The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Ephesians (Page 13 of 18)

Be Assured of Salvation

April 30, 2012 / / 0 Comments

The Mavericks played the absolutely best game they possibly could have Saturday night and still lost to the Thunder in OKC. Durant and his boys are going to take it in five games. Last night Derek Holland looked overmatched, Josh Hamilton pulled something in his back, Ron Washington got tossed out of the game on his 60th birthday, and the Rangers lost their first series since last fall. And the Cowboys used their top draft pick on a guy who just set the record for the lowest score on the Wonderlic intelligence exam in NFL draft history. Tough weekend.

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Let’s resume our chapter-by-chapter look at Leroy Garrett’s “What Must the Church of Christ Do to Be Saved?” The book is a compilation of suggestions Garrett makes for us if the Church of Christ is to have a redemptive role and an effective ministry in our rapidly changing world. We reach the halfway point of the book today with suggestion number ten:

Have an assurance of our own salvation.

Garrett claims that our members “do not know we are saved; we hope we are.” I know what he’s talking about. I hear it all the time. My own brothers and sisters in Christ talk about their eternal salvation in hesitant, halting, uncertain terms. “I hope I am.” “I pray that I am.” “If God will just give me a tiny back corner in the basement of heaven, I’ll be happy.” “I’m trying as hard as I can.”

The by-product of such uncertainty is a lack of joy. One thing Church of Christ people aren’t, in spite of many noble qualities, is a joyous people. We have little joy because we have little assurance. We don’t talk like people who are assured of their salvation. We don’t sing that way. We don’t pray that way. That is why our singing is unexciting, our prayers dull, and our services generally boring. Take a look at our Sunday morning service at most any of our churches. Is it a funeral? Where is the spontaneity? Where is the joyous excitement of being a Christian? Who would seek solace from a troubled world among folk who go at their religion with a yawn and a sigh?

Garrett says Church of Christ people are scared to live and afraid to die. We have no joy because we’re not really one hundred percent sure we’re good with God. Despite the clear teachings of Holy Scripture, our people have doubts and fears about their standing with God. They’re uncertain. They wonder if they’re doing enough. They wonder if they’re good enough. They wonder if they’ve loved enough or served enough or worked enough. (By the way, the answer to those questions is “No, no, no, no, and no.”)

Garrett’s dead-on analysis is that we really don’t believe in the grace of God. We would never say it, but the reality is that, for the most part, Church of Christ folks actually believe in salvation by works. We’re taught this at an early age. We think and talk this way. We practice this way. It’s been unambiguously modeled for us and by us for decades. Seriously.

We are saved by being baptized in exactly the correct way for exactly the right reasons. We stay saved by taking communion on exactly the correct day — and only on that correct day — in exactly the correct way. We keep ourselves saved and we save others by studying our Bibles and reaching the exact same correct conclusions about all the exact same doctrines. This is what makes us unique. This is what makes us distinctive. This is what sets us apart from all the others. We’ve got it down right. And since we know so much about God’s plan and God’s will, we’d better be about doing it exactly right.

No wonder we’re so uncertain and nervous! Who could possibly measure up to all that? If I’ve misunderstood a part of that doctrine or I’ve misinterpreted part of God’s will or I’ve done something in a worship service that’s not entirely in the proper order, then my salvation must be in jeopardy. I’d better figure things out and get right with God.

We must start believing in the Gospel of the grace of God, the basis of which is that salvation is his free gift to us. There is no work that we can perform to attain it. There is no way for us to buy it. We can’t be good enough to deserve it. There is no power that can wrest it. It is a gift, a free gift, that is ours only because of God’s philanthropy. In short, we must come to see what has been in holy Scripture all along: “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

“[God] has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” ~2 Timothy 1:9

“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” ~2 Timothy 1:12

“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” ~Titus 3:5

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy!” ~Jude 24

Look, I don’t believe in “once saved, always saved;” but I sure don’t believe either in “once saved, barely saved.” We are saved by God’s grace. We are redeemed by his mercy. It’s a free gift from our Father. And if we can ever all get our brains and our hearts and our souls around that, we’ll be freed from our own hangups to live and praise and worship and serve with great gladness and joy. Finally, we’ll be able to forgive people we haven’t been able to forgive before because we’ll be drawing on God’s goodness instead of our own. Finally, we’ll be able to accept those we’ve never been able to accept before because we’ll be depending on Jesus’ righteousness and not our own. We’ll be able to love every man, woman, and child on this planet in ways we’ve never been able to love before because we’ll be experiencing God’s unconditional love in our lives and not applying our own very conditional love to others.

