that in everything HE might be preeminent...

For Christmas I got an IPOD so I could listen to sermons while on the mission field...but considering we keep getting kicked out of the village we go to, my IPOD has found more use while on the road driving from one place to the next in my crazy, busy life. On my 6 1/2 hour drive from Los Fresnos to my home in Liberty Hill I listened to a sermon by Dan Kirk called John Calvin: A Life Ablaze for Christ. It was incredible. I meditated on it all weekend long and it has really transformed my thinking and outlook on everything. I will give you some of the text that I heard preached and then I will attempt to explain my transformed outlook on life. Here's the good stuff:

Colossians 1:13-20 Please grab the nearest bible and read it!

The following are some excerpts from the sermon:

I want us to begin with this Scripture this morning because I think it says something
that the American church desperately needs to hear, something that John Calvin believed with every fiber of his being. Namely, that Jesus Christ is the Head of the church and that God intends for Him to have “first place in everything.”
The reason the reformation occurred was because those who were leading the church
had pushed Christ, as it were, from his position as head and had inserted other things in His place.
T.H.L. Parker said, “Rome had destroyed the glory of Christ in many ways.
1. By calling upon the saints to intercede when Jesus is the only Mediator between God and man.
2. By adoring the blessed virgin when Christ alone is to be adored.
3. By offering continual sacrifices in the Mass when the sacrifice of Christ is complete and sufficient.
4. By elevating tradition to the level of Scripture and even making the word of God
dependent for its authority on the word of man.

Here is a profound question for us to consider: What should be emphasized most in
the church? The love of God? The Grace of God? Our mission to the nations?
Fellowship? Family? Evangelism? Ministry to the poor? I contend, as Calvin inferred,
that whenever a church emphasizes anything (even a biblical mandate) more highly,
more passionately, more devoutly than the glory and excellency of Christ, that
church has taken its first step toward error.

In other words, it is possible that a church can make as its primary focus good things like evangelism, or missions, or ministry to the poor, or counseling, or Bible study and theology, and yet be unknowingly heading toward error. Why? Because none of these are the main thing! None of these should have “First place” in the church!
What is our purpose? Peter made this clear in 1 Pet. 2:9 “You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Calvin understood that the church in his day had lost the centrality of the majesty and the glory of Christ. The question for the church in his day as in ours is never “How can we achieve the greatest good?” but rather, “How can we most effectively magnify the glory of Christ.” When the glory of Christ and the proclamation of His excellencies is the first priority, then the church is ready to worship, and study, and evangelize and serve the community and reach the nations without drifting into error.

If you would like to hear the rest of the sermon about the incredible, encouraging life of Calvin you can go to: http://www.sermonplayer.com/cbcfortworth/rss/
Scroll down and look for John Calvin: A Life Ablaze for Christ. I think you will be blessed by this man's life. I was. Now to what the Lord has been showing me and I have been meditating on for the last few days...

You all know I have a passion for missions. Where did that passion come from? A desire to let my life be worthy of the gospel of Christ as spoken of in my favorite verse, Philippians 1:27. But here is where my thinking is changing. Missions isn't the only way to let my life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. In essence, I was asking "How can I achieve the greatest good?"; in my own terms "What is the best way to live a life worthy of the gospel?" of which I would answer, 'missions.' I shouldn't be asking the question so that I give the answer. The question should be "How can I most effectively magnify the glory of Christ?" and God will answer as He daily leads me. I am not God. I don't know how He desires to use me for His glory but what I do know is that my aim should be to magnify Christ no matter what I do in my life.

You may wonder why I am thinking through all these things. As my supporters, I feel like you should know where I am spiritually. On the last trip to La Barra, we went to the beach and while the others played in the huge waves I climbed the familiar boulders at the end of the beach to spend some time with the Lord (not me in the picture).



I was distraught at this point and crying out for God to speak. It was as if he stripped me of everything, including all my desires, until all that was left was Cara Bebee. Not Cara and missions...just Cara. I wondered at God seemingly 'taking away' missions from my life. What did that mean? If His will for my life isn't missions then what is it?

It is for Christ to have first place in everything.

You know, I'm pretty good at saying "I will see you Sunday, Lord willing" and truly mean that. I truly understand that I will see you Sunday only if the Lord wills to give me life until then. However, when I say "I want to do missions the rest of my life" I never think twice to say "Lord willing." So now I am saying that Christ is to be first place in everything in my life. My desire for this life is that my life would be worthy of the gospel of Christ but instead of defining what that looks like for myself, I will daily ask the Lord to display His glory and greatness in and through my life however HE so desires. God has stripped me of every desire it seems so that Christ can be preeminent in my life. And He himself and the truths of His word have been SWEET. Sweeter than they have in quite awhile.

God may give my desire back for missions like he gave Isaac back to Abraham. But even if He doesn't it is not like I am void or lacking something because I still have Christ. My contentment and satisfaction is not found in finding the perfect team to do missions with or the perfect, most unreached tribe to reach but my contentment and satisfaction is found in Christ and Christ alone.

I can't deny what God is doing in my heart and I don't understand all it's implications. Part of me wants to muster up a desire for missions again and cling to it but then missions would be preeminent and not Christ which would be a first step toward error. Rather, I will emphasize the glory and excellency of Christ more highly, more passionately, and more devoutly than I will missions or any other biblical mandate we seek to obey and walk in. And I will trust Christ to use my life for His glory and for making Him known as He so chooses. Praise the Lord for His goodness to call such sinners out of darkness and into His marvelous light that we would proclaim His excellencies!