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Category: 1 Peter (Page 3 of 5)

Jesus is Judge and You Are Not

August 4, 2016 / / 0 Comments

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.'” ~Romans 12:17-19

JudgeMosaic4When people hurt me, my gut instinct, my sinful human instinct, is to hurt them back. When someone does something that causes me pain or causes pain to someone I love, I want that person to suffer some pain, too. Even when that person apologizes, even when that person asks for forgiveness, even after I forgive that person, my gut thinks, “but he needs to feel some pain, too. He can’t get away with this and nothing bad happen to him. It’s his fault this bad thing happened to me or this painful thing happened to my family; he needs to have something bad happen to him, too. He needs to feel this, too.”

We know that justice will be served. We know that God’s children will all be vindicated. We know that evildoers will be punished. But that is not your job. Or mine. That’s not our job. Judging and taking revenge and seeking that kind of justice is the Lord’s job. And it’s his job alone. As followers of Christ Jesus, we do not ever seek to punish the people who hurt us. Ever.

God is the perfect judge. He knows all things, he sees all things, and he has all righteous power. He is a perfectly just God who will not allow evil to go unpunished. So we can trust him. If we try to exact any kind of revenge, we’re trespassing into territory our God has reserved only for himself. So we let him handle it.

Surrounding the above text from Romans 12, Paul quotes from the teachings of Jesus to make his point:

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (12:14).
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil” (12:17).
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (12:21).

We believe that God in Christ is ultimately going to make all things right. God is going to right all the wrongs and avenge all the evils. In the meantime, Christians respond to wrongdoing and to evil with kindness and love. This is one of the most distinctive things that sets Christianity apart from Islam and Buddhism and all the other world religions: we do not live tit-for-tat. Harming or killing our enemies is not an option for Christians. Our job is to love and forgive, to bless and to pray. Our job is to faithfully trust God. Trust God that he will judge and avenge.

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” ~1 Peter 2:21-23

Our Lord Jesus did not retaliate. He didn’t seek to punish or act to avenge the injustices he suffered. Look at Jesus. He refuses to lift a finger in his own defense. He rebukes his followers who try to defend him with a sword. He doesn’t call ten thousand angels to destroy his enemies. He prays for their forgiveness. The people who are killing him — Jesus prays for their forgiveness.

I know this is hard. I know this is counter-cultural, counter-natural, almost anti-American. But this kind of thinking and acting, this way of living, is not just for Jesus. Loving our enemies and being kind to people who do you harm and leaving all retribution to God is not some unattainable ideal or something only for super Christians or the spiritually elite. This very hard thing is required of all who confess Jesus as Lord. When Jesus says “teaching them to obey all I have commanded,” this is part of it.

There are people who say they don’t believe in the God of the Bible, the God who judges and punishes people, because they believe in a God of love. Now, what makes them think God is love? Can they look at the world today and see anything that proves God is love? Can they see anything in history, is there any evidence out there, any proof at all at that God is love? Where does that come from? Where do people get the idea that God is love?

The Bible. The Bible tells us over and over again that God Almighty is a God of deep and eternal love. And the same Bible also tells us that because of God’s deep and abiding love, he will judge and avenge and ultimately make everything in the world right.

Peace,

Allan

Light of Life

March 28, 2016 / / 0 Comments

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“In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not conquered it.. The true light that gives life to every person was coming into the world.”  ~John 1:4-9

Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus over and over refers to himself as the light, the true light of life.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ~John 8:12

“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” ~John 12:46

When Jesus was betrayed by his friends and then crucified on the cross, the gospel says it was dark. When Mary went to the tomb early on that first Easter Sunday morning, the Scripture is clear that it was dark. It’s also certain that Mary was not looking for a resurrected Jesus that morning; she was looking for a dead body. Maybe that’s why she didn’t recognize Jesus when she saw him — she wasn’t expecting it. But when he said her name, when she heard his familiar and powerful and loving voice, she knew it was Jesus her Lord, she knew he was alive, and she knew it wasn’t dark anymore.

2 Timothy says Christ Jesus has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light. 1 Peter tells us Jesus has brought all of us out of darkness and into his wonderful light.

I don’t know what kind of darkness maybe you’re living in. Maybe you feel trapped by sin or by some really bad decisions that you’re still paying for years later. Maybe there’s strife in your marriage or in your family. Maybe you’ve been diagnosed with something and your future’s unclear. Maybe you’ve just got this dark cloud hanging over you that follows you everywhere you go and you can’t really describe it or explain it, but it’s just there. It’s just dark.

“You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light… Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!” ~ Ephesians 5:8, 14

Listen, that darkness is real. I don’t want any of us to pretend that it’s not. You and I are broken. We are fallen. We are sinners. And this world we live in is broken and sinful. There is starvation and disease and violence and injustice all around us. Every day. We can’t get away from it. And we are not called to deny it or ignore it. The darkness is real. The darkness in your life is real. Your sin is real. Your desperation is real. Your sickness, your depression, your lack of faith is real.

