Category: Ephesians (Page 7 of 18)

Sex Is From God

June 14, 2016 / Allan / 0 Comments

“A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh.” ~Genesis 2:24

The first explicit mention of sex in the Scriptures is in the second chapter of Genesis. This is the same line Paul quotes in Ephesians 5 and 1 Corinthians 6 when he’s talking about marriage. Man and woman, husband and wife, are to be united to become one flesh.

You know, when we read this, it looks like it’s only talking about a physical, sexual union between two bodies. But it actually means a whole lot more. When Genesis 6:12 says all flesh had corrupted their ways, it doesn’t just mean bodies. It means all people. When Joel 2:28 says God will pour out his Spirit on all flesh, it means people, not just bodies. It’s like if I said I was going to “count noses” in the worship center on Sunday or do a “head count.” I’d say, “I’ve got 985!” (preacher count) and you would know I’m not talking 985 noses or 985 heads; I’m telling you how many people are in the room (more like 700). It’s very common to use a part of a thing to represent the whole thing.

So marriage is leaving your father and mother and uniting with another so profoundly that the man and woman actually become one new single person. We’ve talked about the word “united,” or “cleave” in the older translations. It means to make a covenant or a binding contract. Every aspect of the two lives are sworn together. The man and woman merge into a single, legal, social, economic, emotional, physical, spiritual unit. They give up a lot of their rights and their independence. They give themselves completely to one another.

To call the marriage “one flesh” means that sex is a sign of that personal and legal union and the means to accomplish it. It’s the God-created way to help you give your entire self to your spouse. Sex is God’s ordained way for two people to say to each other, “I belong completely and permanently and exclusively to you.”

Now, we’re not done with this. Today’s post just really sets us up for tomorrow and Thursday.

Peace,

Allan

The Creed & Historical Community

January 14, 2016 / Allan / 1 Comment

I had a great day at Oklahoma Christian University yesterday, catching up with some really old friends and maintaining connections with some more recent ones. It’s fascinating to walk into Hardeman auditorium and see Sheldon Adkins as a respected university counselor and Jeff McMillon as a respected Bible professor. Randy Roper — pardon me, Doctor Randy Roper — my play-by-play partner for all those Eagles basketball games, is the dynamic preacher for the Edmond Church of Christ. I know my own life has changed in so many wonderful ways since we were terrorizing the faculty and administration at OC back in the ’80s. Our God has faithfully shaped me and used me in ways I never could have imagined back then. To know he has done and is doing the exact same surprisingly wondrous things in others is a true blessing to my heart. We picked up with our conversation and connection like we had never left off, getting the scoop on mutual friends, re-telling the crazy stories that nobody would believe unless they had been there, laughing at the same things we laughed about twenty-five years ago. But there was added joy in the knowledge that our God saved us from ourselves and is using us to his glory and praise.

It was great to see Dillon Byrnes and Chandler Trader from the youth group back at Legacy. It was a true blessing to have Barrett Packard from our youth group here at Central introduce me to the OC chapel crowd and pray with me before I spoke. And the lunch at Alfredo’s with Adair, Randy, Barrett, and Dillon was a blast: old Delta guys in their late 40s with a couple of current Delta guys in their early 20s. And Randy.

Speaking at chapel at OC is nerve-wracking. I dread it. Tough room. Tough crowd. Impossibly high demands. I get the sense that 95% of the kids in the room don’t want to be there. I feel like none of them are listening (I know, I used to be one of those kids). Yesterday, though, seemed different from the other times I’ve spoken there. It seemed like they were paying attention yesterday, actually listening to the words of encouragement from the end of Romans 8 regarding God’s unconditional love for each of us. I wonder sometimes if the entire OC faculty and board of directors has to meet and vote first before I’m invited back to speak at chapel. I wonder if they call Terry Johnson or Richard Mock first, just to be sure they haven’t missed some kind of lifetime ban I’m under for some infraction committed in 1988. Regardless, I’m always grateful for the opportunity. And always blessed.

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“There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” ~Ephesians 4:4-6

We’re in the beginning stages of exploring together the Apostles’ Creed here at Central. We just introduced it to our congregation last Sunday and we’re jumping into the first line together this Sunday, returning to each of the different lines in order once a month through the end of the year. I’ve received much encouragement this week since that introductory sermon in the form of emails and texts and even pictures. Some of you have placed the creed on your refrigerators, some of your children are drawing and painting the lines of the creed and hanging them up in their rooms, lots of you are wondering why you’ve never heard of the Apostles’ Creed before. Your excitement and energy about this is giving me much energy and excitement. Thank you.

In the last post here I wrote about using the Apostles’ Creed as a way to maintain theological balance. Today, let me suggest that memorizing and saying the creed together also reminds us that we belong to the historical community of all disciples of Jesus for all time. We are a part of the one body. We belong to the one called people. We confess the one faith and we are all children of the one God.

