Category: Church (Page 51 of 61)

What Does God Want To Do?

April 30, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

I know what you want to do at your church. Your shepherds know what they want to do. Your preacher also has some great ideas. The leaders at your church attend seminars and retreats, they plan and they pray, they know what their vision is.

Probably.

But what does God want to do with your church? What do you think God sees at your church for the next 20, 30, or even 50 years? What’s his vision? When God “calls things that are not as though they are,” what is he seeing for your congregation?

Well…what would be really huge? What would seem nearly impossible?

How about a Body of Believers that really reflects the message of the Gospel? A church that brings together and unites all colors, all social classes, all economic groups, all ethnic peoples in one congregation? Impossible?

How about a church that has a 24-hour presence of people praying and ministering at your local hospital? How about a church that operates a 24-hour soup kitchen or homeless shelter? How about a church that establishes congregations at apartment complexes? More than we can ask or imagine?

How about a church that holds annual revivals and baptizes hundreds? How about a church that offers free oil changes in the parking lot every month? How about a church that buys TV time or sponsors a community-wide dodgeball tournament to raise money for an at-risk school or sends Christian missionaries to every nation on the planet?

Is that too big? It it too much? Is it outside the box?

Good! Because those are exactly the kinds of areas where our God really likes to operate!

We can’t out-think our God. We can’t over-shoot him. We can’t out-imagine, out-dream, or out-vision our mighty and sovereign Lord.

Just try.

Peace,

Allan

Salvation Issues

April 29, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

OK, one more thing from the preface to C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity.

You know how we love to classify things as “salvation issues?” Don’t act like you don’t. I know you do. We call things that we believe are hugely important, non-debatable matters “salvation issues.” The implication is that if you mess with these things, if you don’t follow these rules, if you omit any of these teachings or traditions, you will not be granted salvation from God. On the flip side, the things we deem less important, the things we consider to be peripheral matters, we call “disputable” or “opinions.”

The problem occurs — and we’ve all been there — when two Christian disciples disagree about what’s a “salvation issue” and what’s not.

Here’s Lewis:

One of the things Christians are disagreed about is the importance of their disagreements. When two Christians of different denominations start arguing, it is usually not long before one asks whether such-and-such a point ‘really matters’ and the other replies, ‘Matter? Why, it’s absolutely essential.’

(I would have said “When two Christians start arguing…” and left out “of different denominations.” I mean, we have these kinds of discussions within our own faith traditions all the time.)

Lewis goes on to explain why he left specific “church issues” out of his book. Like Hicks explains at the end of A Gathered People, Lewis believes a discussion of church issues is secondary to the basic point. Directing attention to controversial questions tends to polarize instead of pointing in the direction of fellowship and unity.

So, let me tackle it. I’m not writing a book or anything.

I believe Scripture teaches us that EVERYTHING is a salvation issue.

Everything matters. Everything’s important. Everything’s critical. Everything we do and say and teach and practice. Every way we act and worship and work and serve. Everywhere we go, everyone we go with, every when we go. It’s all a salvation issue. Everything.

See, when we start labeling things as salvation issues, we always bring up baptism, proper communion observance, and other corporate worship practices about which we feel very strongly. Very strongly. We’ll debate and argue, cuss and discuss, “die on this hill” and as-surely-as-the-Lord-lives some of these things ’til the cows come home. But in all of our red-faced, hard-nosed, do-or-die demonstrations, nobody ever brings up the way we treat the service representative behind the counter at the post office. Nobody ever wants to talk about feeding the poor. Nobody ever puts defending the alien or encouraging one another in the same list as all these “salvation issues.”

Why? You ever thought about that?

What does it matter if you’re baptized by complete immersion in a holy hot tub in a Church of Christ sanctuary “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” if you treat service people in your neighborhood with contempt. What does it matter if you worship God by singing holy hymns, accompanied only by a pitch-pipe to get you going, if you completely ignore the homeless guy under the bridge at 183 and Precinct Line? What does it matter if you partake of the Lord’s Supper each Lord’s Day in the Lord’s prescribed manner if you forward racist jokes by email to everybody in your office?

