It’s appropriate that we’ve reached this point in the Sermon on the Mount on Mother’s Day. Marriage is under attack in our world today. There are numerous attempts to redefine marriage. Over 50% of marriages fail. Increasing numbers of couples are choosing cohabitation over marriage either because they think marriage doesn’t mean anything or because they fear divorce. Children are growing up today who have never known a father. Their mothers have long disassociated themselves from the man who impregnated them long before the child is aware that such a person existed. Some mothers don’t even know who fathered their children. No man ever enters the picture of many children’s lives as a father figure. 59% of you have been divorced. The divorce rate among churchgoers is no different than that of society at large. In 100% of marriages I’ve conducted at least one, and most often both parties have been divorced. All except for one couple that I’ve married cohabitated before marriage, and at least one person and most often both people of all the couples I’ve married have claimed to be believers in Christ. In fact, that is necessary for me even to perform a wedding per our Book of Order. These are not good statistics, and yet marriage still matters to Jesus.
Our passage today reveals to us once again that Jesus’ “Great Moral Teaching” only exposes how miserably we fail to live up to it. Jesus starts with expanding # 7 of the 10 Commandments—“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Jesus again expands the prohibition to include lustful thoughts. Like murder, adultery begins in the heart. And like murder, adultery carries with it a death penalty. Jesus is showing us that the wages of sin is indeed death. Adultery implies that at least one of the parties is already married. Jesus will end this section talking about keeping vows. Adultery breaks the marriage vows. Jesus warns us to do what we need to do to in order to keep from sinning in this way. Jesus warns us against wanting was is not lawful for us to have.
Jesus moves from adultery to divorce because they are so closely tied together. Jesus names adultery or infidelity as the only legitimate reason for divorce. God can be no more blunt than saying, “I hate divorce,” which God does in the book of Malachi among other places. According to Jewish law, only a man could initiate a divorce—women could not. But Jesus will allow the woman to initiate a divorce in cases of infidelity. In this teaching in Matthew, Jesus wants us to understand that our sins don’t only affect us, but have much wider consequences. We are so selfish that we think our sin only affects us. But Jesus says that when a man divorces his wife, he’s forcing her to sin. Women did not live independently in Bible times like they do today. They either lived with their parents, or other male relative—like Mary and Martha with their brother Lazarus, or with their sons, or with a husband. The only options for widows to live independently were if they were older widows with no children (widows indeed) who were to be provided for by the community or if they were prostitutes. There was a provision in the law for the nearest male relative of the dead husband to marry a young widow, so that she would be taken care of. This is what we read about in the book of Ruth as well as in Genesis with Tamar. Because a woman had to remarry if she was divorced, Jesus is saying that in cases of divorce that are not recognized by God, the husband who is choosing to violate God’s command is causing others—his ex-wife and her future husband to live in sin. Jesus says this not to criticize the woman and her future husband as much as to make us understand how serious divorce is and that it has far reaching consequences. He does it so that we will rethink our decision and not choose divorce. He reminds us that divorce itself is sin.
In his book Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas reminds us that we don’t have any leeway when it comes to our responsibility to keep our vows. We are not responsible for the other person’s behavior, but we are responsible for our own choices and attitudes. It’s important that the couples with which I work, that those from broken prior marriages be able to articulate their mistakes without justification, regardless of what the ex-spouse did. It’s important because if you can admit you were wrong then you can also choose not to do that wrong thing next time. You can act and react differently. I’m working with a couple now. One of the spouses was badly hurt in a previous marriage, but that spouse also chose to engage in very inappropriate behavior. I knew that behavior needed to be expressed. The person was able to admit that wrong without my prompting, which allowed me to ask the follow up question, “So what can you do to avoid this situation in the future?” The new couple is now able to develop a plan of action and set appropriate boundaries so that the new marriage has greater potential of being their last marriage. Admitting our fault also means that we can be forgiven. Remember that Jesus not only forgives our sins but also redeems us.
Jesus concludes this section by talking about vows. He is referring to any vows, not just marriage vows. He isn’t saying here, “Don’t make vows,” because He will allow Himself to be put under a vow later. But Jesus is saying, “Don’t make vows with conditions attached.” The Jewish teaching was that only vows made in God’s name were binding; otherwise, you could wiggle out of them. Jesus says, it’s stupid to swear by anything because God owns everything and controls everything. Therefore, all vows are binding. Instead, mean what you say. To be anything other than honest is to be under the influence of the evil one. If you have to put in excuses or conditions, you show that you are untrusting and not trustworthy. The marriage vows we take are intended to encompass any condition—sickness and in health, better or for worse, richer or poorer, til death do us part—so that there isn’t wiggle room to get out of our promise to be faithful to another person.
