Jim Wilson's Blog, page 50

A Clean Conscience

 

Every Christian should be ruled by a clean conscience that is in line with Scriptural teaching. We began our life in Christ by having our conscience cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:14, 10:22). This is how Scripture describes that kind of clean conscience:

 

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

…holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. (1 Timothy 1:19)

They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. (1 Timothy 3:9)

There is a close relationship between sincere faith and a good conscience. When faith is abandoned, the conscience gets seared.

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1-3)

Abandoned faith and a seared conscience go together. Your conscience may also not be clear if you hold to the truths of the faith in a dogmatic, argumentative way.

However, we learn in 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 that it is not enough to have a conscience tuned to a strict knowledge of right and wrong. It is not enough to have a clear conscience before God. Paul spoke several times of how he lived with a good conscience before God. The first time he said it, he was hit in the mouth (Acts 23:1). The second time, he added a qualification:

So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man. (Acts 24:16)

This second standard, before man, is important. When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about the way he presented the gospel, he said,

Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2)

God is the author of every man’s conscience. This is the reason unbelievers criticize believers who play loose with ethics, are greedy, stretch the truth, or misbehave sexually. Whether or not they follow God’s laws themselves, they recognize that these truths ought to be evident in the lives of Christians. Even someone with a distorted conscience can appreciate the truth when it is set forth plainly.

For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed ¾ God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. (1 Thessalonians 2:3-6)

Paul’s aim was to please God, but at he same time he strove to avoid legitimate criticism from men. A good example of this is the way he handled the money collected in Corinthfor the poor believers in Jerusalem:

We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men. (2 Corinthians 8:20-21)

Our actions should also be guided by the Christian whose conscience isn’t working correctly:

Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience’ sake ¾ the other man’s conscience, I mean, not yours . (1 Corinthians 10:25-29)

This teaching is unknown to those who insist on holding onto their Christian liberty. According to 1 Corinthians, there is something more important than our freedom, and that is being considerate of our fellow Christians. Our love for each other should be far more important than expressing our personal freedom.

If this requirement is foreign to your way of thinking, it might be because your conscience is in bad shape. To bring it back to normal working order, ask God to show you the compromises you have made.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

Asking God to search your heart protects you from introspection, which leads to self-condemnation. It also protects you against a complacent refusal to search your heart, which results in self-justification.

We are to make our consciences increasingly more sensitive through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and constantuse.

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

Pay attention to your conscience. When the Scriptures or the Holy Spirit show you sin, immediately confess and forsake it. If you continue to do this, your conscience will become very sensitive. You will feel guilt whenever you sin. This encourages confessing and forsaking sin as soon as it arises and helps to keep your conscience the way it ought to be.

This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Watch These Two Areas Closely

"For this reason, I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church" (1 Corinthians 4:17).

"I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 2:19-21).

Timothy was known for his godliness. Paul later wrote these instructions to him: "Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save yourself and your hearers" (1 Timothy 4:16).

Your holy life and your clear teaching of the gospel is the effective salvation message. What is the life? "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12).

What is the teaching? "Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching" (1 Timothy 4:13).

Life and doctrine include what you are and what you teach, what you do and what you say. There really isn’t anything else. If your doctrine does not make you more like Jesus, then it is either not sound doctrine or it is doctrine that is only in your head, not in your heart.

Paul’s instructions are simple and complete: watch these two areas closely. The result is salvation for yourself and those you teach.

Recently I was talking with a young woman who had gone to a Christian high school and graduated from a well-known Christian college. Her parents were in Christian work. When I asked her when was the last time she had read through the New Testament, she replied that she had never read the whole thing. And of course she had read the Old Testament even less. This is now a standard question I ask, and it is almost a standard answer. Christians are not watching their life and doctrine closely. So I pass the same instruction on to you“Watch your life and doctrine closely.”


This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Substitutes for Joy

 

[image error]

In Luke 15, Jesus describes three different parties. These parties were the results of finding a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. In each case, there was great rejoicing. Jesus taught these parables to help us understand how much rejoicing there is in Heaven over each sinner who repents. If there is any way to increase the joy in Heaven, this is it. It is why Jesus came to earth. It is why the Bible was written.

In the parables, the rejoicing takes place before the party. The point of the party was to include others in the rejoicing. Like with all true, wonderful things, the world creates its own versions, copies that are distortions of the real thing. The world has parties, but instead of being a result of rejoicing, they try to be a cause for rejoicing, like the parties the prodigal son threw in the far country. The real rejoicing took place when he came home.