When we stand up and say this creed together, it connects us to all the Christians who stood up and said this creed together. Through the ages. The group of fifteen Christians in Asia Minor who gathered at the river and said the Apostles’ Creed as their neighbor was baptized in 265 AD. The two dozen Christians in Ephesus who said the creed together around the Lord’s Meal in one of their homes on a Sunday night in 310 AD. The hundreds of Christians in Rome who said the creed together in a brand new church building in 526 AD. The Christians in the European cathedrals in the 14th century. The Christians in the mission fields in the 19th century. All the Christians around the world who say the creed together every Sunday today. We are part of a people — think about how big this is! — thousand and thousands and hundreds of millions of people for the past 1,800 years all over the world who confess the basis beliefs of the Christian faith with these same words. It’s huge. It’s beautiful. It connects us to the people who’ve gone before us even now as the faith has been passed on to us and it’s our turn to run the race and boldly proclaim the truth about our God and his holy Son.

You say the pledge of allegiance or you sing the U.S. national anthem and it connects you to a people that were founded 240 years ago. We say the Apostles’ Creed and it joins us to an eternal people who were founded and shaped by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Peace,

Allan

Holy Spirit Community

November 25, 2015 / Allan / 1 Comment

How do we do this? Community. Family in a congregational setting. It doesn’t matter the size of your church, you have many different opinions and viewpoints, different ways of receiving and responding, competing ways of experiencing and expressing the Christian faith within your congregation. There are different values and priorities. And a whole lot of that breaks along the lines of generation.

The Builders generation constructs an auditorium, installs carpet and pews, and calls it God’s House. They show up every Sunday in their suits and ties and nice dresses. And when they’re in church, they show respect.

The Baby Boomers have all the money. They pay for everything (thank you). And they want more: more programs, more buildings, more ministries; bigger and better and louder. When they’re in church, everything had better run smoothly.

The Gen Xers are the consumers. They wear blue jeans to church and bring their coffee with them. And that makes the Builders shudder. Their kids are loud. And that makes the Boomers cringe. When the Gen Xers are in church, they’re comfortable.

The Millennials and Generation Y and Generation Z and whoever is sitting with the youth group want experiences. They want action. They think saving whales is just as important as saving souls. They come to church wearing whatever they had on last night. And when they’re in church, they’re looking for something to do.

Bringing all these people together under one roof, together as one body, is hard. Because we think differently. We behave differently.

If we’re in the middle of a worship service and the electricity goes out and everything goes dark:

The Builders would sit in their pews and shake their heads. “Why aren’t we taking care of our building?” They’re embarrassed. Ashamed. And they sit there in the dark until 11:30, because that’s when church is over.

The Boomers would get on their phones and call an electrician and pay him the quadruple-overtime it would take to come over and get this power turned back on immediately. “Nobody move!”

The Gen Xers would call Home Depot and rent a generator. “That’s all we need.”

The Millennials would get up and leave. But they’d feed 94 homeless people and adopt twelve children on the way home.

Generations Y and Z would grab a guitar and head over to the park, sit under a shade tree, and sing a worship song they wrote at Taco Bueno the night before. They’d take a picture, post it on Instagram, and call it the best worship experience they’ve ever had.

There are differences between us every Sunday on every pew. How do we do this?

God’s Spirit tears down all the walls and brings us together and keeps us together. I can’t explain it; I don’t know how he does it. But he holds us together by his Spirit.

“You who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity…thus making peace… For through him we all have access to the Father by one Spirit.” ~Ephesians 2:13-22

Paul goes on to write in this chapter of Ephesians that we are all fellow citizens with God’s people and members together of God’s household. We belong to God and we belong to one another. We are being “built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

We are joined together. We do life together. We rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn together. We bear one another’s burdens together. We consider the needs of others more important than our own together. God has brought us together and he’s not finished with us yet. He’s still working on us, changing us, transforming us, and empowering us by his Spirit to proclaim his Kingdom and the lordship of his Son by the ways we love each other and get along.

So, younger people, sing the older, slower songs you hate for the sake of the community. Pay attention to the Scripture readings, shake hands with the older guy in the back in order to bless others in the family. Older people, sing the newer songs you hate and, maybe, clap your hands for the sake of the community. Smile during the skit or the video clip, ask the younger guy down front about his car or his soccer team in order to bless others in the family.

Peace,

Allan

Watchful & Thankful

November 5, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” ~Colossians 4:2

The earliest Christians made it a habit to pray regularly at specific hours every day. Some appear to have prayed twice a day, morning and evening; others three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening. It was a continuation of the Jewish custom that had been practiced for centuries, and subsequently passed on to succeeding Christian generations.

But regular daily prayer was not just the result of tradition.

The first Christians confidently expected the return of Christ and the consummation of the Kingdom of God in the immediate future, within their lifetimes. And they believed they were called to be alert and watchful at all times for that final event. Just like servants were supposed to stay awake and watch for the return of their master, they were expected to remain vigilant for the return of their Lord.

