What’s going on with you, on the inside?
This post is a bit unusual. You seen, typically this is a sermon I rework into a blog post and then post the link of my message (recorded on the most recent Sunday morning) HERE. But there was no sermon to record. No sermon text to reword. I had all the ideas for this message, but because I was ill and I am still working on getting over this, I was unable to do my normal pastoral stuff.
So here we are, with the topic I wanted to speak about this past Sunday. The topic I began to study about early last week, then didn’t have the strength to complete until today. I want to briefly touch on two topics, two spiritual disciplines that no Christian walk can ignore. They are self examination and meditation.
Self examination (introspection)
“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!”
2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV
Here in 2 Corinthians, we have Paul admonishing his audience to look deep inside them and make some big decisions. Have you ever had a make a BIG decision?
- Go to college or start a career?
- Marry or stay single?
- Stay put or move?
- Have children or not?
I’m sure there are many other life choices a decisions one can make. They are life changing and shaping, each and everyone of them. They guide us and make us the people that we are becoming. Without those decisions and even the process of making decisions, we would be a completely different person.
Paul is specifically saying that the Corinthians need to check their hearts, see “whether [they] are in the faith.” Have you ever struggled with life’s tough questions?
- What happens to us when we die?
- How can I trust this person when they’ve betrayed me?
- How do I know what Jesus said he did…he actually did?
Perhaps you have different questions, but the faith that the Corinthians had to decide on was this: “Is Christ IN us or Not?” When we accepted Him, his salvation, his free Grace, did he actually come in a take up residence in our hearts and lives? Is the Holy Spirit actually ready, willing and able to guide us along life’s road?
I submit to you, my friend, these are the questions that we need to ask of ourselves. Ask until a certain point.
I’m not asking in order to reinforce Doubt but rather to build reassurance.
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Romans 5:1 NIV
John Wesley shared his experience of assurance of Faith in his journal entry on May 24, 1738.
“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society at Aldersgate Street, where one was reading from Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change that God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation. And an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
John Wesley (from methodist.org.uk)
As we ask the questions, have the deep conversations with God, The Holy Spirit can and does give us a “Blessed Assurance.” If we are not at peace with these questions, perhaps the next step is to as “why?”
The Holy Spirit can and does give us a “Blessed Assurance.” If we are not at peace with these questions, perhaps the next step is to as “why?”
But again, don’t go it alone. Find someone who you trust and has been down the road of faith. Maybe your local pastor. Maybe a parent, neighbor, or a friend. They may help you see things and God at work inside you that you are unable to see yourself. They may be the answer to prayer you’ve been waiting for.
Meditation (on God)
“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
Philippians 4:8 NIV
When looking deep inside ourselves, asking the questions “do I believe?” “Is Christ in me?” “Did Jesus do what he said he would do?” It is also of great help to our assurance to meditate on God.
Do I mean sitting, legs and arms crossed, chanting “ohm” and emptying one’s self of everything in order to become one with the universe? No. Christian mediation does seek to remove distractions, but it is in the service of hearing from God.
Christian mediation does seek to remove distractions, but it is in the service of hearing from God.
Have you ever cleared out all OLD emails from your email account? I’ve never been able to do it. It’s full of junk from years of neglect. But if you have, if you keep it tidy, you certainly wouldn’t miss the important email that comes in next. The right at the top. Marked urgent.
When we meditate on the things of God, we can better, “get his email?” When the worries of life are all you and I are thinking and talking about. When politics, Hollywood and neighborhood rumor mills are all we have to share. When our negative opinions of people become more important than praying for said people, we’ve got a problem. We need to meditate on the things of God. Kindness, compassion, caring, Love, Joy, Peace.
If this is something you struggle with, perhaps lack of peace keeps you up at night and you find meditation hard, perhaps you could use some assistance. My good friend, Johnathon provided content for an app called ABIDE. It may give you insight and peace.
I find that for myself I have remove the things that are not
“…true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, any excellence, worthy of praise.”
Limiting the amount I view news stories and Youtube videos with titles like “So and so SLAMS so and so over saying dumb stuff!” For one, that’s such a click-baity thing to title your article of video. And two, it feeds into my already negative thoughts. So for me, that’s probably best left unclicked. Even if people say and do dumb stuff, I don’t need to spend my limited time on this earth hearing someone else’s sassy reaction to the dumbness.
Question: What things do you need to cut out of your life that are the opposite of what Paul says in Philippians?
I do believe cutting things out like that are the first step to being open to the filling of God with Godly, pure and helpful thoughts.
Lord willing, we will be back next week with an audio recording of the Palm Sunday Message. Thanks for taking the time to read and contemplate this post. I want to encourage you to not only think about your responses to my questions but also write them in the comments below.
-Pastor Matt
Viroqua Naz 