Spiritual Maturity—Inner Principles > Outside Pressure
Deuteronomy 13: 1-4, 6-8; Matthew 7: 15-23
Some years ago, a friend and colleague decided she was joining and going to the gym, and she also decided I was going with her. I did not go seeking an opportunity to wake up at the crack of dawn to go work out at an expensive place, but I figured if God opened the door and all…you know. When we met with the trainer, he asked about our motivation for coming. He started in on all this “get healthy, commitments to a new self,” and all of this motivational pep talk. I simply agreed because I didn’t want to admit in public that, after the holidays, it was getting hard to button my pants. My friend, however, when asked her motivation said without pause, “When I look down, I want to see bust and toes instead of belly.” At least she’s honest and stuck to her real principles.
As our second principle of spiritual maturity today, we look at “acting less from outside pressures and more from principles of inner convictions.” In order to understand this idea of inner convictions and principles over outside pressures, we must first understand what principles Jesus left us. In Matthew 22, Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is. He actually names two—love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and second, love your neighbor as yourself. But then Jesus makes a very sweeping statement, “The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 40). Thus, these two commandments should be the foundation of our principles of inner convictions.
It is often harder than you think to stand on principles. In Deuteronomy, the writer notes that some will perform signs and miracles, may dream dreams and have visions much like a prophet of that day. It may be a close friend or relative who pushes or entices us to do something that steps out of our faith and God’s principles. In the days of Deuteronomy, this often looked like being enticed to worship false idols of neighboring peoples. In our day it often looks more like being distracted or diverted from God’s calling to bad behaviors and temptations. In the law, we call it undue influence—some form of persuasion which overcomes your own will, but never convinces you that it’s actually right.
Standing on God’s principles requires a strong foundation of knowing Christ’s teachings and prayerfully applying them to your life. Now this doesn’t mean we should avoid working with other denominations and faiths—God has given us a mission and expects us to work together—in love—with others to accomplish it. What we are warned to avoid is letting our thoughts go to places which pull us away from our faith in Christ. We must avoid letting our actions become a stumbling block for others or walk us away from the love that binds us to God. Living by principles of inner convictions means our faith, our actions, and God’s will all stay aligned in our daily life here on earth.
There’s another warning in the Gospel for today, though. Jesus says that some who call out, “Lord, Lord,” some who perform miracles and prophesy, some who cast out demons even claiming they do so in Christ’s name will also utterly fail. Why? I’m going to borrow a phrase from a younger generation. They will ask, “Dude, are you for real (pronounced fuh-real)?” Here is one place where “fake it till you make it” does NOT work. This one is a struggle. Just how faithful do we need to be? I’ll give you another example from my ill-fated time at the gym. While in the morning class at 5:30 A.M., the instructor would excitedly shout, “Are we ready to get pumped this morning!” I and everyone else yelled back, “YES!” But, if I were to be honest, there was absolutely nothing I found even exciting, encouraging, or even remotely desirable at all about doing cardio at 5:30 in the morning in a room full of people who were caffeinated into a frenzy.
We must be honest about our faith, our walk with God, and where we are struggling. This isn’t to find judgment, but to be met with the prayers, the encouragement, and the love of our church family. It’s okay to ask for help when you feel lost, but what Matthew’s Gospel warns against is faking it. Sometimes people pretend in their faith because they’re struggling. And sometimes they pretend with more sinful motives like money, exploitation, and a desire for personal gain over love of God and neighbor. Be honest when you struggle or feel alone and worried. If you can’t come to your church family to find love and support, then what is the point of being a church family? This is a place to restore our faith and find the courage to stand on Christ, the solid rock of our faith.
Finally, Matthew’s Gospel says that the evidence is what is produced from a person’s life. Jesus often likes to use the examples of growing plants and bearing fruit. It’s simple and clear. No one picks a grape from a thorn bush, or at least I wouldn’t recommend it. You wouldn’t find a delicate fig in a bunch of thistles. When a person follows the voice and guidance of God in their lives, you see the evidence of God at work in them. If someone is listening to every bit of bad advice, bad temptation, and sinful voice out there, you will see that in the outcome of their lives. This isn’t a question of suffering in life, for suffering visits us all. This is a question of whether a person is building for God’s kingdom or lost in bad behaviors that destroy their life and their witness for God.
What is our motivation? Do our faith and actions come from inner principles based on the foundation of Christ’s guidance? Or are we tossed around by every bit of bad advice under the planet? We have all, at one time or another, been talked into something that we knew was wrong, or we may have talked our own selves into it. That’s not a place where we can live in for the rest of our lives as God’s children. We must find God’s word and guidance from which we get our inner strength. We must be open and honest—for real if you want to use the phrase—about our faith. And we must continue to bear good fruit in this world with God’s help. That kind of motivation and those inner principles will always steer us in the right direction in this life.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1353781455057511