The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Jesus (Page 31 of 60)

The Gospel is for All

January 15, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Jesus was a preacher. Jesus preached all the time. And, like every preacher I’ve ever met, he had a couple of common themes he returned to over and over again in his sermons. His favorite was the Kingdom of God. Jesus preached the coming of the Kingdom of God. Constantly.

“Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near!” ~Matthew 4:17
“The time has come! The Kingdom of God is near!” ~Mark 1 :15
“I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God !” ~Luke 4:43

As he heals the blind and the deaf and the crippled, Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God is near. As he sends his disciples to preach all over Israel, he directs them to declare the good news of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was the steady beat that drove Jesus’ preaching, it was the flag at the front of his sermons: the good news of the Kingdom of God.

So, what was Jesus trying to show us in these sermons? What does he want us to know about God and the eternal Kingdom of God? What are we supposed to see?

I think Jesus’ main point in all his sermons is that the Kingdom of God is for everybody. The Gospel is for all. It was a radical idea then, and it’s still very much a dramatic idea today.

In his very first (and, I assume, last) sermon in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus preached that the Kingdom of God was for all people. He reminds the listeners that there were many poor widows in Israel during the great famine, but Elijah didn’t feed any of those good Jewish women. He only fed the one alien woman of another nation and race. He points out that there were lots of suffering lepers in Israel, but the only person Elisha healed was a violent, non-Jewish army officer of the occupying Syrian forces. Jesus preaches that, yes, God has come. But he’s not really come in exactly the ways you expected. God really enjoys working the other side of the street.

This sermon and all the others like it didn’t go over so well in front of congregations full of people who believed they were the only ones who had gotten it right. When Jesus says God is doing a new thing, it doesn’t fly with a bunch of people who are holding tight with a white-knuckle death grip to things that are old.

The Kingdom of God is for everybody. That’s what Jesus wants us to see.

Jesus made friends with the poor and oppressed. And we celebrate that. But he also made friends with the rich and the oppressors. And that’s maddening to us because we’re always trying to divide the world up between us and them. Good and bad. Worthy and unworthy. Called and not called. Those who might accept the Lordship of Jesus and those who never will. Those who are a good investment of the church’s money and energy and those who would be a waste of the church’s time and resources.

Jesus wants us to see that his Kingdom is for everybody. Everybody! The curtain is torn! The walls are down! The barriers are destroyed!

That’s the message. It’s what Jesus preached. It’s what he lived. And it kept him in hot water. It got him disfellowshipped from his home church and nearly killed.

And Jesus sends us out to preach and to live the exact same good news. In the exact same ways.

“As you go, preach this message: the Kingdom of God is near!” ~Matthew 10:7
“He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God.” ~Luke 9:2
“Go and proclaim the Kingdom of God!” ~Luke 9:60
“Tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you!'” ~Luke 10:9
“The gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations!” ~Matthew 24:14

Jesus calls us to speak and to live this same message. We spread this word around liberally. Lavishly. We live it out with others generously. Abundantly. We forgive. We love. We share. We help. We compliment. We bring the gospel to everybody without reservation. We treat everybody like Jesus the Christ came to this earth to save them. We treat them like the Kingdom of God is for them. We speak to a mean neighbor like they belong in God’s Kingdom. We talk about the terrorists like God loves them. Like the rain that falls on the just and the unjust, whether they want it or not, whether they ask for it or not, whether they accept it or not, here it is! The love of God. The forgiveness of Christ. The mercy of the Holy Spirit. Freely and joyfully we proclaim and live the good news of God’s Kingdom with all.

Because that is God. That is the Kingdom of God. It’s the truth. And if we live it, it will truly set us and everybody we know free.

Peace,

Allan

Weird Stories

January 9, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Jesus told some weird stories. Yes, the ones about searching for the lost in Luke 15 are wonderful and warm and we really like the one about the Good Samaritan. But, admit it, a lot of Jesus’ parables are strange. A dishonest businessman is praised for cheating his boss. God is compared to a thief who breaks into your house in the middle of the night and robs you blind. This is the Kingdom of Heaven? We’re told by our Lord to pray like the old lady pounding on the door of the mean judge who has no regard for anybody but himself. The Kingdom of God is compared to a shady real estate deal.

What?

Sometimes I think these parables are told by our Lord in order to move us — story by story — from the safe and secure world of church and Scripture and programs and formulas. Where we think we’ve got it all figured out. Jesus moves us from this world we know so well into a place where things are strange and don’t always turn out as expected. And he does it for a reason. The stories force us to re-evaluate the way we see the world and the people in it.

Think about it.

The Kingdom of God dawns on you while you’re lying in the ditch, moments from death, and your very last hope for rescue is the guy from church who just passed by on the other side. But, wait! Now you see it! Your true salvation, your genuine hope for rescue, actually comes from a lousy foreigner whom you despise!

His stories remind us that we don’t totally get Jesus like we think we do. On the other hand, the parables show us that the Kingdom of God is a wild and wonderful adventure when Jesus totally gets us.

Peace,

Allan

Thanksgiving in Christ

November 26, 2014 / / 0 Comments

In good times and bad, we have much for which to be thankful. Much. Odds are that you personally rank in the top ten percent of the wealthiest people in the world. And, yes, we are thankful. We are thankful for all the wonderful blessings of our lives: our families, our children, our friends, our jobs and houses, our cars and money. And that’s good. It’s very good to acknowledge God as the giver of all good gifts. Everything you have is a gift from God. We thank him for every good thing we see.

But beyond that — way, way, way beyond that — we enjoy the blessings of a righteous relationship with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everything we’ve been given, all our possessions, every blessing you could possibly count this week finds more significance because of Christ. Every blessing is richer, it’s better, it’s deeper, it’s more significant, it’s more meaningful because of Christ. In fact, all thanksgiving is because of, related to, and in the name of Jesus.

The things the Scriptures long for, the blessings the psalms yearn for, the promises the Bible begs to be delivered are all fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus. He is our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption.

So, you’re thankful today? “Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25)

You’re thankful for a particular person today? “I always thank God for you, because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus!” (1 Corinthians 1:4)

You’re thankful today even in tough times? “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus!” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

You’re thankful for salvation? “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:57)

In Ephesians 5:20, Paul tells us to give thanks to God “for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We have a whole lot for which to be thankful today. Let’s be reminded that all thanksgiving — all of it — finds its source and its meaning in our Savior and Lord.

Peace,

Allan

God & Money

November 20, 2014 / / 1 Comment

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” ~Matthew 6:24

Senator Phil Gramm once famously said, “I’ve got more guns than I need, but not more than I want.” Most of us might be able to say the same thing about our TVs, our cars, our computers, our books, our bank accounts, or the square feet in our house. More than we need; not more than we want.

Our Lord teaches that we are not to store up treasures for ourselves on earth but, instead, to store up treasures in heaven. He says not to worry about food and drink or clothes and cars, that our faithful Father will provide everything we need. He says to focus on the Kingdom, to seek first and foremost the Kingdom, and then all the stuff we really need will be given to us.

To chase after the things of this world, to spend our time and money and resources securing material things, working at a job we hate to pursue things that won’t last, isn’t a matter of not trusting that God will give us what we need. But it may be a matter of not trusting that God will give us what we want. And what we want seems to be very, very important.

Myself included.

There’s a group of young men in Abilene who are taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously. They have decided to give up the pursuit of material things in order to live together in one of the poorest neighborhoods in town and serve the community with God’s love and grace. Our Bible classes here at Central recently watched a video interview with three young men who are living in this Allelon Community. And I was immediately struck by how my first thoughts about these guys were negative. Why was I feeling negatively about these men who are living out in such concrete ways the teachings of our Lord? They’re sharing everything — the rent, the bills, the food, the clothes, everything — so they can work less and spend more time in Gospel relationship blessing their neighbors. Yet, I found myself judging the blankets hanging over their windows in place of curtains. I caught myself judging the holes in their T-shirts, the unmowed grass in the yard, the unkempt hair, and the terribly messy living room.