There is a disturbing story in the book of Judges about a judge named Jepthath. Page for page, Judges has more gore and disturbing stories than any other book in the Bible. This judge Jepthath, who is praised as a mighty warrior, makes a vow to the Lord to offer as a burnt offering whatever comes out of his house if the Lord gives him victory over the Ammonites. Jepthath is victorious. And it is his beloved daughter who comes to greet him. Jepthath, as grieved as he is over the vow he made, will not break it, and Jepthath’s daughter accepts it. After having a two month good-bye party and time of mourning with her girl friends, she submits to being a sacrifice. Unlike Abraham with Isaac, God does not intervene and send a ram, because God never asked Jepthath to sacrifice his daughter. In Judges the stories are presented without commentary. The story ends. And yet in Hebrews 11 Jepthath is mentioned as a man of faith. Yes, he did keep his vow, but it was a stupid vow. Why is he called a man of faith? I don’t think it has anything to do with what Jepthath did. It’s all about how God sees Jepthath. God sees only the faith. And when it comes to us, God doesn’t see our mess-ups. God only sees Jesus when we repent. God doesn’t see how badly we’ve failed to keep our vows or how foolishly we have made them. God sees the faith of Christ in us.
The youth group is currently going through an abstinence curriculum by Lakita Garth Wright called “The Naked Truth.” In her book by the same name, Lakita has a chapter dealing with the modern notion that marriage is “piece of paper.” Here’s what she has to say...(I read pg. 154 and part of 155 from Lakita Garth's book, The Naked Truth." It is also proven that cohabitating before marriage does not reduce the potential for divorce later. All of the couples I’ve married realized at some point that marriage is more than just a piece of paper, that it is indeed different than the cohabitating life they have previously lived. They are all able to define what marriage means to them and how it is different. The words “life-long commitment” always come up. They know that cohabitating means a temporary commitment—that I can have an easy out if I want it. It’s proven that married couples feel more secure and more fulfilled in their relationships than cohabitating couples. Each of the couples I’ve married have also realized that there is a spiritual dimension to marriage, and that the spiritual dimension is important to them.
I listened to a Bible Study this week where the Talmud describes the cherubim on top of the mercy seat as symbolizing an embrace—that their wings reaching out to each other with God dwelling in the midst of them reminds us of what our relationship with God and each other as the body of Christ is like. We are to remember that marriage is also a symbol of that relationship. It mirrors what our relationship to God is like. God desires oneness with us. Marriage is important to Jesus because it symbolizes His relationship to the Church.
The more I study the Catholic teaching on marriage, the more I agree with it. Regardless of what the world does, exclusive of civil rights, spiritual marriage is different. It is already defined and cannot be changed because of its representative nature. We also must remember that in the Kingdom of God, we have no rights. Everything is privilege and gift except the right to become the children of God.
Once again, we are all condemned by Jesus’ teaching. This passage leaves none of us innocent. Once again we can be so grateful that Jesus has fulfilled the Law for us. We break our promises and vows so easily. We deserve death, but Jesus gives us life. God remarries us and remains faithful to us when we go astray. Jesus re-presents us as His spotless bride. He changes us from sinners to saints. He redeems our whole lives, including our marriages, so that they too may be holy. And He empowers us with the Holy Spirit so that we can be faithful and obedient to Him.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
No More Shame--Matt. 28:1-10, Heb. 12:1-2
Today, Resurrection Sunday, is considered by many the most holy day on the church calendar. I see some of you “Eastmas people” here this morning—you know, you only come to church on Christmas and Easter. Please know that we are really, really glad that you are here and came to worship with us this morning. I am so glad that you recognize the importance of this day. But I still wonder, what good is the fact that Jesus rose from the dead if you don’t know why Jesus died. Sure, it’s a cool miracle. It might help support our faith that Jesus is God, but resurrection apart from the cross still doesn’t mean all that much. The choir sings a wonderful song, which if you join us again next Sunday you are likely to hear, called “Without His Cross”. The song reminds us that without the cross, there is no crown. Without Jesus’ sacrificial death, the resurrection isn’t all that meaningful. However, when we know why Jesus died, then we really understand that the resurrection was a cosmic event. It was an incredible phenomenon that gives us much reason to celebrate. It ought to cause us to fall to our knees before God in gratitude, like the women who took hold of Jesus’ feet and worshipped Him in the account we just read.
So why did Jesus die? Most of us, even Eastmas people, recognize that Jesus died for our sins. That gives meaning to the resurrection. But the cross was more than Jesus dying for our sins. Sins are ways we fall short of God’s standards in the choices we make, actions we commit, or to which we refuse to commit. Jesus died to take away the guilt that occurs as a result of our sins. But Jesus also died to take away our shame. He died for who we are at our core. We remember that after Adam and Eve sinned, they sewed fig leaves together because they were ashamed. Something was dramatically changed in the core of their being. Shame separated Adam and Eve from each other as well as separating them from God. Jesus died to redeem us from the full affects of the curse—not just the consequences, but He died to restore our core being. He didn’t just take away our sins and trespasses.
We all feel the affects of shame. Everything that shame does to us, Jesus experienced. As Son of Man, He had to go through it all for our sake. For those of you who missed Holy Week, we will recap some of that this morning. One of the things that shame does is bind us up. It takes away our sense of freedom. It keeps us from reaching out and moving out. Jesus experienced the binding power of shame when he was arrested, bound and taken away.
