repentance

Great Quotes From Ages Past #6

/ taethne

At the turn of the Nineteenth Century, one of America’s leading newspapers addressed the following question to many notable persons in Great Britain:

“What in your opinion is the chief danger, social or political, that confronts the coming century?”

General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, who was invited among others to reply to the question, sent the following:

“In answer to your enquiry, I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost; Christianity without Christ; forgiveness without repentance; salvation without regeneration; politics without God; and Heaven without Hell.” 

Very prophetic if you ask me…

 

Confession and Repentance – pt 2

/ taethne

As we saw yesterday, confession is taking our repentance and allowing the church to hold us accountable so we do not continue in the same pattern of sin. So often, we forget that we have been saved into the body of Christ. Our actions, both good and bad, reflect on Christ and on the church. What we do in our personal lives is everyone else’s business.

When a person confesses their shortcomings, burdens and sins – the church is then empowered to help them and share their burden as Scripture commands. People aren’t simply to acknowledge another’s confession and say, “I’ll pray for you.” They are to act. For example, if a person was to confess not reading and studying Scripture, another brother or sister should immediately offer to spend time with them weekly in studying the Scripture together. Or, if a person was to confess they had a drinking problem, another brother who has had victory over that sin would offer to counsel, support, hold them accountable. In this way we fulfill the law of Christ.

Confession leads the church into actually living the shared life. In a later post I will answer some common objections but I leave you with this today – does your church practice a healthy discipline of confession? Why not?

Confession and Repentance – pt 1

/ taethne

One of the best definitions of confession I have run across was written by Dr. Richard Krejcir. He writes the following: “Repentance is before God; confession is before God, then having others hold us accountable to our faith. The distinction between confession and repentance is that confession is taking our repentance and telling someone besides God (of course you have to go to Him first and foremost!) to hold us accountable.”

This is an area of Christian discipline I find to be lacking in most people’s lives, and in the life of a church as well. Tomorrow I will continue to develop thoughts on the discipline of confession.

Thoughts on Salvation

/ taethne

Many times I have people ask me, “When were you saved?”. While they are well meaning, I fear that they do not know exactly what they are asking. You see, I am still being saved. In a very real sense, I was set apart before the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus. God knew whom He would call to be one of His. Yes, on March 26, 1973 I surrendered my life to His control, His Lordship, begging His forgiveness, seeking His mercy, grace and forgiveness. I am still being saved – from this world, our adversary, my own foolish desires and actions. Jesus is alive and active through His Spirit in my even now and He Himself makes intercession for me before the Father continually. I will be saved. He is coming for me (or sending angels to escort me to Him) where I will continue to be saved for all eternity.

When was I saved? A long time ago, today and tomorrow. I know in whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that He is able to keep my soul, which I committed to Him, against the day of judgment. I know He called me and made me His own and that He has the power to keep, sustain and guide me. Jesus isn’t just One who can save, He is the One who does save.

Repentance, Replacement and Ministry

/ taethne

In repentance, a person is not only moved by godly sorrow over actions that offend and displease God to confess them, asking forgiveness, but to also turn from those sins. The New Testament talks about replacing those ungodly actions with their godly opposites. Beyond that, though, the New Testament command us to begin ministering in Jesus’ name in that same area. For example, Paul tells those who are guilty of stealing to not only stop stealing but to work for what they want. Then he goes further and commands them to work until they have an overabundance so that they can share with others who are in need. In another example, we are told to let no unwholesome or ungodly, corrupt speech come from our mouth. Then we are told to replace it with what it is good, giving praise and glory to God. Beyond replacing bad speech with good, we are told to use our speech to edify or build up our fellow believers.

This is the essence of true repentance. Merely feeling sorry and confessing isn’t repentance. Neither is simply replacing the bad with good. It is going beyond and changing habits, starting new ones that advance the cause of Christ that show repentance has taken place. When that occurs we get off the merry-go-round of confessing, crying, promising to do better and spending next week confessing, crying and promising the same old things. We are now doing something positive for God’s Kingdom, ministering to others, changing our lifestyle to reflect that of Christ.

How repentant of your sins are you?

Confession/Testimony – 2 sides of the same coin

/ taethne

Have you ever stopped and thought about the relationship between confession and testimony? In testimonies, people often talk about what God has done for them. This is good and appropriate, but it is not the only form of testimony. Another form of testimony, and one not shared a lot, is what we have done for God’s Kingdom. Part of being accountable to our fellow Christians is to regularly talk about what we have done for the cause of Christ. It is so easy to sit and talk about all the things God has done for us, and  not do anything for Him in return.

Confession is our talking (admitting) what we have done wrong. It also is part of our accountability. So we have this coin. On one side is confession – an admittance of what we are doing that is wrong, and repenting of it. On the other side is testimony – an admittance of what we are doing that is right. For a church to grow in maturity, both of these must be regularly practiced by the group.

If we have nothing to share with our brothers and sisters about what we are doing for God, we may have more to confess than we realize. We need to practice testimonies of what we are doing as well as acknowledgment of what God is doing.

I realize that some will think it might come off as bragging, It could, depending on the way a person phrases it, or their attitude. But just because the practice can be abused doesn’t mean we should abandon it. Let God deal with the braggart, but let us not shrink back from boasting in the Lord as to what we do for Him. It just might inspire others to get involved with us and it will keep us accountable so we are not found to be pew-warmers instead of disciples.