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Category: Jesus (Page 1 of 52)

Serve Like Jesus

October 4, 2021 / / 1 Comment

“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants.” ~1 Corinthians 3:5

Around the table on that last night, our Lord Jesus personally washed the feet of his disciples. Then he told them, “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing” (John 14:12). Our model is the Lord. We serve others in the name and manner of our great high priest. We do our best to imitate Jesus, the Christ, who was always with people, always helping people, always serving people. In the crush of the crowd, in the middle of the multitude – healing, feeding, protecting, encouraging. In the quiet of the one-on-one conversations at night. Weeping at a funeral. Eating with a tax collector. Holding the kids. Dying on a cross.

The Church is not an end in itself. The Church does not exist to make rules, to pass laws, to be in charge, or to glorify itself. The Church does not seek its own power or privilege or comfort. And we’re not just a support group for people who have already been saved. Just like our Lord, the Church is sent into the world not to be served, but to serve. And to give itself up for others.

We know the words of our Savior who said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And we experience the truth of that, and the blessings, when we serve others in love.

Peace,

Allan

The Flesh and Blood Church

August 24, 2021 / / 0 Comments

You’ll hear people argue that when Jesus called people to follow him, he had something else in mind other than Church. Something spiritual and pure. Non-corporate. Non-institutional. Lofty. Divine. Not of this earth. The Church, as we experience her today, is not what Jesus intended. Christ’s salvation and transformation work is happening somewhere other than at Church.

No. Jesus is a flesh and blood person and his Church is a flesh and blood people.

That’s the beauty and the glory of our salvation: our God didn’t just come to us, he became one of us! That’s God’s salvation plan, that he would put on our flesh and blood. And when Jesus comes, it’s the messy flesh and blood part of it that’s so compelling.

As you read the Gospels, you can almost taste the dust. You can smell the animals. You can hear the people arguing. Jesus is not so much about inspiring concepts and uplifting ideals, he’s about fishing nets and mustard seeds and lost coins and lepers. Our Lord is more about tears and frustration and spit mixed with dirt and sheep and synagogues and sermons and suppers than he is about theological abstracts and disembodied ideas. Jesus is all about weddings and funerals, betrayal and forgiveness, thunderstorms and olive trees. The flesh and blood reality of Jesus as a real human person is in your face in the Bible.

And it’s beautiful! It’s magnificent! We praise God because he became one of us in Jesus Christ. Our eternal salvation is grounded in the fact that Jesus is a flesh and blood person, that he experienced everything you experience, that he knows you intimately and understands completely what you’re going through because he went through it, too. It’s awesome and mysterious and wonderfully glorious! What other God would do that?

Jesus the Christ, the Holy One of God, is a flesh and blood person. So, of course, his Church is a flesh and blood people.

I think churches long to throw off their flesh and blood nature and soar like Superman. Or supersaints. But that’s not going to happen. We’re a body. When people complain about the Church being too preoccupied with money or buildings or doctrine or prestige, when people gripe about the Church being closed-minded or boring, what they’re telling you is that they don’t like that the Church is a body. Bodies sweat. They get sick and require maintenance. Bodies produce weird smells.

But the Church is the Body of Christ. This is the flesh and blood form our risen and reigning Lord has chosen to be present in the world. It never fully meets our expectations; we can become disappointed in Church, or even embarrassed. But this is exactly how our God intends it.

Church is not another civic club or social organization, it’s not a non-profit charity or a spiritual retreat. We are a chosen people, a holy nation, chosen by a holy God to be the Body of Christ. Sometimes it may feel irrelevant or past its prime, but we are the very Body of Christ. This is how our God works for the sake of the world.

Peace,

Allan

About to Pass By GCR

August 11, 2021 / / 1 Comment

One of my most favorite passages in all of Scripture is at the end of Mark 6. Jesus has commanded his followers to get into a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida, while he climbs to the top of a mountain to pray. The text tells us that the wind was against the apostles and was blowing them off course. It says, “He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them.”

I love the imagery of Jesus praying to the Father while he watches his disciples straining at the oars. They’re working with everything they have to accomplish what Jesus has called them to do, and they’re struggling. They can’t get there. No progress. No results. Just frustration. But the Lord is watching. He knows how much they’re working. He sees how hard they’re trying. And he’s talking to the Father about them. He’s interceding.

And then Jesus comes to them, walking on the lake. The end of verse 48 tells us that Jesus was “about to pass by them,” but when they saw him, the apostles thought he was a ghost.

That’s a strange verse, huh? Was Jesus trying to sneak by the disciples without being seen? Was he attempting to beat them to Bethsaida so he could welcome them to the shore with a smug, “What took you so long? Where have you been?” What does it mean that Jesus was “about to pass by them?”

At the end of Exodus 33, after God’s people had worshiped the golden calf in the wilderness, Moses pleads with God to forgive them and go with them to the Promised Land. Moses has been working really hard for the Lord and hasn’t seen any results. He’s seen only bad things, horrible things. Moses begs God to show him proof that he will be with them, to give him some assurance. “Show me your glory,” Moses says. And God responds, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name.” When he gives Moses instructions on what’s about to happen, he concludes with, “When my glory passes by…”

And he shows himself to Moses. God “passed” in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). God used that occasion to renew his covenant with Moses and his people, to lavish on them his love and forgiveness, to lead them on a path to their promised future.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is standing on a mountain complaining to God. Elijah had been working really hard for the Lord, only to find himself on Jezebel’s most wanted list. I’m the only one left, Elijah declares. I’m all alone. That’s when God said, “Stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by” (1 Kings 19:11).

And God revealed himself to Elijah in a small, still voice. God told Elijah how many thousands of faithful people there were in the land and he promised to take care of Elijah’s enemies.

When Mark tells us Jesus was “about to pass by them,” he means Jesus was preparing to show the disciples his glory. He was about to reveal his true identity to them. The word “pass” in Mark 6 is the Greek translation of the word translated “pass” from the Hebrew in Exodus 33-34 and 1 Kings 19. When God passes by, he reveals his glory. People see God, they recognize God and what God is doing. That’s what happens on the lake with the disciples. Jesus climbed into the boat with them, miraculously calmed the winds, and amazed the apostles with his authority and his grace. Once they landed, Mark says the “people recognized Jesus.” They brought their sick to him and he healed them all. Throughout the villages, towns, and countryside, wherever he went, Jesus healed the people and made them whole. He revealed himself. He showed his glory. His power. His mercy. His love. The mission he came to accomplish. And the disciples “were completely amazed” (Mark 6:51).

Here at the Golf Course Road Church, the winds have been blowing in our faces for several years. The elements have been against us. The shepherds and ministers here, all the faithful members of this church, have been working incredibly hard around the clock, faithfully, trying with everything they have to accomplish what they believe God has called them to do. And it hasn’t always been good. Bad things have happened here, terrible things. Little progress. Few results. Lots of frustration. This GCR Church has been straining at the oars for a long time. But Jesus has been watching. And praying. He’s seen how hard everybody’s working here and he’s been talking to the Father about us the whole time.

And now our Lord Jesus is about to pass by. He is about to reveal himself to us. He is about to show us his glory. People are going to be healed here at GCR, they’re going to be made whole. We’re all going to experience our God’s mercy and grace, his love and his compassion, his forgiveness and new life. He never left us; he’s been here in the boat with us the whole time. And now we’re about to finally see it. His  glory. His power. His mission accomplished in and through GCR, throughout Midland, and around the world to his eternal glory and praise.

“Take courage,”Jesus says to his church at GCR. “It is I, don’t be afraid.”

I believe we’re all about to be completely amazed.

Peace,

Allan

A Display for the Work of God

August 3, 2021 / / 0 Comments

In John 9, Jesus and his disciples come across this man born blind. And the followers of the Christ immediately turn this guy into a theological case study. Who sinned? Whose fault is it? This is a terrible thing that’s happened, who’s responsible? Who’s to blame? Let’s start the debate, let’s take sides. Ready? Go!

And while the apostles are pulling out their commentaries and Hebrew word studies and their grandfather’s old lectureship notes, our Lord Jesus completely sidesteps the whole argument. Jesus says nobody sinned. Nobody did anything wrong. That’s not why this man is blind. Then Jesus heals the man. He gives this man exactly what he needs right there on the spot. It’s a great story. Praise God.

But the question remains: Why is he blind? That question is not going away. Why was this man born blind? What’s the reason this happened? It’s so cruel and awful and unfair. Why was this man born blind? Why was this woman abused? Why does that man have cancer? Why am I divorced? Why did I lose my job? Why did bad things happen at my church? What’s the reason?

Jesus answers the question. And his words provide just the perspective we need to increase our imaginations and expand our vision.

“This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” ~John 9:3

Jesus says you’re asking the wrong questions, you’re focused on the wrong things. Jesus says this man was born blind so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. This man’s life is divinely intended to be a display for the salvation work of God. He is to be a huge billboard, a bright flashing neon sign, a massive marquee that proclaims the glory of God and his saving work in the world.

That’s your church, too. Your church is a banner that displays to your whole community what our God is doing in the world. As individuals, of course, but also as a church, we are unfurled before the watching world as a banner that proclaims the goodness and glory of our God. That’s our call. That’s our mission. That’s our purpose. That’s the reason you are who you are and where you are: to be a display for the great power and boundless love of our God.

It’s important that you see your church as the billowing banner it really is. Stop asking the wrong questions. Don’t focus on the wrong things. I’m asking you to see your church the way our Lord sees it. Think about your church the way Jesus thinks about your church. Our God is using whatever has happened in your church or in your life in order to display to the world his eternal salvation and his matchless grace.

Peace,

Allan

There’s Always a Way

May 26, 2021 / / 0 Comments

The Dallas Mavericks won their first playoff game in franchise history in 1984 over the Seattle Supersonics and attempted zero three-pointers in the process. Zero three-point shots. No attempts. In the first two games against the Clippers in this current first round playoff series, the Mavs have hit 35 of 70 three-point shots to take a commanding two-games-to-none lead. Times have changed.

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If our God sees things that you can’t see and if our God chooses and uses nobodies and calls them beloved, then there is always a way for you. And God has already got it figured out.

It doesn’t matter how big and imposing the obstacles in your life. It doesn’t matter how numerous the forces trying to knock you off track or destroy you. Or destroy your marriage. Or your kids. Or your peace. Or your faith. It doesn’t matter how far back you are at the end of the line or where you are at the bottom of the pile. Or how you got there. There’s always a way for you and our God has already figured it out.

Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of God tells us, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand… My Father has given them to me… no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-30). 2 Corinthians 1 says God has delivered us, he is delivering us, and we have set our hope on him that he will continue to deliver us.

Our God is willing to break through the barriers of time and space to do the impossible, to come to earth in your flesh and blood, to put on your skin and to take on your sin and suffering to rescue you and save you right now today and forever. With humans this is impossible; but with our God, all things are possible!

As long as there is one lost sheep wandering around in the wilderness, as long as there is one dusty coin hiding in a dark corner, as long as there is one lonely child desperate and crying in a faraway pig pen, our God will do whatever it takes – he will not stop – until he finds you and brings you home! He will bring to completion the good thing he has started in you. The Bible says he is faithful and he will do it.

And I know the voices are there. You hear the voices. So do I.

You messed that up big time. You failed her big time. You let him down. You’ll never change your behavior. You’re trapped. You’re dead.

Like Goliath, those voices, those words, are there in your head every morning. They’re ringing in your ears every night. The insults, the mistreatment, the lies – penetrating your soul and just sitting there. Heavy.

You’re not a good parent. You’re not a good Christian. God hasn’t really totally forgiven you of that.

You hear the voices. You sense the size of the enemy. But there is a way for you and God has already figured it out. And he’s already done it. Jesus Christ willingly took all your sins with you to the cross. And God’s Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who came upon David in power, raised Jesus from the grave to destroy forever the forces of sin and death and Satan and anything that might separate you from God. That same Spirit of the Lord lives inside you with that same eternal power. It’s not fate or luck – God’s Spirit is in you. God’s Spirit has taken hold of you like he did David and he won’t let you go. You can betray and stumble and sin and fail, but he will never fail!

In Jesus Christ, all your enemies have already been defeated. All of them. Name them. The voices are wrong. The enemy is dead. The way for you is clear in the Way, the Truth, and the Life in Jesus. And, to quote David, you and I and the whole world know that there is a God in Israel. And he has chosen you and he loves you and you belong to him today and forever.

Peace,

Allan

Lining Up

March 22, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Jesus invited people to follow him, to walk with him along the way. He ate with people he wasn’t supposed to eat with. He hugged people he wasn’t supposed to touch. He forgave people who were unforgivable. And they saw God.

People would experience God in us if our priorities and God’s priorities were the same.

Peace,

Allan

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