A second thing that shame does is lead to a fear of rejection. Because we afraid that others will reject us, we keep silent about our shame. We are hesitant to reveal anything about ourselves that might cause others to reject us. And so we hold onto our shame and stay bound by it. Jesus experienced the shame of rejection when all of his disciples fled at His arrest. He also experienced that rejection in the betrayal of Judas with a kiss—a sign of love and affection. He also experienced the shame of rejection when Peter denied Him 3 times. Jesus also experienced the shame of rejection when the crowds that welcomed him days prior shouted “Crucify Him! Crucify Him.” He experienced rejection by the mocking of the soldiers and the thief on the cross. Over and over in the last hours of His life, Jesus experienced the shame of rejection. His rejection was our rejection, and yet Jesus faced rejection without fear. He accepted it full on so that we too might be accepted.
Listen to this prophetic Psalm which describes Jesus’s shame: READ Ps. 69:16-33.
Closely tied into the fear of rejection is the fact that Shame shuts us up. It keeps us from speaking up and speaking out. In refusing to defend Himself and keeping silent as His trial, Jesus experienced the silencing power of shame.
Closely related to a fear of rejection is the fear of exposure that shame causes. We don’t want anyone to know our dirty little secrets. We truly love darkness rather than the light. Jesus was fully exposed when He hung on the cross. The cross was an instrument of shame. Our paintings, icons and crucifixes of Jesus show Him covered with a loincloth, but most likely He was fully stripped naked. The cross was torture in as much as the pain of humiliation as it was of physical pain.
And the culminating fear with which shame leaves us is the fear of abandonment—that we will be utterly alone. Ironically, shame causes us to isolate ourselves from others so that we won’t be abandoned. How dumb is that? And yet, it is what we do. I won’t make friends so that my friends won’t betray me. Jesus experienced ultimate abandonment in that moment when the Father turned away and Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” Because Jesus endured this crushing weight of sin, we now have the promise that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us! God will never abandon us. Though our families forsake us, the Lord will take us up! We are not left as orphans. We are never alone. The Holy Spirit indwells us. Abandonment is not a legitimate fear.
Because of the cross and the resurrection, we can be freed from shame and its binding fears. There is no more shame for us! Listen as I read several passages of Scripture that tell us that Jesus came to set us free from shame. You may want to jot these references down so you can read them later at home or anytime you feel the weight of shame creeping up on you. READ Is. 54:4-10, Is. 61:4-11, Joel 2:21-27, Zeph. 3:14-20.
What amazing promises of restoration these are. Jesus redeems our shame. He redeems the very core of our being. The resurrection obliterates shame. II Cor. 5:17 tells us that in Christ we are a brand new creation—the old is gone, the new has come! We have a new identity in Jesus Christ.
If you read my blog (pastorparato.blogspot.com, which you can also find linked to gracebeaufort.com), you’ll know that I gave a speech at the last presbytery meeting. Although I didn’t have time to give the full speech, I posted the full speech on my blog. In this speech, I brag about Celebrate Recovery, a ministry with which I’ve worked for the past 3 years. I want to share what I wrote with you:
I have worked as a leader in a Christ-centered recovery program for 3 years.
I’m sorry this program has to exist as a parachurch ministry when it should be the way of the church period. Our recovery program welcomes everyone just as they are. We should welcome everyone who comes to our churches just as they are. We should welcome everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior into full fellowship and full communion. We have not, and for that I am truly sorry. The church has been a place of judgment instead of a hospital for sin-sick souls.
But we should also, as we do in our recovery group, love people toward transformation so that they become more like Jesus and put off their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. We must, as we do in our recovery group, never make excuses for or make light of our relapses and sins, but constantly submit all of our lives and wills to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Not that we don’t fail, but that our failings are followed by confession and repentance and not justification or dismissal.
One of our theme songs for Celebrate Recovery is “You don’t have to hide anymore!” When you come to CR, you don’t have to hide. We’ve worked very hard for that group to be a safe place, and we have done so fairly successfully. It’s so nice to be able to share our hurts, habits, and hang-ups without fear of rejection. A few weeks ago, in worship, we talked about how Jesus calls us to be salt and light. We read a passage in Ephesians that describes how we used to be darkness, but now in the Lord, we are light. That passage went on to say that it’s shameful to talk about things that are done in secret, but that all things become visible when they are exposed to the light, and in fact when they are exposed to the light, they become light! We expose our hurts, habits, and hang-ups so that we can get rid of them. So that they become light. So that shame no longer keeps us from living like Jesus.
Shame has kept our churches from being more like Celebrate Recovery. We think we are hiding, but we aren’t. Isn’t it time we let go of our shame? A couple of years ago I received some comments about spending too much time away from Grace activities, like CR. But the truth is CR was started for Grace folks. It took me about five months of being here for me to discover who was struggling with alcoholism, who was addicted to prescription meds, who was involved in inappropriate, unhealthy relationships, who was struggling with depression. Now if I just named your shame, please know that you are not the only one. Every category I just named involves or involved more than 1 person attending this church at that time. In talking with colleagues about some of these issues, and please note that I said issues, not names, that 4 pastors associated with this church either as pulpit supply, interim, moderator or other capacity knew that these issues were going on and did nothing about them. So it goes to show you that if you think you are keeping your shame a secret, you aren’t hiding it very well.
