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Category: Jesus (Page 1 of 60)

Micah 6: You and Me

November 7, 2025 / / 3 Comments

“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” ~Micah 6:8

The three things in Micah 6 are not new. This isn’t a revelation to God’s people in the 7th century BC and it’s not new information for you and me this week. This has always been at the heart of God’s covenant with his people: Treat everybody the way I’ve treated you.

 

So, how has God treated you?

Allow me to remind you.

When it comes to your shortcomings and failures, when it comes to your rebellion and transgressions against God and neighbor, when it comes to your sin, our Lord Jesus looked at the Father and said, “Put that on my account.”

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to the Father through the death of Jesus. God has brought you life-changing justice and he has shown you amazing mercy. Not because you are so good or because you are somehow chosen or special–this is the way he is with everybody! And his number one priority is that you and I would act the same way, that bringing justice and showing mercy would be your top priority and my top priority.

Because then people would see him in us. People would experience God in us if our priorities and God’s priorities were the same.

Jesus showed people God. He invited people to follow him, to walk with him along the way. He ate with people he wasn’t supposed to eat with. He hugged people he wasn’t supposed to touch. He forgave people who were unforgivable. And they saw God.

You know how to do that. You know how to forgive someone who’s done you wrong. You know how to just sit with someone and be present. You know how to pray for somebody who wants to see you hurt. You know, because you’ve done that with your daughter. You’ve done all that with your son. You move heaven and earth to practice justice and mercy and love for your children and it doesn’t matter where they are or what they’ve done. It’s beautiful.

Jesus says, “That’s where I am.” The hungry and thirsty, the foreigner, the naked and sick, the people in prison; people who’ve done wrong, people who’ve messed up, people who can’t take care of themselves.

I can’t solve all the issues being created by the government shutdown. I can’t fix crime or cancer. I can’t solve unemployment or racism or poverty or addiction. I can’t fix that. You can’t figure any of that. We don’t have the solutions.

But I can have breakfast with a guy whose wife is dying. I can treat a lonely person like she really belongs. I can forgive someone who will never tell me they’re sorry. I can pray with someone who hasn’t been to church in years. I can stand with somebody when it might be easier to take the other side.

Isn’t that what you want to do with your life? What else would you want to do? Don’t you want to be that guy? Don’t you want to be that woman?

On that day of glory, when you get to heaven, the Father will look you right in the eye and smile and say, “Well done.” For what? Well done? Why would the Father say “Well done?”

Well done for going to the right church and worshiping correctly a couple of times a month?

No.

Well done for acting justly, for loving mercy, and for walking humbly with me.

Peace,
Allan

Micah 6: Priorities

November 5, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“He has showed you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” ~Micah 6:8

God has announced to Israel that they have broken the covenant, that he is going to punish them because they have been disloyal to him, and they immediately figure it must have something to do with their corporate worship. What do I sacrifice to make God happy? How do we do church right? How do we need to worship correctly? What sacrifices do I bring, and how much?

And our God says, No! It’s not about the sacrifices. It’s never been about the sacrifices. The very heart of the covenant has always been you loving other people and treating other people the same way I’ve loved and treated you. Everybody.

See, God’s covenant is a relational covenant. He is in relationship with us. And his covenant relationship with us lays a holy claim on all our relationships. The relationship between you and your spouse. The relationship between you and your children. You and your brothers and sisters in your church. The relationship between you and your boss, you and your co-workers, you and your teachers and classmates, Your relationship with your neighbor on food stamps. Your relationship with your enemies. With your customers. With the lady in front of you at the store. Your relationship with the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant at the wall. All these people. Every single relationship. Everyone in your community. How do you treat them? What do you think about them? What do you say about them? What do you do for them?

Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

It doesn’t matter what happens in the temple on Saturday or at church on Sunday if your life with your neighbors is out of whack the other six days of the week. God’s people know this. We’ve always known it.

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice.” ~1 Samuel 15:22

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” ~Hosea 6:6

“Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me!… I cannot bear your evil assemblies!… When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen…. Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” ~Isaiah 1:11-17

It’s very similar to what our Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount. If you’re offering your gift at the altar and remember you’re crossways with somebody, if you’re not acting with love or mercy or justice with somebody, get out of the temple! And don’t come back until you’ve made things right!

The expert in the Law told Jesus that to love God and love neighbor “is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33-34). Jesus told him that his statement was correct and that he was “not far from the Kingdom of God.”

You know, it’s dangerous for Jesus to insist that loving your neighbor is more important than what happens in church services, but that’s what he always says all the time.

“You hypocrites! You give a tenth of all your spices–mint, dill, and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Jesus is quoting Micah 6)… You strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel!” ~Matthew 23:23-24

You can do worship exactly right–whatever “right” means to you or your friends or your group. You can close your eyes during every prayer, keep your hands in your lap while you sing ancient hymns, look up every Scripture during the sermon, and read Matthew 27 silently to yourself during communion. It doesn’t matter if you lied to your boss Friday and you plan on lying to him again tomorrow.

You can clap and raise your hands to contemporary praise songs and kneel down on the floor during every prayer and read responsive psalms ’til the cows come home and recite the Apostles’ Creed. But it’s not doing you or God any good if you’re ignoring the poor or cheating your customers or posting hateful speech online.

Priorities. Knowing how to pay attention to what really counts versus fooling around with insignificant issues. We don’t want to major in the minors. Jesus calls that neglecting the more important matters. The weightier matters. The heavy stuff.

If the specifics of our corporate worship are not the number one concern of God, why is it sometimes our number one priority? Have we misunderstood what pleases God? Or are we really just concerned with what pleases us?

Why are God’s people in Micah so willing to do the religious stuff, but not the heavy stuff that God cares the most about?

Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Peace,
Allan

Powerfully Present

October 22, 2025 / / 0 Comments

If we’re not careful, we can de-personalize our God. We can’t think about God in terms of an idea or a force or a doctrine. You can’t love an idea or a force, you can’t be in relationship with a doctrine. So, we effectively remove the command to love God and replace it with acknowledge God. Or respect God. Consider God. Defend God. Study God.

Those verbs require very little, if any, personal relationship.

But our God is a personal and relational God. We know this because he revealed himself to us in his very personal and relational Son. Jesus Christ gave up everything to live with us, to live among us, and to live like us.

The Gospels all record our Lord Jesus going out of his way to be relational and personal with the people he met along the way. Just in the Travel Narrative, that ten-chapter section in the middle of Luke that gives us the details of Jesus’ last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus interacts with people very personally. Intimately. Our Lord is powerfully present.

Luke 10 – Jesus is at Mary and Martha’s house getting ready for a meal. Picture our Lord inside their house, sitting down at their table eating their food, with them. Teaching them. Blessing them.

Luke 11 – Jesus teaches personally teaches his followers how to pray. And then he teaches them about hospitality by telling them a story about a meal. At the end of the chapter, Jesus is inside a Pharisee’s house, reclining at his table, eating his food, with him. And he teaches with a parable about dirty dishes.

Luke 13 – Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus is not a monk. He is at church every time the doors are opened, with God’s people, as was his custom. There’s a woman at church who’s been crippled for 18 years. When Jesus saw her, the text says, he called her near. He spoke to her. The Bible says he touched her. And he healed her. In the parable at the end of the chapter, Jesus paints a picture of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God by saying it’s like a huge meal: “People will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”

Luke 14 – Jesus is at another Pharisee’s house eating supper. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that our Lord is always eating a meal, just finishing a meal, or on his way to a meal. Jesus teaches and heals and blesses around the table. Around the bread and the fish, the fruit and the wine, the conversation and the hospitality. There are more stories about food in this chapter. The great banquet and all the invited guests. The open invitation. All things are ready! Everybody is invited to eat with the King!

