God Deliver Us
Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
Upon hearing the testimony of the blind man who Jesus had healed with spit and mud, the Pharisees declared themselves to be “disciples of Moses” and accused the now seeing man of being a follower of Jesus. The law was their foundation and from its vantage point they were comfortable in condemning everyone. They said they knew God spoke to Moses but that this man, Jesus, was a sinner and God does not speak to sinners.
They had many deceptions in their theology. There are times I feel sorry for them and times I am angry with them. But exposed inside their words are things that expose me as well. I am so given to condemnation and accusation and my words sometimes reveal Moses more than do they Jesus. I am not rejecting any kind of correction or even discernment. But I am openly lamenting my uncertainty about the line of demarcation between correcting and condemning, between discerning and judging, and between standing for truth and self righteousness.
I am not a follower of Moses, and I believe that the grace of Jesus Christ is an ocean that cannot be plumbed by the human mind or even theology. I have a collection of sins that disturb me and a much longer list of personal sins that seemingly disturb me much less. My sins, the ones which no one knows about but me and my God, and the ones which haunt my mind, refuse to allow themselves to become a blog post. And inside this castle of sin are little and great foxes.
And it is this hidden safety which affords me, and you, the license to condemn others so freely and with such verbal authority. But what authority would we have if our thoughts and perhaps some of our deeds were made as public as they have with others? And without the humility that embraces our profound reliance upon God’s grace, we have become nothing less than the Pharisees who claimed to see the speck so perfectly in others. And just so we can all feel comfortable, I do not discount the need for correction and the discernment of spirits.
But I do feel the need to point our discerning beams inward as often, and maybe more often, than we do outwardly. No revival will ever come without the following believers of Jesus Christ being personally broken over their own spiritual walk. And what I do claim to know is this:
While we go around drawing Mohammed, and being obsessed with heresy, and stuffing ballot boxes, and preoccupied with money and things, the church refuses to repent and seek God’s face in the closet of passionate prayer, and ultimately we have become obsessed with the church and have left our first love…Jesus.
They had many deceptions in their theology. There are times I feel sorry for them and times I am angry with them. But exposed inside their words are things that expose me as well. I am so given to condemnation and accusation and my words sometimes reveal Moses more than do they Jesus. I am not rejecting any kind of correction or even discernment. But I am openly lamenting my uncertainty about the line of demarcation between correcting and condemning, between discerning and judging, and between standing for truth and self righteousness.
I am not a follower of Moses, and I believe that the grace of Jesus Christ is an ocean that cannot be plumbed by the human mind or even theology. I have a collection of sins that disturb me and a much longer list of personal sins that seemingly disturb me much less. My sins, the ones which no one knows about but me and my God, and the ones which haunt my mind, refuse to allow themselves to become a blog post. And inside this castle of sin are little and great foxes.
And it is this hidden safety which affords me, and you, the license to condemn others so freely and with such verbal authority. But what authority would we have if our thoughts and perhaps some of our deeds were made as public as they have with others? And without the humility that embraces our profound reliance upon God’s grace, we have become nothing less than the Pharisees who claimed to see the speck so perfectly in others. And just so we can all feel comfortable, I do not discount the need for correction and the discernment of spirits.
But I do feel the need to point our discerning beams inward as often, and maybe more often, than we do outwardly. No revival will ever come without the following believers of Jesus Christ being personally broken over their own spiritual walk. And what I do claim to know is this:
While we go around drawing Mohammed, and being obsessed with heresy, and stuffing ballot boxes, and preoccupied with money and things, the church refuses to repent and seek God’s face in the closet of passionate prayer, and ultimately we have become obsessed with the church and have left our first love…Jesus.
Unless there is an unusual revival in the western church we will continue as we are.
God deliver us from what we have become.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment