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Category: 2 Corinthians (Page 5 of 13)

Having All That You Need

July 5, 2016 / / 0 Comments

“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” ~2 Corinthians 9:8

CupOfBlessingOverflowThe four words in the middle of that verse — “all that you need” — could make you think that God’s interested in giving you a bunch of material things. But he’s not. “Having all that you need” is about contentment. We all have every single thing we need. I dare say every single person reading this post has every single thing he or she needs to make it through today and tonight and into tomorrow. We all have everything we need. We just might not have everything we want. But what we want isn’t always what’s best for us, right? Paul’s talking about a contentment, a satisfaction with what God is choosing to give us. This is about you being good with what God is choosing to give you and what he’s deciding not to give you.

It’s also about knowing that the truly important things, the eternal things, the things that really matter, he gives us in abundance. We have more of the really important stuff than we know what to do with.

“the surpassing grace God has given you” (2 Corinthians 9:14) – surpassing grace, overflowing grace, enough grace to obliterate every single one of your sins and restore you to a righteous relationship with God;

“his incomparable great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19) – overflowing power, overwhelming power, more than enough divine Holy Spirit power inside you to annihilate sin and death and Satan and everything that might separate you from God;

“the incomparable riches of his grace” (Ephesians 2:7) – buckets of grace, grace in spades, more than plenty of grace to be saved, it says, and to join God in doing works;

“this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19) – incomprehensible love, love that blows your mind, divine love up to here, unconditional love coming out your ears; a surplus of love, it says, to fill you to the measure of all the fullness of God himself; this God who is able to do, it says, immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within you!

All that grace. All that power. All that love. Lavished on us. More than we need. Why? Why does God give us so much?

So you will abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8)

So you can be generous on every occasion (2 Corinthians 9:11)

So you can supply the needs of God’s people (2 Corinthians 9:12)

So you can share with God’s people and everyone else (2 Corinthians 9:13)

You and I have all that we need, and then some. It’s a simple concept, an easy thing to understand. But once we truly grasp it and begin to live out its implications, it’s profoundly life-changing. So, try it. Double up on your tip today at the restaurant. Buy the cold drink for the guy behind you in line at the convenience store. Let somebody else go first. Give. Give. Give. Because our God has given you more than enough.

Peace,

Allan

Younger Every Day

October 30, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“Inwardly, we are being renewed day by day.” ~2 Corinthians 4:16

If the apostle Paul is right — I’m betting my life on it — then you and I are actually getting younger every day. By the grace of God and the power of his Spirit, we are more refreshed, more energetic, more joyful today than we were yesterday.

We’re all in the youth group!

With that in mind, our whole Central church family got together Wednesday night for our annual Fall Festival. Everybody’s always invited. It’s an intergenerational, church-wide deal. And we do our best to get everybody — young and old — to the party.

FallFestMatt&Lydia

FallFestPeterPan

 

 

 

 

 

 

If hot dogs and cotton candy are not your thing, maybe karaoke is. If singing a pop song over a cheesy soundtrack doesn’t interest you, maybe judging jack o’ lanterns and Halloween costumes is. If you don’t have a judgmental spirit, maybe you’d rather help with a booth or pass out candy. If none of that floats your boat, then we go ahead and play the ultimate trump card:

The family is getting together to show the kids a good time. You’re part of the family.

FallFestShepherds

FallFestSteve&JudyIt’s always good to just show up and cut loose for a bit. You can encourage the children by telling them how great they look and how talented they are. You can laugh at the adults who show up in a costume and indulge yourself with a long-time favorite Halloween candy. Mainly, though, you can spend a few minutes with a kid. Let him know you’re glad he’s at our church. Tell her how special she is and that she’s important at our church. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll head having been renewed by God’s Spirit.

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Golf2015We got Carley’s Canyon High School Golf Team pictures in. While she is yet to actually play in an official tournament — this weekend’s matches, like last weekend’s matches, have been canceled due to rain — she does take a pretty good picture.

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And, our favorite German, Dirk Nowitzki, got into the Halloween spirit this week by channeling his inner Lurch. Gotta love Dirk.

Peace,

Allan

Live to Give

October 20, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“But just as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us — see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” ~2 Corinthians 8:7

GivingConsistent and sacrificial giving is an act of Christian gratitude. It reveals a true grasp of the magnitude of God’s salvation gifts to us through Christ. It has very little to do with obedience and nothing at all to do with the size of your bank account.

