I, too, want to bounce off the previous posts since we are all writing roughly on the same subject this week. Let me refresh your mind on what the others spoke about:
Troy spoke of the Christian's duty to be transparent within the body of Christ, for the purpose of Christians interceding for one another in prayer. After all, how can we really pray for our friends if we only know about their physical or economic problems? Or better yet, how can our friends - our brothers in Christ - pray for us if they don't know the deep spiritual struggles we wrestle with personally.
Josh continued this theme of "iron sharpening iron" by pointing out that Christian fellowship is rooted in honoring and loving God. If we love God, we will love one another. Josh points out that this isn't some kind of sissy homo-erotic kind of love between two men. It is a serious love - a deep love that confronts and corrects. It is a love that does not fear rejections, but that is concerned about the other's soul - an unselfish love.
Then Scalise nicely ties these two together, saying while it is true that we can never rightly love one another until we love God, we can never love God without the help, encouragement, and accountability of loving friends.
My question is how do we do it? I am Christian man who is currently in seminary, and there are sins and struggles that I have that I, quite frankly, don't want anyone else to know about. How do I over come those fears? How do I get to the point that I want my Christian friends to share my burdens? And in the same way I ask, how do I get to the point that I am willing to confront my friends over their sins? To be perfectly honest, I would much rather not risk my friends being upset with. I would much rather let them deal with their sin and me deal with mine. How, then, do I come to the place that not only am I willing to open up to others, but I am willing to confront others even in fear their disapproval? In other words, how do I love God wholeheartedly? How do I love Him so much that I have no fears of opening up and or being rejected?
We can't. Not without Jesus. You see, I will never have the desire to become transparent - to take off all the different masks I wear which hide the real me - to strip down to the bare naked Drew whose sins are hanging out unless I know that Jesus literally became naked - stripped down bare and hung on a cross for all the world to see - for my sins, so that I could be clothed in the righteousness of God. He became the one who was covered in blood and was naked, and no one pitied. He was the one who was cast into an open field and adored (see Ez. 16:1-5). And He did this for me and for you. He did this so that we could be beautiful in His eyes. He describes it like this,
"I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God" (Ez. 16:8b-14).
When we know that God looks at us and sees absolute beauty, then, and only then, are we going to have the courage to be transparent. In Zephaniah it says that God, "will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing" (3:17). Do you believe that? Can you even fathom that when God looks at you he so much likes what he sees (because of Christ) that he dances, and he sings with gladness!? To the extent that we see this, and understand this, and believe this, is the extent that we will be willing to become transparent and share our burdens with our fellow Christians.
And in the same way, I am not going to have the courage to confront my brothers and sisters in Christ unless I know that no matter how mad they may get at me, Jesus looks over me and rejoices at what he sees! To have the courage to confront a friend in his sin is the greatest act of humility. It is not me thinking about myself - worried about what my friend will say, or the sins he will find in me - it is be thinking entirely of him and being interested in his life and being concerned about his spiritual wellbeing. The only way we can possess such humility is if we first have our hearts changed by Jesus' ultimate humility: a humility that left the glory of heaven; a humility that lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserved to die; a humility that left him naked and cursed; a humility that took on our sins and went through the torments of hell; a humility that now shares the glory of the only begotten Son with unworthy servants - with us. May we look to Christ, for it is only when we believe his Gospel with all our being that we can become true friends to one another, true iron that sharpens, does not dull.
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2 comments:
"I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine..."
Wow, now that is the Old Testament being used powerfully to point to Christ. Thank you so much for that drew! Notice from the passage that we are naked, dirty, and bloody. Yet God cleans and clothes us. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound...
If I understand you correctly drew, you are saying we are hesitant at transparency because we have not yet come to an understanding of how God sees us. In other words, we are insecure because we are ignorant of our place in the "family". If that is so (and I would readily accept that) then how do we repair the gap? I address this question to everyone. How do we come to a better understanding of God's love for us? What are some practical steps we can take to move away from isolation in spiritual struggles?
That's a good question Troy. I'm glad you asked it. Of course most Christians KNOW (cognitively) their place in God's family. Christians who pay any attention in church at all know that they are made righteous in Jesus. But it's one thing to KNOW it in your mind, and quite another to KNOW it in your heart. And until we know we are righteous both in our mind and our heart, we will not be able to live out the Gospel with out lives. My favorite reformers are the ones who spell out these distinctions (Luther, Edwards - today, John Frame).
So to answer your questions, "learning" (cognitively) about the Gospel is simply not enough (but is essential). We must also have the Gospel touch our affections. The Gospel must become REAL to us. We must KNOW the Gospel wholeheartedly (mind and heart).
How do we do that practically? It must start with prayer. I can cognitively learn more about the Gospel all day by myself, but I cannot make the Gospel stir my affections. We need the Holy Spirit for that. Secondly, I would say read your Bible. The reason we are supposed to read our Bibles is because we are to remind ourselves of the Gospel. Not because we forget the facts, but because the facts easily become unreal unless we are constantly being reminded of them. Memorizing scripture, singing hymns, reading Christian poems, etc. are all ways of reminding our hearts the truthes of Gospel that we know with our minds, but so quickly forget with our hearts.
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