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Sledge Hammers of Truth!

November 11, 2010 / / 4 Comments

Almost a hundred years ago, sometime in the early 1920s, black activist and author and poet James Weldon Johnson wrote a prayer for his Episcopal church in Florida. The prayer was for the preacher. And what a powerful prayer it is. I’ve been told that when it was time for the sermon, one of the deacons would escort the preacher up to the podium and, with his hand on the preacher’s shoulder, lead the congregation in this prayer. As you can imagine, in that context and culture, it was a fully-participatory prayer. Everybody was in. Repeating the lines. Amen-ing the words. Nodding in enthusiastic agreement.

Can you just imagine how that preacher felt as his church blessed him that way every Sunday morning? Can you understand the power it gave him? The encouragement? The boldness he felt as his brothers and sisters charged him in the presence of God with speaking to them a word from the Lord?

Imagine the scene as you read the words to the prayer. Imagine you’re the preacher.

O Lord, we come this morning,
knee-bowed and body-bent before thy throne of grace.
O Lord, this morning
bow our hearts beneath our knees, and our knees in some lonesome valley.
We come this morning
like empty pitchers to a full fountain, with no merits of our own.
O Lord, open up a window of heaven,
and lean out far over the battlements of glory, and listen this morning.

And now, O Lord, this man of God,
who breaks the bread of life this morning, shadow him in the hollow of thy hand
and keep him out of the gunshot of the devil.
Take him, Lord, this morning.
Wash him with hyssop inside and out; hang him up and drain him dry of sin.
Pin his ear to the wisdom-post,
and make his words sledge hammers of truth, beating on the iron heart of sin.

Lord God, this morning
put his eye to the telescope of eternity and let him look upon the paper walls of time.
Lord, turpentine his imagination, put perpetual motion in his arms,
fill him with the dynamite of thy power,
annoint him all over with the oil of thy salvation, and set his tongue on fire.

Amen.

Wow. Can you imagine how encouraged your preacher would be if you slapped him on the back early Sunday morning and told him to speak boldly and preach confidently? Can you imagine how much better your preacher would be if you hugged him and reminded him on Sunday mornings that he’s speaking for God and that you’re all ears? Can you imagine how much power that would give your preacher if he felt that from you?

Why don’t you try it this Sunday? It might change your preacher. It might change your church. And you might just be blown away by the dynamite of God’s power and the fire of his Holy Spirit.

Peace,

Allan

Give Away Day Still Going

November 9, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Right at 160 total families, including more than 500 children, were given blue jeans and sweaters and coats and pillows and shirts this past Saturday as Legacy took Give Away Day to Siempre Familia and the Rosemont neighborhoods of South Fort Worth. Estimates range from 150 to 200 actual volunteers who worked the event. Of course, the numbers of those who built racks, transported equipment, served food, sorted clothes, and cleaned up afterward go way beyond even that.

People were served in the name of Christ. God was praised. Our Lord was given glory and honor. People who don’t know Jesus were shown his love and mercy.

And then Give Away Day ended.

But God’s work and the work of his church at Siempre Familia did not.

At least seven families who received assistance at Give Away Day showed up for Sunday night’s combination Spanish/English song service where they received even more compassion and grace; where they received an even bigger sense of community; where they made even more connections. The names and contact information for each of the families who were served were tacked up on a cross at the front of the worship center. The congregation was asked to take one of those cards, to adopt one of those families, to make phone calls and visits, to commit to taking care of these families through the rest of the year.

And by the end of the service, all the cards were taken. By the end of this week, every family will be contacted by phone or personal visit. By the end of this month, I anticipate sharing with you stories of Bible studies and baptisms.

There’s something very powerful about reaching out to people in our own zip codes, about jumping in to our own communities with the truth of salvation from God in our risen Savior. Those of us who were there Saturday understand that much better now. There were connections being made in every conversation. There were friendships being formed and fostered with every interaction.

I walked a few people to their cars with a Christian volunteer named Raul. I don’t know how long Raul’s been a part of that Siempre Familia church. I have no idea. I’d never met Raul before. But Raul asked every person he met where they lived. Where do you work? Where do your kids go to school? How long have you lived here? And with every answer, Raul would exclaim, “I know somebody who lives on that street!” or “My cousin works there!” or “Do your children know so-and-so? Their kids go to that school, too!”

See, that kind of thing never could happen with Give Away Day here at Legacy. The people who came to Give Away Day didn’t live here. The people who live here don’t come to Give Away Day. But it’s different now at Siempre Familia. There’s already a level of trust between the church and the people. There’s already a bond there. There’s already a strong sense of community there. And our God is using it to expand his Kingdom in those parks and streets around Rosemont.

