The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Salvation (Page 22 of 34)

Surely God is My Help

July 22, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“Save me, O God, by your name;
vindicate me by your might.
Hear my prayer, O God;
listen to the words of my mouth.
Strangers are attacking me;
ruthless men seek my life —
men without regard for God.
Surely God is my help;
the Lord is the one who sustains me.”
~Psalm 54:1-4

The psalmist recognizes that the world is full of wicked men and women, people who have no regard for God. This world is full of evil. It has its dark places. There are people who do not recognize the eternal authority of our God. They do not see God, they do not keep their eyes on God, they do not follow him. They are seeking their own paths, their own ways. And so we are surrounded by violence and war, we’re confronted daily with poverty and disease, we’re bombarded by accusations and lies, we’re troubled by broken relationships and wrecked communities.

God, though, is the psalmist’s “help.” The Hebrew word used here to describe God is the same word used in Genesis of the woman God made for Adam. Help. Helper. Helpmeet, my dad still says in his funny KJV. The picture is of a strong partner, one who delivers, one who completes and makes whole that which is lacking.

This song suggests that our God is still willing and very, very capable of providing what is needed to fix what’s wrong in this world. Our God is a God of justice and equity. He takes no pleasure in evil. He truly cares for his entire creation. And he longs — his Holy Spirit groans — for that day when all is made right. As followers of the Christ who do hold our God in high regard, we are compelled to keep our eyes on him. We’re moved to seek his ways, not ours. As Gerald Wilson writes,

“We can no longer make light of his power and glory, nor can we ignore the call to participate in the restoration of the world. Our relationships will and must change; we will and must seek justice and equity as God does; we will and must respond to the whole creation in ways that seek its best interests rather than ours.”

God is my help. He makes whole that which is now in part. He makes me whole — total peace. He’s cleansing and restoring his people. He’s making all things perfect and new. Just like he did in the garden.

“I will praise your name, O Lord,
for it is good.”
~Psalm 54:6

Peace,

Allan

Savior of the World

July 18, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“We know that this man really is the Savior of the world!” ~John 4:42

After just a couple of hours with Jesus, the Samaritan woman at the well knew it. After just two days with him, the villagers of Sychar proclaimed it. The rarest of biblical titles for our King was declared unashamedly by the socially marginalized, the religious outcasts, the “sinners.”

How did they know? What did they experience that led them to this bold confession?

Jesus had purposefully put himself at great risk by going through Samaria in order to find this woman. He had crossed every barrier and cleared every obstacle; he had blown past the social and cultural walls, the political and economic hurdles, the religious and gender boundaries to reach this lonely and forgotten soul. He had refused to be bogged down in religious debate and questions of worship, instead focusing on his relationship with her. And he had exposed her great sin against God at high noon in the town square — and graciously and powerfully forgiven her.

Without partiality, without prejudice, without compromise, Jesus is the true light who goes into the darkness to rescue the whole world. The scars you’ve suffered, the fences you’ve erected, the sins you’ve committed — none of this registers as even a speed bump to the Savior of the World.

Once you realize it, how do you respond? Because you have to respond. Jesus is not going away. He sat down on the edge of the well, an unavoidable obstacle to the Samaritan woman. And to you. The woman, Scripture says dropped her jar, she left the well, and ran back into town to tell everyone about the Messiah. The town sleaze had become a Gospel preacher!

How do you respond to the Savior of the World?

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

As part of our “Gifted 2 Go” series here at Central, our oldest daughter, Whitney, and I wound up with almost twenty others at Brock’s Laundry last night, about two blocks west of our church building. Armed with $300 dollars in quarters, our task was to pay for everybody’s washers and dryers for two hours. There are 25 dryers along the back wall at Brock’s and 50 washing machines arranged in the middle. And we had all 75 of those things spinning until after 8:30 last night. We met young families and single moms, one college-aged kid and a couple of older folks. We packed and unpacked machines, folded clothes into laundry baskets and cardboard boxes, playfully fighting over the limited number of dryers and laughing loudly together as we took over Brock’s and made it the center of attention at Washington and 14th.

