The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Author: Allan (Page 376 of 492)

Knowledge Puffs Up

November 4, 2010 / / 0 Comments

The Church of God, in its present state on this earth, is not perfect. It’s not perfect. It’s made up of sinful, but redeemed people. Christ followers who make up Jesus’ Church are living in this in-between state of having been already adopted by God yet still awaiting that final adoption and redemption of our bodies. So, too, the Church lives in the tension of the Kingdom come, yet, “Lord, come quickly.” So, naturally, the Church is going to have its problems.

We’re going to disagree. We’re going to differ. We’re going to see some things differently than others. And that’s OK. Our diversity in the Church is God-created and God-ordained.

We’re going to fuss and argue and bicker and complain. We’re going to fight. And that’s not OK. Our line-drawing and boundary-making in the Church is certainly not God-ordained.

It’s sinful.

When the apostle Paul deals with the most explosive “salvation issue” being argued in the Church during his day, he instructs congregations to chunk their knowledge out the window. Everybody has knowledge, he says in 1 Corinthians 8:1. “We know that we all possess knowledge.” But that has no value in settling church disputes. Knowledge has no place in deciding on church issues and deciding between church members.

The answer is Love.

Love builds up. Knowledge puffs up. Knowledge causes us to bow up and dig in. Love causes us to bow down and give in. Knowledge moves us to defend and debate. Love moves us to open up and agree. Knowledge leads to suspicion and judgment. Love leads to trust and acceptance. Knowledge is the way of the World. Love is the way of the Christ.

And, shouldn’t the older, more mature Christians among us be the ones to lead the way in love over knowledge? Shouldn’t our older brothers and sisters know this and practice this and model this for the rest of us? Paul says, “The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God” (1 Corinthians 8:2-3). If we can’t look to our older members to exhibit Christ’s love and grace and sacrifice in all situations — especially church situations! — to whom should we look?

When it comes to clapping during a Sunday morning assembly (let’s just cut to the chase and make it practical in an overly obvious way, shall we?), you can do one of two things. You can complain about it and tell people not to clap; or you can smile and join them in their clapping. Which one builds up? Which one puffs up?

When it comes to raising hands during worship you can do one of two things. You can complain about it and tell people not to raise their hands (or not to raise their hands too high); or you can grin through it and then compliment that person for the joy they bring to the assembly. Which one encourages? Which one discourages?

I want you to seriously consider your reaction to anything your congregation may or may not be doing that causes you a little discomfort or even full-blown heartburn. Think about your response to your own brothers and sisters who may be expressing themselves in worship to God in ways that you don’t personally embrace. Are you going to bless those people or curse them? Will you tear them down with your knowledge or build them up with your love?

I am weary of these conversations. We ought to know better.

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David and Olivia Nelson are back in town! Our precious Legacy to the World missionaries in Kharkov, Ukraine arrived at DFW late yesterday afternoon and joined us for Bible classes here last night. They’re going to be here with us for the whole month of November. What a blessing! What an encouragement to have these two — no, THREE! — here among us again.

Carrie-Anne and I were so blessed to live with them in Kharkov for almost two weeks this past June. We went over there to help them and encourage them. But they wound up helping us and encouraging us even more.

If you’re looking to succeed in business or politics, you’re told to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Hang out with people who know more than you. Hire people who will challenge you and push you. Limiting your personal interactions to folks who aren’t quite up to speed won’t get you where you want to be. I think the same is true in our personal walks with Christ. In order to be the best kinds of disciples we can be, in order to live up and into the p0tential God created in us, we should surround ourselves with people who are closer to God than we are. We should continually interact with men and women who are more spiritually minded, more sacrificial and servant-hearted, more prayerful, more committed than we are.

I think that’s why I really love hanging out with David and Olivia.

Their commitment to the Kingdom pushes me. Their unshakeable faith in God challenges me. Their big-picture views of Christ’s salvation work in the world humbles me. Their willingness — no, eagerness! — to give up everything for the sake of the cross inspires me.

