Editor’s Note: Scott Pilgreen is a lay leader and biblical counselor at Desert Springs Church in Albuquerque, NM. This post is a summary of Paul Tripp’s message from Friday evening at Clarus, March 8, “Self Examination Is a Community Project,” from Hebrews 3:13.

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What is happening in the little moments of your life? Dr. Tripp explained that we don’t live in the big moments of life but in the 10,000 little moments that shape our character. If God doesn’t rule us in the utterly mundane, He doesn’t rule us because the utterly mundane is where our address is.

To help us see the importance of relationships, Dr. Tripp taught from two passages. In 2 Peter 1:3-9, Peter is proposing that it is possible to be a true believer in Christ and yet be ineffective and unfruitful. Three questions naturally arise from this passage. First, Who are these people Peter is talking about? In a way, Peter is talking about all believers in Christ as being ineffective and unfruitful. Second, Why are these people ineffective and unproductive? In verse 9, Peter says: “…having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins,” and Dr. Tripp pointed out that the root of the issue is identity. If we forget who we are, we will quit pursuing what belongs to us in Christ. And third, How does this happen? Dr. Tripp suggests that we become can be ineffective and unproductive by evidence-denial – we deny our need for God’s grace in our lives. Evidence denial then leads to grace-devaluing. If the person doesn’t see the need for grace, grace has no value, therefore, that person becomes a grace-devaluer. Grace is only valuable to the person who knows that he or she is a sinner. In asking what all of this has to do with relationships, Dr. Tripp emphatically answered, “Everything.”

Dr. Tripp then led us to the second passage, Hebrews 3:12-13, which is both a warning and a call to believers in Jesus. The author of Hebrews is indicating a declining progression of an evil and then unbelieving heart that leads you to fall away from the living God. This is an alarming spiritual decline, but how does this happen? Dr. Tripp explained that it is because we are all extremely skilled, self-swindlers. We convince ourselves that our sin really isn’t that bad, and we harden our hearts. What once bothered us doesn’t bother us anymore. We aren’t open to change because we have become too satisfied where we are. The author of Hebrews then tells us we harden our hearts because of sin. Sin is deceitful. We become spiritually blind and we are blind to our blindness. Even though the power of sin has been broken, we can’t clearly see ourselves because the presence of sin still remains.

What then has God provided for the hard-hearted believer? He has provided help in the form of relationships. Hebrews 3:13a says, “But exhort one another every day.” We need to be encouraged and exhorted daily, so that we won’t be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Dr. Tripp explained that God has designed people as “instruments of seeing” for our lives. Every day we all are capable of being significantly blinded to our own condition, so we need “an intentionally intrusive, grace-based, Christ-centered, redemptive community” that is able to see in us what we cannot see in ourselves.

Dr. Tripp offered some great applications to these passages. The first is to honestly ask ourselves if there is a person in our life who can be that “instrument of seeing.” Can you name that person? The second is a prayer that we can all consider implementing into our daily prayer life: Confession – I am a person in desperate need of help; Pray – that in His grace He would send helpers our way; Cry for help – that we would have the humility to receive the help when it comes.

We can come to our Lord Jesus in our time of need because all of our rejection has been fully borne by Him on the cross. May it be so, that we run to our King Jesus for His glory and for our good.

Editor’s Note: Michael Kelshaw is the Head Minister at Trinity at the Marketplace in Albuquerque NM. He is a member of the Albuquerque Chapter of The Gospel Coalition. This post is a summary of Timothy Lane’s message from Friday evening at Clarus, March 8, “Why Are Friendships So Important?,” from Ephesians 4:1-16.

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The 2013 Clarus Conference (One-Anothering the Word) is concentrating on the necessity of relationships within authentic Christian community. Dr. Timothy Lane opened by showing us Paul’s emphasis of the importance of relationships and how Christian relationships should look.

Dr. Lane unpacked the passage by asking three questions:

1. Why are our relationships so important?

Ephesians 4:1-16 gives us a great vision for why we need relationships with one another. The language of Ephesians 4:12-16 is all about being built up, growing up, and maturing. We need relationships with one another so that we might become more like Jesus, Himself—being conformed to His image. God is accomplishing something greater in relationships than we even thought—not just giving us happiness or intimacy—but making us into the very likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. The reason why our relationships are so important is because of the glorious thing that God is doing in them.

2. What are some basic gospel virtues (character qualities) that are essential to this?

Dr. Lane, then defined the virtues that Paul mentions in Ephesians 4:2: humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. Humility is the ability to look at your own sin before we look at other people’s sin; gentleness is when one’s strengths and gifts are bridled by the gospel to empower others, rather than manipulate them; patience relates to how we deal with the sinful offenses of others; while forbearing love relates to how we deal with what simply annoys us. Both patience and forbearance have to do with being humble and gentle with someone for a really, really, really long time. This is how we are to walk in the grace of God in relationships.

3. Who is going to enable us to do this?

The reality is that we often are not humble, gentle, patient, or forbearing. So who will enable us to do this? Paul points us to Jesus—not just as a model—but also as Savior! Jesus is not just humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing, but he is humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing WITH US! Because Jesus saves us and acts toward us in this way, in His grace, we are able act this way toward others.

