Urban Reformation

Last evening I witnessed what I believe to be one of the rarest forms of God’s Grace in someone’s life, someone’s pride sacrificed at the alter of public confession.  Some who read may know him, some may have been there, however it was a moment of great honesty in our congregation.  Something that we had been warned about in one of our Sunday School classes over and over again, took place right before our eyes.  A man who loves his wife dearly has messed up to the point until his marriage is as he put it,  “on the brink of disaster.”

Pastor Tim went over these verses in scripture stating that our confession is for the healing and restoration back to God and this is what this young man did last evening.

Pastor Tim read this in James 5 verses 13-20:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.  Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,  let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

When I say messed up to the brink, with the ringing confession still clinging to my mind over his sin I sit here this morning in reflection of my entire marriage.  The horrible way that he treated his wife.  The selfishness, self centeredness that he spoke of, the constant yelling and manipulation.  The word wasn’t used last night of “Pharisaical self-righteousness” however I believe it fits best, it’s the term that’s been used often in our Sunday School to have all of the exteriors of “Christianity” yet on the inside being a cesspool of self righteousness. The verbal abuse and manipulation for control, the hypocrisy which flowed from his lips…. all of these things which should be so opposite Christianity were amongst us and we did not detect it.  All of these things which point to our need for transparency and confession one to another in our small groups before it gets to this level.

Last night was so moving for me, not only because it lowered the waters of transparency within our church perhaps, but because when compared to Christ dying for the church, His elect, His chosen bride, I saw all of my own failings in this man’s confession.  I saw when I get angry, when I manipulate, when I purpose everything without consideration for my wife or my family.  Last night if it did anything it helped the men of our congregation see our absolute failures as a husband, and it did this…   last evening was a call from God for men every where in our church and I am chief, to repent in our neglect, abuse, and abandonment in some way of our spouses.  It was a call to come to the cross and to recognize our failings and plead for mercy in our own marriage not a pleading that would last a short while but a transformational self death pleading that we need to be like Christ, dying to self, and serving our wives with hearts which would literally dye for them.

The comparison was made from Romans 5:8 though not verbally stated that even though we are hurtful, and spiteful, even though we disobey God when it comes to our brides, God loved us (The bride of the church )anyway to the point of death, even death on the cross.  So we too are called to our own death, to serve our wives and not simply be served.

Now for this young man, his hope is not set in a movie and no longer can he take pride in a dream of being someone great in church but he put his pride, his reputation on the chopping block, because God has shown him through all of this his grievous error, and now handing over his pride on the alter of public confession he has perhaps now verbally confess so that as it says in James things may be healed, not only physically but as Pastor Tim put it, “perfectly healthy people can go to hell”, but now things can be healed spiritually.  There is no person, no reputation saved only a pleading for his family and for God’s mercy on their marriage.

This man’s hope is demonstrably now in Christ not with his words only, but I have seen God transforming his heart removing the anger within even as this whole process has taken place and giving him a vision for his wife that I believe could only be implanted there in a time such as this by the Holy Spirit.

So what now?  He waits, while the rest of the congregation gets to reflect on the weight of our own sin toward our spouses.  How many more hypocrites besides the one writing this blog post are there who need to come to the cross and realize that we must die to ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him daily.  Luke 9:23  The other thing we get to do is pray for them, and in all urgency and earnestness pray for God to intervene.

So here’s a trailer from the movie Fireproof on waiting, and now it’s time for spiritual healing which only God can do, and meanwhile this young man is waiting, and hoping in something far greater than himself, his hope is in the eternal hope of Jesus Christ.  There is no greater hope than this!

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