow this ideology of denominationalism to take hold in our lives, then our denominational buildings will be filled with so much clutter and junk that we will not even be able to see the purpose in going to that building any longer.  The life will be sucked right from under our noses and the mission of Christ will eventually be lost.  God wants a unified Church that is strictly concentrated on seeking His ways and providing the truth to the dying world.  The truth is not an alternative method, for it is the foundation of all life and once the truth is divided up it is difficult to see and to understand what truth means to our lives.  We cannot afford to hide the truth from our lives any longer.  The Church needs to come together and to function as one heartbeat for God.  Repent and allow God to restore your life back to His ways so that we may once again find purpose, direction and unity within the truth of His ways.

DLB