After getting over my frustration about the fact that none of these other folks dared to address these issues, I decided I would try. Churches don’t grow when there is sin in the camp. I felt like a spiritual garbage man. I learned some people don’t want to deal with their shame; they are still in denial or they like darkness more than the light. Some people left. Others decided it was time to do something about their issues, but unfortunately felt they needed to leave in order to find that safer place. And others are all in various points in their spiritual journeys, moving toward healing and wholeness.
I kept thinking that if these people actually knew that they weren’t the only ones dealing with these things, then they might do something about it. In Feb. of 2007 I bought the CR curriculum. To run CR, you need at least one leader of each gender. I prayed about who that would be, and David Bruce stepped up to be involved. We meet at Calvary because there are too many activities here. We sat on the curriculum for a year, giving us a time to work through it before we launched in the summer of 2008. The group always in flux—sometimes we just had two people, but we keep at it. And it works. Just this past month we celebrated 2 baptisms, and two more are slated to be baptized in May.
Obviously, I’m a fan of CR. I’ve personally benefited working through my own hurts, habits, and hang-ups through the program. I love that I can be in a group and be totally real. But I also know that there are many other ways besides CR that one can work through the issues that cause us shame. I don’t care if you choose CR or not. It is simply an option. But isn’t it time to get rid of your shame? Aren’t you tired of feeling lonely, isolated, and powerless? The absolute key to success is surrender to our victorious Lord, Jesus Christ, our true power who removes our shame and redeems our failures. And the other key is not going it alone. We were never meant to be alone. When Jesus came, He put us into a body. When He ascended, He created a church. We were meant to need one another. The church should be the place where we can find healing, and I hope we will continuously strive to be such a place—a place where people don’t have to hide.
No one likes having their shame exposed. It is painful and difficult, but it was a lot more painful for Jesus to carry our shame. The pain of exposure brings healing. When we name our shame, it loses its power over us. We start to gain power over it. Remember that what is made visible becomes light. Isn’t it time to trade your darkness for light? I know that some people will still like the darkness more, or they are in denial, but if you are tired of the darkness, don’t let shame keep you prisoner any longer. Don’t let shame keep you from experiencing the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Don’t let shame keep you from experiencing the abundant life that He offers to you. Let go. Let Jesus take your shame away. It is one of the reasons He died and rose again.
So why did Jesus die? Most of us, even Eastmas people, recognize that Jesus died for our sins. That gives meaning to the resurrection. But the cross was more than Jesus dying for our sins. Sins are ways we fall short of God’s standards in the choices we make, actions we commit, or to which we refuse to commit. Jesus died to take away the guilt that occurs as a result of our sins. But Jesus also died to take away our shame. He died for who we are at our core. We remember that after Adam and Eve sinned, they sewed fig leaves together because they were ashamed. Something was dramatically changed in the core of their being. Shame separated Adam and Eve from each other as well as separating them from God. Jesus died to redeem us from the full affects of the curse—not just the consequences, but He died to restore our core being. He didn’t just take away our sins and trespasses.
We all feel the affects of shame. Everything that shame does to us, Jesus experienced. As Son of Man, He had to go through it all for our sake. For those of you who missed Holy Week, we will recap some of that this morning. One of the things that shame does is bind us up. It takes away our sense of freedom. It keeps us from reaching out and moving out. Jesus experienced the binding power of shame when he was arrested, bound and taken away.
A second thing that shame does is lead to a fear of rejection. Because we afraid that others will reject us, we keep silent about our shame. We are hesitant to reveal anything about ourselves that might cause others to reject us. And so we hold onto our shame and stay bound by it. Jesus experienced the shame of rejection when all of his disciples fled at His arrest. He also experienced that rejection in the betrayal of Judas with a kiss—a sign of love and affection. He also experienced the shame of rejection when Peter denied Him 3 times. Jesus also experienced the shame of rejection when the crowds that welcomed him days prior shouted “Crucify Him! Crucify Him.” He experienced rejection by the mocking of the soldiers and the thief on the cross. Over and over in the last hours of His life, Jesus experienced the shame of rejection. His rejection was our rejection, and yet Jesus faced rejection without fear. He accepted it full on so that we too might be accepted.
Listen to this prophetic Psalm which describes Jesus’s shame: READ Ps. 69:16-33.
Closely tied into the fear of rejection is the fact that Shame shuts us up. It keeps us from speaking up and speaking out. In refusing to defend Himself and keeping silent as His trial, Jesus experienced the silencing power of shame.
Closely related to a fear of rejection is the fear of exposure that shame causes. We don’t want anyone to know our dirty little secrets. We truly love darkness rather than the light. Jesus was fully exposed when He hung on the cross. The cross was an instrument of shame. Our paintings, icons and crucifixes of Jesus show Him covered with a loincloth, but most likely He was fully stripped naked. The cross was torture in as much as the pain of humiliation as it was of physical pain.
