The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Running with Regular Folks

May 31, 2012 / / 2 Comments

By the time Whitney and I got in the truck after Bible class last night and turned on the radio, the Rangers were down 17-0 to the M’s. We started praying for a quick score and an onside kick.

Good grief.

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

The writer of Hebrews walks us through the hallowed Faith Ring of Honor in chapter eleven, biblical hero by biblical hero. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David. By their faith, the writer makes clear, these people conquered kingdoms, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and “gained what was promised.”

Then the author has the audacity to commend disciples of Jesus — the Church, you, me! — to run the race the same way these heroes did.

Excuse me?

You want me to be like Abraham? You want me to be like Moses? Are you kidding? Why don’t you just set me up for a lifetime of cruel disappointment? I can never live up to that. Who can?

Before we check the “NA” box on this one, we might want to consider one thing: as Christians, we are extraordinary, we are super, we are heroes; not because of anything we’ve done or can do, but because of what God through Christ is doing in us and with us.

When we live by faith, we bear witness to God and God bears witness to us. Our lives become proof that faith in God works. Despite our weaknesses and shortcomings. Probably precisely because of our weaknesses and shortcomings.

We’re not perfect. We’ll never be perfect this side of glory. But our Father is working to make us perfect, we are “being saved,” in the everyday middle of running the race in faith.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” ~Hebrews 12:2

Peace,

Allan

Benevolence and Evangelism

May 29, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Benevolence and evangelism are not the same thing. They are very closely related; but they are not the same thing. To equate benevolence and evangelism, in word or deed, is to distort the Gospel of Christ and to do harm to the uniqueness of God’s salvation.

Look, I know church people who poo-poo (is that how you spell it?) medical mission trips and humanitarian relief efforts. “That’s not evangelism!” they shout. They say the church shouldn’t be paying for it. And I know church people who take these trips and make these efforts who counter with, “Of course, it is evangelism!” They point to the prophets and to Jesus, the greatest prophet, to validate the money they’re spending on food and surgeries for the poor.

Benevolence is not evangelism, but the two definitely go hand-in-hand. You can have benevolence without evangelism; it happens all the time. But you rarely, if ever, get evangelism without benevolence. When we equate the two, though, we wind up losing what is the single most unique thing disciples of Jesus have to offer to a lost and dying world.

Anybody can do benevolence. There are many motivations for feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. You don’t have to be a Christian to do good deeds. Non-disciples do it every day. But Christians have the Gospel of Jesus Christ by which the world can be reconciled to God in a righteous relationship for eternal life. Nobody else can make that kind of offer. No one else can give that kind of invitation. Without confusing the two, Christians need to become good at both.

In his little book Generous Justice, Timothy Keller writes about the importance of benevolence and its undeniable relationship to evangelism:

“Imagine an eloquent Christian preacher who every Sunday delivers compelling sermons. But one of his female parishioners comes to learn that the minister verbally abuses and browbeats his wife daily. After she discovers this, she unsurprisingly finds his sermons completely unpersuasive. Why? His deeds contradict his words, and so his words have no power. Imagine instead a new minister whose public oratory is quite mediocre. However, as time goes on, the parishioners come to see that he is a man of sterling character, wisdom, humility, and love. Soon, because of the quality of his life, his members will find they are hanging on every word of his preaching.

When a city perceives a church as existing strictly and only for itself and its own members, the preaching of that church will not resonate with outsiders. But if neighbors see church members loving their city through astonishing, sacrificial deeds of compassion, they will be much more open to the church’s message. Deeds of mercy and justice should be done out of love, not simply as a means to the end of evangelism. And yet there is no better way for Christians to lay a foundation for evangelism than by doing justice.”

In other words, they won’t care what you know until they know that you care.

For the past two thousand years it’s been proven over and over again: Benevolence and evangelism go hand-in-hand. The Roman emperor Julian hated the Christian faith, but he had to admit that they were gaining new converts because of their tremendous generosity:

“Nothing has contributed to the progress of the superstition of the Christians as their charity to strangers… the impious Galileans provide not only for their own poor, but for ours as well.”

