Bright Wings

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with Ah! Bright Wings.

May 26, 2009

A Checklist for Christian Confrontation

It is impossible to avoid making judgments. It is actually downright unchristian NOT to make judgments.  Or godly, biblical judgments, I should say. I’ve already talked a bit about the sorts of judgments we are to make. Then I talked a bit more about the primary context that these judgments are to be made and offered (you guessed it- the local church).  I’d like to close out this blog post trilogy on Christian judgments with some steps to walk through before you offer your judgments to another.

1. Does this concern/sin/offense truly warrant confrontation? Does the sin or offense warrant confrontation? Might it fall under the 1 Peter 4:8 category- ‘love covers a multitude of sins’?  Perhaps you were offended by someone, yet there is room for grace and love that does not call for confrontation. We grant grace and amnesty to people all the time for their sins against us. Can your relationship bear the offense without confrontation and a process of forgiveness and reconciliation?  Is the offense relatively minor, or isolated – and not a matter of ongoing sin or an issue of character that absolutely needs to be addressed?  Is the impact and influence of this sin or offense limited enough that you need not make an issue of it?

2. “Keep a watch on yourself…” says Paul in Galatians 6:1. Jesus calls us ultimately to self-judgment in order that our judgments outside of ourselves are gracious and authentic rather than vindictive and hypocritical. This comes by removing planks in our eyes AND removing specks as well.  As we take honest inventory of our own hearts and actions we will be tempered in our judgments toward others. If a brother is caught in some sexual sin then consider the grace of God to you in your own struggles with temptation and impurity.  If someone has hurt you with a harsh word- remember when you have hurt others and have been blessed by their forgiveness and grace.

3. Do you have a goal of forgiveness and grace?  Is this confrontation fueled by a desire for good in this person’s life?  Many of our confrontations are not fueled by good and grace but by vindictiveness and anger or a perverse and fleshly satisfaction in another’s sin.  I have been confronted by people that clearly do not desire reconciliation – or some who try earnestly to thwart any real goal of reconciliation or true forgiveness! Godly confrontation should always have a goal of seeing the grace of Christ shine through victory over sin and joy in restored relationships. 

4. Keep the cross ever before you!  The cross gives us boldness as we confront sin; as well as grace and power to overcome it.
• At the cross we discover the deepest and most profane sin (remembering that while God grieves our sin- he is not shocked by it). 
• At the cross we meet the glorious grace of Christ who bore the punishment for sin;
• At the cross we encounter the power of Christ to triumph over sin and death.

5. Keep a heart of protection and care for your brother or sister.  This means not speaking against them or of their sin to others.  Beware of pseudo-spiritual sorts of gossip like sharing another’s sin with others in the form of a ‘prayer request’ or sharing another’s sin with others in order to get ‘godly counsel’.  Remember that Jesus gives us a pattern of protection for our brother in Matthew 18:15 – ‘if your brother sins against you, go and reprove him in private’.  We should be careful to demonstrate our concern and care for another in the midst of their sin. This means being careful in how, when, and where we confront someone. This means providing helpful ways to remedy a situation or offering yourself sacrificially in the process of reconciliation.

And of course we all look forward to a day when we will bask in the radiance of God’s glory and there will be no more sin and sadness. Until then, by God’s grace, we can grow together in sanctification, being ‘built up in our most holy faith’ (Jude 1:20).

Tags: Church Life

posted by Erik Braun

May 13, 2009

Gospel-Fueled Hospitality

The New Testament presents us with a recurring imperative towards something called ‘hospitality’:

Romans 12:13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
1 Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

Along with these references we find that one of the qualifications for leadership in the local church in the letter to Timothy and to Titus is that the elder/overseer must be ‘hospitable’ (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8).

We need to do a bit of work to get to the heart of what the writers of Scripture mean by ‘hospitality’ in the context of the first century.  We need to also do a bit of revision of the contemporary notion of hospitality in our affluent, Western setting.

The Greek word that is translated ‘hospitality’ in most modern English versions is philoxenia. A very literal rendering would be ‘stranger love’ or love towards strangers. In the context of the New Testament it bears a meaning that reaches far beyond our contemporary notions of hospitality merely as ‘social grace’. Today when we think of hospitality we conjure up images of Martha Stewart and immaculately decorated dinner tables. We often think of hospitality in very confined cultural conceptions - being a good cook, a highly organizational host, or someone who thinks to change the potpourri according to the proper season.  In so doing we dismiss an imperative of the Scriptures and fail to exhibit what is to be a necessary entailment of the gospel.

