Students interested in joining other church members for a night of fun service can come along on December 2nd as we travel to the Operation Christmas Child distribution center to help out. We will be meeting at the church at 5pm and we will be arriving back at the church at 10pm. If you are interested please let Reggie know.
11-16-08
Ephesians 5:21
Spiritual Disciplines: Submission
Of all the spiritual disciplines, submission is the most counter-cultural of all. If you tell someone at work why you’re praying or fasting or living a simple life they’ll just think you’ve gone off the deep end of the religious pool. But if you tell them you’ve decided to live a life of submission, they’re likely to tell you you’re flat out wrong.
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(Please refer to Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. Much of the information contained here comes from this book.)
When I was a young man what made me feel special was having the right stereo equipment. What was it for you?
What is it today that gives kids a feeling of status? How about adults? The right cell phone, the biggest TV, bling.
If we need lots of possessions to maintain our self-esteem and create our self-image and to look good to our neighbors, then we have forgotten or neglected that which is real and inward. If our time, money, and energy are consumed in selecting, acquiring, maintaining, cleaning, moving, improving, replacing, dusting, storing, using, showing off, and talking about our possessions, then there is little time, money, and energy left for other pursuits such as the work we do to further the Community of God. – Christin Hadley Snyder, quoted in Plain Living: a Quaker path to simplicity
The Christian Discipline of simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle. Simplicity is a way to order your outward life… specifically your opinions and attitudes about money and finances.
The inward reality of simplicity involves a life of unconcern for possessions. Neither the greedy nor the miserly know that liberty. It has nothing to do with abundance of possessions or their lack. It is an inward spirit of trust. Does the fact that a person is living without a lot of money or possessions mean they are living in the spiritual discipline of simplicity?
Take a look at 1 Timothy 6:6-10: But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
The sheer fact that a person is living without things is no guarantee that he or she is living in simplicity. Paul taught us that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and often those who have it the least love it the most.
Take a look at what Jesus had to say about it in Matthew 6:25-33: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Jesus tells us not to worry about the material things in our life, but to seek one thing first of all: God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Simplicity comes from keeping first things first. Jesus makes the promise that if we put first things first, if we seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, God will make sure we have everything we need. Not especially everything we want, but everything we need. You see, simplicity is not so much about what we have, as it is our attitude toward what we have. Simplicity is not so much about what we own, but about what owns us.
In the message on Sunday we talked about three inner attitudes of simplicity, three inner attitudes of the heart that will allow us to live with the outward attitude of simplicity.
The three inner attitudes are:
1. To receive what you have as a gift from God
James 1:17 says, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
2. To allow God to care for what you have
Proverbs 11:28 says, Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
3. To make what you have available to others
Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(1) Leviticus 25:23- says that God owns the Earth
(2) Psalm 62:10- Warns against setting our hearts on our riches
(3) Exodus 20:17 (10th Commandment) – command against covetousness.
(4) Luke 16:13- you cannot serve both God and money
(5) Hebrews 13:5 – Be free from the love of money and be content
Simplicity is not the swearing off of possessions and purchasing things. Simplicity does not mean that you hate money and those people who have a lot of it. Simplicity is not the desire to be poor and to remain that way.
Philippians 4:11-13: I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Simplicity is an inner attitude toward money and possessions that affects your outward life. Because it is the most outwardly visible of the disciplines, it is the most open to corruption. What I mean by that is that you can do what seem to be the right things for the wrong reasons. You may buy a particular car or house or buy only thrift store clothes not because you are living a simple life, but because you want to give that illusion. Remember that simplicity is not a goal in and of itself; like the other disciplines the purpose of simplicity is to draw you into a deeper relationship with God.
The central focus of the discipline of simplicity is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Simplicity is first of all an inward discipline, but it has an outward reality as well. Developing this discipline will affect how you live. Richard Foster suggests ten outward expressions of simplicity that are not meant to be laws or legalistic.
Example of legalistic expression of simplicity – story of church where women were called out if they wore make-up or jewelry. See 1 Peter 3:3.
1. First, buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
Homes: bought bigger than they need by younger people, downsize when they get older. Do you buy clothing because you need more clothing, or because you want to wear what everybody else is wearing? Designer jeans, boots.
2. Second, reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
Refuse to be a slave to anything but God. Be in control of your things; don’t let your things control you. Kids with video games – and it isn’t always kids. Guy who spent so much time with an online game that he developed an online relationship with another woman. Both activities took away from his wife and daughter.
3. Third, develop a habit of giving things away.
Instead of selling your things, why not give them away?
