Thinking About Faith....

Have you ever ‘believed’ God would do something but still been disappointed when you didn’t receive what you hoped for? Have you ever shown half-hearted faith and, somehow, still saw God work? Why did faith work one time and not the other? Is it possible that God’s Will is for something to happen but our lack of faith keeps it from happening? Are there times when God works apart from our faith– meaning, times when our faith isn’t required for God to act? And does that mean that God is completely unpredictable and arbitrary in how He acts? Is the Christian life a complete “wild card?” Does God want us to be completely confused about one of the most important issues in the Christian life or are there things we can know?

It’s not that faith always makes sense, but nor is it that faith never makes sense...it’s that it sometimes makes sense.

Faith in the Christian life requires that we think about these issues. We should live out the Christian life, but we also need to reflect on it, to think deeply about issues of faith. Metacognition is thinking about how you think, the mind reflecting upon itself, being aware of your cognitive processes, and understanding one’s own thought patterns.

As humans, created in God’s image, we are capable of personal reflection and analysis. As Socrates taught, we should know ourselves. Failing to think about faith and about ourselves doesn’t mean that there are not issues we need to understand. Just as being ignorant of scientific laws, like the law of gravity, doesn’t mean that they don’t apply to us. Likewise, failing to understand how the laws of faith work doesn’t exempt us from understanding them either.

Generally, does God want me to understand how He works? Yes! God “made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel” (Psalm 103:7).

God wants you and I to think about our faith, to deeply ponder and contemplate issues and laws of our faith. To better understand the role and importance of faith, I encourage you to read Hebrews 11 this week. Read about faith in the lives of the ‘heroes’ of the Old Testament, and how the law of faith applies to us here and now.

I’m going to spend the next six weeks discussing faith, studying five foundational facts about faith, a psychology of faith, and how faith interacts with our mind and with our emotions. Faith is foundational and vital in our Christian lives and is something that all Christians should take the time to think about.T

Being Conscious of Your Conscience (Part 3 of 3)

Even after two weeks discussing what the conscience is and how it works, some of you may still not know why understanding your conscience is important. To conclude my series on the conscious, I'll address this issue and how to apply what I've been talking about the past two weeks.

Now, Why Does It Matter?

You might say, “So what?” Who cares? Here’s why it matters how you live. IT’S JUST YOUR LIFE.

You’re either going to be happy in life or you’re not. MOST PEOPLE I KNOW AREN’T VERY HAPPY IN LIFE. They lost the battle of the soul--- they didn’t obey their conscience when they were your age...

Ecclesiastes 12:1: “Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old & no longer enjoy living.”

The bottom line: There are only two sides to the coin of life: Joy and Joyless. You’ll be one or the other. Joy comes from obedience to God (1 Timothy 6:6). Joylessness comes from disobedience (Psalm 32:1). Which one you’ll be depends on whether or not you obey your conscience.

Let me close with a story that shows how important this is...

Earlier I said that the conscience is your soul’s automatic warning system. Planes have automatic warning systems too.

In 1984 a jet crashed for no apparent reason. The plane was flying in the dark and the pilot was unable to see. That meant he had no sense of where he was and couldn’t get his bearings. But that shouldn’t have mattered, because planes fly in darkness all the time. That’s why they have devices that tell them their altitude: so they don’t fly too low or in the wrong direction.

During the night, air controllers lost contact with the pilot and it was later discovered that the plane had crashed. During the investigation, the cockpit voice recorder was found, and officials made an eerie discovery:

On the recording, they could hear the computerized voice of the airplane, warning him, saying: “Pull Up, Warning... Pull Up.” You see, the pilot was flying too low.

But the pilot, didn’t listen to the voice of warning; he thought the gauges were malfunctioning. On the tape, the pilot is heard several times telling the computer to “Shut up.” Finally, the pilot got tired of listening to the warning and just turned it off.

Minutes later the plane crashed. Everyone died.

What’s the point?