So what does hospitality mean? What sort of qualification is ‘hospitality’ for leaders in the church? The heart of this command is the very core of the gospel. Consider the theological impetus for Christian hospitality in Ephesians 2. Through God’s rich mercy and great love we who were dead have been made alive (2:1,4). Through the blood of Christ we who were Gentiles, aliens, without hope, and far off have been brought near, given hope, and adopted into God’s household (2:11-13). Imbedded in the soul of the Christian is this gospel truth: grace has been offered, love has been shed abroad. Christians show grace to strangers, love for the childless, a heart for the outcast because this is the gospel imprint upon them.

In the ancient near eastern world, hospitality was often and quite literally a life saving discipline. In a subsistence culture where you eat what you grow, you live in what you build, and you exist day to day- the necessity of sharing sacrificially and caring tangibly is a matter of life and death for those who are in need. Opening up your home often meant the difference between a family having a roof over head or sleeping in a field. Providing a meal was providing sustenance that would save an infant’s life. In such a context, the life saving theology of the cross is bourne out in the life saving activity of the Christian. So, the Apostles say with some force: show love to the stranger.
So, how does this work in our affluent context? How do we exhibit this gospel-fueled love for the stranger in a culture that is anesthetized to their ultimate need by the anemic proxies of wealth, food, drink, shelter, and technology? These things are blessings and provision, no question. We thank God for them. But we must recognize that the world, the flesh, and the devil uses these godly blessings through the sin nature to isolate us relationally and more importantly, spiritually. So many in our culture are afforded every luxury yet far removed from the joy of the true life offered through the cross. In a subsistence culture the need is acutely felt physically and this need grants opportunity for the Christian to sacrificially meet that need and display the gospel. In our Tallahassee culture the need is acutely felt spiritually, relationally, emotionally and this need grants opportunity for the Christian to sacrificially meet that need and display the gospel.

Let’s put hands and feet on gospel fueled hospitality. Let me offer some ‘practical’ ways this might happen in our midst.

The Home:
• Strategize with your spouse and family about finding ways to open your home to others. (Do you have a line in your home budget for hospitality?)
• Start small- if you struggle with hospitality – set aside one night per month to have someone in your home that is ‘outside the tribe’ (not part of your typical network of friends or family)
• Do a backyard bible club this summer (or partner up with one that is already going to happen).
• Have a relaxed barbeque night and invite neighbors. Don’t turn it into a gospel altar call night- just open your home and life to your neighbors in a relaxed way that might open doors for the gospel.
• Adopt a college student- give them a night to do laundry, eat a home cooked meal, and hang with a family.
• If you are single/student- offer free babysitting to a single mom or family in the church; offer your excellent services as a housecleaner, lawnmower, leaf raker, bush trimmer, etc.
• What are the resources God has uniquely given you to bless ‘strangers’ around you? Do you have a nice yard for play and fun? Do you have a pool for cooling off in the summer?

The Church (corporate life):
[There is such a need in our church family right now for loving hospitality to be offered to visitors, newcomers, and non-members who walk through our doors on Sunday. This need will be very acutely felt when we move into our new facility.]
• Come early and come into the auditorium and go meet the folks sitting down. Before second service, if you see someone sitting down before church they are most likely new. A warm smile, kind word, and offer to get lunch after church is HUGE!
• Be on duty with love for strangers- be on the look out for those that you don’t recognize, that might seem a bit lost, a little unsure of what is going on.
• Don’t just invite a neighbor, co-worker, friend to church- bring them to church. Say- can we come get you? Can we drive together? Walk them to the children’s ministry wing, sit with them during worship, introduce them to the church family. Explain why Pastor Erik preaches the way he does. Ask if they have questions or concerns about the sermon, or the church.
• Be a greeter for worship or children’s ministry.
• Have new people, or people that are unfamiliar to you, over for lunch.
• Leave worship 2 minutes early and run out to the parking lot. You will meet a lot of newcomers there hustling to their car. Though it seems like they are running away- they are actually looking for connection, but want to avoid the awkward shuffle through the masses.  Walk over and say, “Thanks for coming!” Or, “Hey! Good to have you with us…are you new here?”
• If you are an introvert- work on a set up or take down team so that those who are more extroverted might have time/energy to engage with humans before and after the service.
• Be ready – in the coming months we are going to be equipping, prepping, and tasking our church family to exercise hospitality toward strangers.

