FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 8, number 50, December 10, 2009
. . . children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, Philippians 2:15.
Walk the Talk
A certain beauty queen has been in the news quite a bit lately because of her vocal opposition to gay marriage. Her stance cost her dearly and she is regularly maligned by the press. Recently it was discovered that lewd photographs and videos of an unmentionable nature have surfaced. She calls herself a Christian. I know nothing of her faith, nor do I know when she claims to have become a follower of Jesus. Perhaps her conversion was after the lewd photographs and videos. If so, then while the consequences of her sin are still with her, she ought to be seen like the Apostle Paul, John Bunyan, or any other saved sinner, “The old things have passed away and the new things have come,” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 2 Corinthians 5:17). If, however, she claims to have been a Christian before these photographs, then surely her life is not one that is blameless and innocent, above reproach. She also has said that her goal is to become a Victoria Secret model, hardly a calling to which any God-fearing woman ought to aspire.
Can any of us fall into grievous sin that compromises our profession of faith and brings shame to Christ and His church? Of course we can, but this young woman’s plight needs to be a sober warning for all of us. What is particularly troubling is the seeming indifference of so many Christians to the incongruent message she is sending to a watching world. As I have often said, “If you going to cheat people in business, steal from your company, or use foul language, then please by all means hide any outward reference to your supposed profession of faith (Jesus T shirts, coffee mugs, and scripture signs in your office or home). You are doing the Kingdom of God far more harm than good. You are shaming Christ!
With this ubiquitous disconnect between regeneration, justification, and sanctification many professing Christians, like the beauty queen, are causing the world to blaspheme God (1 Timothy 6:1). These people mock Christianity when they find gross inconsistencies in us, and well they should. Every person, no matter his morality or lack of morality, hates hypocrisy.
How then can we “walk the talk,” bring societal impact to a skeptical world? I stated last time that the ground of godly character (being blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach) is regeneration, justification, and sanctification. I will not define these again. We must always begin here, but this is simply not enough. We must also engage in two more disciplines, all under the grace of God. First, there should be nothing in your character or behavior that impugns the name of Christ and His church. You must ruthlessly and vigilantly guard your speech and actions, running from anything that is ungodly. Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). Salt promotes thirst (people ought to thirst after righteousness as they observe our lifestyles) and prevents putrefaction (salt is still rubbed into meat in developing nations without refrigeration in order to preserve it); and so your lifestyle and behavior, both at work and in your community, ought to cause people to want Christ. It ought to serve as a preservative, motivating people to turn away from wickedness. And Jesus says that our light ought to shine in such a way, like a lamp in a darkened house gives light to all in the room, that people will see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Failure here means that we are good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. Jesus puts it another way when He says that leaving our first love provokes Him to removing our witness to the world, causing Him to vomit us out of His mouth, as it were (Revelation 2:5, 3:16).
And if you are to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach, then you must also deal ruthlessly with your sin. This means four things—confession, contrition, repentance, and restitution. You see this played out powerfully by King David when confronted by Nathan concerning his adultery and murder (Psalm 32, 51). Own up to your sin. Call it what it is. It is not a mistake, poor judgment, or a bad decision. It is heinous sedition against the lover of your soul who gave Himself for you. Nothing less than specific confession of specific sin will do. And with this there must also be heartfelt contrition, a deep grieving over your sin. The prophet Hosea laments the hypocrisy of Israel and Judah when he says that they do not cry to God from their hearts when they wail upon their beds (Hosea 7:14). James commands us to be miserable, mourn, and weep, to let our laughter be turned into mourning and our joy into gloom (James 4:9). Then there must be what Richard Owen Roberts[1] calls evangelical repentance. Biblical repentance is not merely confessing sin to God or those whom we have offended. It means a change of mind and heart, resulting in a change of behavior. Joel calls us to rend our hearts and not our garments, to return to the Lord our God (Joel 2:13), while John the Baptist tells us to bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8). Repentance means you quit doing your sinful deeds. True repentance is born from true contrition and confession; and this always brings a desire for restitution—an earnest desire to right the wrongs we have done to others. If you have stolen, then you must repay it. If you have destroyed another’s reputation with your words, then you must do all you can to vindicate that person’s name.
Dealing ruthlessly with your sin, while a Biblical principle we must follow, is not easy. Mere morality, trying to do better, will never last. It must flow from a renewed sense of God’s love for you. Oh, what a glorious theme! As one traces the love of God through Scripture (see Deuteronomy 7:7, Jeremiah 31:3, John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:10 as only a few examples) it becomes clear that the love of God is tied to His redemptive work. He manifests His favor in the salvation of His people, offering up His Son on our behalf, bestowing His full orbed and glorious electing, calling, regenerating, justifying, converting, adopting, sanctifying, reconciling, expiating, propitiating, and glorifying love at Calvary ’s cross. My dear friend—the only way to walk blamelessly and innocently in this world, the only way to live above reproach as children of light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation—is to feel, experience, drink from the unfathomable, immutable, immeasurable love of God.
If you are in Christ, then God really does love you. Many of you know me well enough to know that I am not one given to sentimentality. The love of God in Christ Jesus for His people is true, profound, deep, abiding, eternal, and irrepressible. Ask God to meet you powerfully and persuasively in your personal times of communion with Him. When you have a fresh experience of His love, then the thought of sin will be repulsive to you. You will lose that experience soon enough but repentance and drinking afresh and anew from the well of grace will bring it back again and again.
[1] Roberts, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel.
FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.
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