God’s word gives us the confidence and the freedom to not feel shaken and be open minded and not be afraid. I have confidence that God’s word is absolutely true because it has been proven and I have experienced it to be stronger than the world. Do not think that the word of God is afraid of the arguments of the world. The word of God is a roaring lion, it doesn’t run away from the arguments of this evil age. It faces them head on and tears them apart, because of this we can be patient, kind, loving, and good listeners. We can rest in his might.

We find safety in our pride.

It is in our nature to hold on to our view, our own version of “truth” or to be conformed into the world’s viewpoint around us. In Genesis, the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to find their “truth” outside of God, to determine their own version of good and evil. We have become wise in our own eyes. Sin corrupts our hearts desires and drives us to pursue our own glory though a self-centered world view.

Whatever we pursue and look to outside of God shapes our version of “truth”. It shapes how we think, how we look at the world, and who we are. We identify who we are with these “truths” and they become integral to our “self”.

We build a world surrounded by our perceptions and experiences. We trust our interpretations and our ideas of how this world works. Our “truth”, this “worldly wisdom”, becomes our sanctuary for it explains the world around us. It makes sense of the disorder and protects us. It becomes ingrained into who we are. It is a part of us. To stray from it is to walk on insecure ground, to risk your own heart, to be shaken. To stray from it is to lose one’s very self.

So, instead of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, we fight to hold on to our own “integrity”, our own “truth”, our own world view. “Worldly wisdom” becomes our refuge. Our interpretation of the world helps us to make sense of the world. It keeps us stable. It’s safe. It makes sense. And it’s comfortable. It doesn’t shake up our world. It doesn’t call us to die to our self.

It is a scary thing to have our world turned upside down, to find out that our “truth”, our world view has been a lie. To find out that who we are is a lie. However, that is what the Gospel does. It takes us into a world that is unknown, a world that strips away our “worldly wisdom” that strips the very essence of who we think we are and calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. Our view of the world has become not just a collage of ideas, but how we see ourselves in the deepest part of our being. So the Gospel call is a call that feels like we are losing the essence of who we are. This is often why we fight. We don’t want to lose our stability.

So, when God speaks His truth into our hearts, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”, we are shaken. We are rocked to the core. What we held on to for security becomes shaky ground. Our “self” is in danger. And we fight and stubbornly hold on to what we know.

How does this affect our relationships?

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. – James 4:1-4, ESV

We have chosen our own world view apart God and have become enemies of God, wallowing in our adultery and rebellion. And our muck is splashed around on ourselves and others. Now our passions, our desires, our world views rule our relationships causing us to covet, to fight and quarrel, and to murder. Even our best relationships are fractured by our pride, lust, and greed. We are damaged.

• Conversations and interactions with others are centered around my world and my interpretations of reality.
• We pursue protecting our world view above truth in our interactions with others.
• We pursue protecting our world above loving the other person.
• We don’t make Christ the center of our relationship because His light exposes our faulty world and makes us unstable.
• We refuse to be corrected and broken, for these things destroy our world view.

In our pride, we don’t realize how evil we truly are. Jesus called us to die to ourselves. If we are willing to choose our pride over our relationships and let our pride destroy our relationships, is it no surprise that we would choose the things of this world over God. It is this holding on to our world and our desiring it above God that brings hell. Thankfully, Jesus has come to destroy our world and in him we can die to ourselves.

Safety is found in brokenness.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. – Psalm 51:17

Thus says the Lord,

“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?
“For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.
“But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. – Isaiah 66:1,2

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.   – Romans 12:1,2

To know Truth, we must die; we must be stripped of our glory.

In the scripture, when men came in the presence of the glory of God, they trembled. Their world fell apart in the light and majesty of God. In Christ, we boldly come to the throne room of God. And in the presence of God, we become broken. Our dependency on ourselves dies; our world views crumble and fall away, and the veil that keeps us from seeing Beauty is stripped away. And as our world crumbles away, we are held in the arms of our Father. God is our refuge, and we are loved. And in His arms, we truly become who we are.

