considerable grace

Well ... it was very hard to see the CCEF Conference coming to an end. But it’s not hard for me to come to the end of typing these summaries! I am just chomping at the bit to get to my darling Sophia.

Before I go, however, please enjoy just a few notes from Dr. Tim Lane’s plenary, “Godly Intoxication”:

For the most part, we’ve been working within the context of our first part of our mission statement–restoring Christ to counseling. There has been this emphasis of trying to think of how the wisdom and breadth and depth and grace and redemptive message of the Bible intersect into this world of addictions, life dominating sins. We have, hopefully, not been reductionistic. We have acknowledged and spoken to the physiological and sociological aspects. But we have acknowledged the primary place of the heart and worship: addiction is a worship disorientation.

We have sought to strike a note that brings us back to that utterly unique message that is alone found in the Christian Scriptures—the gospel; the narrative, the Real Story of a God Who loves us and intervenes to save us.

We haven’t mentioned the gospel as a quick panacea; “just believe” and you’ll ratchet up to this level of victory and you won’t struggle any more. As Winston reminded us, God is with us in our relapse. We have a Redeemer Who oftentimes uses our relapses to remind us of our ongoing dependence on Him.

Today, I am as dependent on the grace of God as when I first put my faith in Christ 30 years ago. We have not weaned ourselves at all off of his grace, power, and presence.

So to close our time together, I would like to discuss how we restore the change process to the church.

Where can the addict go for help? Where can the addict find help? Find a place where they are going to be welcomed in, encouraged, and strengthened? Go to find the strength they need to grow in grace? Where can we as sinners find assistance on this journey we call growth in grace?

Is the church evidencing the reality of the gospel in such a way that it becomes the default place in the addict’s mind to go for help? Is that the place they go?

I’m friends with a lot of addicts; family members; a lot of friends. Oftentimes, the church has been the LAST place that the addict in my family, friendships, life ... the church is the last place he or she thinks about finding help.

Please turn with me to Ephesians 5. Our goal is to restore the change process to the church; not to the exclusion of other resources available to us–gifted professional counselors, medical care when needed. But where is the fundamental, primary community? The Church.

Ephesians 5:18-21

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."

Look at the broader context of this passage. The first three chapters are all about this wonderful grace that has come to us. Then Paul turns a corner in Chapter 4; where this newfound power and grace and liberty begins to be worked out–the Body of Christ.

He begins to use several metaphors for understanding the Christian life within the context of the Christian life.

- New things replacing old things
- Truth and love replacing falsehood and bitterness
- Obedience replacing disobedience
- Light replacing darkness
- Wisdom replacing folly
- Sobriety replacing drunkenness

He is using this metaphor of drunkenness and sobriety–another way to look at what it looks like to live the Christian life.

Romans 1:25 ... something in creation morphs and becomes the “creator” in our life; we become intoxicated by something in creation (chemical, success, a relationship). We come under their influence and become intoxicated by them and it leads to a life of recklessness, darkness, drunkenness, folly.

That’s the dynamic and we are commanded to “not be drunk with wine.” Not to become intoxicated by anything in creation; but to become intoxicated by–to come under the influence of–the Spirit. To “let the Spirit fill us.” Passive. Humble ourselves and cry out for mercy. Continue to be filled with the Spirit; not once for all; present tense; ongoing; past experience that is to continue from past into the present and future. Continually be under the influence of the Spirit.

As you are continually under the influence of the Spirit, you become “wide awake.” Like U2’s song, “I’m Wide Awake!” I’m not drunken in darkness; I am living with eyes wide open.

“Don’t be drunk with wine which leads to reckless living; but continually let the Spirit fill you.”

This is what will encourage that kind of filling; he puts it within the Body of Christ. Look at the evidences of the Spirit’s work; and the way that he describes the life and pattern of what it looks like to be a part of the Body of Christ.

These four things ought to be marks of our individual local churches where we worship and grow. Four participle phrases that grow out of this command in vv 18-21:

1. Speaking (v19): Paul is calling for a speaking that goes beyond a superficial speaking. Bonhoeffer, “Life Together.” "Disillusionment and disappointment with my brother is a salutary moment ... the gospel has this wonderful opportunity to express itself in ways that far exceed the ways that the gospel expresses itself when things are going well."

How are we doing with regards to one another when disappointments come? Salutary moments? The gospel can shine? Winston reminded us that God is present with us in the relapse. How can we, as the Body of Christ, be with one another in the relapse? In that moment of discouragement, disillusionment?

2. Singing (v19): We are to have a vertical orientation as we assist one another to worship. How do we get reoriented vertically? Our tendency is to get disoriented; but worship reorients us. Worship is a vital component of what it means to grow in grace. Are we helping people to understand worship as a lifestyle? We don’t behave ourselves into sin; we worship into sin.

3. Giving thanks (v20): That means giving thanks for blessings and when tempted and it is difficult to obey. Blessing and prosperity tempt us to think that we don’t need God. We are like Israelites ... the temptation you will face when you enter the land is to think that we rightfully deserve this because we are a great and moral nation. God says, “No. It is because I am a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God Who gives it to you.”

Philippians 4:11-12 calls us to “Learn contentment ...” No matter what the blessing, difficulty, joy; no matter what the experience or circumstance. I’m not duped. I don’t think that the blessing is my life; I don’t think that the curse is my life. Giving thanks that God is conforming us into the image of Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

4. Submitting (v21): Paul actually brings us back to Ephesians 4:2. We are submitting to one another. One of the great marks of a vibrant church is this quality of submitting to one another. Ask yourself:

-Are we teachable?
- Are we listening?
- Are we willing to heed other people’s counsel?
- Are we willing not only to speak, but to listen and submit?
- Do we allow people to challenge and correct us?

You will find no greater evidence of the Spirit’s work than humility and submitting to one another.

“Father, we want to be individuals who reflect your transforming grace; but we are praying now that we would be part of communities of grace that speak, sing, give thanks, and submit. That those would be characteristic marks of the churches in which we worship ... that our churches would be an outpost of Your grace. Would you do that for Jesus' sake. Amen.”