The worldly man does not have joy in living, so he seeks a vicarious joy. Entertainment, music, sports, movies, plays, novels, and pornography can all become substitutes for the real joy. He becomes addicted to them as he returns to them again and again trying to build up his joy.

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. 

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Why Am I Not Joyful?

 

If I have confessed and forsaken sin and still do not have joy, what then? There are several possible explanations:

1)    You have confessed and forsaken your big sins, but not the little ones that set you up for them. "Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression" (Psalm 19:13).

2)    You do not believe that God has forgiven you. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

3)    You are not obeying Philippians 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" That is a command. Disobeying it is sin. Confess and forsake the sin of not rejoicing.

4)    You do not think it is right to rejoice in forgiveness after sinning like you did. This is a lie from the devil. If you have confessed and forsaken the sin, God has forgiven you, and He wants you to rejoice in His forgiveness.

5)    You think you have to do some sort of penance to prove that you really meant your confession. "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death" (2 Corinthians 7:10).

6)    There are two types of sorrow. Worldly sorrow is remorse. It leads to death. There is no virtue in it. Godly sorrow leads to repentance and leaves no regret. If you still have regret, you have not repented with godly sorrow.

7)    It is possible that you are not saved. God has promised everlasting joy to His children. "The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zionwith singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away" (Isaiah 51:11). "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…" (Galatians 5:22).

Whatever the reason, if you lack joy, you are under some sort of chastening. Find out what the sin is and confess it. You will not find it by introspection; that will only make you depressed. Come into God’s presence. Ask Him to search your heart.

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. 

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Continual Joy: Though the Fig Tree Does Not Blossom

 

A friend came to our home in Yokohama, Japan, some years ago. He had been my roommate aboard an aircraft carrier and had become a Christian during our time together. On this visit he said, “I have that deep inner peace that I belong to Christ, but I don’t have daily victory. I don’t have joy.”

Of course something was wrong. Joy and peace are basic results of salvation. Jesus promised us in John 16:22: "I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."

When the seventy returned from their evangelistic itinerary, rejoicing because of the power they had and miracles they had done, Jesus told them that their joy was misplaced: "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).

My salvation is from God, and so is my joy. Salvation is the basis for joy. We tend to think that circumstances are the primary cause for joy, but this is not so:

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior" (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

Pleasure is a result of circumstances. Pleasure and joy may be expressed in the same way, but they are not the same. For instance, I can sing for joy, or I can sing for pleasure. In the first case, singing is the result of the great joy—my joy bursts out into singing. In the second case, singing is the cause of the pleasure, not the result of it. I can sing or dance or laugh for joy, but singing, dancing, and laughing will not bring me joy. They might bring pleasure, and we can convince ourselves that this pleasure is joy.

Since joy is directly related to salvation, why do we lack it? Hebrews 12:11 gives an explanation: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

God disciplines us for unconfessed sin (Hebrews 12:5-6). He intends that discipline to be temporary. To those who respond to it and learn from it, God’s loving discipline yields peace and a right relationship with Him. If we do not learn from it, the discipline continues, and so does our lack of joy. When we confess and forsake our sins, the joy returns.

One of the reasons we have great joy when we receive Christ is that we are forgiven. We are cleansed of years of accumulated sin. If we begin accumulating sins again after conversion, it is no wonder that the joy goes away. Walking in a joyful relationship with God requires being honest with Him. God has promised His faithfulness to forgive and cleanse us on this condition:

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

When my friend realized that daily joy was a matter of instant confession, he confessed his sins, and his joy was restored.

When King David sinned, God disciplined him, and he lost his joy. Psalm 51 is a record of his confession:

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you" (Psalm 51:12-13).

David knew that he could not teach transgressors or cause sinners to come to the Lord as long as he was without the joy of his salvation. Think of the people you know who are effective in evangelism. Are they joyful, or are they just people who know all the right answers? The joyful Christian life leads others to God. If we are going to draw water from the well of salvation, let’s do it with joy.

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. 

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

A Deeper Right Than Being Right

 

Romans 14 is about attitudes towards other believers. The basic premise is that each believer belongs to God, and God receives him without looking down on him or condemning him—therefore, we should receive him in the same way.

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. (Romans 14:1-3)  

This means that there is something more important than being right. In verse 5 Paul says, "Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind" (Romans 14:5).

 

God allows us to think differently, but He does not allow us to break fellowship because of it. Even if the positions we hold are right, we can be in sin because of how we hold them.

Please read the rest of Romans 14. The first half of the chapter tells us not to dispute with those we disagree with. We are not to try to convince them that they are wrong and we are right. The second half of the chapter tells us that we are not to participate in anything that will cause a fellow believer to stumble. Notice that the “kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (v. 17). God is more interested in the quality of our walk with Him than in the physical things we participate in. 

