CONFESSING MY SINS

Too often we in the Christian church tend to think of evangelism as communicating to the “lost” that they are sinners who need to repent and turn to Jesus.

But, if we want to talk about sinfulness I really think we have to be willing to start with our own.

Like, what if the way we did evangelism was to go out together, in groups of two or three, and find a stranger and pull them aside and say, “Hey, I just wanted you to know that I am a sinner and I really need Jesus in my daily life. Would you pray for me?”

Just imagine if we started the conversation by freely admitting our own need for Jesus like that. Wouldn’t that change the entire conversation? Wouldn’t that fulfill Jesus’s admonition to first deal with the beam in our own eyes before we attempt to remove the speck in someone else’s eye?

Today I was reminded once more that I am a sinner and that I need Jesus more than anyone else I know.

My failure was profound, and shameful, and it hurt some of the people I care most about in the whole world.

On one hand, I can see how God can take this failure and make something good out of it. 

If nothing else it shines a much-needed light into a dark place in my heart that still needs to be touched by Him and be transformed by His irresistible love. 

So, that is a good thing [the exposure of our sin, not the sin itself of course].

See, our sin flourishes in the darkness. When it comes into the light it dies. So, as painful as it is to look at it, our ugly sinful nature starts to die the moment we put it on display and call it by name.

Still, the shock of seeing our sin in the daylight isn’t comfortable. It’s painful and it’s wrapped tightly in a shroud of disappointment and heartache and failure. 

These emotions can easily overwhelm us if we do not quickly turn to Jesus and receive His forgiveness and experience the restoration that comes only from Him.

I've said it before: our walk with Jesus is a process. Thankfully we don’t fall down the entire journey, but on those [hopefully] rare occasions that we do, He is quick to turn our failures into opportunities to grow, and somehow to work it all into our ongoing transformation into people who look and act and love like Him.

It’s not about getting it perfectly right. It’s not about never stumbling or falling on our face. It's about humility. It’s about admitting we need His help and giving each other Grace to keep going. 

So, if we really want to speak the Truth in love, then our message to others can't be, "You're a filthy sinner and you need Jesus". Instead it should really be, "Hey, I'm a filthy sinner and I need Jesus. Please pray for me.”

Our invitation to others should be to ask them to join us as we follow Jesus daily and seek His face and partake of His mercy and grace.

If we did this, it would not only place the emphasis where Jesus put it - on following Him daily and surrendering our will to His – it would also force every single one of us to admit our need for Jesus, regardless of how long we’ve been a Christian or much we’ve studied the scriptures.

Our calling, ultimately, is to love people, and that can only be done in relationship. This relationship will best reflect Christ if it is marked by a heaping helping of love and forgiveness for one another. 

God will convict people of their sins just fine without us - because that's what He said He would do.

Plus, He specifically told us that it is not our place to convict people of their sins. 

His new command to us was simply this: “Love others as I have loved you.”

That seems like more than enough of a challenge to me, don't you agree?

Because, if we love people we make room for the grace of God to touch their hearts. 

If we judge people, our condemnation becomes a barrier and a veil that makes it very hard for them to see the love of Jesus in us. And if they can’t see the love of Jesus in us, please tell me where they supposed to see it?

“Hello. My name is Keith. I am a sinner and I really need Jesus in my life. Please pray for me.”

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THIS IS WHAT LOVE IS

We cannot properly speak of the ministry of reconciliation without first experiencing the very deep and profound ache of separation and the ruthless brutality of life apart from the love of God.

Once we truly know the overwhelming despair of being so separated from the Father, then we might begin to understand how a word of condemnation from our lips could never, in any way, be confused with the kind of self-giving agape love that Jesus calls us to demonstrate to people who have never experienced it as we have.

"Love one another as I have loved you." - Jesus

This means that our mission is to love people sincerely, and from the heart.[1 Peter 1:22]

We have to stop first and ask: "How has Jesus loved me?"

And then we take from that list and find ways to duplicate that kind of self-sacrificing, others-focused love to people who need it the most.

How do you know if you're loving people the way Jesus commanded?

Simple: If they feel loved, then you're doing it right. 

If they don't feel loved by you, then you're doing it wrong.

No Christian should ever cause anyone to doubt that God loves them.

And that love has to start with us.

"Go and do likewise." - Jesus

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Grace Notes

"The Grace of God and the Love of God are nearly synonymous. The Grace of God is the Love of God in action, coupled with His power, forgiving our sins, transforming our lives, nurturing us in the new life, guiding us in His service, and preserving us for Eternity. 

Salvation begins with God's Grace and continues with a constant unfolding of the Grace, until He makes us His new work of art; a new creation in Christ."

