The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Discipleship (Page 13 of 30)

The Right Question

April 14, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Many, many times over the past six or seven years, I’ve asked people who are going through a major life thing: “What is God doing with this right now?” If you’re putting your dad in a nursing home or you’re pregnant with twins — whatever life change thing is happening, good or bad — I’m going to ask you this question: “Hey, this is pretty big. What do you think God is doing in this?”

And this is what I hear in response most of the time: “I haven’t thought about that.”

Haven’t thought about it?!? Well, for crying out loud, start thinking about it!!!

God has not abandoned you. He’s not left you alone in this. God is not on vacation somewhere and so can’t see you or help you. He has not forgotten you. “Rejoice in the Lord always. The Lord is near!” He is in this thing with you. Pay attention to what he’s doing. Don’t go through a major milestone in your life and not be changed. Don’t miss what God’s doing with you right now. Be aware. Be on the lookout.

When something really, really great happens to you, think about how God is shaping you in that. You know that every good and perfect gift comes from God. You know that the whole earth belongs to the Lord and everything in it. So every single thing belongs to God, including this great blessing he’s given you. So, you’re just a manager of this blessing, this gift. How is God wanting you to manage it? Pay attention. Ask the question.

When something really, really awful happens to you, think about how God is forming you in that. You know that God is working in all things for your ultimate good. You know that his strength is experienced in your weakness. So this tough thing is a holy opportunity for growth and witness. How is God wanting you to mature in this? How is God wanting you to testify through this? Pay attention. Ask the question.

Life is going to happen to us. Good things and bad things — that’s just the way it is. And when life happens, we can wring our hands and say, “Oh, I don’t know!” Or, we can lift our hands and say, “God knows!” and align our minds and lives with Christ. We can confidently say with Peter, “Lord, only you have the words of eternal life. Only you. You’ve got this, Lord. You’ve got me.”

Peace,

Allan

Among You

February 23, 2015 / / 1 Comment

“The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the Kingdom of God is among you.” ~Luke 17:21

The Kingdom of God is not just about Christ’s power on earth. The Kingdom of God is about God’s empowerment of ordinary men and women to be agents of his eternal reign. Not everybody can see it because it’s carried out by a weak little band of disciples. It’s expressed in a single act of forgiveness by a wounded man. It’s realized in a single act of kindness by a little old lady. It’s accomplished in the worship and service rendered by a church in Amarillo.

To talk about conquering power and ruling the world in these tiny little terms might seem silly — as silly as a great tree growing out of a mustard seed. But we see it. You and I have been blessed to see that God in Christ uses these incredibly small things to miraculously grow his eternal Kingdom.

We know that with the coming of Jesus, the old world is losing its grip and a new world is being born. Rome’s rule is coming to an end — for people who thought too highly of the Roman Empire, that was unsettling news. The U.S.A.’s rule is coming to an end — that’s unsettling news for people who think too highly of the American Empire. But it’s true. The Kingdom of God has come and it is coming. Among us. And King Jesus says, “Give up your agenda and take up mine!” Or, to actually quote him:

“The time has come! The Kingdom of God is here! Repent and believe the good news!” ~Mark 1:15

God’s purposes have already been accomplished in Christ. What remains is the unfolding of what’s already been established. So, repent. Repent. Change your life. The realities of the Kingdom of God among us demand it. It’s not feeling differently in your heart; it’s living differently on the ground. The Kingdom of God is not a new religion or a fuzzy spiritual experience or even a plan for personal salvation. The Kingdom of God is about the whole world at last becoming what God has always intended it to be. A whole new world where mourners are always comforted and the hungry are always filled.

So, our lives have to be changed. It’s not just conversion, it’s discipleship; not just individual faith, but Christian unity; not merely forgiveness of sins, but a brand new creation! Jesus’ challenge is not, “How can I have a more meaningful life?” It’s “How can I get my life aligned with God’s will for the world?”

The way Jesus acted, the way he thought, the way he behaved is not how we get into the Kingdom. It’s not “Behave this way and perform all this really well and someday you’ll be worthy to enter the Kingdom of God.” No! Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection says that God’s Kingdom has come to us and is coming among us. Right here, right now, today! So, wake up and live in the light of these new facts of life!

Sometimes we’ll hear people say, “Forgiveness is noble, up to a point, as long as you’re realistic about its limits.” Or, “Prayer can be powerful, but sometimes you just have to face the facts.” Hey, for those of us who have been given the eyes to see the coming of God’s Kingdom, God’s promised victory is an accomplished fact! It is the true reality!

