the final breakthrough to fellowship

“Confess your sins one to another” (James 5:16).

“He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners…All sham has ended in the presence of Christ. The misery of the sinner and the mercy of God – this is the truth of the Gospel in Jesus Christ.” – (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 112, empahsis mine)

interrupted by god

are you open and willing to be interrupted by god?

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.” (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 98)

listening with the ears of god

are we listeners? do we listen with the ears of god or are we always talking when we should be listening? does our lack of listening to others and our love of hearing ourselves talk ultimately lead to “prattle in the presence of god” too?

“Listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking when they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too…We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.” – (Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 98. empahsis mine)

mercy’s robe, a ring of grace…

this is an animation set to a song called “prodigal” by sovereign grace music on the album, “sons and daughters,” which was released in august 2009 and recently voted worship compilation of the year in the “worship leader magazine” readers’ choice awards. the song lyrics are below the video. 

“Prodigal”
 
You held out Your arms, I walked away
Insolent, I spurned Your face
Squandering the gifts You gave to me
Holding close forbidden things
Destitute, a rebel still, a fool in all my pride
The world I once enjoyed is death to me
No joy, no hope, no life

Where now are the friends that I had bought
Gone with every penny lost
What hope could there be for such as I
Sold out to a world of lies
Oh, to see Your face again, it seems so distant now
Could it be that You would take me back
A servant in Your house

You held out Your arms, I see them still
You never left, You never will
Running to embrace me, now I know
Your cords of love will always hold
Mercy’s robe, a ring of grace
Such favor undeserved
You sing over me and celebrate
The rebel now Your child

“YOU”

the version above has been having problems. if it doesn’t work, you can check out a different presentation of the same poem here.

“I AM”

who crucified jesus?

who crucified jesus? this is a great question to contemplate as easter approaches. here’s how john piper answers the question in his book, “the passion of jesus christ: fifty reasons why he came to die.”

“The ultimate answer to the question, Who crucified Jesus? is: God did. It is a staggering thought. Jesus was his Son. And the suffering was unsurpassed. But the whole message of the Bible leads to this conclusion (Isaiah 53:10; Acts 4:27-28; Romans 3:25, 8:32)… The depth and scope of this divine sovereignty takes our breath away. But it is also the key to our salvation.”

we need to dwell deeply on this question and on the profound answer we find in the bible. and it gets even deeper when you read jesus’ own amazing statement recorded in john 10:17-18…

“I [Jesus] lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

reflecting on this passage, piper notes: “The controversy about who killed jesus is marginal. He chose to die. His father ordained it. He embraced it.”

the scandalous sovereignty of god set forth in these and other passages should shatter any simplistic, sentimental, self-serving thoughts we have about our savior and should send us to our knees weeping in worship and gazing at the glory of god in the face of christ.