Clean Hands and Pure Heart

The following quotes from Lead, by Paul David Tripp, seem all too apropos considering some of the recent news coming from Christian ministries.

“I have seen that when it comes to leaders’ struggle with sin, we tend to make unbiblical assumptions that cause us to be naïve and unprepared for battles that we will face in the life and ministry of leaders in our communities. It is not safe to assume that a seminary graduate is spiritually okay. It’s not safe to conclude that a very gifted leader is where he needs to be in his relationship with Jesus. It’s not necessarily true that a theologically insightful leader is spiritually mature. Ministry effectiveness is not to be confused with cleanness of heart. What you know about the public persona of a leader does not mean you do not need to be concerned about his private life” (181).

“Every leadership community should be clear that giftedness is not the same as spiritual maturity. Biblical literacy is not the same as spiritual maturity. We need to be clear that theological acumen is not the same as spiritual maturity. Ministry success is not the same as spiritual maturity. Popularity is not the same as spiritual maturity. Strategic insight is not the same as spiritual maturity” (196).

Revelations of ongoing, unrepentant sin make you wonder if a celebrity really was a Christian. (God alone knows.) The trust of the church has been betrayed on many occasions by many people.

None of us are completely free from temptation and sin. Jesus was the only person to live a perfect, sinless life. But by the grace of God we should be growing in obedience, humility, and integrity. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray He included, “Forgive us our debts… and lead us not into temptation” (Matt. 6:12-13). Why would He urge such prayers if in fact we are able by our own strength to avoid temptation and live free from sin? We are weak and fallible creatures, constantly in need of God’s power to sanctify us and conform us to the image of His Son.

Martin Luther, in the first sentence of his 95 Theses wrote, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ (Matthew 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Yet how many of us live that out day by day? How often are we blissfully unaware of, or hardened to, our sin?

King David, the “man after God’s own heart,” wrote in several of his psalms:

“Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression” (Psalm 19:13).

“Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in You” (Psalm 25:20).

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me” (Psalm 32:1-4a).

“There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me” (Psalm 38:3-4).

May God, by His grace, reveal our sins and bring conviction and repentance before those sins bury us too deeply in the mire. May our pride be broken before it becomes presumption. May we be quick to turn to Him for the mercy of forgiveness and the cleansing we need.

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalm 24:3-5).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

In “high church” traditions, the worship service generally includes recitations of confession and absolution each week. Those of us who attend less liturgical churches may not give much thought to the need for confession and reminders of God’s forgiveness. Even when there is a moment of silence for confession, it can be easy to overlook or minimize any sins we should be confessing. It’s true that we can confess and find forgiveness on our own anytime anywhere, but there is something unique and important about the experience of confessing together as the Body of Christ. Tish Harrison Warren writes in Liturgy of the Ordinary:

“When we confess and receive absolution together, we are reminded that none of our pathologies, neuroses, or sins, no matter how small or secret, affect only us. We are a church, a community, a family. We are not simply individuals with our pet sins and private brokenness. We are people who desperately need each other if we are to seek Christ and walk in repentance… Because of this, I need to hear my forgiveness proclaimed not only by God but by a representative of the body of Christ in which I receive grace, to remind me that though my sin is worse than I care to admit, I’m still welcome here. I’m still called into this community and loved” (58).

Although I’m not a big fan of recited prayers, which can often become meaningless repetition, I do think we all need frequent reminders of the seriousness of sin and the gracious forgiveness of our loving God. Martin Luther wrote that “the entire life of believers should be repentance.” And yet how often do we do so? Rich Mullins shared this story:

“Those of you that are young enough to go to camp and rededicate your life every year you keep doin’ it, ‘cause about the time you get to college you’re gonna learn that you have to rededicate your life about every six months. And then you’ll graduate from college and it will become a quarterly thing. By the time you're in your 40s and 50s you’ll do it about four times a day… Never forget what Jesus did for you. Never take lightly what it cost Him” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNYtYRbH6aI).

What might it look like for your church to adopt more regular practices confession and repentance? In many churches, the frequency of communion determines the frequency of repentance for a lot of the members. My church typically has communion quarterly plus a couple special occasions. Why does it take a special service for us to give thought to our need for the grace of forgiveness?

