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Category: Matthew (Page 10 of 24)

Forgiveness Honors God

December 17, 2015 / / 1 Comment

SinfulWomanWashingFeetWhen Jesus tells us to forgive, one of the main reasons he gives is because this is what God is like. In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord commands, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:45).

Real forgiveness honors God.

All people, all men and women, are created by God and made in the image of God. Every single person on this planet is a being of supreme value to God. That’s why in Genesis 9, God says anybody who takes the life of a human being is going to be held accountable. Even when an animal kills a human, God says he’s going to hold that animal accountable. Why? “For in the image of God has God made mankind” (Genesis 9:6). Every human life is sacred. Every human being has dignity.

Because all people bear the image of God, because all men and women are so valuable to God, we are not only forbidden to kill people, we are forbidden to curse people or talk bad about people. Any people. Scripture tells us we cannot “curse men and women who have been made in God’s likeness” (James 3:9). All human beings have this. Not just the “good” human beings — all human beings. Regardless of their track record, regardless of their character, God made them and God loves them. So we do, too.

Timothy Keller illustrates this by imagining a foreigner who visits Mount Vernon in Virginia. He doesn’t know anything about American history, he’s never been here before, and he’s surprised that Mount Vernon is a national monument. He might be confused. There are lots of old Virginia plantation houses that are bigger and fancier and more beautiful than Mount Vernon. Lots of those houses have more architectural merit than Mount Vernon. What makes Mount Vernon so worthy of all this honor and respect?

You’d say to this foreigner, this is George Washington’s house. George Washington is the father of this country. And that would explain it. You wouldn’t have to say anything else. The merits and quality of the house itself are irrelevant. Because we treasure the owner, we honor his house. Because it was so precious to him and we revere him, it’s precious to us and we take care of it. So we treasure every single human being on earth as a way of showing respect for their maker and owner.

Forgiveness also honors God because it’s an act of faith in God. By forgiving someone, I’m trusting that God is better at justice than I am. By forgiving, I give up my rights to seek fairness and to get even; I leave it all for God to work out. He will. I trust that he will. So I forgive.

Peace,

Allan

Bringing the World to a Halt

December 15, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me… I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.” ~Matthew 25:35-40

CupColdWaterYou can stop the world with these acts of mercy in the name of Jesus. You can bring the whole world to a screeching halt when you do these little things to bless others with the grace of our God that maybe they’ve never experienced.

You’re not going to stamp out illiteracy, but you can read books once a week at the elementary school in your neighborhood. You’re not going to solve the problem of world hunger, but you can buy a hot meal for those two guys down at the corner. You can’t stop all sex trafficking, but what if you threw a birthday party for a prostitute?

Seriously. What if your Bible class or your small group threw a birthday party for a prostitute? Can you imagine? That would interrupt the world. That would make the world pause and take notice and pay attention. Those kinds of things give the world a sign that there’s another reality here.

You can’t say anything to this world with an act of power. Big, loud acts of power and numbers and strength don’t say much. Jesus Christ stopped the whole world when he died. On a cross. The kinds of things that make a real difference have to come out of our weakness and submission, out of forgiveness and sacrifice and service.

A cup of cold water doesn’t sound like much. Apparently, it means a whole lot to Jesus. It’s not what you do, it’s what God does with it.

Peace,

Allan

Stuff in the Middle

November 20, 2015 / / 0 Comments

LamentB&WI don’t know where you are today. Maybe today you’ve already spent a few minutes alone in a chair by the window thinking, “I can’t believe this is my life.” Maybe last night you sat at your kitchen table and thought, “I can’t believe this is where I am.” Maybe you’ve been in a mess for the past couple of weeks. Or maybe you’ve been in a bad place for many years. Maybe sermons about transformed lives and blog posts about living by the Spirit discourage you. They might even depress you.

My life proclaiming the Kingdom of God? My life being a declaration of the lordship of Jesus? That’s not my life. Not today, not ever. My life is too messed up. I’m too far gone.

We all think we’re supposed to have an undefeated season. “This was going to be my year. This year everything was going to get worked out. This was going to be a great year. I was going to get everything on track and this was going to be a wonderful year. My family is going to be undefeated this year. My marriage. My career. My relationship with God. This is the year!”

And it’s not.

I’m sorry.

I want you to think about Judah in the book of Genesis. He’s the son of Jacob. His name means “praise God.” And he had sex with his daughter-in-law. He didn’t mean to, he said. He thought she was a prostitute. He had sex with his daughter-in-law, he left behind his keys and his wallet, and he got busted. It was a huge scandal.

Think about King David. The glorious king of God’s united nation. Personally chosen by God. David intentionally blows up seven of the ten commandments in one terrible weekend.

