Articles
Grounded in the Word. Ready for the Mission. Christian Military Fellowship provides Scripture-centered Bible studies that invite people to know Christ, grow as disciples, and lead with integrity in every season of military life.
SGM Daniel Cartwright, USA (Ret)
Dan has been with CMF since 1982. He has served as a Local Leader, Regional Representative, and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dan served 28 years with the United States Army Special Forces. He and his wife, Dee, live near Fort Carson, Colorado.
The Great Privilege Process
I don't know about you, but I get tired of always hearing about “process” where I work as a government contractor. “Process” seems to have taken over everything! It's not like when I was running a communications shop in the Army, or even when I was the Operations Sergeant Major in the Battalion Headquarters. At least then ”process” was about more effectively getting the job done. Sometimes that meant figuring out how to do more with the same or fewer people. Sometimes it was learning to accomplish the mission with the resources that were available. If the “process” worked, it ended up as part of somebody’s SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). These days it seems the “process” is the mission! I sit next to a “process engineer” and sometimes, when I overhear his side of phone conversations, I feel his pain!
Well, guess what? God is into “process”! Check this out:
“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.’ But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.” Romans 10:14-17 (NET)
That looks like a “process” to me! Just in case you missed it, let’s identify the process steps.
Call on the Name of the Lord and you will be saved. (The end state.)
Before you can call on the Name of the Lord you have to believe.
Before you can believe you have to hear.
Before you can hear, there needs to be a preacher.
Before there's a preacher, there is a “sending.”
If it didn't before, does it look like a process now?
Where I work, my Process Engineer (PE) buddy keeps track of all the written processes we use and helps develop new processes when they are needed. He also ensures people are actually following the established processes.
The Apostle Paul, who wrote the letter to the Romans, is reminding Christians in Rome of the process, like my buddy at work does. You might also see Paul as one of the “sent preachers,” since after his conversion he dedicated his life to preaching the gospel, at times while working a regular job (tent making). Now the process “developer” ─ that’s another story. In fact, you've probably already figured out that God is the originator of the process, the Grand Architect.
The only part of the process not specifically mentioned in the above passage from Romans is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the person who has NOT yet called on the name of the Lord for salvation. In order for any person to call on the Lord, that person needs to have come to the point of realizing his/her condition of being lost and helpless, without a hope in the world of being saved through human effort. Some would say that this is the “drawing” by the Father to the Son that Jesus spoke of in John 6:44 and the enabling spoken of in John 6:65.
When that drawing happens in the heart of the one who is needy and the gospel is preached, there is a supernatural combining of the realization of one’s lost condition and the hearing of the Word that results in calling out to the Lord and the saving of a soul for eternity!
This amazing process that brings such sweet relief on the day of our salvation even honors the human will by turning the human heart, which is totally dead and unable to choose anything but sin (Romans 3: 10-18), toward God, so that our decision for Christ is out of our own freed will. We choose Christ because we desire Him. We desire Him because God has given us mercy and placed the necessary desire with us.
You could say God “owns” the process (using the terms of the workplace). All three Persons of the Trinity act in unity to miraculously create the new birth in Christ! The Father is the Master Architect, the Son suffered, died and was resurrected to make it possible, and the Holy Spirit operates at both ends; preparing the heart of that one lost in sin and prompting someone to share the gospel (“sends the preacher”).
So what does all this process “stuff” have to do with the “The Great Privilege”? Let me answer that with a couple of other questions:
Did God have to develop a process to save anyone? No! Isn’t He God? Yes! After all, didn’t he confront Paul on the road to Damascus without human intervention? Yes! God can save ANY ONE, ANY TIME, ANY WAY He wants! At stake are the eternal souls of men and women, and God decides to use a method to save them that involves using regular, ordinary people as “process agents.”
Consider the original twelve disciples. Among those Jesus chose were some fisherman, an IRS agent and at least one political activist. None of them had any sort of higher education. There wasn’t a learned religious leader, popular speaker, or finely dressed rich guy among the lot. Peter denied him, they argued about who was the greatest, and when he went to the Cross, all but one (John) disappeared from the scene. Why these guys?
About all I can say to that is that He is GOD and it's HIS choice. The Apostle Paul, speaking to Christians at Corinth provides a better answer:
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
There are probably other reasons why He chooses to use bumbling believers as process agents, but for the moment, it’s enough that He chose the method ─ “designed the process.”
That’s where “Privilege” enters the picture. God doesn’t need people to save anyone—you, me or anyone else. It’s our Great Privilege to take the Good News to the world around us. If He prompts me to share that news and I refuse, He’ll send another. If that one refuses, He’ll send another. The mission WILL be accomplished, with or without me. God WILL send a man or woman obedient to the call, and souls WILL be saved according to HIS plan! As one pair of evangelical writers said so well:
“The Spirit of God uses the Word of God through men and women of God to make the message about the Son of God available to all who want to know the truth. There is no limit to the creative ways God can use to bring about this process.”— from “I’m Glad You Asked” - Ken Boa and Larry Moody
Reader, listen closely. Do you remember when you first embraced your Savior? Did not something happen inside you to cause you to desire God? Did you not somehow “hear” the good news of salvation in Christ and then call out to Him for that precious gift? Are you saved, to your eternal benefit and His everlasting glory?
If so, the One who saved you now “sends” you into the world to share the greatest news mankind will ever know! (That's not my opinion─hear some of the last words of Jesus as He prayed earnestly to the Father on behalf of his closest disciples, those twelve ordinary men, shortly before He went to the cross of Calvary.
“But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” John 17:13-18 (NET)
Do you desire to be called? Are you prepared to go when called? Will you share in the Great Privilege?