In His loving presence, our daily walk is one of having our man-made “security” stripped away from us and nailed to the cross. We no longer need to look to our own “integrity”. We no longer need to uphold our glory. We instead behold the Lamb of God, who takes away our sin. It is in the cross that we find our true identity. In this act of presenting our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, we rest in God as our refuge, and He boldly takes us into His arms and brings us close to Himself.

Therefore, let this false wisdom fall away, let my world be crushed and my heart broken as God calls me into His Holy presence and I am changed and conformed into the image of Christ and brought into a love that will consume me and make me truly me.

How does this affect our relationships?

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. –  Colossians 3:12-17, ESV

Adam and Eve’s relationship fractured when they pursued their own world view and no longer found their safety in God’s Word. They no longer encouraged each other to trust in God’s Word, but instead sought to defend their own definition of “good and evil”. They were at odds with themselves and God. Through the work and worth of Jesus, God is working in us to learn to intimately find our life in His Word, to rest in Christ’s glory and not our own. The Gospel strips us of our own glory, our own safety, our own righteousness, our own truth and gives us the royal robes of Jesus. It also equips us to speak the Gospel into one another’s life and makes us vulnerable to hearing the gospel spoken into our own lives. Through the brokenness of the gospel, we pursue intimacy with Christ together and in that pursuit our love for one another grows.

• When Christ rules, it is no longer about defending oneself or world view
• There is security in having an authority that is higher than our views on a subject, in conflict we can agree to pursue God’s truth and not our own.
• God’s will is “good and acceptable and perfect”. Our will is not so much. God loves us and his will is safe.
• When God’s will rather than our own desires rule, we can truly pursue each other in freedom.

If we stubbornly hold on and are unwilling to have our world views crushed and broken, and that on a continual and ongoing basis, we will miss out on the goodness and the joy of the Lord, that are found in the wonders of the Gospel.

Questions to Consider:

1. How do you respond to those who bring correction? Do you put up walls or get angry with others who confront you? Do you rejoice in and delight in correction? Do you thank and value those who are willing to bring correction into your life?
2. Do you require people to bring correction in a certain way or jump through hoops before you will listen, or do you value hearing correction regardless of how it is presented?
3. Do you attack those who confront you? Do you admit you were wrong?
4. Do you blame others for your sin? Are you unwilling to be honest about your pride?
5. Do you look for people to affirm you in the midst of your sin, or do seek people who will confront you with the horridness of your sin? Giving God’s command to cut off those things that hinder us from God, which is more beneficial regardless of motives?
6. Is the sin you hold on to so tightly and love, more important than the relationships around you? How long have you allowed it to destroy your relationships? If it is more important to you than those around you, how can you say that it is not more important than God as well?
7. Being broken means being near God, do you pursue safety rather than God’s presence?
8. In a discussion, is your goal to win an argument or to pursue truth? Do you care about winning an argument, if so, why? What does this say about your heart and your pride?
9. What are you willing to do to win an argument? How does this destroy relationships?
10. In a relationship, is it ok if you’re the one who is wrong and the one who needs correction every time or do you want there to be equal blame, equal correction? What does this say about what your worth means to you, your pride?
11. Do you actively pursue where you are wrong? Do you seek out others who will rebuke you or those who will make you feel confirmed?
12. When was the last time your world was shaken to its core? When was the last time you allowed the trembling in God’s presence to restore and heal your heart?
13. Will you take all this lightly, or will you allow these words to sink deeply into your heart and destroy your world? How tightly will you hold onto your sin?

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

(Hebrews 12:5–13, ESV)

God uses his word to expose us, but then washes us with his word and brings healing. Though God’s exposing our sin brings healing, we are “like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Psalm32:9). We want to conquer our sin in our own way. In a way that makes us feel safe. We want to hold on to our pride. We have forgotten the promise of the Gospel,

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;

my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

(Psalm 32:1–5, ESV)

Healing never comes from protecting our pride. But the love of God for us is immense even in this for it is in this state that God calls to us. “Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’? But he gives us more grace. Therefore, it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and morn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to morning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James4:5-10). When we see ourselves as we are, we ought to morn and weep, for our sin is great. But when we understand this, we also understand God’s grace for us, and we no longer have to perform before God or man. We can lay down our performance. Jesus calls to us, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

One of the reasons we hold on to our pride is because the Gospel does not call us to live alone but calls us to walk this out in community. James is clear that healing comes from hearing the word of God. God’s word comes alive as we experience the body of Christ. We are not meant to hear God’s word alone. The scripture says, “Better is open rebuke, then hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:5,6a). James ends his letter with this, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” As Paul admonishes us to put sin to death, he also encourages us to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). And in this truth, we are not only surrounded by the love of God but the love of the body of Christ.