Mark 13:32-37 quotes Jesus as telling us to “be on guard! Be alert!” and “Keep watch!” Christ tells us in Luke 12:35-40 to “keep your lamps burning like men waiting for their master to return.”

Several New Testament passages further reveal that prayer is the proper mode of this constant state of readiness. Prayer is the way that watchful attitude is best expressed. Jesus tells his apostles to watch and pray that they may not enter into temptation. Paul’s letter to the Colossians links the idea of watchfulness and prayer (4:2). And he tells the Ephesians to “be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (6:18).

The discipline of prayer at regular, fixed times was an expression of the Church’s constant readiness for the imminent return of Christ.

Shall we pray?

Allan

Wake Up!

October 29, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

There’s a scene in the first Vacation movie (the original 1983 version with Chevy Chase, Beverly D’ Angelo, Randy Quaid, and John Candy) to which everybody with a drivers license can relate. The Griswolds are driving in the Family Truckster from Chicago to California to visit Wally World. They’re driving super late at night. It’s dark. Super quiet in the car. The moving shadows caused by the street lights and the glow from the dash board is about it. All you can hear is the Fleetwoods’ “Mr. Blue” on the car radio. The camera shows the kids in the back seat, sound asleep. Rusty: sound asleep. Audrey: sound asleep. Aunt Edna: sound asleep. Ellen in the passenger seat: sound asleep. The camera moves to the driver’s seat where we see Clark Griswold behind the wheel: sound asleep!

As God’s children and recipients of his eternal salvation, we have a divine purpose. We play a critical part in all of God’s new creation plans. We are his vital agents. But I think, sometimes, a lot of us are missing it. Some of us are dozing right through it. Sleeping. Maybe you’re in a full-on coma.

And we need a wake-up call.

“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!”
~Ephesians 4:14

Paul says it’s time to wake up. Living at the level of the non-heavenly world around you, living like everybody else, is like being asleep. Or, worse, it’s like what sleep is the metaphor for: death. When our daily and hourly lives do not reflect the glory of God and his eternal purposes for his world, we’re sleepwalking. We’re just going through the motions. And we’re really missing out.

Paul says it’s time to wake up. Come alive to the real world, the world where Jesus is Lord, the world to which your baptism calls you, your new creation, the world you claim to belong to when you say Jesus is Lord and that, yes, God has raised him from the dead! What we all need from time to time is a friend, or even a stranger, somebody to remind us. We all need a sermon or a verse of Scripture, something to wake us up. You’ve been asleep long enough. We need to be told the sun is shining, it’s a wonderful day out there. Wake up and get involved in it!

If God really is fixing everything that’s broken, if he really is repairing everything and making everything new, then our purpose as his children is to live like it. To really live like it. To join him, even, in repairing and restoring and renewing. That’s the goal. That’s what God is doing.

So many of us, though, see the Church as the goal instead of as the means to the goal. So many of us, when we talk about fixing and repairing and restoring and renewing, we’re talking about fixing and repairing and restoring and renewing the Church. As if that’s the mission. We get so wrapped up in what happens inside our church walls, we spend so much of our time and energy and money and passion on what happens in the church, we don’t have any time or energy or money or passion for what God is doing out in the world!

Wake up!

Now, hear me clearly: God’s Church is important. It’s vital. Christ died for his Church. The Church of God is paramount to the mission of God — as a means to that mission end, never as the end itself. The Church is not Wally World. The Church is the Family Truckster. The Church is the imperfect, beat-up, unbeautiful, sputtering, backfiring vehicle God uses to take his creation to its intended destination. And a lot of us are asleep at the wheel!

The Church is not a retreat from the world. It’s not a safe place to hide from the world. No! Shades of reason, neighbor! The Church is a vehicle into the world. But we’re not supposed to be asleep while God buckles us in and takes us to our destination. God saves us, he redeems us, and he brings us together as a church in order to work through us to save others. Our purpose as a church is to live and give and sacrifice and serve for the sake of others.

“Be very careful how you live — not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.” ~Ephesians 4:15-16.

Peace,

Allan

He Gave

October 19, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” ~Romans 8:32

Scripture says God gave the land to Abraham. The Lord gave success to Joseph. God gave his children manna in the desert. The Bible tells us our God gave his people deliverers when they were in trouble. Through Christ, God gave us the right to become his children.

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” ~John 3:16

In the Gospels, Jesus says I give you eternal life. I give you my peace. I give you the Spirit. This is my body given for you. The Kingdom of God is given to you. I give you victory. Paul says God has freely given us of his glorious grace.

God created in order to give. Jesus came to earth in order to give. He lived and died and rose again and reigns at the right hand of the Father in heaven so he can give.

“Life a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” ~Ephesians 5:2

That’s the Good News. God gave. Now I give. Freely you have received, freely give. God through Christ gave. Everything. To me. Now I give. Everything. To him. That’s the Gospel. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Ephesians (Page 7 of 18)

Sex Is From God

The Creed & Historical Community

Holy Spirit Community

Watchful & Thankful

Wake Up!

He Gave

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