The point is that just like a plane has a warning system that is designed to keep passengers safe, the soul has a warning system designed to keep us safe spiritually, and that system is called the conscience.

But many times, we get tired of listening to our consciences, so we don’t. We tell them to shut up and try to turn them off.

Here’s my challenge: Be conscious of your conscience. It’s something God gave to help you, not to hassle you..

Being Conscious of Your Conscience (Part 2 of 3)

Last week, we began our discussion of the conscience with a definition of what the conscience is, its role is and presence in all people. The conscience is different than the Holy Spirit in Christians. This week we'll discuss how the conscience actually works.

How Does Your Conscience Work?

Our conscience works in conjunction with our souls, and I’m going to show you how.

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” --1 Thessalonians 5:23-24--

God’s desire for us as Christians is to be Sanctified or made holy, “through and through” or “in every way.” What does that mean? God wants us to be completely committed to Him in every way... in every part of our humanity: body, soul and spirit.

Here’s how that works: don’t miss this!

We win or lose the battle of holiness in our soul. 1 Peter 2:11 tells us: “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.”

The soul is the battlefield of good and evil. Well.... what is your soul? Your soul includes your mind, emotions and will (Deuteronomy 4:29; 6:4; etc.). It consists of what you think, what you feel, and what you do. And if we are going to become holy, we’ve got to win that battle in the soul.

If we THINK like God wants us to, FEEL like God wants us to and DECIDE how God wants us to, then we’ll become holy. If we don’t THINK, FEEL and MAKE DECISIONS like God wants, we’ll stay carnal and live unhappy, defeated Christian lives.

The problem: There’s a war going on inside of us!

In our bodies, bodily appetites want us to sin. Our spirit wants us to be holy. And our souls are trapped in the middle, fighting a battle. Here’s how the Apostle Paul explained it in Romans 7:21-23:“When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind (in the soul) and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

As you know from personal experience, we want to fight the good fight, but sometimes our soul has a hard time doing the right thing without some help. That’s a reason that God gave us a conscience.

When we’re faced with a decision and the battle begins: Thoughts go through your mind. Feelings go through your emotions. And options are presented to your will and your will makes a choice, good or bad. That’s why God gave us a conscience: To help encourage us to do the right thing. As your will is making a decision, your conscience kicks in to help you.

That’s why every decision you make triggers a response from your conscience: When we consistently make good decisions, our conscience defends us— and we feel joy, self-respect, peace, happiness and dignity. It feels good. It’s what the Bible calls a good/clear conscience (Hebrews 13:18; 1 Peter 3:16-21). When we consistently make bad decisions and violate our internal standard of right and wrong, our conscience accuses us— and we feel a sense of shame, regret, disgrace and fear. Those bad feelings are what God is using to convict us, so we’ll live the way He wants us to. It’s what the Bible calls a guilty conscience (Hebrews 10:22).

That’s how your conscience works.

Being Conscious of Your Conscience (Part 1 of 3)

Hello. This is your conscience speaking....”

Just kidding. But if your conscience was speaking to you, what would it say?

Over the next three weeks, I’m going to talk to you about being conscious of your conscience. I want you to consciously think about your conscience.

We’re going to talk about three issues: What your conscience is, how it works, and why it matters.

What Is Your Conscience?

Let me begin by telling you what it is and what it isn’t—

1. Conscience is a “human thing,” it’s not something that plants & animals possess

God only gave human beings a conscience. Only people are capable of ‘moral choices’. You can’t sue a kitty cat or execute a gerbil for doing something wrong. Plants never “feel guilty”. They don’t have a conscience, so they don’t “feel” anything. When my wife’s marigolds died this summer, they weren’t depressed... they were just ‘dead.’ Animals can’t sin. Since my dog Hugo doesn’t have a conscience, he doesn’t FEEL BAD when he leaves my carpet a gift from his lower intestines. Plants and animals just don’t have a conscience, it’s a “human” thing.