It’s OK to feel it. It’s OK to be sad. It’s OK to feel hurt and disappointed. It’s OK to get angry. As a Christian, though, it is not OK to live without hope. It’s not OK to live without courage and confidence. It’s not OK to live like the darkness has any power. Jesus is risen, he is alive, and the darkness, whatever it is, is no match for the light of life.

“The truth is seen in Christ Jesus and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” ~1 John 2:8

Peace,

Allan

Central has 750 Ministers

September 29, 2014 / / 0 Comments

We swore in almost 750 men, women, and children yesterday as ministers at the Central Church of Christ. Borrowing from the Gospel accounts of the feeding of the multitudes in which the disciples asked Jesus for a way to solve the problem and Jesus responded by telling his followers, “You give them something to eat,” we declared that everybody in our Lord’s Kingdom is a Christian minister. We are all priests, saved and sanctified by God to serve as powerful mediators between him and humanity.

As priests, we reflect the holiness of God. We are holy because God is holy. And that holiness will not be compromised or conditioned. We are set apart. We are ordained by God for his purposes and to his eternal praise.

As priests, we offer spiritual sacrifices to God. We give our bodies to God. We give our money to God. We submit our very lives to God so that everything we do and say and think is offered to him.

We intercede like priests. We grab our brothers and sisters and we take them to God in prayer. We bring them into God’s presence and intercede for their healing and forgiveness and blessings and peace.

And, as priests, we represent God before others. We bless people. We take what God has given us and we, in turn, give it to others. We graciously share his love and mercy, his comfort and forgiveness, to everyone we meet with his power and authority as his holy priests.

A lot of us, though, are paralyzed. We’re stuck. We see things that need to be done, but we wait on somebody else to do them. We know something’s wrong, but we count on somebody else to fix it. We hear that somebody’s hurting, but we wonder if it’s any of our business. We’re especially susceptible to this in a big church. We recognize a hole that needs to be plugged or a problem that needs to be solved or a brother who needs a visit, and we don’t do anything. And then we wonder why it didn’t get done.

We are all powerful priests in God’s sight. Nobody in God’s Church has more power or authority or more permission than anyone else. We’re all the same. We have different gifts, certainly. But we’re all called to serve. Nobody’s exempt. We’re all authorized to pray and teach. We’re all authorized to comfort and minister, to encourage and bless. We all have the same permission.

To drive the point home, we passed out 750 little sheriff’s badge stickers at the conclusion of our lesson, pinned them on one another, and we swore everybody in as ministers in God’s Church. We all stood and raised our right hands and recited these vows together out loud:

“I do solemnly swear as a faithful member of God’s royal priesthood to act like a priest. I promise to henceforth and forever more regard myself as a minister in God’s Church. I promise to honor and respect and love and cherish my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I promise to encourage and not tear down, to bless and not curse, to submit and to serve in compassion and kindness until Christ Jesus returns. As a minister and a priest in God’s Kingdom, this is my pledge as surely as the Lord shall live. Amen.”

With those gold stars pinned to our chests, we all looked like we belonged in a saloon scene in a corny old western movie. But when the words began coming out of our mouths, and the weight of our promises began to take hold, the worship center was transformed into a sacred place where we acknowledged the wisdom and power of our God who would dare to partner with us in his work of redeeming the world.

Peace,

Allan

 

Prayer and Peace: Part 2

September 4, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 4:6-7

I suggested yesterday that Paul is telling the Christians in Philippi that giving everything to God in prayer will result in an experience of divine peace ONLY in the context of a prayerful life lived according to the things Paul had already written in the letter up to this point. Prayer is not a technology or a technique in which we try to get God to give us what we want. It’s not a matter of saying the right words or setting the proper mood or how many times you pray or how many people you get to pray with you or for you. Prayer, to Paul, is an attitude. It’s a manner of living. It’s a way of looking at God and the world that’s based on a real relationship with Christ Jesus.

So, yes, prayer results in peace, assuming you are still shocked by your salvation (yesterday) and confident of God’s care (today).

At the very beginning of the letter, Paul says he is confident that this good thing God has started in you, he will finish. He will see it through (1:6). God is working in you, he says, he’s working through you to make sure it happens (2:13). Paul’s in chains, but that’s causing more and more people to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly (1:14). Whatever’s happening to me, Paul writes, will turn out in the end to be for my deliverance (1:19). I am confident, Paul asserts, that I myself will be able to see you soon (2:24).

This isn’t a superficial obliviousness that ignores reality. Paul’s not whistling past the graveyard. He really does trust in the love of God that saves him and the love of God that is taking care of him and protecting him. All of Paul’s circumstances are in God’s hands. God is fully sovereign and totally in control of everything that’s happening to Paul. And Paul’s great with that because he knows that God loves him.

Of course, Paul got this from the example of Jesus.

Peter had the same idea. “When they hurled their insults at Christ Jesus, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to God” (1 Peter 2:23).

Peter’s got it. And Paul’s got it. And they both got it from Jesus.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7) sounds a lot like “Do not be anxious about anything… present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6).