I leave you with the question, and pray that the answer is a resounding YES! That like the prophet of old, you will hear the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And you will say, “Here am I. Send me!”
NOTE: The only reason CMF exists is to support, train and equip believers serving in all branches of military service as they grow in Christ and as the “sent ones” wherever they live and serve God and our country.
Pastor Bob Bingham
In 1962 Bob and his wife Dorothy were appointed as missionaries with the Overseas Christian Servicemen's Centers (now Cadence International), and served with them for 21 years, 17 of those years serving at three different military bases in the Philippines. Hospitality and discipleship training became the focus of those years with hundreds of lives being touched for eternity.
A change of ministry came in September of 1982 when he joined Scope Ministries (a biblical counseling ministry headquartered in Oklahoma City). This led to Bob's present ministry, CUPbearers, a discipleship ministry centered on the Lord Jesus Christ located in Englewood, Colorado.
For more than 25 years Bob has pastored the Rocky Mountain Evangelical Free Church in Black Hawk, Colorado, in tandem with his discipling ministry.
Bob has ministered in the Philippines (1962-1979, 1995, 1998) and a number of other countries in Asia and Europe with OCSC (1962-82), Panama (1996) and in Trinidad (1998). His additional ministry opportunities have been to Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong (2001), and Nepal (2001), China (2006).
Bob also served as Chairman on the CMF Board of Directors for many years.
Jesus Christ is God Incarnate
One of the basic teaching of Christians throughout the ages is that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, meaning that He was God manifested in a human body. In other words Jesus was born with two sources of life: divine and human.
Luke in his gospel reveals Jesus’ two sources of life as the Angel Gabriel tells Mary of Jesus’ miraculous birth. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son [human]...and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High [divine]...Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:31-35)
One of the passages where Jesus’ deity is recorded is in the Gospel of John 1:1-5. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of Men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
The Apostle John also records Jesus’ humanity in John 1:14-18. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John [the Baptist] testified about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I’...For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth was realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
Jesus Never Used His Deity on His Own Initiative
Jesus said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.” (John 14:10)
“I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.” (John 8:28)
Jesus “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself [of exercising His deity] taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:6-8)
Jesus lived a human life on earth that was totally dependent upon God the Father’s indwelling life and leading never upon Himself!
Christians Are Encouraged to Live as Jesus Christ Did
“When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative. (John 16:13) Jesus Christ, in His humanity was filled with God, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” (Col 2:9)
The Apostle Paul encourages, “Be imitators [followers] of me, just as I also am of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1) Also, “and in Him [His indwelling] you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.” (Col 2:10) “now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind...according to Christ Jesus” (Rom 15:5)
The writer of Hebrews says, “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted [tested] in all things as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15)
Jesus reveals that He Himself is the Christian’s source of daily spiritual life, “I am the vine, you are the branches: he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)
Peter also weighs in, “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” (2 Pe 1:4)
Summary
“Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Cor 13:11)
The Apostle Paul continues in his letter to the Philippians, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name who is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth.” (Phil 2:9-10)
“Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Phil 4:20)
Robert W. Flynn
Bob has been with the Christian Military Fellowship since 1981. He has served as a Local Leader, Coordinator of Ministries, Chief Operating Officer, President/CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Directors. After a short retirement he returned as Chief Information Officer. His ministry area has been one-on-one mentoring and discipleship. He now also leads the the Remote Access Discipleship Program creating opportunities for our members to engage in Bible study where ever they happen to be standing.
Bob enlisted in the United States Navy in 1968 and served on active duty until 1991 when he joined the CMF Staff. He and his wife, Nancy, live near Buckley Space Force Base, Aurora, Colorado.
An Army of One – Or – An Army of the One
We sometimes confuse our own culture with spiritual things. In America there exists within us an innate desire to succeed as an individual. Why else would we have team sports in order to learn teamwork? When we join the military we learn a new concept called unit cohesion. It is a long recognized phenomenon that is essential for successful war fighting. Unit cohesion goes well beyond the idea of mere teamwork into an arena where men and women place their lives and trust into the hands of those with whom they serve. General Krulac, Commandant of the Marine Corps (former), described it in this way: “We must do everything we can to enhance the transformation of young men and women into the marines that our corps needs to win battles. I firmly believe that unit cohesion is an integral part of the transformation process. Marines must possess and feel the absolute trust, subordination of self, the intuitive understanding of the collective actions of the unit, and the importance of teamwork.”
“I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me” (John 17:20-23 NASB).
Unity is that gift from God that comes as an answered prayer of the Son so that the world (“Satanic System,” Lewis Sperry Chafer) may know the Father sent the Son. I have heard unity described in terms of what it is NOT, but sometimes we miss the point because we ask the wrong question. When unity is described as NOT being uniformity, the question should be, “Did Jesus think like His Father?” When described as NOT unanimity, the question should be, “Did Jesus and the Father completely agree?” Those who would make the NOT arguments are those who have NOT experienced this wondrous blessing! There is only ONE reason for NOT experiencing the Unity of the Holy Spirit — you do not belong to Jesus! We ARE one just as Jesus and the Father are one for the purpose of the Gospel! It requires more than teamwork, more than unit cohesion, it requires death to self that the Church may grow with Jesus Christ as the head. Contrary to our human understanding, Unity exists when I agree with Jesus and You agree with Jesus!
“But they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For we are joined together in his body by his strong sinews, and we grow only as we get our nourishment and strength from God” (Colossians 2:19 NLT).
“Instead we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church . Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:15-16 NLT).
“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12 NLT).
“Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you. 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. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others” (Romans 12:3b-5 NLT).
“This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13, NLT)