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Category: Romans (Page 21 of 28)

Faithful Among the Stumps

October 1, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Of all the really cool stuff in Isaiah — the servant songs, the allusions to Christ, the prophesies about the Messiah, the comfort passages — the words at the end of chapter six about preaching to people who refuse to listen are the most quoted in the New Testament.

Jesus uses Isaiah’s words in Matthew 13 after telling the parable of the four soils. Same thing in Mark 4 and Luke 8. Jesus says, man, this is how Isaiah must have felt.

In John 12, right after Jesus predicts his death, God’s voice thunders down from heaven for the benefit of the people in the crowds. But they’re not listening. They don’t understand. They refuse to change. And, again, Jesus uses the Isaiah 6 passage to account for the blind eyes and stubborn hearts.

Paul’s near the end of his life in Acts 28, under house arrest in Rome. And he’s failed to make a dent in the sight or the hearing or the hearts of the religious leaders who’ve come to hear him preach. Nothing. And he quotes the Isaiah 6 passage. Same thing in Romans 11. “It’s still happening!” Paul says, “To this very day!” Paul’s a failed preacher in pretty good company.

The point of the last half of Isaiah 6, and the reason the passage is repeated so many times in the early history of God’s Church, is that we are called to be faithful to our Father and to his mission, regardless of where it takes us. No matter how bad it gets, no matter how many people reject the truth, we are called to keep preaching the truth.

The point of Isaiah 6:8-13 is that if we trust God, if we’ll remain faithful to him, he’ll do something with those closed eyes and plugged up ears. Those stumps (Isaiah 6:13). Isaiah and Jesus and the apostles are reminding us that God does his best work in the middle of a desolate field of worthless stumps.

God created the universe out of nothing. He raised a mighty nation out of a 90-year-old barren womb. He pulled a young boy from the bottom of a well and made him a powerful ruler of the most important nation in the world. He uses the death of a preacher and the persecution of his Church to spread the Good News of salvation from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. He delivered forgiveness and righteousness to all mankind through a cruel wooden cross.

There’s more happening in horrible situations than we ever realize. These awful circumstances are holy. God does holy things with faithful people in a field full of stumps.

“The holy seed is its stump.” ~Isaiah 6:13

Peace,

Allan

Holy Worship

September 26, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Our God shows his glory to Moses in a burning bush in the middle of the desert. God reveals his holiness to Isaiah in a throneroom vision in the middle of a desecrated temple. God shows his glory to John in a similar vision in the middle of a prison island. In the midst of national trial and personal hardship, God reveals himself to be the One in charge. He is holy and righteous and sovereign. He is surrounded by eternal beings. The air is filled with holy songs. The Creator of Heaven and Earth is revealed to be almighty and everlasting, faithful and good. Very good.

And these scenes show us very clearly that the only appropriate response to these visions of God’s glory and holiness is worship. The creatures who see the glory of God, the heavenly beings who witness the greatness of God, they give him never-ending praise and worship. And we are invited by Holy Scripture to join in.

We cast our crowns daily before our God. No reservations. No holding back. We give our God everything we have and we submit fully to his holy authority. We recognize our own unworthiness in his gracious presence. And we fall to our knees in gratitude and thanksgiving. We remember who he is, what he has done, what he promises to do, and how truly worthy he is of our praise.

Holy worship. Today. Every day. Not just on Sunday.

“I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.” ~Romans 12:1

Peace,

Allan

To Central

July 13, 2011 / / 4 Comments

I can’t adequately express to you the excitement we’re experiencing, nor the tremendous anticipation we’re feeling, for what our God has in store for us together. There’s no doubt in our minds that our Lord has brought us together at this time for very specific reasons. And we really can’t wait to join you in doing his work and his will together in Amarillo.

We’re so thankful for the faith and confidence you’ve placed in me and my family to represent our Lord and his Church at Central. That blessing and responsibility are not lost on us. It is sacred to us. We respect it. We cherish. And we’re going to keep it. This is so much bigger than all of us. We know that anything and everything that happens through me or through us together at Central is only our God using us to his glory and to the glory of his Kingdom.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome you’re already giving us. By 2:00 Sunday afternoon, I already had more than 30 emails and voice mails and text messages from our new family at Central, more than half of them from people we haven’t even met yet. And the encouragement and offers of assistance and friendly ‘hellos’ keep coming in. We can feel the excitement up there all the way down here. And it gives us great hope while we dwell among all these moving boxes and sad goodbyes. Each trip up there, every person we’ve met, has been a great blessing to us. Your kindness and generosity is overwhelming. We’re so ready to meet all of you and start returning the favors. And we’re looking forward to many years of faithful service together at Central.

“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong — that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” ~Romans 1:11-12

Be assured that each of you and your families are in our constant prayers. Please be in fervent prayer for us as we prepare to join the Central Church of Christ. May our God bless us. And may he bless our efforts to partner with him in the redemption of his world.

Your servant in the grace and truth of Christ Jesus,

Allan

A Den of Robbers

June 9, 2011 / / 2 Comments

“Is it not written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.'” ~Mark 11:17

What made Jesus so mad that day at the temple? What riled him to the point of flipping tables and scattering coins and driving out doves and sheep? We generally speculate that pilgrims and travelers were being ripped off. Religious officials were probably cheating worshipers on the exchange rate between their Roman coins and the temple-approved currency. Sellers of cattle and sheep were overcharging and taking advantage of those who had come so far to sacrifice and whose animals had been harmed or blemished in some way along the journey.

Those things may very well be true. And if they were, that would surely upset our Lord. The only problem is that none of those things are attested to in Scripture. We have no scriptural evidence that anybody was being cheated out of money. The Gospels don’t speak or even hint at any economic wrongdoing.

We get the idea, I think, from Jesus’ statement about the temple being turned in to a “den of robbers.” But I believe we’ve missed the point. Jesus is not talking about money or possessions here. He’s quoting the Prophets. And if we go to the passages he quotes, it’s pretty clear what’s got him so angry.

Isaiah 56 is about God’s holy provision for those outside the nation of Israel. God loves the whole world, not just the Jews. And he’s going to take care of them, too. Isaiah 56 promises the “foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord” that he will never be excluded from God’s people. Eunuchs who keep God’s commands will always have a place “within my temple and its walls.” All foreigners who love the Lord:

“these will I bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.” ~Isaiah 56:7

God has provided a place at his temple for Gentiles to gather and worship. God has promised covenant to these Gentiles and has sanctified a place for them to participate in the community life of God’s people. Gentiles, too, can experience the glory of God. Gentiles, too, can make sacrifices to God in faith that he will accept the offerings and forgive them of their sins. Gentiles, too, have a place in the Kingdom of God.

But it’s in these very temple courts — the Gentile courts, the Court of the Gentiles — where religious leaders are setting up shop and selling animals. They would never allow the inner parts of God’s temple to be turned in to a noisy, smelly, chaotic mess. They would never do anything to disrupt the expressions of praise and sacrifice from their own people in their special places. But these Gentiles? Yeah, let’s sell the animals there.

They are interfering with the divine provision of God. They are compromising God’s promises to the world. They’re messing with God’s plan. They’re depriving people of the space God has given them in which to worship. It’s a house of prayer for all nations, not just for people who look like me and talk like me and dress like me and behave like me. It’s not just for people who worship and sing and pray just exactly like us. It’s for everybody!

No wonder Jesus was so angry.

So, what’s it like at your church? Are the Hispanics relegated to an upstairs classroom in the back of the building? And is that classroom cluttered with leftover chairs and three ice chests from the youth trip? Where do the deaf worship in your church? Is it just understood that the homeless and the jobless and the “unchurched” won’t fit in? So nobody really tries?

Forget about the actual physical space for a minute. Do the ones who are not just like us — the new members, the move-ins, the poor, the young people, the old people, the divorced, the minorities — have a forum in your church to express their praise to God? Are they stared at, talked about, isolated, and discouraged from worshiping God? Or are they smiled at, hugged on, sung with, and encouraged to worship? Sometimes our haughtiness and complaints, our snide comments and dirty looks, our letters and threats rob our own brothers and sisters in Christ of their God-sanctioned forum and venue for giving him thanksgiving and praise. As Jesus says in John 2:16, “How dare you!”

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” ~Romans 15:7

Peace,

Allan

Raised With Christ

April 25, 2011 / / 0 Comments

“All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” ~Romans 6:3-5

Dear Valerie,

It was my great and special honor to baptize you yesterday into the sin-forgiving and salvation-bestowing blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Your baptism, your open heart, and your confessing spirit were an inspiration to all of us who participated in your new birth. It was an especially proud moment for your mom and me.