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. (2 Corinthians 11:1–4, ESV)

Have you ever been haunted by the feeling that you are unworthy? For me, no matter how long I have walked in the Christian faith, this feeling innately lurks and threatens to engulf me. As I look around, I see so many others who have it all together. I listen to sermons that talk about what the Christian life is supposed to look like. And I know that this is not a category I belong to. . .. Regrettably, it is true, I am unworthy, unable to meet this ideal of the Christian walk that I hear about. I am not the “Christian example” or “witness to the world” that I am told I am supposed to be.

We often hear of our need to grow in our walk as Christians to experience this thing called sanctification. We might hear someone expound on the disciplines of the faith or give us so and so many steps to growth or freedom, or this is what it means to be a Godly man or a woman, husband, wife, or parent. Or this is how to conduct business in a Christian fashion. We might be told how we must love those around us by others, with them following up, “oh, by the way here are some more practical steps on how to accomplish this.” Or we might be given a rousing sermon on the need for us to go forth into the world to preach the Gospel. And in this kind of preaching, we often see vigorous movement and passion. People take hold of this advice and apply it to their lives. There is church growth and a lot of great accomplishments. But if we are not careful there is a deeper hidden danger threatening to tear us apart.

These kinds of teachings abound with tips and advice on living the Christian life. And while there is often some value and truth in the advice that is given, the central message of the Gospel is easily missed if we are not careful. When this happens it leaves me discontented and with the stark understanding of the contrast in my own life to the message being taught. I have not lived up to nor do I feel like I can be the man I am being asked to be. I am not the man I want to be. I flounder in my attempts to live up to these standards. My heart is there, but my flesh tumbles and falls making an obvious show of my failures. And if I am honest, and compare myself to the law of God, I am an utter failure, every day, every moment, every breath. Even if I can accomplish these tasks outwardly, in my heart, I am not there. I don’t love as I ought. I don’t spend time with God as I ought. In fact, I can say with Paul, “Wretched man that I am!” And as Paul knew, I know deep down those platitudes, steps, disciplines, programs, no thing can save me from my plight. Even if I were able to accomplish all this, they don’t satisfy the deep longings in my heart for something more. Living by these standards leaves me empty. So, is there hope for me? “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24, emphasis mine)

Most Christian’s understand that before coming to the faith, without Christ, we were hopeless and unable to save ourselves. We heartily confess that it is by faith alone in Christ alone that we are saved. But often after coming to faith in Christ, we forget how hopeless we are, and we try to muster up our own sanctification. We have this cognitive dissonance and become foolish as we comically try to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, forgetting our helpless state without Jesus. In our pride, we want something we can call our own. And having a law or steps we can follow makes life easy. But if you have been a Christian long enough, you have seen many who lived by these kinds of standards, only to either fall or be entrapped by it. And it becomes clear that this kind of life is not the life the Gospel has called us to. For in this pursuit of good works, we have turned aside and have been led astray from the sincere and pure devotion to Jesus. Paul fights this kind of understanding of the Christian life, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh” (Galatians 3:1-3, ESV)? The reason this kind of pursuit fails is because, “all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them” (3:10). If living the perfect Christian life is our goal, we will miss out on the Gospel, and we have left God to walk on our own, and we are standing on shaky ground. Tablets of stone or a set of guidelines cannot change a heart, only one who lives and acts and loves can have any effect on our hearts. When we come to him, Jesus’ love can overflow in our hearts because he lives, and he is the author and perfector of our faith. God has not called us to walk by good advice, he has called us to walk in the good news.

