The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

AllanStanglin.com

Author: Allan (Page 226 of 492)

Stop Saying “Salvation Issue”

November 28, 2016 / / 0 Comments

oneheart

“In matters of faith, unity; in matters of opinion, liberty; in all things, love.”

We’ve used the above Restoration slogan in the Churches of Christ for more than 200 years. We’ve quoted this little line as a guiding principle for a long time. It’s a creed, actually. And that’s OK. But it doesn’t really help much because what some people consider a trivial matter of opinion, others consider a non-negotiable matter of Christian faith. If you and I are arguing about something and the argument and the feelings are such that it’s dividing us and threatening to divide the body, then, of course, one or both of us believes with all hearts we’re dealing with a serious doctrinal matter.

And one or both of us will use the term “salvation issue” to either downplay or raise the status of our opinion.

“It doesn’t matter; it’s not a salvation issue.”

“We can’t budge on this; it’s a salvation issue.”

I’d like to make a bold and, maybe, scandalous proposal for all of us: Let’s stop using the term “salvation issue.” Let’s just stop saying it altogether. Let’s promise never to use that phrase in our debates about Kingdom matters.

When we get into discussions about “salvation issues,” we start ranking things in order of importance to God, in terms of what’s going to save us and what’s going to condemn us. We’ll bring up really important things like baptism and church and communion and worship, but we rarely talk about helping the poor or being kind to your neighbor or giving your money away which, the Bible says, are actually the weightier matters, the “salvation issues.” I would suggest they’re ALL salvation issues! Everything is a salvation issue. Whether a church has a kitchen or not is a salvation issue — not because a kitchen is right or wrong, but because of how you treat people who don’t feel the same way about it as you do.

“You folks who don’t have kitchens in your churches, grow up! You’re focused on the wrong things. It’s silly. You’re like the Pharisees. How backwards are you? When are you going to get serious about the Kingdom?”

“You folks with kitchens in your churches, I guess you’ll do anything. You see any kitchens in any churches in the New Testament? You let the culture decide everything in your church? We’re a little more serious about following Scripture than you are.”

See how kitchens at church is a salvation issue? Not the kitchen — but your heart, your attitude.

We need to stop saying “salvation issue” because we don’t do a good with it. We won’t fellowship a church because they sing different songs than we do or we won’t accept a group of Christians because they believe differently about baptism than we do, but we’re OK with lying to our customers or cheating on our spouses or ignoring the poor! We typically use the term “salvation issue” to categorize the issues I think are important and the issues we don’t think are important based on our own opinions and understandings. The salvation issue is your heart in all circumstances; the salvation issue is your attitude toward others in all things.

Here’s a link to something I wrote seven years ago on this subject that was prompted by a passage in Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. I’ll write much more about this through the week. I welcome your comments (click the comments link at the top of this post).

Peace,

Allan

N. T. Wright on Forgiveness

November 22, 2016 / / 0 Comments

forgiven

I’ll occasionally use this space to pass along something I wanted to use in Sunday’s sermon but, for whatever reason, didn’t. While preparing for last week’s lesson on the line about forgiveness in the Apostles’ Creed — “We believe in the forgiveness of sins” — I came across this excellent passage in N. T. Wright’s “How God Became King.”

“[Forgiveness of sins] includes, of course, just what it says to most of us: we are all overdrawn at the moral bank, and need to know again and again that God wipes out the debt and fills the account with his own freely given treasure. But when we step back from our own personal anxieties and awareness of guilt, we recognize that the world as a whole needs, longs for, aches and yearns and cries out for forgiveness — for that collective, global sigh of relief that means that nobody need seek vengeance ever again; that nobody will bear a grudge ever again; that the million wrongs with which the world has been so horribly defaced will be put right at last; that in God’s ultimate new world there will be no moral shadow, no lingering resentment, no character warped by another’s wrong. ‘Forgiveness of sins’ is not a purely negative term, getting rid of the moral stain and guilt that we all incur, though it is that, too. It is the positive presence of God and the Lamb, the Lamb whose shed blood has wiped the record clean.”

“We believe in the forgiveness of sins” doesn’t just mean we’re forgiven by God’s love and grace in Jesus. It also means we believe forgiveness is the way God is fixing the world. Forgiveness is the key to everything our God is doing. It’s how he’s decided to make everything right. So, as his children and disciples of his Son, we join him in his salvation work by forgiving. If we desire to mend the things that are broken, if we want to help people, if we want to change the world the way our Father is changing the world, we will forgive.

Peace,

Allan

4 Amarillo & Heal the City

November 21, 2016 / / 1 Comment

2016worshipcrowd

We believe anytime our four downtown churches come together to worship or to serve — to do anything together! — it is an undeniable witness to our city that our God is bigger than our denominational walls and his Kingdom is here and it’s coming and we’re all in on it. Nights like last night here at Central are proof that God is moving powerfully in our city.

More than a thousand Christians from Central, First Baptist, First Presbyterian, and Polk Street United Methodist Church came together here to praise God, to celebrate our unity in the Spirit of Christ, and to be that testimony to Amarillo and beyond. The combined choir of more than a hundred gifted disciples gave beautiful voice to the spirit of grace and peace between our four congregations. Kim started us off with an energetic call to worship from Psalm 32, Burt gave us the expected one-liners, and Howie’s riveting Gospel narrative centering on the healing work of our Lord Jesus was as inspiring as it was clever. A wonderful, wonderful evening together. Only the Prince of Peace can create and sustain the kind of unity that exists between our four downtown churches. And we praise God for that.

