The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Matthew (Page 18 of 24)

On Earth As It Is In Heaven

May 26, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Jesus prays to our Father, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus preaches the Kingdom of God. Jesus declares the coming of the Kingdom of God. He proclaims, “It is at hand!” It’s here! The Kingdom! Look at it!

Jesus brings the Kingdom to earth. He does God’s will on earth just as it is in heaven.

Jesus casts out demons because there are no demons in heaven.
Jesus heals because there is no sickness in heaven.
Jesus feeds because there is no hunger in heaven.
Jesus raises the dead because there is no death in heaven.

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Are you praying this prayer? Jesus said it was a good idea to pray this prayer, to ask God to please do his will on earth just like it’s done in heaven. Are you bringing the Kingdom of God to your part of the earth? Are you obeying his will like the rocks and the trees and the oceans and the animals obey his will?

There is no revenge in heaven. There is no hate in heaven. There are no arguments in heaven. There are no disagreements in heaven. No suspicion. No politics. No war. No division of any kind. No violence, verbal or physical. No mistrust. No gossip. No complaining. You won’t find any of those things in heaven.

Is the will of God being obeyed in your church just like it is in heaven? In your elders’ meetings? In your congregational committees? In your marriage? In your family around your dinner table at night? Are you bringing the Kingdom of God to your workplace? To your school? To the Little League team you’re coaching or the civic club to which you belong?

If God has completely eradicated selfish behavior and gamesmanship and competition in heaven, if that is his holy will, why would you insist on bringing any of that into his Church? Or putting up with it?

The rivers and the trees and the squirrels and the fish all obey God’s will on earth just as it is in heaven. What’s wrong with us?

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Rodney Ashlock had just begun his Sermon Seminar session on the book of Esther Tuesday evening when the WeatherBug app on my laptop started chirping. I opened it up to learn that a tornado warning had been issued for parts of Tarrant County that included my home in North Richland Hills. A quick check of the radar revealed an ominous red and purple blob heading right for my neighborhood and a pretty impressive hook echo bearing down on my house.

I dashed outside the lecture hall there on the Austin Grad campus to check in by phone with Carrie-Anne and the girls. She answered her cell phone and her voice was almost drowned out by the sound of the sirens. Before I could get more than a couple of sentences out, I heard our house phone ring. She kept me on line as she answered it. It was the city, calling to warn residents of the coming tornado and to urge them to seek immediate shelter. I asked if she and our daughters were OK.

“Yeah, we’re hiding in the laundry room with the radio and the phone. We’ve got a couple of mattresses in here. The girls are a little nervous. And I’m putting clothes in the dryer.”

Now THAT is a wife of noble character! Protecting the children and doing the wash! Who can find a woman like that? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing.

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Too much Dirk last night for the Thunder. Too much Dirk. Here’s hoping Chicago can somehow force a couple of more games in the Eastern Conference series to wear out that unholy trio in Miami and buy the senior Mavs some much-needed down time.

Peace,

Allan

The Death of the Wicked

May 2, 2011 / / 6 Comments

“As surely as I live,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” ~Ezekiel 33:11

I knew it the moment I watched the first images late last night of the crowds in front of the White House and in Times Square boisterously celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden. I knew it this morning when the news programs showed us image after image of young men and women waving flags and singing songs on their city streets and campus squares. I knew it when I drove my girls to school and listened to the talk show hosts discussing what they would have done to bin Laden’s body had they been in charge. And I realized it when I started seeing the forwarded emails. From Christians.

I’ve known all day today that this is not how Christians behave. We do not celebrate the death of a human being made in the image of God and loved by our Father. No matter how ruthless and vile Bin Laden may be, we love our enemies. We pray for our enemies and their families. We do good things for our enemies.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” ~Matthew 5:43-45

God’s children do not dance and rejoice in the death of anyone. It’s decidedly un-Christ-like. To join in the worldly celebration of the death of a man who did not know our God is to deny our Christ and his Gospel. After all, our Lord died for us (you and me) while we (you and me) were his enemies. That’s the part I’ve not been able to understand today: doesn’t whooping and hollering and taking great joy and pleasure in the death of another human being deny just about everything Scripture teaches us about the nature and the will of our Father? Does it not oppose the clear commands from our Lord?

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” ~Luke 6:27-28

It is good today to grieve anew with the families of those who lost dear friends and relatives in the violent attacks orchestrated by this man. It is proper to mourn the loss of soldiers and civilians who’ve been trapped in the middle of the on-going conflict. It’s OK to acknowledge God’s sovereign use of nations and armies to enact his justice. It is right today to join the faithful lament of the prophets and the groaning of the martyred souls under the altar and cry out to our God, “How long?!? How much longer are you going to allow this to continue?!? When will you finally put all things to right?!?” Today is a day for prayer. Reflection. Meditation. Thanksgiving. Mixed feelings. It’s not a day for dancing in the streets.

I’ve known all along  that if I were to blog today about the way I’m feeling, I would be criticized. I’ve known that if I preach this Sunday on what the Scriptures say about the death of this terrorist, I might be fired. So, instead, I chose this morning to blog about God expecting more out of the people he’s blessed with his good gifts and matchless grace; about God requiring more out of his children; about God demanding more from the people he’s saved; about how that verse in Luke 12:48 is the very thing that pushed me over the top and compelled me to ditch sports radio and start preaching the Good News.

Please forgive me. I, too, have denied my Lord today.

Peace (not as the world gives peace),

Allan

Watch and Pray

April 13, 2011 / / 2 Comments

What does Christ want us to see in the Garden of Gethsemane? Why did he tell his disciples to watch and pray? Why did he take them with him that night? Why was it so important that they stay awake?

Jesus makes it very clear that night in the garden: he does not want to die. Jesus is sorrowful and troubled. He’s distressed. He’s in agony. He’s facing the most severe test of his life. God is handing him the cup of suffering and death and asking him to drink it. And Jesus doesn’t want to. He shudders in horror at the mission before him. He dreads all of it. His Father is in the process of making him who had no sin to be sin for us. Jesus is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. And he wants another way. And he asks for it.

What an amazing scene. Jesus is in great agony. He cries out to his God, “Deliver me!” He prays out loud to his Father, “Rescue me!” He begs, “Save me from this horrible assignment. Let’s do this another way.”

No dove descends. No thunderous voice from heaven assures, “This is my Son.” Only silence. Silence. God has already spoken. Now it’s up to the Son to obey.

And he does. “Not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus overcomes the silence, he fights off the temptation to do what he wants and, through open and honest prayer, he obeys his Father.

“Watch and pray.” “Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Jesus tells his disciples, “Do this with me. Experience this with me. Watch me. If you’re really going to follow me, you’re going to need to know how to do this.”

Jesus wants us to be awake and present and obedient to the way of the Son and the will of the Father. He wants us to accept trial. He wants us to undergo testing. He wants us to say “no” to the temptations to abandon the cross aspects of our calling. Afterall, it’s so much easier to turn our backs on the crown of thorns and just go to church. It’s so much easier to just settle into our pews and into the comforts of our status quo and potlucks and baby blessings.

If we’re going to follow Jesus as his loyal subjects — and we are! — then we’re going to follow him into the garden. It’s in the garden with Jesus, praying these agonizing prayers, where we really express our trust in God. We trust God in the darkness of our sufferings because God walked through the darkness himself.

God wants us to be in fellowship with the sufferings of his Son and the sufferings of his world. Fervent and faithful prayer is where God equips us and empowers us to do it. A stiff upper lip isn’t going to do it. A fierce resolve won’t cut it. New Year’s resolutions won’t work. It happens through open and honest prayer; raw, from the heart, transparent communication with the Father.

After a night of agonizing prayer, Jesus is ready. “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

Watch and pray.

Peace,

Allan

A Little Child Will Lead Them

March 18, 2011 / / 1 Comment

“…and a little child will lead them.” ~Isaiah 11:6

Maddie Thompson purchased the ingredients to bake oatmeal-raisin cookies. Kendra Morgan bought colorful pipe cleaners to make exotic rings and bracelets. Mason Mallory stocked up on hair gel in order to spike Legacy’s lids.