I would encourage you today to give to God in prayer that one thing that’s eating you up. It’s keeping you awake at night and distracting you during the day and totally stressing you out all the time. It’s that thing that’s just hanging over you. Give it to God in prayer right now. Don’t ask God to fix it. Don’t ask him to make it better or solve it or make it go away. Just give it to God and tell him you trust him. Tell him you know he’s in control and you’re good with that. Because you’re confident that he loves you and that he cares for you.

Peace,

Allan

To This You Were Called

April 17, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Maundy Thursday. Yeah, I wasn’t overly certain of what it meant until I was asked by Howard Griffin, my neighbor and friend and senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church here in Amarillo, to preach their traditional Maundy Thursday service this evening. The communion gathering remembers that last dinner Jesus had with his disciples the night he was betrayed. The traditional text is John 13, specifically Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. And I’m so honored and blessed to be bringing the message this evening.

Part of the reason Howard asked me to do this, he says, is because we Church of Christ folks have a pretty good handle on communion. I like to think that we do. And that’s another reason I’m so excited about tonight.

It’s a communion service. It reminds us that Christ’s table is an open table, that all are invited to participate together in his presence, that we are all one people together in his death, burial, and resurrection. There are no divisions at the table of our Lord. When we gather around the table there are no barriers to fellowship, no differences in our status or standing with one another or with our Savior. We are all accepted, all justified and sanctified, all saved by the same faith in the same risen and coming Lord. And we eat together and share the meal together as a universal symbol and reminder of that blessed unity.

So, naturally, this became a “4 Amarillo” event.

We’re expecting a full house at First Pres tonight. Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians and a bunch of CofC’ers sharing the Lord’s meal together, lifting praise to our Father together, praying together, and committing to serving one another and considering the needs of each other more important than our own.

I’ve always known that this is the way it’s going to be in heaven. What a glorious blessing, an unexpected gift, to experience this sliver of eternity in downtown Amarillo tonight.

Peace,

Allan

Gifted and Going

July 7, 2013 / / 1 Comment

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” ~1 Peter 4:10

Once again, we’ve kicked off our summer Wednesday nights at Central by cancelling all our Bible classes. No, not to stay home and do nothing. Not as some reluctant surrender to the culture. And not because, hey, it’s summer and everybody’s schedules are nuts anyway. This summer, we’re cancelling our Bible classes on Wednesday nights so we can better practice as a church what we preach: that every single person who confesses Jesus as Lord is gifted by God’s Holy Spirit in different ways; that all the gifts are intended to serve other people with God’s love and grace; and that the exercise of those gifts will grow us more into the image of the Christ.

Throughout the month of July, our church family is participating in 27 different service projects throughout our city, mainly concentrating on the Plemons neighborhood around our church building. Most of the projects are just going to take about two hours each, most of them are fairly simple, and most of them require skills and abilities we don’t normally classify as spiritual gifts. We’re calling it “Gifted 2 Go.”

We’re painting benches and rails at Bivins Elementary, sharpening lawnmower blades and changing oil in cars, flying kites and building birdhouses, singing at hospitals and nursing homes, stuffing pillows, and doing small home repairs. Our aim is that we realize our very different and various talents come from God and that when we use them to bless others in his name, those are indeed spiritual gifts. We want to redefine the term “spiritual gift” so that the things we’re good at, the things we really enjoy doing, those are “spiritual gifts” when we give them to God to be used for his purposes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past Wednesday I led a group of about twenty-five — young and old, men and women, dressed in grubbies and armed with paint brushes and rags — to Bivins Elementary, just down the street from our church building. There we met the principal, Tim White, and we painted the benches and picnic tables around the school, the rails around all the ramps and stairs, some playground equipment, and a big wooden shed behind the gym. Kevin took a group of about forty-five — again, young and old alike — and they sang their hearts out at the Continental Assisted Living Center and Westgate Mall. Todd and Mary’s group put together a huge playscape thing at the Southlawn Assembly of God where we partner together on a weekly pantry ministry. Around sixty others sewed and stuffed 500 pillows for hospital and hospice patients. Twenty others cleared a vacant lot for Another Chance House. And another twenty or so knocked nearly 600 doors in the Plemons area, getting to know our neighbors and inviting them to the events and services to come in the following weeks.

My prayer is that the people of Amarillo will experience the love and grace of Christ Jesus in our efforts. I also pray that we will all realize that these very things we enjoy so much, the things we’re so good at individually, serve a much greater purpose than what we’ve always figured. And we don’t have to wait for our ministers or church staff to come up with programs to exercise those gifts. It should be a lifestyle. My small group should be figuring out ways to serve Amarillo in the name of Jesus on a regular basis, not just during the summer. My family should be blessing my neighborhood monthly, weekly, daily. My Bible class can be doing similar projects all the time. If our church finishes this summer series, celebrates with a slide show, and then sits around waiting for next summer’s special program, we haven’t apprehended the true meaning and purpose of “Gifted 2 Go!”

I believe “Gifted 2 Go!” is going to bless Amarillo in ways that we can’t yet begin to imagine. Our neighbors are going to experience God’s love and mercy through us. And I think we’re all going to be challenged to growth, spiritual growth in our righteous relationships with one another and with our Christ.

Peace,

Allan

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