And the culminating fear with which shame leaves us is the fear of abandonment—that we will be utterly alone. Ironically, shame causes us to isolate ourselves from others so that we won’t be abandoned. How dumb is that? And yet, it is what we do. I won’t make friends so that my friends won’t betray me. Jesus experienced ultimate abandonment in that moment when the Father turned away and Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” Because Jesus endured this crushing weight of sin, we now have the promise that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us! God will never abandon us. Though our families forsake us, the Lord will take us up! We are not left as orphans. We are never alone. The Holy Spirit indwells us. Abandonment is not a legitimate fear.
Because of the cross and the resurrection, we can be freed from shame and its binding fears. There is no more shame for us! Listen as I read several passages of Scripture that tell us that Jesus came to set us free from shame. You may want to jot these references down so you can read them later at home or anytime you feel the weight of shame creeping up on you. READ Is. 54:4-10, Is. 61:4-11, Joel 2:21-27, Zeph. 3:14-20.
What amazing promises of restoration these are. Jesus redeems our shame. He redeems the very core of our being. The resurrection obliterates shame. II Cor. 5:17 tells us that in Christ we are a brand new creation—the old is gone, the new has come! We have a new identity in Jesus Christ.
If you read my blog (pastorparato.blogspot.com, which you can also find linked to gracebeaufort.com), you’ll know that I gave a speech at the last presbytery meeting. Although I didn’t have time to give the full speech, I posted the full speech on my blog. In this speech, I brag about Celebrate Recovery, a ministry with which I’ve worked for the past 3 years. I want to share what I wrote with you:
I have worked as a leader in a Christ-centered recovery program for 3 years.
I’m sorry this program has to exist as a parachurch ministry when it should be the way of the church period. Our recovery program welcomes everyone just as they are. We should welcome everyone who comes to our churches just as they are. We should welcome everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior into full fellowship and full communion. We have not, and for that I am truly sorry. The church has been a place of judgment instead of a hospital for sin-sick souls.
But we should also, as we do in our recovery group, love people toward transformation so that they become more like Jesus and put off their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. We must, as we do in our recovery group, never make excuses for or make light of our relapses and sins, but constantly submit all of our lives and wills to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Not that we don’t fail, but that our failings are followed by confession and repentance and not justification or dismissal.
One of our theme songs for Celebrate Recovery is “You don’t have to hide anymore!” When you come to CR, you don’t have to hide. We’ve worked very hard for that group to be a safe place, and we have done so fairly successfully. It’s so nice to be able to share our hurts, habits, and hang-ups without fear of rejection. A few weeks ago, in worship, we talked about how Jesus calls us to be salt and light. We read a passage in Ephesians that describes how we used to be darkness, but now in the Lord, we are light. That passage went on to say that it’s shameful to talk about things that are done in secret, but that all things become visible when they are exposed to the light, and in fact when they are exposed to the light, they become light! We expose our hurts, habits, and hang-ups so that we can get rid of them. So that they become light. So that shame no longer keeps us from living like Jesus.
Shame has kept our churches from being more like Celebrate Recovery. We think we are hiding, but we aren’t. Isn’t it time we let go of our shame? A couple of years ago I received some comments about spending too much time away from Grace activities, like CR. But the truth is CR was started for Grace folks. It took me about five months of being here for me to discover who was struggling with alcoholism, who was addicted to prescription meds, who was involved in inappropriate, unhealthy relationships, who was struggling with depression. Now if I just named your shame, please know that you are not the only one. Every category I just named involves or involved more than 1 person attending this church at that time. In talking with colleagues about some of these issues, and please note that I said issues, not names, that 4 pastors associated with this church either as pulpit supply, interim, moderator or other capacity knew that these issues were going on and did nothing about them. So it goes to show you that if you think you are keeping your shame a secret, you aren’t hiding it very well.
After getting over my frustration about the fact that none of these other folks dared to address these issues, I decided I would try. Churches don’t grow when there is sin in the camp. I felt like a spiritual garbage man. I learned some people don’t want to deal with their shame; they are still in denial or they like darkness more than the light. Some people left. Others decided it was time to do something about their issues, but unfortunately felt they needed to leave in order to find that safer place. And others are all in various points in their spiritual journeys, moving toward healing and wholeness.
I kept thinking that if these people actually knew that they weren’t the only ones dealing with these things, then they might do something about it. In Feb. of 2007 I bought the CR curriculum. To run CR, you need at least one leader of each gender. I prayed about who that would be, and David Bruce stepped up to be involved. We meet at Calvary because there are too many activities here. We sat on the curriculum for a year, giving us a time to work through it before we launched in the summer of 2008. The group always in flux—sometimes we just had two people, but we keep at it. And it works. Just this past month we celebrated 2 baptisms, and two more are slated to be baptized in May.
