Category: Philippians (Page 10 of 12)

Camping Under The Sign

December 30, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

Karl Barth’s commentary on Romans, written in 1919, contains an illustration relating to the passage in Romans 4 about Abraham’s journey of faith. I used the illustration a couple of Sundays ago to shed some light on Philippians 3. Paul writes about pushing and pressing and straining for the prize. He realizes he hasn’t “arrived.” So he presses to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him.

Salvation. Christ-likeness. It’s a journey. Nobody’s “arrived.”

If we point back to our religious heritage or ancestry or sit comfortably on our religious traditions, if we find security in our status quo and salvation in keeping things the way they are, we’ll actually find ourselves in serious jeopardy.

Here’s Barth’s story:

“A group of people are headed on a long journey and along the way they find a sign pointing them westward. The signpost is there to convey them to their destination, but instead they stop and create a life for themselves under its painted words. They build a civilization there, celebrating the signpost and telling stories of how they arrived at the marker. Rituals evolve and songs are written. Books are published and liturgies follow. A few travel on and return, confirming that the sign does indeed lead to the place promised. But the second and third generations have built a life around the signpost and have forgotten the purpose of the journey. Their life is built on stories of past travel, not on stories of arriving or the prophetic call to get on with the journey themselves.”

Peace,

Allan

Joyful Righteousness

December 12, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” ~Philippians 3:7

The apostle Paul hailed from the royal tribe of Benjamin. He might have even been named after Israel’s first king. He spoke both Hebrew and Aramaic. He had memorized most of the Holy Scriptures. His diploma carried the name of the leading school in religious thought. He belonged to the religious sect that upheld God’s law more than any other. He was unmatched in religious zeal. He had no tolerance for commandment-breakers. In short, Paul was perfect — as perfect as any God-fearing Jew could possibly be.

But when Paul opened up his books to read the ledger of his life, surprisingly he found he was completely bankrupt! He had nothing!

His faith was in his own righteousness. And it wasn’t enough. His trust was in his own abilities to keep God’s law. And it wasn’t even close. He had been comparing himself to others and had always been judged worthy. But when he was forced on the road to Damascus to compare himself to the Holy Son of God, he came up empty.

So he writes, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 3:8)

Paul didn’t count his heritage or his good works as trash. He didn’t stop keeping God’s commands or renounce his schooling. He determined that his faith in those things was worthless. Trust in his own law-keeping and ritual-following was worthless. Paul realized that his own righteousness would never save him. He could only trust the righteousness that comes freely from God by faith in his crucified and resurrected Son.

That confidence in his salvation by faith in Christ is what allowed Paul to write, despite external opposition and internal conflict that plagued God’s Church, “My brothers, rejoice in the Lord!”

Peace,

Allan

Shine Like Stars

December 1, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” ~Philippians 2:14-15

God’s purpose for you, what God is working in you, what transforms you into a blameless and pure child of his, what allows you to shine like a star, what enables you to hold out the word of life, it all starts with “do everything without complaining or arguing.”

You can’t shine like a star is you’re complaining or arguing.

Think about your life over the past week, maybe just today: at the restaurant, the customer service counter, the post office, the bank, on your street. Think about the people you’re complaining against, or to, or about. What happens if that person shows up next Sunday morning and sits right next to you on your pew? What will you say to them?

You’ll have nothing to say to them. But it won’t matter at that point because they won’t be listening anyway. Not then. Not anymore. Your Christian witness is hindered, if not completely destroyed. You have no credibility.

You claim to be a child of the almighty creator of heaven and earth. You claim to be a subject of the sovereign Lord who defeated sin and death and Satan and reigns at the right hand of God. You claim to be a citizen of an eternal Kingdom that can never be shaken. You claim to belong to a Father who provides and protects his children. But complaining and arguing says you don’t believe a word of it. Your behavior contradicts your belief. You live like those things don’t really matter, like they have no impact on your life. And it wrecks your testimony.

We’ve got to start taking this as seriously as Paul does. Holding out the very word of life is at stake here. Shining as pure and uncontaminated light-givers in a dark, dark world; becoming children of God without fault, especially as the world views us; living free from anything blame-worthy; beyond reproach; credible witnesses in a world that so desperately needs our resurrected Savior.

It’s a little thing. Complaining. Seems almost trivial. Especially maybe to people who complain all the time. But Paul ties it directly to our salvation and our Christian witness and our ability to fulfill God’s mission for our lives. We are God’s shining stars in the universe. And that universe includes the restaurants, the schools, the neighborhoods, the stores, and the banks we visit.

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Since March, I’ve been driving down to Waco once a month for a full-day of prayer and study and encouragement and reflection with a group of eight other preachers and an elder. Jim Martin put the group together and I’m eternally grateful he included me from the start. I look forward to these monthly gatherings as a real time of spiritual renewal and personal introspection.

Our time together this month will be even more special. We’re leaving from Waco at 4:30 this afternoon to drive to Lynn Anderson’s house in San Antonio where we will spend the night and then all day tomorrow at the feet of this great man of God. ( “KK&C Top 20” pollsters, your deadline’s been extended. I won’t get the new poll up until late Tuesday night. You now have until 8:00 pm Tuesday to decide whether OU really deserves to be ranked ahead of Texas.) Lynn, of course, is a fantastic preacher of the Gospel and an outstanding author. His They Smell Like Sheep is at the very front of the recent move by elders in God’s Church to re-cast their roles according to the biblical standard as shepherds and teachers, not governors and decision-makers. We’re going to spend all day tomorrow with Lynn talking about church leadership and preaching and ministering and God’s will for his people. I’m anticipating nothing less than a total re-energizing for me and my ministry. I’m expecting to come away more focused and more committed than ever to God’s great cause.

Iron sharpens iron. And I’m certain the sparks will be flying at Lynn’s house tonight and Tuesday.

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Last night was the annual “Legacy Family Christmas” performance and dinner. Over 500 of us came together to enjoy our young children singing Christmas carols, readings of Christmas memories submitted by our older members, songs from our singles and middle-married groups, burgers, and pictures with Santa. As usual, the church staff put together a Christmas song with which to bless the congregation. The songs that didn’t make our full cut included:

Deck the halls with tacky fences.

Out in the parking lot, near and far;
There’s no room for no more cars!

You better watch out, keep your head down;
Don’t look now, he’s coming around!
Kent needs men to move a few chairs.

Grandma got run over by a Wiggler
Walking way too slowly by Pod C.
Grandma says that we should be more careful,
Or we’ll be taking her to H-E-B.

Sung to the tune of “Walking in a Winter Wonderland,” here’s what we presented last night: “Working for the Church at Legacy.”

Class bells ring, so annoying;
Coleman Ar-cher, candy throwing;
A service we lost, we love our new cross,
Working for the church at Legacy.

Gone away is the gray van;
Never gon-na get a new van.
The tires will blow, and we’ll need a tow,
Hitching our way back to Legacy.

In the concourse you’ll find lots of tables,
And free Bibles at the Lost and Found.
You’ll say where’s the coffee and the donuts?
We’ll say you can find it further down.

When it works, ain’t it thrillin’?
(mouthing words here only, no sound)
It’s out and it’s in; how much did we spend?
Working on the sound at Legacy.

In November we elected elders,
After Allan beat it in the ground (Amen!)
We’ll have lots of fun with our new elders,
Until the weekly meetings beat them down.

Later on, we’ll perspire,
Sitting by Todd’s fake fire.
We’re slightly afraid of the song that we made.
Working for the church at Legacy.
Hope we’re still employed at Legacy.

Peace,

Allan

Joyful Imitation

November 24, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 2:5

So I’m talking about The Fonz during yesterday’s sermon. You remember The Fonz from TV’s “Happy Days” 30 years ago? The leather jacket, the hair, the magic touch, the super cool? “Aaayyyy!”