We met John, who I think used to have some ties to Central but refused to elaborate. We visited with Berto and his wife and held their precious seven-month-old daughter, Leah, while they switched out washers and dryers. We talked to Tiffany who admitted to hating Amarillo and wanting to move to San Antonio to be closer to an aunt. Justin and Mallory had just had the back glass and side window of their car blown out by gunfire Monday night. Miranda wouldn’t stop thanking us. Another woman there, almost in tears, told Shelly that for the first time in more than a year, she and her husband were now going to be able to do laundry and put gas in his truck during the same week. A young man named Matthew surveyed the room while his jeans and T-shirts cycled and commented to Myrl, “Y’all must have an awesome church.” To which Myrl replied, “Well, we have an awesome God!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A block away, Lon and Jeff and their crew washed almost twenty cars while Bob and his group changed oil a block south in another fifteen or twenty vehicles.

At 9:00 last night, as we were loading up the leftover sodas and water bottles in the laundromat parking lot, I turned to Shelley and said, “That sure beats a boring Wednesday night Bible class, huh?” Shelly said, “Yes, sir! Not that there’s anything wrong with our Bible classes, but THIS is what we’re supposed to be doing!”

We’re making inroads into our community. Slowly but surely, steady and purposefully, we’re meeting our neighbors and blessing them with the love and grace of our Lord. We’re seeking relationship. We’re meeting people where they are. We’re giving the cup of water, the handful of quarters, in the name of our King. And trusting him to use us to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

We Belong To The Lord

May 8, 2013 / / 0 Comments

I want to continue our important discussion here regarding the silence of Scripture and its place in our American Restoration Movement history and current beliefs and practices. As it relates to the maddening question of whether biblical silence on a particular issue is prohibitive or permissive, please check out this video clip from a Rick Atchley sermon illustration. I quoted one of my favorite Rick Atchley lines in Monday’s post, and a friend reminded me this morning of Rick’s “chair illustration.” I’ve seen Rick do this at least a couple of times. It’s a beautifully simple and strikingly clear demonstration of the absurdity of our traditional approach to the silence in Scripture. And it inarguably proves that this default approach actually prevents any type of Christian unity among our churches; it actually leads to and fosters ugly and sinful divisions.

When you have more time, you might also check out this recent 26-minute presentation by my brilliant brother, Dr. Keith Stanglin, on the fourth and fifth propositions of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address. Keith argues that Campbell’s document, which most consider as the foundational document for the Restoration Movement and Churches of Christ, fundamentally rejects both the Old Testament and church history as formative and informative for our congregations. Keith makes a compelling case for paying careful attention to all of church history as we prayerfully make decisions for our own churches and denominations today. The lecture is in two parts on YouTube: click here for part one and click here for part two. (Thank you, Keith, for pointing out that the use of unleavened bread for communion is a tenth century innovation of the western church.) After watching Keith, you’ll understand why I always say I got the looks and he got the brains.