Our giving is an act of Christian faith. It declares that God is the giver of all things and we are merely recipients. It reflects a confidence that our gracious Father will always keep his promises to provide for his children. It’s an act of dependence on him. To withhold our money or to give it grudgingly or with hesitation reflects and insecurity that denies the very thing the Church teaches.

We also believe real giving serves to sanctify us — to shape us and mold us more into the image of Jesus — which is the whole point of our being saved. When we give away our money, we’re becoming like Christ as we act in our context the same way our Lord acted in his. We give up our physical resources for others because of our spiritual riches in God. When we give, we’re considering the needs of others more important than our own. That’s what it means to “attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Excelling in giving has nothing to do with personal resources. It’s all about experiencing and participating in God’s mercy and grace.

Peace,

Allan

Very Good

August 28, 2015 / / 0 Comments

CreationGodWe’ve spent this week looking at the inspiring beauty of Act One of the Story of God, the Pattern of the Kingdom the Creator establishes: God and mankind living in perfect harmony together, ruling and reigning together over a perfectly wonderful heavens and earth. Act One is good. It is “very good.” It’s an eternal blueprint for everything God is doing.

Now, today we don’t live in Act One. It’s long past. But what Act One tells us has important meaning for all people right now. In the beginning God created. That doesn’t just mean back there and back then. The Story says not only that God was Creator but that God is Creator! God’s creative activity is not limited to the distant past. It’s not like a long time ago God did everything he planned to do and then retreated from the scene to let the world run by itself.

Romans 4 tells us that even now, today, our God gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. 2 Corinthians 5 declares that right now, today, we are a new creation in Christ Jesus our Lord. When we confess that God is the Creator, we are saying that God is continuously making new beginnings, opening up new possibilities, initiating new events. God is our Creator. And he is doing new things in our lives.

The psalmist did not say, “God created Adam and Eve a long time ago and we’re all descended from them.” He said, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Read that again. You’ve heard it dozens of times. Read it again.

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

We know the facts of life. We know where babies come from. But we also know that the process of procreation and gestation and giving birth don’t tell us the whole truth about where we came from, who we are, and where we’re going. We believe that God the Creator stands at the beginning of every single human life and goes with us on every single step of our own ways.

Your life might be formless and empty. Chaos. Darkness. Void. It can be obvious darkness and chaos like addiction or abuse or violence or disease. Or it could be a chaos underneath the surface, a chaos of the heart that’s hidden from almost everybody.

Jeremiah 31 says, “The Lord will create a new thing!” Our God, the Creator of “very good” things, can speak light and life into that darkness and void. He made you in his image. He made you “very good.” And his desire to live in a righteous relationship with you means he came here in Christ Jesus to make it happen. He’s committed to it. Your story, whatever it looks like to this point, is being written by a powerful and loving Creator who is devoted to your “very good.”

“Be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create!” ~Isaiah 65:18

Peace,

Allan

One More Year

July 29, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine! If not, then cut it down.” ~Luke 13:8-9

FigTreeCoupleThere is a time limit. The Master is not calling for the indefinite existence of a bad tree. It’s got one more year. The health of the vineyard is too important, the Master’s expectation for fruit is too strong to leave in place an unproductive, non-responsive tree taking up good ground. It’s got one more year. One more season. One more chance. And then, if it doesn’t respond to the patience and care of the Master? Then, cut it down.

There’s an urgency in this parable that we shouldn’t miss. The tree is going to be held accountable. And it’s only got a short time left to respond to the farmer’s patience. Something’s got to change. The coming judgment is real.

“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” ~2 Corinthians 5:10

The holiness and righteousness of God demands justice and judgment. Romans says we will all stand before God’s judgment; every knee will bow and every tongue will confess; each of us will give an account of our lives to God. There is a judgment coming. God is going to judge the world. And it’s one of the best kept secrets in the Bible.

We don’t talk about it. Judgment sounds harsh or cruel. The idea of God’s divine judgment clashes with what works in our culture — even our church culture. We barely acknowledge it anymore. The only time we speak about God’s judgment is when we’re making fun of people who talk about God’s judgment. We don’t preach God’s judgment. I don’t. Not very much.