I would challenge all of us to take seriously the call to confess our sins and to walk in the light with Christ and with one another (1 John 1:7-9).

“The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth” (Psalm 145:17-18 ESV).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Unhidden

Every now and then I wish that the Protestant church had not abandoned the sacrament of confession. While I understand that that was a byproduct of acknowledging the priesthood of all believers, I think that for many Christians today it has become the “priesthood of no believers” or perhaps the “priesthood of me.” No, we don’t require a priest to serve as an intermediary between us and God, but there is something sacred that happens in fellowship when one believer is able to remind another based on Scripture, “God has forgiven you and He loves you.” Those words draw us closer to one another and to God as we look toward the cross of Jesus Christ.

Certainly there were abuses in the Catholic Church in the use of the confessional, penance, and the selling of indulgences. And there were those like Martin Luther who felt so burdened by his own sinfulness that he spent excessive amounts of time trying to remember and confess every sin that might possibly separate him from God. He hadn’t yet learned the freedom of grace and mercy in Christ. Those abuses and errors required correction and the Reformation was greatly needed. Unfortunately, I think many modern Christians may have taken things too far. There are many who see no need for the local church at all. They believe they can live out their faith without any input from anyone else. They refuse to accept that gathering together is a spiritual discipline that is necessary not only for their own growth in sanctification, but also for the growth of others. We are all weakened when some try to go it alone.

Specifically as it relates to confession, participating in close fellowship with others provides opportunity for accountability, encouragement, and reminders of the truth of God’s Word. I know there have been times when I’ve needed someone keeping me accountable for my actions, not so that they could enforce penance but so that I remember that there is someone who cares whether I stand or fall. (There is such a thing as beneficial shame that provides an extra incentive to endure.) There have also been times when I’ve needed such a person but I’ve opted not to find someone, and that is always a recipe for failure sooner or later.

Accountability to another person also serves as a reminder of the seriousness of sin. Without accountability, we can easily dismiss or rationalize our pet sins. With accountability, we see more of the eternal and relational consequences of sin, but also the abundance of grace that comes through Jesus’s death on the cross.

James wrote, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (5:16 ESV). Yet that seems to be the last thing many of us would choose to do. Confessing to one another is a way of agreeing with God that sin matters, grace abounds, God’s love endures, and we matter to Him and to one another.

Charles E. Moore wrote in Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People:

“Confession means far more than unloading one’s problems on someone else or striving for personal betterment. We bare our souls before our brothers and sisters for the sake of building up the body of Christ. Only by sharing life to this degree can we show the world that Jesus really does have the power to forgive sins, set burdened people free, and restore broken relationships.”

Paul David Tripp wrote:

“Confession shouldn’t be this scary thing we do our best to avoid. Sin, weakness, and failure shouldn’t be the constant elephant in the room that we all know is there but can’t (or won’t) talk about… It should be liberating, not understood as a moment of personal and relational loss. Our confession should be propelled by deep appreciation and gratitude toward God, who has made it possible for us to no longer fear being exposed.”

Olan Stubbs put it this way:

“Sometimes being honest with another person eye to eye about our sin forces us to be more honest with ourselves about our sin and ultimately more honest with the Lord… Whether it’s a small group, or an accountability group, or some other arrangement, we all need the help of other Christians in the church to assess, call out, and rebuke our sins, and to encourage us in holy living. Take advantage of the great gift God has given in providing not only forgiveness (Romans 8:1) and sin-killing power (Romans 8:4) by faith, but also other believers (Romans 12:5–8) to whom we can confess our sins and have them speak truth and grace back to us.”

I challenge all of us, myself included, to consider how we can better facilitate true community through the vulnerability of confession.

“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

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On a related note, Sam Storms had a couple recent blog posts that are worth reading on the importance of church membership:

http://www.samstorms.com/enjoying-god-blog/post/10-things-you-should-know-about-church-membership

http://www.samstorms.com/enjoying-god-blog/post/why-do-people-object-to-the-concept-of-membership-in-a-local-church

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.