It’ll be a huge shift for us. Huge. Radical. Dramatic. It’ll change us. It’ll mature us and grow us up. And it will have an eternal impact on those around us who just might see Christ in the Church of Christ for the very first time.

Peace,

Allan

Identify the True Enemy

April 19, 2012 / / 0 Comments

It was disclosed last night that Pudge Rodriguez, arguably the greatest catcher in the history of baseball, is going to sign a one day contract with the Texas Rangers and then officially retire as a Ranger in a ceremony Monday at the Ballpark in Arlington. A 14-time All Star and winner of a record 13 Gold Gloves as a catcher, Pudge was a highly respected and even feared defensive catcher. But he also won six Silver Slugger awards for his offensive prowess. During his twelve full seasons in Arlington, Pudge hit .305 with 215 HRs and 829 RBIs. And from behind the plate he could nail would-be base stealers at second and pick off straying opponents at first and third as effortlessly as you and I sneeze.

Whitney and I were at the Ballpark on a June night in 2009 when Pudge, then playing for the Astros, tied Carlton Fisk for the most starts by a catcher in MLB history. We gave Pudge a standing ovation when he hit a solo shot to cut Texas’ lead to 6-1. I doubt he would have received the same level of love from the crowd if his blast would have meant something for Houston that night. But we always loved Pudge Rodriguez. Anybody who ever watched him play loved Pudge.

He went to the World Series with the Tigers and Marlins, winning his only ring with the Fish in 2003. But he’ll always be a Texas Ranger. That’s where he won his MVP. That’s where he guided the franchise to its first ever division title (three of them to be exact). And that’s where he became the greatest catcher in history. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer. And he’s a Ranger. The best ever at his position. And he’s a Ranger.

One question: shouldn’t he be catching the ceremonial first pitch before the Yankees game Monday instead of throwing it?

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We’re reviewing together in this space Leroy Garrett’s book “What Must the Church of Christ Do to Be Saved?” Again, it’s a collection of essays Garrett penned almost twenty years ago to address our future relevance within the broader scope of Christianity. Our kids are leaving. Our members are checking out. Our congregations are shrinking. We live in an increasingly post-denominational, post-Christian world in which the disciples of Jesus who remain exhibit little if any “brand loyalty.” What are the Churches of Christ to do?

In chapter six Garrett suggests:

Find out who the real enemy is.

One only needs to read our church papers to see that for the most part we are fighting each other. Or if one listens to a lot of our sermons and reads our tracts he may conclude that “the denominations” are the enemy. Of if our argumentative spirit is not satisfied in any other way it is some “straw man” that is the enemy. Then there is the long history of our debates. We started out debating “the sects.” When they would no longer debate us we started debating one another.

I remember reading about the debates and studying the debates as a young boy. I remember the books containing transcripts of the debates and detailed analysis of the debates on the bookshelves in my grandparents’ house. Unfortunately, those are not just awful memories from the past. Debate and accusation and name-calling still take place today within large segments of our Church of Christ heritage. I’ve seen the videos of these Church of Christ conferences that blast away at the authors of recent Christian books and call them heretics and godless rebels. I’ve read the articles. I’ve seen the websites. I’ve heard the speakers at certain lectureships rail with much fanfare against their own brothers and sisters in Christ, denouncing their own as arrogant and adulterous apostates who’ve sold their souls for public attention and worldly status. Within our own stream of the faith we can get so riled up and so passionate and so energetic about ripping those who don’t see everything the same way we see everything to absolute shreds. It’s sick. It’s sinful.

