Getting to Know the Easiest Person to Fool! The Principle of Clarity

What a beautiful day to be gathering together in the house of our Lord with all of God’s people the Church! Are you genuinely excited that you are able to come together and gather together, freely, without oppression, to worship our Risen Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ! I sure am!

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May we all pray the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24 in our hearts throughout this year.

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Old Testament Scripture Reading

Stephen Nobles

Psalm 139 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. 13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. 19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! 20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Video: Sanctity of Human Life

New Testament Scripture Reading

Wayne Sullivan

Revelation 5 ESV

1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE SUNDAY

This Sunday is an opportunity for mourning and repentance! Every year, we see between 800,000 and 1 million abortions in our nation. NC averages around 28-29,000 per year.

“Pastor, why are you bringing a political issue into the pulpit?” Why you ask? Because this isn’t just a political issue it is a Biblical issue. Each year, we as Southern Baptists, set aside the third Sunday in January to remind ourselves of the sanctity of human life.

Life is precious. Before, we can say “All lives matter, blue lives matter, or black lives matter,” we must say “unborn lives matter!” The Bible tells us that all lives do in fact matter. Jesus died so that ALL who believe on Him and His finished work can live eternally with Him!

Sanctity of Human life surely includes those who are defenseless against the selfish whims of sinful people who have laid down the responsibility they were to have in loving and caring for the child God had given them.

But Sanctity of Human life is about more than just the unborn. It is about all of us. Every life matters! It is about treating each other with dignity and respect, even when we disagree. It is about caring for those who have been born with special needs. It is about ministering to the hopeless. It is about caring for our elderly, our parents and grandparents and great grandparents.

Sanctity of Human Life is about honoring what God breathed life into , creating a soul made in His own image. God values Life and so should we!

This is a very important week for our nation as we experience a change in power and a change in policy in our nations leadership. We need to pray for Life and Liberty.

Today, I would like to ask you to huddle up for a few minutes with your spouse or your family seated beside you, or simply pray by yourself where you are. Would you spend a couple of minutes praying for our nation, for life, and for liberty this morning.

Prayer of Invocation

Wayne Sullivan

Songs of Worship

I Sing Praises

Blessed Assurance (All Verses)

Myron and Amy Duet

Sermon Series: Replenish: Principles for Cultivating a Healthy Soul!

Series Recap:

We are in week three of our Sermon Series and hopefully each of us are corporately committed to replenishing our soul by swinging the pendulum of our spiritual life back toward the care of our soul, back toward spiritual health. In this series of sermons, we are learning about six principles that can help you to practically care for your soul if applied regularly and carefully.

Two weeks ago, we covered the first principle of soul care: The Principle of Priority. From Matthew 6:33, we discussed the importance of seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We learned how to get our souls focused each and every day as we put first things first, as we invite the Lord to be the most important priority of our daily life.

Last week, we examined the second principle of soul care: The Principle of Transformation. From Romans 12:1-2, we discussed our need to regularly clear out our spiritual inboxes of the junk mail of worldliness. We learned that we should manage our physical and spiritual lives as daily living sacrifices that need to remain pure and unblemished.

In order to clean out our spiritual inboxes of the junk mail, we learned that we need to allow our minds to continually be renewed by the Word of God as the Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ, and that we need to stop being conformed to the image of the world. This is transformation from the inside / out versus the worlds way of outside / in. Christ changes us then we change our environment rather than allowing us to buy into the world’s way of changing our environment so that we can change ourselves.

Today, we are going to briefly discuss our third principle of replenishment that can help us cultivate a healthy soul.

Today, we are going to get to know the easiest person to fool, ourselves. I want to share with you a biblical principle that will help you get your life purpose clear, so that you can learn to value the life God has given you! Today’s principle is the principle of clarity!

We are still in Romans 12, so please join me there in your copy of God’s Word. Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word!

Romans 12:1–3 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Prayer of Illumination:

“Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God.” ~ John Calvin 1

John Calvin wrote these words on the very first page of his monumental theological work, “Institutes of the Christian Religion.”

Calvin believed and taught that through the knowledge of ourselves and our condition, we are awakened to seek after God. So in learning more about ourselves, we develop more of a hunger to seek after God. Why?