Luke 15 – Jesus is accused of eating meals with sinners, of getting too close and personal with people who are unclean. So he tells these stories about seeking and saving the lost. Friends and neighbors rejoicing together over lost coins and sheep that have been found. The celebratory feast with the fattened calf and the loud music and dancing when the prodigal son comes home. Jesus says, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”

Luke 16 – Jesus tells a story about a poor man who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.

Luke 17 – Another story about sitting down and eating.

Luke 18 – Jesus pulls little children up into his lap. Sticky-fingered, snotty-nosed little kids. “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them!” At the end of the chapter our Lord encounters a blind man at the Jericho city gates. Jesus brings the man near to him, the Gospel says. “What do you want me to do for you?” And he heals him.

Luke 19 – Jesus plucks a wee little man out of a Sycamore tree and says, “I must stay at your house today!”

The point is that Jesus went inside people’s houses. He went to people where they were. Around a table. In the kitchen. In the living room. Eating and sharing meals together.

Jesus never does anything halfway. When it comes to people, when it comes to the lost, our Savior goes all the way. He goes into people’s houses where it’s personal and close. He looks at their family pictures on the walls in the hallway. He reads the cartoons and the baby shower announcements held in place by flower magnets on the refrigerator. He sits down and shares meals. He passes the mashed potatoes. He compliments the cook. He laughs. He listens. And he shares.

Personal. Relational. Powerfully present.

Peace,
Allan

Are You Being a Neighbor?

October 14, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Tony Romo played ten years as quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Dak Prescott is in his tenth season. Romo’s record as a starter was 78-49. Today, Dak’s record is 78-49-1. Dak’s career passer rating is 98.3, while Romo’s is 97.1. They each have two Wild Card playoff victories and nothing more. The past ten years have been exactly like the ten years before that. Exactly. And it’s not either one of those quarterbacks’ fault.

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Jesus and the Jewish lawyer are debating God’s great command. The expert in the Scriptures tells Jesus the greatest command is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Jesus tells him he has answered correctly. The Greek word is orthos, as in orthodox. You have not only given the correct answer, Jesus is saying, you have given the only answer! Do this and you will live.

“And who is my neighbor?”

See, obeying this commandment is either going to be easy or hard depending on who my neighbor is. I’m either going to do this or not, depending on who we’re talking about. So, let’s define the terms. Who is my neighbor?

Luke tells us he’s wanting to justify himself. This biblical scholar wants to limit the scope of neighbor so he can say in front of this crowd following Jesus, “I’m doing it. I’m obeying that command.”

This religious leader is trying to create a distinction. The very question he asks suggests that some people are neighbors and some are not, so we’re required by God to love some people, but not all people. The question implies that God’s people are only called to love God’s people, and that we get to decide who God’s people are. The guy is saying some people are neighbors and some people are not neighbors based on geography or race or language or culture or skin color or citizenship status or socio-economic factors or something–some people are non-neighbors and God’s great command to love does not apply to them.

That’s what the expert in the Scriptures is saying. That’s what Jesus is responding to when he tells his story.

A man has been robbed. He has been attacked, stripped, beaten, and left for dead. A priest walks up and “saw” this victim, but he “passed” on the other side of the road and did nothing. A Levite happens up and also “saw” this man and also “passed” on the other side. He did nothing. Two religious leaders who’ve known and taught the command to love God and love neighbor for as long as they can remember–they “saw” and “passed.”

Then a Samaritan walks up and “saw” and “went” to the man. These verbs are important. Jesus says the Samaritan “saw” the man and he “went” to the man. He took care of the man’s wounds, he took the man to an inn, he paid for the man’s medical care, and promised to return and repay whatever was necessary.

Then, Jesus says, “Now, you define neighbor for me. Who’s the neighbor?”

Well, obviously, the one who showed mercy and acted in compassion and love.

And our Lord looks this expert right in the eye and gives him two more verbs: “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus is making his point crystal clear: Instead of worrying if someone’s my neighbor or not, Jesus says make sure you’re a neighbor!