So how do we walk as Christians? What is sanctification? Does not Paul also say we are to turn away from sin and that we are not supposed to be like the world? Indeed, this is true, things like loving my wife and children, living in chastity, and practically loving others are good things and are important, but we do not accomplish “holiness” as the world does or as we did before we came to Christ. A man of the world can follow rules and steps to a good life, and some are quite remarkable at this, but this is not the walk God has called us to. We must take caution and not be deceived, for evil often appears to be good for us and a delight and necessary to make one wise. These steps and methods appear good, pleasant, and wise, but can lead to death. We think we are walking in good works, yet in truth these kinds of efforts are fruitless for instead of walking by the Spirit, we are walking in the flesh, in our desires, and in the pride of life. And with time this kind of “good fruit” if eaten will only become foul smelling rotten fruit and casts us away from the presence of God. What tasted good and seemed satisfying will only cause our stomachs to lurch. It will not last. And like I said before, if you have been in the Christian walk long enough, you will find that many who try to walk this way, fail. Martin Luther understood this and sang out with gusto, “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing” (A Might Fortress is Our God). The reason following good advice, rules, or steps in the Christian faith fail are because in the end it is your own work that you are relying on. When you rely on your own effort all that you are left with is yourself and what you have accomplished. And we don’t make good and lasting foundations. We in ourselves are as wavering as the sea. We need to be astonished and pushed outside of ourselves by something far greater. We must die to ourselves. If we want eternal fruit, sanctification must be built on a stronger foundation. Keep in mind, your good works were not enough before you came to Christ, they will not be good enough after we have come to Christ. We must be careful not to be lured by craftiness or what appears to be wise. We ought not go back to our own vomit and try to present them as delicacies. We don’t have to live a façade, trying to lift ourselves up in front of the world. The Gospel message is not showing the world a “good Christian life”. This is contrary to the Gospel of Christ. Thankfully, God offers us something far more beautiful than the wisdom of this world.

Jesus spoke to our shame when he spoke to the woman at the well in John 4, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” When approached with this understanding, we are often like the woman, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” For us this call is like trying to walk on water, it looks like it will end in utter failure. We will say, let’s be practical and keep our feet on the earth and not have our heads in the clouds. And so instead of coming to him, we continue to try to build ourselves up by our own methods and as Israel we look to others to defeat our enemy only to be pierced on the reeds we lean on. To this Jesus warns and gives assurance, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” So, what is sanctification? It is continuing our walk as we began it, completely and utterly dependent on Jesus as our source of living water. It is coming more and more to trust in the Gospel. Do we not know innately that this is the case with glorification as well.  Do we think we will be romping about around God’s throne boasting in our own merit. Of course not, we will all cast our crowns with great joy at the feet of Jesus and declare that these things we have are from him alone and to the glory of God alone. As our understanding of God’s Holiness increases, so also our understanding of our need of the Gospel and our unworthiness of it will also increase. And this understanding will fill our hearts with joy bursting forth in praise for all eternity.

And what does Paul say is the walk of a mature Christian. It is saying with Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes from faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith –”(Philippians 3:8-9, ESV) He later goes on to say, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you” (12-15). The walk of maturity is not relying on our works or holiness, but a walk toward relying on Jesus and what he has done for us in the Gospel more and more.

To those who want to stand on something more earthy or want to boast in methods they have achieved, Paul in Colossians 3 writes, “Put to death therefor what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). And what does Paul give as the power to put these earthly things to death. Is it our own efforts? Is it methods or steps? No, he tells us to look to Christ. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden in Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4, ESV)

It is when we behold Jesus our Teacher that are idols become an abomination to us.

your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!” (Isaiah 30:20b–22, ESV)

Ah yes, there is a famous scene paraded across many videos of two people in love, or perhaps a parent and a young child, running toward each other after having been apart. If they are carrying something heavy that is slowing them down they throw it off with abandon, so they can run faster toward the one they love. Is running toward Jesus practical? I believe it is the most practical method of defeating sin. The writer of Hebrews assures us of this, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,” (Hebrews 12:1-2b, ESV). It is only in looking to and running toward Jesus that our idols truly become repugnant and loathsome. Running after the love of Jesus through faith provides the highest repulsion for sin.

