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

Whether you, eat, drink, or watch sports...

Today I received a link to a blog post that I found insightful with regard to our approach to watching sporting events. As a believer we are called to do everything to the glory of God, to let our light shine in such a way that when they see our good deeds they will give glory to Him alone for what they see (cf., 1 Corinthians 10:31 & Matthew 5:16). This call extends to every area of our lives even to the most mundane events and activities.

I encourage you to check this post out and ask yourself the question: "How should the Gospel affect the way I watch sporting events?" By this I mean, how should one's new identity and life in Christ guide him or her to watch "the big game?" What does it look like to remember and honor our Savior even in this seemingly unspiritual activity?

Here's the link. I hope you will take a few minutes to check it out.

http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/Thoughts-on-Super-Bowl-XLIV.aspx

Grace & Peace,

Jonathan

"God, Be Merciful to Me a Sinner"

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18:13 ESV)

I am reading through portions of Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion" in preparation for my last doctoral seminar. I ran across a passage that well expresses the theology of the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18 and wanted to share it with you:

"Therefore if we would make way for the call of Christ, we must put far from us all arrogance and confidence. The former is produced by a foolish persuasion of self-righteousness, when a man thinks that he has something in himself which deservedly recommends him to God; the latter may exist without any confidence in works. For many sinners, intoxicated with the pleasures of vice, think not of the judgment of God. Lying stupefied, as it were, by a kind of lethargy, they aspire not to the offered mercy. It is not less necessary to shake off torpor [sluggishness] of this description than every kind of confidence in ourselves, in order that we may haste to Christ unencumbered, and while hungry and empty be filled with his blessings. Never shall we have sufficient confidence in him unless utterly distrustful of ourselves; never shall we take courage in him until we first despond of ourselves; never shall we have full consolation in him until we cease to have any in ourselves. When we have entirely discarded all self-confidence, and trust solely in the certainty of his goodness, we are fit to apprehend and obtain the grace of God. “When,” (as Augustine says), “forgetting our own merits, we embrace the gifts of Christ, because if he should seek for merits in us we should not obtain his gifts."--Calvin (Institutes, 3.12.8)

Father, have mercy upon us for we are sinners and unfit to stand before your seat of judgment on our own. Help us trust only in Christ and in His righteousness for our hope and salvation. May this faith be found to live in us each day.

Grace & Peace,

Jonathan