While I’ve got you here, I’ll direct you to my great friend Jim Martin’s post, written for Dan Bouchelle’s blog, on why he continues to preach.

~~~~~~~~~~

Paul’s thoughts in Romans 14:1-15:7 are summed up in a couple of places in that passage. In 14:17 he claims that “the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Later, in 14:22, Paul commands “whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.” The conclusion must be that it’s OK to have strong opinions and beliefs about certain things as they relate to Christ Jesus and his Kingdom, but that those opinions and practices must never be bound on other Christians.

But what about “salvation issues?” Oh, I can hear it now. In fact, I hear it quite often. What about matters of doctrine? What about the important things?

Yeah, that’s where it gets touchy. Because if two Christians are arguing about something and the argument and the feelings are such that it’s dividing them and threatening to divide their church, then, of course, one or both of them believe with all their heart that it’s a doctrinal or salvation issue. But, Paul says, that’s OK, too.

“One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, does to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” ~Romans 14:5-8

Each of us should be fully convinced in our minds that what we’re doing is the right thing to do in the eyes of God. Yes. But don’t bind that on another brother who doesn’t feel the same way. If he practices something different, Paul assumes you’re both doing it to the Lord, before the Lord, in the presence of the Lord, to the glory of the Lord, and with a clear conscience. We assume that my sister with a different belief or a different practice is not believing or practicing arbitrarily. She’s doing it with careful study and reflection and prayer. And she’s fully convinced in her mind that she’s doing the right thing. So, everything’s fine.

But, somebody will still say, “What if we’re talking about a salvation issue?”

What in the world is a ‘salvation issue?’ Will somebody please tell me what a ‘salvation issue’ is? We get into discussions about ‘salvation issues’ and we start ranking things in order of importance to God, in terms of what’s going to save us or condemn us. And we’ll talk about baptism and church and the authority of Scripture and worship styles, but we’ll never talk about helping the poor or being kind to your enemy. Scripture says those are actually the heavier issues. They’re all salvation issues! Everything we do is a salvation issue! That’s why the heart is the most important thing. The attitude is the most important matter. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking…

Paul is calling for unity in spirit, not unity in opinion, not unity in practice, not even unity in belief. And he’s dealing with what at that time in that church were huge issues. Unity comes with where your heart is, what’s your motivation, what drives you, who you are thinking about.

Paul clearly identifies himself as one of the “strong” Christians. But, again, it’s interesting to me that he doesn’t say the “weak” need to change their minds or their opinions or practices. His prayer is not that all the Christians in Rome come to the same opinions on these disputable matters. No. He’s praying that they may possess a unity of spirit that transcends their differences.

Peace,

Allan

Five Steps to Salvation

April 24, 2013 / / 14 Comments

It’s just a Church of Christ thing, right? The “Plan of Salvation,” also called the “Five Steps of Salvation,” is unique to us, I think. And those of us who were raised in and by the Churches of Christ know them well: Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, Baptism. In that order. As a kid in the ’70s, this was drilled into me by my Sunday school teachers in Bible class, by the preachers from the pulpits, by the youth ministers at the devotionals and rallies, and by the Open Bible Study my dad walked me through when I reached the “age of accountability.” The five steps were plastered on bulletin boards in the church hallways, illustrated by charts and diagrams on mimeographed handouts, and splashed across banners promoting the next Gospel meeting. These were the five steps, always accompanied by supporting verses of Scripture, that necessarily had to be followed — again, in order! — for one to be saved.

Hear. Believe. Repent. Confess. Be Baptized.

You ever wonder how that started? You ever question the validity of such a list? If you or your church were to make a list of supposed steps to salvation, what would you include? What parts of our CofC list would you leave out?

Historians point back to our movement’s focus on rational thought and enlightenment thinking that characterized the mainstream culture of America at the turn of the 19th century when Stone and Campbell and others were attempting to “restore” God’s Church. It was all about scientific reasoning and empirical evidence and deductive problem-solving. Society at this time was convinced that there were undeniable patterns, unalterable designs in nature and in the world that, if learned and applied, held the keys to everlasting peace and joy.

Alexander Campbell searched the Scriptures in this way and came up with what he called “the ancient gospel,” a pattern he believed was the divinely-ordained natural way to heaven. According to Campbell, it all boiled down to, in this order: gospel facts (death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ), faith, repentance, reformation (of life), baptism, remission of sins, reception of the Holy Spirit, sanctification, resurrection of the saints, and eternal life. In that order. Campbell claimed that all Christian denominations believed in all these steps, but put them in different orders according to their own interpretations or theories of conversion.

At about the same time, Walter Scott came up with a biblical pattern and called it “the gospel restored.” He had six points originally. The first three were what humans had to do to be saved: believe, repent, and be baptized. The last three were what God promises to people who do the first three: forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. Not too much later, Scott shortened his list to five points — one for each finger on a person’s hand, for easy remembering: faith, repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sin, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This method proved to be very successful on the early American frontier where most everybody had been trained in Calvinism which claimed that men and women were saved only by God’s predestination, that one couldn’t do anything to save himself, it was all up to God’s pre-ordained choosing. By telling these fiercely independent early frontier people that there really was something they could do to be saved, the Stone and Campbell churches fueled a massive rush to repentance and baptism.

As with most good things, we swung the pendulum a bit too far. Pretty soon, we were taking God’s initiative and the Holy Spirit’s active participation clear out of the conversion process. Preaching became all about proving “facts” with arguments and evidence. The Holy Spirit’s work in the past had been entered into the Biblical record and was there to be studied in a rational manner, but it wasn’t necessary for a person’s salvation. The emphasis was on logical fact-finding and step-following and persuading people to “obey the gospel.” The “gospel,” of course, being the steps.

So, at some point in the middle of the 1800s, it gets boiled down to what we have today in the five steps of salvation or the plan of salvation: hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized. Notice how God’s divine activity is completely absent from any of the steps. Notice how this chart here to the right — all of these charts were downloaded from Church of Christ websites this morning — actually gives much more responsibility or credit to man than to God for salvation. Where is God in our “plan of salvation?”

Why is baptism the last step? Who took out “sanctification,” the guiding of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God to continually wash our sins?

It is God who works to will and to act according to his good purpose. It is God who initiates salvation, who begins the good work and sees it through to completion. Belief and repentance and confession are salvation steps to be taken every day, not once on a ladder list of human accomplishments. Baptism is never the end of what the apostle Paul calls “being saved,” it’s the beginning. Our five steps minimize our God. Our five steps neglect a lifetime of day-by-day, hour-by-hour difficult discipleship to Jesus. And they ignore the unmerited and continuous grace of our merciful Father.

OK, maybe that’s a little harsh. Too judgmental, probably, Yes, we come by the “five-steps” thing naturally. It’s been handed down to us by faithful men and women who were doing their very best with what they had to work with during the times they lived. And I’m grateful for it. Seriously. But I’m also so glad that we’ve recognized the many shortcomings in this kind of incomplete view of salvation. I’m so glad that we’re acknowledging together the active role of God’s Spirit in the calling and saving and sanctifying of the saints. And I’m glad we can change. I’m so glad, by God’s grace, we’re allowed and even compelled to change.

Peace,

Allan

New Creation Reality

February 7, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, new creation! The old has gone, the new has come!” ~2 Corinthians 5:16-17

We’ve absolutely got to change the way we look at things. It’s so much bigger than we think.

Christianity is not the statement that God exists and sent Jesus to the earth to save us and, because of that, now makes demands of us. The New Testament is not a systematic approach to ethics or a rational outline of morality. Scripture is not a book of rules that inform us of how we should act in this circumstance or in that situation. Jesus did not come to this earth to bring a new ethic or a new set of morals. Jesus came here to bring us a brand new reality!