We’ll take them to Abuelo’s so they can enjoy real Tex-Mex for the first time in two years. We’ll bring them over to the house a couple of times for some of Carrie-Anne’s home cooking and long games of Phase 10. We’ll be at Caleb’s baby shower Sunday afternoon. We’ll take care of them and encourage them as much as we can during this month at Legacy. But I’m really looking forward to the ways they’re going to encourage and grow me.

Peace,

Allan

Nothing Sanctimonious About That

November 3, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Back in March, what if you could have put money in Vegas on the Texas Rangers having more postseason wins than the Dallas Cowboys’ number of regular season wins? How would you be spending those millions of dollars today for the Kingdom?

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“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” ~John 15:18-19

Former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy is being vilified by many in the mainstream media as a sanctimonious finger-wagger. As a football analyst now for NBC, Dungy is being paid to weigh in on the issues of the game. But apparently not everybody likes what he has to say.

Reggie Bush was right to return the Heisman Trophy. Rex Ryan should cut back on his foul language. Braylon Edwards should have been benched for a full game for his DUI arrest.

Dungy is being bashed by critics who say he’s trying to force his own standards on others. According to a recent Sports Illustrated article written by Phil Taylor (Oct. 18, 2010), a Google search of Dungy’s name combined with the term “holier than thou” turned up 871 hits. A popular sports website shredded him last week with an article headlined “TONY DUNGY IS AN INSUFFERABLE #*@!+*!!”

Dungy says, “I’m not trying to be anyone’s judge or conscience. I’ve always been passionate about doing what’s right, about living as a Christian, and I’ve never hidden that.”

In my view, Dungy does it right. He’s not loud. He’s not obnoxious. He’s not an attention-seeker. He’s not mean. He doesn’t take pleasure in stirring up controversy. He criticizes and comments without mockery or sarcasm. And I’m not sure how this makes him insufferable. Or a jerk.

Unless it’s that he’s so different from the world. Unless his voice is just that unique. Unless his life stands in such contrast to the lives of those who hear him.

Taylor concludes his excellent article with this question and conclusion:

Could it be that Dungy’s virtue makes some of us uneasy? Maybe we’re so unaccustomed to a good man simply trying to apply his own set of values to the world around him that his critics have been reading him wrong. You needn’t believe he is always right to appreciate his efforts to always do right. There’s nothing sanctimonious about that.

Trying to always do right, no matter the consequences, regardless of whether it sits well with the culture around us. Now that’s something we can embrace. Actually, that’s exactly the thing to which our Christ calls us all.

Peace,

Allan

A Season To Remember

November 2, 2010 / / 0 Comments

If you had told me six months ago — no, if you had told me six weeks ago! — that the Texas Rangers would go to the World Series and lose it in five games, I would have taken it with great glee. That our baseball team looked completely lost at the plate and totally overwhelmed in the field for most of this championship round does not diminish in any way what they’ve accomplished during this glorious season.

They won their division for only the fourth time in franchise history. They won a playoff series for the first time ever. They won the American League pennant for the first time ever, beating the hated Yankees in the process. They won over hundreds of thousands of fans who fell in love with this team’s winning attitude and laid-back approach and persistent style.

They exorcised all kinds of Rangers demons: can’t win in the Texas heat, good pitchers don’t want to play here, can’t win a playoff series, can’t beat the Yankees, can’t manufacture runs, can’t compete in a Cowboys market.

And let’s not ever forget how completely improbable this whole thing was. During spring training, the manager admitted to using cocaine in the middle of last season. He probably should have been fired on the spot. Scott Feldman was this team’s opening day starter. Jared Saltalamacchia was the starting catcher. C. J. Wilson was in the bullpen. Justin Smoak was the unproven guy at first base. Vladimir Guerrero was washed up; nobody wanted him. Josh Hamilton was coming off a horrible, injury-plagued season. The closer was a rookie. Frank Francisco was lost before the All-Star break. Kinsler and Cruz and Hamilton spent weeks on the DL. Colby Lewis pitched the past two years in Japan. The team declared bankruptcy! They were borrowing money from MLB just to make payroll. Mark Cuban almost wound up owning the team. On July 8, it was announced that the Yankees had sealed a deal with the Mariners to acquire Cliff Lee.

