"What does this have to do with Thailand?", is the response that I imagine any of the 4 people that read this blog may have. But hang with me...it matters. I'm working through Dr. Frank James' History of Christianity lectures (which can be downloaded for FREE on itunes and are completely worth your while) this summer and realizing the importance of learning one's lessons.
Men much more able than I (like Tertullian, Origen, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Polycarp, Anselm, Aquinas, and countless others) have made BIG mistakes. They said, wrote or did things that make us cringe and which were obviously sinful or just plain dumb...and they were bishops and Church Fathers...men with vast influence on the early church and subsequent doctrine and Church growth. However, as I read and listen and think through the lives, triumphs, and failures of these men, I have to rejoice in the fact that God used these men. God used men who were sinful and mistaken and prideful and undeserving...the bottom line is that God uses sinners and that He is still God. Absolute and uncompromising sovereignty that will bring to completion His own plans, resulting in His ultimate glory and our ultimate good.
So...back to Thailand. I can't match any of these men in intellectual ability or devotion to Christ. I can't match them in ministry credentials or educational pedigree. But, just as in the lives of these great men (who again...often got it wrong), God will use Kiki and I in Bangkok in spite of ourselves. All of this comes together to make me more humble (I have to realize that I don't always have the whole picture...God will move in ways that I am not always comfortable with, theologically), more gracious (men more able than I have made BIG mistakes), and more dependent on Him (this is His work, His Church, His mission...not mine...and He will bring results in His time).
Well, count me as reader number 5 :-)
ReplyDeleteChurch history is one of my favorite subjects for exactly the reason that you point out - there is so much for us to learn from those who have gone before us, not only their insights and mistakes, but also from how God has sovereignly used them, many times in spite of glaring weakness and blind spots. It is very encouraging to see God at work, building his church and redeeming a people for himself, not only in the Bible but in the pages of church history