2. Though the conscience is a “human thing,” it’s not just a “Christian” thing

Romans 2:14-15 tells us that everyone has a conscience, Christian or not. The conscience is a good thing, but it isn’t the best thing. It isn’t the same thing as the Holy Spirit or voice of God. All people have a conscience, but only Christians have the Holy Spirit too. Those who aren’t Christians only have their conscience, which is helpful, but not nearly as helpful in making right decisions as having God Himself living inside of you. The Holy Spirit works in believers by echoing God’s Will and acting as God’s Voice to Christians... but to Christians only.

Let me give you a simple description of the Conscience (mentioned 30 times in NT). It’s your soul’s “automatic warning system,” like a warning light on your car’s dashboard or on the computer. It’s automatic, like your body’s involuntary actions of breathing and blinking. You don’t have to even think about it... it just reacts to the stimuli it encounters.

Do YOU Want to Change the World?

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down, his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

The one thing that you have to do if you want to change the world is to have ACCOUNTABILITY in your life If you want to attempt great things for God, to give Him great glory, and to be a mighty man or woman of valor, you’ll never do it without accountability in your life. Every great leader has multiple levels of accountability in his or her life. Various Biblical leaders show the importance of accountability. David was accountable to Nathan (2 Samuel 12:7), Paul was accountable to Barnabas (Acts 15:36ff), and Peter was held accountable be Paul (Galatians 2:11-14).

What is accountability?

Accountability is giving other people in your life the right to ask you the hard questions– and them giving you the same right– not for the purpose of tearing one another down, but building one another up. It’s for discouraging each other from harmful patterns of sinful living and encouraging each other toward godliness.

We need it because spiritual growth is often uneven– we win some; we lose some. Together, we can win more. We still have a sin nature, even as believers. But we have power over it through Christ– and that power is greater when Christians unite and encourage one another.

The best way is to have an accountability group is by using what I call the 3 Musketeer Model (All for One and One for all). Ecclesiastes gives us the best advice: "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." An additional important element of this accountability is to meet regularly, most likely weekly. Accountability groups should also be of the same sex, as spiritual intimacy can often lead to physical intimacy.

Biblical Models of Accountability

Paul– Each of us needs a spiritual mentor (older in the faith, a giant “to us”, a seasoned believer; youth usually need an adult for this role, someone you approach who is willing to help you grow) Think of who it will be for you...Think of 2-3 and pray about it– be very serious before doing it or you’ll crash and burn

Silas– Each of us needs a spiritual equal (someone on our spiritual level) Who might be a good fit?

Timothy– Each of us needs to help disciple someone younger in the faith (2 Timothy 2:2)

Look for those who are more experienced in the faith, who can be your mentors, those who are your spiritual equals, and those whom you can disciple. In order to grow, you need mentors, equals, and others that you can mentor. Accountability is essential and vital in our Christian lives, to be mentored and to mentor others.

Galatians: Chapters 5-6 (Part 6 of 6)

As we discussed last week, Christian maturity and spirituality isn’t about ‘trying’ but about simply pursuing a love relationship with Jesus. This week, we’ll continue with the message and content of Galatians.

Chapter 5, verse 1 is the key verse of the book of Galatians. The point of the Christian life is freedom/Christian liberty– the freedom to live in ways that position us in blessing, due to what Christ has done for us. Freedom from sin– yes, but freedom from living with the million requirements of the law on your mind 24-7. Even as a Christian, God will let you live in spiritual bondage. If you won’t learn what God says about living the Christian life; He will let you live in bondage... after all, most Christians do, and fail to enjoy what Christ purchased for them by his blood.

Verses 3 and 4 teach that if you’re going to live by the law, legalistically, to prove your self-righteousness, you can’t pick and choose, you’ll have to do it all. Of course, if you do– you’ve taken a lesson in ‘missing the point’ and your ‘circumcision has ‘cut you off’ from Christ (joke by Paul under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration). Falling from grace, here, is not losing your salvation as many believe— but is rather moving from living in the higher state of freedom and liberty, to falling back/down into law and condemnation.

