God's Release

When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside.
John 2: 3-9

I love this story because it gives me a picture of a Jesus with "skin on."

Jesus is out at a wedding with his mother and we would assume many other friends. Here is a snapshot from the family phot album of the real Jesus, a real man, gathering together with family and friends after likely having walked to the village of Cana, where Nathaniel lived, nearby his home in Nazareth.

He is standing around after the wedding just enjoying conversation, laughing, talking and enjoying the friendship and community, when the normal flow of the day takes a supernatural turn.

The thing that strikes me most as the story unfolds in real time is Jesus' sensitivity and obedience to moving, only when the Father told Him to move and act and not before.

"Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."

John 5:19

Here in Cana as the day unfolds, Mary, Jesus mother, prods Him to do a miracle and to act. He gently reproves her and says, "my time is not yet come."

The lesson and encouragement to me in this story is that when you are waiting upon God or sense you are in the desert with no permission to move, it is right and appropriate to sit still. We must not move until God tells us to move.

The other encouraging part of this story for me is that, sometimes in the desert, you feel....when....when when will God break the silence and release me to move and to do things for Him. Will it ever happen again.

The answer is that the release can come at anytime. In one moment when Jesus mother pushed Him to act He said, "NO....I do not have release....it is not my time" But, after an undisclosed time, likely not too long after His Mother's prodding, He obviously felt confident of His release from God to act.

So take courage and rest dear saint that is in a time of waiting. You are not lazy and irresponsible when the activist culture of doers around you says get up and do something. You must not move until the Father tells you to move and you sense release.

But also be encouraged and listen for the wisper of God's permission. Your release may be closer that it feels. It could be any minute!

Roots of the Modern Missions Movement:Clapham Sect

The Chapham Sect–A Company of Friends

William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was the Member of the English Parliament who led the campaign to abolish the slave trade in England. A committed Christian, Wilberforce received the following note from the aging John Wesley:

…unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you?

Wilberforce’s forty years of public life and activity were filled with one moral and religious project after another. In addition to his abolition work, he was consistently involved in church work which included the Church Missionary Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the School Society, the Sunday School Society and others.

His public philanthropic efforts were many, including relieving the suffering of the manufacturing poor and French refugees while always working actively in reform movements addressing such injustices in hospital care, asylums, infirmaries, and penitentiaries. A great public reformer, Wilberforce was also a strong family man and deeply disciplined in his dedication to Jesus Christ.

What’s little known is that he had an amazing circle of friends.Throughout history groups of men and women have banded together to promote causes they believe in. When abolition was defeated in Parliament in 1789, Wilberforce and his closest friend, Henry Thornton, called together such a group–the Clapham Sect, as it became known. This informal group of friends included Charles Grant and Edward Elliot, brother in law to William Pitt. William Smith, Granville Sharpe, James Stephen, Zachary and Selina Macaulay, and others joined these “Saints” in the village of Clapham, a prosperous suburb five miles from the heart of London.

The common bond that held these friends together was “the desire to apply their faith in Jesus Christ to personal, social, political, national and international matters.” Making no claim to be theologians, they worshiped together, prayed together and studied the Bible seriously, believing that they were representatives of God’s kingdom on earth and faithful stewards of all God had given them.

Richard Gathro said the Chapham Sect shared these characteristics:

1. A common commitment to Jesus Christ and a clear sense of calling.

2. A commitment to lifelong friendship and mutual submission.

3. A thoughtful pursuit of causes marked by careful research, planning and strategy.

4. A friendship that was inclusive and focused on essentials. (Wilberforce, for example was Wesleyan and his closest friend Henry Thornton a Calvinist.)

5. A long view on completing projects. Abolition of the slave trade took over 20 years.

6. They saw no dictonomy between evangelism and social action. Their magazine, The Christian Observer, exemplified this.

7. Their faith was integral to all of life…family, career, friendship and more. They allowed no compartmentalization.

8. They made family life a clear priority and delighted in each other’s marriages and children.

9. They enabled one another. They recognized each other’s passions and supported one another in them.

10. They worshiped both privately and publicly, gathering twice weekly at the Clapham Church.

Taken from On Movements (Source: C.S. Lewis Institute Report, Summer 2001. See article by Richard Gathro)

Roots Of the Western Missions Movement: Moravians

Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf

As I have been spending time looking at movements that shaped the face of the modern spead of the Gospel and Christianity it has been eye opening to see how God used small pockets of beievers. Two that hold impressive lessons for those who long to be used by God, are the Moravians and later the Clapham sect in England. From these two passionate groups one can see the hand of God shaping the modern Western Missions Movement. I am impressed again on how God can swing history on the hinge of a single life, or how a small group of individuals that are committed to a dream and vision that is bigger than themselves can have such a far reaching impact that stretches far beyond their lifetime.