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.    

This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.        

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Revenge & the Christian

There are two sayings I know well because of hearing them many times. The first is said by children, in anger: “I’ll get even.” The second is said by adults, not in anger: “I don’t get mad; I get even.”

If there is any relative merit in these sayings, the badge goes to the first. A child’s anger does not last long, so the plan for revenge is soon forgotten. For the adult who meditates on revenge, the sin is bad and long-lasting.

There are two examples of the second case in fiction. The books are The Count of Monte Cristo and Ben Hur. In both, the “hero” seems to have an unlimited amount of time and an unlimited amount of money to exercise his revenge. There is another book which says something different about revenge:

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21)

This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

The Two Greatest Problems Facing Church Members Today

 

[image error]

There are two great problems shaping the average spiritual and mental state of church members today. Quite simply, they are guilt and ignorance. These problems apply especially to church members who are not Christians, but they are also true in a different way for the Christians.

This statement Paul made about the Jews applies well to unconverted church members:

"Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes" (Romans 10:1-4)

 .

People seek to establish their own righteousness because of guilt, and because of ignorance they do it their own way.

Although guilt is the main problem for the non-Christian, he may be less conscious of his guilt than he is of other problems. This is because he is partially successful in justifying, hiding, or excusing his sin or blaming it on someone else. He thinks his unhappiness has other causes, and his anxiety other cures. He may be indifferent to his guilt because he is ignorant of the moral law. He has spent a lifetime dulling the edge of the moral law inherent in him, and he needs a reminder of it, “since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). He may also be less conscious of guilt because of the widespread teaching on relative morality, new morality, and situation ethics.

The church must return to teaching the law of God, not as the means of salvation, but for the reason it was given:

"Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful" (Romans 7:13).

 

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God" (Romans 3:19).

We can overcome ignorance by teaching God’s morality; however, when we teach the law, the result is real guilt. If we leave it at that, people will come up with wrong solutions for the guilt. The way to deal with the remaining ignorance is to teach God’s provision of forgiveness of sins in Christ.

When people are allowed to minimize their sin, they do not feel the need for grace. So teaching God’s law causes guilt, and teaching God’s grace leads to forgiveness. In other words, a clear knowledge of the bad news is the right preparation for hearing the good news.

This teaching is sadly absent in both liberal and evangelical churches. The liberal churches do not teach it for two reasons: they do not believe in absolute morality, and they are unwilling to make people feel guilty because they consider guilt bad. Evangelical churches do not teach biblical morality because they falsely consider it to be opposed to the good news, perhaps as a sort of works-righteousness.

When a person becomes a Christian, the results are forgiveness of sins and everlasting life:

"I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me" (Acts 26:17-18).

Forgiven sin is a distinguishing mark of the Christian church member, but not the non-Christian church member. For the Christian, God also has a provision for staying clean: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

Why do Christian church members also struggle with guilt? Because they are not men and women of the Word, they are ignorant of the law of God, and they are carrying around unconfessed sins. Forgiveness comes through God’s faithfulness to us through the blood of Christ and us honestly admitting our sins to Him.

Unforgiveness is evident in Christian families and in Christian churches. It is a stench in the evangelical church.

This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Since You Died with Christ

“Since you died with Christ…” (Colossians 2:20).

“Since then you have been raised with Christ…” (Colossians 3:1).

“For you died…” (Colossians 3:3).

Although these sentences were written to the new church at Colossae, we believe they apply to all Christians, if they are true. They are either true or false. If true, they are past-tense certainties. They are not future, or conditional, or “perhaps.” They describe something that has already happened in us.

The commands that follow are predicated on those certainties. If Christians have trouble with the commands, it may be because they have trouble believing that they have died with Christ. Or it may be because they have not died with Christ. In other words, they are not Christians.

All future obedience is based upon the completed work of Christ which has taken place in us. Read Romans 6 a few times.


This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

How Can A Loving God Send Anyone to Hell?

 

“How can a loving God send anyone to hell?” This is usually asked as a rhetorical question. The questioner thinks that the answer is of two possibilities: 1. God is loving, so no one will go to hell. 2. People go to hell, so God is not loving.

The assumption is that a loving God cannot send people to hell. However, there is a much more difficult question: How can a justGod let anyone into heaven?

God can bring us to heaven because He is both just andloving:

"But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what he has done" (Romans 2:5-6).

That is God’s justice.

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8).

That is God’s love.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:21-26).

God is both just and the one who justifies (the forgiver). He took my sins on the cross, and I received His righteousness.

This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships