Summary of Ed Welch’s plenary ‘Addiction, Temptation & Voluntary Slavery’ (CCEF Conference Live Blog)

(I am writing these little summaries in between the live blog entries to let you know how Fred and I experienced the conference–and to give you just a flavor of the live blogs in case you were scared off by the 60,000 word count. 🙂 )

Back to Friday morning (November 14) …

It was so great to gather as a group of almost 2,000! The worship was fantastic—I urge you to get to know the Getty’s if you don’t already know them.

And the genuine love and respect shown by the CCEF staff members as they introduced one another added a degree of credibility to everything they did and said (especially because they have such long relationships).

The Executive Director of CCEF, Tim Lane, set the tone for the entire conference when he said:

“Hi, my name is Tim Lane, and I’m an addict.”

Many of us in the crowd did respond, “Hi, Tim.” (We know our 12-step programs, eh?!)

And then Dr. Lane went on to say …

I am addicted to many things–self-love, personal comfort. I am an addict. And this conference is for all of us. We all struggle with sin—and sin can become dominating.

The issue of addictions touches us all. We all have a deep sense of our neediness; a deep desire to grow in grace; to fight against sin and the work of the evil one. We come into this room with hopefully a deep sense of our humility, gratitude, and confidence in the work of God and the Spirit.

Ed Welch’s plenary address continued this theme and I encourage you to get the audio CD and listen yourself—or at least read the entire Live Blog entry. (It’s not that long! 😉 )

Here are just a few highlights …

We gather as kindred spirits who share a similar mission–we are persuaded that Scripture is alive and deep and we desire to bring it to the problems in living. We want to bring Christ and Him crucified to the problems of living. As we do that, we hope to encourage the Church with loving encouragement and wise counsel.

(After describing a disturbing case study from his early years as a counselor …)

In the moment we begin to see the addict as ‘abnormal,’ Scripture seems to drop below a whisper; it seems to go silent. And often we respond by putting addicts, ‘over there,’ in one category or sub-class. We buy into the AMA diagnosis of addiction being a ‘medical disease.’ We send people to AA—and they furiously underline and memorize passages in the AA Big Book because it just seems to relevant to their lives! But their Bibles remain pristine because it seems to be for ‘normal people’ and they are not feeling very normal.

So there I was with my biblical worldview and then I met Mr. Gray (the case study) …

Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have people to confuse the clarity of our own minds?

(As a Tara-aside here … I think that was absolutely one of THE BEST LINES of the entire weekend. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have people to confuse the clarity of our own minds?’ So true! So true. But back to Dr. Welch …)

So you go back to Mr. Gray and you walk along with him. He says, “I wake up in the morning. I want to do the right thing and I don’t do it.” And you remember your argument with your wife that morning. You wanted to do the right thing; but before you stopped yourself, the wrong thing came out.

Before we can even say, “Romans 7!” Scripture swings us around “AND YOU.”

Romans 1 & 2, Paul does the same thing … “AND YOU.”

The sufficiency of Scripture is at stake with the “and you.”

 

If somehow addiction is abnormal, Scripture is silent. But the “and you” means that Scripture DELUGES us as we walk with Mr. Gray …

“I have good news for you, Mr. Gray! We are sinners and we are committed to our sin.” In response, Mr. Gray goes blank. He seems unresponsive. Scripture includes both of you, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. He is not necessarily hard-hearted; Mr. Gray simply doesn’t understand.

But how does Scripture speak to someone who feels abnormal? How can he be brought in?

Isaiah 44. Mr Gray? What’s in your hand? Bottle of alcohol? Aqua Velva? No. It is a LIE. That’s what Isaiah says to us. “It is a LIE.”

Scripture begins to whisper to us. “I guess you’re right. It IS a lie.”

I’ve made commitments to this lie. I’ve said to this lie, “I am yours and you are mine.” This object has made promises to me. “Betroth yourself to me and you will find satisfaction; you will receive the things that you want; the things you truly desire.”

But it hasn’t given me the desires of my heart.

The lie says, “I will never leave you or forsake you. Just commit yourself to this.” Seems true! But the fine print is that it is committed to your death.

Scripture begins to speak to Mr. Gray.

God is your creator. Your creator, Mr. Gray. He is yours and you are His. You belong to Him.

But, you have looked to another place for salvation, refuge. You have turned away from your creator. He is doing a “Gotcha!” He is pursuing you as a wandering child. He is coming after you; pulling you into his arms and breathing life into you.

He is showering you with words that describe where you came from; how you got here; where you are going. It describes a new universe for you.

God does not forgive us because we deserve it. He forgives because this is the way that He brings glory to Himself.

God doesn’t forgive you because you are forgivable but because God is the Forgiver.

God calls you to speak out in your pain to Him. And HE HEARS. God will shower you with comfort. Have you ever known comfort, Mr. Gray? Let me tell you, it is coming! It will be another time where you have a Father who takes you into His arms and says, “Gotcha!”

That’s speaking to Mr. Gray.

(And to Tara too.)

How I thank God for the ministry of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation.

Hope these notes are helpful to you!

Yours,
Tara B.