Fellowship Groups:
• If your group is open and can accept new families- pray and strategies how to rope people in. Make this a part of your weekly gathering: how do we grow this group?
• If your group is ‘closed’ – pray and strategize about how to split and open up two new groups. A new group is more ‘desperate’ for people and so readily reaches out as a matter of necessity.
• Actively invite folks to your fellowship group on Sunday mornings. Offer to bring them. Take two Sundays and endeavor to ask everyone you see if they are part of a fellowship group. If they say no, then urge them and help them come and be a part of yours.
• Look for ways to serve the neighbors in your group’s vicinity or according to needs known by the members of the group. Have group workdays in your neighborhoods once a quarter. Find out how you can serve neighbors through yardwork, home repair, house cleaning, etc.
• Get ready for our studies in evangelism/apologetics this Fall. Strategize with the pastors about making your group an ‘evangelistic’ group in the Spring of 2010.
• What are the unique resources that God has given your group? What special gifts do the members have? Strategize and dream together weekly about ways to use these resources and gifts to reach out to the strangers around us who need Christ.

Tags: Church Life

posted by Erik Braun

May 06, 2009

The Context of Christian Judgments

The Christian life is to be full of wise and biblical judgments. But how do we offer wisdom and judgments to one another while honoring the heart of Jesus’ exhortation in Luke 6:37? First of all, as I said in my first installment, we need to understand the nature of this or that judgment. Is it biblical/doctrinal? Is it moral/ethical? Is it a matter of ‘wisdom’,  general discernment, and godly counsel?  Admonishment toward sexual purity is different than counsel regarding a degree program at FSU.

When the Scriptures speak of accountability and interaction between believers on doctrinal, moral, and directional/wisdom issues, there is an assumption of the context within which this occurs.  The relational context of the Christian life is the local church. Our doctrinal life is to be rooted in the local church and within the covering of biblical leadership and care set forth by Christ.  One’s doctrinal position on the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to be in step with and submitted to the ordained leadership of the local church.  Our moral life is to be lived in the context of the local church. I am accountable to the elders of Four Oaks Community Church in my moral purity.  My marriage is under the covering of the local church. If I am not loving my wife as I ought- then my brothers in Christ should speak with godly judgments into my life.  I rely upon godly and mature believers in my church to provide wisdom and directional leadership in my life. 

This is not to say that these things don’t happen outside the local church; but the local church is to be the primary arena for godliness and sanctification in doctrine, purity, and wisdom/maturity.

When Paul admonishes the believers in 1 Corinthians 5 to confront the immorality in another brother’s life – it is to be done in the context of the local church.  Jesus gives the local church as the covering of authority and accountability for our Christian life in Matthew 18: 15-20. In Galatians 6:1-6 Paul calls us to deal with those ‘caught in a trespass’ under the covering of mature leaders (‘those who are spiritual’) in the relational context of the church (‘bear one another’s burdens’).  The normal pattern for Christian interaction that is ordered and anointed by God for our growth and maturity in Christ is the local church.

I might have a robust discussion over infant baptism with a brother at First Presbyterian down the road. Under God he is not accountable to me in this doctrinal conviction. However,  if one of our fellowship group leaders is teaching the merits of infant baptism on Monday nights – then I will offer very direct (and yes, gracious, always and ever gracious) biblical and doctrinal judgments to him and expect him to respond with submission and a heart of unity under the convictions of this local church.

I might admonish a young man at Starbucks who claims to be a brother yet is openly and unrepentantly sleeping with his girlfriend. But if he is not covenanted to me within the context of the church I lead and serve in- then my authority and relational influence can only go so far.  I can at best only go to step 2 of the 3 step process of Matthew 18:15-20. The depth of my counsel and admonition can only go so far as the actual depth of our relationship. Sadly, so many of our Christian relationships do not have the depth of commitment and intimacy to offer judgments and counsel that will lead to significant maturity and holiness. But, if this young man is a member of my church- then I am able to deal with him biblically as Jesus instructs. I can provide a relational structure of accountability and support to challenge his lifestyle and encourage him toward biblical repentance and change. 

In matters of general wisdom and direction in the Christian life, it is crucial for us as believers to engage with one another in a real and intimate context.  The church should be a place that ordains godly leaders and mature believers to disciple others and offer counsel, teaching, and direction.  The church should be a place that provides an intimate arena for biblical and doctrinal maturity, moral accountability, and direction and care in the manifold struggles and cares of life. 

And, as a shameless plug, the way this happens at Four Oaks is through our network of pastoral care and spiritual growth called ‘Fellowship Groups’.

Tags: Church Life

posted by Erik Braun