O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”
– 1 Chronicles 29:18-19, ESV
When we follow Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations we need to remember that we are going in service of the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. When we forget that mighty truth and begin to take the weight of souls on our shoulders the work becomes a burden too great for us to bear. We don’t have the power to change people’s hearts. I don’t have any real way to ensure that the 20 or so people who regularly join our Threshingfloor community will stay faithful to Christ tomorrow, much less a year from now.
David’s prayer at the end of his kingship over Israel gives us a picture of the attitude that we need as disciple makers. David is passing off the crown of a massive kingdom, leadership of tens of thousands of people, and, most importantly, the task of building the temple that he has been stockpiling resources for. Quite literally, David is turning the kingdom of God on earth over to his son. From this moment on Solomon will be the leader of God’s people. Where does David turn for assurance that things will go well? How is he able to entrust so great a task to someone else? His prayer gives us the answer.
First he acknowledges God’s sovereign control of the human heart. David prays, “keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.” David trusts that God is the one who directs people’s hearts. Because David knew the sovereign power of his God he was freed to empower others. We need to know the same.
Discipleship without faith in the sovereignty of God inevitably becomes manipulation. We leverage Bible verses, peer-pressure, small groups, and the human conscience to get people to change and call it discipleship.However, when we believe the biblical truth that the Holy Spirit is the one who guides and shapes the hearts of those we disciple we are freed from the need to manipulate or cajole people into obedience. We are enabled to entrust them with the Gospel truth, trusting that God is the one who establishes his kingdom.
Like David we stockpile the treasures that the Lord has given us through our time with him and entrust them to others. God is in control of what happens next. Jesus passed the treasure of the Gospel off to a small team of incapable men when he ascended back to heaven, knowing that his Father would take care of the rest. Like David, Jesus knew that our hearts are “a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. (Proverbs 21:1)
In your journey of disciple-making don’t lose sight of our Lord’s sovereignty. Without him having all authority we will fail. But if he does indeed rule over all then we can move forward in joyful confidence that his kingdom will be built and more and more men and women will become temples and priests to our God, living stones in a house built for the glory of his name.
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