The good news is that it’s not like that everywhere. I pray those kinds of events and websites and articles and publications and conferences are fading. Quickly. Please, Lord, quickly.

The apostle Paul claims that the real enemy is Satan. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12). Other people are not the enemy. Especially fellow Christians! Why is it that we cannot get as worked up, we can’t get as passionate or spend as much energy fighting the devil who is destroying us?

I believe these fights among ourselves is really a genius destraction sent by the devil to keep us from effectively spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God. While we’re focused on destroying one another over corporate worship practices and communion details, Satan himself runs roughshod through our families and cities and churches. He’s going unchecked because we’re wasting all our time and energies on checking one another.

Granted, Jesus’ own apostles struggled with the same thing. They ran across some guy casting out demons in Christ’s name and told him to cut it out because he wasn’t doing it exactly like they were taught to do it. Jesus rebuked his disciples for that move. He said, in essence, “Just because they’re not with you doesn’t mean they’re not with me. Whoever is not against us is with us. Leave him alone!” (Mark 9:38-41)

That other guy was doing it differently, he hadn’t been properly vetted by the apostles; he hadn’t filled out the hundred-question survey, his orthodoxy hadn’t been firmly established. But he was fighting Satan. He was driving out demons. He was actively pursuing the mission of Jesus in fixing in the world all the things that were wrong. And Jesus commended him for it and chastised his apostles for bothering him.

There’s a lesson in there for us, right? Can you imagine if we all recognized Satan as our one and only enemy? What would happen, really, if every single member of every single Church of Christ vowed to never say or speak or think one more negative word or thought or deed against another Christian, no matter his stripe or flavor or practice or belief? What would happen if we all instead — every one of us — spent every ounce of energy and creativity and passion and thought on defeating Satan? What would happen? What would happen, seriously, if we identified the enemy as Satan and not other Christians?

Peace,

Allan

Alive with Christ!

April 5, 2012 / / 0 Comments

“Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ!” ~Ephesians 2:4-5

Some of us are still buried in a tomb. We’re dead. Or, at least we act like we’re dead. Most of us have followed Jesus to Jerusalem, deciding to die to ourselves, willing to die with Christ. We’ve followed Jesus to the garden and suffered, walking through the valley of the shadow of death, faithfully enduring pain and grief. We’ve followed Jesus step by step to the cross, exposing ourselves to ridicule and shame, sacrificing ourselves for the benefit of others.

A lot of us, though, have never followed Jesus out of the grave.

Even though we’ve been baptized for the forgiveness of our sins, even though we’ve received the gift of God’s Holy Spirit living inside us, a lot of us have never been resurrected. A lot of us don’t live like we’ve been given the gift of eternal life by the Almighty Author of Life. We live like we’re still dead.

We don’t sing. We don’t work. We don’t explore or experiment. We don’t accept challenges or tackle new tasks. We don’t grow. We don’t laugh.

Singing and working and exploring and growing and laughing are what you do when you’re alive. If you’re grumpy all the time, you’re not living the resurrection life. If you’re negative all the time, you’re dead. What are you thinking, “God’s going to fix my attitude when I get to heaven?”

Some of you are still asleep. You live like it. Wake up, O sleeper! Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you!

But I want to play it safe. Better safe than sorry. I don’t want to take any risks. I don’t want to go out on a limb. I don’t want to change. I don’t need to grow.

Man, you’re living in the dark and cold of the grave! And that’s not really living.

Jesus is no longer in that garden tomb. Our Christ is alive today and reigning in glory at the right hand of our Father in heaven! And that’s where you are, too. He’s already seated you there, right beside him. Now, start acting like it. Live like it! Follow Jesus out of the tomb, into the warmth and energy and light of his resurrection life.

