The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Evangelism (Page 10 of 21)

For the Sake of Others

November 29, 2012 / / 0 Comments

In keeping with his promises to Israel, God saves them. The Hebrew Scriptures make it very plain, telling in great detail using God’s own words, the how and the why of God saving Israel. “I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”

“My treasured possession:” royal property belonging to God purely by his own will and desire.

“The whole earth is mine:” the Lord can do as he pleases; and it pleases him to make Israel his own.

“A kingdom of priests, a holy nation:” Israel is different; set apart from the other nations.

Yes, the people belong to God and, yes, they are called to be separate from the rest of the world. But Israel is not separate in that they live in isolation from the other nations. As holy and priestly, Israel is the means by which God will save and bless the entire world. The purpose of God’s people is international in scope. It’s nature is global. Israel is a holy and priestly nation that God has chosen to work through to bring about his eternal plans for mankind.

God calls his people to live holy lives, to stick out like a sore thumb in the ways they live. Why? For the sake of others! To save the world!

God has created a people to be the means for reconciling the nations to himself. And when God’s people disobey God’s laws, when they live in ways that are not holy, when God’s people do what everybody else is doing, yes, it has serious implications for their relationship with God. But, much bigger than that, it thwarts the salvation plans of heaven for everybody else.

Look at the golden calf.

“Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.” ~Exodus 32:25

Rather than redeeming the nations, Israel rejects the God who saved her and becomes a laughingstock, a point of ridicule. As a result, the world is less attracted to the true God than ever before. All throughout the Old Testament, Israel’s disobedience to God leads to their reproach by the rest of the world. And that’s totally counter to God’s purpose for his people. He made his people for the sake of others.

Even in the exile, where Israel felt the full weight of the consequences of her disobedience, the focus is on how this is impacting the salvation of the rest of the world. God promises to bring the remnant of Israel back to the land in order to renew his universal purpose in calling Israel in the first place.

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” ~Isaiah 49:6

Even in the darkest period of Israel’s history, when her own release from captivity was the most pressing concern, God reminds his people of the broader picture. He reminds them that it’s not about them. Why are they going to be released? Why are they going to be rescued? For the sake of others, not themselves. To bring salvation to the rest of the world.

As God’s people and devout followers of his Son, it’s not about us. It’s about the rest of the world. Your church is not about you and the people you sit with, it’s about your city. Your Bible class or your small group is not about you and your friends, it’s about your neighborhood, your community. It’s not about us. It’s not about any of us. It’s about God using us to save others. We are saved, we are brought together in him, we exist for the sake of others.

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you… that they may see your good deeds and glorify God.” ~1 Peter 2:9-12

Peace,

Allan

In Line with Kingdom Priorities

November 14, 2012 / / 0 Comments

I won’t use those self check-out counters at Wal-Mart or Home Depot. I’d rather stand in line for ten minutes and talk to a real person at the register and even real people in line with me than swipe a card and punch a few buttons and have no human interaction with anybody. My kids say it’s because I’m old. I tell them, no, it’s more important to interact with people than to be in such a hurry.

I can’t show God’s love and grace to a machine. I can’t smile at a machine or talk to a machine (I suppose I could, but I’d probably get arrested). If a machine miscalculates my change or forgets to give me a receipt, my attempts at a Christ-like patient and pleasant attitude will have no impact on a machine. I can’t talk to a machine about the pictures of its grandchildren on its apron. A machine will never ask me about my empty tomb T-shirt or where I go to church.

Our time and technology — calendars, clocks, computers — are increasingly robbing us of more and more human interaction. This frantically hurried culture is chipping away at Scripture’s contention that we are not a collection of individuals but, rather, a Body with each member belonging to all the others.

We invest our lives in one another. We commit ourselves to one another. It happens at weddings and funerals. It happens at ballgames and graduations and potlucks.

“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality… Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” ~Romans 12:13-15

I can’t rejoice with you unless I know what you’re rejoicing about. I can’t mourn with you unless I know why you’re mourning. That’s where the time investment and the sharing come in. That’s where loving human interaction with one another should take the priority over our busy schedules.

Today, make that phone call you’ve been putting off. Tonight, reconnect with that family member or neighbor you’ve been too busy to visit. And ask the cashier about her grandkids.

