Take a Look

As you have noticed already, we're not going to be in John's Gospel this morning. The Spirit made it clear to me that I need to preach from a different text. And as I thought about the text and worked on the sermon I could see why. So, I'm going to read the text and then hopefully, as we work through the sermon, you will also see why the Spirit guided me in the way he did. The text is 2 Corinthians 13.5.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Paul calls the Corinthians to some reflection, some self-evaluation. The thing to note is that this was not a suggestion from the apostle. It was a command. And it has continued to be a command to the Church down through the ages. It is necessary, from time to time, to take stock of your life, to take a look into your soul. You need to examine yourself. And the goal is clear. Paul has stated it: 'to see whether you are in the faith'.

It is a common but unstated opinion of many that I'm not supposed to talk about such things. You aren't supposed to ask another Christian if he is sure that he really is a Christian. Doing that is dangerous. After all, it could result in doubt. You could send him into a tailspin and ruin what little faith he may have. Because of these sorts of things, asking that kind of question is to be avoided. It's off limits. Or so says the popular opinion. But Paul disagrees. And there are reasons why we need to side with him on this. There are far too many Christians these days who are so fragile when it comes to issues like this. The topic of assurance is one filled with struggles and problems and fears. So, the supposed solution is to avoid it altogether. But that is so wrong. This is an issue that needs to be faced. It needs to be confronted.

There is, of course, the companion problem: the simple assumption that one is a Christian. There is some sort of religiosity that may or may not include church attendance, and the conclusion is obvious. ‘Sure, I’m a Christian.’ All too often all you see is the claim to being a Christian and nothing else. But there is clear confidence of heaven.

So, on the one hand, there are the people who are too afraid to examine their souls to see if there is true faith and on the other, in response to the suggestion of self examination, there is the surprised, ‘Why, in the world, would I need to do something like that?’

Let me tell you what is at the heart of my concern in this - and I think that I have the Spirit on this. It's all about boldness. The need of the hour is for bold Christian living, a zeal for Jesus that affects everything. And this zeal needs to be lived in full view of a very pagan world. Being unsure of one's standing before God will not help produce that. Clarity is needed here. You need to know that you have passed the test. You need to know that you are, in fact, a Christian. And you need to know that so that you can be bold when it comes to the mission that has been given to us: to change the world by the Gospel. So, now you know what the point of the sermon is.

Let's consider what Paul commands us to do. When you examine yourself, when you take a look within, what will you find? It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that you will find a lot of sin. If you don't, then you aren't looking very carefully. Any honest look at who you are, the real you within, will show you your sin. And that sin can take many different forms. So, for one thing, there are the idols that you look to. These idols are things that take the place of the Father in your life. Only he can give peace and hope and comfort. But there are a multitude of idols that we look to to provide those very things for us. So, what do you do when life gets to be a bit much? Where do you go to restore a sense of well-being when life gets chaotic? Whatever that is, if it isn't the Father himself, is your idol. It might be food, or pushing harder for control, or some sort of escape. Some popular escapes include romance novels, some of those websites - you know, guys, those websites, misuse of prescription drugs or just daydreaming about how life would be so much better if only... There are lots of options here. And they are all idols. Another way sin shows itself has to do with those demands that we have. The Bible word for this is 'lust', but we associate that with only one kind of demand. Desiring a life that is always smooth can be a lust. Wanting to always look good to certain important people in your life can be another lust. Aiming to always be happy can also be a lust. Be careful. Those things are not necessarily lusts. They become lusts when someone demands that they happen, and he has a fit when they don't. That's when they have slid over the line from what can be proper desires to things that are lusts, things that are demanded. And that is sin. Let me mention one more way that sin shows itself: fear. Fear, in the sense that I mean it, is sin because it is saying to the Father, 'I don't believe you when you tell me that you will take care of me. I don't believe you when you tell me that I have nothing to fear.' We live in a very fearful culture, and that has affected us. We all have fears. We all have told the Father at some point or other that we don't trust him, that we don't believe him. In this we sin.

If you take an honest look at your life, if you examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith, one of the first things that you will see is your sin. You should not be surprised. Isn't that what the Gospel has already told you? Consider something from one of the great saints of the faith.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.

Seeing your sin should not send you into that tailspin. When you see it you simply should tell yourself, 'Well, I'm a sinner. Along with everything else, the Gospel is right about that too.'

Now, if that's all you were to see, then that would be a problem. But you will be able to see something else. And Paul tells you what that is.

Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?

