[PTC 301-Ed Welch] GUILT: final exam study guide - outline

1) Guilt
a) Brief Description
God’s unshakeable presence in our lives exposes the human heart to the universal problem of guilt when we have sinned or been shamefully sinned against. The shame or guilt we feel (or should feel) before God will shape our attitudes and actions to do our best to cover/hide/cleanse the shame. God’s good news is that Christ’s sacrifice has sufficiently dealt with human guilt so that we can be fully and enthusiastically accepted by Him, thus freed to live with a clear conscience and open hearts in a public way to the glory of God.

b) The Most important Question/Feature/Issue to consider:
• Legalism to deal with guilt of sin and uncleanness.
a) Why do you not believe God’s forgiveness in Christ is sufficient?
b) Why has God’s beautiful forgiveness become unattractive to you?

c) Issues you need to be particularly alert to in your relationship with the counselee:
• Privacy. A guilty person typically does not approach you with their guilt. They are ashamed to talk about it. Ask them to describe how they feel (e.g. depressed) in other words. Ask them to ask for forgiveness and trust He forgives according to His promise.
• Pride. Guilty people are struggling with some form of legalism.
• Purity. Sometimes guilt comes from being victimized, made shamefully unclean.
• Concience. Sometimes people don’t feel guilty about things they should be.

d) One significant biblical text relevant to the problem area, why the text is relevant.
A guilty person needs fresh appreciation of God’s surprising, incomparable forgiveness.
• Story of the Running Father (Luke 15) – a.k.a. The Prodigal Son.
• Gal 3, Gen 15 : The promise came before the law
(Unilateral covenant is humiliating.)
• Hosea & Gomer. “I am the one who pursues you in the midst of adultery.”
• Jesus touches/touched by the unclean (Mark 5:25). Great exchange. Jesus becomes unclean so that we might be healed.

e) Its biblical conceptualization (Causes? Roots?)
• Currently in unrepentant sin.
• Need to confess a past sin to God
• Consequences of the past
• Victim of sin.

Guilt is evidence that someone hasn’t come to terms with God’s complete, supreme forgiveness and cleansing in Christ. Guilty people inevitably try to manage their uncleanness, sin problem, or sin’s consequences apart from God’s covenant provision and promises. Legalism perpetuates guilt because it doesn’t have the power to remove guilt. It seeks to make atonement, to hide/cover shame, based upon our own man-made religion.

f) Two homework assignments showing awareness of uniqueness of the problem.
1) Ask someone to forgive you. Whom should you forgive?
2) Ask God to forgive you for trying to manage sin apart from Him.

g) Your basic method of approach
• First I would ask why a person feels guilty, to explain how guilt makes them feel. This will help determine whether guilt is the core issue or what form the guilt takes.
• Then I would try to discern any legalistic behaviors or attitudes that might be diminishing the glory of the gospel of forgiveness.
• Then I would want to encourage the person to recognize how God the Father has enthusiastically run to us in a “shameful” manner to accept us in His Son, so that they can move, in repentance and confession, from guilt to joy in God.

Ministry 101 Catch-22

How can I begin to minister to others when I need constant reminding of the gospel in its two glorious dimensions: accessible to infants and more profound than any human work of art, poetry, and philosophy?

final exam study nugget - on guilt

"Joy is the serious business of heaven." -- C.S. Lewis

Under the topic of guilt, Prof Ed Welch reminds us that confessing our sins should lead to joy. If it doesn't, we are legalistic, refusing to take to heart the attractive beauty of knowing and trusting God's forgiveness. For some crazy reason, we still cling on to being the judge of when/how/whether our sins shall be forgiven, rather than abandoning this to God's complete, surprising, and incomparable justice in Christ. We think there is something still we must do to earn His favor. Joy says to the world, "We get His ineffably enthusiatic forgiveness!"

PS3 and gospel economy

Jayson and I were strolling passed the local Target after our dinner at Thai Bangkok Orchid on Thursday, when we noticed a gang of guys playing video games outside the front entrance.
"What are they doing?" Jayson asked. I walked over to the first set of guys bundled in coats.
"Are these your systems or Target's?" The guy said the systems were theirs. You could see his breath.
"Do you guys typically hang out here playing video games here at night or weekends?" I asked in amazement.
"We always camp out for the latest console."
"Which one is coming out?"
"The PS3."

