church Posts

The Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Grace

30 Sep , 2011 1 Comment

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

What does it mean for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? Throughout the Gospels we read that Jesus came “proclaiming” and “bringing”- (enacting) the kingdom of God. This coming kingdom was accompanied by healing and great acts of compassion. Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes- a description of kingdom people. Most parables begin with the words, “The kingdom of God is like”. This kingdom is wherever and whenever the King reigns and some day, because of His completed salvific work on the cross His Kingdom will come on the New Earth exactly as it is in heaven.
It should be OBVIOUS from an honest reading of the Gospels that Jesus expected His disciples (US) to master the lessons He taught and actually LIVE a kingdom life- to actually practice illogical acts of compassion, unreasonable amounts mercy and stunning amounts of forgiveness. Clearly this Gospel of the kingdom of God… is a Gospel of grace. This Good News is that in God’s kingdom GRACE abounds. It’s Christ’s vision of the world and how it should be AND how it WILL be. If Christianity is about anything, it is about forgiveness. It is about grace. If we are to live as kingdom people, we need a recovery, a re-discovery of the core- the central- Message of Jesus- the FOCUS of the Christian faith: forgiveness. Indeed, in our best moments the gracious melody of forgiveness is heard as the recurring theme of our faith. The kingdom of God is a place where GRACE abounds.

The Kingdom comes when grace abounds. The parable of Jesus – like the story of the Vineyard workers in Matthew 20 leave the listener with head-scratching disbelief- how is it that one could work all day and another work for one hour and ALL receive the same compensation? Jesus taught “the new math of grace”. It’s not about human merit; but about divine forgiveness. It’s not about earning wages- in the kingdom of God the last are first, the weak are strong and there IS NO counting. Living in the kingdom, Jesus says, is not about religious moralism; it’s about a complete reorientation to the Gospel of grace.

What is grace?
Justice is getting what you deserve. Could’ve started with the word “revenge”- which we see a lot of in our world- that’s when someone does you wrong and you pay back with more than what you deserve.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Now, James tells us that mercy triumphs over justice (James 2:12).
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
To live the grace-filled life means that we see grace- not simply as a means toward salvation but as a WAY of LIFE. That’s why you’ve been forgiven- so that you might LIVE forgiven. Grace demands a radical love and a forgiveness- in the final analysis forgiveness is an act of faith. I’m trusting God to be a better justice-maker than I am. Too often we know we should forgive, we want to forgive, we almost forgive, but in the end we realize we cannot forgive- we are too just. My need for justice trumps my ability to forgive. But in James 2:13 the Bible says that, “Mercy triumphs over justice”.
“The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:20-21
So, among God’s people, grace “abounds” (it overflows, it thrives, it increases). How does it “abound”, increase? It abounds, it thrives through us as God’s people when we extend grace to others.
Luke 14:15-24 Jesus tells the story of the Master who is planning a grand banquet and he tells his servants to go and invite certain people to come. One by one they offer excuses and say that they cannot come. The Master opens the invitation up to all and extends as invitation to the banquet to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. The kingdom comes when grace abounds!

Grace abounds when…
1. We embrace God’s forgiveness. When God forgives He sees you as though your sin never happened. Can you forgive like that? You never will- until you realize that change won’t happen through ‘trying harder’ but only through encountering the radical grace of God. There is so much in your future but you’ve got to leave the past behind you! You need to bury the past- what could’ve been, what should’ve been, and how justice must be served in the life of that individual who has hurt you.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

2. We become agents of God’s forgiveness. Christians sometime believe in a theology of grace but not a lifestyle of grace. Grace abounds when we take on the heart of Jesus. As kingdom people we are administrators of grace dispensers of His grace- we peddle, (we tout, we push) grace… here’s the picture of a kingdom person: wherever they go, they are so filled up with God’s grace- it abounds, it overflows, it spills over on to everyone they encounter. Have you ever met someone like that? Here’s how you spot them: they are kind to everyone. In fact, to the point that it doesn’t make sense- if grace doesn’t make you say, “Wait a minute…that CAN’T be right”, it’s not grace. Because grace, by it’s very nature is NOT fair. It is a most unnatural act. Grace-filled people have lots of friends- and lots of friends who don’t look like them. Following Jesus will always take you into relationships that make you uncomfortable.”
Grace-filled people are joy-filled people. Grace-givers are FUN to be around. They’re the people you want at your party. In fact, they know how to party! Don’t miss this: Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is like a party. It’s a feast! And why is it that so many Christians are unhappy, tight, grumpy, and solemn?! They have never truly embraced God’s grace. Because grace-filled people are constantly overwhelmed by the grace they’ve received from God- so much so, they want you to experience as well- so they show you what grace looks like. You can spot grace-givers. Are you one of them?