Ha. It’s easy to judge others. It’s much more difficult to evaluate my own life as it stands in contrast to Jesus’ teachings.

How might these guys judge me if they were to see the inside of my house? “Why does he have four TVs?” “Why are there four cars in his driveway?” “How many of these shirts in his closet does this dude actually wear?”

The exhortations in the Sermon on the Mount are not intended to bring us down. They’re not unrealistic expectations for a disciple of Jesus. And they’re not commands as much as they are encouragements. Reminders. To paraphrase Bonhoeffer on this particular passage, we have here either a crushing burden, which holds out no hope, or else it is the quintessence of the Gospel, which brings the promise of freedom and perfect joy. Jesus does not tell us what we ought to do but cannot; he tells us what God has given us and promises to continue giving us, so we can live lavishly in him.

It’s not “Stop chasing material things! Stop worrying about your food! Stop hoarding money and buying more stuff!” It’s more like, “Look at everything you have in Christ Jesus! Why are you chasing material things? Look at all the blessings and promises that belong to you in Jesus!Why are you worrying about food? Look at the boundless love of your God! Why are you hoarding money and buying more stuff?”

Come on, I love God. I serve God.  I like to buy things, but I’m not serving money.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ~Matthew 6:21

What would the Allelon boys say about you if they toured your house? I’m just asking…

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

 

Brought to Jesus

September 19, 2014 / / 0 Comments

You probably are aware that high school seniors today don’t just take the year book photo alone. Oh, no. That’s not nearly enough. They have to go out to exotic locations with their own commissioned photographer and half a dozen changes of clothes and take a hundred different portraits to capture the singular beauty and unique personality of each candidate for graduation.

Hannah McNeill is our family photographer. And she has done a remarkable job with our “Little Middle.” Of course, it would be tough to mess up pictures of Valerie. But Hannah is just the best at what she does with our kids. You can check out a bunch of Hannah’s work by clicking here. But her most important work lately can be seen in these thumbnails.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“People brought to him all who were ill with various diseases…” ~Matthew 4:24

“Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat.” ~Matthew 9:2

“A man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus.” ~Matthew 9:32

“They brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute.” ~Matthew 12:22

“Then little children were brought to Jesus…” ~Matthew 19:13

These people Jesus healed and saved, these people who felt the compassionate touch of the Father through the Holy Son were brought to Jesus. They were brought to him by somebody else.

It’s not “build it and they will come.” Praise the Lord, sometimes that actually works. But that’s not the deal. It’s really “if you bring them they will see.”

We go get them and bring them to Jesus. As his followers, as his loyal subjects, that’s our mission. It’s our charge as his disciples. We don’t sit around and wait for people to come to Jesus. We go out and get them and bring them into his presence.

You know, you can do that just by inviting people to church.

Now, let me be clear. I’m not talking about bringing people to church just so we can count them. Inviting people to church is not about filling up your worship center. It’s about inviting people to a place where they can encounter Jesus. Our Christian assemblies are still the widest on-ramp into your community of faith. A worship service is still the main entry point, the biggest front door, to someone encountering a group of people who represent and embody our Lord and Savior. What better place to see Jesus? What better venue for experiencing his love and acceptance, his mercy and grace, his peace and joy?

I’ve seen and heard in three different places this year that if you invite anywhere from five to seven people to your church, one of them will say “yes” and come. One out of every six (or so) people you invite to worship with your church on Sunday will say “yes” and do it. The question is: Is anybody inviting anybody?!?

There are so many people in our community — countless numbers; you’ll interact with several of them over the next 24 hours — who have never experienced anything like the merciful love and saving grace of Jesus. And it’s because nobody’s ever brought them into the presence of Jesus. You can do that, you know, just by inviting them to your worship assembly this Sunday.

Peace,

Allan

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