"Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason and not by popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me."What boldness! Thank God for the Reformation!
"However, humility cannot be attained and explained solely by honest self-assessment, for Christ understood that he was able, perfect, and sinless in every way, and yet he was the very example of humility. Therefore, like other Christian virtues, humility is deliberate. One is not compelled to be humble, and one does not become humble by accident. Christ acknowledged that he was Teacher and Lord to his disciples, but he stooped to serve them, even to wash their feet (John 13:13-14). And this explains how we can remain humble before others even when we know that, by God's grace, we are genuinely superior to them in some respects. Humility is not an acknowledgement of inferiority, although it can include this when it reflects reality. But in its higher expression, it is thedeliberate act of stooping in one's attitudes and actions in order to serve others according to the will of God.
Our modern corporate world considers it healthy to always compete and compare, but this attitude can prove destructive to the Christian community. Yet one can often find it in the contexts of Christian discipleship and ministry. To the extent that we are concerned about becoming better and bigger than our brothers, and exhibiting our superiority before men, we are no longer serving God, but self. A humble man has a true assessment of himself, but there is also the spiritual strength to practice deliberate abasement and service before others."-Vincent Cheung, Commentary on First Peter, pp.142-143
"Whom have I in heaven but you? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.""Whom have I in heaven but you? David declares that nothing, either in heaven or on earth, except God alone, and that without God, all other objects which usually draw the hearts of men towards them were unattractive to him. And, undoubtedly, God then obtains from us the glory to which he is entitled, when, instead of being carried first to one object, and then to another, we hold exclusively by him, being satisfied with him alone. If we give the smallest portion of our affection to the creatures, we in so far defraud God of the honour which belongs to him. And yet nothing has been more common in all ages than this sacrilege, and it prevails too much at the present day. How small is the number of those who keep their affections fixed on God alone!... And being with you, I desire nothing on earth.* This expression amounts to this: I know that of yourself, apart from every other object, you are sufficient, yes, more than sufficient for me, and therefore I do not let myself be carried away after a variety of desires, but rest in and am fully contented with you. In short, that we may be satisfied with God alone, it is of importance for us to know the plenitude of the blessings which he offers for our acceptance" (John Calvin, Heart Aflame, p.171).
While all entertainment is not sinful, like most things in life it can lead to habitual sin. Somebody asked the following question to Pastor John Piper:"I believe I do love Jesus, but most of the time I'd rather spend time being entertained than spend time in God's word. How do I break this hold that entertainment has on my heart?"Have some (or most) of us not desired to ask that question at least at one point in our lives but were too afraid to actually verbalize it out of fear of being rebuked or perceived as spiritually weak or immature? Well, here is Piper's helpful response (you can also read, listen to, watch, or download it by going Here), and I do appreciate the patient manner and tone in which he offers his counsel:
"That's a very good question. And I think it's especially relevant because we live, I think, more now than ever, in a day when entertaining kinds of things are immediately accessible.
I was thinking the other day of the difference between our temptations and, say, 250 years ago, the day of Jonathan Edwards. Edwards would write about the folly of young people getting together to do "frivolous conversation" or other worse things. ("Bundling" it was called: getting in bed together and keeping your clothes on, that sort of thing. Just spice up life a little bit. Life gets boring in New England 250 years ago.)
Today we carry in our pockets radio, television, internet, and games, and anything that would be titillating, fun! And "fun" is a word in the church today that's just rampant! It's an adjective, it's a noun, it's a verb, because we do ministry in order to fit this mentality.
I'm deeply concerned about that. I want to stand for seriousness about God, instead of making him palatable by making him "fun"! Turning him into another piece of entertainment.
So this question is, "How do you break free from that kind of addiction?"
1. Recognizing it is a huge step in the right direction.
2. Seek the Lord earnestly about it. Pray like crazy that God would open your eyes to see wondrous things out of his law.
3. Immerse yourself in the Bible, even when you don't feel like it, pleading with God to open your eyes to see what's really there.
4. Get in a group where you talk about serious things.
5. Begin to share your faith. One of the reasons we are not as moved by our own faith as we are is because we almost never talk about it to any unbeliever. It starts to feel like a kind of hothouse thing, and then it starts to have a feeling of unreality about it. And then the powers of entertainment have more sway in our life.
And so those would be some of the things, but ultimately it's a gift of grace to feel the glory of God.
One last suggestion: think about your death. Think about your death a lot. Ask what you'd like to be doing in the season of life, or hours or days, leading up to meeting Christ. I do that a lot these days. I think about the impact of death, and what I would like to be found doing, and how I would prepare to meet him and give an account to him."