When I was nine-years-old I wanted to be The Fonz. He was the very definition of cool. And I poured myself into being exactly like him. I did everything a little boy without a motorcycle could to imitate Fonzie. I wore my blue jean jacket with the collar up, even when it was 95-degrees outside. I blew on my fist before hitting the button on the Coke machine at the city rec center. I carried a comb in my back pocket. I called my friend Mike Cunningham’s dad “Mr. C.” When I went to the bathroom I said I was stepping into my office. I called my sister “Shortcake.” I told everybody to “Sit on it!” And I was constantly sticking up both thumbs and declaring a profound, “Aaayyyy!”

It didn’t make anybody’s joy complete.

My parents that year took away the TV, my bicycle, my allowance, and my football trying to break me of those habits.

I told the story yesterday to illustrate what Paul does in Philippians 2. He tells us to be like Jesus, to have his attitude, to have his outlook. And that sounds good. It sounds great. Who could argue with that concept? But what does it look like? What does Jesus say? What does Jesus do? How does Jesus act?

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!”

Christ Jesus gives up everything. And dies for others.

How do we consider others better than ourselves? How do we look to the interests of others? Paul says, look at Jesus.

Jesus sacrificed for us, he served us, by giving up completely everything that was his. He poured out his diety. He let go of his equality with God. He sacrificed his eternal power. He gave up his heavenly glory. Our model, the one we follow, willingly traded heaven for earth, glory for shame, a royal scepter for a slave’s water basin, life for death — even death on a cross!

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. You should give up everything and die for others.

When I got home yesterday afternoon there was a message on my phone from Charlie P. Charlie is raising his six-year-old grandson. And he had called to tell me that after lunch, he had found his grandson in the garage wearing a blue jean jacket with the collar up. He had wet his hair and combed it straight back. And he was posing with his thumbs up. “Aaayyy!”

My prayer is that everybody went home yesterday and began to imitate Jesus with the same fervor and energy this little boy used to imitate me imitating The Fonz.

What are you sacrificing to be a Christian? What are you giving up to be a member of your church family? What is it costing you to imitate our Lord? Are you dying to yourself every day to benefit the person who sits behind you at the assembly? What are you giving up to be a Christian?

Aaaaayyyyy,

Allan

Christ Is Preached

November 19, 2008 / Allan / 4 Comments

“The important thing is that…Christ is preached.” ~Philippians 1:18

While Paul is in jail there are some other preachers there in Rome piling on. They’re preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry. Their motivations are all wrong. They’re involved in power plays and intentionally trying to harm Paul and discredit him in the eyes of the church and the community. It’s selfish. It’s insincere. And Paul says, Surprise!

“It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice.”

At the end of the day, after all their efforts to oppose Paul, they’ve only succeeded in doing the one thing that matters most to Paul: they’re preaching Christ! Paul’s not concerned about identifying this group. In fact, it’s impossible to tell who these other preachers are here, because to Paul, that’s not important. These other preachers are mean and selfish and they’re using Paul’s chains to promote themselves. But they’re preaching Christ and him crucified for the forgiveness of sins. So Paul’s attitude is just like what he told the Corinthians: “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?”

Just as in Corinth Paul felt it was more important for the church to act like the church than for its members to receive the personal satisfaction of winning lawsuits, he takes his own advice here in Rome. He’s facing people who’ve wronged him. But he shrugs off their animosity and is able to rejoice because they’re preaching Christ.

We have a hard time with that, I think. But we’re in good company.

The apostles run to Jesus in Luke 9 and say, “We saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he is not one of us.” And Jesus says don’t do that! Just because he’s not with you doesn’t mean he’s not with me.

If we’re going to experience a revival, if we’re going to experience a spiritual awakening, we’re going to have to understand that God’s salvation work is bigger than me and what I’m doing. His work to redeem the world is bigger than us and what we’re doing. He’s using me. He’s using us. No question. Praise God. But he’s using all kinds of people in all kinds of places to reconcile creation back to himself. And when we have that joyful perspective, we don’t argue or bicker or fight with Christians who don’t do things the way we do things. We don’t talk bad about them. We don’t look down on them in any way.

But, Allan, they don’t do this! Or have you seen the way they do that?

Paul says, so what? “What does it matter? The important thing is that Christ is preached.” And we praise God that here’s another group of disciples proclaiming the life, death, and resurrection of our common Lord.

