This ministry is needed now more than ever to lead theologically and biblically. As we await Jesus’ Second Coming in the fullness of time, we are called to heed the Scriptures, “Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless” (II Peter 3:14). Being ready to greet the coming King requires diligence on our part in allowing the Holy Spirit to live Jesus’ life through us, conforming us more and more to Jesus’ character, spotless and blameless, like the Lamb himself, whose blood washes away our sins (I Peter 1:9).

To what extent can that be said about us? To be sure, none of us is perfect. We are human all of us, sinners forgiven in Christ. Our justification before the Father is secure through Christ’s victory over sin and death in the power of the Holy Spirit. Sola gratia.

But what is the state of our sanctification? Is the Holy Spirit transforming us according to the character of Jesus without impediment? Are we diligent in doing our part, availing ourselves of all the authority granted to us in Christ? Are we co-operating with the Holy Spirit in overcoming our sinful flesh, or have we given up trying to fight, resigned and determined instead to go on practicing the sins which beset us? As always, Scripture is our bedrock. “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2)

No more excuses! The authority Christ has won for us by his person and work has resulted in our right standing before the Father. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Disturber. When we stray, he convicts us, and draws us to confess our sin, receive forgiveness and be filled with him anew in power to follow Jesus. It is high time for each of us, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, to grow in purity, to study, know and practice the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit, together with our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, so that his light may shine into a dark world of lost sinners in need of the Savior.

Of course, we know this is our mission. Are we giving our all to accomplish it?

Jesus our Savior; Jesus our Lord

It is crucial to our understanding of Jesus Christ that we acknowledge him as both our Lord and our Savior. Jesus shed his blood for us on the cross to save us from our sins. He did that freely for our sake. We can do nothing to earn or deserve that gift. He is our Savior.

Christ is also our Lord. Lord Jesus saves us so that we can walk in obedience to him. He is our Lord. Thus, following him is our life call and demands everything from us. Jesus describes the cost of discipleship in no uncertain terms: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) Jesus’ work on the cross means our salvation; Jesus’ claim upon our lives must mean faithful and costly discipleship.

We are leaders. We have the opportunity to lead Christians into deeper and purer relationship with the Triune God by casting a vision for more faithful discipleship.
To call others to such commitment, we must first go there ourselves. Then and only then are we enabled to exercise our gifts of leadership.

Radical Discipleship Now

The Christian life of discipleship is defined nowhere more clearly than in Jesus’ own words, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). Four additional times Jesus conveys the same in swift succession: John 14:21; John 14:23; John 15:10; and John 15:14. Uncompromising obedience to our Lord Jesus, the Word Incarnate, and to the Scriptures, the Word written, is our highest calling.

Such unwavering Christian discipleship makes us the salt of the earth, the light of the world. It results in a remarkable integrity, which is proclamation of the Gospel without words, giving legitimacy to what we say and write. Integrity means wholeness, an unimpaired condition, soundness, strict adherence to a moral code, and the state of being complete, undivided. Its synonym is honesty; its antonym is duplicity. Integrity is an obligation, what we have to offer our God in gratitude for all he has done. Personal and corporate integrity is tangible expression of obedience to the Greatest Commandment, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37). “And, love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39).

Christian integrity is achieved when we keep Jesus’ words even when no one else is looking. But it is precisely when no one else is looking that we are in the greatest peril of falling prey to temptation. When we are away from home, anonymous and alone, freedom to sin is unbounded. Under the cloak of night, in darkness, we can do whatever we want, seemingly without consequence. With the door closed, with no one around, with no one watching, we are most vulnerable to falling into sin. Alone we are at great risk for straying. The principle of two was established by Jesus when he sent the seventy-two out in pairs, for mutual protection and effectiveness in ministry (Luke 10:1ff). We too must cling to the principle of two.

Integrity is our heritage in Christ, but it will cost us to enjoy it

What it will cost us to enjoy our wholeness, our integrity in Christ, is the denial of ourselves and the commitment to take up our cross to follow Jesus daily. Self-denial begins with the sacrifice of our pride. Jesus’ example of humility is the standard (Philippians 2:1-11). Next, we deny ourselves the right to secrecy. With joy, we embrace transparent living as a hedge against our sinful selves. Finally, we give up our right to independence, acknowledging instead our need for the members of the Body of Christ.

A. Pride out, Humility in

The original sin of Adam and Eve was rooted in pride, refusal to acknowledge the LORD as their God, unwillingness to be contented as creatures of the Creator. Once they disobeyed the explicit instructions of the LORD, and sought instead mastery of their own lives, they discovered their mistake and tried to hide from it, deny it, and blame it on others.

The sin of Adam and Eve is our sin: pride. We remain captive to the sin of pride until we confess the truth of our condition, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) and “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23a) If, however, we humble ourselves by admitting our true condition, we are promised an entirely different outcome. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23b).

In general terms, we are willing to concede one to another that we are imperfect, that we make mistakes. In church, we are grateful for the Reformed Tradition that prompts us to confess that we are sinners in need of Christ’s forgiveness. Note, however, that corporate prayers of confession are most often generic in nature and do not affect us directly by requiring our candid, personal confession and repentance. Such spiritual activity is assumed to take place silently and in private. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.
If we are honest with ourselves, we admit our pride urges us to protect ourselves from inward scrutiny and seek instead to escape from confessing our actual sins.

We must consider our pride crucified with Christ, so that humility may mark our character instead. In humility, we admit that we are sinners, fragile and weak, able to join the Apostle Paul in candid confession, ” What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)

An effective remedy for the problem of avoiding actual confession and repentance, is to identify two or three Christian sisters or brothers, trusted friends from church, who agree to be accountability prayer partners with us. We covenant to meet regularly to pray and check in with each other. We learn to confess openly who we are, one to another, and agree to hold each other accountable in love, through prayer and encouragement, for mutual protection and effectiveness as disciples of Jesus. Ordinarily our pride would rear its head to block such openness. In obedience to Christ, we sacrifice our pride. While corporate worship may not facilitate true and specific confession and repentance in our heart, the accountability prayer group is designed to create a consistent place for that to take place, in an intimate atmosphere of love, trust and safety.

B. Transparent Rather Than Secretive Living

Pride and secrecy go hand in hand to set us up for the fall. Pride says, “I am my own person. I can do what I want.” Secrecy says, “I can do this without getting caught.”

But that is “old self” thinking, the way one thinks and lives apart from Jesus Christ. If Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12); if he has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (I Peter 2:9b); if he promises us that following him means we will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, then we must shun the darkness. In freedom, we can embrace the truth about us, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). Transparency over secrecy is our joy and inheritance.

This discussion is bound to stir up in us fear and even shame over our secret lives, lived out unknown and unseen by others in dark venues. Dark venues are those protected areas of thoughts, words and deeds of which only we know. We may have confessed to Christ these areas of temptation and sin, but may still be struggling with them. They are besetting sins, which we want to leave hidden even as we are fighting to overcome them. We need to repent of this secrecy, turn to the Lord for his solution and enjoy the freedom where dark venues are no more. We need the Lord. And, we need our sisters and brothers to help us. Our accountability prayer groups are no mere formality. They are a means by which the Holy Spirit continues his work of sanctification in us. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

C. Interdependence versus Independence

Our American identity could be a stumbling block to our Christian discipleship. The American War of Independence gave us the opportunity to establish a constitutional, representative form of government, our enduring heritage, and the aspiration of most of the people of this world. But however much independence marks the American ideal; it is not really a Christian virtue. We are created to be utterly dependent on the Lord and interdependent within the Body of Christ, brothers and sisters all doing our part to build up the whole. We are not meant for solitary existence. In the power of the Holy Spirit, together with our sisters and brothers in Christ, the integrity we are striving toward becomes not only possible, it becomes normal Christian living.

The personal freedoms afforded Americans are precious, to be sure. Freedom of privacy, for example, is a hallmark of democracy. For Christians, however, that freedom can provide an extra measure of peril and opportunity to fall into sin. If our right to privacy and independence becomes a right to protect our secrecy, then it becomes something that aids and abets us in a secret life of sin. That is not freedom. In fact, it is slavery, slavery to sin.

If, however, we humbly limit our right to privacy to avoid secrecy, and instead embrace transparence in relationship with others as a way of life, we become slaves to the righteousness of Christ, and free indeed to follow the Lord and express our love for him by obeying his commands. (See Paul’s Romans 6 discussion of slaves to sin and slaves to righteousness)

The Scriptures describes us at our strongest when we are united, brother and sister, together with the Holy Spirit. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12)
Of course, the Body of Christ provides the best understanding of our interdependence one with another. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” (I Corinthians 12:12, 21)
We are members, each of us, of the Body of Christ. We need each other. Our Lord Jesus is the light of the world. Walking together with him, in his light, is then our common commitment one to another.

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (I John 1:5-7)

Why is this discussion and emphasis important?

Good Biblical and Reformed theology declares that we have three adversaries conspiring to keep us from holiness, from faithful obedience to God’s Word:

I. Our Sinful Selves
II. Satan
III. Others

Traditionally, these are known as the Flesh, the Devil and the World. The designation of Others rather than the World is preferred for this discussion so that we don’t miss or underestimate the devastating reality of our Christian, corporate sinfulness, complicity in each other’s darkness, and conspiracy to protect each other’s opportunities to abide and fall more deeply into sinful activity. The intention here is not to diminish the truth that the world is fallen and dangerous to our walk with Christ. Rather, it is to emphasis that the trouble is in us, in the Body of Christ, where we are still given to aiding and abetting each other and ourselves in sinful thoughts and actions, keeping them in the dark, unforgiven, unwashed by the blood of Christ. The resulting sinfulness provides the Devil free, unimpeded access to exploit our persistent disobedience and cause yet greater evil to flourish in our personal lives and in our Christian communities.

I. Our Sinful Selves

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

It is imperative for us to affirm anew that we are sinners. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us to his own way;” (Isaiah 53:6a) We are forgiven and redeemed in Jesus Christ, but in this life we will never be completely free from sin. The Holy Spirit indwells us and transforms us through the process of sanctification, so that more and more we begin to bear the qualities of Jesus’ character. Our battle, however, as Paul describes in Romans 7, is ever against our sinful nature.