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Congratulations to Central’s own Ellie Cornett and Logan Brittain! Man, we’ve got some really talented kids at this place! Ellie just won the Class 2A State Cross Country Championship as a member of the Bushland High School Lady Falcons. It’s the first ever state title for Bushland. And Ellie’s got a great shot at repeating next year as a Senior. And Logan has just made it official, signing with the University of Texas Longhorns as a Class 4A High Jump Champion from Randall High. As a Senior this year, Logan also stars as a wide receiver and defensive back with the Raiders playoffs-bound football team and as the starting point guard for Randall’s basketball team. Congratulations to these great kids and their wonderful families. We’re very proud of these two.

Peace,

Allan

What “Sent” People Do

October 31, 2012 / / 1 Comment

Today is Halloween and I’m wearing a Tony Romo jersey in the office. He’s the scariest quarterback in the NFL; I think it’s appropriate. If I’d had the time, I would have completed the outfit with eye black, a Cowboys cap on backwards, super dark glasses, and a seeing-eye dog.

Today is Wednesday. It’s a church night. What to do?

Well, I don’t know what your church is doing tonight, but here at Central we’re cancelling all of our Bible classes. We’re not doing anything here at the building. The doors are going to be locked and the lights will be out. But we’re not just canceling church; we’re taking church to the streets in order to better engage our community with the Gospel of Christ. Many people in our neighborhoods will be out in our streets and walking our sidewalks tonight. They’ll be walking right in front of our houses, in a lot of cases, even walking up to our doors to ring the bell. Most of the people in our neighborhoods who aren’t trick-or-treating are at least anticipating that their doorbells will be rung. They bought candy and set it by the door. They’re turning on their porch lights and getting ready. Most everybody in our city tonight will be in a receiving mood, expecting to interact with people in their neighborhoods, preparing to meet new people, to learn new things.

It seems like a really bad time for God’s people to be holed up by themselves in a building somewhere.

We’ve been asking our people at Central to not just skip church tonight, but to be creative in taking advantage of the mood this evening to interact with their neighbors. We’re urging our people to be intentional about engaging others with the love and grace of Jesus. Pray about it. Make a plan. Get others involved. Think outside your normal Halloween routines. Don’t just trick-or-treat with the kids. Don’t just hand out candy from your front door for three hours. Be creative and bless the people around you on purpose.

I spent about two hours last night stringing up orange and purple Halloween lights in our trees and along the front of our house. We’ve replaced the front porch light and the lamp post light in the front yard with creepy black bulbs. We’ll have funny Halloween music blasting from a CD player in the bushes. Carrie-Anne has already purchased ten gallons of hot apple cider and we’ve got 250 little styrofoam cups. We’ve moving all the backyard furniture, including our big fire pit, into the front. And we’re going to set up a little warming station at the corner of Oakhurst and Roxton.

I have no idea how this is going to work. I don’t know what will come of it. I’m hoping that after two or three years of this, we’ll come to be known as the house where people in our neighborhood can warm up by a fire and drink some cider while they’re trick-or-treating. I’m hoping we’ll meet a lot of people who will see our kind and gracious God in the ways we interact with them. I don’t know where this will lead. But our family will pray about it tonight during a rushed and early dinner, anticipating that our God certainly knows what to do with this. In faith, we’re giving this to him. And we trust that he will use our little neighborhood warming station for his purposes and to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

Benevolence and Evangelism

May 29, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Benevolence and evangelism are not the same thing. They are very closely related; but they are not the same thing. To equate benevolence and evangelism, in word or deed, is to distort the Gospel of Christ and to do harm to the uniqueness of God’s salvation.

Look, I know church people who poo-poo (is that how you spell it?) medical mission trips and humanitarian relief efforts. “That’s not evangelism!” they shout. They say the church shouldn’t be paying for it. And I know church people who take these trips and make these efforts who counter with, “Of course, it is evangelism!” They point to the prophets and to Jesus, the greatest prophet, to validate the money they’re spending on food and surgeries for the poor.

Benevolence is not evangelism, but the two definitely go hand-in-hand. You can have benevolence without evangelism; it happens all the time. But you rarely, if ever, get evangelism without benevolence. When we equate the two, though, we wind up losing what is the single most unique thing disciples of Jesus have to offer to a lost and dying world.

Anybody can do benevolence. There are many motivations for feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. You don’t have to be a Christian to do good deeds. Non-disciples do it every day. But Christians have the Gospel of Jesus Christ by which the world can be reconciled to God in a righteous relationship for eternal life. Nobody else can make that kind of offer. No one else can give that kind of invitation. Without confusing the two, Christians need to become good at both.

