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Category: Grace (Page 8 of 12)

For the Sake of Relationship

February 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Jesus came to save for the sake of relationship. All of salvation history is motivated by God’s desire to restore relationship with the men and women he created and loves. I think we see this in just about every paragraph of the Gospels. But my eyes have been opened only recently to see this aspect of salvation in the reasons Jesus heals.

Our Lord tells the disciples of John the Baptist to pay attention to what’s happening in the world now that Jesus has come:

“The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” ~Luke 7:22

(By the way, Jesus puts preaching in the same category as healing the blind and raising the dead? Did you notice that? I notice that every time.)

Let me remind you that a man with leprosy was not allowed in the temple. If you were blind or lame, if you were deaf or mute, if you were bleeding, if you had a skin disease, you could not enter the temple. You could not approach the presence of God. You couldn’t worship God in his holiest place with his holy people. To those afflicted with these imperfections, the presence of God was off limits. Relationship with God and relationship with his people was impossible.

But when Jesus heals them…

See, Jesus is doing much more than just restoring sight to the blind and causing the crippled to walk. Jesus is allowing these people he touched to get past the bouncers at the temple doors. He makes it possible to approach God. That’s why Jesus saves: for relationship. They were unable to come to God, so God in Christ comes to them.

Jesus is Emmanuel. God with us. With all our sins and mixed motivations and limitations, we can’t come to God. That’s why God comes to us. That’s why he heals us. He makes us clean and whole, he gives us his own righteousness so we can bask in his holy presence. Jesus saves for the sake of relationship.

Peace,

Allan

4 Amarillo at ACU Summit

September 22, 2014 / / 0 Comments

The early church astonished the world because of the way these dedicated disciples of Jesus refused to be identified by the social barriers of the day. The church astonished the world because it encouraged Jews and Gentiles to meet and eat together. It encouraged men and women to both worship and serve in the same houses. It gave slaves and masters, rich and poor, the well-connected and the barely-functioning the same seats at the same table, the same status in the same living Body of our Lord.

4 Amarillo, I suppose, is sort of doing the same thing. Presbyterians and Baptists worshiping and working together generates big news. The Church of Christ cooperating with anybody on anything seems to elicit surprised gasps of shock. So, I think, that’s how I wound up presenting three class sessions at this year’s ACU Summit. What we’re doing together in our little city is apparently fairly big news. And I’m so honored and blessed to be doing this.

This morning I laid out the theology for Christian unity among different denominations and traditions from our Lord’s beautiful — and loaded! — prayer in John 17, bolstered by Paul’s arguments in Romans 14-15 and Ephesians 4. Wednesday morning, I’ll wrap up the series by looking at how a commitment to this kind of unity is good for your church and the people in your church and how it probably would fit right in with most of the things your church is already doing anyway. But tomorrow, I’m especially looking forward to having all three of my co-downtown pastors join me here at ACU for a panel discussion regarding the origins of our 4 Amarillo partnership and the impact it’s having on our community for the sake of God’s Kingdom.

Howard, Burt, Howie, and I will discuss how this whole thing started long before any of us arrived on the scene, how God brought us four together to form an unshakable alliance of friends and partners in the Gospel, how we first presented the idea of 4 Amarillo to our four churches and church leadership groups, and the many ways God is using this cooperative effort to reach the downtown Amarillo area with his good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. The other three guys will spend a little time at the end telling all us CofCers everything we need to know about their churches and their people if we have any hopes of engaging them in any cooperative worship and/or ministry together. And then we’ll stay for audience participation and Q & A for as long as anybody wants to keep talking.

This morning’s session went well. The room was packed to the walls, a few people were forced to sit and listen from out in the hallway, everyone seemed to be tracking with the theology, the logic, and the heart of what we’re doing with 4 Amarillo, and the conversations afterward were rich with curiosity and grace. A lot of grace.

I’m very grateful that my friends in downtown Amarillo would agree to drive down to Abilene to do this with me. They don’t have a clue as to what we’re dealing with in the Churches of Christ as far as our rigid sectarian past and, sadly, still in a lot of cases, our present. Wait. Maybe Howie gets it. Every now and then when I’m making some apology about our CofC history, the long-time pastor of First Baptist Amarillo leans in to me and says, “Allan, you guys aren’t the only ones.”

Grace. See, grace is the only way you were accepted by God as his child. Grace is the only thing that makes your relationship with God possible. Grace. And it’s the very thing that’s demanded of us to extend to others. Grace.

May our God be glorified through these sessions this week at ACU Summit. May he be given all the glory and praise. And may our cooperative efforts, our Christian unity, be used by him as he works to redeem all of creation back to himself.

Peace,

Allan

 

Prayer and Peace: Part 1

September 2, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 4:6-7

Prayer is not a technique. It’s not a formula. Prayer is not a technology which we use to get a force or a “higher power” to do what we want. When Paul talks about prayer, he’s talking about a prayerful understanding, a prayer attitude, a particular way of looking at life. Paul wants the Christians in Philippi to have a prayerful relationship with God based on everything he’s written in the letter up to this point.

In order for prayer to result in peace, Paul expects Christians to be still blown away by their salvation.

I think the fact that we are saved by the amazing grace of a merciful God should startle us every single day. The fact that a holy and righteous Creator sacrificed everything in order to save a wretched sinner like me — it should overwhelm me every couple of hours or so. Several times a day, I think, I should be shocked by it all over again. My salvation is impossible; yet it’s real! My salvation is beyond comprehension; it’s a miracle!

And Paul is careful to remind the disciples in Philippi they can’t ever forget it.

He starts the letter by reminding us that God is bringing this wonderful miracle of salvation to completion (1:6). We are pure and blameless, he says, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus (1:10-11). In chapter two, Paul points out again just what Jesus did for us. He gave up everything! All this grand, sweeping poetry about the sacrifice of our Lord who, he says, is right now working inside us according to his wonderful purposes (2:13). Then we’re told that our righteousness is not our own — we don’t have any righteousness — all of it comes from God (3:9). It’s an outrageous gift from our God!

We are beloved children of that merciful God. We are chosen subjects of that glorious Lord. And we are privileged citizens of that heavenly Kingdom…

“And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” ~Philippians 3:20-21

You are in the Lord, Paul says. You are in Christ. And don’t you ever forget that you never did one crying thing to deserve it.

Every now and then, we might think that we’re better than other people. Sometimes, we might even think we don’t need nearly as much of God’s mercy as somebody else. Prayer will not result in peace unless we are still shocked by our salvation and driven daily to new levels of humility and gratitude to God because of it.

Peace,

Allan

True Giving

July 31, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is… contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously.” ~Romans 12:6-8

We superficially assume that Paul’s command to be generous is meant only for those who have lots of money. No. Sadly, that misunderstanding causes lots of us to miss out on the terrific blessings of being generous.

Remember, these gifts listed in the middle of Romans 12 are gifts of God’s grace. God’s grace is the source of and the basis for these gifts. And it’s divine grace that guides us in the use of the gifts. A person gifted with generosity gives liberally not because he or she has tons of money, but because that individual has a grace-based understanding of possessions and their importance. His or her priorities are straight, in line with a gospel grasp of what our God has given to us.

And — this is just as important — let’s not limit this gift of generosity to our money and financial resources. Paul doesn’t; neither should we. The Scripture here is calling for an attitude of heart within the Christian community that says, “What’s mine is yours.” So many times your money is not the best thing you could give. More urgently, those in need could sometimes use your mechanical expertise or your plumbing skills or your time to just sit and listen.

Paul’s talking about an attitude. An open heart produces open checkbooks, open refrigerators, and open calendars.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of the great joys of working at the church building during the summers is the invaluable interaction with all the kids. (There’s a reason I keep two jars of Jolly Ranchers in my office at all times, and it’s not so I can see more of Matthew or Greg.) At any given time on any given day during the summer, our work is likely to be interrupted by the sound of relay races around the concourse, Nerf rocket launchers down the hall, or some form of zombie tag in the chapel. Yesterday, I was the grateful recipient of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk delivered by a mess of middle schoolers. Today, I was ambushed in my office by a group of church ninjas who were not as sneaky as they wanted to be and a whole lot funnier than they intended.

Our Lord says the Kingdom of God belongs to people just like these little church ninjas. I know why. Who can resist? Their great joy. Their creativity. Their vulnerability. Their tremendous capacity to forgive and their eagerness to love. The carefree laughing. The unashamed singing and dancing. God has called all of us to be just like them minus, maybe, the t-shirts over the heads. Or maybe with the t-shirts over the heads; I need to give that more thought. Thank you, God, for surrounding me with these little reminders of what you want for all of us.

Peace,

Allan

True Encouragement

July 28, 2014 / / 0 Comments

“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is… encouraging, let him encourage.” ~Romans 12:6-8

When brothers or sisters in our community of faith are hurting, the greatest grace we can offer is comfort or encouragement in the middle of whatever it is they are suffering. A person doesn’t need advice or correction or rebuke in the middle of pain. And he doesn’t need empty words. What he needs is the freedom you give him to crawl inside a hug and feel the embrace of our God. When we’re in pain, we need others to just listen, to just be present. We need friends and family to listen to our grief and fears, to help us sort everything out, and to encourage us not to lose hope.

Think today about the people who have touched your life with this gift of grace. Maybe you’ve experienced some special comforting lately. Perhaps today is a good day to thank them for the wonderful ways they’ve been a vessel of God’s mercy and care.

Or maybe this is one of your stronger spiritual gifts. Maybe today is the perfect day to assess the needs of the people around you. Take a few minutes today to discover who might need your encouragement in their struggles. And then bless them with the mercies of their heavenly Father who lavishly pours out his gifts on his children.

Peace,

Allan

A Time to Laugh

March 31, 2014 / / 0 Comments
“There is a time for everything… a time to weep and a time to laugh.” ~Ecclesiastes 3
I wish I could take credit for the potency of the “fruit of the vine” we shared around our Lord’s table here at Central yesterday morning. I wish I had set it all up ahead of time. I wish I had made the right phone calls and contacted the right people, even shown up here on Saturday night to supervise the filling of the cups.
The plan was to spend the morning together considering the power of the resurrection. And, boy, did we! The powerful video from the dedication ceremonies of the Alara school reminded us of the power of our God who gives brand new life to more than 300 African orphans in a situation most people gave up for dead about five years ago. Jim Killingsworth’s powerful testimony reminded us of the power of our God who restores and heals, who brings joy and peace to his people walking through a dark desert. John T. Langley’s powerful words at the table connected us to faithful communion prayers from 1,800 years ago, reminding us of the power of our God to crush Satan and destroy all evil in the resurrection of Jesus.
The powerful grape juice — “powerful” may be an understatement — reminded us…. Hmmm. What did that juice remind us of?
How about this: the power of our God who saves us and changes us and bonds us together and empowers us to do his will despite our terribly feeble and inadequate efforts.
What a great reminder yesterday that even our best endeavors and our hardest tries always fall short. What a testimony to the grace of our God who loves us and takes care of us despite our continual missteps. What a powerful witness to our own humanity and to God’s amazing patience and faithfulness to us all.
One of our more clever young men in the youth group texted me as soon as the assembly was over, “It was either the wine or the sermon, but one made me sleepy.” Funny guy. Somebody else emailed me this morning, “Do we need to raise the traditional Church of Christ ‘Age of Accountability’ to twenty-one?” Good.
Yeah, that was strong stuff we were passing out yesterday. No, it wasn’t an intentional thing to be used as a sermon illustration. No, it wasn’t connected to “4 Amarillo.” It was a mistake. We’ve discovered the cause of the mistake and are taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
In the meantime, enjoy the jokes and the laughs, re-live the animated expressions on the faces around you yesterday, and remember that none of us is perfect. But we belong to a powerful, powerful, powerful God who is.
Peace,
Allan
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