But this parable…

This tree’s got one year. That’s it. And then it’s over.

There’s a story about Satan meeting with his demons in hell, working on their strategies against us humans. The first demon said, “I’ll go tell people there’s no heaven.” The second demon said, “I’ll tell people there’s no hell.” The third demon said, “I’ll tell people there’s no hurry.” Satan said, “Yes! That’s the plan!”

No hurry? That tree’s got one year. That’s it. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, then cut it down.

There’s an urgency in Jesus’ story. But we don’t feel that urgency. We appreciate the manure of God’s great patience and his merciful restraint. But we don’t even think about that coming judgment. In this country, in this century, as our sense of self grows larger and larger and our sense of God becomes smaller and smaller, we fear God so little we don’t understand the seriousness of our sin. And we sense the seriousness of our sin so little, we very seldom fear God. That’s a bad place to be.

“Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” ~Romans 2:5-6

He gave the tree one more year. One more season. If it bears fruit, fine. If not, cut it down.

There’s an urgency here. It’s later than we think. One of the elders at the Legacy church, Kent Robinson, says every single day, “It’s later now than it’s ever been before!” He’s right. And the time to act is right now, during this season of God’s patience, during this time when God is holding back the ax and spreading the manure of his grace and forgiveness. Now is the time to respond, not tomorrow. Now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the day of salvation. God’s mercy is being extended now. The opportunity for a fruitful life is now.

I don’t know how much time we’ve got. I don’t know. Apparently, even Jesus isn’t sure. But that day’s coming for each of us. That tree’s got one more year. You might have longer. Maybe.

Peace,

Allan

For Parents of Teenagers

May 11, 2015 / / 2 Comments

Grace for ParentsYou can’t do anything right, can you? Every decision you make is wrong, every thing you say is wrong, every action you take is wrong. Nothing you do is right. Right? It can seem that way if you’re raising a teenager. The teenager will certainly make you feel that way. But, in your own mind, you know: I’m not a perfect parent.

The truth is, yeah, you’ve messed up plenty of things while parenting your teen. You’ve made mistakes. There are several decisions you’d like to do over. You’re too strict on some things and not strict enough on others. Raising teenagers is difficult at best, sometimes downright impossible. Nobody gets out of parenting teenagers without making lots of mistakes, some of them colossal.

But these mistakes are not what define you as a mother. Your mistakes do not characterize you as a father. Or as a child of our God. It’s God’s grace that defines you. It’s his grace that covers you. It’s his grace that enables you to keep parenting in the trust and faith that God is at work in you and in your children.

I like the Faith Ring of Honor in Hebrews 11. Everybody who’s anybody in the Bible is mentioned in Hebrews 11. And as I scan the names in the list, I don’t see any perfect people. Sarah had a laughing problem and a faith problem. Abraham had the same issues. And I seem to remember him lying about his wife a couple of times. Yet Abraham is not defined in Scripture by his mistakes. Sarah is not defined in the Bible by her poor choices. All the people in Hebrews 11 are defined by God’s grace and commended for their faith.

Just look at the names in Hebrews 11:32: Gideon? A spineless, wishy-washy doubter. Barak? A gutless coward. Samson? Arrogant and selfish. Jepthah? Thoughtless and stupid. David? An adulterer and murderer. Samuel? Maybe one of the worst parents in all of Scripture. But here they are in this list of heroes. With all their sins and all their flaws. These are the people who “through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength.”

“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” ~2 Corinthians 9:8Grace & Provision

Without the good news of the Gospel, being a parent is a weight that’s too tough to carry. Because you are going to make mistakes. You’re going to mess some stuff up. Your hope is that Christ Jesus died for those sins. He atones for those shortcomings. You know that. And by his grace, your kids will know it, too.

Being a parent should reveal to you just how badly you need Jesus. You need to acknowledge the depth of your brokenness and recognize how badly you need Christ. And you need to rest — rest! — in God’s grace and provision for you as a parent. What you do every day is good and noble and ought to be celebrated. But it needs to be viewed in the light of the cross or it’s too much to bear. More than anything, parents and their kids need the grace of the cross.

As a parent, your struggles are real. And they’re big. So are your mistakes. And your sins. But we serve a God whose grace abounds and whose love is lavished on us so those sins and struggles do not define us or condemn us or determine what God is doing in us and in our families.

Peace,

Allan

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