3. We decide to include everyone- especially those who are undeserving. We must determine that we will include everyone in this kingdom party. Everyone is invited to be a recipient of my love. I will show NO discrimination as I dispense this grace that I have been given.

4. We introduce others to the Grace-giver Jesus.
Everyone is welcome… the kingdom of God is all-inclusive (or more correctly- exclusive to those who come undeserving, humble, and contrite before God.
As we apply this as a church family- we’ve said that as kingdom people- we are a Gospel-centered church- and this Gospel is the Gospel of grace. Grace leads to inclusion (the central point of this parable in Luke Grace leads to diversity which should lead to more grace. That’s the Church!

A sign you’re growing in grace: You realize Jesus ALWAYS writes stories of mercy, of grace, compassion, and reconciliation bigger than you would. Join Him in writing a story of grace today.

When Christianity Becomes Idolatry

01 Sep , 2011 No Comments

Excerpt from Matt Johnson

Even good Christian theology can become an idol. When Christian belief is information detached from the substance of Jesus’ objective work on the cross for sinners, it becomes idolatry. Like it or not, you and I are guilty of it. How so?

• Do you live for the approval of others in the church?
• Do you stew over your spiritual performance and personal holiness more than you steep in what God has already accomplished for you in Jesus?
• Are you prideful about your biblical knowledge?
• Do you love to debate finer points of theology with others and get angry when you’re challenged by your views?
• Are you feeling burnt out and joyless in your service to those in the church?
• Are you uncomfortable with suffering people and find you’re quick to recite Bible verses as a way to avoid awkward, personal engagement?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, there is a good chance you have taken God’s good gifts and used them for your own selfish purpose. You have used God to make yourself look good through your service, your knowledge, and personal growth. This form of idolatry is hard to detect because the “fruit bearing” looks good to everyone else. Let’s face facts though; it’s idolatry.

The problem is, like the Pharisees, we prefer our safe religion over the death of our selfish spiritual aspirations.

God’s Design for the Family

24 Aug , 2011 1 Comment

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (read 6:6-9)

God’s Design for the Family (4 Snap Shots)
1. A haven of worship
In the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) God teaches us that we are to worship Him comprehensively- with all of life. He immediately follows these verses with clear instruction of how, when, and where this command is to be lived out, taught, and passed on from generation to generation. Clearly the weight of responsibility falls upon parents and it is within the context of the family that the Shema is lived out. Parents, you are the cultural architect of your home. You are to create an environment within the context of the home in order to worship God. Through the Shema God is teaching His people that worship is a 24-7 experience. We have so compartmentalized our lives that we somehow think worship is something that takes place on Sunday mornings and no other time. You never see that in the Bible! Teach your children about private worship- personal worship- worship as life. From a very early age teach your children to pray. Pray with your children. Ask, “What are you worried about? What are you really glad about? Let’s talk to God about that.” The home is to be a haven of worship.

2. A refuge of relationships
Notice, all of this is done together, in the context of life-giving relationships. I call it a “refuge” because the home should be the place where we’re loved for free. Moms, dads, and children are facing relational challenges all day long, often in a harsh and hostile world. We need to find a refuge of understanding and love in the home. Every spouse would do well to ask the question: “What’s it like being married to me?” Every parent should ask the question: “What is it like being my child?” What does my child hear from me? What do they see in me? My life is setting the pace for the kind of environment that is found in my home. By watching me what are my children learning about core values- such as honesty, generosity, perseverance, consistency, responsibility, forgiveness, prayer, and discipline? The home is a refuge for life-giving relationships.

3. A school of instruction
Notice in Deuteronomy 6 the training and teaching taking place is done in the home. This is God’s design. The home is a seminary, a “seed bed” for theological instruction. When we transfer the responsibility of the spiritual nurturing of our children to the church, our kids become “spiritual orphans”. Our kids become spiritual schizophrenics, taught the Word of God at church but at home it’s rarely mentioned. Partner with the church. Be consistent in church attendance, but never abdicate the spiritual formation of your children off to someone else.

