Bonheoffer on Genuine Christian Fellowship

I read the following passage last night and was challenged by its call for authentic/transparent Christian fellowship.

"Confess your faults one to another" (James 5:16). He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners!

But it is the grace of the Gospel, which is so hard for the pious to understand, that it confronts us with the truth and says: You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you. He wants you as you are; He does not want anything from you a sacrifice, a work; He wants you alone. "My son, give me thine heart" (Prov 23:26). God has come to you to save the sinner. Be glad! This message is liberation through truth. You can hide nothing from God. . . . You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner. Thank God for that; He loves the sinner but He hates the sin.--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 110-11.

Bonhoeffer will go on to spell out how one should go about such confession, namely to a trusted brother or sister in the faith. It is important to understand that he is not encouraging us to take sin lightly. Sin is serious; serious enough for God to send His only begotten Son to die the death that sin deserves so that we might have life through Him (cf., Bonhoeffer's classic The Cost of Discipleship). Bonhoeffer's point is that all men sin, even Christians. While we have been freed from the bondage to sin, we must still struggle against it until we die or Christ returns (cf., Hebrews 12:1-3ff.). He rightly contends that Christians will not have true fellowship with one another until, in their struggle against sin, they begin confessing their sins to one another and praying for one another (cf. Galatians 6:1-2; James 5:16).

Father, help us to hate sin as You do. May we fight against the desires of our old self and seek assistance from our brothers and sisters in the faith through humble confession. Build in us the image of Christ and assist us to image Him well by the aid of Your Spirit. Help us to give our hearts to You completely. As we do, may others see Your light in our attitudes and actions and give glory to You for the work You are doing in and through us.

Grace & Peace,

Jonathan

Bonhoeffer on the Privilege of Christian Community

"Between the death of Christ and the Last Day it is only by a gracious anticipation of the last things that Christians are privileged to live in visible fellowship with other Christians. It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God's Word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in heathen lands stand alone. They know that visible fellowship is a blessing" (Dietrich Bonheoffer, Life Together, 18).

Father, thank you for the gift of Christian fellowship. May we never cease to thank You for this gift and may we never let ourselves grow weary of or forsake the traversing of life's difficult ground together.

Grace & Peace,

Jonathan