Our little kids here at church have taken the lesson of Jesus’ talents parable in Matthew 25 and they’re running with it!

As part of our Missions Month kickoff at Legacy two weeks ago our elementary aged children were each given a five dollar bill with instructions to put the money to work. They were told to multiply their money, just like the servants in Jesus’ story, and then to present the totals as their offering on Missions Sunday.

So, at our Small Group, Kendra unveiled a black velvet display of her amazing jewelry ($1 each piece). Maddie was taking cookie orders before and after Bible class Wednesday night ($1 for 3 cookies, $2 to have them dipped in chocolate). And by the time I made my way from the worship center down to the gym after class, every man between the ages of 25 and 45 had his hair standing straight up, spiked to the max ($2).

Our kids are washing cars and hosting garage sales, making buttons and bookmarks and coasters; babysitting, cooking, creating. They’re multiplying those five dollar bills by, in some cases, over two thousand percent! And they’re giving one hundred percent of the money to Legacy’s missions efforts at the end of the month.

Here’s where you and I come in:

Perhaps one of the most important things you can do over the next two weeks is hand one of these kids a buck for a cookie or a bracelet. You will be partnering with our Father in increasing the faith of our children. You’ll be showing them that God always provides, that God always honors our efforts to serve him, that God always gives the increase and multiplies our works done in his name. You’ll be communicating to them that they are a valuable part of what this church family is all about. The kids will think you’re really cool. You might be sowing the seeds of a really special relationship.

Our children are on fire right now for joining God in his mission of redeeming the world. They’re experiencing what it’s like to engage in something that’s bigger than themselves, to really give of themselves for a greater cause. And it thrills me. It’s one of the neatest things I’ve experienced here at Legacy. They’re leading us. They’re showing us what it looks like to be enthusiastic for our Lord. They’re showing us what it feels like to depend on God to bless our heart-felt efforts and then experience those blessings in outrageous measure. They’re proving to us that if we had the faith of a child, our God would work through us to blow that measly little $250,702 goal out of the water!

Let’s encourage them. Let’s fan those gifts into flame. Let’s all bring one dollar bills to church Sunday, ready to pass our faith on to our kids.

The hair gel is temporary; it washes out. The dollar you give and the encouragement you share may very well last forever.

Peace,

Allan

Correcting Our Views On Miracles

March 17, 2011 / / 3 Comments

Right after the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus preaches and teaches about turning the world upside down, he begins healing people. Right out of the gate. “When he came down from the mountainside…” (Matt. 8:1), the first thing he did was heal a man with leprosy. “Be clean!” The very next story has Jesus healing the Centurion’s servant. He heals Peter’s mother-in-law in the very next passage. And Matthew tells us, look, this is what God’s been building toward all along: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases” (Matt. 8:17).

Still in the same chapter, Jesus calms the raging sea. The wind and the waves are tearing up the boat. The storm is threatening to destroy the people in it. And Jesus stops everything. With a word, all is calm. Peace is restored.

A few chapters later we find more than 5,000 hungry people out in the wilderness. No food. No Kroger. They’re going to starve. And Jesus provides the food. Fish and bread. Everybody eats until they’re full. They collected twelve baskets of leftovers.

We look at Jesus’ miracles and we think, wow, Jesus goes against the laws of nature! Jesus does the supernatural! He suspends reality! We say Jesus overrides the natural order. But that’s not correct. When Jesus does a miracle, he’s actually restoring the natural order. Jesus is restoring things to the way they were always created and intended to be.

The wind and the waves were not created by God to kill. People are not made to be sick or hungry.

We need to change the way we view Jesus’ miracles. He’s not going against the norm. He’s tapping into and restoring the norm. Calm seas are normal. Satisfied bellies are normal.

Jesus shows up and says, “I’m fixing things!” When Jesus finishes a miracle, I think he steps back and says, “Now that’s the way it’s supposed to be.” Jesus’ miracles are not abnormal. He’s just showing us and reminding us of what normal is. It’s been so long, a lot of us forget. We look around at all the problems in this world and we start to think that things have always been this way and they’re always going to be this way. No! That’s wrong on both counts!