4. Fourth, refuse to be swept up by gadgets.
You don’t have to have the newest “thing.” Friend with newest computer stuff, 10-speed bike.
5. Fifth, learn to enjoy things without owning them.
Ownership leads to control, and control leads to pleasure. Or does it? Can you happy without controlling something? Beach, libraries, public parks.
6. Sixth, develop a deeper appreciation for the creation and nature.
See Psalm 19:1-2. Spend more time outside. If you’re going to read, why not outside? Walk more. Be open to the sights and sounds of God’s creation.
7. Seventh, keep a skeptical attitude about “buy now pay later” deals.
See Proverbs 22:7. Credit makes you a servant to the lender, and excessive credit ties you down with heavy chains.
8. Eighth, obey Jesus’ instruction about plain honest speech.
What does simplicity have to do with what we say? See Matthew 5:33-37, Jeremiah 9:23-24.
9. Ninth, reject anything that hurts other people.
Chicken wings, Hooters.
10. Tenth, shun anything that distracts you or keeps you from seeking the kingdom of God.
See Matthew 6:33. What are some of the things that distract us from keeping the first thing first?
“I’ve Got a Secret”
Psalm 32:5; James 5:16
Spiritual Disciplines: Confession
Sermon for November 2, 2008
How many of you played “dress up” this week? What did you “dress up” as? I saw some of you this week, and I saw a clown, a batman, a blonde Inigo Montoya from “The Princess Bride”, and some guy with green hair and a lab coat.
Dressing up, wearing costumes, putting on masks on Halloween is a way to hide out, to conceal who we really are. Originally the disguises worn on Halloween were supposed to fool the demons and other dark forces roaming the planet on that fateful night. The idea was that good Christians would be left alone if they fooled the evil spirits.
In some ways, times have changed. There are still people who dress up like they belong with the evil spirits, but I wonder how many evil spirits were fooled or scared off by these costumes: 
But for a lot of us the dressing up in costume didn’t stop with Friday night. We also dressed up to come to church on Sunday morning. We exchanged our Friday night sinner outfit for our Sunday morning saint costume. In the church, both sinners and saints are present and accounted for.
And the truth is, all of us are both. We are sinners because of our weakness and saints because of the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
I’d like you to keep in mind that dual identity, of being at once both sinner and saint, as we move through this morning’s message.
We’ve been talking the last couple of weeks about the spiritual disciplines, practices that become habits or regular patterns in your life that deepen your relationship with God and open you up to what he is saying to you.
Now a lot of us have knee-jerk, negative reactions to the word ‘discipline’. We didn’t like to be disciplined when we were kids, we don’t like to be disciplined now, and if you’ve ever had to discipline a teenager or an employee, you know how unpleasant that can be.
But even though we have a negative reaction to the word ‘discipline’, the purpose of discipline is simply to make something right. Vikings coaches are saying that Adrian Peterson needs to be more disciplined in running behind his blocks. Justin Morneau became an MVP when he got more disciplined at the plate.
It’s not uncommon for an accomplished musician to be able to sit down in front of a new piece of music and play it through without a hitch. They make it seem easy. But if you’ve ever played guitar hero, you know it’s not as easy as it looks. You only get to that place through years and years of disciplined practice.
And spiritually as well, we discipline ourselves to make right our relationship with God. There are a number of things, a number of tools that God has given us to help us grow deeper in our relationship with him, but like any tool, we have to first, learn how to use it, and second, put it to work.
A couple of weeks ago we talked about prayer, the primary way for you and God to talk to each other, and I encouraged you to discipline yourself to pray for five minutes a day, or five extra minutes a day if you’re already praying. Last week we talked about a mostly unused discipline, fasting, and how depriving ourselves of food for spiritual reasons can, among other things, show if we are in control of our desires, or if our desires control us.
The spiritual discipline we’re going to talk about this week is confession. Way back in the fifth century Augustine of Hippo wrote, “The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.” Closely associated with both prayer and fasting, let’s look together at what we should be confessing and who we should be confessing to.
Let me ask you a question: If we sin against God, to whom should we confess that sin? We should confess our sins to God, shouldn’t we? As we read earlier from the 32nd Psalm, Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”– and you forgave the guilt of my sin (Psalm 32:5).
Back in the 1950s and 1960s one of the most successful games shows was (picture) “I’ve Got a Secret.” It was so popular that not only did it run for its original fifteen years, it was revived in 1972-1973, in the summer of 1976, in 2000-2003, and again in 2006.
