A great sermon from John Piper:
The great tragedy is not mainly masturbation or fornication or acting like a peeping Tom (or curious Cathy) on the internet. The tragedy is that Satan uses the guilt of these failures to strip you of every radical dream you ever had, or might have, and in its place give you a happy, safe, secure, American life of superficial pleasures until you die in your lakeside rocking chair, wrinkled and useless, leaving a big fat inheritance to your middle-aged children to confirm them in their worldliness. That's the main tragedy....
If it will help to have two headings, here they are:
1) Theology can conquer biology. Or another way to say it more specifically: Justification can conquer fornication.
2) Trust Christ to the hilt with gutsy guilt.
I'm still not sure that churches are talking openly enough about this even though it's obviously an important issue. Glad to see a sermon like this from Piper.
I just don't understand men and their masturbation. It's totally selfish, to me.
I think Mr. Piper raises a topic of fundamental importance to the Christian life; that being, how do we re-connect to Christ in our hearts and in our personal expressions when we become consciously seperated by shame, through sin.
Wether our sin is of a sexual nature or otherwise, it is only when we as individuals come to a conscious understanding and acceptance that God has forgiven us, can we confidently and truthfully reclaim our spiritual and moral worth, our sense of self holiness.
While this subject matter is hugely important,
firstly though,I would like to comment on pre-emptive understandings we ought to have and consequent actions we can take.
Satan, through the many expressions of human nature, persistently seperates us from our sense of self holiness. He convinces some of us that we are chronic sinners beyond redemption. Other times we are led to believe that our sins are the responsibility of other persons or envioronments, thus our own participation requires no acknowledgement or absolution. Still again, through moral relativism, we are convinced that the notion of sin itself is a superstitous remnant of a superstitous past and that we are wholly free to choose what ever type of behavior or action we deem disirable.
We must understand that the enemy is always at work in and around us and that as St. Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 6-10 we must always "put on the whole armour of God".
A sense of inner shame then, understood in this way, is a Godly and useful thing, a "plate in the armour" so to speak. It is the Holy Spirit through our "good conscience" warning us of sin. It is a voice that we should always listen to, even and perhaps especially when we don't fully understand the reasons why.
A commitment to faith and trust before reason and understanding. An act of faith in God.
And when pre-emptive action fails us, then what.
Only a thorough examination of conscience, followed by confession, penance and a commitment to repentance, wholely aided and abetted by God's sanctifying grace, will save us from the persistent unholy whispers within us that we are unworthy and unholy. Nothing else will.
The Catholic church's sacrament of reconcilliation, properly understood and properly applied, mandated in scripture, effected through the magisterium and it's traditions, offers just such a remedy.
My heartfelt wish is that we will all become heirs to it's sanctifying grace.
His peace be with us.
Great post Darryl, Piper is right on. I think for many Christian men it is the number one place of compromise, sexual sin that always begins in the mind.
I also think churches need to be intentional in how they deal with this issue especially in mens ministry groups.
Paul I was with you until you said this:
"The Catholic church's sacrament of reconcilliation, properly understood and properly applied, mandated in scripture, effected through the magisterium and it's traditions, offers just such a remedy."
I don't understand that part. When I sin, when sometimes my old ways come back into play in my mind, it truly grieves me and convicts me big time because I know it grieves my Savior. What I do then is repent, seek His forgiveness and move on. As I come to Him in prayer acknowledging my sin and seeking His forgiveness, it always amazes me how He communicates that He has forgiven me. His Spirit communicates to mine that I am a child of God and I know that my sin, past present and future have been forgiven. I know that because I know that I have been born again and am a new creature in Christ.
Is that not enough? What can the Catholic church do that my Savior can't as I come to Him with a repentant heart?
Awesome post. Reminds me of alot of Crabb stuff. Great theology will free us up in all sorts of ways--but I think we've got to do more with our theology than make brief references--or assumptions--with it. It's got to get deep down, inside our souls, and take over us.
The 'us' that are sitting in the pews, that is.
For that to happen, we've got to make sure that we've got really, really good theology--so good that we can't shut-up about it.
That kind of theology's worth seaching the world for, and then, shouting from the mountain tops.
Hey George,
Sorry about the delay in responding.
George, I must say that I deliberated for a few minutes before including the statement you cite in your response, recognizing the potential for offense. While I am not entirely comfortable suggesting that God's forgiving grace is wholly limited to what I believe to be true, I cannot in good conscience suggest any other remedy then what is perscribed by the Catholic churches.