Paul then moves on in verses 6 through 8 to further enforce that externals are not the point... It’s not righteous acts that make you right before God. It’s faith and love for God and others (Great Commandment).

Verses 9 and 10 address spiritual false teaching. It is dangerous because people are gullible. That’s why doctrine is so important. When we fight wrong beliefs, we teach the truth; call out those who teach falsehood; and pray for those in false belief. Verse 11 addresses the essence of the grace of the Gospel message. The former strict regulations are overthrown and we are given grace freely.

Verses 12 through 15 further discuss freedom. Yes, but not the wrong kind... don’t confuse legitimate freedom for ‘license’ (Rom 6, e.g.). The immediately following verses, 16-25, discuss the secret of Christian matuity and power. Life isn’t in Christ that gravitates toward sin and self-destruction. The fruits of the spirit discussed in verses 22-25 are all singular: “Fruit (singular) of the spirit is (singular verb)...”

Chapter 6 concludes the chapter with some final thoughts from Paul. Christians must help and encourage Christians in sin.. How? GENTLY AND HUMBLY (meaning, the exact opposite of how they usually do— which is roughly and arrogantly).

In verse 6, Paul teaches that Christian leaders/teachers deserve to be paid.... it adds accountability and gives the adequate time to study. Why does Paul include this here? If they’d done it right and had that kind of adequate time, they’d stayed out of false teaching in Galatia.

Paul’s closing and concluding teaching is that we bless other people, especially Christians.

Galatians: Chapters 2-4 (Part 5 of 6)

This week, we’re going to move on to Paul’s main message in his letter to the Galatians. Because this is such a challenging passage, I decided to just draw out the primary principles— and teach it from those “big ideas” in the text and not try to force you to wade through the very involved sections of scripture here that require you to have a lot of background in the Old Testament— I knew in my heart that most people would get lost, so I believe God wanted me to approach it this way.

And as I say this, I know there are some people who probably can handle it and would be able to follow me... and others who fancy themselves really informed about the Bible but who aren’t and would actually get lost. So I’m going to do us all a favor and go the more practical route, because what’s really important is that people understand what God has said to us in His Word.

In the previous section, recall that Paul is laying the foundation for his authority. He seeks to show Galatian Christians that his message is from God alone, that he has not been taught and influenced by men. On that foundation, he builds the following passages of his letter.

The first of Paul’s big ideas is this: If you’re a true Christian, don’t let the freedom Christ gives you– spiritual liberty, living in freedom and spiritual abandon, be taken away from you by self-righteous people who claim to be (and may be) Christians. Unfortunately, some Christians (or posers) get lost along the way and start having judgmental spirits and live self-righteously and hold other people in contempt for (1) enjoying the amazing spiritual liberty Christ gives a person to live OR (2) for not letting those self-righteous people put you under their thumb in order to control your life and to gain praise and adulation from others because of their high standards.

Paul’s second big idea is: It’s OK, perhaps even necessary at times, to confront self-righteous people who judge you and everyone else, but who are (themselves) hypocrites. God wanted Paul to call out Peter— Peter was in sin.

Paul’s third big idea: Righteousness (peace with God, a right standing with God, being in a right relationship with God where God is pleased with you) does not come as a result of your own good deeds. As good as you may be, it’s not good enough– because God’s standard is perfection, which is something we’re not capable of... only Christ was able to do that (on the cross).

Paul’s fourth big idea is this: The secret to the Christian life... is unexpected. It’s simply letting Christ live in and through you. When a person becomes a believer, the Holy Spirit (God in spiritual form) takes up residence in you and wants to live His very life through you (we become partakers of the divine image). But if you try to impress God with your OWN self-righteous acts and good deeds, your conscience will always accuse you for your inconsistency, and you will forever live feeling condemned.

Christ was perfect, but He died to take on my sin... meaning he died a sacrificial death to pay for the human debt of sin against God.