For disciples of Jesus, evangelism certainly starts with benevolence. But benevolence alone does not constitute evangelism. To be Christian, it must be both. Follow the cup of cold water with a drink of living water. Extend the meal with a taste of the bread of life. Tell them about the King who motivates your good deeds and invite them to join us in his eternal Kingdom. Not just benevolence. Not just evangelism. To be Christian, it must be both.

Peace,

Allan

ONE

May 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

A great friend sent me a copy of a Wall Street Journal article a couple of weeks ago. Now, I don’t read the Wall Street Journal; I read Texas Monthly, Sports Illustrated, and the Dallas Morning News. And this friend knows that. But he knew I’d be interested in the article. And I am.

The headline read “Pastors Call a Truce on ‘Sheep-Stealing'”

The article is about a Christian effort in Charlotte, North Carolina called Charlotte ONE, a collaboration of about 40 different area churches trying to reach the nearly unreachable people between the ages of 18 and 29.

“This group of evangelical and mainline Protestant leaders decided to create one young adult ministry that would provide all the bells and whistles required, without replacing church. Charlotte ONE does not perform baptisms, weddings, funerals or offer communion. It doesn’t meet on Sundays or have a single pastor in charge. Charlotte ONE organizers see it as a kind of ‘funnel,’ taking in a wide swath of people and trying to pour them out in the right direction. The group takes its motivation from Jesus’ words in John 17:23: ‘Let them be one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as much as you have loved me.'”

The article goes on to mention a similar effort in Arizona, Phoenix ONE, and to detail the success of the cooperative coalition. Ninety-eight percent of Charlotte ONE attendees claim the program has “enriched their personal relationship with Jesus Christ” and 42-percent say it helps them “connect to their own local churches.”

As I’m reading this article I couldn’t help wondering, “Why is the Wall Street Journal writing about this?”

Why do they care? Why am I reading about this in the Wall Street Journal and not in the Christian Chronicle or Christianity Today? What made the Wall Street Journal write about church?

Because Jesus said if we would ever unite and become one, if his disciples would ever come together and live and work and serve and love as one body, the world would notice. The world would pay attention. And the world would know. They would see it as different and they would believe.

The article itself says as much:

“Such regular and extensive cooperation of mainline and evangelical Protestant churches from every major denomination is not a typical feature of American religious life. They are more likely to be competing for each other’s members. But desperate times call for desperate measures.”

If we’ll ever put aside the petty little things that divide us and truly join with all other Christian disciples in serving our world in love, if we’ll ever commit to uniting as one as is the unmistakable holy will of our King, it’ll make an immediate and radical difference in the world. People will sit up and take notice. And they’ll believe. Until then, I’m afraid we’re just more noise competing in an already very noisy and competitive world.

Praise God for Charlotte and Phoenix ONE. May God help us see and do the same kind of things to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

Tzadeqah and Mishpat

May 24, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Righteousness and Justice. The Hebrew words are translated “righteousness” and “justice” in English. These words that are mentioned over and over in the Old Testament; these words that our God uses to describe himself; these words the prophets used to discuss the powerful and merciful actions of our God; these words the Bible uses and uses and re-uses to paint a picture of God’s holy will and his children’s responsibilities as God’s holy people. Giving people what is right. Treating people fairly. Equally. With generosity. Showing mercy and grace. Lifting up the fallen. Being kind to the orphan, the widow, and the stranger in the gate.

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow.”
~Psalm 146

For many years now the Central Church of Christ has committed to showing that kind of tzadeqah and mishpat to the entire Amarillo community. This church family understands that to reflect the glory of God we must reflect God’s eternal attributes and faithful characteristics. So, in Jesus’ name, we feed the hungry and clothe the naked, comfort the grieving and mend the broken, minister to the least of these.

For many years now the Central Church has also committed to seeing the world with Kingdom of God eyes instead of Church of Christ eyes. This congregation understands that the eternal reign and love and salvation of God is much bigger than any one group, much bigger than any one faith tradition or set of rules and practices. So, in Jesus’ name, we worship and work, minister and pray, serve the Kingdom with and beside all who call him Lord.

And when both of those ideals toward which we’re striving come together in an unprecedented partnership, well… we can only praise God and marvel at his matchless goodness and grace.

The Central Church of Christ is now partnering with the Southlawn Assembly of God to duplicate food pantry and outreach efforts throughout the poorer neighborhoods of Amarillo.

Yeah, you’d better read that sentence again just to make sure you read it right. Church of Christ. Assembly of God. Partnering.

Southlawn pastor Jared Middaugh and others at their church have been convicted by God’s Spirit to stop looking in and start looking out. They want to see the city with God’s eyes. They want to serve. They want to put the needs of others ahead of their own. They want to be more Christ-like. They’re no longer content to just do church; they want to be church. They want to feed the hungry in Jesus’ name. They want to clothe the naked and free the prisoner and comfort the afflicted. But this is a new move for them. They need some direction. Some advice. So they called Mark.

(Let me just say right here what a blessing — what a joy! — to belong to a church that has this kind of reputation in our city. Another church wants to start an outreach ministry to the poor and they call us! Praise God!)

And Mark jumped right in. Immediately. We’ll help. We’ll partner with you. We’ll serve together and learn from each other. And we’ll do it in the name of Jesus to the glory of God. Mark brought the idea to our staff and we jumped in immediately. Yes, we’ll partner with them. We’ll work with them. We can teach them and they can teach us. Our God will use this cooperative effort to multiply exponentially what neither of our two churches could do alone. Mark then brought it to our elders and they all jumped in immediately. Of course, we’ll do this with them. Yes, we’ll give that church some money to get it all started. We’ll send our Prayer Breakfast and Loaves & Fishes volunteers to Southlawn every week to work side-by-side with these fellow Christians. We’ll share resources and share manpower and share our lives in sacrificial service to others!

(Did I mention this is an Assembly of God?)

The ministers and staff here at Central were joined in our daily prayer time this morning by Jared and their worship minister. We shook hands and introduced ourselves, we laughed some and smiled a lot. I was blessed to share the holy words of Psalm 146 that describe our righteous and merciful God who takes care of those in need. And then we prayed. Mark and I prayed on behalf of our staff. Steve prayed on behalf of our elders. Jared prayed on behalf of Southlawn. We thanked God. We blessed one another. A couple of us shed a tear or two, tears of joy, tears of amazement, tears of wonder. It’s overwhelming, really. Hard to believe. Overwhelming.

I have prayed that my kids and grandkids would someday be a part of a cooperative, non-denominational Kingdom of God on this earth. I have prayed that denominational barriers would be obliterated, that Christ’s disciples would be united by his blood and in his name, that we could someday really unite to show this unbelieving world that our God in Jesus really is changing everything. That we would all be one in Christ; that, as our Lord prayed, we “would be one.”

“I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.”

I’m blown completely away that I’m actually experiencing some of that here at Central in Amarillo. I’m amazed we’re able to do this. I’m encouraged. I’m uplifted. I’m thrilled. And I have no idea how this is going to all turn out. I just know that God’s will is being done here on earth just as it is in heaven.

Oh, yeah, we have plenty of differences with those folks over there at Southlawn. There are dozens of ways we differ in belief and practice. Almost as many differences as you and the person who sits right behind you or right in front of you or six pews over from you every Sunday morning. But we have Jesus. He died for us, he calls us, and he commands us to live radically sacrificial lives to blow away the powers of this age. And we’re all interested in that.

Please join me in praying for this cooperative effort. Join me in thanking Jared and the children of God at Southlawn for this holy opportunity. May our merciful Father use us to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

Particularly Poised

May 18, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Allow me to be very clear about what I wrote at the end of the last post. Allow me this time today to elaborate on the idea that Churches of Christ are uniquely positioned to be at the front of a spiritual revival in the United States. Despite our obvious sins, despite our many shortcomings and almost comedic failures to hold to the most basic of biblical principles, I do believe the Churches of Christ are particularly poised to actually lead a fiery Kingdom renewal in this country.