As we behold the beauty of Jesus the things of this world will begin to pale in comparison. Repenting and turning away from the kingdom of darkness becomes natural when you are entranced by the beauty of the Kingdom of God. Walking in holiness is like a king spreading a banquet before ones who are used to eating odious slop and filth. When we are entranced by beauty and the savory smell of the food, it is not difficult to give up slop to revel in God’s delicacies. The Bible is clear that we do not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, this word being Jesus. For, “this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). And Jesus is the object of this feast. Jesus made it clear, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35, ESV). For he had declared, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (6:29). And “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (6:40)

In the same way, a tree planted by water does not find it difficult to bear fruit, nor does not boast of its great ability. It is the natural outcome of its reliance on the water. When we come to Jesus, we are no longer planted in this world but are planted in Jesus. And we grow not by our own efforts, but as his love and the power of the Gospel sustains us. We are not perfect yet, nor will we be made perfect on earth, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV). Yet he has promised that one day we will see him face to face. And it is in seeing him face to face that we will be glorified. Perfection or glorification will not come by works but will like all else come only by seeing Jesus. It is in beholding the Lamb of God, and trusting in Him, that we will be made perfect, for it is from faith to faith. “Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2, ESV). To the world beholding someone is a foolish way to grow, give us a method give us some thing, but to those who wish to work to this foolishness, God says, cease your striving, while it is called Today, enter my rest, come to the one who gives life, come to Jesus.

 “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:27-31, ESV).

And this is the good news, because of what Christ has done, we can come to God and come near to the throne of grace. And Jesus cries out to all those who are enveloped with shame, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV).

God will not tolerate any god beside him, including self-righteousness. Do not think that the man who outwardly leads his family well and has amazing obedient children, but relies on his own effort, will have his works stand before God. No, give me a man utterly struggling in sin, but who knows his only hope is in Jesus. No one is without sin. We all struggle. There is no man, that does not fit this description. And it is the broken that understand this is who they are and their need of the Gospel. Jesus alone is the cornerstone, the sure foundation by which we stand. All things not built on this foundation will be shaken and destroyed. Let us not use the name of Jesus in vain, but solely trust in him and call upon him, trusting in his work and worth alone.

With this in mind, there is no shame, no boasting. Our greatest righteousness is filthy rags. You and I have nothing to boast of before our fellow man. Note this, Paul does not say maturity is obtaining some thing. This is important as we tend to look at outward appearances and deeds as a sign of maturity. He says maturity is our pursuit toward the goal of knowing our need for Jesus and a righteousness that comes from him alone. Maturity is pursuing someone. Jesus alone can satisfy our hunger and thirst. And Paul goes on and reveals that he has not even perfected this pursuit but is relying on the perfector of our faith to accomplish this kind of faith. This kind of walk does not cause us to focus on ourselves, evaluating whether or not we meet some standard of holiness or pursuit of Christ. We don’t have time for that, for we are looking at Jesus, trusting in him alone and not in ourselves. And the reality is as we come to know Jesus more, the more we come to understand God’s holiness, and the more we understand God’s holiness, the more we understand our unworthiness and our desperate need for the cross. It is never about us. We are fellow beggars pointing not to our goodness as an example to follow, but instead we point away from ourselves to Jesus. He alone is our hope. We no longer judge by outward appearances, nor do we concern ourselves with these trivial things. Instead in our desperate state we stand in awe of the beauty of Jesus.

Nor do we shrink back when our sin is exposed by others, but instead rejoice, for faithful and beautiful are the wounds of a friend. As there is no boasting, there is no shame. In this knowledge of our state as a “wretched man”, we can be vulnerable. Exhortation we receive, becomes an act of loving devotion, that like oil poured on the head brings refreshing and healing as it helps us to run faster toward Jesus (Proverbs 27:6, Psalm 141:5, also read more on this here). As someone running toward a beloved, I want anything that is hindering me from seeing Jesus to be exposed, pride is one of those things that just slow me down, and so let these precious wounds come, for I want to see Jesus more. Exhortation is not one man trying to lift another man up out of the pit. Exhortation is two men encouraging each other to trust that the rope, aka the Gospel message, pulling them up out of the pit is strong enough to not break and the one who is pulling them up, Jesus, is strong enough to complete the task. It is saying to one another don’t let go of your hope in Jesus.

After Paul says to set our minds on the things that are above, for our life is hidden in Christ, again with this in mind, he states,

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12–17, ESV)

So yes, though we do not strive like the world, or give advice like the world, we do speak into one another’s lives. We may even say similar things, for example, I might tell my brother, “Go love your children”, because I trust the Shephard who has called us to love others, but the core and the message are starkly different. I don’t push him toward himself, instead I call him to behold the Lamb of God, knowing it is in this alone that he and I can love our children as Christ loves us. We are both aware he and I are completely and utterly helpless to love our children without Christ, and we are only calling each other to take hold of Christ. Our Shephard is faithful to take care of his sheep. He will help me to love others, even when I completely fail to love others. And when I say this to my brother I don’t have any remote thought of, “I have obtained this” or “I am better or more spiritual”. On the contrary, I understand my need for my brother to likewise encourage me to trust in the Gospel of Christ for my own heart is so quick to wonder from the simplicity and sole devotion to Christ alone and instead look to the fruit as my hope, instead of feasting on Christ alone.

But here is also another benefit. Jesus is our Shephard and the one at work to accomplish what he has begun. Because Jesus is at work in us, and because we can trust in his work alone. We no longer have to look at ourselves for sanctification or good works. We have the freedom to jump out there and attempt to love our children and completely and utterly fail, because we know that even in our failure Christ will not fail. We don’t sit in a hole or put our head in the sand and hide, till we get things perfect, but have the freedom to run this race, because he who began his work in us promises to complete it. We are not bound by the law or perfection, but instead held by mighty hands. “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (Psalm 63:8).

As sheep our goal is to know the Shephard’s voice for it is the voice of God that has the power to change our hearts. For we do not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, which is the Logos, Jesus. So, let us “be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Psalm 32:9, ESV). Read Psalm 32, these words are not for one who is perfect, but for the sinner. For the one whom God does not count their sin against them. God is not looking for the perfect man, but one whose heart is after him. He desires us to simply come to him. O sinner!, let us run to and come near Jesus with all abandonment, for “whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25, ESV), knowing that “my flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (73:26). Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith, and he will complete the work he has begun, despite our shame, despite our foolishness, despite our failures. So come near without fear all who are weary.

I have had friends come to me with their struggles with sin, and I will tell them my main focus is not your sin but to point you to Jesus and I need the same from you in my own life. Our struggles with sin will never end till we see Jesus, face to face. So we should not be surprised or shocked that we or our fellow brothers and sisters struggle with sin. Repentance is walking away from the world and sin and yes our own good works, toward Christ. We must remember our hope is not in overcoming sin, but in the Gospel alone. We might “overcome” a sin, but this does not bring us closer to Christ. The Gospel alone brings us into the presence of God, and it is his presence that refines our dross as fire refines silver.

Nor is my hope in the fruit Christ has born in my life or the sin I have overcome. A tree bearing fruit does not rely on its fruit to stay alive, nor does it suddenly lose its desperate need for the water. Without Christ we are nothing. A strong motivation for me to speak Christ into others is because I realize I desperately need them to be speaking Christ into my own life. Though I have partaken of a delicacy another brother has not and want to share it with him, I can be assured he has probably partaken of many more delicacies that I have not tried that I will be the better for. And who wants to miss out on a glorious feast? How silly it would be for either of us to boast in something neither of us has prepared or be in awe of each other for sharing what has been given to us by Jesus.

And here is also a warning for those who love the world, you are not invited to the King’s banquet to leave it to go back and delight in refuse. You cannot presume you are planted by water when you refuse to drink from the river because you love the desert. Those who love this world will not come to Jesus, for they love the darkness more than the light. Those who refuse to come to Jesus and abide and rest in him alone, will continue to be thirsty and hungry. And those who try to get in through the gate by any other means than Jesus, including good works, will be cast out. And so the message of the church is to call everyone to Jesus alone as the wellspring and bread of life.

As is written, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16, ESV) We need each other, we are not built into Christ alone. I cannot do this without even the so-called least of my brothers. Since we will all be made perfected in Christ when we see him and are now being perfected in his timing and wisdom, on what grounds do we have to look down on another? Do we question the author and perfector of our faith or our brother’s faith? “On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” We don’t abandon each other even when it is rough. Even the heathen can love someone easy to get along with.  But we have come to a beauty far greater than what is known among the heathens. The beauty of Christ can only be known more fully as we live our lives together. It is the pursuit of this beauty that binds us to one another. For we become more like Jesus as we live our messy lives together and as we speak the Gospel into each other’s lives, exhorting and pointing each other to the enveloping beauty of Jesus, for Jesus has taken on our shame. So as we live our messy lives together, we rejoice because “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox” (Proverbs 14:4). Again like Paul made clear we are not yet perfect. We are all “wretched”. So we cannot expect a clean barn. But Christ is at work in all this and there will be a glorious harvest.

