Conscience #2

REVIEW FROM LAST TIME

Today - Seared, Weak, Biblical

The seared conscience

1 Tim 4:1-5 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”

The conscience is a good gift - we don’t want to train ourselves to ignore it altogether.

We want to keep it firing, but train it in the right direction.

Secular psychology teaches us to just ignore it, cover it up with happy thoughts, or that any negative feelings are just plain wrong.

or they prescribe us drugs to numb everything, so now we feel nothing.

Run from this. You want a conscience. You just want a Biblically trained conscience.

Don’t FORCE people to violate their conscience. If they don’t wanna eat pork, don’t make them. But you can instruct and help train them in the right way.

the weak conscience

1 Cor 8, Rom 14

Romans 14 ESV

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

we can add laws.

“Don’t add to this word” commandment in Rev.

Don’t let the weaker brother teach Rom 14:1, and don’t bring the whole church into subjection to the weaker brother’s weak conscience.

instead, we instruct.

I’ve also found that most of the time in our area, we don’t’ have that many weaker brothers. but we have a lot of folks that assume we do, and those are the ones that try to force the law.

that’s a pharisee. they add to the law “just in case.” They suppose their righteousness is lesser - the need to qualify themselves.

God gave you good gifts of freedom! take them and enjoy them, or don’t and enjoy that! but don’t walk around forcing other folks to lean into the weaker brother’s conscience.

There is an interesting moment after the fall of man, where Adam and Eve make clothes, but then they still hide from God.

they hide their nakedness, why? There’s only two humans on the planet, and they’re married.

well, they’re naked and “ashamed” - and as a result - they start adding to the law of God.

their guilt. - they try to prove themselves - they’re insecure.

but in their shame, their clothes aren’t enough, God shows up and they realize this won’t cover what they’ve done, so they hide altogether.

Very often, our adding to the law, is because of our sense of inadequacy when it comes to the law.

in other words, show me a household that follows a bunch of extra laws that aren’t to be found in the Bible, and I can just about guarantee there is some secret hidden sin in there somewhere.

The law of God is good. It’s enough. It’s for your flourishing.

It’s like a good father telling their kids they’ve gotta do their homework, don’t touch the stove top, say yes/no sir/ma’am.

all of those things help your kids in their life. but they still might not want to do them.

The Biblical Conscience

when we educate the conscience we must bring people back to God’s words, not our own, not other people, not our traditions.

why?

well, in that instance you’re creating an environment where something else will govern their conscience in the future as opposed to the word of God.

ill: BECAUSE I SAID SO - means you’re teaching the fear of man.

ill: cool shaming “do you really think thats a good idea”- teaches that when someone cooler comes along.

the words of a man or woman will bear more weight on them. peer pressure becomes an influencer, or what the culture around us does. watch out.

So what do we do to train? How do we train?

well, we talked about this last time - READ / PRAY / STUDY / TALK TO PASTOR / TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CHURCH RESOURCES

but let me get a bit more specific on this one today

you need to LOVE the law of God.

“i delight in your law”

ps 119 says it over and over again.