2016worshipchoir

The leadership of our four churches announced last night a brand new partnership, as a group, with Heal the City Free Clinic. Beginning December 5, the churches of 4 Amarillo will have volunteers at Heal the City every Monday night to provide prayers and pastoral care to the patients.

First Presbyterian has the first Monday of every month, Central has the second Monday, Polk Street is taking the third, and First Baptist has the fourth Monday of each month. We will be there to pray with the patients, to listen, and to provide any spiritual care that’s needed.

2016healthecity

We’re all excited about the potential to join the Gospel work that’s being done at Heal the City. And we give this new partnership to our God for his purposes and to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

Forgiveness Fixes Sin

November 17, 2016 / / 0 Comments

forgiveness

In the Bible there are more than fifty different words for “sin”: debt, evil, wickedness, trespass, unrighteousness, guilt, transgressions, disobedience, rebellion, etc., But exposing the sin and naming the sin is not what matters. That’s not what fixes the problem. Keeping score is not the Gospel. Witch-hunting is not the Gospel. Shaming people and punishing people is not the Gospel.

Forgiving sin — that’s the Gospel, because it’s the only thing that works.

If something’s going to be done about sin, it’s not going to be with laws and commands or with judgments and punishments. Do we really think what’s wrong with the world is something we can fix with more rules or more creative ways to practice judgment? No, forgiveness is the only way.

The ancient Apostles’ Creed reminds us that disciples of Jesus believe in and practice forgiveness. We are eternally blessed by God’s merciful forgiveness and we, in turn, bless the world by generously sharing our own forgiveness.

God forgives. And we, his people, are the stage where that divine forgiveness is made visible and real in the world.

Peace,

Allan

8-1 With a Bullet

November 14, 2016 / / 0 Comments

dakzekeSince the day Jerry Wayne’s gargantuan ego caused him to fire his back-to-back Super Bowl winning coach and replace him with Barry Switzer, I’ve lived by the mantra, “If you can’t say anything ugly about the Cowboys, don’t say anything at all.”

Allow me to break from this blog’s tradition for just one day and, in the words of that fired coach, say, “How ’bout them Cowboys?!”

Whoa.

I don’t get it. I thought God hated the Cowboys what with the devil himself owning the team. I’m still expecting some awful and delicious thing to go horribly wrong in a way that rips the gut out of this team and its fans like never before. Surely some incredibly unforeseen tragedy awaits.

Or, maybe not. This team has been gifted with two unbelievably talented and unflappable rookies in two really critical roles and this train is not just rolling, it’s gaining speed with every week.

Look at Dak. He’s really only had two rough quarters this entire season. Against Philadelphia, the Eagles blitzed him and hit him and knocked him down and sacked him more than he’d been harassed all year. And for the second and third quarters, he looked a little overwhelmed. A little. But then he figured it out and he’s been super hot ever since. In his first two or three games I had two criticisms of his passing: he threw behind his receivers and he never went deep. Well, you can fix throwing behind receivers — that’s a timing thing — and he’s done that. Throwing deep? Yeah, he’s doing that, too, with a super soft touch that receivers absolutely love. Reading blitzes? Seeing the field? Scrambling to throw? Prescott’s got all of it. And he’s gained the respect and confidence of everybody in that Cowboys locker room.

Look at Elliott. Yesterday Troy Aikman compared him to Emmitt Smith in the way he makes that first tackler miss. Troy would know. And he’s not given to much hyperbole. I trust that. The part of Elliott’s game that reminds me of Emmitt is the way he uses his hands while he’s running to knock away the arms and hands of those would-be tacklers. Have you noticed that? He instinctively slaps their hands away just like Smith; it’s beautiful. He sees the field, he waits on his blocks, he picks up blitzing linebackers, he catches the ball out of the backfield, and he’s got a turbo-charged next gear that takes your breath away. I’m not a fan of his halter tops, but Zeke looks like a great running back.

The whole rest of the team, and maybe the entire franchise, is feeding off the success of these two surprising rookies. The defense is playing with more confidence and energy. The special teams are making spectacular plays every week. Jason Garrett’s game management and play calling seem to be less conservative; he seems to have more confidence in Prescott than he ever had in Romo.

Now, honestly, I’ve tried to make excuses all along during this incredible start. The Cowboys are playing a last place schedule, the easiest slate of games in the league. But I can’t get away from the fact that it’s very hard to get wins in the NFL. Even against bad teams, it’s tough to win. But the Cowboys are beating the good teams — a November win in Pittsburgh is massive any year — and making the bad teams look like the JV. In a league that is structured to produce 8-8 teams, the Cowboys have won eight in a row.

Yes, they’re on a roll. Yeah, they’re fun to watch. And… wait for it… I’ve read more than a couple of national and regional writers today who are using the words “Cowboys” and “Super Bowl” in the same sentence.

Perfect.

I’ve watched almost every snap of almost every Cowboys game since the day Jerry Wayne fired Johnson and took over full control of the franchise. We’ve all been conditioned to expect something unexpected, something horribly unexplainable, to go foul at the absolute worst time and rip the guts out of this team and its fans. A season-ending injury. A bone-headed coach’s decision. A bye-week arrest. Five turnovers in a division home game. A botched snap on a game-winning field goal. A video-reversed referee’s call on a diving catch. Something. Most fans push those dark dreads aside, ignoring the inevitable, foaming at the mouth, getting Super Bowl tattoos before Black Friday.

That makes it all the more delicious when the whole thing comes crashing down. The shock. The horror. The wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Me? I’m expecting it. This team hasn’t won a single divisional playoff game in more than 20 years. Are two rookies going to change that? I don’t believe so, not yet.

But, man, they are seriously on a roll right now.

Peace,

Allan

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