Category: John (Page 29 of 30)

Don't Be Afraid

June 4, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” ~John 14:1

So many of us live in fear. I’m not talking about temporary fear like the feelings you get stepping into the car of a roller coaster or listening to strange noises coming from the garage in the middle of the night. Not that kind of fear. I mean actually living in fear. I mean growing accustomed to — or even comfortable with — that constant worry about your life. Or your eternal body and soul. I mean accepting an uneasy feeling that your salvation is not secure and your future may be in doubt. It’s this “Once saved, barely saved” mentality that makes inner peace, the shalom that is the will of God for his children, impossible.

Living in fear means giving up control. Our fears begin to direct our thoughts and actions. We adjust our routine to accomodate our fears and our fears become our masters. Our fears dictate what we do or say. Or don’t do or say. If we’re not careful, fear barges into our lives and just makes itself at home. Fear will clean out your pantry and track mud all over your carpets and, eventually, take over shaping you and controlling you into an image very different from that of our Lord.

Fear keeps us from doing what we’re called to do as children of God and followers of his Christ.

Talk to my neighbor about Jesus? Oh, no, I’d be afraid.
Confront my sister in Christ about her sin? I’m afraid I just can’t.
Stand up for Jesus in front of others? I’m too afraid.
Fear of hurting feelings may keep us from disciplining our children.
Fear of straining relationships may keep us from sharing our faith.
Fear of being vulnerable may keep us from confessing sin or admitting our own wrongs.

Fear is powerful. And fear gets its power when it causes us to look away from the strength of our God and focus our eyes and attention instead on the opposition around us and our own weakness.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.”

Jesus calms the storm and asks his apostles, “Why are you afraid?”
Jairus’ daughter is dead and Jesus tells him, “Don’t be afraid.”
Jesus tells his apostles around the table that last night — he tells us, his followers, today — “Don’t be afraid.”

Fear loses its power when we focus our eyes and attention on our God and his eternal nature to love and heal and forgive and provide and protect and rescue and save. Then, there’s no place for anxiety or fear. There’s no room.

Whatever you’re afraid of completely evaporates when our eyes are on our loving Lord. His presence dismisses the dread. His touch terminates the terror. His power prevails over fright and doubt. His perfect loves drives out fear.

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” ~Hebrews 13:6

Peace,

Allan

Many Rooms

June 2, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” ~John 14:1-3

Jesus tells his apostles that the solution to their despair regarding his departure is found in his promised second coming. He expects his followers to put their trust, their faith, in his power. And he shows them (us) that his departure is not just an exit from humanity, it is a continuation of his work on their (our) behalf. He is going to prepare a place. That’s a promise that his work is continuing until that time we are eternally united with him in heaven.

Let’s don’t misunderstand Jesus to be saying he’s going to build the rooms. The rooms are already built. It’s done. The Father already has the rooms ready. Instead, it’s in Jesus’ return to the Father — his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension — that the way to these rooms is being constructed. The road to the heavenly rooms is built by Jesus’ departure.

Heaven is waiting for us. Wow. It’s done. It’s ready and it’s waiting. The work is finished. We anticipate that perfect fellowship with God in Christ. We’re beside ourselves with expectation for eternity. We can’t wait. We’re anxious for it. It’s ready and it’s waiting. And we’re almost there.

What an eternal perspective that should give us. What confidence that should give us to, as Jeff Walling says, live for the line and not the dot; live for eternity and not for the here and now.

Wheaton College professor Gary Burge in his commentary on John puts it this way:

I live in a world that continually offers me temporal securities and comforts, a world that keeps my eye on the near horizon of the present, that denies the limitations of my own mortality. My ‘life of work’ aims not simply to make a contribution to my career, but to provide a means of security in the world: a home, a stable income, an investment scheme, a retirement program. While Jesus is clear that these securities are foolish and unreliable (Matt. 6:19-20; Luke 12:13-21), here he offers a positive incentive. Our true home, our complete security, has already been built for us by him in heaven. Once we embrace the significance of this notion, our attitudes toward this world completely change.

Some of the most thoughtful and meaningful conversations I have are with the older members of our church, men and women in their late 70s and 80s. They are firm in their faith and very, very aware that their hope rests in the Lord and nowhere else. They help give me (us) that eternal perspective that keeps a check on our (my) investments in earthly rooms.

Peace,

Allan

The King Is Coming

March 24, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

In 2 Samuel 19, the king is coming back to Jerusalem to re-establish his sovereign rule over God’s people. He had voluntarily left his throne in order to save his people. He had been mocked and ridiculed, cursed and humiliated on his way out of town. But now he’s coming back. And he’s coming back to set things right.

And Ziba and Shemei are scared.

They’ve spent their lives cursing the king, using the king’s blessings to fatten their own purses, taking advantage of the king’s kindness, deceiving the king. Coming to the king and the king’s people with false motives, impure hearts, seeking personal gain at the expense of the kingdom. Hypocrites. Shemei openly curses the king. Ziba claims allegiance to the king, but lies to him. That’s even worse. The apostle John says we do the exact same thing when we say we love God but we don’t love our brother. When we confess Christ as Lord but live lives that deny him. Those sins are deserving of death. Eternal death.

But look at the mercy of the king. Be amazed at the grace and the love and the compassion of the king. Shemei and Ziba bow down to the ground, they confess their sins before the king — sins that deserve under the law to be punished by death — and the king forgives them. He promises on oath they will not die. And he stops his men from even discussing the possibility.

Is it any wonder that the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth calls David a man after his own heart?

You know the King is coming. And if you have sin in your life, you should be greatly concerned. But if you bow down to the King, if you confess to the King, if you submit fully to the King…the King forgives. And when the King returns, you meet him with joy and gladness, not fear.

The great news for us is that the King WANTS to forgive. He wants full reconciliation. He’s not willing that any should die. He wants desperately to welcome every man and woman he’s ever created into his eternal Kingdom. God sent his Son to “reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Through Jesus, God is “reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”

God wants you. And he’ll go to whatever lengths necessary to get you.

He died to save you.

And he’s coming back.

He promises us in John 14 he’s coming back. The angels told the apostles in Acts 1 he’s coming back. The closing words of our holy Scriptures assure us the King’s coming: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

Are you ready?

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March Madness — The Legacy basketball team (“Team Dyniewski” or, my favorite, “TohuBohu”) made its debut last night in the North Richland Hills recreation center with an impressive 52-49 win over a bunch of guys with real uniforms. Josh Dyniewski and Aaron Green provided the muscle, combining to score at least 40 of our points inside the paint, while the rest of us just tried to stay out of the way.

Several keys to the impressive victory:

1) the decision to play a 2-3 zone defense. The decision was made as the teams were facing off on the court for the opening tip. Nice. Nevermind the fact we had never played anything but a man-to-man defense in our twice-weekly pickup games here at Legacy. Nevermind the fact that we had never even discussed the possibility of playing a zone before. It worked. Mostly.

2) Josh’s six-straight made free throws in the final 90-seconds. Sealed the deal. Clutch.

3) Aaron’s sending two of our opponents to the hospital with leg injuries. OK, I’m exaggerating a bit. But Green was a monster down there.

4) Trey Thornton using all five of his fouls. Coker will be proud.

5) Going with the Carolina blue Champion dri-soft jerseys. Did I mention they were numberless? That’s a problem in this league. So we had to don the city’s junior-high pinis over our shirts. Elastic down. Not flattering. They actually serve to accentuate middle-age girth. I wanted to wear mine upside down. They wouldn’t let me. We looked like a bunch of rejects who’d been bussed in from somewhere far, far away. But apparently they worked like a charm. We didn’t turn in Josh’s pini after the game. We’re going to have it framed and hung up on the wall at the Rufe Snow Chick-Fil-A. Nobody can ever wear #9 again.

1-0, baby! We might have to discuss the construction of a huge Legacy trophy case at Thursday’s elders meeting.

Peace,

Allan

That We May Be One

February 24, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

“…that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” ~John 17:22-23

Jesus prays many things for us. He prayed for the apostles as they battled the wind on the sea. Hebrews says Christ lives to intercede for us. We can imagine that Jesus prays continually for our salvation, our sanctification, our bodies, and our souls. In John 17 he prays that his Father will give us eternal life, that his joy will be made complete in us, that God will protect us from the evil one and keep us safe, and that he will sanctify us in truth.

And he prays that we will be one.

“…so that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:11)

“…that all of them may be one.” (John 17:21)

“…that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:22)

“May they be brought to complete unity.” (John 17:23)

We read these prayers of our Lord and it’s difficult, most of the time, to take it to heart. It doesn’t seem like Jesus’ prayers make that much difference or carry much weight as far as the unity of his disciples. Christ’s Church is famous around the world for being contentious and mean-spirited. Instead of looking at our love for one another and seeing the Savior, people look at our contempt for one another and see the world. Or worse, the devil.

Where’s the unity?

I’m almost finished with Eugene Peterson’s latest book on theological conversations, Tell It Slant. The following is from his chapter Jesus Prays For Us.

Many Christians, impatient with what they perceive as the inefficiency of Jesus’ prayer, attempt to solve the problem by the imposition of unity, unity by coercion — that is, authority depersonalized into an institution. The style is hierarchical. The methods are bureaucratic. Any person or congregation who refuses to conform is excluded: anathematized, excommunicated, or shunned. Unity is preserved by enforcing an institutional definition.

Other Christians, also impatient with Jesus’ prayer, solve the problem by schism. They reduce the scale of unity to what can be managed by gathering men and women of like mind and temperament. Often there is a strong and charismatic leader who shows up to define the reduced parameters of the so-called unity. If persons or groups find that they no longer fit into the theological or worship or behavioral style that defines the unity, another schism is always an option — simply split off with others of like mind and spirit. Unity is preserved by personal preference.

The repetitive urgency with which Jesus prays that we be one, just as he is one with the Father, throws deliberate acts of schism into sharp relief as acts of insurrection, an eruption of violent willfulness in the very presence of the one who is interceding for our relational unity with one another according to the unity of the Trinity. The frequency of this violence done to the body of Christ, a violence justified by rationalizations without end, is nothing less than astonishing. Defying Jesus in the cause of Jesus. A huge scandal.

The scandal is often boastfully vaunted as necessary to preserve the church. But whatever the language used, whatever slogans are placed on the banners, it is pretty clear that the schismatics at some point walked out on John 17.

If we’ll just stay in the room with Jesus as he prays for us, we will acquire a readiness to embrace all the baptized as brothers and sisters. It may be slow in coming, but Jesus’ prayer will have its way with us. We will no longer define other Christians as competitors or rivals. Jesus does not evaluate or grade his followers as he prays. He does not lay out plans to settle the controversies that he knows will arise. He is praying us into an easy camaraderie. The longer we stay in Jesus’ praying presence the more we will understand that our impulses toward schism and sectarianism, our rivalries and denunciations, have no place in the room while Jesus is praying for us “to be one.”

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Collin and Marisa McCormick have just found out they’re having a boy! Congratulations! You can get the latest news from our displaced Texas brother and sister while they’re in Germany by clicking over to their blog here.

Peace,

Allan

Passing The Baton

January 9, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

In his 1984 Hall of Fame induction speech, Harmon Killebrew recounted the days when his father taught his brother and him how to play baseball out in the front yard. One afternoon Killebrew’s mother admonished his dad from the porch, “Y’all are ruining the lawn!” To which his dad replied, “We’re raising kids—not grass!”

At the Legacy Church of Christ, we’re raising kids—not grass. We’re raising kids—not immaculate buildings and well-oiled programs. We’re raising kids—not perfect worship services and effective curricula. We’re raising kids.

We’re passing on the faith to the children our Lord has entrusted to us. We’re teaching them from a context of grace and love and support and respect and encouragement. We’re attending to the material and emotional needs of our children. And we’re showing them what it means to live a full life in Christ Jesus, as genuine disciples of the Savior, with all the loving instruction, enlightening, warning, and disciplining that goes along with that. It’s a serious commitment at Legacy; not a casual obligation or an afterthought. The Christian training of our children is not attained by irregular and isolated efforts, but by regular and unceasing repetition in meaningful relationship, as commanded by our God through Moses:

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” ~Deuteronomy 6:6-7 May our Father bless us as we pass on the faith to our children. And may we experience the thrill of the Apostle John who rejoiced in the knowledge that his “children are walking in the truth.”

Peace, Allan

Costly Truth

December 8, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

A little bit of the discussion stemming from Friday’s post, Beware The Shadows, has led me to consider anew how Truth, especially as it applies to God’s vision for his people, is costly. Christianity is risky. Discipleship is costly. Being a follower of Jesus is daring and dangerous. And a good many of us don’t have the stomach for it. Seeking that truth and living it out always comes with a price.

I’m reminded of another Lynn Anderson line in his book Freshness for the Far Journey: “Each of us is as free as all truth-seekers have been from Jeremiah to Sagdluk, provided we, like they, value truth highly enough to maintain the payments.”

Jesus said, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will…” (John 7:17) It’s always a choice. And sometimes it can be a very painful choice. Jesus also said, “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44) Making that unpopular choice every single day is essential to Christian ministry. It’s paramount to our faith to tread that less-traveled road.

More from Anderson: “Those who most freely pursue God’s truth do so in spite of the fact that the environment does not encourage them. To be able to stand before His smiling countenance means far more to them than their security or their forum or the affirmation of their fellows.”

To apply this thought more directly to preachers and teachers and elders in God’s Church, I’ll pull an illustration from another portion of this same book: “Part of the reason Mozart ended up in a pauper’s grave was, according to legend, because he said, ‘I will not write what they want to buy. I will write what I hear.’ Such was Mozart’s artistic integrity. Question: Can any preacher of the Word do less? Dare we neglect ‘what we hear’ to live and preach only what ‘they will buy’?

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Some of the discussion from another recent post made me dig this up again. Enjoy.

Peace,

Allan

Category: John (Page 29 of 30)

Don't Be Afraid

Many Rooms

The King Is Coming

That We May Be One

Passing The Baton

Costly Truth

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