Today, when I was in church, the songs all converged for me on the notion of burning fire of God. Just before going to service I’d been spending some time getting down a burden on my heart, that had turned into a post. This is the one here.
A book I’ve just listened to 2x back to back is “The Sin of Certainty” by Peter Enns. None of my reading is SAFE, so go with God – hand in hand – in the final chapters of the book he expresses the heart of the reason for writing the book in the first place, and my heart was so glad! Part of what he lets us, his readers, know is that Paul doesn’t use the word “Christians” when he describes us, but Paul calls us “In Christ” and that this is a profound mystery. Part of that mystery is that we enter into Christ’s sufferings. In Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship,
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
John Piper: Desiring God
I’ve known Bonhoeffer’s words for many years, since 1982! I know Luke 14, and verses like it my whole life. Take up your cross and follow me he says. Galatians 2:20 I’m crucified with Christ, Romans 12:1-2 offer your bodies as a living sacrifice… I’ve known all those verses, but how do we get from HERE to THERE… ?
I’ve got a life here! I’ve got a wife and family, children, a job, debts, expenses, commitments, folks depend on me! My whole life has been built up to now by me?!?! Do I just walk away? That’s a legit question, isn’t it?
So look at that BONfire picture LOL (I’m laughing cuz of the allusion to Bonhoeffer’s name there LOL… but those standing outside the fire can reach into their pocket, and pull out various things to repent of, to walk away from… thus retaining control.
Before I go on… I’m not suggesting that YOU self cleanse. Whatever you’re able to get rid of, do it… but don’t jump into the fire. Throw whatever you can into that fire! But submit yourself to God. Trust him! I love Thomas’s words in John 11:16, “…“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
There are good organizations out there that let you pick and choose which poison you want deliverance from. You can go and meet with others that have the same struggle, and your unmanageable life can thereby become manageable, oh yeah? Peter Enns (in The Sin of Certainty) talks about how he was brought to let go of all such arrogance of claiming such a thing as being in control of the path he’s on. He even goes on to say, this is my journey, my story, and warns us not to treat his testimony as a 5 steps in 50 days method to become a . . . and what I’ve found confirmed in the pages of The Sin of Certainty is that even the pursuit of a godly life can itself be idolatry. Peter Enns quotes one of the most wonderful scriptures in regards to this. Its about knowing Christ. Look at this quote about St Augustine, ours is to Love God with all of our heart, soul and mind! We are saved by grace through faith! If we become distracted with the sins, we will focus on them, and we’ll find ourselves in a spiritual quicksand… sucked in by it every single time. Get you mind off of it! Give it a big FAT so what! Just think of the guy whose entire identity is about what he doesn’t do anymore.
I use to smoke, use to chew, use to go out with girls that do
author unknown
Paul talks about the sin that so easily besets, and the thorn in his flesh. We don’t get to know what those are. Even his sin lists aren’t exhaustive. We need to stop thinking of sin as little or big… and simply realize that sin separates us from God…
There’s a risk when we turn over our lives to God. Romans 12:1-2 is a wonderful key to this anxiety of WHAT IF because Paul urged his listeners to offer a living sacrifice… if I was in a small group right now I’d ask others to help me articulate this… but part of your path to wholeness is to be obedient to God’s word. Whatever you do, put Christ first. Hebrews 11:6… apart from faith it is impossible to please God. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God
Romans 10:17 NKJV
My process, the way that works for me, my testimony… I write out God’s word. And the Holy Spirit is able to then fulfill his mandate, which is to fulfill Christ’s promise to his disciples in our lives. When we read his word, we first need to understand what meant to the original hearers. Jesus said
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
John 14:26
He was wrapping up his time on earth, and preparing them for two things, his departure, and the entrance of the Holy Spirit who would be coming to take up residence in their hearts. And part of that residency was as the teacher. Argue with me if you want, I don’t mind, I like it actually, As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another... Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, all that spoke to them is God’s word. So our access to that which the disciples experienced is through his written word. When I first took a hold of that verse as a young, naive grade 10 teen, I accepted it at face value. God was promising me to teach me and remind me of all that his word says. So, when I opened my Bible and read Romans chapter one a little while later, and it completely flowed through my head like a river through a valley… and I was unmoved, untaught, left wondering… “I bowed my head and prayed” is a poetic license… I said in my heart, “God, in your word (and then I quoted John 14:26) it says you are my teacher by your Holy Spirit. I will not leave this first chapter of Romans until you teach it to me, Amen.” And everyday I read that chapter until it began to make sense, and then I read on further into one of the more difficult books of the Bible to comprehend. He’s been teaching me Romans 1 ever since. I quote 1:21 so often my wife knows it off by heart LOL. His word never fails, and it is a new living water drink to quench my thirst ever more… may I never get enough of what he has for me within its pages! Amen!
I hope you’re doing ok here… I’ll recap… and if you’re skimming… its all about knowing the Father, Hebrews 11:6 you must come to him in Faith, apart from faith you cannot please him. You must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
When ever you come across a sin, no matter how big, no matter how small… confess it to God. Now this is what I mean when I say CONFESS it. Simply, call it what it is. The temptation is to make excuses for its presence and persistence in your life. God lays his hand on it, and tells you its time for it to go… and you say, “yes but…” and like the rich young ruler you walk away, for you are very attached to that. Or you might try to rename it… squirming around… get over it… but whatever you, deal with it God’s way
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
David in Psalm 139 provides us with the perfect example of a such a thing. He’s raving about the wicked persecutors in his life. And realizes it, and ask God to help him make sense of it, then he gives it to God, asking God to cleanse him and lead him into the way everlasting
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:19-24
Paul talks about it at the end of the 5th chapter of Thessalonians
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Our job is to confess it – to call it what it is – SIN.
There are lots of examples of what I’ve heard called Paul’s sin lists… Galatians 5 is one such list, the deeds of the flesh are obvious, he says. But here in our lives, in this day and age, and even back then in the New Testament times, there are things which don’t seem to be listed. And the writer of Hebrews asks us to go a step further, to shed everything that hinders,
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Hebrews 12:1-13
As you are confessing, and yearning, and working out your salvation with fear and trembling, you may find yourself in the fire. Your whole house is up in flames… Bonhoeffer points out that all spiritual growth is painful, the death of the flesh is painful, because its MY FLESH its part of me! David’s prayer is for God to “see if there be any wicked way in me…” and to lead him out and away from it.
Look at those three Hebrews in Daniel 3:16-18. They were thrown into the fiery furnace. When Nebuchadnezzar was told about these three that defied his command to bow, they told him, respectfully you might notice, that a) God is able to deliver them, and b) even if he doesn’t, they won’t bow. It wasn’t about proving God’s existence. It was about their obedience. And they simply made that declaration.
So, finding yourself in a Fiery furnace isn’t necessarily because its all rubbish that God is cleansing you from! Hebrews 12:7 says “endure hardship as discipline” another way to say that is stop trying to figure out why this is happening, this trial you are going through, and accept any and all as being within God’s right over your life to do as he pleases. Its all under his control, consider this:
Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
Ephesians 1:11
John 1:12 believing gives us the right to become a child of God. Its like saying potential… we become flammable material, but then there’s the flame… the flame is his work in his us, and our obedience to and/or submission to that work in us.
Take the chance! Give it all to God. Light the Fire… let it burn outside of your control, and into God’s hands, his control! Trust in HIM. He’s got you. His yoke is easy and his burden is lite.
Running Down Vimy 