This is the final post in the 5 part series on Discipleship and Small Creatures.“Four things on earth are small,yet they are extremely wise: Proverbs 30:24
a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces. Proverbs 30:28
Like the three other creatures featured in this series of posts on discipleship – trying to imagine why lizards are a source of wisdom can be challenging.
However, the verse above does explain why we can find wisdom in the ordinary lizard. That’s because they can find their way in king’s palaces.
True discipleship does not limit the area or the type of people who need to be reached with the Gospel and be made into disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even kings (present day CEO’s, political leaders, celebrities and the like) need to be reached, trained and deployed in the kingdom of God.
What I love about the business of making disciples is that it chooses no man. Everyone deserves to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. But the fact is reaching kings is not a simple matter. For one, they live in palaces that are secured by moats (layers of secretaries and assistants) and sentinels (bodyguards and cronies).
So how does one get to these great men and women of influence. The answer: do the lizard. What on earth does that mean?
One reason lizards can get into palaces is because they are small. Small is the key to getting the big. Secondly, they have a simple service they provide and that is to munch on bothersome insects in your house. In short they serve a purpose while at the same time since they are small they require little attention or overhead.
The church that I pastor has several celebrities. As such I often hear the comment “I guess you have a lot of stars that’s why they can reach each other stars.”
In some ways that statement is true but in many ways it is also incorrect. Off the top of my head I know many of these celebrities who were not reached by other stars but by friends, relatives and you will not believe it when I say many of them are reached by make-up artists, dentists and are you ready for this – hair dressers.
Like the lizard these individuals come across as small, feeble, harmless creatures that are there to simply serve their needs. And like the lizard they go undetected against the radar screens that are set to spring the security measures against intruders.
The verse above not only holds true to royalty “likes” but even to real royalties. Today even the children of wealthy kings and princes in various parts of the world are being reached through nannies and household servants who go unnoticed. If one is willing to serve and be small in the eyes of men - they position themselves to be great disciple makers of kings and princes.
So go and do as the lizard and make disciples!
1 comment:
Joey, thanks for another great lesson. I used this principle a few months ago while teaching about outreach in one of our Ukrainian churches. One of the most difficult people groups to reach here are policemen. That is because they are perceived as corrupt and aloof.
The group I was teaching – mostly men - could not come up with a “direct” strategy to penetrate this people group, but one woman told how she was meeting with the wife of a police officer, and we knew this was the open door. They can be reached by first reaching their families.
Victor (Rev) Araneta was also teaching, and he testified about how you guys reached the military in the Philippines by first reaching & serving their families. This was the testimony that illuminated the strategy here. Thanks!
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