Category: Salvation (Page 33 of 34)

Who Am I, O Sovereign Lord?

January 20, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

In 2 Samuel 7, the recently-coronated King David decides he’s going to build God a house. A temple. A beautiful temple worthy of the Almighty Yahweh. But the Lord speaks to David through his prophet, Nathan, and says, no, you’re not going to build me a house, I’m going to build you a house.

And then God goes into great detail about all the things he’s going to do for his servant David.

I’m going to make your name great. I’m going to cut off all your enemies. I’m going to give you and all the people you rule rest from your battles. I will always be with you just like I’ve always been with you in the past. I’m making your name among the greatest in the world. Your sons, your family, will rule forever. I’m making you a dynasty.

And David is blown away. He’s completely amazed. It’s almost as if he doesn’t understand.

“Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your site, O Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this you usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?”

Who am I? I’m a shepherd boy. I’m insignificant. I’m small. I’m human. I’m fallible. And you’re doing all this for me? Who am I? Are you kidding me? I’ve done nothing to deserve your great favor. I’ve done nothing to merit your marvelous gifts. I’ve done nothing to earn your rich blessings. I can’t live up to your glorious promises. Who am I? Is this how you treat everybody?

And, praise God, the answer is “yes!” Yes! This is how God treats man. In all our selfishness. In all our pride. In all our sin and rebellion and denial. In all our inclinations to evil. While we were dead, while we were enslaved, while we were paralyzed, while we were enemies of the Creator of heaven and earth, he reaches down in love and mercy and saves us. He rescues us. He’s with us. He lifts us up. He restores us. He blesses us. He forgives us. He protects us. He provides for us. He meets every one of our needs—and then some!—according to his glorious riches through Christ Jesus.

And like David, we realize that, through his great descendent, Jesus our Lord, we are given immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. More than all we ask or imagine. Some of us realize it much sooner than others. It takes some of us a long time to see it. To recognize it. I’m not sure any of us will ever fully understand it this side of glory. But once we at least recognize it, our lives are changed forever.

“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you.”

Amen.

Grace Always Comes First

January 5, 2009 / Allan / 0 Comments

Have you noticed in Scripture that grace always comes before law? It’s a pattern that we find from Genesis through Revelation and on into the maps. It’s always grace first, law second.

Our Lord never gives instructions or commandments to his people before he saves his people. God always rescues first, lays out the conditions second. God saves, his people obey. God speaks, his people respond. God reaches out in mercy and compassion, his people rejoice and give him praise. That’s the way it works. God acts in loving kindness to his people, his people react with loving kindness toward one another.

God creates man, gives him a loving partner, puts him in charge of everything in the beautiful garden, provides for his every need, and then gives the instructions regarding the trees. God rescues Noah, he saves Noah and his whole family through the un-creation of the flood, and then he establishes his covenant with its commands. God delivers Israel from Egyptian bondage, he walks them through the middle of the Red Sea on dry ground, he destroys all their enemies, and then he gives the law to Moses on the mountain.

Grace first, law second.

Jesus heals the leper and says now go offer the gift. Jesus cleanses the demon possessed man and says now go tell your family how much the Lord has done for you, how he’s had mercy on you. Jesus rescues an adulterous woman from her executioners, he saves her, and then he says now go and leave your life of sin.

It’s a formula. It’s a pattern. It’s a rule for the way things are. It’s the divine order.

The Christmas trees don’t go up in WalMart until after Halloween. The kids don’t spill red Kool-Aid in the living room until after you’ve had new carpet installed. Jerry Wayne doesn’t sign a free agent player until after that player has commited at least one felony. And our gracious heavenly Father doesn’t give any commands until after he saves us.

It’s just the opposite with Santa Claus. We try to be good so Santa will give us great gifts. With God in Christ, we try to be good because we’ve been given such a great gift!

Shouldn’t that be our model for our interactions with one another?

Show uncompromising grace first, ask questions later. Exhibit steadfast loyalty first, expect friendship later. Act with unquestionable love and consideration first, work on the relationship later. Forgive and rescue and hug and encourage and pardon and protect and die for others first. And let our righteous God take care of the rest. Later.

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Yes, I saw the doctored picture Darryn Pope showed in class yesterday. The one time I miss Bible class to take care of some pastoral duties, I hear about this picture. He’s emailed it to me. I think he’s actually proud of it in a sick way. He claims it has something to do with some point about Paul’s first letter to Timothy. I wonder. I share this unfortunate picture with you here. To the PowerPointMinister: let’s don’t ever let Pope in that booth in the worship center. Ever.

Hook ’em,

Allan

Camping Under The Sign

December 30, 2008 / Allan / 1 Comment

Karl Barth’s commentary on Romans, written in 1919, contains an illustration relating to the passage in Romans 4 about Abraham’s journey of faith. I used the illustration a couple of Sundays ago to shed some light on Philippians 3. Paul writes about pushing and pressing and straining for the prize. He realizes he hasn’t “arrived.” So he presses to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him.