Obviously, I’m a fan of CR. I’ve personally benefited working through my own hurts, habits, and hang-ups through the program. I love that I can be in a group and be totally real. But I also know that there are many other ways besides CR that one can work through the issues that cause us shame. I don’t care if you choose CR or not. It is simply an option. But isn’t it time to get rid of your shame? Aren’t you tired of feeling lonely, isolated, and powerless? The absolute key to success is surrender to our victorious Lord, Jesus Christ, our true power who removes our shame and redeems our failures. And the other key is not going it alone. We were never meant to be alone. When Jesus came, He put us into a body. When He ascended, He created a church. We were meant to need one another. The church should be the place where we can find healing, and I hope we will continuously strive to be such a place—a place where people don’t have to hide.
No one likes having their shame exposed. It is painful and difficult, but it was a lot more painful for Jesus to carry our shame. The pain of exposure brings healing. When we name our shame, it loses its power over us. We start to gain power over it. Remember that what is made visible becomes light. Isn’t it time to trade your darkness for light? I know that some people will still like the darkness more, or they are in denial, but if you are tired of the darkness, don’t let shame keep you prisoner any longer. Don’t let shame keep you from experiencing the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Don’t let shame keep you from experiencing the abundant life that He offers to you. Let go. Let Jesus take your shame away. It is one of the reasons He died and rose again.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Salt & Light, Matt. 5:13-16, Eph. 5:8-14
A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the Beatitudes. Jesus tells us that these are what His disciples are. We also looked at Romans 12 in which Paul gives us instructions on how to live these qualities. Today’s parables of salt and light reflect back to the Beatitudes. The blessed life is a result of what happens as we are fulfilled to carry out God’s mission. Once again, Jesus tells us that salt and light is what we are in the world. These are corporate, not simply individual, conditions. That together as gathered disciples, we are salt and light in the world. We can’t help but be salt and light, but we can lose our saltiness and hide our light.
What good is salt? Salt is a food preservative against rotting. We flavor to life and preserve life and society. When we describe someone as salt of the earth, we usually mean that the person is authentic, real, genuine, down-to-earth, and whose presence adds value not only to our lives but also to the world at large.
Salt doesn’t normally lose its strength, and neither should we. Jesus never means for us to lose our saltiness. The only way salt loses saltiness is by diluting it with water. We lose saltiness when we dilute ourselves with worldly behaviors and practices. High divorce rates, hate speech, gossip, cheating, lying, unethical business practices, and selfish behaviors by those who name the name of Christ cause the salt to lose its saltiness. As salt we are supposed to retard moral and ethical decay, not succumb to it. The good news is that when the water dries up, the salt regains its saltiness. It’s reconcentrated. The same is true for us. When we get rid of those behaviors and practices that contradict the life that Jesus has set for us, we too can be reconcentrated. When we confess and repent, turning again to follow Jesus, we regain our saltiness.
If we are untrue to our convictions, we lose our saltiness. There were also merchants who adulterated the salt by adding a cheap white powder to it in order to make more profit. The church has been guilty of adulterating the gospel in order to attract more followers. When we lose our loyalty to Jesus, we adulterate ourselves with the world and lose our ability to add the flavor of His goodness and holiness.
But we aren’t just supposed to be overwhelmingly salty either. When the proper amount of salt is used in cooking, it doesn’t make the dish salty, but it enhances the other flavors that are there, bringing out their goodness. We when act as salt, we lose our self, but bring out the God-given goodness in others as well as in ourselves.
We are also the light of the world. The light, however, doesn’t originate with us. Christ also called Himself “the light of the world.” He is the light, and we allow Him to shine through us as He lives in us. We make God’s light visible to others. We witness to the light when we testify to God’s transforming power in our lives both by our words and actions. How is God transforming you? What transformations can you see in your life?
Our Ephesians passage tells us we weren’t just in darkness without Christ; we were darkness. Now as children of light we to live what is good, right, and true—things that come from Christ. We also expose unfruitful works of darkness so that they can be renounced. We don’t expose works of darkness to bring judgment, but to turn them into light. We also have full assurance in the fact that the darkness will overcome the light. Have you ever been in a place that was really dark? I went on a cave tour where at one point, they turned off the lights. They wanted you to experience the weight of the darkness and demonstrate how little light was way down under the ground. And it was thickly dark at first. No sunlight could get in. You couldn’t even see the person next to you. But then, as you stood there awhile, you could start to see a bit of contrast. Even in pitch blackness, there was light because living things emit a little light of their own, and the dampness reflected the light. The light will always overcome the darkness, so we can keep shining brightly for Jesus. I have been blessed to know many people who glow with the light of Jesus. It’s really special when I get to see it in you. You do have that potential to burn brightly with Jesus.
We are to light the way to peace and safety like a city on a hill, which would have been a welcome site for a weary traveler on the road. Do we represent safety and rest for weary pilgrims in this world? Is our church a place of safety and rest?
Light also symbolizes meaning and insight. It’s not accident that in cartoons a light bulb is used to represent when someone has an idea or epiphany. We carry the light that gives meaning and purpose to living—the light of the gospel. The light we carry gives hope to a despairing world.
We hide God’s light when our actions don’t match our words. We also hide God’s light when we are ashamed of the gospel. Another way we lose our light is by being unplugged from the source. Jesus is never unplugged from us, because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, but we can choose not to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit.
