by Alan Rathbun
Sometimes it’s the little things that capture my attention. I can marvel at the system of veins in a leaf or in the collaboration of the legs of a centipede. I’ve discovered there can be delight in the details.
In writing, prepositions can transform a sentence from common to captivating. You will little interest if an author writes about the main character going AROUND a battle, but you will be pulled into the story if the author writes about the character going THROUGH a battle. Prepositions can bring life to literature.
In the same way, sometimes a preposition in Scripture holds the potential to shift our perspective and reshape our priorities. Consider the significance of the preposition in Jesus' promise of living water in John 7:37-38.
Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (NIV)
Jesus didn’t say that people believing in Him would have living water flowing INTO them. Jesus promised that people believing in Him would have living water flowing FROM within them. The greek word is “ek”, literally meaning “out of”.
There is a big difference between these two statements. Living water flowing INTO me makes the focus inward on the blessing I receive. It’s more about me being a partaker of His blessing. Living water flow FROM within me has an outward focus. It’s more about me being a participant in Jesus’ blessing to the world.
Once I realized the significance of the prepositions in this promise, my perspective was changed forever. I discovered that Jesus not only wanted to give His blessing TO me, He wanted to make His blessing flow THROUGH me.
This is the beauty of gospel generosity. It’s why it was a joy for Jesus to become poor so that we could become rich. It’s why Paul quoted Jesus as saying, “It’s more blessed to give than receive.”
“This is why I believe that church planting is not meant to be something wonderful and extra that we do. It is meant to be the normal fruit of everything we do.”
Let’s be clear. Jesus is not saying that even though we might enjoy receiving more, it’s a better decision to give. He is saying it actually is a greater blessing to give away God’s blessing than it is to keep it for yourself. In other words, the giver of the blessing enjoys more blessing than the one who receives the blessing.
God has invited us to participate in bringing His blessing to the nations. When we focus on our reception and experience of God's blessing, not only are we tempted to withhold blessing from others, we also miss out on the blessing of giving the blessing. Instead of a win-win, we are setting up a lose-lose.
This is why I believe that church planting is not meant to be something wonderful and extra that we do. It is meant to be the normal fruit of everything we do. If church planting is something wonderful and extra that we do, we will only plant churches when we have leftovers after our church gets its share of God’s blessing. On the flip side, church planting becomes the normal fruit of everything we do, when we discover the great gospel blessing of participating with God in bringing the blessing of Christ to the world.
When this happens, we will find more joy in sending people out as harvest workers than in seating them in our sanctuary. We will consider it a blessing when we get to give our resources so people in communities near and far can discover the riches of Christ.
This is the beauty of gospel generosity. Multiplication is the fruit of believing we are blessed to be a blessing.