So, we must live it right now. Not like the world lives — no, just the opposite. Like Jesus lives. Unconditional love, unlimited forgiveness, sacrificial service, never violence or threat, always peace and joy. Not so that we’re doormats for the world. No, that’s living and thinking in the wrong reality, the reality that’s being conquered and taken over, fading away. We live in mercy and love actually as a way of taking charge of the world in the name and manner of our Lord, joining the revolution, living in and practicing the great turnaround toward the ultimate reality that one day will be trumpeted as:

“The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he will reign for ever and ever!” ~Revelation 11:15

Confidence to live every day like Jesus in the world he rules comes from conviction. The problem is, we’re not convinced of the truth of our own good news. We’re too inattentive, too distracted. What Jesus shows us about the Kingdom of God should dramatically impact us. We must give attention to his rule. We must be defined by it. We must solve our problems by applying it.

We think the church is a place that puts on services. Please, come on! God is sovereign and Jesus is Lord and the Holy Spirit lives among us and the powers of the world are in big trouble! This is the truth! This is the reality! And we are called to re-order everything to live into it.

Peace,

Allan

All In

December 8, 2014 / / 0 Comments

What does it mean to be “all in” for Jesus? What does it look like to be totally “sold out” for our Lord? He calls us to surrender all. We sing that we surrender all. So what does that look like?

People declare their desires to follow Jesus all the time. During his earthly ministry, people were always coming up to Jesus, asking to be his disciple. And he continually rejected the ones who were not willing to give up everything for him and his cause.

The rich young ruler who couldn’t let go of his money. The would be disciples in Luke 9 and Luke 14 who wanted to put comfort and family and business before their walks with the Lord. The clear message in the Gospels is that we follow Jesus on his terms, not ours.

“Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” ~Luke 14:33

Frederic Huntington says:

It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.”

Ouch.

So what does “all in” for Jesus look like for you? What does it mean for you to be “sold out” for our Lord?

Peace,

Allan

The Almost Impossibly Hard Thing

September 9, 2014 / / 1 Comment

Soren Kierkegaard said sin is substituting things — any thing — for God. Good things, bad things, it doesn’t matter. If you find your identity, if you find your true self, your self worth, your emotional well-being, if your life is centered on any thing other than God, that is sin. Using this definition, Timothy Keller categorizes a lot of what we pursue as modern day men and women as sin in his terrific apologetics masterpiece, The Reason for God:

~If you center your life and identity on your spouse or partner, you will be emotionally dependent, jealous, and controlling. The other person’s problems will be overwhelming to you.
~If you center your life and identity on your family and children, you will try to live your life through your children until they resent you or have no self of their own. At worst, you may abuse them when they displease you.
~If you center your life and identity on your work and career, you will be a driven workaholic and a boring, shallow person. At worst you will lose family and friends and, if your career goes poorly, develop deep depression.
~If you center your life and identity on money and possessions, you’ll be eaten up by worry or jealousy about money. You’ll be willing to do unethical things to maintain your lifestyle, which will eventually blow up your life.
~If you center your life and identity on pleasure, gratification, and comfort, you will find yourself getting addicted to something. You will become chained to the “escape strategies” by which you avoid the hardness of life.
~If you center your life and identity on relationships and approval, you will be constantly overly hurt by criticism and thus always losing friends. You will fear confronting others and therefore will be a useless friend.
~If you center your life and identity on a “noble cause,” you will divide the world into “good” and “bad” and demonize your opponents. Ironically, you will be controlled by your enemies. Without them, you have no purpose.
~If you center your life and identity on religion and morality, you will, if you are living up to your moral standards, be proud, self-righteous, and cruel. If you don’t live up to your standards, your guilt will be utterly devastating.

The only real solution is not simply to change our behaviors, but to reorient and center every part of our lives on God. Our self worth and sense of purpose and reason for living and emotional well-being must all be found in Christ. If he is not the center, we’re going to be in trouble.

This passage from C. S. Lewis’ essay “Is Christianity Hard or Easy?” sums it all up pretty well:

The ordinary idea which we all have is that we have a natural self with various desires and interests. And we know something called “morality” or “decent behavior” has a claim on the self. We are all hoping that when all the demands of morality and society have been met, the poor natural self will still have some chance, some time, to get on with its own life and do what it likes. In fact, we are very like an honest man paying his taxes. He pays them, but he does hope that there will be enough left over for him to live on.

The Christian way is different — both harder and easier. Christ says, “Give me ALL.” I don’t want just this much of your time and this much of your money and this much of your work — so that your natural self can have the rest. I want you. Not your things. I have come not to torture your natural self; I will give you a new self instead. Hand over the whole natural self — ALL the desires, not just the ones you think wicked but the ones you think innocent — the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead.