In Ephesians 4:4-6, Christian community is grounded in the Triune God, who redeems sinners and welcomes them into the rich communion of the Trinity. As His redeemed people we can enter into relationships in profound ways—but only because of His grace. That means that we are bound to one another in profound ways because of what God has done, and He enables us to now move out into relationships with other people.

Dr. Lane reiterated that this topic is vital for us to consider because our very sanctification is involved. So let us ask God to grow us in “One-Anothering the Word” with each other by His grace, for His glory, and for our joy in Him.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
—Hebrews 10:24-25

There’s a conference out there for almost every field of study or work. Conferences are encouraging for their substance, and for the people you hear speak, the people you attend with, and the people meet while you’re there.

Today begins the first day of our annual theology conference weekend, called, Clarus. Our theme is, “One-Anothering the Word,” based on verses like the one above. As we gather this weekend, we gather to encourage one another, and to do so by hearing, singing, praying, and by speaking the Word of God to one another.

Click here for a refresh on this year’s theme and an introduction to this year’s speakers, Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane. Click here for a rundown of the conference schedule. If you have any questions throughout the conference, look for conference staff with Desert Springs Church name badges and let us know how we can help.

In addition to being joined by our speakers, Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane, we will also be joined by a number of fine publishers, schools, and ministries in the Books and Resources Room:

Publishers

• Baker
• Christian Focus Publications
• Crossway
• Day One Publications
• New Growth Press
• Moody Publishers
• Rose Publishing
• Shepherd Press
• The Good Book Company

Schools

• The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
• Westminster Theological Seminary

Ministries

• Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation
• Growing in God Discipleship Curriculum
• Logos Bible Software
• Paul Tripp Ministries

Stop by the Books and Resources Room to visit with these organizations and browse a selection of hundreds of books at deep conference discounts.

You probably heard that the conference is sold out. That’s true. There’s no room left. However, if you missed the opportunity to register, you can listen to the audio for the conference, which will be posted to the Clarus site early next week. In addition, Paul Tripp will be speaking at both worship services on Sunday morning and the Books and Resources Room will be open before and after both services.

Welcome, and enjoy the conference!

We are pleased to share that Clarus has officially sold out!

This is a simple truth, but with deep meaning. Not really. But we would like to tease out some of what this means for this weekend’s conference.

First, this means that more people will be with us than in previous years.

That’s wonderful. A full house is exciting when you’re almost anywhere: a concert, a baseball game, a movie. But a full house to hear the Word of God is the fruit of the work of God in the lives of the souls of those who come. May each person leave filled with a vision of God and love for his church.

Second, this means that some people who hoped to attend will be at home. 

That’s a sad thought! We want you to know that saying “no” by publishing the “Sold Out” banner this morning was met with a frown by the planning team, since we know that some will be left out. Thank you for understanding.

This means that we won’t be selling registrations at the door this year. And, just to be clear, only those whose names are written in the Clarus book of registration will be able to participate in the conference. So, even if you are going to one session, you can’t let someone else attend in your place. God is glorified in your problem-solving creativity, though!

For those who aren’t able to join us at Clarus, the conference audio will be available at the Clarus site early next week.

Third, this means that we need to use every seat.

Plan to sit next to someone. That’s right: no seat between you and that person you don’t know. It’s okay. Scoot in. And even consider siting in the very, very front row. This is unheard of on Sunday, but go ahead and give it a try at the conference.

Also, don’t make plans to save seats for your friends. Here’s what we mean. You can save seats for a person who came in the room with you and put their stuff down with you. But you will not be able to save seats for people with whom you hoped to meet up with. Ushers will be around to help with seating ahead of and shortly into each session.

With that, let’s look forward to being with one another in the Word this Friday through Sunday at Clarus. Oh, and if you weren’t able to register in time, still come on Sunday for our regular Worship Services with Paul Tripp preaching.

This is the first of two posts introducing you to this year’s speakers for Clarus. First up is Timothy Lane.

Before some details on his background, here’s a video to more personally acquaint you with Tim’s care for people, his clarity of insight into human relationships, and the centrality of the Word in his understanding of how we grow together.

[RSS and email readers, click here to view this video]

If you didn’t catch it, here’s a great quote from the last part of this video:

“The Bible is a two edged sword. It enables and even pushes you to admit how deeply self centered you are, and that’s one of the reasons [people] don’t like the Bible. And at the same time is shows you a God who is committed to rescue you from your own self-centeredness.That right there is what is utterly unique about the Christian message.”

Timothy Lane is a choice speaker for our theme, One-Anothering the Word. He is President and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF) and has been counseling for more than 25 years. He has previous experience in both campus and pastoral ministry, including serving at Clemson Presbyterian Church in Clemson, South Carolina for ten years before coming to CCEF.

Tim is an Adjunct Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and teaches at other seminaries throughout the country.

Tim co-authored the books How People Change and Relationships: A Mess Worth Making with Paul Tripp. He has also the author of several mini-books including Conflict: A Redemptive Opportunity, Family Feuds, Temptation: Fighting the Urge, Sex Before Marriage, andFreedom from Guilt. Tim writes regularly for the CCEF Blog and CCEF’s Journal of Biblical Counseling. Many of these resources are available at the Resource Center.

Tim lives in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania with his wife, Barbara. They have two children in college and two in high school.

For more information, or to register for Clarus, visit clarusabq.com.