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Category: Galatians (Page 2 of 11)

Where “All” Becomes “One”

July 31, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” ~Galatians 3:26-28

I believe we are blessed to live in the country we live in, but the systems and structures and mottos and politics of this world will never unite anybody. The only place where the “all” becomes “one” is in Christ alone. In Christ is the only place where all people become one people. Our Lord Jesus is creating one global eternal community, not a bunch of them. So, in Christ, all the barriers are gone. There’s no more separation, no more distinctions or differences–everybody’s totally equal in Christ. The walls are down, the doors are open, the bridges are built! Now that Christ Jesus has come, all people have become one people!

To treat anyone differently, to deny anyone equal standing or equal freedom in God’s Church based on their nationality or their social standing or their gender is to, as Paul writes, proclaim “a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-7). That kind of discrimination or distinction contradicts not just how we’re saved, but also why we’re saved. When we discriminate or make those distinctions in the Church, our actions contradict our message.

For illustration and application purposes, Paul gives us three pairings. All in the same context. All in the same breath.

In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. This is about ethnicity. He’s talking about nationality and culture, this is about color and race and language, anything ethnically that the world divides over. No one has to become a Jew to be a Christian. When we give equal honor and equal freedom and equal standing to Christians of all colors and from all nations and who speak all languages, then we’re proclaiming the Word of the Lord.

The worshipers in Revelation are singing to Christ Jesus in heaven. Listen to their song:
“You were slain, and with your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation!” ~Revelation 5:9

The saints of God come from all over and they’re singing the same song. If we treat Christians differently or show them less honor or give them less freedom because they’re a different color or come from a different country or speak a different language, we are proclaiming something different than God’s Word.

In Christ, there is neither slave nor free. This is about social standing and economic status. How a person is educated, what kind of job she has, or how much money he makes has nothing to do with how a person is accepted as righteous by God or how that person serves and worships in God’s Church. It’s totally irrelevant. If anybody’s getting preferential treatment at church, it should be the poor and the marginalized and the people on the outside. Listen to our Lord:

“Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed… Bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame… Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in so that my house will be full!” ~Luke 14:13, 21, 23

Our Lord’s brother says it straight up in James 2, that if you show favoritism for a rich man over a poor man, you are sinning against God who has chosen the poor to be rich in faith and to inherit his Kingdom. If you only talk to Christians who have jobs, if you only eat with Christians who live in your zip code, if you only show honor to Christians who can pay you back, you’re proclaiming a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all.

In Christ, there is neither male nor female. This is about gender and all the different dynamics that surround gender. This is about bestowing or not bestowing status or freedom in the Church based on a Christian’s sex.

It’s interesting to me that in a lot of our churches, in our Bible classes and small groups and in almost all our church settings, our Christian sisters are encouraged to express their full freedom in Christ and asked to exercise their spiritual gifts. But it’s different in the Worship Center. Generally speaking, women lead prayers and read Scripture and exhort the church at 9:30 all over the campus, but they’re not allowed to do those exact same things in front of the exact same people and the same God in the Worship Center at 10:30.

It seems like we should interpret and apply this third pairing just like we do the other two.

In 1 Corinthians 11, where the apostle Paul instructs women on how to pray and how to teach in the Sunday assembly, it’s in the context of we are all one together in Christ and how we need each other and each other’s spiritual gifts.

“In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” ~1 Corinthians 11:11-12

In Christ, men and women are the same. No gender is better than the other, no gender is more honored or more gifted or more free to exercise those gifts than the other. Males and females are equal in Christ. Again, it seems to me we should interpret and practice this third couplet like we do the other two. We wouldn’t tell some Christians they can’t lead a prayer in the assembly because they’re Black. We wouldn’t tell some Christians they can’t lead the communion time because they don’t have a job. So why do we tell some Christians they can’t do those things because they are women? Paul sees these categories as the same.

Now, there are two verses in the Bible that are used to restrict Christian women in exercising their spiritual gifts, two lines addressing two particular concerns in two very specific settings. But we have this central passage in Galatians 3 and many others that call for and demonstrate this equal standing between men and women in Christ. It seems that if we restrict our Christian sisters where the Bible doesn’t, we’re proclaiming a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all.

Peace,

Allan

People of Promise

July 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“If the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.” ~Galatians 3:18

We are not a people of the law, we are a people of promise. And that matters. It matters big time.

If we believe we are saved by the law or by rules and regulations or by behaving correctly, then we’re going to treat people harshly. We’ll be arrogant and judgmental, we’ll be unbending and unforgiving. We’ll be nervous or unsure about the correctness of our own performance, so we’ll fight and divide over the weirdest things. And we’ll turn off a lot of people.

When we know we are saved by the gracious promise of God in Christ, then we’ll be a people of mercy and love. We’ll give others the benefit of the doubt. We’ll be flexible and forgiving, we’ll seek to bless others, we’ll be kind and hospitable. Our words will be encouraging, our actions will be inviting. We’ll be unified by a focus on the really important things. And we’ll inspire a lot of people.

We are not people of the law. We are not people of rules or people of regulations or people of the guilt trip or people of the coercion. We are not people of correct interpretations or proper practices. None of those things save us! Those are things we use to gain control. Or to be right. Or to be better. Or more prominent. Those are the things that divide us and separate us, those are the things that lead to strife and condemnation.

The Good News is that your forgiveness, your salvation, your eternal life rests solely in the unchanging promise or our God through Christ alone.

“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” ~Galatians 3:29

Peace,

Allan

In Christ Alone

June 12, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Last night was our annual GCR night at the Midland RockHounds game. More than 280 of us enjoyed the perfect weather, all-you-can-eat dinner and snacks, and a tightly-played pitchers duel. Cory and our worship team sang the national anthem, Bob Judkins threw out the first pitch, and Cullen Landry shattered all the stadium’s speakers with his exuberant “Play Ball!” A dozen of our kids participated in the between-innings promotional events, including our own Doug Cochran who won a 50-dollar HEB gift card for rolling around the dirt in front of the first base dugout in a giant tortilla. We celebrated Rex Henderson’s 70th birthday, ate one or two too many hotdogs, and marveled at how the RockHounds P.A. guy sounds exactly like our VBS mascot, Davy Wavy.

 

 

The highlight of the whole evening for me was getting to hold  Griffin McGraw for about an inning. This little guy was only born last Thursday–less than a week ago!–and I got to hold him while he took in his very first baseball game! I think he understands the bases and foul balls and the concept of three outs. But his eyes glazed over when I tried to explain balks and the infield fly rule.

Several people asked if I was practicing for our two grandsons who are going to be born in the next couple of weeks. If “practicing” means handing the baby back to his mom the moment the diaper gets warm, then yes.

 

 

 

 

You can click on these thumbnails to get the full size pictures. Thanks to Joey Gennusa and the RockHounds for another terrific night at the ballpark!

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I’ve been clear this week in this space in my conviction that it is wrong to say your kind of church is God’s true church and demand that others belong to your kind of church to find the truth. It’s wrong to criticize other churches because they do things differently. That is sectarian denominationalism and it’s a perversion of the Gospel of Jesus. We cannot ever try to make people join a specific group in order to be acceptable to God.

However, don’t hear me say that I think all churches are alike. Because they’re not. Not all churches are the same; I want to be just as clear about that.

Some churches are more biblical than others. Some are more orthodox in their beliefs and practice than others. Some churches are more lively and healthy, some churches are more on God’s mission than others. Some churches are better than others. But nobody can make those judgments by looking at the name on the sign out front.

Now, I’m biased, but I believe the Golf Course Road Church of Christ is a pretty great church. We mostly uphold most of the historical Church of Christ understandings and traditions. We teach and practice believer’s baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sin, we eat and drink the communion meal every Lord’s Day, we believe and practice the priesthood of all believers–pretty standard Church of Christ stuff. At Golf Course Road, those things are deeply held Gospel convictions. But our shepherds and ministers, our church leadership, is committed to this: if any of our CofC traditions ever come into conflict with the Gospel, the Gospel is going to win every time. We’re going to go with the Gospel all the way. Every time. We’re doing our very best, by God’s grace, to always act “in line with the truth of the Gospel” (Galatians 2:14).

At GCR, we know that some of the best ways we we’re formed and some of the more significant ways we minister are in partnership with Christians from other denominations. Our “4 Midland” worship services and service projects are so important. What an undeniable testimony to the saving and uniting power of the Gospel! Our elders and ministers eat dinner and pray with the elders and ministers from those other churches. Our unity and fellowship with them allows us to both experience and express just how big God’s Church really is. It drives us to our knees in gratitude to God for the greatness of his salvation activity throughout our city in hundreds of different ways.

We know that GCR is just one small way God is drawing people to himself. We know the Churches of Christ are just a tiny part of God’s enormous salvation plans.

We believe that God’s power saves us and his grace calls us to teach and practice our Christian understandings, to stick to our Gospel convictions, but to operate under a big tent, where all baptized believers who confess Jesus as Lord are equal brothers and sisters in Christ around our Father’s table.

So, what about our distinctives? What about our identities? Where do we get our sense of who we are?

Well, not in our groups. Not in our distinctive cultures and customs. Our identity is found where our salvation is found: in Christ alone.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” ~Galatians 2:20

To be crucified with Christ means all your other identities are irrelevant. Race, language, color, zip code, tax bracket, nationality, church tribe–forget all that! You are not defined by the law or by any customs or traditions or circumstances that divide people. We belong to Jesus, and his life is at work in us and through us. And since the main thing about Jesus is his loving faithfulness, may the main thing about us, the main thing that defines us, is our own loving faithfulness for him and for all who confess Jesus as Lord.

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Whataburger has brought back its awesome Pico Burger, hopefully for much longer than a limited time. Finally! I indulged this tasty delight for lunch today while reading my newly-arrived Texas Monthly barbecue edition. On the way out, I picked up the first of what’s going to be 16 different collectors cups, celebrating the 75th anniversary of this iconic Texas establishment. That’s a pretty good lunch break.

Peace,

Allan

Either / Or

June 11, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Kara Alaimo, a communications professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, has written an article that was published this week in the American Psychological Journal about kids and screen time. Based on a “meta-analysis” of 117 different studies on children younger than eleven-years-old, Alaimo shows that the more time kids spend looking at a screen, the more likely their feelings and actions don’t meet expectations for their stage of development. The more time a child spends with screens, the more likely that child is to experience and express above normal anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, and aggression. You can find the article by clicking here. 

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“I died to the law so that I might live for God.”  ~Galatians 3:19

By refusing to eat with uncircumcised Christians, the apostle Peter was saying that God’s salvation and the unity of God’s people was based on both grace and faith and circumcision and law. By refusing to worship and fellowship with Christians in other denominations, we’re saying that God’s salvation and the unity of God’s people is based on both grace and faith and interpretation and method.

It has to be one or the other; it can’t be both. This is an either/or; not a both/and.

As a way to be saved, as a way to gain righteousness, Paul writes that he gave up the law in order to live for God (Galatians 3:19). And we can’t go back. The law has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus. The law is history. We’re dead to the law so we can be alive to our God. Being saved by obeying the law and being saved by faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are mutually exclusive things. It can’t be both. If Peter and Barnabas in Antioch or the Jewish Christians in Galatia are saying that circumcision or any part of the law plays a role in the good news of the Gospel, then they’re making a mockery of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Paul knows it’s an either / or, he knows it can’t be both. If he chooses law, he must reject grace. So, he makes his choice crystal clear:

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” ~Galatians 2:21

We can’t go back. Paul writes that if he goes back to trying to get right with God by means of the law, then he proves he’s a sinner (Galatians 2:18). In other words, if the law is what saves you, then look out! You’ve already broken it!

Do you see why it can’t be both? If the law is the method, then all Christians are sinners. But if the perfect faithfulness of Jesus is the means, then all Christians are righteous. And any behavior or attitude that separates groups of Christians or draws lines of acceptance or fellowship between different kinds of Christians, distorts that good news.

We are not saved by our own merits or works, we’re not saved by being in the right group; we are saved by the faith of Jesus. That was true when Peter was differentiating between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians back then, and it’s just as true today when we’re differentiating between Church of Christ Christians and Presbyterian Christians and Baptist Christians and Methodist Christians. We are all saved by the exact same thing in the exact same way, but putting our faith in God through Christ.

That means we all belong at the same table. That means we accept all Christians with a different history, different traditions, a different story to tell. And, no, it’s not easy. I’m not saying it is. It’s actually very difficult for us. It’s almost offensive. Because God’s matchless grace totally disregards our human merit, his mercy and love completely breaks down even our socially acceptable barriers and brings together very different kinds of people. That sort of unity is tough to swallow.

Jonah got ticked off at God’s grace because God showed favor to Jonah’s national enemies. The older brother refused to come to the feast because the Father had invited the runaway son. The Pharisee thanks God that he’s not like the tax collector.

But this is God’s way: he unites as he saves and he saves as he unites.

Peace,

Allan

It Can’t Be Both

June 10, 2025 / / 0 Comments

We went to Houston last weekend for Carrie-Anne’s annual follow-up at M.D. Anderson and she got another perfect report. She’s great. No signs of cancer anywhere. Perfect picture of health. The doctors and oncologists refer to Carrie-Anne’s breast cancer as “history,” something in her past. Just walking the halls of M.D. Anderson, you’re reminded that not everyone gets that outcome. And we are eternally grateful. Two more years, two more of these annual appointments, and they don’t ever want to see us again. As wonderful as they are at that place and as beautifully as we’ve been treated, we’re good with that.

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“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong… he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.” ~Galatians 3:11-12

Peter is refusing to share meals with Christians who have not been circumcised. He’s drawing back and separating himself from the Gentile Christians because some of the other Jewish Christians have started to talk.

Evidently, the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Antioch were all eating together. They were all experiencing and expressing their Christian unity together at these communion meals, these fellowship feasts. They weren’t worried about the Law of Moses because they’re all one in Christ. They ate together all the time. And when Peter came to Antioch, he joined in. He’s good. He’s participating in these church meals, these symbols of Christian unity. But then these Jewish Christians from Jerusalem show up and Peter excuses himself from the table. Either the presence of these men or their message–something–shook Peter up. The text says he was afraid. And he stopped eating with the Gentile Christians. His actions were so public and so influential that even Barnabas and some others also stopped attending the meals.

What Peter is saying by his actions is that Gentile Christians are only second-class Christians. Peter and these Jews are claiming to be better Christians. They are more saved, more correct, closer to God’s will, because of their Jewish culture.

If they want to eat with Peter and the other Jewish Christians, if they want the full benefits of God’s salvation, then they have to belong to a certain group: MY group. You have to conform to OUR rules. You have to adopt OUR customs. You have to embrace OUR traditions. Peter is saying, in essence, that salvation and the unity of God’s people is based on both grace and faith and circumcision and the law.

It’s got to be one or the other; it can’t be both.

This is not just a minor disagreement over a technical theological point; this is the very heart of the Gospel. It’s not a little squabble over a biblical interpretation; this is about our identity in Christ. Peter is “not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel” (Galatians 3:14).

When I was young–3rd, 4th, 5th grade, probably–I remember having conversations with Terry Brence, a friend of mine who lived around the corner. We played together nearly every day and I remember talking to him several times about “church.” I told him on many occasions he was not going to heaven because he didn’t go to church. I also remember telling Sherry Taylor, the girl who lived across the street, that she was not going to heaven because she was not going to the right church. She didn’t go to my church.

This is the way I was raised. I could invite my friends to VBS at our church, but I couldn’t attend VBS at their churches when they invited me. It’s not the right kind of church. They don’t do things the way we do things. My parents would invite my dad’s friends from work to attend our Gospel meetings, but we wouldn’t go to their churches when they invited us to their revivals. We were withdrawing and separating. And it wasn’t just our practice; it was our vision and mission!

We were so focused on our Church of Christ distinctives. We were obsessed with what makes Churches of Christ different from everybody else. We took pride in it.

We call it a “Gospel meeting,” not a “revival.” Because “revival” is not a biblical word. Although, it is.

It’s “preacher,” not “pastor.” Because “pastors” are really “elders.” But we don’t call our elders “pastors,” either, because that’s what the denominations say.

And we are NOT a denomination! Denomination is not a biblical word! We are different from everybody else!

We baptize by immersion, we do it the right way. And, yeah, we know some denominations baptize the right way, but they do it for the wrong reasons. 

We call it an “offering,” not a “tithe.” It’s an “invitation song,” not an “altar call.”

I heard Ian Fair say one time that if we were so bent on being different from everybody else, why don’t we just put bars on all the church doors and go in and out through the windows.

Well, no, that would be silly. Just make sure you call it an “auditorium,” not a “sanctuary.” 

Our focus on our distinctives, our obsession with what separates us from the rest of the Christian world, has resulted in several generations of us referring to the Churches of Christ as “The Church.”

She was raised in The Church. Are they members of The Church?

We say “The Church” and we’re only talking about us!

We’ll admit that folks in other churches are Christians, we’ll acknowledge that they’re saved. But some of us are reluctant to call them brothers and sisters in Christ. We hesitate to fellowship with them.

That kind of thinking and talking and acting  is the very definition of drawing lines, drawing back and separating. We’re claiming to be better Christians, more saved, more correct, closer to God’s will, because of our Church of Christ culture.

If you want me to call you a brother or sister in Christ, then you have to belong to MY group. You have to conform to OUR rules, you have to adopt OUR customs, you have to embrace OUR traditions. What we’re saying is that salvation and the unity of God’s people is based both on grace and faith and interpretations and methods.

It’s got to be one or the other; it can’t be both.

Peace,

Allan

Grace is a Calling

June 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

“God chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he adopted us as his children through Jesus Christ, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves… the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” ~Ephesians 1:4-8

God’s amazing grace gives us an immeasurable amount of everything we need most: forgiveness, restoration, reconciliation, peace, joy, hope, salvation–all of that and a million blessings more. But that’s not our primary focus. A lot of the church songs we sing and, frankly, a lot of the church sermons we hear are centered on those blessings. But that can’t be the center of it for us because the grace of God is a calling. It can’t be just my salvation or my peace of mind or my eternal hope or my blessed assurance. Grace is a calling.

Paul says he was called by God’s grace so that he–in order that he–might preach Christ to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:15). We are changed by Gospel power and called by God’s grace for a mission, the mission of our Lord.

And I know it’s not the same for everybody. Not everyone called by God has a blinding Damascus Road experience. Some do. Some people are converted and called–BOOM!–immediately. I’m ready to minister! I’m ready to serve! With some people it takes several years and lots of different experiences. Some people can’t really point to where and when it started. But you are called by God’s grace to minister.

“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” ~Ephesians 2:8-10

This helps, too, when those weird, random, bad things happen to you. I posted about this yesterday. When something goes wrong in your life, you don’t face it with a determined self-reliance: “I can overcome this! I can fix this!” And it’s not fatalistic doom and gloom, either: “I’m never going to get through this. My life is over.” 

No, you are called and grabbed by Christ Jesus to be his minister in that mess, to be his witness. And you have his power and grace to do it. Your primary calling is not to be a successful salesperson or a successful surgeon or a successful oil man. You are called first to be a Christian. A Christian witness. So you can relax and rest in that. You are free to love and proclaim, you’re empowered to witness and serve.

You have received the grace of Almighty God. You have received his calling.

Peace,

Allan

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