Week 12: God is the End, not the Means

And just like that, Week 12 has ended and therefore so has Lecture Phase of Discipleship Training School here at YWAM Ozarks. It’s hard to think that I’ve been here for only 12 weeks; it truly feels like it’s been a year or two. So many things we’ve learned, so many experiences we’ve had, so many blessings been poured upon us, it is bittersweet to think about it all. Bitter in that DTS is half way over, sweet in that it is now only a matter of a couple weeks until I am on a plane headed to Kenya! Now is the time when I begin asking myself if I made the most of those 12 weeks. I think back to the few times I might have zoned out in a teaching, the times I may have let distractions take over, the times I didn't what to give my 100%, and it gets very easy very fast to think more and more that I failed this experience. But that's not right at all. No matter what I do, there is always something better than I could have done, so what's the point of beating myself up for not being perfect? Sure, it's awesome and great to give 100% and to really make the most of everything, and it is ideal to live that way, but I've been learning what DTS really is. Even though it may have the word "School" in it's title, a DTS is not like a normal school where you simply pass or fail. It's a time to experience God in ways you haven't yet, to learn about the privileges and responsibilities we have as Disciples, and a time to make mistakes. If you're expected to make mistakes in DTS, then how does one fail? As long as effort is put forth and motives are correct, you'll never fail. Turns out the same things apply to Christianity as I talked about in a previous post. God asks us to love Him, trust Him, and follow Him, and if we do that sincerely, we will never fail. We will make many mistakes along the way, and we will learn from them, but because we follow God, we never fail. So the question as to whether I made the most of Lecture Phase or not is a silly question. I experienced it, and that was the goal. This makes me excited to make more mistakes in Outreach Phase, because I know that God will work through them all, and will refine me more and more as I live and learn.

It was a very relaxed week which was nice – we didn’t have a one set speaker for the week so the topics varied; we had a local woman from Ozark come up and talk about her experiences on the mission field (she was 70 years old and had been doing missions for the majority of her life, she had some cool stories) on Monday and Tuesday, one of the staff members talked to us on Wednesday, on Thursday we watched a Christian documentary on sex trafficking titled "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls," and on Friday we listened to a sermon called "Ten Shekels and a Shirt" preached by Paris Reidhead. The week as a whole was great, but the last two days of classes really stuck out to me.

You may have heard of "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls," and if you have, you'll know why this film was a significant part of this week. As I said earlier, it is a Christian documentary on sex trafficking, and it is a movie that will get you to experience all possible emotions, except happiness perhaps. How's that for a sales pitch? Then again, I don't know how you could experience happiness on a topic like trafficking in the first place. I don't know what else I could say about the film, other than it was very well put together and gives a great presentation of the current scenario. A forewarning, the film is a bit extreme and not for all audiences, for those of you who feel you can handle it, I highly recommend spending a couple hours watching it.

You may also have heard about "Ten Shekels and a Shirt" by Paris Reidhead. It was preached by him over 50 years ago, and praise God that it was recorded. He starts the sermon in Judges 17 and reads the story of a man named Micah who hired a Levite to be his priest with ten shekels of silver a year as well as clothing and food; the Levite accepted because he would acquire things that made him happy. Later on, some Danites came and attacked the village Micah and the Levite lived in. When the Danites came to Micah's house, the Levite was there and was convinced to join the Danites because it would be better living with more benefits; more happiness. He fed off this passage by talking about how the Levite's highest value in life, his prime goal, was to be happy. That was it. He became a priest to Micah for ten shekels and a shirt because it insured him happiness, and then he was sold out again because it insured him even more happiness. He didn't become a priest for any other reason. Paris went on to talk about how that lifestyle is a humanist lifestyle, not a Christian lifestyle. He talked about how Christianity has taken on two forms of humanistic beliefs: liberal and fundamentalist. Liberal meaning that the goal of Christianity is to attain happiness while living and fundamentalist meaning that the goal is happiness when you die. To make a long sermon short: according to Paris, humanism is the most deadly philosophy ever and is in direct contrast with Christianity. Most of us Christians live this humanistic lifestyle.

Think about it: why did you become a Christian? Paris asked the question, and I realized that I accepted Christianity because eternal life in Heaven with God sounded pretty freaking awesome. I imagined that I would be pretty happy up there, to say the least. It sounded better than the alternative, so why wouldn't I choose it? According to Paris, this view is humanistic and is not what Christianity is about. The point Paris made towards the end of the sermon was exactly what the title of this post is: God is the End, not the Means. We are to view God as the reason we choose Christianity. We are not to view God as the means to attain happiness. What does that mean exactly? It means that our one purpose to choose God is because he deserves it; glorifying God is the one reason we choose to follow Him. Because of what He's done, because of His suffering, He deserves all the praise and all the glory. Paris put this into terms that really shook my world:

"But I believe that the only ones who God actually witnesses by His Spirit and are born of Him, are the people, whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say something like this, 'Lord Jesus, I'm going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do, as long as I live even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved, and obeyed, and served, and I'm not trying to make a deal with you!'" - Paris Reidhead

When I heard that underlined portion, I was struck to my very core with conviction. If I knew I was going to Hell, would I still give God the glory? Before I heard this sermon, I would have downright said absolutely not. I'm not saying that now all of a sudden I'm so easily convinced to say that I would, but I am most definitely leaning that way. Now, I am aware that what is being said can raise many questions, and I'm not saying that God will send to Hell those who sincerely believe in Him with correct motive and everything (since that is in direct contradiction with the Bible), but that is besides the point. We are to live in a way that we don't care what happens to us, all we care about is glorifying God because He demands it and He is righteous to demand such a task. Another question would be, "Doesn't God value humans and their happiness though?" and the answer would be of course! When we value God as the highest, then we take on his values as well, and since he values humans and their happiness, we do too, but we need to realize that in this value system, we need to keep these values in check and keep God the highest value. I cannot express all of these thoughts as well as Paris did, so I highly recommend - to everyone - to listen to this recording or read the sermon, it's relatively easy enough to find, but much harder for most everybody, myself included, to accept. I pray that God works through you as you read/listen to this sermon and gives you new revelation. Believe it or not, this revelation has given me much happiness (so incredibly ironic) and peace, as I realize that all I need to do in this life is do what God tells me to do and glorify Him all the while I do it.

It's sad to think that there are no more classes or speakers for me to experience in this DTS, but it is very exciting to think that my classes and speakers will not be in an actual classroom or taught by actual people, but in a couple weeks will be on African soil and taught by experiences and mistakes. I thank you all for your prayers and support and look forward to seeing some of you in a week as I come home for Christmas break! God bless you all and all you bless God!