As you continue to look within you will also see evidence that Jesus is in you. Didn't he say that he would make his abode in you? Now, what kind of evidence of his presence will you find? This relates to what I just talked about. One evidence of Jesus in you is your grappling with sin. You certainly have enough sin to deal with, no? But please note this next thing. This does not mean that you are to go hunting for some sin to deal with. And it certainly doesn't mean that you're supposed to wrestle with it on your own until you conquer it all. It's the Spirit who will point out the particular sin he wants you to confront. He will let you know. Deal with that sin. And don't ignore him. Some people do exactly that and then excuse it. They tell themselves that they're already dealing with some sin - that other sin way over there. They do that because they don't want to deal with the sin that the Spirit is pointing to. So they pick another, less threatening sin to focus on. They hear him, but they ignore him.  That's also sin. Deal with the sin he points to.

So, you're supposed to grapple with sin. It's evidence that Jesus lives within you. But how do you do that? How do you deal with sin? You do that by the Gospel. First, it's repentance. Admit that some idol, lust, fear or whatever is sin. It's not a mistake, a little problem that trips you up every once in a while or one of those bad habits that people have. It's an ugly, foul, vile sin. Come clean. No excuses. Words matter. Label it what it is: sin. And when you are able to do that - something, by the way, that you can ask the Spirit's help on - you will come to hate it. How can you like something that is despicable? Grappling with sin begins with repentance: admitting your sin, first to yourself and then to the Father, and then being repulsed by it. The next step is as familiar to you as the first. It's coming to Jesus. It's believing him when he says that he has covered all your sin. It's coming to him for forgiveness. And you come for forgiveness because he promises forgiveness.

Though your sins are as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.

And don't forget the rest. It's also coming to him for change. You don't want to sin like that any more. He can make that happen. That's how you grapple with sin. And that's evidence that Jesus lives in you. That's evidence that you are a disciple of Jesus, following him as your Lord as well as your Savior.

Now bear in mind, where Jesus lives the Father also lives. If Jesus is in you so is the Father. And whatever else that might mean it certainly means that you are loved. Let me tell you about my mother. I think that I had a great mother. She was not perfect. She was a feisty Puerto Rican whom God eventually tamed. But there was no doubt that she was totally for her kids. That doesn't mean that she coddled us and bowed to our every whim. Not a chance! But it does mean that she loved us, with passion and tenderness. At her funeral my brother said that she made each of us kids think, ‘I’m her favorite’. I enjoyed my weekly phone calls home when we would chat about whatever. I had a mother who deeply loved me and my siblings.

 Now, I say all of that so that I can say this. My mother's love pales into nothingness when compared to the Father's love for you. I say that because some of you don’t believe it. For some of you, the love of the Father is a formal love. It is a cool and distant love. It can be a bit harsh, even gruff and abrasive, at times. And there always seems to be this hard edge somewhere in the picture. That was not how my mother loved me. Her love for me provides me with a flesh and blood picture of the Father's love. His love is warm, very comforting, affectionate and tender. And it is always like that. Always. Some folk have a hard time believing that the Father loves them in this way. I suspect it's because they have never had a flesh and blood picture of his love. This love of the Father is yours just as it belongs to every Christian. You are loved, and you are loved in a way that is simply astounding in all its tenderness and care. Experiencing this as a normal part of life is a key to the problem of assurance for so many Christians.

We've talked about the presence of Jesus in your life and the presence of the Father. So, you know who's next. When you look within, you will see evidence of the Spirit's presence. And one bit of that evidence is power. This includes, just to mention one thing, the power to change you. Remember, that is one of the things that we come to Jesus for: forgiveness and change. The Spirit will evidence his presence by the change that goes on within the life of the Christian, in your life. His change is not quick. But when you look back over your life, you are struck by how much he has changed you. You really are becoming just like Jesus.

There is a theme that ties all of this together. It answers our question about what you will find if you examine yourself. As you look within, you will find grace for sinners. You will find the Father, the Son and the Spirit graciously at work in your sinful life, bringing about change, giving hope, assuring you in love.

That leaves two questions. Here's the first. What do you do if you look within, if you examine yourself, and you do not find any evidence of the presence of God? If that is the case, then I think that you and I should talk. The problem might be that you don't know how to look. The evidence is there, but you just can't see it. There is, however, the possibility that you can't find any evidence because there isn't any. But even in that situation there is hope. You still have opportunity to come to Jesus for the first time.

And the last question. So, what do you do now? I come back to what I frequently do. You need to pray. And here's a good prayer if you don't know what else to pray: 'Lord, help. I don't know what to do or how to do it. But I want to obey your command. I want to examine myself. Help me do that.' You are not on your own. Your God is your hope and your strength. So, like so many of the psalmists, cry out to your God and see how he will come to do you good.

My goal in all of this is simple. We have been given a mission. Jesus calls us here at Faith Reformed to do our part in changing the world by making the nations into his disciples. That will not happen unless we know that we have the forgiveness of our sins by the cross of Jesus, the love of the Father even for sinners like us and the power of the Spirit, power that can bring about astounding change.