Faithful Wounds

You may get six weeks worth just
this morning as you can tell by the length of the passage
that we want to consider. We will begin Romans here in
a couple of weeks and hence the suggestion that you get those
booklets ordered. But this morning, I need to address
an area of weakness in the church. Essentially, what I was given
this Sunday is an extra day to preach where I’m not quite ready
for Romans. I’ve been asked to wait until
two more weeks to start it for various reasons. And so I was
given this opportunity and next Lord’s Day. And it’s this you
might even fit this in the category. If I had one sermon left, to
preach to this church, what would I say? I hope I get more. But let me clarify. I’m not talking
about the greater church, the entire body of Christ. It wouldn’t
surprise me if the weakness that I want to address this morning
is more universal than just our little band. But I’m not primarily
concerned this morning with the greater church. I’m concerned
this morning with a weakness that I see right here in our
own church. Providence Bible Church. There may have been weeks
in the past as I worked my way through a book where you feel
like I had you particularly singled out or maybe God had you singled
out that that passage was for you. You don’t have to wonder this
morning. I have you in my sights, as does
God. And I am included in that mix. It’s us. We’ve made a habit and
even a sport of critiquing what other churches do or don’t do. And I thought it was well past
time that we take a closer look at ourselves. Now, mind you,
I’m aware that we do this occasionally. As we work through some book
or passage of Scripture, and certainly on an individual level,
many of you, a great many of you, have very sensitive spirits
to God’s Word. But rarely do I address the church
as the church on a weakness manifested as an entire body. And today’s
the day. This church has many strengths.
It’s a loving church. It’s a caring church, a church
that is united and a giving, generous church, a hard-working,
eager-to-serve church. But it is not surprising that
with all of our strengths that we might have some share of weakness. Of course, we could always pray
more and witness more and the like, but there is one area to
me that has become a glaring weakness. And this one weakness
left unchecked will lead to a host of other sinful tendencies, both
individual and corporate. It must be addressed if we’re
ever going to overcome it. And I’m not going to tell you
what the concern is until almost the very end by way of a short
syllogism. And I will flag it when I tell
you. So you’re going to have to pay special attention this
morning as we work towards it. And as I build my case, if you’re
in the book of Ephesians, find your way to Ephesians chapter
four. In the book of Ephesians, particularly in the latter half
of that epistle, Paul extensively utilizes the metaphor of walking
the Christian walk. If you’re familiar with the epistle,
Paul uses the first three chapters to expound upon great themes
of Christian doctrine. Then in the latter half of the
book, he waxes practical. The daily application of those
doctrines in our Christian life. For God, the Christian life is
always more than just right doctrine. Remember, as Jesus said, even
the demons believe and shudder They have great doctrine, right
doctrine. Rightly applied leads to a God-pleasing
life, which Paul refers to as the walk, the Christian walk. In utilizing this metaphor, Paul
refers to the whole course of your Christian life. It is one
of Paul’s favorite metaphors. He uses it in no fewer than eight
of his epistles. Romans 6, 4, walk in the newness
of life. 1 Corinthians 3, 3, are you not
walking like mere men? 2 Corinthians, we walk by faith,
not by sight. Galatians 5, 16, walk by the
Spirit. Ephesians 2, we are created in Christ Jesus for good works
that we may walk in them. Philippians 3.17, walk according
to the pattern you have in us. Colossians 2.16, walk in Him. 1 Thessalonians 2.12, walk in
a manner worthy of God. Now, in none of those passages,
is Paul speaking about the literal, step-by-step, physical process
of walking. He’s not. It is, again, a metaphor
of the Christian course of life. And while the Christian walk
isn’t just introduced here in chapter 4 of the book of Ephesians,
as we just saw, Paul actually introduces it in chapter 2, verse
2 and verse 10. It is an area, though, in chapters
4 and 5 of Ephesians that is of particular focus for Paul.
The Christian walk. Paul uses that imagery five times
in this short section. In chapter four, verse one, just
listen. Paul says walk worthy. In chapter
four, verse 17, he essentially says walk with Christ. In chapter
five, verse two, he says walk in love. In chapter 5, verse
8, we are to walk in light. And in chapter 5, verse 15, he
rounds it out by saying that we are to walk in wisdom. Look
at verse 1 of chapter 4, where Paul exhorts us to walk
worthy. Walk worthy of the calling with
which you have been called in Christ. It’s a familiar exhortation for
Paul. Paul says in chapter 4, verse
1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk
in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance
to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He’s talking about the
entirety of your walk. that you are to walk according
to a standard which we’ll consider in a moment. As I said, this
is a familiar exhortation for Paul. Paul uses this very exhortation
to at least two other churches. Colossians 1 10. The whole purpose
of Christ was so that you might walk in a manner worthy of the
Lord to please him in all respects. There’s a standard and we’re
to walk according to that standard. We are, in a sense, to esteem
God and to walk according to that estimation of him. First
Thessalonians 2.12, he exhorts them that they would walk in
a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom
and glory. He basically says, look at heaven.