God’s light is seen in what we do. Kingdom living isn’t passive but active. Light must shine to carry out its mission. We have a job to do—carry out God’s mission. We are to live righteously to reflect God’s glory. It is our purpose to glorify God. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say when they see our good works, we are glorified, but that when they see our good works, they glorify our Father in heaven. All of our good works belong to God and are the result of God. God gets the glory for all we do. If as we serve God, things don’t turn out like we expect and seem to be a failure, we are not failures—the results belong to God. If as we serve God, the ministry seems to be prospering, that too is God’s business. The success belongs to God. God always gets the credit. This stands in direct contrast with those like the hypocrites Jesus will criticize in the next chapter who did things to draw attention to themselves. We are to be salt and light and to do good works in such a way that attention is drawn to Jesus and not to us.
Jesus said that if you are His disciple, you are salt and light in this world. Are you adding an enhancing flavor to the world, bringing out and preserving the God-created goodness, or have you lost your saltiness? Are you shining forth the light of Christ, or are you hiding the light?
What good is salt? Salt is a food preservative against rotting. We flavor to life and preserve life and society. When we describe someone as salt of the earth, we usually mean that the person is authentic, real, genuine, down-to-earth, and whose presence adds value not only to our lives but also to the world at large.
Salt doesn’t normally lose its strength, and neither should we. Jesus never means for us to lose our saltiness. The only way salt loses saltiness is by diluting it with water. We lose saltiness when we dilute ourselves with worldly behaviors and practices. High divorce rates, hate speech, gossip, cheating, lying, unethical business practices, and selfish behaviors by those who name the name of Christ cause the salt to lose its saltiness. As salt we are supposed to retard moral and ethical decay, not succumb to it. The good news is that when the water dries up, the salt regains its saltiness. It’s reconcentrated. The same is true for us. When we get rid of those behaviors and practices that contradict the life that Jesus has set for us, we too can be reconcentrated. When we confess and repent, turning again to follow Jesus, we regain our saltiness.
If we are untrue to our convictions, we lose our saltiness. There were also merchants who adulterated the salt by adding a cheap white powder to it in order to make more profit. The church has been guilty of adulterating the gospel in order to attract more followers. When we lose our loyalty to Jesus, we adulterate ourselves with the world and lose our ability to add the flavor of His goodness and holiness.
But we aren’t just supposed to be overwhelmingly salty either. When the proper amount of salt is used in cooking, it doesn’t make the dish salty, but it enhances the other flavors that are there, bringing out their goodness. We when act as salt, we lose our self, but bring out the God-given goodness in others as well as in ourselves.
We are also the light of the world. The light, however, doesn’t originate with us. Christ also called Himself “the light of the world.” He is the light, and we allow Him to shine through us as He lives in us. We make God’s light visible to others. We witness to the light when we testify to God’s transforming power in our lives both by our words and actions. How is God transforming you? What transformations can you see in your life?
Our Ephesians passage tells us we weren’t just in darkness without Christ; we were darkness. Now as children of light we to live what is good, right, and true—things that come from Christ. We also expose unfruitful works of darkness so that they can be renounced. We don’t expose works of darkness to bring judgment, but to turn them into light. We also have full assurance in the fact that the darkness will overcome the light. Have you ever been in a place that was really dark? I went on a cave tour where at one point, they turned off the lights. They wanted you to experience the weight of the darkness and demonstrate how little light was way down under the ground. And it was thickly dark at first. No sunlight could get in. You couldn’t even see the person next to you. But then, as you stood there awhile, you could start to see a bit of contrast. Even in pitch blackness, there was light because living things emit a little light of their own, and the dampness reflected the light. The light will always overcome the darkness, so we can keep shining brightly for Jesus. I have been blessed to know many people who glow with the light of Jesus. It’s really special when I get to see it in you. You do have that potential to burn brightly with Jesus.
We are to light the way to peace and safety like a city on a hill, which would have been a welcome site for a weary traveler on the road. Do we represent safety and rest for weary pilgrims in this world? Is our church a place of safety and rest?
Light also symbolizes meaning and insight. It’s not accident that in cartoons a light bulb is used to represent when someone has an idea or epiphany. We carry the light that gives meaning and purpose to living—the light of the gospel. The light we carry gives hope to a despairing world.
We hide God’s light when our actions don’t match our words. We also hide God’s light when we are ashamed of the gospel. Another way we lose our light is by being unplugged from the source. Jesus is never unplugged from us, because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, but we can choose not to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit.
God’s light is seen in what we do. Kingdom living isn’t passive but active. Light must shine to carry out its mission. We have a job to do—carry out God’s mission. We are to live righteously to reflect God’s glory. It is our purpose to glorify God. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say when they see our good works, we are glorified, but that when they see our good works, they glorify our Father in heaven. All of our good works belong to God and are the result of God. God gets the glory for all we do. If as we serve God, things don’t turn out like we expect and seem to be a failure, we are not failures—the results belong to God. If as we serve God, the ministry seems to be prospering, that too is God’s business. The success belongs to God. God always gets the credit. This stands in direct contrast with those like the hypocrites Jesus will criticize in the next chapter who did things to draw attention to themselves. We are to be salt and light and to do good works in such a way that attention is drawn to Jesus and not to us.
