Solo Soul Retreats

There's a little phrase that the Gospel writer, Luke, uses that has for the past several months wrecked me in terms of conviction and comfort.

The night before Jesus arrest, trials and crucifixion, spent by all that has come to pass and in the midst of all that is to come, Luke writes, "And he came out and went, as was his custom...and knelt down and prayed" (Luke 22:39-41). This was not something out of the ordinary for Jesus. Never ceasing to be "very God of very God," he had regular times of going away alone from the busyness and urgency of His ministry and this night was no exception.

That remarkable little phrase "as was his custom" challenges me to consider how much of my life is lived in dependence upon the Spirit of God to guide and direct in the midst of overcrowded life and struggle.

With this provocation came the encouragement to do something about it. Beyond regular times of reading Scripture, I have worked into the rhythm of my life quarterly prayer retreats. I get away with my Bible and a journal and nothing else. I spend some time catching up on the days I missed on my "read through the bible in a year" schedule and working through some personal evaluation questions that I found a few years back from Dr. Tim Keller. Questions include:

- In what ways do you acknowledge your own limitations as a pastor and not Messiah?
- In what ways do you work out of a flexibility that recognizes God's sovereign authority over all things?
- How do you demonstrate that you are responsible to God first and foremost?
- How are you demonstrating a disciplined lifestyle?
- In what ways are your family commitments a proper priority?
- How are you staying faithful to the commitments to which God is calling you?
- In what ways are you leading people to and in worship of Jesus?


At first, these retreats were a terror, as I am an extreme extrovert and verbal processor. However, I cannot endorse them strongly enough for times of clarity, refreshment and gaining a renewed sense of purpose and encouragement from God.

I will be taking this retreat this weekend and would appreciate the prayers.

Dealing with Forgiveness

Many people, who profess faith in Jesus, operate under a Christianity that is functionally moral, but is actually devoid of Jesus and devoid of transforming power. I recognized this, yet again, at a conference last week when a speaker, professing faith in Christ gave a great moral definition of forgiveness, but not a gospel, Jesus-centered definition. What he shared could have been said, by Oprah, or anyone whose main goal is to simply get along and be "nice." The people listening responded with obvious emotion, including tears, proving the scenario a desperate one.

The man's definition of forgiveness was this, "Forgiveness is the releasing of your right to seek revenge when wronged." Morally, this sounds good. If we're going to operate in a world broken and ravaged by sin and sinners, then we're going to encounter constant situations where we must forgive the wrong-doing of others and hope that they will extend the same grace in kind.

While me must forgive, I can think of at least three reasons why this moral definition is weak and problematic:

1. This form of moral forgiveness, while it allows you continue in a lifestyle of niceness, does not release you from being a perpetual victim. When wronged, you have nowhere to carry your grief, no one hear your case, no real sense of justice. You simply release your right to demand justice. The result is a culture of pretenders who put on plastic smiles in the midst of devastating grief, whose only hope is that enough time will pass so that the pain that can only be ignored will eventually go away and history will be re-written to have never included that episode of misery. It does not offer the true freedom that Gospel-forgiveness promises.

2. This view perverts the Biblical portrait of Justice and challenges God's holiness. If forgiveness amounts to "letting it go," then God is cruel for demanding justice and taking vengence upon evil and not a God who hears the cries of the upright in heart and moves on behalf of the oppressed. But the Scriptures teach that He is (Deut. 32:4, II Sam. 22:7, Psalm 18:4). He does not simply release the right for revenge. Over and over in the OT, we witness God making the promise to put an end to all wrong doing. In the response of God to the wickedness of the serpent and Adam and his wife Eve, we have the promise that this will be put to an end (Gen. 3:15).

We must refrain from attempting to change God so that He is a cosmic Santa Claus who strictly withholds reward from those who are "naughty." The Scriptures paint a picture of a God whose justice demands payment and who desires His people to do the same (Ex. 34:7, Lev. 16:16 & Gen. 18:19, Ex. 23:2, Deut. 16:19-20, etc.).

3. Most devastatingly, this view of forgiveness, when professed as a Christian view actually changes the very Gospel that we count on to be reconciled and see the world made right, because it removes the centrality of the cross for forgiveness.

Paul reminds the church at Corinth of the primary points of the Gospel in I Cor. 15. He points out that Christ died for sinners. That he was buried, that he raised and appeared. These things are of utmost importance to the Christian Faith and it is eternally dangerous to change that message (Gal. 1:6-9). The death of Jesus is the very act that makes forgiveness possible. The debt for wrong doing is not "let go," but paid. It is condemned in Jesus and sets the guilty free (Rom. 8:1-3). It was not a simple release, but the brutal murder of the guiltless, eternal son of God.

The Passion of the Christ 20th Century Fox and Icon Productions 2004

Gospel forgiveness would be defined as "releasing the right for personal wrath in recognition that the injustice has been dealt with." As my friend Mike pointed out, the axiom goes from "Eye for an eye" to "Jesus for an eye."

There is power in realizing that justice has been served. The condemnation that you rightly wish to execute has not simply been arbitrarily let go, it has been carried out. The Gospel changes EVERYTHING. In the resurrection, there is newness to life and the promise that the death of innocence and safety is overcome by the mercy and grace of God. Realizing this grants freedom to see the relationship renewed with a foundation other than brokenness. May we learn to apply a forgiveness in keeping with the Gospel.

New Series - Rethinking Church

Our next series is a five part topical series aiming at a working definition of the Church.

In his book, Vintage Church, Mark Driscoll rightly points out that "for much of the history of the church the definition of church has simply been assumed" (p. 35).

We will work through the following topics:
1. What is the Christian Life?
2. What is the Christian Community?
3. What is the Mission for Individuals?
4. What is the Mission for Local Culture?
5. What is the Mission for Global Culture?

We'll follow this up by having my friend David Speights from Thailand come and share what he's been doing and how we can get involved.

This series will begin on Sunday, Aug. 9 at 10:00 am at our building in downtown Asheville.