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.""Maybe a good illustration is in John 14...John 14, and we won't spend a lot of time with this, but it's such a wonderful text. The disciples the night when Jesus was betrayed were struggling through all kinds of things, wondering about what their future was going to be like. So in John 14:12 Jesus says this, "Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also." That's pretty shocking. You put your trust in Me, you put your faith in Me and the works that I do you will do. He further says, this is even more shocking, "And greater than these." Not greater works, not works is not in the original. "And greater than these shall he do because I go to the Father." Not greater in terms of kind, but greater in terms of extent. You will be able to do things that change people's lives. As long as Jesus was on earth, His power was limited to His presence. Wherever He was, His power was expressed. Wherever the Twelve were, their power was expressed. When the seventy were sent out, wherever they were they was expressed but it was confined to the land of Israel and no further. But when Jesus went to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit, the Day of Pentecost, the explosion began and we have not done greater works, you couldn't do greater works than the greatest work Jesus does and the greatest work Jesus does is raise the spiritually dead, right? The greatest work is the work of regeneration, the work of salvation, the work of conversion, transformation, the new birth that's discussed in John 3. That's the great work of Jesus, that's what He came to do... to seek and to save that which was lost, to bring salvation. That work is the greatest work that He did, we can't do a greater work but we are used by God to do it at a greater extent. The limits are off and we have been used along with all the generations prior to this generation to take the gospel to the ends of the earth and to go to those places and to teach the truth and to live the truth and to live a gracious and forgiving life, to do all the things that seem impossible. We do them because when Jesus went back to heaven, it says if you follow the text, "I will ask the Father, He'll give you another helper that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth." Jesus goes back, He sends the Spirit, the Spirit comes and we are now empowered as we entrust our lives to the power of God and the indwelling Spirit. We can do everything that He asks. And that's what it says in John 14, "Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son." "In My name" means consistent with who I am, consistent with My will" (Four Hallmarks of Humility, Part 3).
Unfortunately, yet unsurprisingly, the natural man’s ideology of “the bigger the better,” whether it is with regards to one’s bank account, car, house, etc., is ordinary even within the church. It reminds me of a young woman’s emphasis on her externality and consequent pursuit to alter her body via surgical procedures all in order to get noticed more; a young man’s likewise emphasis on his externality and consequent pursuit to consume hormone elevating drugs all in order to attain the biggest muscles that his body can possibly hold. The church, and I am using that word loosely (as loosely as the term “evangelical” has become), deems such lifestyle as arising out misdirected goals that only proves to be futile. Ironically, the church is not guiltless of similar misdirection and futility. Just as a young woman or man’s new look does not equate to true health, or true beauty for that matter, many in the church fail to recognize that their bigness (numerically) does not necessarily equate to Christ-honoring healthiness. Yet, that seems to be the focus of many (I don’t know how many times people have asked me about how many people we have in our church, but I don’t ever recall being asked if we preach Christ and Him crucified). Perhaps, if we focus more on the healthiness of the church, God will see fit to bless it with health and beyond, even numerically. After all, does not God always bless abundantly? Does not God always give more than what we can ask, think, or receive? Did Jesus Christ not promise to build His church (Matthew 16:18)? Here is what Pastor Mark Dever has to say, to which I agree wholeheartedly:"It is tempting to think that we should just pray that God would make our churches bigger. But what we’re really after is health, not just size. Churches can be incredibly unhealthy even when they’re big. A small, healthy church is better than a big, unhealthy church. That’s right. A bigger church isn’t always a better church. It may make us look better as leaders, but size doesn’t always indicate health (as so many of our bodies attest!). So it makes sense to stop and ask yourself: What are your motives for praying as you do for your church? When we gather as a group of elders, we need to be praying not just that God would make our church bodies bigger, but that He would make them healthier."We have enough numerically gigantic churches, but as always are lacking in healthy churches. This is not to imply that churches shouldn’t grow in size, but simply that we ought to constantly keep our emphasis in check and pray accordingly!-Mark Dever, The Deliberate Church, p.177
I don't think that one can have his or her best life now. But I do agree that when properly understood in light of the Word of God, and of course, by the regenerate, one should realize that he or she can actually have the most worthwhile life now for one reason (or should I say one being): GOD! God gives life to all (in the material sense), but in giving a new life to the elect (in the spiritual sense) He also grants them a worthwhile life to live. J.I. Packer notes:"What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance; and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?"
