Modeling the Truth

I recently wrote this: “Purposefully showing the relationship of Christ and Church in the worship gathering on the Lord’s Day should be a regular part of that disciplined pursuit of each other. This isn’t hypocrisy; this is disciplining yourselves to show the ideal of the Gospel. Again, if there are problems, get help. Modeling the goal of Christian marriage (the Gospel relationship between Christ and the Church) in the gathering of the Church is appropriate and a good reminder to you and the rest of the congregation.”

Today I’d like to say a little more about the principle behind this statement. This is advice I’ve given to a lot of people in many different contexts over the years.

We should purposefully discipline ourselves to think, speak, and live out the truth of the Bible, even when we don’t feel like it.

If I wait until I feel like praying, I won’t pray. If I wait until I feel like telling others about Jesus, fear will win. If I wait until I feel like showing my brothers and sisters in Christ the love commanded by Scripture, I will choose being “authentic” over obeying God’s commands.

There it is. The popular buzzword among believers today: “authentic.”

I suspect it’s a barely-Christianized version of the world’s advice to “follow your heart.” But I should not be led by how I feel. I don’t have that option as a believer, for I have been bought with a price, and I am not my own (I am only speaking to those who are believers – non-believers should not imitate the behavior of believers). The command to love (to use one example) is not conditional on whether I feel like loving or not.

I am not to follow my heart, but to lead it in the truth: “Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way…he who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 23:19; 28:26). Truth and wisdom come to the heart from the outside – from Scripture alone. It must be actively applied to the heart, which resists in its sin and selfishness.

The Psalmist often commands his soul into action; this command is usually accompanied by a proclamation of truth to self.

“Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life…

…why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God…

…why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 42:5-8,11; 43:5).

“My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
On God my salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God” (Psalm 62:5-7).

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle…

…bless the Lord, O my soul…

…bless the Lord, O my soul…

…bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 103:1-5,22c; 104:1,35b).

“Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
Yes, our God is compassionate.
The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you” (Psalm 116:5-7).

“Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!” (Psalm 146:1).

The Psalmist commands himself to praise, shepherding his own heart with truth.

As believers, we are called to obey, whether we feel like it or not.

We are called to keep the commandments of God, whether we are in a good place in our Christian walk or not.

We are called to apostolic imitation (1 Corinthians 11:1; Hebrews 13:7), even when we want to do something else.

God in Christ is not worthy of our love, praise, and obedience only when it’s “real” for us.

The Father purposes for us to be conformed to the image of His Son. In faith-union with the Son we are growing into His likeness, righteousness, and obedience. By the power of the Holy Spirit we are to die to the “authentic” self (which is a sin-loving idolater) and live unto God in obedience to His commands.

This is not hypocrisy, saints. This is discipleship. Hypocrisy would be someone outside of Christ pretending to be in Christ; what I'm advocating is a believer in Christ disciplining herself to be as the Scripture describes she is in Christ.

Live individually and corporately in the truth of the Word. Remind yourself of this truth constantly.

“I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1,2).

“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

“…be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Ephesians 5:23,24).

Crisis moments in our minds, character, and discipleship are usually built not on the sudden, but on the habitual neglect of being saturated in the truth in the gathering of the Church and the self-discipline of being in the Word.

When we don’t feel like it,

Lord, hold us in the truth

That we may preach it to ourselves

And live out our self-sermons

Until they become eternal life,

And not just a struggling self-discipline.

Help us to rest not the earthly

Under the excuse of “authentic” or “honest,”

But, Holy Spirit,

remind us of the truth of Scripture

As it is in Jesus.

Take us to what we are in Him,

Away from what we are as sinners.

Help us to think rightly and stand faithfully

By Your grace in Christ.

Without it we have nothing.

Amen and amen.