Salvation. Christ-likeness. It’s a journey. Nobody’s “arrived.”

If we point back to our religious heritage or ancestry or sit comfortably on our religious traditions, if we find security in our status quo and salvation in keeping things the way they are, we’ll actually find ourselves in serious jeopardy.

Here’s Barth’s story:

“A group of people are headed on a long journey and along the way they find a sign pointing them westward. The signpost is there to convey them to their destination, but instead they stop and create a life for themselves under its painted words. They build a civilization there, celebrating the signpost and telling stories of how they arrived at the marker. Rituals evolve and songs are written. Books are published and liturgies follow. A few travel on and return, confirming that the sign does indeed lead to the place promised. But the second and third generations have built a life around the signpost and have forgotten the purpose of the journey. Their life is built on stories of past travel, not on stories of arriving or the prophetic call to get on with the journey themselves.”

Peace,

Allan

Joyful Righteousness

December 12, 2008 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” ~Philippians 3:7

The apostle Paul hailed from the royal tribe of Benjamin. He might have even been named after Israel’s first king. He spoke both Hebrew and Aramaic. He had memorized most of the Holy Scriptures. His diploma carried the name of the leading school in religious thought. He belonged to the religious sect that upheld God’s law more than any other. He was unmatched in religious zeal. He had no tolerance for commandment-breakers. In short, Paul was perfect — as perfect as any God-fearing Jew could possibly be.

But when Paul opened up his books to read the ledger of his life, surprisingly he found he was completely bankrupt! He had nothing!

His faith was in his own righteousness. And it wasn’t enough. His trust was in his own abilities to keep God’s law. And it wasn’t even close. He had been comparing himself to others and had always been judged worthy. But when he was forced on the road to Damascus to compare himself to the Holy Son of God, he came up empty.

So he writes, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 3:8)

Paul didn’t count his heritage or his good works as trash. He didn’t stop keeping God’s commands or renounce his schooling. He determined that his faith in those things was worthless. Trust in his own law-keeping and ritual-following was worthless. Paul realized that his own righteousness would never save him. He could only trust the righteousness that comes freely from God by faith in his crucified and resurrected Son.

That confidence in his salvation by faith in Christ is what allowed Paul to write, despite external opposition and internal conflict that plagued God’s Church, “My brothers, rejoice in the Lord!”

Peace,

Allan

Hidden With Christ

September 11, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” ~Colossians 3:3

Five years ago the LA Times reported on a man from Medford, Oregon.

“Old Man Howard spent decades chasing children off his farm, shotgun in hand, watching little legs spin like windmills into the distance. Generations considered him the meanest man in Jackson County. To others, Wesley Howard was simply an oddity: a loner who never married, never left Oregon, and lived his whole life in the same place he was born, a century-old farmhouse without phones or toilets. Children saw it as a haunted house; passersby photographed it as an artifact.

The house was built in 1890 and had not been painted in a half-century. From the road, the house looked, as one neighbor said, ‘ready to fall.’

Howard lived in the house by himself. Both floors were stacked ceiling-high with newspapers and magazines dating to the early 1900s. Upstairs bedrooms were equally cramped, filled with some of Howard’s boyhood toys. Howard cooked on a potbellied wood stove. He drank water from a hand-dug well, and he used an outhouse.

In March, at age 87, he died of a stroke, enigmatic to the end. Howard, it turns out, was rich. Few knew. He bequeathed his entire estate, worth more than $11 million, to create a youth sports park on his 68-acre farm.

The surprise gift has cast Howard in a new light, causing residents to question whether they really knew him.

An editorial in the Medford Mail Tribune opened with this line: ‘We’ll never know if Wes Howard had a Scrooge-like epiphany or if there was always a charitable soul hidden beneath his gruff exterior.’

Gene Glazier, who lived across from the Howard farm for five decades and whose children were chased off the property said he was ‘blown over’ by Howard’s last act. ‘We had no idea.'”

WE HAD NO IDEA.

Nothing in Old Man Howard’s life even remotely suggested he had more than a couple of dimes to rub together. It looked like he had nothing. His value, his worth, according to the people around him, was zero. People were shocked to learn he was worth over $11 million. There was a huge difference between appearances as his community understood them and realities as they genuinely were. Old Man Howard’s life was hidden in a 110-year-old house.

Our lives are hidden in Christ.

As disciples of Jesus, there is also a huge discrepancy between appearances and reality. Our glorious future, our destiny to reign forever with Jesus at the right hand of God, our status as joint-heirs with the Son of the Almighty God is hidden. Those in the world view us as weak and insignificant. They see us as dishonored fools for Jesus, not understanding that we are intimately connected to the creator and ruler of the universe.

