March 2010 Congregational Letter – In the Midst of Lent

St. Augustine once wrote that each of us is created with a God-shaped vacuum. Only God can fill this void within us. God said through Jeremiah that He wants to fill our emptiness with His spring of living water. That means that He is like that spring of living water: constantly bubbling up, flowing forth, giving life. He alone is able to fill us completely and satisfy us completely as He pours His life into us. But all too often we’re like the people of Israel to whom Jeremiah spoke: We forsake Him – the spring of living water, and we dig our own cisterns – we try to come up with substitutes to fill the emptiness. The tragedy is that like the Israelites, our cisterns, our substitutes are cracked. They can’t provide life and they can’t hold life.

But Jesus meets us, just like He met the woman at the well. Remember her? She came to draw water, and Jesus saw her thirst for living water and offered it to her. Remember the substitute of her life? She tried to find a husband who could fill the void in her life. What a recipe for disappointment – and when one husband couldn’t fill the void, she moved to another. By the time Jesus met her she was working on husband number 6 in a sexual relationship outside of marriage. Only Jesus, the Living Water, could fill her deepest need. Only Jesus, the Living Water, can fill your deepest needs.

The Bible is full of stories of people who substituted something, or someone, for God. It’s called idolatry. An idol is anything we set up as a substitute for God. It doesn’t have to be a statue that you set up in your house – those are easier to see. The tougher ones are idols of the heart. They can be power, position, reputation, relationships, comfort, work, “the way we’ve always done it” … anything. These idols, these shifts of the heart, not only alienate us from God, but they also bring us into bondage to ourselves.

Sin not only estranges, it enslaves. It separates us from God and brings us into captivity. This is what Paul was talking about in Romans 7.15-24:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do– this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Only Jesus.

Next on the list is that we not only experience alienation from God, and bondage to ourselves, our sin also moves us into conflict with others. Sin lies at the root of our personality. It controls our ego. All the sins we commit are assertions of our self against either God or other people. It’s not easy to adjust to other people, is it? We tend to either look down on them or look up to them. Most of our quarrels stem from our misunderstanding of the other person’s point of view. It’s more natural for us to talk than to listen, to argue than to submit. Our conflict with others, our sin against others often boils down to an assertion of our self. We think, “I’ve been sinned against and wounded, I’ll be aggressive and tough so it won’t happen again. I’ve been sinned against and wounded, I’ll withdraw and defer so it won’t happen again.”

How does all this apply to us?

Francis MacNutt said “The first and deepest kind of healing that Christ brings is the forgiveness of our sins.” If Jesus is the way to the Father, the road we travel on is called forgiveness. The steps along the road to forgiveness begin with confession, repentance, and culminates with restoration.”

Confession
Confession admits the specific ways in which we’ve failed to stand in Christ. In confession we name the deed – we name the idol to which our heart has turned. Perhaps a fantasy life, a wrong relationship, maybe the holding onto of other’s sins against you. Maybe it’s been doing nothing – not responding to the needs around you, not sharing Jesus with those who are closest to you. Whatever. In naming the sin – in speaking it out loud – we break the power this sin has in our life. In naming the sin we own the action. Now, as you come to confession be ready for your flesh to rebel. “It’s too shameful” “You’ll be embarrassed.” Your mind may become distracted. But remember we come to Love personified. I think one of the titles He bore with most pleasure was “friend of sinners.” Jesus is the one who meets us, through His Spirit, in the act of confession. His grace allows us to make the confession. His presence brings clarity and peace. Through Jesus the Father calls us back. But we resist.

Andy Comisky wrote:

The immature, shadowy self resists the truth. It invests much in its own self-defense. It prattles ad nauseam about its needs, its wounds, and about those who have failed to love it aright. Instead of practicing the presence of Christ, the defended self prattles in the presence. He becomes grace resistant, choosing instead the broad path of self-righteousness.

Repentance
The word “repent” means “to turn back, away from, or toward.” It indicates an inward change of mind, heart, conviction and commitment. Repentance is rooted in the fear of God and a sorrow for offenses committed against Him. When repentance is accompanied by faith in Jesus it results in an outward turning from sin. Repentance is more than saying, “I’m sorry.” It’s an about face, a turning to Jesus.

Restoration
When we turn to the cross, when we behold the Lamb of God, when we see His body broken and bleeding because of our sin, when we give to Him the idols of our heart, when we own our sins by naming them and turning from them, He assumes them into Himself. In exchange He releases forgiveness and cleansing. We’re told that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

There’s a strange verse in the Bible, James 5.16:

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Why would God want us to confess our sins to one another? It’s difficult enough to confess them to Him! The key is that we don’t live individual Christian lives. We were saved from sin and saved into the body of Christ. One of the terrible consequences of our sin is that it isolates us. God redeems us and restores us through His body. Christ ministers to us through His body. As we confess our sins to Christ, He ministers to us through the prayers and words of other Christians. As they speak words of forgiveness and blessing, Christ, through them, speaks words of forgiveness and blessing. As they receive us back into a restored relationship with the body, Christ Himself is present receiving us back into a restored relationship with Himself.

Finally, our forgiveness necessitates the forgiveness of others. For many this is the most difficult step. “You don’t understand what they did to me.” “They don’t deserve forgiveness.” Objections flood our mind. The reality is we hold ourselves in bondage – to the person and the sin – as long as we remain unforgiving. Forgiveness is often a process. It begins with our will, with saying, “I choose to forgive,” and then moves to action – acting in a forgiving manner.