Thank you to all who gave of their time and energy and money and emotion. May our God continue to use Give Away Day to his eternal glory and praise.

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I feel sorry today for Wade Phillips. I feel sorry for Jason Garrett. I feel sorry for Paul Pasqualoni. I feel sorry for Chan Gailey and Dave Campo. I feel sorry for every head coach and coordinator who has had to work for an owner who is also the general manager. It’s not fair.

I’m not sure how Jerry Wayne can keep going the way he’s going. I don’t know how he can break from a meeting about the boxing match at Cowboys Stadium to run to the coach’s offices to mandate a lineup change to answer a phone call about a merchandizing deal with an auto parts chain to sprint down to the film room to evaluate the upcoming draft. It just doesn’t work. This 51st season of Cowboys football will go down as the most bitterly disappointing in franchise history. Does Jerry Wayne need more proof that his way won’t cut it?

One playoff win in 14 years. They’ve missed the playoffs seven times in eleven seasons. How does that make the Cowboys any different than Seattle or Carolina or the Cardinals? Oh, yeah. Those teams have all been to Super Bowls since Dallas.

I feel sorry for Wade and Garrett. And Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden. Or whoever’s going to coach this team next. It’s not fair.

Peace,

Allan

That They May Be Saved

November 8, 2010 / / 1 Comment

We had just an incredible Give Away Day at Siempre Familia on Saturday. We experienced forgiveness here at Legacy on Sunday in ways that only the Holy Spirit can cause. And I think Jerry Wayne is firing Wade Phillips even as I’m writing this post.

I’ll get to all of that tomorrow. Today, I want to make good on finishing up my thoughts on Knowledge Puffs Up.

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In 1 Corinthians 8-10, Paul is addressing the single most volatile, divisive issue in the early Church. This is the issue that threatens to split God’s Church right in half. This is the thing that is polarizing the disciples of Jesus. It’s a “salvation issue.” It’s causing division, pitting Christians of one viewpoint and one mindset against Christians with different backgrounds and understandings. This is women’s roles and leadership structures and instrumental praise and worship teams and pantsuits and kitchens and divorce and multiple cups and missionary societies and R-rated movies all rolled up into one explosive church issue.

And here’s what the inspired apostle Paul has to say about it:

“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (8:1).
“We put up with anything rather than hinder the Gospel of Christ” (9:12).
“I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible” (9:19).
“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (9:22)
“Everything is permissible” (10:23).
“Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others” (10:24).
“I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved” (10:33).

A careful reading of 10:25-30 shows us that, in matters of controversy, Paul clearly favors freedom over abstinence. If it’s true that the strong Christians should not act in ways that harm the weak — and it is! — it’s also true that the weak should not accuse the strong of sin. It’s a two way street when it comes to disciples of Jesus in God’s Church.

But please note that his many instructions to this strife-torn congregation in Corinth share a common theme: in order that those on the outside, those without Christ, would come to know and receive salvation from God.

Paul refuses to engage in anything that may “hinder the Gospel of Christ.” His ultimate goal is to “win as many as possible.” His mission is to “save some.” He seeks the good of others “that they may be saved.”

I really believe that Paul knows, no matter what he does, he’s going to offend some people. You ever feel like that? No matter what you do, somebody’s not going to like it? Somebody’s going to complain? Somebody’s going to be offended? I know preachers feel that way. So do most elders I know. I really believe that Paul’s conclusion is that he would much rather offend a fellow Christian who’s already secure in Christ than an unbeliever who might turn away from the Gospel for unnecessary reasons.

The Gospel message already contains a few major stumbling blocks. There’s that whole idea of a crucified Savior. Hard to swallow. The call to die to ourselves and give everything to Christ. The imperative to sacrifice and give to others. Those are tough hurdles standing between the lost and a full acceptance of salvation from God in Christ. But those obstacles can never be taken away. Those things are the very essence of Christian discipleship. What we don’t need is a legalistic mindset that depicts Christianity as submission to a long list of dos and don’ts and conforming to a bunch of man-made rules. That’s the unnecessary hindrance to the faith that Paul, I believe, wants to abolish forever.

Me, too.

Peace,

Allan

Give Away Day 2.0

November 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I’ve got at least one more thing to say about yesterday’s topic, Knowledge Puffs Up. Seriously, it’s beyond me how men and women can argue and debate and complain about each other and about the Church in the name of Christ. In light of Holy Scripture and salvation from God in Jesus, I don’t get it. And, quite frankly, it’s easy for me to understand why people are leaving the Church. And I completely understand why outsiders don’t want any part of it. But let’s save that for Monday. Today, I want to write about something I’m really excited about.

Not this open letter from Sports Illustrated football expert Peter King to Jerry Wayne. This letter is excellent, yes. And I have enjoyed reading it. But it’s not today’s main topic.

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For 27 years now, Give Away Day has been the highlight of Legacy’s outreach and benevolence ministry. We do many other things in the areas of outreach and benevolence. But Give Away Day has always been our signature event. Our mission identity is wrapped up in Give Away Day. It’s almost become who we are.

And that’s a good thing. It’s a very good thing. It is certainly something to be proud of. I tell people all the time about our Give Away Day. I think it’s tremendous. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people lined up for hours around our building. We love these people. We pray with these people. We fall in love with these people. And we help tons of people. Over the years, we’ve helped untold thousands of people with food and clothes and household items and mercy and love and compassion and grace. It’s wonderful for the people who are helped. It’s an incredible blessing for Legacy. And our God is glorified.

The problem is that we only see these people once a year.

The people who come to Give Away Day don’t live here. They’re not a part of our immediate community. They all drive 30-45 minutes to get here. I invite these people to worship with us knowing that it’s all but impossible. I ask for their phone numbers, only to learn on Monday that it’s a wrong number or it’s been disconnected.

That’s always been the frustrating part of Give Away Day. We’ve never been able to achieve our ultimate goals of bringing these people into our community of saving faith.

Hundreds and hundreds of the people who need Give Away Day and who need to come to God in Christ live in the Rosemont neighborhoods of South Fort Worth. That’s where they are. By God’s grace, our brother Manuel Calderon and the Siempre Familia Church of Christ are right there in the heart of that mostly Spanish-speaking segment of our county. Those 240 brothers and sisters live on the same streets as these people who drive 25-miles to get to Legacy’s Give Away Day. They work with them. Their kids all go to school together. They play ball together. They attend the same civic events. They are already a community with these people.

So tomorrow, we’re taking Give Away Day to the people. Instead of asking people to drive to us, we’re taking the clothes and diapers and coats to them. We are partnering with our God and with Siempre Familia to make Give Away Day bigger and better and more Kingdom effective than it’s ever been before!

There will be 100% follow-up with every single person we serve tomorrow. There will be Bible studies and prayers and ministry. Meaningful conversations. In-depth interactions. No language barriers. No long drives to a place that doesn’t seem like home. There will be baptisms. Souls will be saved and hell will be robbed!

My prayer is that we at Legacy can experience what it’s like to reach out into a local community with the love and grace of Jesus. My hope is that we feel deep inside us the joy of getting involved with people who live in our own zip codes. We’re doing that already in bits and pieces with a couple of the elementary schools around Legacy. But Siempre Familia does it on a grand scale, on a Kingdom-worthy, gargantuan scale! And I want us to catch that same Gospel fire.

We are thrilled to be partnering with our church family at Siempre Familia and joining God in the great work he’s already doing there in South Fort Worth. We are grateful to be counted worthy as our God’s co-workers in this salvation mission. And we humbly pray for his continued blessings as the powerful heritage of Legacy’s Give Away Day tradition enters this exciting new phase!

“May he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” ~Hebrews 13:21

Peace,

Allan

Knowledge Puffs Up

November 4, 2010 / / 0 Comments

The Church of God, in its present state on this earth, is not perfect. It’s not perfect. It’s made up of sinful, but redeemed people. Christ followers who make up Jesus’ Church are living in this in-between state of having been already adopted by God yet still awaiting that final adoption and redemption of our bodies. So, too, the Church lives in the tension of the Kingdom come, yet, “Lord, come quickly.” So, naturally, the Church is going to have its problems.

We’re going to disagree. We’re going to differ. We’re going to see some things differently than others. And that’s OK. Our diversity in the Church is God-created and God-ordained.

We’re going to fuss and argue and bicker and complain. We’re going to fight. And that’s not OK. Our line-drawing and boundary-making in the Church is certainly not God-ordained.

It’s sinful.

When the apostle Paul deals with the most explosive “salvation issue” being argued in the Church during his day, he instructs congregations to chunk their knowledge out the window. Everybody has knowledge, he says in 1 Corinthians 8:1. “We know that we all possess knowledge.” But that has no value in settling church disputes. Knowledge has no place in deciding on church issues and deciding between church members.

The answer is Love.

Love builds up. Knowledge puffs up. Knowledge causes us to bow up and dig in. Love causes us to bow down and give in. Knowledge moves us to defend and debate. Love moves us to open up and agree. Knowledge leads to suspicion and judgment. Love leads to trust and acceptance. Knowledge is the way of the World. Love is the way of the Christ.

And, shouldn’t the older, more mature Christians among us be the ones to lead the way in love over knowledge? Shouldn’t our older brothers and sisters know this and practice this and model this for the rest of us? Paul says, “The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God” (1 Corinthians 8:2-3). If we can’t look to our older members to exhibit Christ’s love and grace and sacrifice in all situations — especially church situations! — to whom should we look?

When it comes to clapping during a Sunday morning assembly (let’s just cut to the chase and make it practical in an overly obvious way, shall we?), you can do one of two things. You can complain about it and tell people not to clap; or you can smile and join them in their clapping. Which one builds up? Which one puffs up?

When it comes to raising hands during worship you can do one of two things. You can complain about it and tell people not to raise their hands (or not to raise their hands too high); or you can grin through it and then compliment that person for the joy they bring to the assembly. Which one encourages? Which one discourages?

I want you to seriously consider your reaction to anything your congregation may or may not be doing that causes you a little discomfort or even full-blown heartburn. Think about your response to your own brothers and sisters who may be expressing themselves in worship to God in ways that you don’t personally embrace. Are you going to bless those people or curse them? Will you tear them down with your knowledge or build them up with your love?

I am weary of these conversations. We ought to know better.

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David and Olivia Nelson are back in town! Our precious Legacy to the World missionaries in Kharkov, Ukraine arrived at DFW late yesterday afternoon and joined us for Bible classes here last night. They’re going to be here with us for the whole month of November. What a blessing! What an encouragement to have these two — no, THREE! — here among us again.

Carrie-Anne and I were so blessed to live with them in Kharkov for almost two weeks this past June. We went over there to help them and encourage them. But they wound up helping us and encouraging us even more.

If you’re looking to succeed in business or politics, you’re told to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Hang out with people who know more than you. Hire people who will challenge you and push you. Limiting your personal interactions to folks who aren’t quite up to speed won’t get you where you want to be. I think the same is true in our personal walks with Christ. In order to be the best kinds of disciples we can be, in order to live up and into the p0tential God created in us, we should surround ourselves with people who are closer to God than we are. We should continually interact with men and women who are more spiritually minded, more sacrificial and servant-hearted, more prayerful, more committed than we are.

I think that’s why I really love hanging out with David and Olivia.

Their commitment to the Kingdom pushes me. Their unshakeable faith in God challenges me. Their big-picture views of Christ’s salvation work in the world humbles me. Their willingness — no, eagerness! — to give up everything for the sake of the cross inspires me.

We’ll take them to Abuelo’s so they can enjoy real Tex-Mex for the first time in two years. We’ll bring them over to the house a couple of times for some of Carrie-Anne’s home cooking and long games of Phase 10. We’ll be at Caleb’s baby shower Sunday afternoon. We’ll take care of them and encourage them as much as we can during this month at Legacy. But I’m really looking forward to the ways they’re going to encourage and grow me.

Peace,

Allan

Nothing Sanctimonious About That

November 3, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Back in March, what if you could have put money in Vegas on the Texas Rangers having more postseason wins than the Dallas Cowboys’ number of regular season wins? How would you be spending those millions of dollars today for the Kingdom?

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“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” ~John 15:18-19

Former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy is being vilified by many in the mainstream media as a sanctimonious finger-wagger. As a football analyst now for NBC, Dungy is being paid to weigh in on the issues of the game. But apparently not everybody likes what he has to say.

Reggie Bush was right to return the Heisman Trophy. Rex Ryan should cut back on his foul language. Braylon Edwards should have been benched for a full game for his DUI arrest.

Dungy is being bashed by critics who say he’s trying to force his own standards on others. According to a recent Sports Illustrated article written by Phil Taylor (Oct. 18, 2010), a Google search of Dungy’s name combined with the term “holier than thou” turned up 871 hits. A popular sports website shredded him last week with an article headlined “TONY DUNGY IS AN INSUFFERABLE #*@!+*!!”

Dungy says, “I’m not trying to be anyone’s judge or conscience. I’ve always been passionate about doing what’s right, about living as a Christian, and I’ve never hidden that.”

In my view, Dungy does it right. He’s not loud. He’s not obnoxious. He’s not an attention-seeker. He’s not mean. He doesn’t take pleasure in stirring up controversy. He criticizes and comments without mockery or sarcasm. And I’m not sure how this makes him insufferable. Or a jerk.

Unless it’s that he’s so different from the world. Unless his voice is just that unique. Unless his life stands in such contrast to the lives of those who hear him.

Taylor concludes his excellent article with this question and conclusion:

Could it be that Dungy’s virtue makes some of us uneasy? Maybe we’re so unaccustomed to a good man simply trying to apply his own set of values to the world around him that his critics have been reading him wrong. You needn’t believe he is always right to appreciate his efforts to always do right. There’s nothing sanctimonious about that.

Trying to always do right, no matter the consequences, regardless of whether it sits well with the culture around us. Now that’s something we can embrace. Actually, that’s exactly the thing to which our Christ calls us all.

Peace,

Allan

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