It’s comforting to us and empowering for us to understand that this ultimate reality isn’t tied to anything we do. Our holiness doesn’t come from our futile attempts to comply with a long list of do’s and don’ts. Our destiny doesn’t depend on our ability to not sin. Our riches are not tied to our good behavior. It all comes from being in Christ, dying with Christ, being buried with Christ, being raised with Christ, and living this hidden life with Christ. It’s because of Christ. He hides our life. He protects it. He keeps it. He saves it. And he promises us that when he appears again in glory we are also going to appear with him in that same glory.

And our neighbors and our world will say, “We had no idea.”

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Play “Taps” for Texas. The Angels beat the Yankees. The Rangers lost to Seattle. And it’s finally officially over. L.A.’s team in Anaheim clinches the AL West. See former Ranger Mark Teixeira celebrating in the Angels’ clubhouse. It’d be interesting to note how many former Rangers’ players are in the postseason this year. There’s a mess of ’em. Sounds like a great project for Kipi. As long as she doesn’t undertake the effort all alone in a dark room on a rainy day. We’d better keep an eye on her.

Peace,

Allan

Plunder Taken, Captives Rescued

August 28, 2008 / Allan / 3 Comments

“Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce?
This is what the Lord says:
‘Yes, captives will be taken from the warriors,
and plunder retrieved from the fierce;
I will contend with those who contend with you,
and your children I will save.'” ~Isaiah 49:24-25

“No one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.” ~Mark 3:27

As Jesus teaches and loves and heals and drives out demons in Mark 3, he’s accused by religious leaders and his own family of being possessed by Satan. But Jesus makes it clear: what’s happening is not the result of some civil war within Satan’s ranks. This is a direct frontal assault from the outside. The strong man is Satan. His house, his domain, is this world which he’s trying desperately to secure and hold on to. His possessions are his victims, these people he’s taken captive. He’s trapped these victims. He’s imprisoned them with sin and fear and death and disease and demons. He’s holding them with divorce and crime and addiction and unemployment and cancer. He’s got ’em. But then along comes the stronger one, Jesus. He comes from God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to cross the barriers of time and space, to smash through the walls of the devil’s house, to tie Satan up and carry off his precious possessions. To free the captives. To rescue the prisoners.

God himself overcomes the mighty one. He destroys forever the destroyer.

Satan uses our fears of the awful things we see all around us. Hebrews 2 says Satan holds the power of death and holds us in slavery, keeps us paralyzed, holds us in prison, by our fear of it. And then God himself breaks through, as the divine Son of Man. Jesus comes to earth, right into the middle of Satan’s house. He walks our streets. He teaches our people. He hugs our kids. He eats with us. He touches us. And he brings with him the eternal Kingdom of God! He wages war—not against the petty tyrants and selfish leaders and evil empires. He comes here intent on destroying THE Kingdom of Satan which has enslaved all of humanity. Christ Jesus, by his birth and life and teachings and ministry and death and burial and resurrection and exaltation, takes Satan’s plunder and rescues Satan’s captives and he ties Satan up and makes him watch.

We are that plunder taken. We are the captives rescued. This is us. We were the ones imprisoned by Satan. We were the ones held in slavery by our sins and paralyzed by our fears. We were the ones stuck, doomed, distressed, condemned. We were the hostages. We were the sentenced prisoners. We were headed to an eternity of death and despair. Damned by our own selfishness and sin. We were hopeless. We were already given up for gone.

But now we are rescued. We’re freed. We’re liberated.

We’re not just rescued from ourselves and our sins, we’re snatched from the life-choking clutches of Satan himself! We’re freed from the Kingdom of Darkness to walk eternally in newness of life.

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” ~Colossians 1:13-14.

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Several of you have been asking about Debbie Miller, the wife of one of the Four Horsemen, one of my dearest friends. Her surgery was yesterday. And it couldn’t have been more successful. It couldn’t have gone any better. And our Father couldn’t have answered our prayers in any more of an amazing way. All the cancer is totally gone! 100% gone! There wasn’t any in her muscle tissue. There’s not any in her lymph nodes. It was all contained in the tumors and the tumors are gone! Praise God!

I talked to Dan last night. He told me it was the greatest and happiest day he’s had since….and then he said it’s the greatest and happiest day of his entire life. Our God is great. He answers prayer. And he delivers his people. And we rejoice today with Dan and Debbie.

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We’re leaving Friday for Searcy, Arkansas to spend about 24 hours with my brother, Keith, and his wonderful family. And then it’s off to Benton, Arkansas to hook up with Jimmy Mitchell and the Benton Church of Christ. Jimmy was our Youth Minister in Marble Falls when we were there from ’05-’07. I’ll be preaching for them in Benton on Sunday. Please keep our family in your prayers. And ask God to bless our time with great family and great friends.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Salvation (Page 33 of 34)

Who Am I, O Sovereign Lord?

Grace Always Comes First

Camping Under The Sign

Joyful Righteousness

Hidden With Christ

Plunder Taken, Captives Rescued

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