In
Isaiah 28:21 it references God as doing “his His work . . . His strange work”
and bringing “to pass His act . . . His strange act.” The Scripture reveals time and time again God using the UNCONVENTIONAL (eccentric, odd,
peculiar, radical, unorthodox, individualistic) approach to accomplish HIS
purpose. Now keep in mind, Christ only did what He saw the Father do. He was as
unconventional in doing His work as the Father was. We must not forget God’s Word
in Isaiah 46:10 that says, “I will do all that I please” (NIV). The fact is, we
must be careful about saying “God would never do that.” When we make that
statement, we’re elevating ourselves to the same level of knowledge as God. The
truth is, God is not going to be limited to operate within borders or a
paradigm established for Him by you or me. A paradigm is a fixed arrangement,
pattern or standard that places limits or borders on how or what a person can
and cannot do.
Sometimes
I think our maturity causes us to think too highly of our knowledge of God. We
feel we know God, how He operates, how He
thinks, what He would or would not do. Then when God steps outside our
understanding, we reject it, because we’ve never known God to work like that. Change is almost always seen as negative while
perpetuating one’s ideas of how God works is interpreted as “stability.” When
we confine ourselves to a certain paradigm, its structure of tradition can
easily rob us of who God really is and what He can do. This is why we must
guard against perpetuating (maintaining,
preserving) our current idea of how
God will manifest himself.
As
it was in Christ’s day, so it is today. We still struggle sometimes with individuals
and churches who operate outside the paradigm of our safety zone. You know,
they do things differently, the unconventional way. In our General Bylaws it
states under Article Two, “Purpose and Prerogative,” page 24, paragraph 3: “To promote freedom of worship and liberty of
expression . . . .” By this we are saying, go forth it, do what God is
telling you to do. However, I’m not sure we really want them to have the
liberty we say they can have. The styles of worship over the years has been the
subject of great controversy—controversy about using overhead projectors to
singing songs from the Book of Psalms. In my first church I approached the
deacon who led the services about moving the special songs to just before I
ministered. I was called on the carpet and accused of not loving the people.
What was the problem? It was the culture of the church or the tradition established
by the founders of that church. When I chose to break tradition, I became a threat
to them.
Culture
consists of a learned behavior, beliefs, values, rules, and other
characteristics common to the members of a particular group of people. These
traditions or cultural traits are transmitted from generation to generation.
For a person to become part of that culture, he or she must learn the nature of
that culture to survive and then adapt to it to be accepted.
Since
moving to Bedford, Texas I’ve visited a variety of churches with distinct
differences, yet I felt God in each of them. Do I prefer one to another one? Sure.
But that doesn’t make one church better than another. My liking or not liking
one has to do with the culture of the church I feel comfortable in. It’s like
the old saying, “Different strokes for different folks.” I just imagine God
could care less about how we build a church or the programs we use. What God is
interested in is: are we promoting godly living? Is what we are doing honoring
God? Are we building spiritually healthy members? Is the Administrator of our
church, the Holy Spirit, given the liberty in our services? Are we reaching the
lost for Christ? Are we remaining true to the doctrine and tenets of the faith?
Let’s not judge, but rather give people the green light to be who they are and
to follow God, even if it means being unconventional in their methods.
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