Think about Peter. The very first apostle chosen by Jesus. He publicly, loudly, and with great religious curses betrayed our Lord three times the night before the crucifixion. Told everybody he’d never met Jesus.

Can you imagine Peter standing in the room while the people were putting the Bible together? Can you see Peter looking over their shoulders? “Hey, can y’all just go from me throwing my nets down and leaving everything to follow Jesus to those letters I wrote at the end? Can you just cut out all that stuff in the middle?”

Can you imagine David in that same room? “Could y’all just skip from me killing Goliath to the geneaology of Jesus in Matthew? Would you please leave out all that stuff in the middle?”

Judah also is looking over the shoulders of the people putting together the Bible. “Um… can you go from my birth in Genesis 29 to those last words in Revelation that say the Messiah is the Lion of Judah? Could you delete all that stuff in the middle?”

That’s not filler stuff there in the middle. The stuff in the middle is there for a reason. To show us. To teach us.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I can’t believe this is my life.” Hey, let me tell you, your life’s not over! If you’re reading this right now (and you are!), the last lines of your life have not yet been written.

By the power of his Spirit, our Lord Jesus is standing right now between what is and what can be. He stands between what can be and what it can mean for generations of people you’ve never met. Jesus also stands right now today between what is and what won’t be, too.

Your life can be a powerful testimony to the reality of the lordship of Jesus and the eternal Kingdom of God. I don’t care where you are right now or what’s going on, your life can be a proclamation. Not by your power. But by the power of the Spirit and the grace of our God through Jesus Christ.

Peace,

Allan

On Offense

November 2, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Power

“Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not stand against it!” ~Matthew 16:18

Somehow, we’ve developed this idea that Jesus’ Church is about forming close little safe communities where we protect our innocence and ourselves from the ugliness of the devil and the horrible ways he works in the world. And we hide ourselves in our churches until the second coming. Or until we die. And our Lord says, “No!”

Jesus claims to be building his Church in the middle of all the sin and sickness, the evil and desperation. “My Church attacks it,” he says. “My Church destroys it.”

You ever thought about that? Are gates an offensive or defensive weapon? If Jesus says the gates of Hades won’t stand against Christ’s Church, who is attacking whom?

We don’t build a fort to keep Satan out; that’s backward. Christ has established his Church, his disciples, his body, to take on Satan himself. Jesus says he’s going to build his Church, and the gates of Hades, the gates of hell, the gates of death and evil and sin, everything that distorts God’s creation, everything that separates the Father from his beloved children, all the forces that oppose the Messiah and God’s Kingdom — none of that can stop it! By his Church, through his Church, through us, Jesus Christ storms the gates of Hades and he wins! Big time!

The Church is on offense, not defense.

Jesus is making a bold, radical, dramatic, world-changing, overthrow statement here. Peter makes the inspired confession — “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” — but Jesus tells him what that means.

It means we did not establish the Church, we did not build it; our Lord Jesus did. And his Church is not weak. It is not fragile or frail. It’s not irrelevant or insignificant. Christ’s Church is an extension of Christ’s power. His power! And the Church is on offense, not defense.

The power of the Church does not come from us; we don’t have to generate it or produce it. The power belongs to the Messiah and he has given it to us.

God’s purposes have already been accomplished in Jesus. What remains is an unfolding of what’s already been established. And our Lord is using his Church to do it. (And we think the Church is a place that puts on services!) The Church is created by and infused with God’s power. We live and we act in that power. We need to be aware of that power. We need to acknowledge it and feel it. The Church — your home congregation, my home congregation, each of Jesus’ congregations individually, all of God’s congregations corporately — is the means by which the glory and power of God beams out into all the world. Through the Church, your city and my city and the whole world is learning that God is sovereign, that Jesus is Lord, that the Holy Spirit is with us, and that the forces of darkness are in big trouble!

We’re on offense, not defense.

Peace,

Allan

What Are You Afraid Of?

October 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

JesusWalkingThe third servant in Jesus’ story in Matthew 25 buried his master’s talent in the ground because he was afraid. He was afraid if he didn’t perform well, he would be punished. He was afraid of displeasing his master, of making his master angry. He believed it was better to play it safe, better to minimize the potential risk, better to avoid embarrassment or loss, by just sitting on the talent and returning it to the master unharmed. That third servant was afraid.

What are you afraid of?

We are God’s children, remember? We are disciples of the Christ, right? We’re not merely talking about faith or teaching religious principles or believing theological ideas or keeping biblical rules. We are living our lives — our whole entire lives! — with God in Christ.

And we can’t be scared.

God doesn’t just give us talents. He gives us life. And the life given to us by God is not to be lived in some kind of rigid, cramped, crowded, small, compromised, legalistic way. We are empowered by God’s Spirit to live life in a full, wild, joyful, exuberant, cheerful, celebratory way. We courageously live in ways that apprehend and assimilate the freedoms we have in our Lord. Those holy freedoms radiate out of our bold actions, Christ’s commission pulsates through our radical works. It’s brakes-off, no-looking-back, full-steam-ahead salvation activity that blesses others with God’s mercy and grace.