A handful of souls, playing video games all night outside Target so they can be the first ones in the doors hoping not to miss out on the limited supply. Now those are devout worshippers! They probably wonder what strange world I live in that I hadn't heard the gospel of the coming kingdom of PS3. Would they have any interest in a new world that can't possibly run out of supply? That economic strategy is bound to disappoint any supply-and-demand based worldview of value.

why i am still single :-)

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morning devotional for my software team

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

As we take a closer look today at all that we've been doing, all that we've accomplished, and how we can improve for the future, let's give thanks to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Deism is a constant temptation for us, as we walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in each day. Though we probably don't imagine God booting up his laptop at 8am every work day, sipping some coffee, and clicking on a shortcut on his desktop so that He can hit the beach for the rest of the day, doesn't our lack of daily thanksgiving suggest that we sometimes do?  We easily forget that God is  the Extreme Programmer.  The Spirit is always faithful to pair with us. Not one line of code is written, compiled, or executed apart from the Father's decree. The Son will not even let one single appointed whitespace or comment pass away until all is accomplished.  Think about all the things we can give thanks for, when we realize He is with us in all of this, for from him and through him and to him are all things .

But what about all those things that seem to get in our way for doing all the good works we've planned?  Surely, God is out to lunch when those happen!  Those twenty emails that arrived after I just caught up. Those jira issues that seem to come in faster than we can fix them.

Our God is not just Lord of the finished product in all its glory, but over the entire process, however frustrating or time consuming it may seem sometimes.  We want all that is glorious now, all at once, apart from inconveniences, apart from pain.  Our Creator is not only interested in our software passing all the tests, but our very hearts.  When push comes to shove, it is our attitudes and character that God gives priority in his heavenly triage. We need constant debugging. He has taken ownership over our development, even when He isn't to blame for the bugs we'd rather call "features" in our hearts, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.

He is much more patient with us than we are with Him.  He is a God who pleases to take His time. He took six days to call all things good, savoring the last day as best. He delighted in the development process, when He could have just clicked on a shortcut. His Spirit took over a thousand years to inscripturate the Holy Scripture. He endured thousands of years of rebellion until time was appointed to labor in birth with His promised Son. The Son learned the obedience of an eternal priest for us through the things he suffered. And it pleased His Father to take time to crush the Son on our behalf. 

Look at the bigger picture now. The whole creation still groans with childbirth pains for our glorification. We are participants in that new creation, the regeneration of all things. Christ is the firstborn and His church is the center of that new cosmos to come. We are the temple from which His glory will fill the earth. Every day, new stones are being made alive, sons of Abraham, crying out, declaring His glory. 

Programming should be for us an act of faith that God is using to build His church. We are not just IT support. We are Holy Temple support. Not only is our software development an act of mercy for missionaries, it is an act of war.  As technology has developed, so has the sophisticated tactics and defenses of our enemy. True, we are not on the front lines, but our tools are being employed for front line usage. Wherever there is development of literacy in the world, Scripture will continue to gain ground through the gates of Hell in hearts that hear.

Can't you hear the Lamb in heaven breaking the seals of His scroll across the globe, shaking all that remains to be shaken? (Rev 5:9) Countless peoples are worshipping God in their own tongue. Praise the Lord!

I am loved

Every so often my friend, Phil asks, "So when are you coming? It's time for you to visit us again." The last time I visited was last year right after Katrina hit. I watched his family mobilize others in the church to house huricane refugees. I was due for another visit.

Phil helped me carry my bags and clothes into the guest room. When we opened the door, it appeared that several items were still on the bed. My initial thought was, "Oh, is this not where I'm staying?" Phil asked his wife Amy. She explained that she had not yet taken the time to cleanup the room after their son's birthday party. I thought it was funny that she had not cleared off the bed in expectation of my coming. I told her it made me feel like I was part of their family that she didn't feel anxious about making everything look all perfect just for me. Sometimes you know you're loved when you don't receive special treatment. I'd much rather people feel they can be "at home" around me than running a hotel in their home.