Here’s why:

We’ve always aimed for the ideal. By no means have we ever attained it. In fact, our historic insistence on shooting for the ideal, coupled with our consistent and extreme failures to reach it, are what make our story as a movement so ironic and interesting. But, truly, we and our Church of Christ forefathers have spent a great deal of time and energy preaching and teaching that we are to restore things to the way they once were or, much better, to the way things ought to be. I don’t mean restore the first century church; that’s impossible. Besides, the first century church had many problems and issues that make some of ours seem silly by comparison. I mean restore the Christian ideals of Jesus as Lord. I mean restoring our belief that the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord has signaled the breaking into this world of the eternal Kingdom of God. I mean restoring our lives as subjects of our Holy King to be in complete submission to him, to reject the ways of the world and embrace the ways of Jesus. I mean restoring the understanding that the church is to go into the world, but that the world is not to ever come into the church.

And we’re particularly poised in this most perfect of times to be the leaders of this Kingdom revolution.

It’s in our DNA to resist the hundreds of forms of compromise and erosion and domestication that corrupt the Christian faith in new ways in every generation. It’s in our DNA to be cynical about partnering with the new and the modern just for the sake of being contemporary and hip.

See how this fits?

Today in America — finally! — people are beginning to rebel against the culture. The most popular leaders of churches and civic organizations and service clubs are begging their followers to say ‘no’ to the culture, to actually become havens of counter-cultural resistance. People are growing weary of the culture. It’s in vogue now to do something different, to become a part of something else, to belong to and participate in something much bigger and more important than ourselves. People are wanting to give. People are wanting to change. People are wanting to matter.

At our very best and most clear, the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Churches of Christ are all about this kind of thinking and living. For most of the past two hundred years, we in the Churches of Christ have proclaimed forcefully that America is certainly not the Kingdom of God or even its messenger or example. We have preached against the idolatry of formalized church hierarchies and binding man-made creeds. We’ve taught that wealth and worldly fashion  generally pervert the demanding religion of Jesus. We’ve maintained that Christians do not fight Caesar’s wars, that division along denominational lines or over church practices is sin, and that the Church is the people — it’s not the building or the meetings or the rules.

In Things Unseen — I highly recommend this book for those of you who really want to understand why we think and act the way we do — Leonard Allen is very optimistic about our place at the front of the next great religious awakening in America:

The restorationist vision is fundamentally a means of critique and dissent. For this reason it will never fit comfortably with mainline or establishment forms of Christianity. Its sins tend to be those of severity rather than laxity, blind obstinancy rather than easy compromise, too-quick exclusion rather than too-ready inclusion, irrelevance rather than trendiness. Restorationists are constantly putting burrs under the seats of the sleepy and comfortable. They work from the conviction that accomodation and compromise are far easier and subtler than most suppose and that the call of Christ is higher, more serious, and more demanding than most care to entertain. That restorationists often fail to embody their own ideals should not obscure to our eyes the truth and power of the ideals themselves.

We are particularly poised. It’s in our DNA, it’s in our blood, to call people to something bigger, something higher, something more important, something eternal, something beyond us, something else, something that will outlive us, something that will matter for ever and ever. And Americans today — your neighbors! — are ready now to listen, to pay attention. If we will ever decide as a “movement” to return to our roots, to embrace again those clear ideals, to live them and practice them without compromise and share it with our neighbors, Christ will be honored and God will be praised. And I believe we’ll be, as a people, at the very front of his righteous and eternal will for this world.