The almost impossibly hard thing is to hand over your whole self to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is remain what we call “ourselves” — our personal happiness centered on money or pleasure or ambition — and hoping, despite this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us we cannot do. If I am a grass field — all the cutting will keep the grass less but won’t produce wheat. If I want wheat, I must be plowed up and re-sown.

Everybody is living for something. Whether you think of it that way or not, whatever it is eventually becomes your Lord.

Where are you pouring most of your time and energy, your money and resources? Where do you find most happiness and fulfillment? What are you pursuing more than anything else? The answer to that question is the lord of your life. And if its anything other than Jesus, it’s not going to work for too much longer. Jesus says lose your life for me and I’ll save it. Throw it away for me and I’ll give you eternal life forever. Make yourself last for my sake and I’ll exalt you on high.

Peace,

Allan

A More Faithful Church

June 4, 2014 / / 1 Comment

“I have little use for purity, but I do pray for a more faithful church. A more faithful church would, I suspect, make being a Christian more difficult but also more interesting.” ~Stanley Hauerwas, Approaching the End

One of the many reasons I read Stanley Hauerwas is that he is widely recognized as the greatest theologian in America. Another reason is that he’s from Pleasant Grove, my old neighborhood in the southeast corner of Dallas. The main reason I read Hauerwas is that he writes so eloquently and inspirationally about the role of Christ’s Church in the world. He consistently points to the holy mission of God’s people and paints with bold color and lofty strokes a picture of what Christians worshiping and working and living together should look like today. I’ve just finished reading Hauerwas’ latest book, “Approaching the End: Eschatological Reflections on Church, Politics, and Life.” And I’m anxious to share some of it with you.

The church in the U. S. today, according to Hauerwas and just about anybody paying attention, is in a “buyer’s market.” It’s in survival mode. It’s approaching the end. And so a whole lot of them are more concerned with staying alive and viable, by their own definitions, than with pursuing the mission of God. Some of these churches are already dead. They’ve been dead for a long time. But we don’t recognize them as dead because they still appear to be in business. The problem, though, is that their business may only be accidentally related to Christianity.

“The general societal approval and support the church has enjoyed particularly in America is coming to an end. Of course one of the costs Christians have paid for the social and political status they have enjoyed is not to take their Christian identity so seriously that they might destabilize the social order by, for example, challenging the presumption that war is a necessity if democracies are to survive. Thus I am long on record as thinking the loss of Christendom to be a ‘good thing.'”

I, too, have believed for a while now that the loss of Christendom — the culture actually propping up the church and supporting its values, Christianity seen as routine and normal by society, the church depending on the Empire to help it with its mission — to be a good thing. All this coddling by the culture has made us soft. (Now this is me, not Hauerwas.) At some point, whether it’s over ordaining homosexual ministers, protesting against federally funded violence and murder, or protecting the poor, the church is going to discover that we are not friends with the culture. And the church will be shocked. What we’ll learn is that we were never intended to be friends with the culture; we’re intended by God in Christ to convert the culture, not conform to it.

Now, when that day comes, I don’t think we’ll be arrested or jailed or beaten or shot. No, the government will first threaten our tax-exempt status.

And then we’ll all have decisions to make.

Some of our churches will bow to the dollar and pay homage to the Empire to protect the tax-exempt status. After all, they have never known a church to pay taxes to Caesar, they’ve never known a church not in cahoots with the nation, and their imagination to be a church free from the government’s control has been terminally damaged. But some of our churches will be more faithful. Some of our churches will proclaim the Christian confession that “Jesus is Lord,” not Caesar, and actually become the alternative society that our Lord established at the empty garden tomb.

It’ll be difficult. Less money for our programs. Less status for our platforms. Less community support for our evangelism. It’ll be difficult. But a whole lot more interesting. Being the political movement we were always meant to be, the more faithful counter-society, will be very interesting.

“Jesus was not successful. Jesus did not promise his followers that if they did things right, they would conquer with time. The non-coerciveness of agape includes renouncing the promise of power; it includes renouncing the mechanical model of how to move history. Yet that acknowledgement does not mean simple despair or unconcern. It rather means a promise of victory, the paradigm of which is the Resurrection.”

Hauerwas gets in trouble for saying that the first order of business for the church is not to make the world just, but to make the world the world. But he’s right. How will the world ever know it needs saving, that it needs forgiveness and healing and reconciliation, how will the world ever know that it desperately needs Christ Jesus unless the Church shows it something totally different and new? And faithful? And interesting?

Peace,

Allan

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