Aren’t these the “weightier matters?”

Why is it that Jesus can call these kinds of things “salvation issues” but we don’t?

They are all salvation issues. There is no ascending or descending scale of importance when it comes to living like Christ in newness of eternal life. It’s all or nothing. Heart, soul, mind, and body.

But how do we tell who’s a Christian and who’s not? How do we know with whom to fellowship? How do we know who’s in our group and does things our way and those who don’t. How do we know who’s in the Church?

“If by ‘the Church’ you mean the mystical Church (which is partly in Heaven), then of course, no man can identify her. But if you mean the visible Church, then we all know her. She is a ‘sensibly known company’ of all those throughout the world who profess one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.”

Mere Christianity.

Peace,

Allan

Mere Christianity

April 28, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Ever since I became a Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbours was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times…that there is one God and that Jesus Christ is His only Son.” ~ C. S. Lewis, from the preface to Mere Christianity, 1952.

Our Tuesday morning men’s Bible study group today began what promises to be a rich discussion of C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. Rich and contemporary and provocative and difficult. Based on today’s session which covered only the book’s preface, our study will be all those things.

Today, I want to comment on something in the preface that, as disciples of our Savior, we should carefully consider. Of course, you can’t really get the full context of Lewis’ thoughts without reading the book yourself. But check this out:

Lewis writes that the questions which divide Christians from one another — and I’d say even divide Christians and congregations within the same faith tradition — are usually points of high theology or even ecclesiastical history. These points have very little, if anything, to do with the pure Gospel of Jesus. Lewis writes, “I think we must admit that the discussion of these disputed points has no tendency at all to bring an outsider into the Christian fold.” Who can argue?

My thought here is that, while our petty disagreements and arguments actually turn people off and repel them from our Lord’s Church — Jesus said it would — don’t they also stifle our own evangelistic efforts? When we draw lines of fellowship and put lids on boxes and erect other boundaries that are nowhere to be found in Holy Scripture, it keeps us from actively seeking and saving the lost. Because we can’t keep it all straight. We’ve complicated things to the point that only the perfectly schooled in our tradition or heritage can confidently teach others.

What if somebody I’m talking to about Jesus asks me a question about worship? Well, we’ve drawn so many lines and made up so many rules about what constitutes worship and what doesn’t, what is a worship service and what isn’t, depending on what room we’re in and what time of day, where the prayers fall and at what point we allow the LTC chorus to perform, we can’t confidently answer the questions. We’re afraid of contradicting ourselves.

How do I teach Jesus to a person who asks me about women’s roles in the Church? What about church music? How about communion practices? Bible versions and translations? Doctrine versus culture? Inference versus example? Innovation versus aid? How do I explain that we do this or that because of Scripture but we also do this or that despite Scripture? We’re afraid we don’t understand all the lines and the logic behind them.

What if somebody asks me why we claim we’re not a denomination but everything about the way we speak and act and teach, regarding one another and those outside our faith stream, looks and sounds denominational? I don’t know. That’s a good question.

The farther away we move from “Mere Christianity,” the harder it is to seek and save the lost. The harder it is to talk to my unbelieving neighbor. I don’t want to mess it up. I don’t want to give the wrong answers. So I don’t even try.

Mere Christianity. Unity among all disciples of the Christ. Is it impossible? Should we even make the effort?

What Lewis writes is at the very heart of our Restoration roots in Churches of Christ. We’re coming up on the 200 year anniversary of Thomas Campbell‘s Declaration and Address in which he states, “Division among Christians is a horrid evil filled with many devils. All who are enabled through grace to make a profession of faith in Christ should consider each other the precious saints of God, and should love each other as children of the same family and Father.”

That founding document of our faith tradition claims that it’s heresy to pray for “that happy event, where there shall be but one fold, as there is but one Chief Shepherd” and not strive to obtain it.

Ending division among Christians was, at one time, the chief aim of our movement. It should be still. Mere Christianity.