What the show was, basically, was a guessing game. A panel of four people would ask questions of a contestant, trying to determine what his or her secret was. One of the contestants, for example, was a young man named Gary Senese, who appeared at the age of twelve. His secret was that he had pitched a no-hitter, but lost the game when the other team scored on a walk, an error, a passed ball, and a ground-out.
The secrets that people shared on this show were fun, interesting, and lighthearted. Desi Arnaz once appeared on the show and his secret was I love Lucy.
But the secrets we try to hide from God are anything but fun or lighthearted. Way back in the fourth chapter of Genesis, Cain’s secret was that he murdered his brother in a fit of jealousy. Jonah’s secret was that he was so prejudiced against the people of a particular city that he would rather see them go to hell than tell them how to get to heaven. David’s secret was that he wanted another man’s wife so much he arranged to have the husband killed.
Why do we try to keep secrets from God? Why do we think that’s even possible? Don’t we believe that he is the creator of the universe, of everything visible and invisible? Don’t we believe that he knows everything? Don’t we believe that he sees everything? Jeremiah 23:24 says, “Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.
How could we possibly keep a secret from God?
And why would we want to? Oscar Wilde claimed man’s brightest moment is “when he kneels in the dust, and beats his breast, and tells all the sins of his life.” 1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Just like we think of discipline as negative, we think of confession as negative, and something to be avoided, but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Why wouldn’t we want that? Confessing our sins to God is more than therapeutic, it’s how God purifies us and forgives us. What about any of that is negative?
Instead of confessing, so often we carry our sins around with us. And after a while the accumulated weight of that accumulated sin is just crushing. It weighs us down, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We were not designed to serve as beasts of burden to our sin. What God wants us to do is to confess our sins to him, to cast our cares on him, to receive forgiveness and mercy and grace. Proverbs 28:13 says, He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
In confessing to God we find forgiveness, we’re washed completely clean of our sins, and he makes us holy. He makes us saints. But there’s another side to confession, and this is where things start to get a little scary.
Confessing our sins to one another. I want you to take a look across the center aisle and see who’s sitting there. Now I wonder, how comfortable would you be confessing your sins to that person? The truth is, we really don’t want people knowing our business at all, much less our dirty deeds. If God has made us saints, why would want to confess to someone else that we’re sinners? And yet, listen to what the Bible says in James 5:16: Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Confess your sins to each other. It just doesn’t sound like the type of thing than anything good could come out of. After all, criminals confess. Contestants on reality shows confess. The Jerry Springer Show is nothing but one big confessional, and what good comes out of that?
There’s a story about four preachers who got together for lunch, and during the conversation one of the preachers said, “Our people come to us and pour out their hearts, they confess their sins and needs. Confession is good for the soul. I think we should do the same. I think we should confess to each other the sin we’re struggling the most with.” And they all agree. One of them said that he had a problem with his temper, and he would say terrible things when he flew off the handle. The second confessed to drinking when no one else was looking, and sometimes drinking just to get drunk. The third one confessed to an obsession with golf, so strong that he would sometimes fake being sick so he could play on Sunday mornings. When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn’t confess. Wouldn’t say a thing. And the other three got on him, saying, “Come on now, we confessed our secret sins. You need to tell us yours.” Finally the fourth answered, “My secret sin is gossiping, and I can hardly wait to get out of here.”
Why do we find it easier to confess our sins to God than to each other? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German minister and theologian who was killed by the Nazis at the age of 35, wrote, “Why is it often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother? God is holy and sinless, He is a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother is sinful as we are. He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than to a Holy God?
You know what I think? I think that even though we know we’re sinners, we would like everyone else to believe we’re saints. In his book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster writes, “Confession is so difficult a Discipline for us partly because we view the believing community as a fellowship of saints before we see it as a fellowship of sinners. We come to feel that everyone else has advanced so far into holiness that we are isolated and alone in our sin. We could not bear to reveal our failures and shortcomings to others. We imagine that we are the only ones who have not stepped onto the high road to heaven. Therefore we hide ourselves from one another and live in veiled lies and hypocrisy.”
Even though we know we’re sinners, we would like everyone else to believe we’re saints. So what do we gain by confessing our sins to one another?
First of all, you’re doing what the Bible says to do. We already looked at James 5:16, which says, “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other.” Both of the verbs in that sentence, confess and pray, are written in the imperative. That means that confessing your sins is not just a good idea, it’s a command.
But so is it also a command to pray for each other, and that brings up something else we gain by confessing our sins to one another: accountability. Again quoting from Bonhoeffer, “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.” When you confess you sins to another person, they can help you in your struggle against particular sins.
