Category: Confession (Page 5 of 5)

Let's Get Specific Now

October 22, 2009 / Allan / 3 Comments

Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comments the past couple of days regarding this discussion of a church’s vision — or the vision a church may project — and its relation to how the members of that church act on a day-to-day basis. If Stanley Hauerwas is right in that the moral life is as much a matter of vision as a matter of doing; if one acts in the world according to how one sees the world; if our actions are informed and shaped by our attitudes and outlooks; then what can the church do about tweaking — or in some cases, maybe, completely overhauling — the vision?

What specifically can the Church, or a local congregation, do to help Christians see their faith and their citizenship in the Kingdom as a completely different world, a totally different time and space, that determines how we act in this world, in this time and space? Our actions need to be determined beforehand by what God has done for us, what he’s doing for us currently, and has promised to do for us tomorrow. It all has to be connected.

What can the Church do?

I’ll start this part of the discussion by suggesting a return to the spiritual disciplines. To me, it seems like the logical first step.

Corporate fasting would remind us that our devotion to God informs not only where we eat, but what we eat, and when. I’m in control of my growling appetites, not the world and not the culture and not my co-workers or neighbors. Fasting sharpens our spiritual focus. And it teaches us that we don’t have to conform to what’s happening around us. Nobody’s making us do anything.

Daily reading of the Scriptures fills our hearts and minds with faith language, faith images, and faith ideas. It’s a constant reminder that we live according to the big picture of what God is doing for us through Christ and that our work and play and activities of living on this temporary planet are small in comparison. It reminds us that Christ is Lord, not Caeser; that we’re citizens of heaven, not the Empire. It will shape our vision to pay more attention to heavenly things than earthly things.

Constant prayer keeps us in continual communication with the Father, which also fosters these same ways of looking at things.

I would recommend the church teaching the spiritual disciplines from the pulpit and in Bible classes. Frank discussions and direction regarding prayer and fasting, study and service, and confession and submission will energize a group of Christians. The reality that all of life is informed by our status as children of Almighty God will quickly set in. I would suggest the church develop curiculum for use in the home; fasting with a small group, praying with the family, studying with the kids, meditating with the spouse. Maybe just ten or fifteen minutes a day within each family, with small group discussions about the previous week on Sunday nights, is all it would take. A church family then sees itself as doing things the rest of the world doesn’t do. They experience being separate from the world and bound to each other in Jesus. And they’re much more able, even more willing, to let go of the society which has such a hold on us and embrace the eternal realities of God in Christ.

What else?

Peace,

Allan

You Are God and I Am Not

July 8, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Peter looks at the miraculous catch of fish and falls down at Jesus’ feet and says, “Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man!”

Peter finds himself in the presence of the holy Almighty God and he’s astonished. He and his companions are seized with amazement as they recognize clearly their place next to the Creator of the universe. Because of his sin, Peter doesn’t deserve the blessings of Christ. Because of his unworthiness, Peter doesn’t belong in the same boat with Jesus.

You see, the closer you get to God the more clear your own sinfulness becomes. Your own unworthiness before the Lord comes into sharp focus.

The same light that knocks the apostle Paul down the ground on the way to Damascus. The same Lord who caused Job to say, “I despise myself.” The same God who caused Isaiah to exclaim, “Woe to me, I am ruined!” The same Almighty who prompted Abraham to declare, “I am nothing but dust and ashes!” The same Son of Man who caused John to fall at his feet as though he were dead. Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel, calls us to acknowledge our own sinfulness and our own unworthiness.

And until we do, I don’t think we get it.

Until we see ourselves as sinners in the presence of a holy and righteous God, I think we probably cheapen or devalue his amazing grace. Our tendency is to think, “Yes, of course God loves me; that’s his job!”

No, ma’am, that’s not his job. It is an unimaginable, unexpected, unfathomable, unnecessary wonder of the universe! It’s mind-blowing and earth-altering and history-changing. And, to the eternal praise of God, it’s not impossible! God has found a way — amazing as it is — to satisfy both his holiness and his love.

My Father reminds me all the time that he is God and I most certainly am not. And that continually fills me with a deep sense of gratitude. And awe.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!”

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There are 67 days left until the Dallas Cowboys open up their 50th football season. And the Red Ribbon Review is counting down the days with a look at the second-best players in Cowboys history according to jersey number. #67 turns up some very interesting characters and stories.

