Rebellion and Religious Rebellion

Rebellion

What we have seen so far is rebellion in the first chapter, Paul has gone through great lengths to show that the carnal vices of the soul are deep seated. Ungodliness is the start of it, because we seek to bring about a replacement to the rightful seat of Jesus.

We see in the first place that rebellion is inexcusable. It is inexcusable because God has clearly revealed Himself.

What you see as a result of mans rebellion is a giving over by God to things within:

God gave them up to (their) impurity (v. 24)

God gave them up to dishonorable (their) passions (v. 26)

God gave them up to a debased (corrupt) mind (v. 28)

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.

People are unique in the inner life of the mind-what they are in their thought world determines how they act…The inner thought world determines the outward actions. -Francis Schaeffer

Paul is showing in that the rebellion that is being shown is without excuse. Because there is a showing forth of who God is through all that has been created. There are absolutes! It is from absolutes that we find the every day meaning of life. If you do not hold absolutes then you will try to find meaning in the particulars of life.

What excuses do we make for our outright rebellion?

Rebellions Root: I want to be in control and I don’t care how it looks

The problem is that we want control of our own lives, we don’t want anyone telling us what to do, that is rebellion. The problem of course is that rebellion never leads to the things you think it will bring about in your life. Freedom. Peace. Happiness. Love. Fulfillment. You see this in many instances of life, that the child who wants rebel believes that he will be free to touch the stove, which he believes will help him find fulfillment. Of course his hand gets burned and his rebellion has not at all brought him what he thought it would bring.

Or take a man who has

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 4

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 4

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart

Religion or Religious Rebellion

Religion has its own form of rebellion, the teachings of Jesus and the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus’ day reveal this quite well. If you look very long at you will see how you fare concerning rebellion.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 4

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart

The thoughts and intentions, not just the outward actions. God is not concerned only with the outward actions. An outward rebellious life is easier to correct than an inner religious rebellion.

Religious Rebellion’s Root: I want to be in Control and look perceptibly good while doing it

Ways we are Religiously Rebellious:

Judgmental of others

This of course does not mean judging, it means judgmental, the difference being clearly seen in where the Pharisee treats the tax collector with contempt, that being the feeling that a person is worthless or beneath consideration.

Do I treat others with contempt?

Our justification before men does not lead to our justification before God! We try to do this, but the goal is not my neighbor, it is God.

Outward conformity but an inner contradiction/ Adhere to the letter of the law but do not keep the spirit of the law. (adultery vs Lust)

One of the biggest things is actually our failure to see that even with an outward observance does not mean that we have an inner love for God and His commands. This is where the beatitudes come into play.

Gospel thinking in this area is probably more important than any other area, because what you love most will bring about true virtue instead of mere common morality. Jonathan Edwards gives these examples

If our highest love is our family, we will ultimately choose our family’s good over the good of other families; if our highest love is our nation, we will choose our nations interests and ignore those of other countries; if our highest love is our own individual interests, we will choose to serve ourselves over seeking to meet the needs of others…Only if our highest love is God himself can we love and serve all people, families, classes, races; and only God’s saving grace can bring us to the place where we are loving and serving God for himself alone and not for what he can give us. Unless we understand the gospel, we are always obeying God for our sake and not for His.

Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City Preaching the Third Way for Everyone

RELIGION

GOSPEL

“I obey; therefore I’m accepted.”

“I’m accepted; therefore I obey.”

Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

Motivation is based on grateful joy.

I obey God in order to get things from God.

I obey God to get God—to delight and resemble him.

When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or myself, since I believe, like Job’s friends, that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle, but I know that while God may allow this for my training, he will exercise his fatherly love within my trial.

When I am criticized, I am furious or devastated because it is essential for me to think of myself as a “good person.” Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

When I am criticized, I struggle, but it is not essential for me to think of myself as a “good person.” My identity is not built on my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ.

My prayer life consists largely of petition and only heats up when I am in need. My main purpose in prayer is to control circumstances.

My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with him.

My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to people who fail. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel humble but not confident—I feel like a failure.

My self-view is not based on a view of myself as a moral achiever. In Christ I am at once sinful and lost, yet accepted. I am so bad he had to die for me, and so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper humility as well as deeper confidence, without either sniveling or swaggering.

My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work or how moral I am, so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to others.

My identity and self-worth are centered on the One who died for his enemies, including me. Only by sheer grace am I what I am, so I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. I have no inner need to win arguments.

Since I look to my pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols—talents, moral record, personal discipline, social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them, so they are my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I say I believe about God.

I have many good things in my life—family, work, etc., but none of these good things are ultimate things to me. I don’t absolutely have to have them, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despair they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

The aim is heart transformation, where we love the truth, beauty, and goodness of God that is put before us in the commands that He calls us to obey.

Do I look only to the outward commands or the inward spirit of the commands that God gives?

Complacent about my own sin b/c I misinterpret God’s kindness with indifference saying, “God must not care about this sin, if He did He would have punished me by now.”

Complacency in sin is always a danger in the Christian’s life, but not just outward actions but inward attitudes and thoughts. It’s much easier to become complacent with inner sins because no one but you can usually see the inner workings and God’s kindness is extended in hopes of turning in repentance.

I love the kindness of God, it is one of His most astonishing attributes! God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, so much our unrepentant sin is kindly dealt with by pointing it out and calling us into repentance. Repentance is a beautiful thing in the Kingdom of God, even the angels start rejoicing when sinners (Rebels and Religious) start repenting.

Is there any sin with which I am complacent?

Hardness of heart, unrepentant. Confession without change. Repeated pattern of denial of your sin’s sinfulness

I love the kindness of God, it is one of His most astonishing attributes! God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, so much our unrepentant sin is kindly dealt with by pointing it out and calling us into repentance. Repentance is a beautiful thing in the Kingdom of God, even the angels start rejoicing when sinners (Rebels and Religious) start repenting.

Are there sins that I have confessed but have not really made any changes that lead to the sin being uprooted out of my life?

Oblivious to the fact that I’m accountable to obey all I know. (v. 12-13)

Levels of Maturity lead to greater responsibility. A 13 year will have greater responsibilities and expectations of them than a 5 year old. When a 13 year old acts like a 5 year old we say that they are immature.

Are there areas I am spiritually immature in my life, meaning I know what is expected of me but I am still not acting in a manner worthy of the gospel?

How do expectations and the gospel go together? There needs to be clarity here, because expectations does not change position. It is relational language not positional language. If my child acts immature it does not mean he is any less my child than if he acts his age. The child’s maturity or immaturity does not make them any more or less children.

Indifferent to or even annoyed by the changes taking place in sinners who are being born again or are growing spiritually. (v. 14-16)

This sounds terrible, but it happens in churches and believers all the time, it is essentially speaking a curse over someone when we say, “Their on fire now but wait, that flame will burn down!” What a believer is really saying is that they hope their flame dies down, otherwise they are not doing all that the Lord is requiring of them.

Believe yourself to be superior to others and get to dictate how they live (v. 19-21)

What excuses do you make for you religious rebellion?

Running to Jesus

These two rebellions are meant to show us our desperate need for the gospel. If you get to the end of these questions and feel that you are somehow getting along well, sure your not perfect, but that’s nothing a little tweaking won’t fix; you have most assuredly missed Paul’s intention. His goal is to show the depth of your need for a savior. That even our goodness is tainted with badness, like the Pharisee that is justifying himself through the tax collector.