What if, like the four preachers we talked about a little earlier, your secret sin is your temper, or drinking, or spending too much time with some obsessive activity, or gossiping? Could it help to confess and acknowledge that sin to someone you trust? Could it be helpful to confess and acknowledge that sin, to bring it into the light, to deal with it, instead of leaving it to grow and fester in some dark corner of your life?
It’s so easy to toss up a generalized prayer of forgiveness to God, but it’s so much more difficult to deal with the specific issues we’re confessing. But bringing to light, and dealing with our sins, is one of the ways we grow deeper in our relationship with God through the spiritual discipline of confession.
Now one more thing to think about: If we are going to confess our sins, we have to confess them to somebody. What if you are the person being confessed to? What is your responsibility to the person making their confession?
Your primary responsibility to anyone confessing their sins to you is this, from John 20:23. Jesus is speaking to his followers, and says, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Think about that. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven. Or, if you’d rather not, if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
What do you think Jesus is trying to tell us here? Is he saying that even though he was the one who lived a sinless life, and even though he was the one who took all of humanity’s sins upon him on the cross, and even though he was crucified for the forgiveness of sins and resurrected for the promise of eternal life, that we have the power to forgive someone to heaven, or to withhold forgiveness to hell? Do you think Jesus is trying to tell us that even though he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, that he’s going to let you and me decide who’s forgiven and who’s not?
Certainly you have the power to forgive someone personally; to say to someone who’s done you wrong, “I forgive you.” And you need to do that, people need to hear that from you, especially if they’ve come to you for forgiveness.
But Jesus isn’t talking about particular sins committed only against you; he’s talking about anyone and any sins. The way this phrase is constructed in its original language gives the sense, “Those whose sins you forgive have already been forgiven; those whose sins you do not forgive have not been forgiven” (NIVBC).
And that makes sense. If I commit a sin and confess it to God, and sincerely ask for his forgiveness, and repent and turn away from that sin, God’s promise is not only will that sin be forgiven, it will be forgotten, as if it never existed. But let’s say after that I still feel bad and so I come to you to confess what I’ve done. You hear me out, and you decide that I haven’t paid enough, haven’t suffered enough for having committed that sin. And so you tell me, “You are not forgiven. Come back again next week and we’ll see.”
Does your lack of forgiveness trump God’s forgiveness? Or on the other hand, none of us has the power to forgive someone, spiritually, who God has not forgiven. “God does not forgive people’s sins because we decide to do so, nor does he withhold forgiveness because we will not grant it. We announce it; we do not create it” (NIVBC).
When someone comes to you to confess their sins, it’s not like you’re standing in God’s place to forgive; but sometimes it sure helps to hear it from the mouth of one of his representatives.
Do you know what’s surprisingly popular on the internet these days? Among other things, anonymous confession sites. The confessions page of experienceproject.com says, “Have a secret burning you up? Did something you’re not proud of? Want to confess, but can’t share your secret with friends & family? You’re not alone. Join thousands of others and confess your secret here anonymously. It’s fast, free, fun, and anonymous.
Sometimes what people confess to on these sites is just silly, like, “I like mustard with my pretzels”, or “I enjoy taunting squirrels.” Sometimes a person’s confession gives you an insight into what kind of person they are, such as, “I often buy clothes, wear them, put the tags back on and then sell them as new on ebay”, or, “I want to win the lottery, I deserve to, I’m 21 and have worked hard my whole life.” Sometimes people actually confess to sins: “I am the one stealing your sandwiches in the kitchen at work.” “I lie each and every day on my work status report.” “This morning I hit a parked car, scratched the side terribly, and drove away.”
The popularity of these sites shows the innate need people have to confess their sins. But do you know what they’re missing? Repentance and forgiveness. What they’re missing is the cross.
Without the cross the discipline of confession is only a psychological exercise. With the cross confession is more than therapeutic, it’s how God purifies us and forgives us. It’s how God makes saints out of sinners.
11-9-08
Matthew 6:25-34
Spiritual Disciplines: Simplicity
There aren’t many people who strive for simplicity, who make it their goal to live a simple life. It’s the American way, isn’t it, to go for the gusto, to grab all you can get, to be the king of the hill? Isn’t it true that we want to make more money than the next guy, live in a bigger house, drive a nicer car? It may not be our reason for getting out of bed in the morning, but isn’t that what we want? And then we have to ask the question, is that what Jesus wants for me? Jesus had a whole different attitude toward money and possessions, a healthy attitude, an attitude of simplicity.
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On October 11th, 11 New Brighton Christian Church members along with 61 others from different churches around the state travled to New Orleans, Louisiana to help re-build out of the devastation left behind by hurricane Katrina.