I think this has a lot to say to God’s people groaning today in Japan. It’s a powerful message for God’s people groaning in India. And in North Texas.

Hunger and disease and divorce are not normal. They are abnormalities. Aberrations. Addiction and homelessness and broken families are not regular. They are irregular. Out of order. So are tsunamis and tornadoes and hurricanes. And nuclear meltdowns and crime and war. These are the very things our Lord came to fix. And, praise God, with his coming, the fixing’s already begun.

And if we really believe it…

…then we’ll jump into that exact same kind of “fixing” work with everything we have.

Jesus’ miracles are not abnormal. He’s just reminding us of what normal really is.

Peace,

Allan

Upside Down

March 15, 2011 / / 1 Comment

Holy Scripture gives us a pretty clear image of what our God is doing in this world. From Genesis to Revelation we see the motif of changing places. Switching roles. The rich and powerful are being brought down and the poor and weak are being raised up. God is turning things upside down. It’s Freaky Friday to the max. It’s Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd in Trading Places without the gorilla costume and the one dollar bet.

The way the world is right now — all the power structures, all the people in charge; all the people in the streets, all the oppressed; people without a care in the world, people who are trapped in hopeless cycles of despair — our God is working to totally flip it around. He’s working even now toward a great big ultimate opposite day.

The Psalmist can sense it: “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes.” ~Psalm 113:7-8

Hannah feels it: “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more.” ~1 Samuel 2:4-8

Mary, the mother of Jesus, knows what the coming of the Christ means: “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” ~Luke 1:52-53

And when the Messiah does finally arrive, we find him preaching and teachig the same thing. Trading places. Switching spots: The poor in spirit get the kingdom of heaven, those who mourn will be comforted, the meek get the whole earth, those who hunger and thirst will be filled.

He traded places with you, you know. He pulled you down off the cross and climbed up there in your place. The ultimate Freaky Friday. It was your cross, not his. It was your sins, not his. And he switched with you. You were dead, but now you’re alive. You were lost, but now you’re saved. You were bound for an eternity without God, but now you’ve been re-routed to an eternity in his holy presence. You were God’s enemy, but now you’re his friend. By God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, you have been lifted from the ash heap and raised to reign at the right hand of the Father forever. A never-ending opposite day!

Hallelujah!

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The Chuck Greenberg news out of Rangers spring training was a bombshell to me. Totally out of left field. I had no idea. How surprising. And how disappointing.

I really thought the Rangers had the best of both worlds: Nolan Ryan as the most respected baseball man in the state of Texas, probably the entire southewest region, and perhaps even in the country, giving the Rangers concrete credibility in all matters baseball; and Greenberg as super fan-friendly, media-savvy, wonderfully likeable, perfect sound bite, get things done money man.

It’s all ego, right? It’s definitely not on the Jimmy-Jerry scale. But this is still all about ego, isn’t it?

Either way, it’s still better than what we had.

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Erasmus ridiculed the group in society he labled “praisers of all things old.” I admit I’m generally in danger of falling head first into that category. Especially when it comes to sports. I despised the play-in game on Wednesday night that a few years ago tainted the sanctity of the 64-team NCAA basketball tournament. We completely ignored it at Stanglin Manor, refusing to even acknowledge it in our brackets. But what am I supposed to do now with this First Four stuff?!? We can easily put an “X” under Ohio State and Pitt as the top seeds will destroy either of those 16s in the mix. But we have to do something now with those elevens and twelves. USC probably has a chance against Georgetown. Clemson can probably give West Virginia a good game. We can no longer just pretend it’s still a 64-team field. It’s not! Have you counted the number of 14-loss teams in the tournament? It’s ridiculous. It’s as bad as taking four teams to the high school football playoffs out of six team districts. It’s like having 35-bowl games. When does it stop?

I’ve got Carolina, Duke, Purdue, and Florida in my Final Four. The Tarheels beat the streaking Gators to capture their one shining moment.

Just don’t bet on it.

Peace,

Allan

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