God is a gardener, and the church is the garden in the middle of the city. And if you walked into a beautiful garden, you look around and lets say in the corner you see a rake and you see a shovel. Would it be weird if there were teams of people that were fighting over which was the better instrument, and the most effective for the garden, and taking credit for what was done in the garden and meanwhile no one is walking around the garden or nobody says hi to the gardener, that's what can happen in the church. People walk into the church and they don't see the beautiful garden that God is working on, pulling weeds, planting seeds, changing lives...and they don't look at the gardener and say what an amazing gardener you are Jesus, instead they walk into the church and say I like the shovel. I'm all about the shovel (this can be style of worship, song choices, legnth of sermon, how the preacher preaches, the events, the ministries, etc). The other guy says I like the rake, so the guy with the shovel hits the guy with the rake and all of the sudden you have a church split. Now you got two kinds of denominations within this church, the rakists, and the shovelists. Hello, you guys missed the gardener and the garden.
We are tools working in the hands of Jesus, all Christians are tools in the hands of Jesus. I'm a shovel; I'm a rake...Jesus is just using us to turn over soil, pull weeds, and plant seeds and people become Christians and they grow and then they bear fruit and its beautiful what Jesus does. Who cares if it was the rake or the shovel that got the job done, the question is how is the garden doing? And is anyone saying thanks to the gardener?... It is such a glorious thing to be a shovel in the hands of Jesus. Jesus gave His live away. a giver not a taker. Humble not proud. What better thing to be working on than the Kingdom of God, and what better person to be used by than Jesus Christ.
-Mark Driscoll, 1st Corinthians series, Servants like Jesus
Thoughts? I absolutely love visuals. God gives me them every great once in awhile to help explain something I just don't get. I remember quite vividly my rose visual. I saw my heart as a beautiful rose. And when God took away my job and relationship, I felt the petals begin to fall. My heart hurt, it felt as if it was breaking, like the petals slowly coming off and falling to the ground and withering away. But what God showed me was as the layers of stuff and jobs, and other people were stripped away, the core, the bud of the flower was Jesus. It was that bud that is the core of my being and when I found it and recognized it, the flower began to grow back and it was even more beautiful than the one before. Sometimes it take stripping us bare before we see God. This visual that Pastor Mark creates of being an instrument of God's working through His hands to create a beautiful garden. There is not just one tool that gets the job done, He needs many and He uses us in different ways, at different times, to fullfill different purposes. But the end result is the same, a beautiful, well taken care of, garden.
We are a team, we have gifts and talents that God has given us with a plan to use those gifts and talents, but we have to be willing. I am a shovel and I must put aside all desires to want to be a rake so that God can use me for the purposes He has made for me, the shovel. I am not made to pour water, to pound the dirt, I am made to dig it up. God has a plan for my life. It is not like any other plan for any one else's life. I am my own tool. I must be willing to be used by the very hands of God to help create the masterpiece of the garden that He is working on. And I must take the time to stop, admire the garden and praise the gardener for the amazing work He is doing.
Jesus,
What an amazing garden you have created and thought out perfectly, down to the very minut detail. Every flower chosen, every seed planted, every tool that is used is pefectly fitted for the beauty and work that you have laid before it. Thank you for the visual of seeing You as the creator and care-taker of a beautiful garden, the church. And thank you for the garden that is producing such beautiful plants and flowers. Help me to stay focused on the specific job you have for me as the shovel. And help me to not desire the job of some other tool that would only slow down the process of tending to the garden. Father use me as I was created to be used and help guide me. What a joy it is to be a tool in the very hand of the best gardener ever!
Thank you for allowing me to see the fruit of the harvest. For giving me amazing tools to work beside so that we can work together to care for the garden. Help me to have patience as you take the time to use other tools for the jobs they were created and purposed to fullfill. Thank you again for this beautiful visual and the joy I have in being a tool used in the hands of Jesus.
Amen
"The man who plants and the man who waters has one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers." -Driscoll
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