If anyone is in Christ… new creation! (The two words “he is” don’t appear in the original Greek text.) In Christ, it’s just “new creation!” Period. Or exclamation point, I suppose. New creation! Everything’s new. All of creation is brand new. Everything looks new. Everything is reinterpreted. Jesus is not an add-on to the story; he IS the story! Jesus is not the missing piece to the puzzle; he is the puzzle! And the box it came in! And the card table and the chairs and the fire in the fireplace! That’s the reality. God through Christ is redeeming this planet, he’s restoring all of creation, and so he rightfully claims every part of us. Everything you do, everything you say, everything you think. From the moment you wake up until the minute you go to sleep, God claims all of it in Jesus. His perfect will is that every bit of it is holy. So we don’t belong to ourselves. Every second of our time and every square inch of our bodies belong to the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

It’s bigger than we think.

When you put on Christ in baptism, when you accept God’s will for your life to be holy and sanctified and exactly like him, everything’s new. It’s panoramic. It’s all inclusive. It’s rich and deep, it gets in to every crack and crevice of your existence. It all belongs to God and he’s claiming it. There’s no room for other gods, there’s no place for selfish behavior, there’s no time to waste in worldly pursuits. There’s no need for anything else.

Christianity is not a verse for this and a passage for that. It’s not. What am I supposed to do in this business situation? What should I say about this family crisis? When I’m confronted with this, how do I act? What are my obligations in this circumstance? Well, let’s go look in the Bible…

I’m sorry, there’s not a verse for everything. You can’t go book, chapter, verse on a whole lot of things. But I don’t want a verse to determine my conduct situation by situation. I want the reality of the new creation. I want the reality of God’s claim on my life in Jesus Christ to be pushed into the room and dominate everything I do and everything I say and everything I think about. It has to. It has to be at the very center of my being and the very reason for my life.

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.” ~1 Thessalonians 4:3

I want to be completely wrapped up in God’s claim on my life. I want to be totally dependent on Jesus for my salvation. I want to be thoroughly led by the Spirit inside me to sanctification and holiness. It’s bigger than we think. And I want it.

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

So, our children’s minister here at Central, Mary McNeill, finally had her baby, fifteen days past her due date and and fourteen days past the last date chosen in our office pool. (Congratulations, Connie!) Mary and Todd had decided not to find out beforehand if this fourth child was a boy or a girl, which only added to the considerable interest and anticipation surrounding the whole thing. When we learned that the baby was born yesterday afternoon at just before 4:00, the curiosity became almost unbearable. When 5:30 rolled around and I still didn’t know the gender of this latest little McNeill, I decided to text Mary. After all, I’d been receiving calls and texts all day asking me about the baby. Plus, I’d have to announce the news to our Sneed Hall Bible Class at 7:00. I needed to know. Here’s the whole conversation:

“I’m going to start sending tons of people straight to your hospital room if I don’t get some baby information. STAT!!!”

“Baby born at 3:49, 7lbs. 6oz., 19 inches long. Will tell you the name after my kids get here.”

“Congratulations. Boy or girl? You’re killing me.”

“I can’t tell you until my kids get here and see. They didn’t want us to tell them over the phone, they wanted to find out for themselves.”

“Again, congratulations. I’m not sure what your kids have to do with me. Or why you won’t tell the one person on this earth you know has no facebook, no facetime, no twitter, no skype, no instagram, and no possible other way to communicate with anybody other than a really slow text. Girl, right?”

“Because the man with the least amount of technology also has the biggest mouth.”

“Will I find out before church?”

“Yes, probably in the next 15-25 minutes.”

“Never mind. I’ve lost interest.”

The news we wanted came a few minutes later. Ava Grace (I knew it was a girl!) came into the world, into the McNeill family, and in to the hearts of her Central church family as a perfect little gift from our Father above. She’s beautiful. And she’s a tremendous blessing. Congratulations to Todd and Mary, Kathryn and Ethan and Lauryl. We join you in thanking God for the gift of this precious child. And we can’t wait to see what our faithful Lord does with her and in her to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

New Class East & New Class West

January 21, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Our God is doing something really, really cool on the south side of our Bible class floor here at Central. He’s the only One who can be praised for what’s happening down there. He’s the only One who can receive any glory.

Frequent visitors to this blog know that we are moving slowly but certainly toward what we feel is a fuller expression of the Gospel of Jesus in our church settings and programs and gatherings here at Central. We’re trying to become more inter-generational. We’re attempting to break down the barriers beween the ages and genders, the walls between socio-economic classes and cultures, the hurdles between languages and race. Not everybody fits in to the nice and neat little categories we use to make up our Bible classes. If you’re not a certain age or enjoy a certain marital status or make a certain amount of money, you may not easily slide into one of our established groups. I’m not being critical; that’s just the way it is. And it’s not unlike the way it is at most Christian churches.

