Here’s the email I sent leaders at Crestview today, 4/3…
As we continue to think about Paul Tripp’s Dangerous Calling and follow up on Sessions 3 and 4 of the DVD, I turn my attention to Chapter 5, Joints and Ligaments. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but, as Tripp says in this chapter, 100% of people reading this are deceived by sin. “The blinding ability of sin is so powerful and persuasive that you and I literally need daily intervention. What the writer of Hebrews is crushing with this warning and call [that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin] is any allegiance we might have to an isolated, individualized “Jesus and me” Christianity. He is arguing for the essentiality of the ministry of others in the life of every believer.
“And what is this daily ministry of intervention protecting us from? The answer should sober every one of us: the grace of having our private conversations interrupted by the insight-giving ministry of others is protecting us from being spiritually blinded to the point of hardening our hearts.” (both of these quotes are found on p.73)
I don’t know if any of you let anyone into your life with this kind of transparency but this isn’t a call for the zealous or the extrovert. It’s a call for anyone who tends to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (which would be all of us). Next time you get defensive or push back when someone appears to be prying into a personal area, why not realize that it’s God’s grace rather that some pushy person that coming to rescue you.
For us to be godly leaders, men, we must embrace the daily intervention required to bring sin to the light. Let’s embrace this for the glory of God and the good of those we are privileged to serve.
Have a great week.