Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
Norby, Pearl, and Feeling
Comfortable with Yourself
Amplifying a tad, Paul
wrote, “As long as Jesus is the focus and filter, there are different ways of
honoring and serving Him; and when we honor and serve Him, we will help others
in their relationships with Him and each other…We each have different work to
do. We belong to each other. Each needs all the others.”
While I don’t think
that needs much exposition, it means we are interdependent in our dependence
upon Him.
Humanity is like a
puzzle.
God makes the pieces.
When we recognize how
we fit in with each other and how we must fit in with each other to complete
the puzzle, we are corporately as well as individually satisfied.
Back to Paul, “Every
one has at least one gift to share with others for the common good…There are
different gifts, but it is the same God who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service in the
Church, but it is the same Lord who is being served. There are different ways God works in our
lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. Everybody can do something and the entire
Church is helped when everybody weaves their different gifts together into the
fabric of the Church to honor Him which always helps everybody else…Just as our
bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with
Christ’s body. We are all parts of His
one body, and each of us has different work to do. God has given each of us the ability to do
certain things well. We need each
other. That’s how He made us.”
Again, we are
interdependent in our dependence upon Him.
The Church is at His
best when we recognize that interdependence and incarnate it.
Norby brought that to
my attention during the first worship service on August 21.
Mona had just finished
one of her masterpieces; and as I was getting ready to do my singing nun bit,
he said just loud enough for everybody to hear, “Now follow that!”
Norby is my friend;
and it was more about him thanking God for Mona than reminding me that I had a
tough act to follow.
But it provided one of
those special kairos moments and we went with it/Him.
Feeling the Spirit, I
said, “You know, friends, I’ve never felt in competition with anybody else; and
I’ve always felt that it sounds kinda silly and spiritually vacuous when one
speaker or musician following another speaker or musician says/asks, ‘How can I
follow that?’”
Can’t.
Everybody is unique
and excellent in His own way!
I quoted those verses
from Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 and then said, “We’re like snowflakes. We’re all individuals. We’re all beautiful individually by His
design. When we’re together and recognize
that, it’s really something beautiful for Him and each other.”
As Fred would often
say from his neighborhood, “I like you just the way you are!”
I’ve often felt God
saying to us, “I like you just the way you are!
I made you your way!”
I thank God…and
Norby…and those present for that service on August 21 for a very, very, very
special kairos moment to be reminded that everyone is special in His
sight by design; which means we can thank Him for each other and that we’re all
special in each other’s sight.
Of course, there will
always be people from the dark side who try to put us down for our
individuality and want to redesign us as if they are…
Ouch.
Pearl comes to mind.
Over three decades
ago, she made an appointment to see me to tell me how much she hated my beard.
Whoa.
Some people think they
are…
You know what I mean.
Anyway, I found out
she didn’t like my beard because her son had a beard and she didn’t have a good
relationship with her son and when she saw me…
Get the picture?
I shaved it off.
The very next week
after worship when I expected her to show some sugar, she said, “Now about your
moustache…”
So don’t bother to
mess with my Duck Dynasty look!
Some people like to
mess with God’s design; and when we do that, the Church – the body of Christ –
just doesn’t work righteously.
When we’re wrong, nothing works right.
When I figured out
what Paul was trying to tell us about God’s design of interdependence so we
would depend upon Him to get along and get ahead and live with personal as well
as corporate satisfaction, I stopped criticizing how other people dressed and
cut and colored their hair if they have it or combed correctively if
they didn’t have it or inked or…
You know what I mean.
But just in case you
don’t know what I mean, let me put it as simply as I can.
God made you.
God loves you.
God sent His Son to
save you.
You are His now and
forever.
Only He designed you
and only He defines you.
Everybody else who
thinks they have the right to say and do what only He has the sovereignty and
saving power to say and do can go to…
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
@#$%
