A Village God

What kind of God does your church have? Is he the big God of the Bible, Lord of all, King of kings, upholding the universe by the word of his power? Does his arm reach around the world, even the expanse of space? Does his eye run to and fro throughout the whole world? Is he seated on a throne in heaven? Is he a big God with a big plan for this big world? Does he care about the things outside your town? Does his heart for the nations stir yours for them too?

Our prayers often reveal the kind of God we have. What we pray about shows what we think he can do. In our church services, how big is the prayer? Praying for our own is good and necessary. The Bible tells us to pray for one another. But is that all we pray?

John Stott got pointed on this topic.

“I remember some years ago visiting a church incognito. I sat in the back row. I wonder who’s in the back row tonight.

You know they often slip in there incognito. I’m not going to tell you the church. You won’t be able to identify it; it’s thousands of miles away from here.

When we came to the pastoral prayer, it was led by a lay brother, because the pastor was on holiday. So he prayed that the pastor might have a good holiday. Well, that’s fine. Pastors should have good holidays.

Second, he prayed for a lady member of the church who was about to give birth to a child that she might have a safe delivery, which is fine.

Third, he prayed for another lady who was sick, and then it was over. That’s all there was. It took twenty seconds.

I said to myself, it’s a village church with a village God. They have no interest in the world outside. There was no thinking about the poor, the oppressed, the refugees, the places of violence, and world evangelization.”

–John Stott, Ten Great Preachers: Messages and Interviews, Ed. Bill Turpie (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 117.

When we gather, let’s pray to the big God for this big world with its big needs. No village God. Only the one true God. Big enough for the village, yes, but far, far bigger indeed.