Saturday 22 October 2011

Richard Foster on the Discipline of Confession

From 'Celebration of Discipline':

"The Bible views salvation as both an event and a process. To converted people Paul says, 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling' (Phil. 2:12) … The Discipline of confession helps the believer to grow into 'mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ' (Eph. 4:13)."
p181

"Confession is a difficult Discipline for us because we all too often view the believing community as a fellowship of saints before we see it as a fellowship of sinners. We feel that everyone else has advanced so far into holiness that we are isolated and alone in our sin. We cannot bear to reveal our failures and shortcomings to others. We imagine that we are the only ones who have not stepped on to the high road to heaven. Therefore, we hide ourselves from one another and live in veiled lies and hypocrisy."
p181-2

"Bonhoeffer writes: 'A man who confesses his sins in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person. As long as I am by myself in the confession of my sins everything remains in the dark, but in the presence of a brother the sin has to be brought into the light.'"
p184, Original quote: Bonhoeffer, Life Together

"It is the will to be delivered form sin that we seek from God as we prepare to make confession. We must desire to be conquered and ruled by God, or if we do not desire it, to desire to desire it. Such a desire is a gracious gift from God. The seeking of this gift is one of the preliminaries for confessing to a brother or sister."
p189

"These people are found by asking God to reveal them to us. They are also found by observing people to see who evidences a lively faith in God's power to forgive and exhibits the joy of the Lord in his or her heart. The key qualifications are spiritual maturity, wisdom, compassion, good common sense, the ability to keep a confidence, and a wholesome sense of humour."
p190

The First 11 Chapters

I recently listened to three sermons by Ken Ham from Answers In Genesis. Probably the most convincing talks I've heard that argue for a literal six day creation.

Some people laugh when you go on about dinosaurs, millions of years, evolution and all that jazz. Like it's just daft stuff, not real theology, and you just need to get past it. But Ham made a very interesting point in one of his talks... people read the first 11 chapters of the Bible and think it's ridiculous. And if the first 11 chapters of a book seem completely nuts, why would you keep reading?

On that basis, knowing a thing or two about dinosaurs, creation vs evolution and millions of years is actually fairly central to the gospel in our scientific age. If you can't get past the opening chapters of the opening book, you'll never get to Jesus.

Reflections on Eden

I really enjoyed reading Donald Miller's chapter 'Naked' where he reflects on Adam and Eve, in his book 'Searching For God Knows What'. One of his thoughts was that Adam might have taken about one hundred years to name all the species that God brought to him, and all the while he was alone, without Eve, who God had not yet created.

I think I like it for several reasons. Firstly, I love the idea that this perfect, unfallen world was around for a bit before everything went wrong in Genesis 3. When you read the first three chapters of Genesis it sounds like it was all over in a flash. Perfect ...blink... and we threw it all away. But we don't know how long that period of perfection might have lasted. The Bible has a habit of giving us the bare minimum amount of information.

Just the idea that things were perfect in the Garden of Eden for more than five minutes definitely appeals. I'm glad creation, as it was meant to be, was enjoyed by someone for a good few years.

Secondly, I also like the idea that naming all those animals could have been real hard work. A hundred years... that's more than our whole life. Adam was the original David Attenborough, and I bet the work was satisfying.

And finally, I like the idea that when everything was perfect, Adam was still lonely and needed Eve. Even though he had a perfect companionship with God himself. Most men need a wife, no matter how many friends they've got, and even with a perfect relationship with God the Father.

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD."
Proverbs 18:22

Reality

"My friend who owns the coffee shops told us, in a tone of kindness and truth, that nobody he knows who is successful gambles; rather, they work hard, they accept the facts of reality, they enjoy life as it is. "But the facts of reality stink," I told him. "Reality is like a fine wine," he said to me. "It will not appeal to children."

Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller, p11.