Pat Toomay wore the number 67 in Dallas. A backup defensive end from Vandy, Toomay barely tolerated Tom Landry and the Flex Defense for five seasons before bouncing from Tampa Bay to Oakland then to retirement as an acclaimed author. Toomay has written two novels about football classified as non-fiction. The Crunch got him in trouble with the Cowboys. On Any Given Sunday got him a movie deal.

Everett McIver was also a #67. He’s the guy who was unfortunate enough to be in the chair and in the middle of a haircut at Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls when Michael Irvin decided it was his turn. During the ensuing argument, Irvin stabbed McIver in the neck with a pair of scissors, coming within an inch or so of killing him. There were reports in the Dallas Morning News later that summer that Jerry Wayne had brokered a deal for Irvin to pay McIver a six-figure sum to keep quiet. All parties denied it. Charges were never filed.

As for on the field football stuff, though, the second-best Dallas Cowboy to ever wear #67 is offensive lineman Pat Donovan. Donovan was part of that Dirty Dozen draft class of 1975 that helped lead the Cowboys to Super Bowl X. He took over for the retiring Ralph Neely at left tackle and played nine years in Dallas, never missing a game. Donovan played in 20 playoff games for the Cowboys, including six NFC Championship Games and three Super Bowls, earning a title ring in Super Bowl XII against Denver. He made the Pro Bowl in four straight seasons from ’79-’82, one of only four tackles in team history to make at least that many trips to Hawaii. Following the ’83 season, Donovan required surgery on both shoulders and decided to retire. Donovan was certainly not as colorful as Toomay or John Gesek, another Cowboys #67, but he is clearly the second-best #67 in team history.

Peace,

Allan

No Fun At All

June 10, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Our Tuesday morning men’s Bible study here at Legacy is going quickly through C. S. Lewis’ classic Christian apologetic, Mere Christianity. I was captured all over again this week by Lewis’ brief, but mighty, description of repentance:

“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor — that is the only way out of the ‘hole.’ This process of surrender — this movement full speed astern — is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing a part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death.”

In our zeal to formulate salvation, to reduce God’s eternal plan for his creation down to an orderly handful of requirements, we’ve done the world a disservice and cheapened God’s grace.

By claiming for decades and generations that one has to repent first, confess next, and then be baptized in order to be saved has implied that these are all one-time steps to salvation. The truth is, we must repent every single day. Every day. Every morning when I wake up, as I’m turning off the alarm and getting ready to start another day in God’s Kingdom, I have to intentionally turn my life around. This world and its culture and its history, my human-ness and my nature and my surroundings, all have me going in the wrong direction. Every morning when I wake up, my tendency, because of my world, is to go in a way that is opposed to the will of my God for my life. I have to determine every morning that today I will live for Christ. Today I will not do such and such. Today I pledge to certainly do this and that. Today I repent from what my own instincts and impulses are pushing me to do, I turn away from what my nature says is in my best interest, I reject what my will wants. I surrender. I give up. None of self and all of Thee.

Repentance is an on-going process. So is Christian confession. It’s realizing, more every day, that Jesus is Lord of every part of my life. There’s not a time or a place that Christ does not sovereignly rule. Jesus is Lord in my driving habits, in my conversations, and in my work and play. Jesus is Lord over this blog, over every website I visit, over every email I write. He is Lord over every interaction I have with my wife, my children, my church family, my neighbors, my enemies. He is Lord when I pray. And he is Lord when I watch TV. I confess that every day. And I repent.

Today I return to my Lord and Master. Today I submit to his will. Today I promise to live for him and others, not for myself. Today I vow to act and to speak and to think in ways that bring my God glory.

Peace,

Allan

The King Is Coming

March 24, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

In 2 Samuel 19, the king is coming back to Jerusalem to re-establish his sovereign rule over God’s people. He had voluntarily left his throne in order to save his people. He had been mocked and ridiculed, cursed and humiliated on his way out of town. But now he’s coming back. And he’s coming back to set things right.

And Ziba and Shemei are scared.

They’ve spent their lives cursing the king, using the king’s blessings to fatten their own purses, taking advantage of the king’s kindness, deceiving the king. Coming to the king and the king’s people with false motives, impure hearts, seeking personal gain at the expense of the kingdom. Hypocrites. Shemei openly curses the king. Ziba claims allegiance to the king, but lies to him. That’s even worse. The apostle John says we do the exact same thing when we say we love God but we don’t love our brother. When we confess Christ as Lord but live lives that deny him. Those sins are deserving of death. Eternal death.

