Personal Matters

My overriding passion is to see the “glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6) shine brightly into all the spheres of life and culture (arts, education, government, law, sport, health, business, politics, family, media etc.). Therefore when Christians privately confide in me about misdemeanours which could easily become public I am deeply burdened (2 Cor 11:28-29).  This drives ‘ME’ to prayerfully seek the Lord about how his light can come to dispel the darkness in the Church and break through into the world around us. The answer I have received has caused a deep questioning about what sort of ‘ME’ is revealed to others. Our starting point however must be Jesus’ own vision of our final identity.

A Vision of the End

Jesus said that once the world is cleansed from evil, “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt 13:43). This theme is expanded in the exalted images of the End in the book of Revelation.  John sees ““the wife of the Lamb…the holy city…coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel …clear as crystal….the city was…like clear glass…and the street of the city was…like transparent glass…And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth…bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations.” (Rev 21:9-11, 22-26.)

John pictures the Bride of Christ as a holy city functioning like one great transparent lens through which the glory of God shines and fills the universe (cf. Eph 1:22-23). At the climax of this splendid vision “the kings of the earth” (all true worshippers of the Lamb) bring into the city “the glory and the honour of the nations” (Rev 3:21; 5:10). Whatever we have done for Jesus in our daily roles (marriage, family, work, church) will be immeasurably magnified by the grace of God into offerings that eternally fill the city of God (Rev 14:13; 19:8).

In heaven the limitless brilliance of “Christ in us” will shine undistorted through each of us in our union with God’s own infinite light (Col 1:27; 1 Tim 6:16; Heb 1:3; Dan 12:3). Each believer will then be a fully transparent ‘ME’ and our personal presence in heaven will forever manifest the manifold wisdom of the redemptive plan of God (Eph 2:7; 3:10). Each Christian shall form an indispensable part of that one vast prism of love transmitting the revelation of God in Christ to every corner of creation.

The Light of the World

All this is possible because Christ was the perfect revelation of the glory of God in our mortal nature (John 1:14). His self-disclosure, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), proclaims that the brightness of the Father shone without hindrance through his humanity. People saw God in Jesus because his soul was free of all the darkness brought by sin and  guilt (John 1:1-9; Heb 4:15). The Lord could uniquely say, “the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me” (John 14:30). How then can a sinless Christ say to a less than transparent ‘ME’; ““You are the light of the world….let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 5:16). Paul is no less forthright, “in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15 cf. Eph 5:8). The key to this puzzle is found both in the company Jesus kept and in the power of his death.

Illumination of Confession

Jesus was notorious for associating with various “sinners” (Matt 9:10-13; 11:19; John 9:2). His conflicts with not however with such social rejects, but those of the day who considered themselves to be “the righteous” (Matt 23:1-36; Luke 11:37-54). Jesus’ controversial social life teaches us that it is not sin as such that darkens the light of God but the denial of sin (Matt 5:27-32; John 9:41). The blinding of the spiritual eyes of our hearts falls only upon us when we “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18-23; Isa 6:9-10).

It is easy to forget the intense spiritual illumination that accompanied the confession of our sins when we first came to the Lord (Acts 26:18; Heb 10:32). Bit by bit we grow accustomed to duller light of grace. Such forgetfulness breeds immaturity, “whoever lacks these (godly) qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” (2 Pet 1:9).Which church today teaches the urgent need of constant impactful cleansing from sin? “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son goes on cleansing us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins[1], he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:6-10) It is the denial of sin that displaces the light bearing Word of God’s limitlessness grace to cleanse the darkest guilt laden conscience (2 Tim 1:10; Ps 119:130). This is why the great revivals have been precipitated by the public confession of sin.

Only through open confession can shame and guilt be dissolved by the power of the blood of Christ to forgive. This all releasing forgiveness is the light of the good news of Jesus (2 Cor 4:4-6). In such a true gospel atmosphere there are no longer any guilty secrets for the vilest offenders are received with open arms into the Body of Christ. I am encouraged to see this power at work on the fringes of the Church in Perth; in the deliverance of addicts, prostitutes and homosexual offenders and the shame-free environment of public confession in the Christian men’s shed movement (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-11). Confession of sin is not Christian ABC, it is the desperate need of the whole Church in this hour.

A Vision Worth Dying For

The vision worth dying for is NOT a prosperous life, happy marriage or successful ministry. It is the vision of the brilliance of the life of Jesus shining out into all the spheres of life as a foretaste of the eternal light of heaven. It is a vision largely lost to the contemporary Western Church enamoured with its own narcissistic image. It is a vision that will be fiercely resisted by peddlers of a message of constant prosperity and success who in reality are simply deniers of the depth of human sin and depravity (2 Cor 2:17). Open confession will branded as lawlessness by legalists of man’s order, decorum and decency. It is a vision of a radiance that blinds and traumatises the demonic powers so that they must strike back with violence against the torch-bearers of Christ (John 3:20; Rev 2:9-10). If all of this is so crystal clear then the only thing that can be holding back the move of God is ‘ME’; I am far from a fully transparent ‘ME’. I am certain however sure that if we ask keep on asking the Lord to give us the gift of confession and repentance this prayer will surely precipitate the revival we are so desperately seeking (Luke 11:13; Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Cor 7:10; 2 Ti 2:25).