But it happened. These Rangers believed in their manager and they believed in one another. They supported one another. They kept an even keel, a right perspective on everything. They never dwelled too long on the highs or the lows. They kept coming from behind to win ballgames. They beat the Red Sox and Yankees in astonishing fashion. They got Mariano Rivera’s number. And they went to the World Series.

Yes, we could spend a lot of time on trying to figure out where this thing went foul over the past week against the Giants. We could talk about the Rangers maybe putting all of their World Series eggs into one Cliff Lee basket and then, when they watched Lee getting rocked in that opener, being too shocked — paralyzed — to recover. We could point to the weight of expectations, the pressure of being the World Series favorites, as too much for this young team to handle. We could speculate that perhaps beating the Yankees in the ALCS became the end-all accomplishment for this team. Maybe they celebrated too much. Maybe they thought if they could dispatch the Yankees in such matter-of-fact ease, the Giants would be a piece of cake. Maybe. We could speculate to all kinds of things.

But I’ll choose to remember this Rangers season for how incredibly unforseen and glorious it was. I’ll forever remember this Red October when everybody I saw was wearing a Rangers shirt and/or a Rangers cap, a lot of people for the first time ever. Getting caught up in those ALCS moments when the Rangers were stealing bases and taking the extra bag and banging doubles off the tops of the walls. Greeting the crossing guards at the kids’ schools with antlers and claws. This was the year Valerie and Carley actually cared. This was the year we witnessed and even participated in real possibility.

I think watching the Giants celebrate the championship on their own field was good for these Rangers. I think they could actually visualize themselves, on that same field, celebrating in that same way. I think the past month has proven that it’s really possible. I think the past week has forged a resolve to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Go, Rangers!

Allan

Falling Short

October 31, 2010 / / 0 Comments

“My own way of expressing myself almost always disappoints me. I am anxious for the best possible, as I feel it in me before I start bringing it into the open in plain words; and when I see that it is less impressive than I had felt it to be, I am saddened that my tongue cannot live up to my heart.”

~Augustine

Believer or Convert?

October 29, 2010 / / 0 Comments

So, the Giants go more than four weeks without scoring more than five runs in a game; now they’re the first NL team in history to score nine or more runs in the first two games of the World Series. San Francisco scores six runs or more in an inning just five times the entire regular season; now they’ve done it twice in two days. Edgar Renteria has only hit one homerun since July 27, and that was over eight weeks ago; until last night. C. J. Wilson’s only given up ten homers all year. Last night’s was huge. And how does Kinsler’s fifth inning homer bounce off the top of the wall back into play for a double? That bounce defied all the eternal laws of physics!

Yes, Cain and Lincecum have been tremendous. Yes, the Giants are getting some really timely hits. But this 0-2 hole isn’t about the Giants. And it’s not about fate or luck. It’s about the Rangers.

Yuk.

Young and Hamilton and Cruz are hitting a combined .120 in the World Series. Young is 1-8. So is Hammy. Last night the Rangers went 0-8 with runners in scoring position.

And I’m tired — very, very tired — of watching Ron Washington play Bullpen Bingo. It’s not working.

Q: How many Rangers relievers does it take to get one out?
A: Three

Whatever Derek Holland was screaming into his glove when Wash came out to pull him and again as Holland walked to the dugout, I concur! He throws 13 pitches, 12 of them balls, and walks the only three batters he faces. As my great friend, Jim Gardner, told me this morning, Holland is the new Walker, Texas Ranger.

Is it so impossible to leave O’Day out there for more than one batter? Why is Holland even out there? And what about Lowe and Kirkman? Who are Lowe and Kirkman?!? Is Ogando not an option? Feliz didn’t pitch in Game One and today is a day off. What are we waiting for with him, to be available for the first game of the Cactus League?!?

Only eleven teams have ever come back from an 0-2 hole to win the World Series.