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I don’t know Stephen McGee, the Aggies QB who just got drafted in the 4th round by the Cowboys. But I’m happy for him. Not because of Stephen. I’ve never met the guy. But because of his dad, Rodney. Rodney McGee was the head varsity basketball coach in Burnet during the seven years I served as the News & Sports Director at KHLB in Marble Falls. He had some great teams during those years, taking the Bulldogs all the way to the regional tournament down in Kingsville in ’96. Coach McGee also served on the football staff and helped lead the team to the 3A State Championship game in ’91. That year, the Bulldogs overcame Vernon, Marble Falls, and Southlake Carroll in back-to-back-to-back dramatic come-from-behind-ties (before the days of OT in Texas high school football) to finally come up one miracle short in a 7-0 title game loss to Groesbeck in the Astrodome.

And I love Coach McGee. He was the Fellowship of Christian Athletes coordinator for the Burnet School District. The kids always knew there was a Wednesday night devotional at Coach McGee’s house. And we all knew he was dedicated to our King. He was forever positive, optimistic about everything. Laid back. Always smiling (nearly always). Fair to a fault. Patient with everyone. Forgiving and kind.

I don’t know Stephen. I’m a little disappointed in his statements this past weekend guaranteeing he would have been a first-round pick if he hadn’t been forced to run Franchione’s option offense in College Station. I’m chalking it up to what has to be a mountain of frustration he’s been running his head against with the coaching changes and the injuries during his college career. And he’s young.

I don’t know Stephen. But if he’s ANYTHING like his dad, he’s a guy you can feel good rooting for.

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Go Mavs. Why not?

Allan

Regarding a Poor Post

April 22, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

I received two emails and one phone call yesterday afternoon from great friends who know me very well, asking me if everything was OK. They were concerned about my well-being after reading yesterday’s post, “Slugging It Out With The Preacher.” I was initially surprised. It was a passage from Paul and two quotes from great theologians on the great role of the preacher within God’s Church. I was trying to convey, to other preachers maybe, as an encouragement, the great honor it is to be a preacher of God’s Holy Word. The great responsibility. The great burden. The high calling.

It was a poor post. I should have written some other comments around it, setting it up or explaining it or something. But the three quotes, I thought, stand alone as eloquent reminders of the great privilege of preaching.

To answer the question, I’m fine. In fact, the past two months in my ministry here at Legacy — all of March and April — have been more than wonderful. God has shown me not just little glimpses, but huge blaring, glaring, high-definition proofs of his working with and among and in his people here. I’m greatly encouraged by what I see. More baptisms. More families jumping in to join us. More sacrifice. More service. More giving. More love. More joy. More openness to study. More conversation between generations. More trust. More willingness to grow. More answered prayer. More understanding.

Legacy seems to be alive with the love of our God, the grace of his Son, and the power of his Spirit.

Terry Rush, the king of encouragers, the Barnabas of blogs, says there are two kinds of churches: congregations that reach in and congregations that reach out. Quoting from his blog post, Churches: Sharp or Dull, from last week:

A church is sharp when it reaches out. It is dull when it focuses inwardly. Churches possessing a mission to keep everyone in the herd corrected become top-heavy with pseudo-truth. Such a church falls into the same trap as the religious leaders of Jesus’ day when he wouldn’t do church stuff the way they saw it.

What was it he did so glaringly errant in their sight? He disregarded religious law for the benefit of healing non-religious people. He loved the injured more than he feared the threats of the church.

I see a big difference in churches when one of the other of dispositions is present: reaching in or reaching out. One is sharp. One is dull. One is alive. One is dead. One is praising. The other is complaining. One is daring. The other cowers in fear. One is saved. One is afraid it isn’t. One is grateful for grace. The other is aggravated at those grateful for grace.

Legacy is celebrating its 50th anniversary this Sunday. Seems like a great time for reflection. What kind of a church are we? I see us, by the grace of our God, moving toward him in the right direction. Being much more concerned about the lost than the saved. Considering others more important than ourselves. Less of self and more of Thee.

Am I OK? Oh, yeah!

Thanks for asking.