Our job is never to evaluate the worthiness of others or to judge people as to whether they deserve compassion and love. Our job as children of God and followers of Christ is to demonstrate compassion and love It’s too make sure I’m being a neighbor and you’re being a neighbor to every person you see every day.

No more conversations or debates. No more questions and answers. No more religious loopholes, religious line-drawing, or religious double-talk. No more using God or the Word of God as a way to avoid or dismiss the very real hurting men and women we see all around us.

When we understand the story, we understand that something big is going on and I’m told I can get in on it. Actually, I’m told, “Go! Get in on it!”

Peace,
Allan

People of Promise

July 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“If the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.” ~Galatians 3:18

We are not a people of the law, we are a people of promise. And that matters. It matters big time.

If we believe we are saved by the law or by rules and regulations or by behaving correctly, then we’re going to treat people harshly. We’ll be arrogant and judgmental, we’ll be unbending and unforgiving. We’ll be nervous or unsure about the correctness of our own performance, so we’ll fight and divide over the weirdest things. And we’ll turn off a lot of people.

When we know we are saved by the gracious promise of God in Christ, then we’ll be a people of mercy and love. We’ll give others the benefit of the doubt. We’ll be flexible and forgiving, we’ll seek to bless others, we’ll be kind and hospitable. Our words will be encouraging, our actions will be inviting. We’ll be unified by a focus on the really important things. And we’ll inspire a lot of people.

We are not people of the law. We are not people of rules or people of regulations or people of the guilt trip or people of the coercion. We are not people of correct interpretations or proper practices. None of those things save us! Those are things we use to gain control. Or to be right. Or to be better. Or more prominent. Those are the things that divide us and separate us, those are the things that lead to strife and condemnation.

The Good News is that your forgiveness, your salvation, your eternal life rests solely in the unchanging promise or our God through Christ alone.

“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” ~Galatians 3:29

Peace,

Allan

Who God Is

June 25, 2025 / / 0 Comments

We are beginning a shepherd selection process here at the GCR Church to choose a few additional elders to join our leadership group. If you belong to GCR, it is especially important that you visit our shepherding page on the church website for information and resources. If you’re not a GCR member, I would still encourage you to check out this page. You’ll find four sermons we preached back in 2023 about elders–qualifications, processes, term limits and sabbaticals, the “lists” in 1 Timothy and Titus, and what to look for in potential shepherds. You’ll also find several excellent resources that include breakdowns of the “qualities” in those two New Testament “lists,” other Scriptures that are just as important in helping discern the right men for the job, and theological answers to the questions of divorce and remarriage, and an elder’s children. I believe you’ll find it very helpful.

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“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us… When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.” ~Romans 5:8, 10

God insists on doing whatever it takes to have a righteous relationship with us so he tells us exactly who he is. He wants us to know him, so he gives us his full name: compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin (Exodus 34:6-7). And then he comes here to show us. He goes to the cross to show us that there are no limits to his love and no end to his faithfulness.

The cross is where God receives the worst sin and evil we can muster. All of our sin, all of our evil, everything that’s wrong and broken in us–our God absorbs all of that at the cross and he turns the other cheek and he forgives. In Christ, God reconciled us back to himself. God is not reconnecting himself back to us. It wasn’t God who was alienated from us! It was we who were alienated from God!

Jesus doesn’t die on the cross to change God’s mind about us. Jesus died on the cross to change your mind about God.

When we look at the cross, we don’t see what God does, we see who God is.

God did not require the death of Jesus. It’s that God came to us in person and we said, “Crucify him.” And when we said, “Crucify him,” God said, “Forgive them.”

When Jesus prayed, “Forgive them” for his murderers, he was not acting contrary to the nature of God. This wasn’t something new. He was revealing the eternal nature of God as faithful and forgiving love. We see at the cross that our God would rather die for his enemies than do them harm. That’s who God is.

Peace,

Allan

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