George, I believe Jesus fully invested the Apostles (John 20: 22-23) with all authority to forgive or retain sins. He does not qualify these remarks to suggest that the individual may seek forgiveness directly. Christ in this instance and in many others, establishes a clerical/communal authority and gives it priority over individual mediation and contrition.
Likewise in Matthew 28: 19-20, Jesus does not address the individual and enlist him or her to come to God directly but rather again empowers the Apostles, sanctified through the Spirit, to make believers and teach obedience. The Catholic churches then, by extension of their historical connectedness and on-going affirmation of the "apostolic mission" become sole heirs to Christian authority on earth.
If the Catholic churches are Christ's sole authority on earth then no personal confession however heartfelt and true can result in the forgiveness of sins.
Clearly I've opened a huge "can of worms" with regard to Protestant authority, one that I'm not even sure I can coherently, much less effectively debate. Nevertheless it is the simple truth of what I believe.
His peace be with us always...
Thanks Paul, that would be huge can of worms for sure.
I'll just ask you about what I testified to in my response before I asked you the question.
I'm assuming you would say to me that I can not know forgiveness in the way that I'm telling you that I know it, is that right? (Don't worry I'm not going to go back and forth about this, I don't have the time and Darryl probably wouldn't want it.)
Dear George,
Again I apologize for the delay. A delay that, for the most part, is a consequence of me being unable to discern between what I believe to be true and what is truth. Perhaps this is because there is no distinction between my belief and the truth or perhaps it is because I lack a clear understanding.
Given my spiritual uncomfortableness in responding, I suspect the latter rather than the former but as to the specifics, I am not entirely sure.
With regard to your claim and question, I can say this. The confession you describe is what is known in the Catholic church as a "perfect confession". That being your sole motivation is love of God, above all else, and the subsequent realization that your sins are offensive to Him. You are not first motivated to confess as a consequence of the ugliness of the sin itself, fear of retribution and/or any other self interest.
I cannot in good conscience assert that such a confession could not be, or even is not, forgiven. For in fact the type of confession you describe is the right first step as described by the Catholic catachism; a God centered interior reflection and accounting, made to God through the Holy Spirit.
If you are telling me that God convicts you with the sense that the totality of His sanctifying grace is made available to you solely through interior reflection and private confession, I accept that as your honest and heartfelt opinion. For I truly believe you to be a man seeking righteousness and true communion with God.
The connundrum though, is that He convicts me otherwise.
Without my further expression of contrition, to His servant, a priest I am wholly certain that my confession is incomplete and the full potential of God's sanctifying grace is denied me.
Perhaps both seemingly contradictory points of view are acceptable to God. Perhaps not.
I'm sorry that in the end, I cannot give you a sure yes or no, George. Though I guess what I am saying is that I believe the Catholic expression of confession, being both private and public, is best.
His peace be with you.
Hey Paul, thanks for your response, I really appreciate your honesty.
It really does come down to truth doesn't it? I appreciate you saying that your challenge is to "discern between what I believe to be true and what is truth."
Remember Pilate asked Jesus "What is truth?"
Its real important. Jesus told us He was the truth. Jesus prayed that God would "sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth" Notice how he never said your word plus something else.
1 Timothy 2:5,6 "5For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. "
Jesus is the one mediator, it doesn't say anywhere in the Word of God Jesus and someone else, Jesus and the minister, or Jesus and the priest, its always just Jesus.
Jesus is the one who knows what is in a man. Jesus is the one intercedes on our behalf. Jesus is the one who paid the penalty for our sin.
If as you say and as the Catholic church says it needs to be Jesus plus the priest, its like saying that the sacrifice of Jesus was not enough. I can't just come to Him, I need to do both, come to Him and go to a priest.
So we could go back and forth, it comes down to the authority of Scripture. Is it Scripture alone or is it Scripture and Tradition? If its also Tradition, how is it that the Tradition changes? How do you know when something gets changed within the Tradition if its from God? Shouldn't it square with God's Word?
I've always appreciated your comments here at Darryl's blog. My impression is that you are someone who desires to live for God. I would encourage you to seek Him in His Word and to ask Him to give you that discernment.
I always love to encourage seekers to go through the Gospel of John one chapter at a time and as they do to ask God to reveal Himself to them. With a genuine heart to seek the truth God will use that by His Spirit to communicate truth to them.
I would encourage you to do the same. Go through a chapter a day. Meditate on what you read and ask the question "Who is Jesus?" When you are done after 21 days with a sincere heart ask yourself what you have learned.
If and when you do that and have allowed God to communicate to you in this way I would then like to ask you if you believe you still need to confess to Jesus and also the priest.
May God bless you as you seek His truth, I'm praying for you.