Peace,

Allan

Joyful Perspective

November 14, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

Ask me how I’m doing and I may talk to you about my family, my job, or my own health. I may talk to you about my schedule, what I’ve done or what I’m planning to do. Ask the apostle Paul how he’s doing and he talks to you about Christ.

He only speaks about himself and his own affairs as they relate to his Lord and to the advance of God’s Kingdom.

In his letter to the Christians in Philippi, Paul is in prison but that “has really served to advance the Gospel.” Rival preachers are attacking him but “What does that matter? Christ is preached!” He doesn’t know whether he’s going to live or die, but he sees great benefit in both. To Paul, dying means going to be with his Lord. Living means serving his Lord to advance his cause.

The breathtakingly comprehensive nature of Paul’s devotion to Christ and his good news of salvation is the most theologically significant part of the first part of his letter to the Philippians. At the time he wrote, every major feature of his life—his physical comfort, the opinions others have about him, his position with respect to the secular world, the question of whether he lives or dies—are molded by his commitment to the spread of the good news. His perspective is shaped by his loyalty and devotion to his King.

What would our lives look like? What would our speech sound like? What would happen if we cultivated this joyful perspective? If the decisions we made and the ways we looked at life as it relates to our families, jobs, recreation, where we live, and the things we buy were considered from this radical Christ-centered perspective, what would we be as a people? What would we become?

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Back in the spring of 2001, Jason and Dan and Kevin and I gathered around my dining room table in Mesquite and vowed to serve our Lord and his Kingdom with everything we had. Together. We would do it together. We would pray for and with each other. We would encourage each other. We would challenge each other and we would hold each other accountable. We promised that day we would take care of each others’ families. We would support one anothers’ wives and kids. We would do this together.

For some reason we started calling ourselves the Four Horsemen. Kinda weird, but it stuck.

Seven years ago we had very little in common besides our intense desire to be loyal to our Savior. Today, there’s nothing that could ever separate us. We are the very best of friends. We all talk to each other weekly. We have a long lunch together in Dallas once a month. We spend the ACU Lectureships together every year. We have an annual campout every February. We support one another. We encourage one another. We pray together. We plan together. We counsel one another. We depend fully on one another. We selflessly serve one another.

But we dropped the ball with our wives and kids. Totally.

We’ve never incorporated our families into this most amazing Christian circle. Yes, we’re all friends. We all went to church together in Mesquite. But my life has changed significantly because of these three men. And they all three say the same thing. But our wives and children haven’t been in on it.

Since 2001, Carrie-Anne and Tiersa have become preachers’ wives. Tiersa’s way out in East Texas where “going to town” means a trip to Gilmer. Carrie-Anne’s gone back to school. Shelly’s raising two boys and twin girls and finding herself in charge of more and more at Dallas Christian. Debbie’s battling breast cancer and caring for aging parents. Each of our four families—each of our marriages—has gone through quite a bit of stress over the past six or seven years. We men have have found strength and encouragement in each other. But we’ve never included our wives.

Big mistake. I like to think it was short-sighted, not selfish.

That all changes tomorrow. We’re all spending the day together tomorrow at Stanglin Manor. Jason & Tiersa and their four kids, Kevin & Shelly and their four kids, Dan & Debbie and their three teenagers, and us. All 22 of us. Lots of visiting. Lots of sharing. Lots of open discussion. Lots of food. Maybe some college football. And lots and lots of prayer. A ton of prayer. We’ll renew our vows to each other to support and encourage one another. All of us. Together. We’ll promise to strengthen each other, to challenge each other, to comfort each other, and hold each other accountable. And we’ll get together like this, all of us, at least four times a year. This will become a quarterly deal for us.

By God’s grace we’ve been given another chance to make this right. And I’m really looking forward with great anticipation to what our Father is going to do with us and for us and through us to his glory.

Have a great weekend,

Allan

Category: Philippians (Page 10 of 12)

Camping Under The Sign

Joyful Righteousness

Shine Like Stars

Joyful Imitation

Christ Is Preached

Joyful Perspective

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