How is your conscience? Personally, and unfortunately, due to my fallen sinfulness, I tend to be the second type that Pastor John Piper mentions below, which is by no means biblical (at least not fully) or spiritually comforting. I sincerely hate it with all my heart and it is something that God really needs to change in my life. It is a good read. Check it out (you can also read the entire sermon: Click Here!):"Satan Can Turn Our Conscience to a Distorted View of God
Yes, Satan can sear a conscience, but there's another way that Satan can destroy our conscience. Scripture calls him in Revelation 12:10 the accuser of the brethren who accuses us day and night before our God. If he can't sear our conscience, he will seek to fine tune our conscience to a perverted view of God. He will paint for us a caricature of God—a God who is impatient and who really is not for us but against us. A God who is just looking for a slip-up so that he can pounce on us. A God who is not slow to anger, not abounding in loving kindness, but rather a perfectionistic taskmaster who will hound us, and ridicule us, and torment us until we do every thing just perfect.
Three Experiences with Conscience Among People
My guess is that there are three types of people represented in this room right now. Some whose conscience have long since been seared or are in the process of being repressed into silence. Then there are some whose consciences are very lively but are attuned to a taskmaster God who is impatient. You labor under a blanket of guilt, that never goes away. You are depressed and broken and defeated. You confess your sins, but never feel like you did it well enough to actually be forgiven; you look at how you love your brothers and sisters and you feel that its never perfect enough to please God. And the third type of people are some of you whose conscience is lively, but attuned to a God who is holy and also compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. When you fail to love as you should, your conscience condemns you, informing you that God is against your sin. But you thank God for your conscience. It is like those nerve endings that mercifully scream out in pain when something is wrong in your body and needs attention. When your conscience condemns you, you turn to God in confession and you trust the promise that God will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. If the harm you did is something that can be restored through a word or a deed, you will rely on God's help to be reconciled to the person you hurt. And then your conscience will be quieted, and you will be free to love and to pray once again.
Those of you who know that your conscience has been inappropriately quiet for too long, or inappropriately condemning for quite awhile, and you feel stuck, no matter how much you pray or read Scripture; my admonition to you is to seek out help from a trusted friend, or a pastor or a professional Christian counselor. Because God is in the business of reclaiming and rehabilitating our conscience. There is nothing more valuable than a conscience that condemns us when we are wrong, and there is nothing sweeter than a conscience that is at rest once we've repented. God wants us to have free and responsive hearts, "Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God."
Here is a worthy quote from Anselm of Canterbury, who was a very influential and brilliant medieval theologian. He was most famous for his long essays Monologian and Prosologian. The following is from the latter (Anselm of Canterbury The Major Works, p.87):"I acknowledge, Lord, and I give thanks that You have created Your image in me, so that I may remember You, think of You, love You. But this image is so effaced and worn away by vice, so darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do what it was made to do unless You renew it and reform it. I do not try, Lord, to attain Your lofty heights, because my undertanding is in no way equal to it. But I do desire to understand Your truth a little, that truth that my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand. For I believe this also, that 'unless I believe, I shall not understand [Isa.7:9]" (Emphasis Added).Is Anselm correct? I certainly think so (see Matthew 16:17)!
Check out what Dr. Lloyd-Jones had to say about anger and self-control: Click Here!
One of my favorite radio programs is the White Horse Inn (WHI) hosted by Dr. Michael Horton (Westminster Seminary, Cal) along with Ken Jones (Greater Union Baptist Church), Dr. Kim Riddlebarger (Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim), and Rod Rosenbladt (Concordia University). You may or may not agree with every nuance of their theology, but I deeply admire them for their consistent emphasis on the centrality of the person of Christ and the Gospel of Christ, as well as for keeping aflame the Protestant Reformation's recovery of the apostolic doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. I can honestly say that their ministry continues to help me appreciate the Savior more, though I humbly acknowledge how far and frequent I fall short of loving and obeying Him who is infinitely worthy of my devotion. I can't express just how much I love the WHI!
Here is an excerpt from Mark Driscoll's sermon that you and I need to hear, desperately (Click Hear to Listen). I very highly encourage you to sacrifice 9 minutes and 4 seconds of your precious time to listen, learn, repent as necessary and be warned. Afterwards, cling solely to the cross of Jesus Christ and find rest, rather than in your religious achievements and exercises. I think such would be the appropriate application.
“I remember one of the students saying how incredible it was to him that Christianity could be viewed by many students as a belief-system that could be added onto their present lives with little change. Studies remained pretty much the same. Leisure remained pretty much the same. Use of money remained pretty much the same. Goals after graduation remained pretty much the same. Students simply said, ‘I can believe that,’ and added it on to what they were already committed to. It didn't seem to make a difference. One of the reasons I use the word ‘radical’ as often as I do to describe the kind of Christianity that I am pursuing is that I need some kind of language to differentiate the real thing from this ‘add on’ kind of Christianity that is not real and confuses thousands about what the real thing is. Radical Christianity, real Christianity, makes a difference” (Emphases Added).
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