You have been tremendously blessed by our God. He has favored you, Valerie, with a gentle and generous disposition that considers the needs of others and openly shares kindness and compassion. You are a beautiful and brilliant young lady with an endless amount of potential. The possibilities you possess within you to do good are staggering. You’re so talented, so hilarious, so full of life.

Your mom and I have worked very hard to pass along to you and your sisters our faith in our risen Christ. We have tried to live every day as models of what it looks like to practice what we preach. We’ve tried to be consistent in living out the Gospel in our every interactions within our family and within the world God has given us. Your decision to give yourself wholly to Jesus as the ultimate and eternal Lord of your life is a moment of great satisfaction for us; I won’t lie. It means everything.

“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. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” ~Galatians 3:26-29

Be reminded, Valerie, that when you were baptized you put to death that old girl of sin. You buried that girl. You killed her. And when you came up out of the water you were a brand new creature. God has created in you a brand new person, full of his Holy Spirit, to experience everything in a brand new way. You now share in the Resurrection of Jesus. Death has nothing on you now. And neither does sin.

You have renounced the ways of the devil. You have rejected the patterns of this world. You have said ‘no’ to temptation and evil desires that would pull you away from your God. You have now personally and publically embraced salvation from God in Christ. You have put your trust, not in horses and chariots, not in your own talents and abilities, not in your own works and good deeds, but in the Father who promises to save you. Your faith is in him. You have placed yourself in his gracious and loving arms. And he will deliver. Our God is faithful, Valerie. And very, very good.

“Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God… For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” ~Colossians 3:1-4

God has incredibly huge things in store for you, girl. He is going to work in you to transform you more and more into the perfect image of his holy Son. And he’s going to work through you to bless the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands, of people to his eternal glory and praise. And I’m going to be right there in a front row seat, waving your flags and cheering you on the whole way.

You are my daughter in whom I am well pleased.

May you look back often on your baptism, Val, and remember what God has created in you. And may you walk with him always, faithful to the end.

I love you,

Dad

Just Like Us

March 31, 2011 / / 3 Comments

The apostle Paul tells us in Romans four that Abraham never wavered in his faith regarding the promise of a son and countless descendents. He never wavered. Yet, I seem to recall a situation or two with laughter. And Hagar. And Ishmael. Never wavered?

Scripture makes it clear that King David was a man after God’s own heart. Really? What about Bathsheba? Didn’t David go out of his way to premeditate and plan to break six or seven of the ten commandments in one weekend? Didn’t he lie and cheat and steal with his band of strong men in the wilderness? A man after God’s own heart?

We tell our little kids the story of Samson. We use flannelgraph and puppets and color sheets to tell them all about this hero of the faith. But when’s the last time you really read his whole story? You don’t tell the kids about the women and the sex and the lying and the breaking of his holy vows and his selfish pride and lust for violence and revenge.

Why not?

Because that’s the bad stuff.

Exactly.

The heroes in the Bible are more like us than we think. In a lot of ways, they are exactly like you. And me. A mixture of good and evil. A mess of noble intentions and horrible choices. A fluid cocktail of loyalty and rebellion. A patchwork of ultimate highs and miserable lows.

Our God has always chosen to do his greatest work through people exactly like you. And me. People just like the ones in your church. “Elijah was a man just like us…” Yeah, he was. So was Peter and Jacob and John and Joshua and Mary and Ruth.

Just like us.

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

For Legacy members only!!!

It’s crazy — absolutely crazy — that Carrie-Anne and I are the only ones from our congregation who make the trip north of the border to the Tulsa Workshop. Crazy! Next year, if I must, I’m planning our Legacy church trip to Tulsa. I’ll handle the hotel reservations, plan the caravan, and pick out all the restaurants. You’ll be encouraged, uplifted, inspired, equipped, empowered, enlightened, and educated. You’ll sing at the top of your lungs, you’ll ‘amen’ some of the greatest preachers in the faith, and you’ll be transformed. You’ll grow. God will change you.

And you will thank me.

Hold me to it.

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

Check out this blog post from a theology professor at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. The man’s name is Ted Campbell. He’s a Methodist — a “heart-core Methodist, — who recently attended a Sunday worship assembly at Preston Road Church of Christ in Dallas. And in his review of the experience , Campbell concludes that “the Churches of Christ were right after all.” It’s a good read from an outsider’s perspective. And I only mean “outsider” as not an official member of our little stream of the Christian faith. Click here to read his article.

Peace,

Allan

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