In his little book Generous Justice, Timothy Keller writes about the importance of benevolence and its undeniable relationship to evangelism:

“Imagine an eloquent Christian preacher who every Sunday delivers compelling sermons. But one of his female parishioners comes to learn that the minister verbally abuses and browbeats his wife daily. After she discovers this, she unsurprisingly finds his sermons completely unpersuasive. Why? His deeds contradict his words, and so his words have no power. Imagine instead a new minister whose public oratory is quite mediocre. However, as time goes on, the parishioners come to see that he is a man of sterling character, wisdom, humility, and love. Soon, because of the quality of his life, his members will find they are hanging on every word of his preaching.

When a city perceives a church as existing strictly and only for itself and its own members, the preaching of that church will not resonate with outsiders. But if neighbors see church members loving their city through astonishing, sacrificial deeds of compassion, they will be much more open to the church’s message. Deeds of mercy and justice should be done out of love, not simply as a means to the end of evangelism. And yet there is no better way for Christians to lay a foundation for evangelism than by doing justice.”

In other words, they won’t care what you know until they know that you care.

For the past two thousand years it’s been proven over and over again: Benevolence and evangelism go hand-in-hand. The Roman emperor Julian hated the Christian faith, but he had to admit that they were gaining new converts because of their tremendous generosity:

“Nothing has contributed to the progress of the superstition of the Christians as their charity to strangers… the impious Galileans provide not only for their own poor, but for ours as well.”

For disciples of Jesus, evangelism certainly starts with benevolence. But benevolence alone does not constitute evangelism. To be Christian, it must be both. Follow the cup of cold water with a drink of living water. Extend the meal with a taste of the bread of life. Tell them about the King who motivates your good deeds and invite them to join us in his eternal Kingdom. Not just benevolence. Not just evangelism. To be Christian, it must be both.

Peace,

Allan

Tzadeqah and Mishpat

May 24, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Righteousness and Justice. The Hebrew words are translated “righteousness” and “justice” in English. These words that are mentioned over and over in the Old Testament; these words that our God uses to describe himself; these words the prophets used to discuss the powerful and merciful actions of our God; these words the Bible uses and uses and re-uses to paint a picture of God’s holy will and his children’s responsibilities as God’s holy people. Giving people what is right. Treating people fairly. Equally. With generosity. Showing mercy and grace. Lifting up the fallen. Being kind to the orphan, the widow, and the stranger in the gate.

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow.”
~Psalm 146

For many years now the Central Church of Christ has committed to showing that kind of tzadeqah and mishpat to the entire Amarillo community. This church family understands that to reflect the glory of God we must reflect God’s eternal attributes and faithful characteristics. So, in Jesus’ name, we feed the hungry and clothe the naked, comfort the grieving and mend the broken, minister to the least of these.

For many years now the Central Church has also committed to seeing the world with Kingdom of God eyes instead of Church of Christ eyes. This congregation understands that the eternal reign and love and salvation of God is much bigger than any one group, much bigger than any one faith tradition or set of rules and practices. So, in Jesus’ name, we worship and work, minister and pray, serve the Kingdom with and beside all who call him Lord.

And when both of those ideals toward which we’re striving come together in an unprecedented partnership, well… we can only praise God and marvel at his matchless goodness and grace.

The Central Church of Christ is now partnering with the Southlawn Assembly of God to duplicate food pantry and outreach efforts throughout the poorer neighborhoods of Amarillo.

Yeah, you’d better read that sentence again just to make sure you read it right. Church of Christ. Assembly of God. Partnering.

Southlawn pastor Jared Middaugh and others at their church have been convicted by God’s Spirit to stop looking in and start looking out. They want to see the city with God’s eyes. They want to serve. They want to put the needs of others ahead of their own. They want to be more Christ-like. They’re no longer content to just do church; they want to be church. They want to feed the hungry in Jesus’ name. They want to clothe the naked and free the prisoner and comfort the afflicted. But this is a new move for them. They need some direction. Some advice. So they called Mark.

(Let me just say right here what a blessing — what a joy! — to belong to a church that has this kind of reputation in our city. Another church wants to start an outreach ministry to the poor and they call us! Praise God!)

And Mark jumped right in. Immediately. We’ll help. We’ll partner with you. We’ll serve together and learn from each other. And we’ll do it in the name of Jesus to the glory of God. Mark brought the idea to our staff and we jumped in immediately. Yes, we’ll partner with them. We’ll work with them. We can teach them and they can teach us. Our God will use this cooperative effort to multiply exponentially what neither of our two churches could do alone. Mark then brought it to our elders and they all jumped in immediately. Of course, we’ll do this with them. Yes, we’ll give that church some money to get it all started. We’ll send our Prayer Breakfast and Loaves & Fishes volunteers to Southlawn every week to work side-by-side with these fellow Christians. We’ll share resources and share manpower and share our lives in sacrificial service to others!

(Did I mention this is an Assembly of God?)

The ministers and staff here at Central were joined in our daily prayer time this morning by Jared and their worship minister. We shook hands and introduced ourselves, we laughed some and smiled a lot. I was blessed to share the holy words of Psalm 146 that describe our righteous and merciful God who takes care of those in need. And then we prayed. Mark and I prayed on behalf of our staff. Steve prayed on behalf of our elders. Jared prayed on behalf of Southlawn. We thanked God. We blessed one another. A couple of us shed a tear or two, tears of joy, tears of amazement, tears of wonder. It’s overwhelming, really. Hard to believe. Overwhelming.

I have prayed that my kids and grandkids would someday be a part of a cooperative, non-denominational Kingdom of God on this earth. I have prayed that denominational barriers would be obliterated, that Christ’s disciples would be united by his blood and in his name, that we could someday really unite to show this unbelieving world that our God in Jesus really is changing everything. That we would all be one in Christ; that, as our Lord prayed, we “would be one.”

“I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.”

I’m blown completely away that I’m actually experiencing some of that here at Central in Amarillo. I’m amazed we’re able to do this. I’m encouraged. I’m uplifted. I’m thrilled. And I have no idea how this is going to all turn out. I just know that God’s will is being done here on earth just as it is in heaven.

Oh, yeah, we have plenty of differences with those folks over there at Southlawn. There are dozens of ways we differ in belief and practice. Almost as many differences as you and the person who sits right behind you or right in front of you or six pews over from you every Sunday morning. But we have Jesus. He died for us, he calls us, and he commands us to live radically sacrificial lives to blow away the powers of this age. And we’re all interested in that.

Please join me in praying for this cooperative effort. Join me in thanking Jared and the children of God at Southlawn for this holy opportunity. May our merciful Father use us to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

Adventure in the Kingdom

April 3, 2012 / / 1 Comment

A new cancer diagnosis every minute. More pink slips and foreclosures. Economic uncertainties. Tornados. Divorce. Car wrecks. War. Rumors of wars. These are not settled times in this country. Not at all. But they are — they should be — exciting and adventurous times.

Praise teams. Women’s roles. Church leadership structures. Instruments in worship. Small groups. Ecumenical movements and interdenominational partnerships. These are not settled times in the Churches of Christ. Not at all. But they are — they should be — exciting and adventurous times.

I’m reminded of something Stanley Hauerwas, that great theologian from the Grove, wrote almost twenty years ago:

“God has not promised us safety, but participation in an adventure called the Kingdom. That seems to me to be great news in a world that is literally dying of boredom.”

It’s all out there in front of us. Adventure. Thrills. Daring missions. Risky change. Challenging discussions. Exciting encounters. What are we waiting for? To get all our ducks in a row? To find all the answers first? To make sure everybody in our boat is on board with the exact same theology and uniform practices? No! What’s exciting about that?!?

What’s going to save more people? What’s going to redeem my part of the world for Christ? What’s going to make you and me more like Jesus?

Not worrying or complaining about current politics or health care or the culture. No ma’am. And not arguing and debating about church politics and practices and church culture.

Getting out there in the middle of it, with other Christians, sacrificing and serving, saving and learning, throwing our entire selves into the mission of God with full knowledge and trust that he is going to do something incredibly wonderful with it if we’ll just submit to him and his calling. That’s going to save people! That’s going to reconcile God’s world! That’s going to make us all more like our Risen Lord!

But what about this post-modern, post-Christian society? Nobody wants to listen to anything about Jesus. No, stop it. Everybody you know at work and in your neighborhood and at your Wal-Mart is desperately looking to be a part of something that’s hugely significant and bigger than themselves.

But what about our Church of Christ identity? How is the world going to know that we’re different from other churches? No, stop it. Jesus died on the cross so we would all be one in him, so I’m sure he’d be thrilled if we worked according to his plan for a change.

These are exciting and adventurous times in the Kingdom of God. Of course, as long as your faith is in you and your particular church or congregation instead of in the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, you won’t see them as anything but unsettling and dangerous. Faith in God tells us that we’re surrounded by divine potential. Holy mystery. Heavenly adventure. Eternal excitement. It’s high time we abandon ourselves and jump in with everything we’ve got.

Peace,

Allan

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