4. A place of grace
The home is to be a place where each member is loved with the unconditional and lavish love of God. The home is the place where forgiveness always prevails! You can let your guard down and be loved for free in the home. In the end, we see God’s dream to form a community of people, centered on His love. His dream to have a family that would love freely and be so radically inclusive that every person would be drawn in like a magnet to Him. He dreams of a place where people are embraced with all of their sin and failure and loved into a relationship with God through Christ and then set free into their God-given mission in the world. The home is to be like God’s Church. The Church is a family, filled brothers and sisters- of all nationalities, races, places in life- and God is our Father. Indeed the Church is the very family of God.

Thy Kingdom Come.

04 Aug , 2011 No Comments

A Thousand Questions

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiNBmNl88Pk]

The Role of the Pastor

26 May , 2011 No Comments

Dr. Robert Creech, Professor of Christian Ministries and Director of Pastoral Ministries at Truett Seminary, has faithfully served as the interim of the First Baptist Church of McKinney, Texas.  As an outstanding interim, his messages have been intended to prepare the FBC family for the arrival of the new pastor, Dr. Richard Lee.  (I am very excited about his arrival and coming tenure as the pastor there).  I received a few excerpts from a recent sermon that I thought were outstanding.

  • The perfect pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes.
  • He condemns sin roundly but never hurts anyone’s feelings.
  • He works from 8am until midnight and sets a good example as a husband and father.
  • The perfect pastor makes $200 a week, wears nice clothes, drives a good car, makes good buys, and gives $100 a week to the church.
  • He is 29 years old and has 40 years of experience.
  • The perfect pastor has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and he spends most of his time with the senior adults.
  • He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his church.
  • He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed.
  • He always has time for the church council and all of the various committees.
  • He never misses the meeting of any church organization and is always busy evangelizing the unchurched.

This portion below (from Eugene Peterson) is especially powerful and I am sharing it with my friends who are pastors. It’s also a great word for all church leaders and members.

“Century after century, Christians continue to take certain persons in their communities, set them apart, and say, “You are our shepherd.  Lead us to Christ likeness.”  Yes, their actions will often speak different expectations, but in the deeper regions of the soul, the unspoken desire is for more than someone doing a religious job.  If the unspoken were uttered, it would sound like this:

“We want you to be responsible for saying and acting among us what we believe about God and Kingdom and Gospel.  We believe that the Holy Spirit is among us and within us.  We believe that God’s Spirit continues to hover over the chaos of the world’s evil and our sin, shaping a new creation and new creatures.  We believe that God is not a spectator, in turn amused and alarmed at the wreckage of world history, but a participant.”

“We believe that the invisible is more important than the visible at any one single moment and in any single event that we choose to examine.  We believe that everything, especially everything that looks like wreckage, is material God is using to make a praising life.”

“We need help in keeping our beliefs sharp and accurate and intact.  We don’t trust ourselves; our emotions seduce us into infidelities.  We know we are launched on a difficult and dangerous act of faith, and there are strong influences intent on diluting or destroying it.  We want you to give us help.  Be our pastor, a minister of Word and sacrament in the middle of this world’s life.  Minister with Word and sacrament in all the different parts and stages of our lives – in our work and play, with our children and our parents, at birth and death, in our celebrations and sorrows, on those days when morning breaks over us in a wash of sunshine, and those other days that are all drizzle.  This isn’t the only task in the life of faith, but it is your task.  We will find someone else to do the other important and essential tasks.  This is yours:  Word and sacrament.”

“One more thing:  We are going to ordain you to this ministry, and we want your vow that you will stick to it.  This is not a temporary job assignment but a way of life that we need lived out in our community.  We know you are launched on the same difficult belief venture in the same dangerous world as we are.  We know your emotions are as fickle as ours, and your mind is as tricky as ours.  That is why we are going to ordain you and why we are going to exact a vow from you.  We know there will be days and months, maybe even years, when we won’t feel like believing anything and won’t want to hear it from you.  And we know there will be days and weeks and maybe even years when you won’t feel like saying it.  It doesn’t matter.  Do it.  You are ordained to this ministry, vowed to it.

There may be times when we come to you as a committee or delegation and demand that you tell us something else than what we are telling you now.  Promise right now that you won’t give in to what we demand of you.  You are not the minister of our changing desires, or our time-conditioned understanding of our needs, or our secularized hopes for something better.  With these vows of ordination we are lashing you fast to the mast of Word and sacrament so you will be unable to respond to the siren voices.”

“There are many other things to be done in this wrecked world, and we are going to be doing at least some of them, but if we don’t know the foundational realities with which we are dealing – God, Kingdom, Gospel – we are going to end up living futile, fantasy lives.  Your task is to keep telling the basic story, representing the presence of the Spirit, insisting on the priority of God, speaking the biblical words of command and promise and invitation.”