Peace,

Allan

A Reward from Him

January 9, 2012 / / 3 Comments

“Sons are a heritage from the Lord; children a reward from him.” ~Psalm 127:3

On at least four ocassions in the Gospels, parents are shown to be bringing their children to Jesus. And he welcomed them gladly. They brought their kids to Jesus that he should touch them, that he would bless them and teach them. And he did. Jesus took little kids in his arms, he placed his hand on their heads in blessing, he prayed for them. He also warns us sternly not to ignore them or neglect them or discourage them in any way because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to our little children and he’s not willing that any of them should be lost.

Scripture tells us plainly that children are a blessing from our God, a precious gift from our Father; received on trust, on loan, because they do belong first and foremost to him. And just as we dedicate our own lives to God through Christ, we dedicate our children to him. We thank God for this priceless gifts. And we ask him to use our children and work with them and through them as he sees fit.

Our church family at Central follows the tradition of Scripture in our baby dedication or baby blessing ceremonies. As a body of believers, as a family of God, we spent yesterday together publicly recognizing God’s proprietership, his ownership, of our kids. They belong to him. And we know that. And we give him thanks. Our children should be taught that they belong to God. And we should treat them as if they belong to God. Because they do.

And then we brought up twelve brand new babies and their parents, twelve precious children that have been born into the church family over the past twelve months. And we blessed them. We thanked God for them. We promised to stand by them in feeding and nurturing their children in the words and ways of our God. We listened as the new parents promised to raise their children in Christ. And then we vowed as a church to help them raise these babies in the Lord.

And then we shared communion together. With our children. Teenagers jumped out of their pews to join their parents on opposite sides of the worship center. Some parents went to where their children were sitting. Little communion huddles broke out all over the auditorium as our adults interacted with our kids. Some leaned over to interact with the children sitting in front of them. Some men and women turned completely around in their pews to visit with the kids behind them. Others hopped across aisles and switched sections just to share the celebratory feast with a child. And we shared our stories as we shared the meal. This is what the bread means to me. This is what I think about when I drink the cup. Before Christ saved me I used to be this; now by the grace of God I’m this! Here’s a passage of Scripture I always meditate on during communion. Here’s my favorite communion song. Here’s the reason we eat this bread and drink this cup.

Yeah, it was uncomfortable for some of us. We’re so used to being quiet and hushing our children during communion. So, generally, our kids just sit and stare at their feet or read or color while the bread and the cup and THE STORY pass right by them! Not yesterday. Yesterday at Central, we rehearsed the gospel story with our children during the weekly ritual that’s God-ordained for that very purpose. And it was beautiful.

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A couple of you have asked for a copy of the vows we took together as a congregation yesterday regarding the raising of our children. You need to know they were written well before I got here. There have been versions of this done here at Central for many years. We think Ken Danley may have written the version I worked from yesterday. I tweaked a couple of the phrases to fit in more closely with the Ephesians 6:4 passage we had interpreted during the sermon. And it may change a little each year to reflect the specific context of the time. You can click here to download a copy of our congregational Baby Dedication vows.

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It’s come down to tonight’s final game in the Central Staff Bowl Challenge. If Alabama wins, I’ll finish in first place, nine points ahead of Tiffani. If LSU wins, Greg takes the top prize and I finish fourth behind him and Matthew and Tiffani. Somewhere in the Mid Cities, Jackie Crain is smiling, knowing that if I were still in North Richland Hills, she’d be winning another free lunch on another Crimson Tide victory.

The Central staff should note that, should Alabama win it tonight, y’all are taking me to Famous Dave’s and I’m getting two meats!

Roll Tide,

Allan

Speak To One Another

December 19, 2011 / / 1 Comment

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” ~Ephesians 5:19
“There are different kinds of gifts… given for the common good.” ~1 Corinthians 12:4-7

There are times within the context of congregational worship for us to be edified by others. To be lifted up and encouraged by the singing of others. To be taught, to be inspired, to be challenged by the songs of others. There are times when the God-given abilities of one or two of his children should be used in a congregational setting to benefit the entire church body. We do it all the time in Bible readings, in prayer, in preaching, in worship leading, in teaching, and in making talks at the Lord’s Table. But we in our Church of Christ heritage have generally steered clear of that in our singing.