These paragraphs are taken directly from the study notes in my personal Bible. Normally the notes provided are notoriously useless. Nine times out of ten if you read a difficult passage and glance down at the study notes to learn more about what the text means you'll be very disappointed.

Usually the notes will just completely ignore the passage and only talk about the verses above and below the one you're curious about. [Maybe that's why it's been such a great study Bible? I've never had the answers I needed so I've always had to search elsewhere to understand what the scriptures were saying.]

So, you can imagine my surprise when I glanced down at the notes one morning and read the passage above in my Bible. It was beyond amazing, really.

That's why I wrote it down and made a point to share it here on my blog.

My favorite part is the end where it says that God's Grace continues to unfold "...until He makes us His new work of art..."

Wow. So beautiful.

I also love the point about how the Love of God and the Grace of God are synonymous, and how God's Grace does more than simply save us. Yes, we are all "saved by Grace" but after that the work of Grace continues to lead us and to teach us and to empower us to put the words of Christ into action in our daily life.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…” [Titus 2:11-12]

We all come into the faith by God's Grace, but we also continue forward in the power of His Grace which enables us to walk in the Spirit and to put His Words into practice. 

Grace does more than save us and leave us alone. God's Grace is what makes it possible for us to love like Jesus - and to live as He did - here and now. 

Blessings,

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Unbalanced?

Anytime we speak about the extravagant and unending love of God for people, we must always remind ourselves – and one another – just how sinful and undeserving we are of such amazing love.

The danger, of course, is that we might fixate too much on God’s audacious love and not spend enough time meditating on our own worthlessness.

Several authors are guilty of this. For example, people like Philip Yancey, and Brennan Manning tend to go on and on about God’s great love for us, and even seem to emphasize our full acceptance of this love, without balancing these ideas with the truth [which is that we are slimy worms who could never deserve such unmerited grace and love].

For example, here’s what Yancey says about God’s grace:

“God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are.” 

“I would far rather convey grace than explain it.” 

Notice how he makes no mention of our sins? Hmm…

Now, look at what Manning says:

“God loves you exactly as you are, not as you should be, because none of us will ever be as we should be.”

Ok, he does mention our sins but he fails to emphasize how our sinfulness is repulsive to God and how our failures can be a barrier to God’s great love.

As bad as these may be, the worst offender of all is this guy Paul, the Apostle.

Notice what he says about God’s great love:

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” [Eph. 3:17-19]

Worse yet, Paul doesn’t follow up this thought about God’s awesome love with any verses about how much we don’t deserve that love. Shameful.

And it gets worse:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:35-39]

Here, Paul not only goes on and on about God’s miraculous and astounding love for us, he even tries to convince us that nothing can separate us from this great love. Really, Paul? Not even our slimy, undeserving sinfulness?

In another epistle, Paul drops casual references to God’s love for us and uses it as motivation for how we should love one another:

“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” [Col. 3:12]

Of course, Paul even went so far as to write an entire chapter about love [see 1 Cor. 13] without ever mentioning how much none of us deserves God’s great love. Talk about a missed opportunity.

The other Apostles are no better. John, for example, who has the gall to call himself “the one the Lord loved” also talks about God’s love for us without the necessary caveats:

“God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” [1 John 4:16]

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! [1 John 3:1]

Again, all references to how much we don’t deserve God’s great love are "conveniently" omitted.

The dangerous thing here is that Christians who read this might actually start to forget their filthy sinfulness and begin to focus only on the goodness, and kindness, and graciousness of a God who loves them so much that He would rather die than live without them.

Just imagine what would happen if more and more Christians started to forget what horrible people they are? Sure, they might start to experience more joy in their lives, but they might also start to forget what shame and guilt feel like. 

And then what?

The more Christians start to become aware of God’s unmerited favor and His love that surpasses knowledge, the more they might also start telling others about it, too.

Do we really want to live in a world where the emphasis is on God’s continual, unending love for those who are made in His image? Are we prepared for the consequences of this unbalanced approach to the Gospel, or to life itself?

The implications are almost unbelievable.

Almost.

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The Mechanics of Grace

The other day I spent some time with someone who has been through the meat grinder of life. He's endured the loss of a family member, the abandonment of his closest friends, and experienced a loss of passion in his career. That's only the beginning.

As he shared his heart with me I found I could identify with a lot of his pain. Not all of it, obviously, but much of what he confessed to me resonated with what I have been feeling lately.

Then he asked me to pray for him. So, as I began to lift him up in prayer to God I found that I was really praying for myself as well. I began to ask God for the same measure of blessing, and hope, and comfort, that I required in my own empty heart.