Good advice causes us to hide our failures, good news allows us to walk honestly without fear, and even gives us a longing for exhortation, for our worth is caught up in Jesus. We have died to ourselves. Our failures or the failures of others loses its luster in the beauty and light of the Gospel. God is near the broken hearted (Psalm 34:18, 51:17, 147:3; Isaiah 57:15, 66:2) and he holds us close to himself. There truly is no place for boasting in the body of Christ. And unlike methods and steps, Christ alone who is the cornerstone, our true foundation is the only one who can stand against the chaos of this world. So, may we to be found in Him and encourage each other in our pursuit of Jesus, the one who is the Lord of my shame, and the Lord of my sinful heart.

For “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:27-28, ESV).

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “the righteous will live by faith”. (Romans 1:17)

Walls not only prevent love coming in, they prevent it going out.

You cannot feel loved unless you are willing for your sin to be exposed.

.

“that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word”

“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

“for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” Luke 6:45, Matthew 12:34

I have heard this verse used to make quick judgment on a person. That person has said something foolish, and they are wailed into because of that statement. And when challenged, they say they are justified in their judgement because “out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks”. They might even add to this, “there is no other way of interpreting what that person said, so it really does demonstrate their heart”. Here is the deal, this is the lazy man’s way of condemning a person. Yes, it is true that what we say, reveals our heart. And if we say something foolish, hateful, bigoted, we need to examine our hearts. The problem comes when we think that that fact, makes us good interpreters of other people’s hearts. Yes, our words reveal who we are, but the who we are behind those words are not easily known. We need to understand, we are not good interpreters of other men’s heart. If we make statements like “there is no other way to interpret what they said” without due diligence, what just came out of our mouth is revealing more about us than the person we are judging. James writes, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Miscommunication happens all the time, knowing this is part of wisdom. We often don’t hear the intent of someone’s heart. I have misunderstood what someone has said and their intent many times in my life. I have also said things that didn’t come out as I intended. This scripture does not give us permission to make snap judgements on people.

What it does give us permission to do is talk and communicate. It is ok to ask and often we ought to ask, “You said this, it doesn’t sound right (or even “that statement is not ok”), what did you mean?”. The scripture is very clear that we ought to be involved in each other’s lives and calling each other to holiness. We are to speak into each other’s lives. The Gospel gives us this freedom. But we are to do so in humbleness, realizing we are horrible interpreters of the intent of someone’s heart, being ready to listen, and being slow to speak and slow to anger, and slow to judgement, and willing to ask the hard penetrating questions to get to know the person. The scripture does not call us to passivity but encourages us to be a part of each other’s life and growth.

This does not mean we don’t talk; the scripture calls us to exhort one another. But our discussions should be with the humility of understanding we are poor interpreters of our world. Because I am a fool, I want to listen more than I speak. When I speak being willing to be shown that I am wrong.

The fact is, we don’t do this well. Ok, well we can still discuss things. This is where we have push to love one another. Jesus said they would know that we are His by our love for one another. Thankfully this doesn’t mean we will always agree with one another. Jesus said that anyone can love those who love them. Real love shows up when we disagree yet pursue each other in love and fellowship and joy.

The scripture says, “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” This is not a lazy man’s task. It takes work, it takes patience, it takes being slow, it takes courage and a willingness to be uncomfortable. It takes love. Love is not lazy. The Gospel calls us to something greater.

Instead, we should come to these conversations, not to prove we are right, but with a heart of pursuing truth, pursuing to speak the truth in love, and being willing to hear the truth. Truth doesn’t need defending, it will stand, and is able to handle opposing views. Ultimately, regardless of where we are on our views, we will have to bow before the one who is Truth.

