I was never good at math. In fact, I would get stomach aches walking into math class in high school. College was even worse. My mind would go fuzzy. The numbers just didn’t make sense. How do I reconcile these numbers? Or a better question, why spend an hour trying to calculate hypothetical math problems? It seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad some people enjoy working the numbers and are actually good at math; but that’s just not my gifting. And certainly not my passion. I’m okay with simple addition and subtraction, yet when it comes to multiplication and division, I start to become nauseated. Throw in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus – I become downright debilitated.
And yet, I’ve always been intrigued with God’s math, especially as it relates to exponential multiplication. Oftentimes, He begins with something so small and somehow it manages to explode into something bigger than the imagination. Remember when Jesus took a McDonald’s Happy Meal and fed 5,000 people? Or, I think about Jesus’ parables, explaining the Kingdom of God:
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” Again, he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” – Luke 13:18-21
Time after time, story after story, Jesus teaches and demonstrates how God can take something so small and do extraordinary things. On the one hand, I get it. The mathematical laws of multiplication demonstrate how a person can begin with a little and over time grow into extraordinary amounts. Just ask any financial planner about how this works. A young people with little money invested – along with compound interest over time – can result in a big wad of cash for the “retirement years”. That’s a little oversimplified (what do you expect, I’m a pastor?!), but you know what I mean. On the other hand, I don’t get it. The numbers seem so elusive to me. I lack faith that a mustard seed – about the size of a fleck of dust – could amount to an overgrown bush, even a small tree. But this is indeed God’s calculus. I would even argue it is His specialty.
About 20 months ago, when I shared the Faith Lutheran congregation that we have a vision to plant 1,000 churches over the next 40 years, I got the impression from some of you (I won’t name names. ) that this was a pipe dream… that this was merely aspirational…. that this was good intentions, but yeah, come on, let’s be realistic and talk about “real ministry”. Honestly, I had my doubts as well. But here we are, 3 ½ years into our Faith Lutheran experiment and we, as a congregation, have already been instrumental in helping to plant three churches. And as I shared with you in the message from last Sunday (here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxK7LsbsJc ) , God has called us to plant churches not by addition, but by multiplication. But why wouldn’t we do it this way? This was actually how the early church began – those 12 disciples/apostles spread out and planted churches with the expectation that those church plants would also plant churches. And those church plants would plant churches. And those churches would plant churches. And so on and so forth. Have you ever thought about HOW there are 2.5 billion Christians on planet earth today? One third of the global population! HOW did this happen? The church began with 12 people and it multiplied and multiplied and multiplied. And while still don’t understand this exponential multiplication math, I do believe it’s God’s plan for the church, for our congregation. This is HOW we can actually plant 1,000 churches over the next 40 years!
And I also believe this Kingdom Calculus is meant to manifest in our own lives. I wonder what small things in your life Jesus might be inviting you to turn over to Him so that He might multiply? What little details in your current situation might be given to Jesus so that He might offer you abundant peace? How might your meager amount of faith in Jesus grow and permeate so that you would experience His overflowing love and grace? My prayer is that whatever little you might have, you would be willing to release so that Jesus can do His Kingdom Calculus. Amen.
Pastor Brian
11/17/2020