Because in our condition, if we take a humble estimate of ourselves, we realize that we can’t fix all the things that are wrong with us. We see ourselves in our sinful fallen state, and if we are honest, we cry out for help! The only place that help is found is in the presence of our Creator!

Knowing ourselves is not easy work, it is a hard, labor intensive endeavor. Benjamin Franklin once said, “there are three hard things: diamonds, steel, and knowing oneself.

In fact, this principle of clarity is really all about realizing that you are the easiest person to fool. Richard Feynman once said,

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” ~ Richard Feynman

1. What is the principle of Clarity?

Clarity means being free from that which obscures, blocks, pollutes, or darkens. Clarity helps us to see and understand reality better. It helps us to hear God’s instructions and to learn what we need to do about them. Clarity is good news because it helps us to avoid arrogance and pride as it fosters a foundation of humility in our lives that will help us to see God’s vision and mission for our lives more fully.

Clarity is catalytic to the Christian life! Back in my days working as a chemist, we would use certain chemical reagents in some of our testing and experimentation because they were chemical catalyst. These chemical catalysts would speed up the reaction between compounds in a way that preserved the essential natural dynamics of the reaction we were seeking to achieve. The catalysts never forced something to occur unnaturally, but it would always naturally speed up a reaction.

Clarity does not force things into our lives that aren’t natural. So clarity can serve as a catalyst to speed up our ability to apply ideas and values to our attitudes and actions. Clarity provides us the opportunity to evaluate what is really important and move toward that in our lives. It helps us to understand our God-given purpose.

Not only in a general, well every disciple should do this mentality: but also, in a more specialized sense of calling upon your life as the unique individual God has designed you to be.

The principle of clarity is clearly behind what Paul is teaching in Romans 12:3, but before we look at that, I want to show you another place that this principle can be found.

Proverbs 20:5 ESV

5 The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

We all have plans, dreams, and purposes embedded deep within our minds and hearts. Most of us live the entirety of our lives without ever experiencing all that this life had for us to do because we don’t understand them with precise clarity.

While God can certainly use others to ask us questions that begin to probe what lies beneath, or to provide insights that help us discover the purpose in our heart, there is no substitute for spending time with God and allowing Him to bring you clarity of purpose.

Hans Urs von Balthasar once said,

“Grace brings man a task, opens up for him a field of activity, bestows upon him the joy of accomplishment, so that he can identify himself with his mission and discover the true meaning of his existence. Grace gives man a center of gravity that, like a magnet, draws all the forces of his nature into a clear and definite patter that is neither foreign not cumbersome to the patterns already formed in his nature, but engages them, like idle laborers, in a task that is both pleasant and rewarding....For man’s mission in life is not something general and impersonal like a ready-made coat; it has been designed specifically for him and given into his possession as the most personal of all gifts. By it he becomes, in the fullest sense of the word, a person.”

What is Clarity? Clarity is a catalytic grace agent in our lives that helps to purify our soul and allow us to see and understand our reality in a new and improved way so that we can determine God’s purposes in our life according to His design and will.

2. Clarity is a gift of grace that keeps us from fooling ourselves!

Romans 12:3 ESV

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

In a continuation of Paul’s exhorting appeal to the church in Rome, Paul, an example of apostolic clarity himself, exhorts the church on how to live as a living sacrifice. He reminds them that what he has been given “to say to everyone among” them was given by grace.

There appears to have been a problem of status in the church of Rome. Maybe the Jewish Christians thought of themselves as more special than the gentiles because of their heritage. It could also be the case that the Gentiles Christians saw God’s mercy to them as a sign that they were superior to the hard-hearted legalistic minded Jewish believers. No one really knows what the issue was, but there was clearly a status problem in the church.

Could there be anyone who knew better how irrelevant the question of “Status” was in terms of the grace of God, than Paul? Paul understood and clearly taught, that Grace comes by way of God’s mercy and love, not by heritage, standing, or merit.

So Paul commands the believers in Rome, and those of us here today as well, to not “think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.” Paul calls us to have a better understanding of who we are in ourselves and who we are in Christ! He calls us to see ourselves in light of our nature which will destroy the pride in our hearts. He also calls us to see ourselves in light of who we are in the Grace of Christ which will promote humility of soul.

If we are to be the living sacrifices that God’s Word calls us to be, we need to learn to see everything through grace-colored glasses. Understanding God’s grace and mercy toward us helps us to lay status aside and humbly understand that we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

When we are graciously given the clarity to understand who we really are, then that clarity will help prevent us from fooling ourselves through life.

3. Clarity causes us to think with sober judgment.

Look at the second half of our verse.

Romans 12:3 ESV

By the Grace of God, we are living sacrifices who have each been given a measure of faith. Our measure of faith may differ from one believer to another, but no one is better than another. I am not superior to you and you aren’t superior to me. Our measure of faith allows us to not think more highly of ourselves than we think of others. The measure of faith helps us to think with sober judgment.

Sober Judgment renews our minds according to God’s word to transform our hearts to see that as living sacrifices we owe everything to God alone. The gracious measure of faith we have all recieved is simply God’s purpose for us in the body of Christ.

Remember that Paul saw himself as once being the chief of sinners. Paul knew that God transformed him by His mercy when Paul recieved the grace of God through his relationship with the Son of God.

Paul wants us to see ourselves in that same light. Only when we have that clarity of who we are, can we think with sober judgment and discover the will of God for our lives in the body of Christ.

4. Finding Clarity.

So we know that clarity is important, but how do we find clarity in our lives? I mean there is so much coming at us, so many distractions, it can be really hard to make sense of it all.

I am going to give you one application that I believe will help you to apply what you are learning and find the clarity you have been missing.

Learn to write things down!

We can put God first, clear our our spiritual inboxes of all our junk mail, but we still don’t know what to do next.

If you aren’t daily meditating on Scripture, that is the first place you need to start. Allow God’s word to begin to saturate your soul on a daily basis. When you do listen to what He tells you. Then write it down. Make a note of it. Start a to do list. Keep a journal of God’s merciful dealings with your soul.

Remember Jesus is more focused on who we are than what we do.

James 1:22 ESV

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Learn to do God’s word daily. A great way is to keep a journal of all your interactions with God.

Listen to this quote from Josiah Pratt about the value of journaling in self-examination or sober judgment.

The practice of keeping a diary would promote vigilance. The lives of many are spent at a sort of hazard. They fall into certain religious habits: and are perhaps under no strong temptations. They are regular at church and sacrament, and in their families. They read the Bible and pray daily in secret. But here it ends. They know little of the progress or decline of the inner man. They are Christians, therefore, of very low attainments. The workings of sin are not noticed, as they should be, and therefore grace is not sought against them: and the genial emotions of grace are not noticed, and therefore not fostered and cultivated. Now, a diary would have a tendency to raise the standard to such persons by exciting vigilance.

What Pratt was saying is that if we want to know about our “progress or decline of the inner man” then we need to learn to keep a record of our dealings with God.

Donald Whitney said the following commenting on the personal value of spiritual journaling in gaining clarity in your walk before God and man.

When I review my journal entries for a month, six months, a year, I see myself and events more objectively. I can analyze my thoughts and actions apart from the feelings I had at the time. From that perspective it’s easier to observe whether I’ve made spiritual progress or have backslidden in a particular area...

Used appropriately, instead of drawing us more into ourselves, a journal can actually become a means of propelling us into action for others.

The journal can be a mirror in the hands of the Holy Spirit in which He reveals His perspective on our attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions. Since we will be held accountable for each of these at the Judgment, evaluating them by any means is wisdom.

Conclusion

If you would start to apply the principle of clarity to your life, then you will get clear about who you are, what your purpose in life is, how you can best help your church to fulfill her mission, and maybe, just maybe, you will learn to cherish and value the life that God has gifted you with and in the process learn to value you all life more as well.

Allow clarity to work its catalytic nature upon your soul to help you as Will Mancini put it, “make the difference between the amateur you and the profession you.” God has called us to go pro at being who he has called us to be. Stop playing around in the little leagues, put in the work of clarifying sober judgment and become the you, that you are meant to be.

Join me in prayer.

Invitation:

I am thine O Lord

Benediction

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeil, trans. and indexed by Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1960), vol. 2, page 35.

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