Peace,

Allan

Living the Gospel In Corporate Worship

April 15, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

In speaking against the evils of “worship wars” within God’s Church, John Mark Hicks, Johnny Melton, and Bobby Valentine say arguments and divisions over corporate worship practices are a sign of immaturity. Their book, A Gathered People: Revisioning the Assembly as Transforming Encounter, argues that our Sunday morning assemblies are fundamentally sacramental. They are encounters between God and his people that act to form and transform us more into the image of his Son.

Arguing over the many various styles and practices, they say, denies that basic premise:

We must learn to not only tolerate this diversity but to appreciate it and even learn from it. Diverse worship styles are one of the ways the body of Christ bears witness to the one gospel among diverse cultures and subcultures. As long as we are regulated by the gospel, we should value diversity as it reaches people beyond the limits of our own settings. But this demands maturity. The gospel calls us to put the interests of others above our own. As we walk worthy of the gospel, this calls us to listen to each other and prioritize others’ — including unbelievers. This demands mature discipleship.

The first level of maturation is tolerance. Can we tolerate different tastes and styles even when we do not like them?

A second level of maturation is mutual consideration. Can we not vary our styles out of respect for what touches the heart of another even if it does not touch ours?

The third level is appreciation. Can we appreciate what a particular style does for one even though it is not as meaningful to us?

The fourth level is appropriation. Can we practice what is uncomfortable for us for the sake of the other? The gospel demands that we do because Jesus himself endured great discomfort — to put it mildly — for our sakes. As disciples of Jesus, we must follow him into that kind of discomfort, even suffering. To say that we must “suffer through” a particular song for the sake of another trivializes the cross of Christ but to deny that song to others simply on the basis of our own comfort and tradition is to reject the cross of Christ for narcissism.

I long for the day when all of us — ALL OF US — mature to the point of worshiping together in Christ-like unity and mutual encouragement. What if the teenagers on the third row begin singing How Great Thou Art with great energy and gusto? Not because they love the song. Not because it particularly speaks to them at all. They may actually really dislike the song. But they sing it at the tops of their voices because they look across the worship center and see how that song really impacts an older man. They enjoy singing it because they recognize that the middle-aged woman behind them sang this at her dad’s funeral. They delight in encouraging the others. They understand that their singing is, first, their offering to God, and, second, their offering to their brothers and sisters.

What if the older people stood and sang and clapped to Days of Elijah? Not because they enjoy the song. Not because they think the lyrics are especially moving. They may personally dislike standing and clapping. They may have a list of 40 things wrong with the song. But they see very clearly how that song speaks to the young people. They observe the joy it brings to others around them. They understand this is the song that some of these teenagers rock out to on the way to school in the mornings. So they sing loudly and robustly. To bless God and to bless their younger brothers and sisters.

What if?

What if we all began to grow in the Spirit to the point of understanding that everything we do in our corporate assemblies is an offering to God? Our songs are our offerings to our Father. Your grumbling or non-participation is a clear message to our God and to your brothers and sisters around you that you’re putting yourself first. That’s the only way to say it, right? Is there another way to view it?

Our prayers, our readings from Scripture, our time at the table, are all offerings. These are the things we bring and offer to God. Your brakes-off, full-steam-ahead, all-in participation is a way of acting like Christ. And it’s a sign of your spiritual maturity.

So, sing!

Peace,

Allan

Until I Come Back

April 3, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.” ~Luke 19:13

So the King gives his servants money and says, “Use these resources until I come back.” Put this money to good use. Make something out of it. The servants were to carry on the King’s business while he was gone. Continue doing what he himself would be doing if he were there. Working on his behalf. Taking initiative. Using the knowledge and experience they had acquired in their years of being associated with him as his servants to promote his interests. Here are the resources. Now take care of my business while I’m gone.

First thing the King does when he comes back is to call his servants in and ask them how it went. The first two had obviously been hard at work. They’d turned a pretty good profit using the King’s gifts. And they were praised and rewarded. (Luke 19:15-19)

The third guy’s brought into accounting and he says, “I didn’t do anything. I sat on it. I was afraid of you. I know you have high standards. I know you hate sloppiness. So I didn’t do anything.”

And then seven verses of harsh judgment from the King. “You wicked servant!”

