The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Revelation (Page 6 of 8)

Their Deeds Will Follow Them

October 7, 2011 / / 0 Comments

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'” ~Revelation 14:13

It’s a promise from the future that impacts our every moment in the present. Your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Not at all. The things you’re doing right now for the Kingdom will last forever.

You know, salvation is not a private thing. God saves us to work through us to save others. And everything we contribute to the cause — everything! — is used by God toward that great and ultimate end. Just like the parables of the talents, what we use to his glory, whatever it is, will be multiplied and used by God for his purposes. Like the cup of cold water given in his name, it will be rewarded. Like the weekend food packed for needy school children. Like the check written for Breakthrough Sunday. Like the prayer lifted for the single mom and the errand run for the divorced dad. Our deeds will follow us into eternity. Our efforts for the Lord are going to last forever.

We are building for the Kingdom. All our work matters. Every minute is packed with heavenly potential. Every action is loaded with eternal consequences.

To his enduring praise and glory!

Peace,

Allan

Holy Worship

September 26, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Our God shows his glory to Moses in a burning bush in the middle of the desert. God reveals his holiness to Isaiah in a throneroom vision in the middle of a desecrated temple. God shows his glory to John in a similar vision in the middle of a prison island. In the midst of national trial and personal hardship, God reveals himself to be the One in charge. He is holy and righteous and sovereign. He is surrounded by eternal beings. The air is filled with holy songs. The Creator of Heaven and Earth is revealed to be almighty and everlasting, faithful and good. Very good.

And these scenes show us very clearly that the only appropriate response to these visions of God’s glory and holiness is worship. The creatures who see the glory of God, the heavenly beings who witness the greatness of God, they give him never-ending praise and worship. And we are invited by Holy Scripture to join in.

We cast our crowns daily before our God. No reservations. No holding back. We give our God everything we have and we submit fully to his holy authority. We recognize our own unworthiness in his gracious presence. And we fall to our knees in gratitude and thanksgiving. We remember who he is, what he has done, what he promises to do, and how truly worthy he is of our praise.

Holy worship. Today. Every day. Not just on Sunday.

“I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.” ~Romans 12:1

Peace,

Allan

Upholding the Ideal

September 22, 2011 / / 1 Comment

Our holy Scriptures are full of lofty ideals. We listen to Jesus say, “Love your enemies,” and we realize, “Wait a second, I don’t even like my friends!” Give to everyone who asks. Never lust. Always forgive. Rejoice in persecution. Put the needs of others ahead of your own. Our Lord calls for a single-minded fidelity to following him without reservation. And it’s demanding. Impossibly so. Yes, the Holy Spirit of God empowers us to do what Christ is calling us to do. But we don’t always do it. We mess up. We sin. We fall.

To borrow from Yancey, I find that, personally, I talk and write about spiritual disciplines far better than I practice them.

How about you?

Yeah, I know.

But we keep trying, right?

We never put our feet on the floor in the morning and allow that, “I’m human so I’m going to sin today. There’s no way I’m going to be perfect today. I’m going to mess up. I’m human.” No! God forbid! We strive with everything in our power and by the strength of the Spirit to pledge that, today, I’m going to be like my Lord! We don’t ever give in to the world’s conclusion that we cannot possibly be like Christ. We keep trying.

Scripture paints a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of God and the coming wedding feast of the Lamb. It’s a gathering of “every tribe and language and people and nation.” We find “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” around the table. Paul makes it clear that, in Christ, there is “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.”

I believe the very core of the Gospel of Jesus is that our Christ died and rose again in order to destroy completely and eternally all the barriers that exist between God and man and man and one another. Social distinctions. Cultural differences. Language obstacles. Socio-economic disparity. Zip codes and tax brackets. None of these things register as even a blip on our fellowship radar. These differences don’t even exist in Christ.

But we have black churches. And white churches. And hispanic churches. And rich churches. And poor churches. And somehow we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that’s OK. We have begun to believe the lie that church has always been this way and it will always be this way. The cultural differences are too great. The language difficulties are too much. We’ve tried to integrate, we’ve tried to come together, but it’s just never worked. And it never will work.

So, why try?

Because there is honor in the trying. Trying is an act of faith. Our Father wants us to engage that struggle and try. He wants us to try.

Scripture gives us a crystal-clear mandate. It tells us in no uncertain terms that the table of Christ and the house of God is to be enjoyed by all. Together. United as one. Everybody equal. Everybody just as wretched and lost and condemned to death without Jesus and everybody just as holy and saved and righteous because of Jesus. Together. We uphold the ideals we find in Scripture. We lift up those ideals and we try with everything we have to bring heaven to earth, to practice God’s will on earth just as it is in heaven.

And we slip. And we fall. And fail. And do really stupid things. But we never give up. We never give in to the world’s conclusions that division along racial and economic and language lines is necessary. We keep trying. And we trust that Jesus, our King, is watching even as we are “straining at the oars.” He’s interceding for us as he watches. And he’s proud of us. He’s pleased with us as we keep trying.

Peace,

Allan

Party Practice

June 21, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Jesus is at a fancy dinner party in Luke 14. He’s dining in the home of a “prominent Pharisee.” Fancy people in their fancy clothes telling fancy stories about their sophisticated lives. Scripture says Jesus is “being carefully watched.” Jesus notices and heals a sick man. Then he uses the sick man as sort of a sermon illustration:

“When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.”

And then, I’m assuming, there was a long period of some really awkward silence. You don’t just walk into a fancy dinner party with lots of fancy people and tell the host and the guests that they’re doing it all wrong. “Why would Jesus tell us to invite losers to our parties?” You can almost hear a nervous cough. Imagine the sound of a lonely fork scraping against a dinner plate. Things are really awkward.

Finally, in order the break the tense silence, some guy blurts out, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”

And Jesus immediately begins telling another story about another feast, but with the same guest list: the poor, crippled, blind, and lame.

Jesus is making the point — and he made this same point every day of his ministry — that the Kingdom of God is a big party with a bunch of losers you wouldn’t be caught dead with on a Saturday night. This is God’s idea of a great time. God takes a bunch of losers, he fixes them, and then he breaks out the roast beef and wine. Revelation says we’re all going to eat and drink with Jesus forever. We’re going to take our places around the table with him at the wedding supper of the Lamb.

What we do when we come together on Sundays is a warm up. It’s party practice. It’s like the chips and hot sauce before the fajitas and enchiladas. It’s at these dinner parties in the Gospels where Jesus shows us what the world looks like when it’s fully healed. When everything is finished, when the Kingdom has finally come in all its fullness, when all of creation is finally redeemed and restored to its original Garden of Eden intentions, it’ll be like this. Our Christian gatherings on Sundays anticipate that huge wedding bash. We’re getting ready for the massive celebration, not just on Sundays, but for all eternity. For all of us.

Isn’t it cool that the Church’s number-one liturgical act is practiced around a supper table? The Lord’s Supper. His meal. And we’re all invited. All us losers have a seat at the head table with the risen Lord of the Universe. A salvation party with a bunch of sickos. Again, that’s God’s idea of a really good time. And Jesus showed it to us all the time.

Peace,

Allan

Who Stands Fast?

March 3, 2011 / / 2 Comments

“Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God — the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christmas Eve 1942

The life of a disciple is active, not reactive. It has nothing to do with just talking about faith or teaching religious principles or believing theological ideas or keeping biblical rules. It has everything to do with living one’s whole life in obedience to God’s call through personal action. It doesn’t just require a mind. It requires a body, too.

Ours is a life given to us by God to be lived not in some kind of rigid, cramped, crowded, small, compromised, legalistic way but in a full, wild, joyful, exuberant, cheerful, celebratory way. A way that apprehends and assimilates and then radiates the freedom we have from God in Christ.

The way I see it, a full grasp of the freedom we have in Christ and the grace and mercy we’ve received from our God will come to mean, eventually,  that we are no longer afraid of sin. We’re not worried about messing up. We don’t hold back because of an anxiety over doing something that might displease our God. At the very least — stay with me here — avoiding sin will not be the main thing that drives us as we follow our Lord.