But look at the mercy of the king. Be amazed at the grace and the love and the compassion of the king. Shemei and Ziba bow down to the ground, they confess their sins before the king — sins that deserve under the law to be punished by death — and the king forgives them. He promises on oath they will not die. And he stops his men from even discussing the possibility.

Is it any wonder that the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth calls David a man after his own heart?

You know the King is coming. And if you have sin in your life, you should be greatly concerned. But if you bow down to the King, if you confess to the King, if you submit fully to the King…the King forgives. And when the King returns, you meet him with joy and gladness, not fear.

The great news for us is that the King WANTS to forgive. He wants full reconciliation. He’s not willing that any should die. He wants desperately to welcome every man and woman he’s ever created into his eternal Kingdom. God sent his Son to “reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Through Jesus, God is “reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”

God wants you. And he’ll go to whatever lengths necessary to get you.

He died to save you.

And he’s coming back.

He promises us in John 14 he’s coming back. The angels told the apostles in Acts 1 he’s coming back. The closing words of our holy Scriptures assure us the King’s coming: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

Are you ready?

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March Madness — The Legacy basketball team (“Team Dyniewski” or, my favorite, “TohuBohu”) made its debut last night in the North Richland Hills recreation center with an impressive 52-49 win over a bunch of guys with real uniforms. Josh Dyniewski and Aaron Green provided the muscle, combining to score at least 40 of our points inside the paint, while the rest of us just tried to stay out of the way.

Several keys to the impressive victory:

1) the decision to play a 2-3 zone defense. The decision was made as the teams were facing off on the court for the opening tip. Nice. Nevermind the fact we had never played anything but a man-to-man defense in our twice-weekly pickup games here at Legacy. Nevermind the fact that we had never even discussed the possibility of playing a zone before. It worked. Mostly.

2) Josh’s six-straight made free throws in the final 90-seconds. Sealed the deal. Clutch.

3) Aaron’s sending two of our opponents to the hospital with leg injuries. OK, I’m exaggerating a bit. But Green was a monster down there.

4) Trey Thornton using all five of his fouls. Coker will be proud.

5) Going with the Carolina blue Champion dri-soft jerseys. Did I mention they were numberless? That’s a problem in this league. So we had to don the city’s junior-high pinis over our shirts. Elastic down. Not flattering. They actually serve to accentuate middle-age girth. I wanted to wear mine upside down. They wouldn’t let me. We looked like a bunch of rejects who’d been bussed in from somewhere far, far away. But apparently they worked like a charm. We didn’t turn in Josh’s pini after the game. We’re going to have it framed and hung up on the wall at the Rufe Snow Chick-Fil-A. Nobody can ever wear #9 again.

1-0, baby! We might have to discuss the construction of a huge Legacy trophy case at Thursday’s elders meeting.

Peace,

Allan

Convenient Sacrifice

January 27, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

While reading a commentary on 2 Samuel last night, I came across this prayer written by Joe Seremane in 1998 in his book Celebrating One World. Seremane is a social justice activist (so is God). Unlike God, Seremane is an African.

I tell you that only to disclose that, yes, I understand the context of this prayer. But I understand this plea to our Father as also completely appropriate in the context of our church families here in America. Maybe, specifically, in our suburban, upper-middle class churches in America.

The call from our Savior is to a life of sacrificial service to others. Be like Jesus. Give up everything I have and give it to other people. And that’s hard. It’s harder for some of us than it is for others. But our adherence or lack of adherence to that command doesn’t lessen its preeminence for us as disciples of Christ. The call is to a constant sacrifice, not to a convenient sacrifice. It’s not to an act of service when it’s convenient.

The call is to sacrifice for and serve others when it’s not convenient. When it’s hard. When the very last thing you want to do is forget about your self and your own needs and give everything to the needs of those around us. There was nothing convenient about Jesus’ suffering and death for me. Gospel evidence shows me he was looking for a Plan B, for another way. But he did it. Because it is the only way.

Apply this prayer to the way you live in your church. The way you act within your Small Group. The kind of wife you are. The kind of son you are. The kind of co-worker you are. The sort of neighbor you are in your community, your school, your subdivision. Pray this prayer. Be challenged by it. Be changed by it. Be blessed by your renewed commitment to our Father to be shaped by it.

You asked for my hands
that you might use them for your purpose.
I gave them for a moment,
then withdrew them, for the work was hard.

You asked for my mouth
to speak out against injustice;
I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.

You asked for my eyes
to see the pain of poverty;
I closed them, for I did not want to see.

You asked for my life
that you might work through me.
I gave you a small part, that I might not get too involved.

Lord, forgive me for my calculated efforts to serve you
only when it is convenient for me to do so,
only in those places where it is safe to do so and
only with those who make it easy to do so.

Father, forgive me,
renew me,
send me out
as a usable instrument
that I might take seriously
the meaning of the cross!

We Have Sinned Against The Lord

August 21, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

“Our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” ~Ezra 9:6

“We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.” ~Daniel 9:5

“On that day they fasted and there they confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.'” ~1 Samuel 7:6

This past Sunday, in our brand new sparkling beautiful immaculate impressive worship center, seven people put on their Lord Jesus in baptism. They were born again. They were created all over again to walk in newness of life with our God. Five families, 14 people total, placed their membership with the Legacy Church of Christ. They, too, were beginning again. Rededication. Recommitment. Re-focus. There were many of us in this new building who are feeling a strong sense of re-birth. Starting over. Like New Year’s Day, we sit around and eat black-eyed peas and promise to do things differently from this point forward. Like buying a new car and lecturing the kids about food and drinks and Taco Bueno cinnamon chips. Starting over.

Ebenezer. 1 Samuel 7.

Our new building can certainly serve—no, it WILL serve—as an Ebenezer for the Legacy church family. By God’s help we have come this far. We are where we are because of our God’s power, because of his grace. He’s brought us to this point. Just like Kent and the McDowells and the Holts always point back to the Cox’s garage in 1959, from here on out we’re going to point back to August 2008 and say, “That’s where things started again. That’s where the transition really kicked in. Remember that?”

(Jim McDoniel said Sunday the reason we can’t write “Ebenezer” real big on the outside of the new building is that Russ or Cordelia would have a stroke. The real reason is that the City of North Richland Hills would require 19 permits and a special election.)

In our Holy Scriptures we see that everytime God’s people are at a real turning point, everytime they start over, everytime they seek God anew, everytime they’re asking God for a deepening of the covenant relationship, it begins with a time of corporate confession. An intentional time of corporate, congregational confession and repentance before God. A public acknowledgement of sins committed, not by individuals, by the entire body of God’s people. 1 Samuel 7. Ezra 9. Daniel 9. Corporate sin. Corporate confession.

We did this last night in Oasis. In the brand new worship center, we listed together, out loud, the sins of the Legacy Church of Christ. I just asked the group in there to start naming them. And they did.

Pride.
Apathy to God’s mission to save the lost.
Prejudice.
Racism.
Materialism.
The desire to be a big church.
Tolerance of sin in the body.
Apathy toward social justice.
Self-reliance.
Selfishness. A Me-Church attitude.
Trying to be like everybody else.

There were still a dozen hands raised when I cut it off.

And we prayed. One of our elders, David Watson, lifted everyone of those Legacy church sins to our Father in prayer. All of them. He confessed them—our past and present sins—on behalf of the whole church. Then we sang together “Just As I Am” and “I Am Mine No More.” and then another of our elders, Gordon Lowry, prayed a prayer of repentance for the church. Turning wholly away from the sins and turning fully toward God as the only source of our forgiveness and strength and renewal. And then we closed with another of our elders, Bill Baker, thanking God for his forgiveness and for his love and for redeeming us, even in our sins.

Wow.

What a night. Paul says it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. Not confessing, not repenting, shows contempt for God’s kindness and tolerance and patience. Those are the very things that lead us to confess and repent.

We’re promised by our God over and over again in Scripture that if we confess and repent, if we admit our sins, if we turn from our former ways and destroy completely the things in our lives that contribute to our sins, if we have a complete change in attitude and determine with all our hearts to turn fully to our Lord, he promises to restore us and forgive us and cleanse us and reconcile us to a perfect relationship with him. And he promises a renewed sense of unity and peace among us.

May we from this point forward turn away from our sins and turn fully to God. And may our Father bring to us his boundless mercies and limitless grace.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Confession (Page 5 of 5)

Let's Get Specific Now

You Are God and I Am Not

No Fun At All

The King Is Coming

Convenient Sacrifice

We Have Sinned Against The Lord

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