Crowding Heaven with Practical Steps

Written by Carl Greene

August 21, 2024

When it comes to discipleship, sometimes we miss obvious, practical steps. We can complicate things and get so focused on programming or what we wish we had at our disposal, that we miss the simple resources we already have on hand to use for God’s glory. As I have been reading through the Gospel of John, I have been struck by the rapid succession of very practical notations that are highlighted for us.

Know Your Needs

“John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized…” (John 3:23)

John was called to a ministry that moved people to public baptism. There were two practical needs to be met: 1) water and 2) accessibility for people.

This might not be rocket science here.

John baptized in a place that provided both of those needs. Let’s apply this principle to our shared ministry in and through the church. Stewardship involves knowing the core ministries that God is calling our church to, and leveraging the resources that we have for those ministries in full. We are not called to figure out how to stretch resources really thin to do all the things under the sun. John stewarded two basic resources and joined God in His gospel work.

What two resources does my church possess that are underutilized for our key ministry?

Ask the Right Questions

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’” (John 5:6)

What a zinger of a question: “Do you want to be healed?” The answer begs the obvious response. I fully expect that the man will answer yes.

Not exactly. The man rambles on with why his plan is not working. (Now that I think about it, I can relate to the man’s answer.) Jesus asked the right question so the man truly processed what is going on.

Jesus knew what the man needed. The man did not know what he needed—he knew what he wanted. Jesus asked the man the question so he owned what he truly needed in the end.

Let’s be honest—we’re not Jesus. We do not always know what people need. So, a key practical step in discipleship is asking questions to find out what people need rather than assuming it. Even if we are right about the needs, Jesus demonstrates the importance of asking questions for ownership of next steps.

Questions are also a low-cost investment. How practical.

The Practical and the Miraculous Intersect

“Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down…” (John 6:10)

This passage puts a smile on my face. Jesus calls the people to sit down. They looked around and

saw plenty of grass to sit in. They sat down. This is not exactly the most preachable portion of feeding the 5,000, but a fascinating detail.

Feeding of the 5,000 was truly miraculous—there is no way around that. Getting 5,000 men to sit down in the right place was practical common sense. And it needed to be done—there were practical steps to prepare for the miraculous.

It seems like we fall into two distinct mindsets. One is where we only see the practical steps (get people to sit down) and never expect God’s sovereignty to manifest in the miraculous (provision). On the other hand, we get so focused on anticipating the miraculous (what we are asking for) that we fail to steward the practical resources God has provided. There is a sweet intersection of the practical and miraculous recorded here in the Gospel of John.

Remembering the Practical

There are steps that we should take to further the discipleship ministry of our church, such as entering the SDB Pulse Church Revitalization process. Often times, there is low-hanging fruit for us to find that will make significant Kingdom difference right away.

Realizing our true needs. Asking right questions. Discovering the practical and miraculous intersection. There are plenty of next steps that all of us can take in actively advancing God’s Kingdom

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