Zinzendorf was born into one of the most noble families of Europe. His father died when he was an infant, and he was raised at Gros Hennersdorf, the castle of his influential Pitetistic grandmother. Stories abound of his deep faith during childhood. As a young man he struggled with his desire to study for the ministry and the expectation that he would fulfill his hereditary role as a Count. As a teenager at Halle Academy, he and several other young nobles formed a secret society, The Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed. The stated purpose of this order was that the members would use their position and influence to spread the Gospel. As an adult, Zinzendorf later reactivated this adolescent society, and many influential leades of Europe ended up joining the group. A few included the King of Denmark, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Archbishop of Paris.

During his Grand Tour (a rite of passage for young aristocrats) Nicolas visited an art museum in Dusseldorf where he saw a Domenico Feti painting titled Ecce Homo, "Behold the Man." It portrayed the crucified Christ with the legend, "This have I done for you - Now what will you do for me?" The young count as profoundly moved and appears to have had an almost mystical experience while looking at the painting, feeling as if Christ himself was speking those word to his heart. He vowed that day to dedicate his life to service to Christ.

Zinzendorf married Erdmuth Dorothea von Reuss, a cousin, and assumed his duties as a young noble in the courst of King August the Strong. In 1722, he was approached by a group of Moravians to request permission to live on his lands. He granted their request, and a small band crossed the border from Moravia to settle in a town they called Herrnhut, or "the Lord's Watch." Zinzendorf was intrigued by the story of the Moravians, and began to read about the early Unity at the library in Dresden. His tenants went through a period of serious division, and it was then in 1727 that Zinzendorf left public life to spend all his time at his Berthelsdorf estate working with the troubled Moravians. Largely due to his leadership in daily Bible studies, the group came to formulate a unique document, known as the "Brotherly Agreement," which set forth basic tenets of Christian behavior. Residents of Herrnhut were required to sign a pledge to abide by these Biblical principals. There followed an intense and powerful experience of renewal, often described as the "Moravian Pentecost." During a communion service at Berthelsdorf, the entire congregation felt a powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, and felt their previous differences swept away. This experience began the Moravian renewal, and led to the beginning of the Protestant World Mission movement.

In 1731, while attending the coronation of Christian VI in Copenhagen, the young Count met a converted slave from the West Indies, Anthony Ulrich. Anthony's tale of his people's plight moved Zinzendorf, who brought him back to Herrnhut. As a result, two young men, Leonard Dober and David Nitchmann, were sent to St. Thomas to live among the slaves and preach the Gospel. This was the first organized Protestant mission work, and grew rapidly to Africa, America, Russia, and other parts of the world. By the end of Zinzendorf's life there were active missions from Greenland to South Africa, literally from one end of the earth to the other. Though the Baptist missionary William Carey is often refered to as the "Father of Modern Missions," he himself would credit Zinzendorf with that role, for he often refered to the model of the earlier Moravians in his journal.

Zinzendorf himself visited St. Thomas, and later visited America. There he sought to unify the German Protestants of Pennsylvania, even proposing a sort of "council of churches" where all would preserve their unique denominational practices, but would work in cooperation rather than competition. He founded the town of Bethlehem, where his daughter Benigna organized the school which would become Moravian College. His overwhelming interest in the colonies involved evangelising the native Americans, and he travelled into the wilderness with Indian agent Conrad Weiser to meet with the chieftains of several tribes and clans. As far as we have been able to identify, he is the only European noble to have gone out to meet the native American leaders in this manner.

Zinzendorf's theology was extraordinarily Christ-centered and innovative. It focussed intensely on the personal experience of a relationship with Christ, and an emotional experience of salvation rather than simply an intellectual assent to certain principles. Dr David Schattschneider, Dean of Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA, says that it is probably the fact that Zinzendorf did not attend seminary that allowed his thinking could be so creative. Zinzendorf cast the Trinity and the believers in terms of a family, referring often to the Holy Spirit as "mother." He accorded women a much more substantial role in church life than was normal for the eighteenth century, and suffered great criticism as a result. He allowed women to preach, to hold office, and to be ordained. Anna Nitschmann, the leader of the Single Sisters and later Zinzendorf's second wife, seems to have functioned as a bishop among the women.

But all Zinzendorf's thinking also focused on missionary outreach and renewal. He envisioned the Moravians not as a separate denomination, but as a dynamic renewal society which would serve to revitalize existing denominations and help create new work in mission areas. There are numerous churches in Pennsylvania where Moravians would start a church and school for the settlers and native Americans, and then turn it over to the Lutheran Church, the Reformed Church, or whatever denomination they perceived to be the strongest in that area.
Zinzendorf came to know John and Charles Wesley, who had been converted through their contact with the Moravians. The Wesleys later had a split with Zinzendorf, and founded the Methodist Church; both retained warm affection for the Moravians throughout their lives.

Zinzendorf died in 1760 at Herrnhut.

Republished from Zinzindorf: The Count Without Boarders