What are you afraid of?

Are you scared that, while showing radical mercy and grace, you might mess something up? While forgiving and healing, blessing and helping others, you might make God mad? Are there rules you’re afraid you might break if you try to advance the Kingdom? Are there people you’re scared you might upset if you think outside the box?

The way I see it, a full grasp of the life we have in Christ and the grace and mercy we receive from our Father means we’re no longer afraid of messing up. We don’t hold back because of an anxiety over doing something that might displease God. At the very least, avoiding sin should not be the main thing that drives us as we partner with God in his salvation mission for the world.

Our God wants his beloved children to operate out of joy and freedom and faith to do what is good and right, not out of fear of making a mistake. Isn’t that the whole point of the story in Matthew 25? If we faithfully pursue his mission and maybe — maybe! — mess something up, he’s not going to punish us. He’s going to use it for his purposes and to his eternal glory and praise.

So, don’t just sit there on your talent. Go do something. Do something bold and outrageous, something you’ve never tried before, something for the sake of somebody else in the name and manner of our Lord. Trust God to make it work, even if you don’t see the results immediately. Have faith that God isn’t concerned about the results — that’s his job, by the way, not yours — as much as he is about your eagerness to enter his mission.

And don’t be scared. We know the Master.

Peace,

Allan

Do Something

October 7, 2015 / / 0 Comments

I was reminded last night that Rangers fans should not ever taunt Yankees fans under any circumstances. Following the Astros’ complete shutdown of New York in the AL Wildcard game last night, I texted our resident Yankees fan, Tim McMenamy, a snarky question: “Are the Yankees in the playoffs?”

His reply: “Not anymore. Maybe the Rangers can get their FIRST title now.”

It occurs to me that Texas could win this year’s World Series and every World Series every year in a row from now until I’m 75 and they still won’t have as many titles as New York. Thank you.

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ServantJesusFeeding“Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.” ~Matthew 25:24-25

The three servants in this familiar story are told by the Master to do something. They are not told to do something bigger than everyone else. The Master doesn’t say do something better, do something higher, do something spectacular, do something amazing, do something that will change the world. The Master just says, “Do something.”

And the third servant is paralyzed. He’s afraid. He’s afraid of messing up, afraid of losing what he had been given, afraid of getting it wrong. He was scared of making a mistake, making somebody mad, ticking off his Master. The story tells us that, yes, this third servant was punished. He lost his job, his home, his family — everything.

And it’s a great story. It really is. Millions of terrific sermons have been preached from this story. But Jesus didn’t tell it exactly right. He didn’t close up all the loopholes. His story doesn’t answer all the questions.

Don’t you wish I had written the Bible?

I wish Jesus had added one more character to this story. What if another five talent guy had tried really hard? He had given it all he had, he had worked really hard, he had worked his rear end off, but he wound up losing all five talents. He didn’t bury it, he didn’t sit on it. He worked really hard. He tried. But he lost it. The servant’s plans didn’t pan out.

Would the Master have punished him or rewarded him?

Two of the servants get busy immediately, working hard for their Master. One servant decides to do nothing because he’s afraid. Where is that fourth servant?

Could it be that working for the mission of God and nothing happening doesn’t exist? Could it be that giving your time and energy and money and effort toward God’s mission and then losing everything is an impossibility? That’s why the scenario isn’t in the story. Because it’s not possible. The concept, the very idea, of giving something to God and nothing happening is impossible. Our God says do something. And then he promises that whatever we do, if it’s to his glory and toward his salvation purposes, if it’s offered in faith and trust in the name and manner of Jesus, he will use it. He will multiply it. He will enhance it and perfect it and it will bring an eternal Kingdom return!

The third servant who just sat on his gift did not know his Master.

You’re hard. You’re unfair. You’re mean. You take what’s not yours. You’re a big bully. I was afraid.

He didn’t know his Master. But we do. We know our Master is gracious and kind. He is loving and merciful. We know he died for us. He died. For us. He had proven he will always have our best interests at heart and that there’s nothing he won’t do to save us and live with us forever. Nothing. He loves you. He died for you. That’s our Master.

So we act in faith that our God who calls us to work boldly and courageously for him also promises that if and when we mess up in enthusiastic service to our King, we will find grace and mercy, forgiveness and salvation.

The Christian life is a working life. Our God calls us to give ourselves to him and to his work. Brakes off, no looking back, full steam ahead. He’s not going to punish us when we faithfully pursue his purpose and maybe mess something up. Actually, God really enjoys doing super cool things with our mess-ups.

Peace,

Allan

 

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