We have always upheld very strongly the concept of a congregational chorus. No choir. No robes. No select group of people standing up in front of the church and singing. Traditionally, that’s been our stand. Our idea is that everybody participates in the worship of God. We’re not gathered to be spectators; we’re here to worship. I, too, applaud that reasoning and support the theology behind it. However, traditionally, (as long as I can remember, and longer) we’ve taken the idea so far as to deny the exercise of God-given talents in God-ordained ways.

We’ve said ‘no’ to all choirs in our congregational settings. We’ve rejected the idea of quartets or duets. We won’t even have a discussion about solos. No one is to sing — ever! — in a congregational worship setting unless everybody is invited to sing. Whether it’s two dozen people in a choir or a trio of three, nobody can sing in church unless the whole church is singing. Traditionally, that’s been our view. If it’s not been our view, it’s certainly been our practice. And that position cannot be defended anywhere in our Scriptures.

If you’re banning choirs or forbidding the use of duets or solos in your church on Sunday mornings, you can’t use the Bible to justify it.

Regarding spiritual gifts such as singing, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that they are to “edify the church” (14:4). The Christians in Corinth are to be careful with the exercise of their gifts, keeping in mind the number one objective is “so that the church may be edified” (14:5). The apostle claims we should “excel in gifts that build up the church” (14:12) and refrain from practicing things by which “the other man is not edified” (14:17).

What could be more lovely than a young woman who’s been given an amazing voice by our Father using that voice to glorify him and inspire the church? What could be more appropriate than a group of several dozen Christians teaching and encouraging the congregation through their gift of song?

That man was given that talent by our Creator; let him use it to praise God! Let him use it to minister! And let us be ministered to. Let us listen and enjoy. Let the song take us to the throne of God. Let it inspire us to live better lives. Let it remind us of what our Father has done in our lives and in his world. Allow the man with the gift to sacrifice it to God for the sake of God’s glory and for the benefit of the church. Allow us to affirm the goodness of that gift and the greatness of the One who gives it by listening, by appreciating, by applauding the free use of that gift.

We are so blessed here at Central to be led by a group of shepherds who allow and even encourage a great variety of expressions of praise to God. We’re diverse in the ways we encourage one another in our assemblies. When we’re together, we reach for the fullest manifestation of the gifts of God’s Spirit.

A couple of weeks ago, it was a trio during our communion time. Here in a couple of weeks it’ll be a duet as we close. Yesterday it was Kevin, Johnny, Kelley, and Dick in a quartet getting us ready for the sermon. They sang a medley of songs that included “O Holy Night,” “Mary, Did You Know?” and “I Am” to prepare us for the lesson about partnering with God in the mighty salvation deeds he initiated at that little stable in Bethlehem.

And it was fabulous. Spiritually stimulating. Wonderful.

Now, don’t you dare come at me with “But, that might be perceived as entertainment” or “Aren’t you elevating one group of people over another?” Don’t say, “You’re turning it into a show or a performance.”

To quote Paul again from 1 Corinthians: “Brothers, stop thinking like children!” (14:20)

There need to be planned times in our assemblies to “just listen” to song. The same ways we “just listen” to preaching and praying and Bible reading.” Songs are strong. Music has the power to move people, to motivate and inspire, to encourage and comfort. There need to be times when a brother or sister with God-given abilities can use those abilities in a public way to bring glory to the Father and encourage the church. We need to be blown away every now and then by the talents God’s given us.

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Speaking of singing to one another, Carrie-Anne and I were suprised last night at our new house by a gaggle of Christmas carolers from our Central Youth Group. It seems those gathered at Tanner’s house decided to take the party on the road and wound up stopping by half a dozen houses to sing Christmas songs. We were thoroughly honored. And duly impressed. Not so much with Tanner’s Christmas tie and sweater or Spencer’s reindeer solo or Barrett’s improvised falsetto at the end of “Silent Night.” More so with the idea of sharing their gifts of song and fellowship with others.