During the prayer I confessed to God, and to my friend, that I really don't know how to give God my burdens. Too often when I am depressed or discouraged I find something to distract myself from the pain. Rather than going to God with my problems, I turn to entertainment, or activities, or food, or other people, to help me forget the pain and dull the sorrow.

I know that we are told to "cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you", and I really believe that all of that is true, but to be very honest, I'm not very good at doing that. Not at all.

So, as I prayed for this brother in Christ, I began to ask God to teach me, and to help my friend, to learn how to actually take our burdens, our pain, our suffering, our disappointments, and cast them at the feet of Jesus.

Again, I do not know how to do this. I know that God's word instructs me to do it. I know how to pray those words. I know how to say, "Jesus, I give you my pain. Please take this burden away." But I do not know how to actually leave my burden with Jesus. I don't know how to come to Him with my pain and walk away with hope. I don't know how to come to Him with defeat and walk away with joy. That is what I want to learn how to do. That's what I need to do.

Maybe you know what this feels like? Maybe you're struggling with some of the same issues of doubt, of defeat, of apathy, of sadness, of pain. Maybe you also tend to look for relief in places other than the presence of God. Maybe you turn to food, or television, or video games, or film, or sex, or drugs, or other people. If so, maybe you've already started to realize that those things do not work. They only delay the pain, at best, and accentuate the sensation of emptiness at worse.

Maybe, like me, you're ready to learn how to put these words of hope into practice. Maybe you're ready, out nothing more than desperation, to discover how to actually turn to Jesus with your pain and surrender your burden to Him, and walk away filled with hope and life and, yes, perhaps even joy.

How does it work? What are the magic words? How many steps are involved? Do I need to attend a seminar or purchase a book to make it click?

Here's what I believe: God knows that we are weak. He remembers that we are made from dust. If there were six steps then He would have told us what those were. Since He told us to simply "cast our cares upon Him because He cares" then, by faith, I think we need to start there.

By faith. That's the secret. We stop trying to map everything out and we just do what He says. We believe. We put our hope - all of it - in His power to heal us, and change us, and restore us.

We turn away from all of those other distractions that we have tried and failed to receive our hope and life and joy from, and we instead turn straight for Jesus with our pain. We come to Him first. We make turning to Him our first, and our immediate, act when the pain and the sorrow begins to wash over us.

This is what I have decided to do. I put my hope in Him. I trust in Him. I am calling His bluff because I am convinced it might not be a bluff at all.

"Why are you so downcast, oh my soul? I will yet praise Him, my savior and king."

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Love Mercy

 

 

What has convicted you lately? Sometimes it’s good to take note of the places God has pointed out to you that need growth or correction. For me, it’s been my heart for sinners. Or actually, one particular sinner.

When there’s someone you’ve been suspicious of and then those suspicious are confirmed, it’s hard not to take an “I told you so” attitude. I mean, it is hard for me.

I know what I’m supposed to do. I know I’m supposed to instantly offer the person an opportunity to repent and to surrender to Jesus. I know I’m supposed to point to the mercies of Christ and extend a compassionate hand. I know.

But that’s not what I did. And that’s what the Lord has been convicting me of.

In Micah, God tells us what it is that He requires of us. If you've never read it, the list goes like this;

"He has shown you oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).

“Doing justice” is not too difficult for me. It simply means recognizing injustice and working to make it right again. When we see someone being oppressed, for example, we speak out. When we see someone without enough to eat, we take care of them. I get that.

The second part is to Love Mercy. That's not the same as "doing mercy". We're just told to love it. That means, when we see someone who doesn't deserve a blessing being blessed, we should rejoice. But, honestly this is where I struggle the most.

When I see someone who has done evil suddenly get a break or receive undeserved grace, my first reaction is usually not "Oh, Yes!"

Not at all.

I tend to yell and scream and cry foul when that happens.

Yet, when God shows mercy to me? Oh, then I tend to get excited and share my joy with everyone. “Do you know what God did for me?” I tell them. “I deserved nothing and God gave me a blessing so big and fat and wide I couldn’t contain it.”

So, if God expects me to “love mercy” then that means I need to rejoice whenever someone who doesn’t deserve a blessing receives one – even if that person isn’t me.

When God allows His Mercy to fall on anyone – regardless of who they are or what they've done – I’m supposed to cheer. I am called to love that. To love it just the same as if it had happened to me.

Finally, God tells me to "walk humbly.” Also not easy.

Humility is about surrender. It's about being weak.

It’s about admitting that you don’t always love mercy, or do justice, or rejoice when someone who deserves a swift kick gets a big kiss instead.

Jesus, please help me to learn how to love mercy. Teach me to do justice. Transform my prideful heart into a humble one that is surrendered fully to you.

Amen.

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