Our Father wants his beloved children to operate out of joy and freedom to do what is good and right, not out of fear of making a mistake. Isn’t that one of the great lessons in Jesus’ story about the servants and the talents in Matthew 25?

We must be more zealous to please God than to avoid sin. We must act in faith that our God who calls us to live boldly and outrageously for him also promises us that if and when we do mess up in enthusiastic service to our King, he promises forgiveness and consolation and salvation.

The Christian life is an active life. Our God calls us to give our whole selves to him. Brakes off. No looking back. Full speed ahead. He’s not going to punish us when, in pursuit of his will, we might mess up.

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Last Sunday’s sermon on Christ’s return from Revelation 21-22 prompted many, many kind comments and encouragements from dozens of my brothers and sisters here at Legacy. Many had never thought about heaven and earth and God’s ultimate mission in the ways Scripture so plainly paints it. Many seemed refreshed at the biblical promises that God’s will is ultimately going to be done on earth just as it is in heaven. That’s why we’re told to pray it, right? And that’s why we join it. The mission. The salvation objective. Those are the things we’re going to be considering together during Missions Month throughout March.

In a related item, Patrick Mead has posted a hilarious re-cap of all the individuals and groups throughout history who have predicted the return of Christ and the end of the world. Of course, mankind has a 100% fail rate in this useless undeavor. But the list is hilarious. I especially like the parenthetical comments in his list. One mentions the possibility that Van Halen may be the anti-Christ which may or may not, combined with Orwells’ vision, have led to the speculation about the year 1984. There’s a group called the Sword of God Brotherhood that is claiming the end of the world will come in 2017. They say that they alone will be spared and tasked to repopulate the earth. Here’s hoping there’s a Sword of God Sisterhood, too.

You can read the complete list by clicking here.

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I’m 24 hours away from my annual camping trip with my Four Horsemen friends. A weekend of encouragement, prayer, meditation, food, bonding, and at least one unforeseen near-catastophic incident to remember forever. These are the guys. These are the ones. They are my closest friends. They keep me going. They keep me accountable. They challenge me and they exhort me. They mature me in our faith. They inspire me to be a better man, a better husband and dad, a better preacher, a better disciple. Even while we’re throwing rocks at raccoons and making fun of Dan’s always-on survival mode, Jason’s tough guy facade (what a fake!), and Kevin’s wardrobe.

I can’t wait.

Peace,

Allan

Lord, Come Later

February 28, 2011 / / 3 Comments

The prayer of God’s Church, from very early on, has always been “Lord, come quickly.” Marana tha. These are the words Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16. “Lord, come quickly.” These are the words historically and faithfully prayed around the communion table for centuries. “Lord, come quickly.”

And Jesus’ response to that prayer is found three times in the final 15 verses of Holy Scripture: “Behold! I am coming soon!”

Revelation begins with “the time is near” and ends with “I am coming soon.” And everywhere in between there’s this overwhelming sense of urgency and immediacy. Nearness. Soon-ness.

Lord, come quickly.

But our talk today sometimes betrays an un-Scriptural attitude. Our jokes and stories about heaven reveal what we really think and feel about eternal life after death in the presence of our loving Father. Our view seems to be that heaven will be fine once I die. But I don’t want to go there just yet. Not yet. Truth is, I’m doing OK here on earth. Things are pretty good. Instead of  “Lord, come quickly” it’s “Lord, come later.”

We sing it that way sometimes, too. “I’d like to stay here longer than man’s alloted days, and watch the fleeting changes of life’s uneven ways; but if my Savior calls me to that sweet home on high…”

No, no, no. Lord, come quickly!

Lord, come quickly and create that promised new heavens and new earth. Bring about that renewal of all things. Cleanse and purify the earth with that 2 Peter fire. Do that new thing. Reverse the curse. Banish Satan to hell forever. Make all of creation brand new again. Obliterate sin and death so thoroughly that we can’t even remember it anymore. May your holy will be done on earth just as it is in heaven. Bring it, Lord. The new Jerusalem. The new Garden of Eden. The new heaven and earth where everything that’s gone so horribly wrong is now finally made perfectly right!

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.

Amen.

Allan

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