“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…. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:15-21, 24)
Jesus is the answer to the problem of sin. Yes, we easily affirm that. But we diminish Jesus’ work of redemption through his death on the cross when we under-appreciate the comprehensive nature and scope of sin. Let us not take for granted what the Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of the Father, has accomplished for us. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). To remain passively and actively captive to sinful practices won’t hold up on Judgment Day. We “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:13). Let us stand firm then, so that we can join Paul in declaring, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”(Galatians 2:20).
Repentant disciples sense that the freedom from sin promised in Christ may be experienced in this life, and in joyful expectation will embrace the restraints required to enjoy that freedom now, on earth as it is in heaven.

II. Satan

We aren’t looking for a devil under every rock. Satan is not omniscient, omnipotent, or omni-present. While we don’t give him more credit than he is due, we also don’t underestimate the reality of his schemes and his desire for our demise. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (I Peter 5:8)
Satan is real and he desires to undo us, but the victory belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 6:10-18 gives us specific instructions on how to deal with the devil and to stay safe in Christ. We are told to put on the whole armor of God to repel the fiery darts of the evil one. To ignore these directions is foolhardy and disobedient.
Clothed in Christ’s righteousness, we step forth in his peace to proclaim the truth of salvation in him alone. In one hand, we wield the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word, aggressively speaking and living the Scriptures into the darkness and death of this world so that his kingdom come, his will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. In the other hand, we hold the shield of faith. When used corporately, we hold shield next to shield next to shield, to render harmless Satan’s attacks.
Satan is our mortal enemy, but Christ has defeated him. Our Lord and Savior has gifted us with all we need to live obedient and faithful individual and corporate lives, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to the Father’s glory.

III. Others

Innocently

Unwittingly, other people may contribute to our falling into temptation. As we interact with them, they may lead us into temptation without even knowing it. For example, a friend gets a promotion at work and invites me to go out with him for a drink to celebrate. Seemingly harmless, but if I have a problem with alcohol about which he doesn’t know, he is contributing to my temptation. If I confide in him about my weakness, my health and integrity don’t have to be jeopardized. This example requires of me that I humble myself by sharing openly with my brother who I really am, and then choosing together another way of celebrating. Note, others may lead us into temptation. To sin or not to sin is always our ultimate responsibility.

Deliberately

We are sinners. In our daily contact with people, we do sin against each other, even on purpose. When someone transgresses against us, we often retaliate first rather than seeking the dynamics of repentance, forgiveness, and ultimately reconciliation in Christ. When sin is allowed to reign in our relationships rather than the Lord Jesus, our witness is compromised and our integrity eroded.

In addition, Jesus promised that people will hate us for following him. At first glance, most of us would say we have never experienced that personally. We know Christians have been persecuted throughout the ages and even today in many countries around the world, but can we speak of direct attacks on us as a result of commitment to Christ? Standing for the truth of the Gospel does indeed draw fire.

Further, as this culture becomes increasingly anti-Christian there is no doubt that strict adherence to the Gospel will cause us to suffer—our enemies will conspire against us in ever increasing ways. Thus, the need to be spotless in the eyes of the outside observer becomes of paramount importance. Even the appearance of wrong or irregular practice can provide fuel or ammunition for those desiring to discredit us and this ministry. “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:22 KJV).

So, what will it be for us? Will we be content to live with our habitual sin, or will we humble ourselves by choosing to live transparently in interdependence upon others so that we can combat our sin and honor our God’s commandment, “Be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45b and I Peter 1:16).

Transparent Accountability as Pathway to Christian Integrity

There is nothing new in the foregoing discussion. We are talking about Christian discipleship and accountability. What is new is the urgency for us to take ever more seriously the call to holiness, to live it out as the Body of Christ. As we grow in learning to be transparent with each other in our accountability prayer groups at church, we can learn to bring this same freedom and joy into the fuller body of Christ, into our congregations as a whole, into our cross-congregational, denominational and global relationships as the church of Jesus Christ. Imagine the impact this could have on our homes and our work places.

The New Wineskins Association of Churches represents a new approach to being the Church of Jesus Christ. The NWAC vision values and requires relationships that provide for mutual up-building and accountability. This discussion sets forth a model for meaningful Christian accountability, which could be directly applied to the ministry networks set forth in the New Wineskins Association of Churches, including the NWAC non-geographic presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

The resulting Christian integrity will shine as never before, a light in this dark world, even as the attempts to undermine us continue. We will still struggle against our sin nature. Our mortal enemy is still Satan and he will not relent in taking advantage of our sin and that of others to undo us. But our God is sovereign and he has given us everything we need in Christ. Out of the depth of this radical Christian discipleship, we will stand uniquely positioned to inform and equip other Christians to do the same. Even if these standards we vow to uphold are not observed directly by people outside our Christian circles, our Father in heaven knows all, and the blessings that will flow from such integrity, faithfulness to his Son, Jesus, are of inestimable value.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 11:41 am and is filed under New Wineskins, Reflections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.