Peace,

Allan

Follow the Examples

May 16, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Today we conclude our long look at Leroy Garrett’s “What Must the Church of Christ Do to Be Saved?” In his final essay, Garrett encourages Church of Christ congregations to look for and follow other congregations who are making the right changes in the right ways for the right reasons. The author specifically mentions the Preston Road and Skillman Avenue Churches of Christ in Dallas for their leadership in hosting restoration forums and church change seminars. He points to the Central Church of Christ in Irving which proudly proclaims on their sign out front that they are “An Ecumenical Fellowship.” The Central church there brings in preachers from other denominations to speak in their pulpit and cooperates with other churches in DFW in outreach and mercy ministries. The Richardson East congregation worships with other denominations in their buildings and fellowships Christians from all tradition streams. The Lake Highlands Church of Christ in Dallas encourages women to participate and lead in their worship assemblies and are not afraid to employ the use of musical instruments in videos and other special recordings. The Downtown Church of Christ in El Paso uses instrumental music and women teaching from the pulpit. The Quaker Avenue congregation in Lubbock reached out to the Broadway Church of Christ there to repent from and apologize for their own sectarian and exclusivistic ways and asked for Broadway’s fellowship and Christian cooperation for the benefit of God’s Kingdom.

You know, when I was a kid, 30-35 years ago, our family could be on a summer vacation and visit a Church of Christ in Colorado Springs or Austin or Memphis and experience worship and observe congregational structures identical to what we were used to at our home congregation in Dallas. We would hear the same words in prayers, sing the exact same songs, and read similar articles in the bulletins at these other congregations that we would hear and sing and read at home. Well, it’s not like that anymore. For a variety of reasons — I think all of them are related to technology — things are different. Your Church of Christ congregation is very different from the one down the street and from the ones in Houston and Nashville. Very different.

And it’s not a bad thing. It’s not bad at all. I believe our diversity is God-ordained. We don’t all have the same gifts; we don’t all come from the same places; we don’t all see things the exact same way. And that’s OK. We’re still all perfectly united by the blood of the Lamb that courses through our spiritual veins. And unity in diversity is a beautiful portrait of the Gospel.

The Churches of Christ are a beautiful people with lots of creative diversity. We should recognize our diversity and accept the liberating truth that oneness does not mean sameness.

(My good friend Paul Dennis is always saying, “You don’t have to be my twin to be my brother.” I think he’s quoting Al Maxey. But, to me, it’s Paul Dennis.)

We can have churches that have Sunday School and those that do not; those that support Herald of Truth and those that do not; those that have instrumental music and those that do not; those that use plurality of cups and those that do not; churches that are premillennial and those that are not; etc., etc., and yet be united in the essentials of the faith, and doing some things together. And no one has to compromise any truth or violate his or her conscience!

If we are to be saved as a people and recapture our heritage as a unity movement, we have no choice but to get on with it.

While interviewing for the preaching minister position here at Central in Amarillo, I was told on separate occasions by a couple of ministers and a couple of elders that Central is extremely proud of its Church of Christ heritage but is not bound by it. We hang on to our Church of Christ roots, we uphold our Church of Christ traditions, but we are not going to be held back by them. When it comes to our C of C traditions and heritage versus a more faithful proclamation of the Gospel or a more accurate portrait of God’s Kingdom, we’ll set the traditions and heritage aside every time.

The interesting thing, though, is that these changes suggested in Garrett’s book actually all go straight back to our original Church of Christ and Restoration Movement ideals. Breaking down denominational barriers and fellowshiping with all who call Jesus Lord is not some new liberal idea; it’s the very thing that compelled Stone and Campbell, the very thing that produced our movement. We are actually honoring our Church of Christ heritage when we pledge to not let issues of worship practice or congregational structure divide us.

Allow me to conclude this lengthy series with this: I believe with everything I’ve got that as the United States moves more rapidly into a post-denominational, post-Christian culture, the Churches of Christ are perfectly poised to be the leaders of a fiery Gospel revolution. Precisely because of our roots and our heritage, because of our commitment to Holy Scripture, because of the prominence we place on baptism and communion, because of the seriousness with which we have studied and practiced the Christian faith, we’re in the right place at the right time. God can use us to his eternal glory and praise. I believe God has moved us forward to this point, as a Movement, to be in front of a spiritual renewal in this country. Again, we are uniquely positioned, I believe, to do that here.

But not if we keep doing the same old things in the same old ways. There are some changes that have to be made.

May our God empower us by the strength of his Holy Spirit to make those changes. May we be faithful to our call as we partner with him in redeeming the world. And may he be given glory and honor in his Church today and forever more.

Peace,

Allan

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