So nearly a year ago we began talking about a new kind of Bible class at Central, one that would chip away at the dividing walls and welcome all-comers to the one table of Christ we read about in the Prophets and the Gospels. We’ve prayed and planned, we’ve laughed and cried, we’ve been overjoyed and in distress — sometimes in the very same day! — as we prepared for the launch of this new endeavor a few weeks ago. It’s been slow go, painfully slow at times. It’s been challenging. Tough. Scary. Risky, even.

But it’s also been such a tremendous blessing.

We’ve got a little bit of everything in this class. Almost fifty saints, young and old, blue collar and white collar, educated and not, Christians who were baptized 60 years ago and Christians who were baptized last month, suits and ties and tattoos and orange hair. A few of our new class members know exactly how to act in church: they were born and raised CofC. And they’re coming to our class because they never felt like they fit in anywhere else. A few of our other class members don’t know how to “act in church.” One of them just spent a couple of weeks in jail for some offenses committed during her previous life. She’s in our class because she can’t believe she fits in anywhere!

Our class was way too big way too fast to accomplish what we believe our God is calling us to do. We believe discipleship is taught and experienced in close Christian community. We think Christian transformation happens in relationship. So even at Day One, we needed to become two classes. We were too large. And I worried about how we would do that. We talked about it. We prayed about it together. For a couple of weeks we challenged one another. Someone said, “I should choose to go into the class where I’ll be most uncomfortable. That’s probably where God wants me.” Another said, “We’re all brothers and sisters in Christ working toward the same goals; just put us in a class and let’s get on with reaching out to more people.” It was beautiful. Inspiring. But would it work?

Nearly fifty of us were in the room again yesterday morning. After we spent a few more minutes in prayer about our first “multiply” (coming in the very first month!) we lined everybody up against the wall according to the year they graduated from high school. Seriously. That’s what we did. It wasn’t quite like consulting the Urim and Thummim; it wasn’t at all like casting lots for Matthias. But it’s how we did it.

There they all were, stretched out along the wall from Ernie (class of 1949) to Blaine (class of 2006) and everybody in between. I wish somebody had taken a picture. And we numbered off. 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2 all the way down. All the 1s went to New Class West and all the 2s moved to New Class East. And both groups evenly represented the multi-generational, multi-cultural table of our Christ as described in Holy Scripture.

We studied each other’s name tags for a couple of minutes, made some connections within our new groups for a few more, and then spent some time talking about our goals for our classes. We talked about small groups, about people we know inside and outside Christ who would benefit from our Christian community, about next week and next year. And then we prayed again. Prayers of thanksgiving. Prayers of hope. Prayers of faith.

I don’t know what God’s going to do with these two new classes. I really don’t. In my wildest dreams, I’d like to think this kind of thing could change all of Central and ultimately the whole city of Amarillo. Busting out of the norms that society has established always raises eyebrows and stirs up trouble. A deep commitment to this kind of living and sharing, loving and serving together in ways that the world never, ever experiences would be a powerful testimony. This type of cultural abnormality would be an undeniable witness to our King and his power to change people and save the world. I see all the Bible classes and small groups here at Central, eventually, looking more and more like these two new classes. I see everybody in Amarillo who’s never known Christ being attracted to this radical vision of barrier-smashing and non-conformity in such a way that the whole city is turned upside down. I can see that.

What’s mind-blowingly awesome is that our Father promises to deliver more than we can ever ask or imagine.

It’s just a start. We don’t have any cool names for our classes yet or even any coffee makers or posters on the bare walls. We don’t have a leadership structure yet or even a finalized curriculum. What we do have is a common heart for the biblical picture of God’s one people around God’s one table. We have a united passion for leaning in to and working toward what our God has promised is the ultimate goal of salvation.

And now we have hard evidence of our faith in God that he is doing something really cool.

Peace,

Allan

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