The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: 2 Corinthians (Page 8 of 13)

Nothingness

March 26, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Nothingness really is a word. It is; I looked it up. It’s not one of these made-up words that college basketball commentators like to throw around during televised tournament games. I’m not sure of anyone’s “sizeability.” I don’t think any player has “longness.” And I’m certain that one cannot describe a coach’s “toughicity” or a power forward’s “reachness.” Give me Verne Lundquist any day. Every day. When words fail, I’ll take his “My gracious!” and “Merciful heavens!” over the made up stuff all the time. By the way, that Kansas pick isn’t looking so crazy now, is it?

Nothingness really is a word.

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself.” ~John 5:19

Jesus said that. Really. Jesus says without the Father, he is nothing. He can say nothing. He can do nothing. Jesus claims that he resides and operates in nothingness without God.

But, wait a second! He’s Jesus! This is the Son of God!

Yes, that’s true. But without the Father, he can do nothing.

See, Jesus understood that our God does his very best work in nothingness. Through nothingness, our God does eternally spectacular stuff. Our Father is very consistent on that. Scriptures present this truth very consistently. With God, the winners are exposed as losers and the losers are revealed to be winners. David and Goliath. Gideon. Jericho. The prodigal son and his older brother. The ones who are nothing are everything; the ones who seemingly have it all are actually defeated. Our God is a God of tremendous surprises.

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself.”

Christian ministry is conducted in the middle of these great surprises. We work as disciples in the midst of these amazing shocks. We’re standing around in the middle of nothing in particular, doing nothing important, seeing nothing impressive, feeling nothing exciting, when suddenly God sees and does something huge! Right in the middle of all that nothingness, our Father will create something truly substantial and eternal. Something massive!

I sometimes — actually, I should use the word “often” here — slip into a mood of thinking I can do all kinds of wonderful things. I can preach this and I can plan that and I can promote and encourage and teach and lead and write. I can be productive. I can be valuable. I can be important. I can do really good things.

Jesus says he can do nothing without the Father. Me, too. I can do nothing without our God. Nothing. All good gifts come from him in love, all good things I might possibly do are manifestations of his matchless grace and nothing else. I am nothing. My work is nothingness. My potential is nothingness. My abilities and talents are nothing.

And, praise God, that’s where he works. God works in nothingness. Where there is nothing, our Father does something, something big and everlasting. Where I see nothing, our God sees something, something important and eternal.

Jesus told Paul, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul reminded that when we are weak, because of our Father, we are strong.

God is working right now in your nothingness. Lord, please work right now in our nothingness.

Peace,

Allan

Everybody’s in the Youth Group

January 27, 2012 / / 0 Comments

I’m driving down to Henrietta, Texas this Sunday afternoon for an area youth rally thing — they call it “Sunday Night Live! — at the Henrietta Church of Christ. I don’t know anybody at the Henrietta Church of Christ other than two really good, really old friends.

Brad Yurcho and I played football together at Dallas Christian High School. And we both wanted Brad Sham’s job calling Cowboys games on KRLD. Yurcho and I would sometimes sit on the very top row of the bleachers at DC during Junior High and, later, JV football games and do the play-by-play. Out loud. To each other. With each other. Seems strange now. But we both thought we were pretty good and, someday, would make a pretty good broadcast team.

Scott Williams and I were Delta brothers at Oklahoma Christian. We made road trips together. We cruised the streets of Edmond together. We went shopping for pumpkins together during the holidays. We went on disciplinary probation together at OC. Ah, yes; great times.

Scott and Brad and their families are in Henrietta now, good friends themselves, working with the young people there, teaching and mentoring and passing on the faith to those coming up after us. It’s really quite special. I hadn’t seen Scott in years when he walked up to me a couple of months ago here at Central, just minutes before our Sunday morning assembly was to begin. I remember thinking, “Man, if he’s come to confess sin, we’re going to be here a while.” What a terrific surprise! Brad called me the very next morning and made the invitation to speak at their church official. And I’m really looking forward to Sunday.

I love speaking to young people. I love being with teenagers. When you’re in a room full of teens, you’re surrounded by unlimited potential. The possibilities are countless. It’s unimaginable all the wonderful things these young men and women are going to do in God’s Kingdom. They’re all so talented and passionate, so full of life and energy, so emotional and “all-in” to whatever they’re doing.

And they all love to learn brand new things. They want to be taught. They want to be shown something they’ve never seen before. They want to know something new. They all want to experiment. They want to push the envelope. They’re bold. They want to do something for Christ that’s never been done before. They want to be a real part of something bigger than themselves. They don’t have a whole lot of patience for doing church; they want to be church. And I love that.

And most of us say, yeah, that’s just the way young people are. They’re teenagers. They won’t always be that way. They’ll grow out of it.

Most of us say that because most of us have grown out of it.

And that’s a shame.

Scripture says, inwardly, we are being renewed day by day. We’re being refreshed by God’s Holy Spirit. We’re being revived every day, re-energized, re-booted, re-newed day by day. That means we’re all in the youth group! Yes, you! You’re in the youth group at your church. Everybody’s in the youth group!

Isn’t that fantastic news? All of us are being made younger and fresher and newer every day. All of us should be acting like our teenagers. I should be more bold and imaginative. You should be more passionate and hungry for new truths about our Lord and his plans for your life. We all should be pushing the envelope when it comes to sacrificial service in the name and manner of Jesus. We all should be so brakes-off, no-looking-back, full-steam-ahead in our discipleship to our Christ. We should sing louder, laugh harder, dance wilder, love more, try different; we should stop hesitating, stop flinching, stop negotiating, stop settling. Our young people are on to something!

Jesus says you’ve got to be a little kid to inherit his Kingdom.

You’re being renewed every day. By God’s grace and the transforming power of his Spirit, you’re getting younger, not older! You’re in the youth group.

So go get a two-liter of Mountain Dew and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. I’ll see you at the lock-in!

Peace,

Allan

Church Clothes

September 29, 2011 / / 4 Comments

I vividly remember as a young teenager, after spending a Sunday afternoon at my friend Todd’s house, showing up to church that evening in blue jeans, a Huey Lewis and the News concert T-shirt, tennis shoes, and extra-wide sweat bands on my wrists. Upon entering the half-empty/half-full worship center I was notified that I was on the list of those who were supposed to serve communion. (This was back in the day when, if you weren’t at church that morning, we made you raise your hand or stand and the rest of us watched you commune. By yourself.) So, I stood up there, feet shoulder-width apart, hands firmly clasped in front, praying and passing the Body and Blood of Christ.

And, man, I got it when we got home. I was not wearing church clothes! I was waiting on the Lord’s Table and not wearing church clothes!

Of course, I know now what I did not know then. In all actuality, I was wearing my church clothes. You are right now wearing your church clothes. The place where you are sitting or standing right now is holy ground.

Scripture holds that everything — absolutely everything — takes place on holy ground. God has something to say about every aspect of our lives: the way we feel and act in the so-called privacy of our own hearts and homes, the way we make and spend our money, the politics we embrace, the entertainment we enjoy, the wars we fight, the tragedies we endure, the people we know. Nothing is hidden from the sight of our God. And nothing is exempt from his rule. The ground is holy, the folks are holy, the words we speak are holy.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Not just in the worship center on Sunday morning, but everywhere you walk is holy ground. Everywhere you go is a sacred place. Everybody you meet is a holy opportunity. Everything you do is a sacred activity. Everything you wear is church clothes!

It’s all governed and ruled by God and set apart by him and acknowledged by his children as holy and set apart for his divine and eternal purposes. All of it.

“As God has said, ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people…’ Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” ~2 Corinthians 6:16, 7:1

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The Texas Rangers are smoking hot heading into their second straight postseason. While clinching the title in the AL West, the Rangers won six in a row, ten of their last eleven, 14 of their last 16, swept the Halos, and notched a club record 96 victories. The only team hotter in the American League is the Tampa Bay Rays.

Come 4:00 tomorrow afternoon, I will be planted on the microfiber couch, in front of the tube, with Whitney, some ice-cold DDP, an ample supply of chips and hot sauce, and enough popcorn to make Orville Redenbacher blush. You can text me tomorrow afternoon after 4:00. But don’t call.

This is the most complete Rangers team ever assembled. Kinsler and Napoli are smashing the ball. Josh and Beltre are clutch. Michael Young is MVP-calibar. Ceej and Holland and Harrison are in a groove. Feliz has found his stuff. And Mike Adams is this year’s Cliff Lee.

Rangers in four.

Allan

Meaning To Do Them Good

September 17, 2011 / / 3 Comments

In less than 24 hours I’ll be preaching to and with my new church family. There will be a dozen people in our worship center who’ve heard me preach more than 200 sermons in person. These dear friends from Legacy know me. They love me and they know my deep love for them. But the overwhelming majority of the listeners tomorrow will be hearing me for the very first time.

And they need to know that I love our Lord. And I love them.

John Newton wrote that his congregation would take almost anything from him, however painful, because they knew “I mean to do them good.”

That is the litmus test for my preaching ministry. That’s my centering point for everything I do. Intending to always do them good means my sermon preparation is a more sacred endeavor than just satisfying my own personal love of study. It means my preaching will have characteristics that are maybe difficult to define but still sensed by my hearers that reflect what Paul meant when he talked about preaching and pastoring:

“We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” ~2 Corinthians 4:5

“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” ~1 Thessalonians 2:8

“I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well.” ~2 Corinthians 12:15

I have been receiving more phone calls and emails and text messages since yesterday from our brand new friends here at Central wishing me well, showering me with love and encouragement, and expressing their excitement. I received a voice mail this morning from a dear sister here who said, among other things, “We already love you and your family; you can’t do a single thing to make us love you more.”

They need to know I love them, too. God help me; I mean to do them good.

Peace,

Allan

Not My Church

September 14, 2011 / / 5 Comments

As I move around the oldest parts of this church building at Central — up and down stairs, in and out of rooms, through back hallways and across wide open concourses — I realize more and more that this is not my church. As I search for quiet places in this building to pray and to read the Scriptures — in the worship center balcony, the back of the chapel, the prayer room, outside in the shade at 14th and Jackson — I see very clearly that I’m in way over my head here.

Seriously. This is a different deal.

At Legacy, I was blessed to walk into a church building that was only six years old. All of it. Brand new location. Brand new building. New everything. Yes, there was a history. Legacy had been established as the Pipeline Road Church back in 1959. But Legacy wasn’t Pipeline. And that was fine. We were blessed to build and open a brand new 1,500 seat worship center in my second year there. I helped decide on some of the furnishings. I fought for a communion table. The current baptism practices and traditions at Legacy were started in that brand new room in the summer of 2008. I was the first and only Legacy preacher in that room. And if I’m really honest with myself, looking back, I think I actually felt some kind of ownership there. Maybe not always in the healthiest way.

It’s different here. Central was established by fourteen people in October 1908. They met in the downtown county couthouse. One hundred and three years ago. The very first Church of Christ in Amarillo. The first building this church owned was at 10th Street and Fillmore. But that was only until 1930. That was the year the Central Church of Christ, over 700 strong, held their first Christian assembly in this beautiful chapel that we still occasionally use today. Same stained glass windows. Same pews and light fixtures. Same pulpit. I walked in there with 81-year-old Scottie Witt yesterday and he pointed to the baptistry.

“That’s where I was baptized, right there,” he said. “1943. I was thirteen years old.”

And Scottie will be in there listening to me preach this Sunday night! In that same room! He’s listened to 16 other Central preachers before me. He’s heard them all. He can tell you how and where they stood, their favorite gestures and phrases, something memorable or funny about each one of them.

There’s rich history in this sacred space. Every room has stories, every staircase has a tale, every pew has a testimony to the faithfulness of God with his people.

This is not my church.

I have landed in a place where God has been working in and through his people for over a hundred years. Faithful men and women have been doing good deeds in the name of Jesus, serving others in the manner of Christ, worshiping God in the Spirit at this place for more than a century. Who do I think I am, coming in here and pretending to be able to speak to them a word from our Father?

I’m merely number seventeen, the latest in a long, long list of faithful men who have stood in these rooms and dared to preach the Word. From F. L. Young and  F. B. Shepherd at the turn of one century through Dick Marcear and Dan Bouchelle at the turn of another. I suppose I should preach at least one sermon first but, eventually, they’re going to put my picture up on a wall among pictures of the likes of Robert Jones, Silas Templeton, and M. C. Cuthberson. It’s so incredibly humbling. And dreadfully frightening.

If I think too long about it, I can get overwhelmed with a true sense of inadequacy. I’m wholly inadequate for this task. I’m not qualified for this gig. I don’t have the ideas or the abilities, the smarts or the skills, to do this. I’ve been pushed into something that’s so much bigger than me. God’s been doing great and miraculous things here for 103 years! And I’m going to stand up Sunday after Sunday here and preach?!? I’m not sure I can do this. I don’t fully understand how I’m going to do this.

And, upon further review, I’m certain that’s exactly where my God wants me: wholly dependent on him to do the job he’s called me to do; fully recognizing that all-surpassing power is from him, not me; and understanding that any competence I may have is a gracious gift from above.

Central is not my church; it belongs to God. It’s not mine to lead; that is the job of our Father.

Whew!

Allan

Filled With the Spirit

June 23, 2011 / / 1 Comment

“Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” ~Ephesians 5:18-21

We worship in the Spirit. We submit to one another and sing and speak to one another in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is who gives the Christian life its energy and enthusiasm. Its endurance. Its power!

Be filled with the Spirit.

This is an imperative. It’s a command. So we do take some responsibility here. This singing together and submitting to one another is either the means by which we pursue this filling of the Spirit or the result of being filled with the Spirit. Or both. Either way, Paul says when we sing together, when we pray together, when we really belong to one another, we are filled with the Spirit.

And that tells me that God is not a spectator when we gather for worship. Audience of one? No way! God is not the audience of our worship. Our God is an active participant with us — inside us — when we worship him together. God is not just sitting on his throne in heaven soaking up all the Hallelujahs and Amens. No. Through the Spirit, the Father and Son are engaged with us. Communing with us. Rejoicing with us. Transforming us. Changing us. Growing us. Shaping us more into the image of Christ.

Be filled with the Spirit.

Encountering God together — in our Sunday morning worship assemblies, Wednesday night Bible classes, Sunday evening small groups — being in the presence of God together allows us to recognize our own sinfulness and shortcomings. And that always leads to an acute recognition of his marvelous grace. And the power of God’s grace is not just forgiveness. It’s also transformation. New creature. New creation. Christ formed in you. Being saved. It’s a communal sanctification event that we participate in and experience together.

See you Sunday,

Allan

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