The Christian life isn’t about ‘playing defense.' In other words... it’s not about trying to QUIT everything— and stopping doing whatever it is that you’ve been doing. That’s no way to live. Self-righteousness is driven by will power, and it always leads to (1) Defeat, because we’re weak and (2) self-righteousness and then, because we’re weak and too proud to admit it, (3) secret sin.

The Solution? Stop playing defense and play offense.... Live in abandon to Jesus. Just love him with all you’ve got and stop trying to impress Him and everybody else.

In chapter 3, verses 1 through 4, Paul asserts that if you’re not careful, you can get so religious and ‘churchy’ that you miss the point of the Christian life. The freedom of the Christian life begins to get cloudy and obscured by religious people and self-righteous people.... to the point that you soon forget that the Christian life isn’t about keeping a bunch of rules and regulations, and about image-management so everyone will be impressed with you, but it’s simply about developing your relationship with Jesus— imagine that!

Spend your time being vulnerable with God and transparent with others about your frailties and insufficiency. The holiest people you’ll ever meet are well aware that they have issues, but know that God is taking care of it— they’re not people who are trying to front with holier-than-thou attitudes.

In verses 8 through 13, Paul’s point is that if you swap “Christian freedom” and working on your relationship with Jesus for “religion” and start playing the “church” game, you may as well be living back in Old Testament times— because when you decide to live by impressing God and people with your own acts of devotion and self-righteousness, God actually expects you to obey the whole Old Testament and its requirements, since you’re clearly no longer allowing Christ to be your righteousness– But unfortunately, this type of living will keep you in spiritual bondage, constant self-condemnation, and you’ll be an unhappy Christian with a critical spirit, always judging others.

The Old Testament Law with all of its restrictions, the dietary regulations, the requirement for men to be circumcised, etc. were certainly there for a reason at one point in history– and were good at that time for that purpose. But now we are in New Testament times— and living under the New Testament means placing our trust in Christ and LETTING HIM LIVE THROUGH US. Good deeds don’t make us righteous— that’s not why we do them... to prove we’re righteous, but because Christ is making us righteous, we consequently do good deeds.

In other words, the self-righteous person believes his own good deeds are the CAUSE of His Righteousness.... whereas the Christian living in God’s grace knows that his good deeds are the EFFECTS or consequences of Christ living through Him... and that they aren’t his own doing.

Paul then moves on, in verses 19 through 29, to state that since Christ is the only righteous one... and only as He lives through us can we live in a way that really pleases God and lives up to His expectations, we don’t’ need to live ‘keeping tallies’ of our self-righteous acts.

Me? I don’t even THINK about TRYING to live the Christian life. I don’t TRY to be holy. I don’t TRY to do anything... I can’t. Instead, all I do is work on spending time with Jesus and being intimate with Him and doing things that move me closer to Him (worship, prayer, giving, serving, confession, studying, etc.) and AS I DO NOTHING MORE THAN WORK ON MY RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM (just as we work on our relationships with other people)– as I cultivate my love relationship with Jesus, just by spending time with Him, He begins to rub off on me, and I begin to become holy, BY DEFAULT.

I know this next idea is going to frustrate some of you, but— this is the gist of what Paul was talking about in this passage..

I personally SPEND MY TIME cultivating my time with Jesus— not spending my time “observing days and by avoiding festivals”– meaning, I’m more concerned about loving Jesus and being with Him than sitting around thinking of ways to show everyone I don’t celebrate Santa Claus or by preaching against Halloween....

The Christian life isn’t about that stuff— It’s not about EXTERNALS, as if anyone cares whether you dress up in a bozo costume or not (not that, if you did, anyone would think you are a devil worshipper)— it’s not about externals, but INTERNALS– whether you are being TRANSFORMED into the image of Christ because you are so consumed with your love relationship with Him.

Also in Matthew 15:18, Acts 10:14, and 1 Timothy 4:3, it’s taught that it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." The point is that we should work harder on fixing ourselves from the INSIDE OUT than the OUTSIDE IN. Paul likewise teaches the Galatians that the internal state of a person is more important to address than external behavior.