Jesus said that if you are His disciple, you are salt and light in this world. Are you adding an enhancing flavor to the world, bringing out and preserving the God-created goodness, or have you lost your saltiness? Are you shining forth the light of Christ, or are you hiding the light?
Monday, March 28, 2011
Presbytery Speech Regarding 10-A
Mr. Moderator, I wish I could be speak for this amendment. The wording of this proposed amendment “to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G-1.0000)” more accurately reflects what we are to look for as we examine candidates for leadership in our church than our current wording. It does not single out a specific area of life. We remember that all aspects of life must come under Christ’s Lordship, our behaviors, our relationships, our attitudes, our actions, our character, our possessions—everything. It reminds us not to exalt one area of life over another, or to justify ourselves, that because we do not struggle in one particular area, our own sinful habits and lifestyles are thereby excused. We have at times been guilty of focusing on a speck without removing the log from our own eye.
I have been grieved by the hateful speech of superiority I have heard from both proponents and opponents of this amendment. All of us struggle with sin. No one’s sin is of lesser severity in the eyes of God than another person’s. We all even relapse and commit the same sin from which we repented. This is our Romans 7 struggle, and therefore is not to be something that should be used to exclude a person called and equipped by God from ordained ministry.
However, it has become very clear through articles, emails, comments, and even the rationale the GA committee uses in the very booklets we were given, that this amendment is not about submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life. It is really an attempt to exclude aspects of our life from the Lordship of Christ.
There is a big difference between one who struggles with sin and repents, even though he or she may relapse, and one who justifies or excuses behavior even by saying, “Well, this is just the way I am.” When we dig in our heels and say, “This is just the way I am, we limit the transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who can rescue us from this body of sin and death. We have a form of godliness but deny God’s power. If we do not admit that we need transformation, then we will not be transformed, but if we want to be transformed, there is no limit to what God can do.
I have worked as a leader in a Christ-centered recovery program for 3 years.
I’m sorry this program has to exist as a parachurch ministry when it should be the way of the church period. Our recovery program welcomes everyone just as they are. We should welcome everyone who comes to our churches just as they are. We should welcome everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior into full fellowship and full communion. We have not, and for that I am truly sorry. The church has been a place of judgment instead of a hospital for sin-sick souls.
But we should also, as we do in our recovery group, love people toward transformation so that they become more like Jesus and put off their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. We must, as we do in our recovery group, never make excuses for or make light of our relapses and sins, but constantly, do as this amendment says, submit all of our lives and wills to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And certainly, when it comes to ordained ministry, our lives should bear fruit showing that we are submitting every aspect of life to the Lordship of Christ. Again, not that we don’t fail, but that our failings are followed by confession and repentance and not justification or dismissal.
I have prayed about this and asked God to correct my theology if I am the one in the wrong. I take sin seriously, my own as well as that in the church and of the Church. I cannot thereby endorse this amendment, knowing that it will be used in the very opposition of its wording.
I have been grieved by the hateful speech of superiority I have heard from both proponents and opponents of this amendment. All of us struggle with sin. No one’s sin is of lesser severity in the eyes of God than another person’s. We all even relapse and commit the same sin from which we repented. This is our Romans 7 struggle, and therefore is not to be something that should be used to exclude a person called and equipped by God from ordained ministry.
However, it has become very clear through articles, emails, comments, and even the rationale the GA committee uses in the very booklets we were given, that this amendment is not about submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life. It is really an attempt to exclude aspects of our life from the Lordship of Christ.
There is a big difference between one who struggles with sin and repents, even though he or she may relapse, and one who justifies or excuses behavior even by saying, “Well, this is just the way I am.” When we dig in our heels and say, “This is just the way I am, we limit the transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who can rescue us from this body of sin and death. We have a form of godliness but deny God’s power. If we do not admit that we need transformation, then we will not be transformed, but if we want to be transformed, there is no limit to what God can do.
I have worked as a leader in a Christ-centered recovery program for 3 years.
I’m sorry this program has to exist as a parachurch ministry when it should be the way of the church period. Our recovery program welcomes everyone just as they are. We should welcome everyone who comes to our churches just as they are. We should welcome everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior into full fellowship and full communion. We have not, and for that I am truly sorry. The church has been a place of judgment instead of a hospital for sin-sick souls.
But we should also, as we do in our recovery group, love people toward transformation so that they become more like Jesus and put off their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. We must, as we do in our recovery group, never make excuses for or make light of our relapses and sins, but constantly, do as this amendment says, submit all of our lives and wills to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And certainly, when it comes to ordained ministry, our lives should bear fruit showing that we are submitting every aspect of life to the Lordship of Christ. Again, not that we don’t fail, but that our failings are followed by confession and repentance and not justification or dismissal.
I have prayed about this and asked God to correct my theology if I am the one in the wrong. I take sin seriously, my own as well as that in the church and of the Church. I cannot thereby endorse this amendment, knowing that it will be used in the very opposition of its wording.
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