Colby Lewis could be the stopper we need. It could all turn around tomorrow. The lineup will be back to normal. The Rangers had the best home record in baseball this year. The games will be at night. The fans will be sporting claws and antlers instead of pandas and beards. The Rangers are not done yet. There’s still a chance Washington knows something we don’t. There’s still a chance he knows what he’s doing. He’s proven most of us wrong all year.

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In our efforts to run away from old 1950s & 1960s Church of Christ sectarianism, I fear we’re in danger of mindlessly trashing good traditions and leaving behind strong concepts and words. Now, don’t get me wrong, we do need to run very, very fast away from any form of sectarianism. That should be condemned in all of its various evil forms. But sometimes in our zeal to be different, we tend to go overboard the other way.

Have you noticed that we don’t use the word “convert” anymore?

He is a convert. When did she become a convert? Fourteen men and women were converted during our mission trip.

We don’t use that term anymore. Maybe it’s more cultural than theological. It’s possible we don’t even realize we don’t say it anymore. It’s probably not a conscious decision. But I think it does have consequences.

Conversion means to change. To alter. To make something different than what it was before. To transform something. We have conversion vans. We have converted garages. And disciples of Christ are to be converted people.

Shane Claiborne, in his book Jesus for President, says this about conversion:

“We need conversion in the best sense of the word — people who are marked by the renewing of their minds and imaginations, who no longer conform to the pattern that is destroying our world. Otherwise we have only believers, not converts. And believers are a dime a dozen nowadays.”

What the Kingdom really needs is a bunch of people who believe so much in Christ and in the salvation of the world that we cannot help but live it. We believe so much in God’s righteousness and justice that we enact it. We’ve been changed so much by Jesus’ love and mercy and forgiveness that we take it and bring it and share it!

Even the demons believe and shudder.

The Kingdom needs converts.

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I can’t help but leave you with this picture of Carley. As part of their annual Red Ribbon Week to raise drug and alcohol awareness, today is 50s day at Green Valley Elementary. She’s definitely the cutest girl at the sock-hop!

Peace,

Allan

Kings & Priests

October 28, 2010 / / 2 Comments

Hope the Rangers got all that out of their system last night. Good gravy, what was that?!? Elvis and Young booting balls all over the infield. Cliff Lee looking more like Cliff Claven. Vladdie needing a GPS in right.

Remember how good we were feeling after Texas took the first two at Tampa and then how immediately bad and bleak it got. Remember how awful it was when the Yanks came back to win the ALCS opener and how quickly it went the other way.

That’s the way baseball go.

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A few of you have asked for a copy of the kings and priests pledge we all took together at Legacy a couple of Sundays ago. We were preaching the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. We were looking at Exodus 19 and Revelation 1 and 5 and 1 Peter 2. We were considering just what it meant to be these priests. Holy go-betweens. Powerful mediators. Intercessors with authority.

We reflect the holiness of God. We offer spiritual sacrifices to God. We intercede for others before God. And, mostly, we represent God to man. We bless people. We take what God has given us and we, in turn, give it to others. We graciously share his love and mercy and comfort and forgiveness to everyone we meet with his power and authority as his kings and priests.

The priesthood of all believers breaks down the barriers between clergy and laity. We are all powerful priests in the sight of God. Nobody in God’s Church has more power or more authority or more permission than anybody else. We’re all the same. We’re all called the same. Nobody’s exempt. We’re all authorized to pray and teach. We’re all authorized to lead Christian ministry. We all have the same authority.

So, right at the end of the sermon, we had everybody place little silver sheriff’s badges on their neighbors. We had printed them up in advance. And we all stood together, 800 of us with these shiny little badges, these little signs of authority. And we raised our right hands and said these words together:

I, (state your name), do solemnly swear, as a faithful member of God’s royal priesthood, to act like a priest.
I promise to henceforth and forever more regard myself as a minister in God’s Church.
I promise to honor and respect and love and cherish my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
I promise to encourage and not tear down, to bless and not to curse, to submit and to serve in compassion and kindness.
I will not be hindered in my priestly duties by time or decency and order, but will place the spiritual well-being of my church family above all other priorities until Christ returns.
As a minister and a priest in God’s Kingdom, this is my pledge as surely as the Lord shall live.

Peace,

Allan

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