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I have no idea what “Blizzard Warning” means. But we’re in the middle of one right now. No snow yet. But the National Weather Service says it’s coming.

On Friday they issued a “Blizzard Watch” for Monday and Tuesday. So we’ve been on alert. Yesterday while Carley and I were stirring paint together in the dining room, the Police song on our classic rock station was interrupted by the harsh tones of a National Weather Service alert. You know, that noise always makes me think thunderstorm or tornado watch. That was my first reaction. But the computerized voice alerted us that the blizzard watch had been canceled. Carley and I looked at each other with a little bit of disappointment. But the voice went on to let us know that a blizzard warning had now been issued for our parts of Randall and Potter Counties in the panhandle.

We’re expecting 12-16 inches of snow over the next 24 hours. North winds gusting to 45-50 miles per hour. Temperatures in the 20s. Whiteout conditions. Visibilities down to nothing. Four and five foot drifts.

I have no idea what that’s going to look like. I don’t know what it might to do to the city here. I’ve never experienced anything even close to this. But we’re excited about it. It’s brand new for us. So our attitude at Stanglin Manor right now is “Bring it.”

Peace,

Allan

Blowout at Armageddon

December 1, 2011 / / 1 Comment

We know there’s a battle going on between good and evil. We understand the conflict. We get it. Forget the TV and newspaper and the internet. There’s horrifying evidence of the evil on every channel, on every page, on every website. Forget that. Let’s acknowledge that we’re all personally caught up in it. We understand it personally because we’re dealing with it right now. Broken families. Bad news from the doctor. Pink slips at work. Addiction. Rebellious kids. Divorced parents. Intimidation. Depression. Hopelessness. Things are not the way our Father intended. We know that.

The earth God created and called good and the people he created and called very good are being tortured. Tortured by war, disease, violence, death, poverty, greed, lust, injustice, slavery, idolatry. We’re paralyzed by Satan, imprisoned by sin, terrified by death.

We’re in the middle of a cosmic war.

Our merciful Father knows that, too. He understands it. That’s why he gives us a beautiful vision of the already-determined outcome of the battle. He shows us the ending.

God gives it to us in Revelation 20: the battle of Armageddon. Satan calls together all the wicked of the world, all the evil in the universe. They come from all four corners of the earth. They’re gathering for battle against God’s children:

“In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves.”

Looks bad for God’s children. They’re surrounded. No escape. Out flanked. Outnumbered. Outmanned. Out of luck. It’s over.

“But fire came down from heaven and devoured them!”

There is no battle of Armageddon. Look it up. Revelation 20. There’s no battle. Satan never even touches the saints. None of God’s children are harmed. Not even a scratch. It’s like Jesus rides up on his white horse and says, “Make my day.” Boom! It’s over. We don’t fight anything. We don’t have to. That’s the Lord’s job.

Of course, it’s against our nature to sit back and let God do the fighting for us. The picture in Scripture of what it looks like for us to oppose the evil in our world is not typically the way we handle things. Instead, our first inclination is to politic. Picket. Petition. Boycott. Lobby. Threaten. We think if we show enough force, if we gather enough power, we can defeat evil by voting correctly or by supporting the right platforms together or by pushing the proper laws through worldly systems.

No.

The ones who are called “conquerors” in Revelation, the “over-comers,” are the ones who have submitted faithfully to suffering and death, totally trusting in God to deliver. God’s children are the ones who live in patience and mercy and grace and trust God completely to take care of the battle.

It’s important for us to know that the victory of Jesus Christ has already been won. In a blowout. A rout. Not even close. And it’s important for us to live with that expectation. Or into that expectation as though it’s already here. We live every moment today in light of what we know is ultimately going to happen.

We don’t wait to acknowledge the complete and sovereign rule of God. We acknowledge it and we submit to it right now. And we witness, we testify. We change the world. Not by power or force or influence. But by patience and gentleness and mercy and love. By faith and loyalty in our God and his victorious Christ. And, yes, even by some suffering. For a little while.

Ephesians 2 says we are already, right now, seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. We are. So we live like it.

Peace,

Allan

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