Jesus’ last parable before he enters Jerusalem to face his death is a sobering one: non-participation is not a casual matter. However timid or meek it is, non-participation is disobedience. It’s sin.

This story is hard. It’s unrelenting. Doing nothing is not an option in the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom of God there are no non-participants. Jesus spends more words and time and space on the judgment delivered to this play-it-safe, do-nothing, overly-cautious, non-participating, non-servant than he does the other nine. Even the ones who signed the petition and sent the delegation saying they didn’t want this King, they only get one verse.

Here’s the deal. And it’s clear: a timid refusal to obey makes us liable to the same judgment as defiant and rebellious disobedience. It’s the same thing.

The story is a call to faithfulness to the King and his business. We’re all accountable to Jesus. Those who claim to follow him are responsible for a ministry of sacrifice and service in seeking and saving the lost. Those who reject him are responsible for not recognizing who he is and not accepting his invitation. This 3rd servant represents the dangers we face as members of the Lord’s Church. He’s associated with the King. He’s a member of the community. He lives with the King, he wears the King’s name, he eats at the King’s table, but he doesn’t trust the King. He’s never walked through that door of faith that responds to grace. So he winds up on the outside with nothing.

Obediently following Jesus, being proactive and taking risks and spending ourselves and our God-given resources in this already-inaugurated Kingdom of God is serious business. The gifts we have from God are not to be guarded or protected or kept safe. They are to be used extravagantly for the King’s business until he comes back.

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In the first year of Legacy Small Groups Church we’ve experienced our mighty God at work building faith, encouraging Christian ministry and service, and fostering deeper friendships and relationships in our church family. And I believe our Father wants us to do even more. I believe he’s using Small Groups to transform our entire church family into the image of Christ Jesus.

The Apostle Paul exhorted the Christians in Philippi to practice the same attitude “as that of Christ Jesus” by looking not only to our own interests, “but also to the interests of others.” A union with Christ and fellowship with his Holy Spirit is proved when disciples “consider others better than yourselves.”

I’m convinced that the next big steps in our spiritual growth at the Family of God at Legacy will best be taken by everyone of us — young and old, singles and families, new members and long-time members — meeting weekly in our Small Groups to apply the Word, connect as a family, and evangelize our community.

Our groups start meeting again this Sunday night. For twelve months we’ll be opening up our homes and our lives to each other in the name of our King. Over 750 of us sharing meals and prayers and Christian love and service in 40 homes all over Northeast Tarrant County. Being church, not doing church. Increased unity and and ministry and worship and healing and fellowship and forgiveness. It’s going to that next level as a member of the Kingdom. And taking others with you.

This Sunday night. Jump in.

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At 7:00 tomorrow morning, the Four Horsemen will be holed up together in some little sideroom at the EastRidge Church of Christ in Rockwall to pray for an hour. My great friends, Dan Miller and Kevin Henrichson, half of the Horsemen, have organized a 24 Hours of Prayer that started at 8:00 this morning. Men at EastRidge are right now in fervent prayer, lifting up nearly a thousand different thanksgivings and requests that have been submitted by that church family.

Jason Reeves and I, the other half, will be the tag-team speakers at the prayer breakfast that wraps up the event tomorrow morning. I’m honored to be a part of it. Our mighty God is at work anytime men are gathered to pray for extended periods of time. And I love being right in the big middle of it. You pray with a group of three or four men for an hour and it’s like you’ve been in a fox hole with them. You’re bonded to them for eternity. You see their hearts and their spirits as they open up to their Lord. You feel their joys and their pains as they lay bare their souls before God. You learn more about a brother by praying with him than you could ever learn at a two-hour lunch or even a fishing or hunting weekend.

Praying together is huge. Jason and Dan and Kevin and I figured that out a long time ago. The men at EastRidge are learning it right now. And I’m really looking forward to sharing some of that time with them tomorrow morning.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Church (Page 51 of 61)

What Does God Want To Do?

Salvation Issues

Mere Christianity

Regarding a Poor Post

Living the Gospel In Corporate Worship

Until I Come Back

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