And so sometimes when we get upset because a person is not being honest and vulnerable with us, the issue is that we don’t believe they exist. We filter out what doesn’t fit our “persona”. We forget that it is difficult to talk with someone if we don’t believe they exist.

And sometimes, we are unwilling to give up our “personas” because it means we would have to be vulnerable ourselves, even if it just means something as simple as admitting we were wrong in our presumptions.

It is important to realize that we all do this. Because of the fall, we are creatures of misinterpretation. Understanding that we are misinterpreters is part of learning to get to know people. When we realize we do this often, we don’t hold on to those “personas” very tightly, and we are willing to have your “personas” destroyed. In fact, we expect to have false ideas about people and begin actively listening to others in order to destroy our false perspectives about them in a search to truly get to know who they are.

We are often so quick to speak into another person’s life, yet slow to listen. Before we have a chance to hear, we have already determined what is going on in that person’s heart. We may ask questions, but even those questions are only asked to get the person to see what we already know. And in this we break God’s commandment to not bare false witness against another and we falsely judge our fellow image bearer.

“The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.” – Proverbs 20:5

A man who is willing to understand will not be presumptuous or place his own assumptions on a person, but instead will be patient, willing to listen, and patiently draw out what is in the man’s heart.

It is one thing to call out a man on a specific sin he is committing. It is another to tell him what is going on in his heart. God does call us to help one another in this, but it is to be done with humility, patience, and understanding. Like exploring deep water it takes more work than just looking at the surface. And if that is all you are willing to do, then it is to your folly and shame.

God alone knows our hearts fully.

“The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds.” – Jeremiah 17:9-10

As we explore one another’s hearts, we must also come humbly before God, knowing he alone can reveal a man’s heart. We are not able to understand our own heart and even more so the heart of another. We can however pursue each other in patience and love, allowing God to reveal our own hearts to one another. God alone understands the heart and we must come to him and listen in order to understand another person’s heart.

And this is our pursuit as we come to one another in admonition to die to our own words and to allow the word of Christ to speak into our hearts, that we may together come to know Christ more and more.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:12-17

Our sinful nature endears us to defend and attack those who bring a rebuke into our lives. We want to defend our worth, our righteousness. How dare they attack me? And look at them anyways, they are so messed up. Who are you to confront me? Go repent of your own sins. Besides, we are not supposed to judge others.

We hide our sins. We hold them down like a beach ball in water, wavering and struggling as we try to keep them from coming out in the open. We keep people away. The water may be murky but if they are too close they might see the beach ball. And if someone should come close enough to see this beach ball in the water, we create elaborate lies to defend our kingdom and to keep them out. Because we are so focused on keeping this beach ball out of view, our view and focus becomes so narrow, and we miss so much.

And if someone does come close enough to see our beach ball and say something, no matter how slight. We are like a bear defending her cub. This is how dear our sins are to us. We will rip anyone up for even possibly coming close or having any hint of rebuke. We are like a ruthless lawyer not concerned with truth or the others, only that we defend our appearance of worth and righteousness, even if it destroys those around us.

Not allowing rebuke is destructive to our lives and to our relationships. Our lives become a cycle of living a lie, by keeping people away and ripping them apart if they get too close. And if the beach ball does come out of the water it comes out explosively, destroying those around us. Not only do we do this with others, but we also push God away. We look and focus on protecting our sin, instead of looking to Jesus.

The scripture teaches us a different approach to rebuke – put your guard down, and let the blow come. For as we let our guard down and that blow comes, we become covered with the oil of kindness and joy and delight. When we get the gospel and it becomes rooted deeper and deeper into our hearts, the more we want our hearts to be exposed. The more we want our ugliness to be laid bare. The more we long for our brothers and sisters to love us enough to rebuke us. Because in this we have freedom. We no longer have to struggle to hold the beach ball under water. We have died to our own identity, and it is now found only in Jesus. We have the freedom to be honest about our sin for it no longer defines us and we have the freedom to grow in intimacy. It is refreshing and a joy to be rebuked, because it is in these rebukes that our sins which once hindered our view of Jesus become revealed and are cast off, and we get to behold more and more the beauty of our Lord.

So let your guard down and let the blow come . . .

Good conflicts pursue understanding and truth, bad conflicts accuse without listening or knowing the other person.