Look at your life before heaven, that sinful, putrid self that
you were. Look at what you have now. Forgiveness
in Christ and glory forever in heaven. And walk according to
that. It’s a high standard. Skip down,
if you would, in chapter 4 to verse 17. We are not only to
walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called, we
are to walk with Christ. Now, this is a lengthy one and
it will take me a moment to develop, but if you would, jump into verse
17 with me. This I say and affirm together
with the Lord, that you walk no longer as the Gentiles also
walk. There is a standard, there is
a pathway that we are not to take. There is a manner of walking
that we are not to emulate. in the futility of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, excluded in the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness
of their hearts, and they, having become callous, have given themselves
over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with
greediness.” Don’t walk that way. You can’t walk that way. You can’t live that way any longer.
And you know this from the book of Philippians and Ephesians,
that that’s what you once were, but you are that no longer. You
cannot walk that way. Hence, the little word, but,
there in verse 20. But you did not learn Christ
this way. If indeed you have heard Him and
have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that in
reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old
self. You can’t walk like that anymore.
which is being corrupted and is in accordance with the lusts
of deceit, and that you 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. There’s
a new way to walk for the Christian. And the new way to walk is to
walk according to Christ, to walk with Christ and as Christ. There’s another metaphor later
on in chapter 5, verse 2. Walk in love. Turn, if you would. And pick it up in verse 1 of
that chapter. Chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore,
be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love. You could even say here, walk
like God. Walk as God walks. How? Well, He is a lover of souls. Walk in love. Just as Christ
also loved you, the greatest example of love of all, and gave
Himself up for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant
aroma. We are to walk worthy of the
calling. We are to walk as Christ. We are to walk in love. Look
down at verse 7. We are to walk in light. We’ll
come back to this concept here in a moment. Verse seven, therefore,
do not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord. If you are in Christ, you
are illuminated. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists
in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Trying to learn what
is pleasing to the Lord. He uses a new metaphor, an additional
metaphor of light. And then he paints the picture
for us what that light looks like. Goodness, righteousness,
truth. As one said, believers are required
to walk as children of light. examining, determining what is
acceptable to the Lord. They are to regulate their conduct
by a regard to what is well pleasing to Him. That’s what’s representative
of true knowledge. Walking worthy of the Gospel. Walking worthy of the calling
with which you have been called. Walking as Christ walks. Walking
in love. Walking in light. And finally,
look at verse 15, walking in wisdom. Therefore, be careful
how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most
of your time, because the days are evil. So then, do not be
foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. This exhortation to walk in wisdom
is to teach us, as the scriptures say, to number our days, to walk
in wisdom. We don’t have forever here on
Earth. We have a narrow window of opportunity
in which to serve the Lord. There’s no cause for wasting.
There’s no cause for putting it off until tomorrow. No justification
in any of that. Walking in wisdom means seizing
hold of the opportunities that we’ve been given. Making every
effort to please Christ in all of them. Walk worthy. Walk as Christ walks. Walk in love. Walk in light.
Walk in wisdom. That is the great theme that
is before us in chapters four and five. The Christian walk.
But Paul has some particulars that I want to illustrate to
you. First of all, the standard of
our calling in this walk. What is the standard? What direction
are we headed anyway? What direction are we heading
in the course of our Christian life? And if the answer isn’t
holiness, then you are not on the Christian walk. Holiness
is the great direction of this walk. For that, I want
to take another pass through Ephesians 4-5. Go back, if you
would, to chapter 4, verse 1. Chapter 4, verse 1. Paul says,
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk
in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
Set that as your standard the great standard of holiness with
all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance
to one another in love. With that as your great standard,
that is essentially what he’s saying there. And he will say
it at least six different ways. It is the standard of holiness. That’s the calling with which
you have been called. It is the standard of holiness. He paints the picture a little
differently. beginning in verse eleven. And as I said, he will
paint with a variety of colors, but all of these point to a standard
of godliness that is so often referred to in Scripture as holiness.
Look at chapter four, verse eleven. Well, we see some of the gifts
that God has given to the church. He gave some as apostles and
some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors
and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of
service. We’ll come back to that one for
sure. To the building up of the body of Christ. How long does
this go on? How long do I keep equipping
the body of Christ so that the body of Christ can do the work
of ministry? Well, that’s easy. Until the
work is finished. And that’s what’s told to us
in verse 13, until we all attain to the unity of the faith. Am
I under delusion that every soul in this room has placed their
faith in Christ alone? No. Well, then we have work left
to do, don’t we? until we all attain to the unity
of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature
man. Now, could we say that every
one of us in this room has reached some kind of perfection and no
longer needs the admonition of the Word or the ministry of the
Spirit in their lives? That’s foolishness. until we
all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the
Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature
which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” Is anyone there?
I didn’t think I’d see any hands. It’s Christlikeness. It’s holiness. That’s the standard. Paul uses
another image. Look at verse 14 of chapter 4.
As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and
there by waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by
the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking
the truth in love, we are to grow up. You know, if I met you
at the back door and I told you to grow up, many of you wouldn’t
come back next week. And yet here I stand up here
and I tell you, grow up. The Word tells you to grow up. We’re to grow up in all aspects
into Him who is the head, even Christ, which points again to
the reality that we are not full grown. We are not yet mature.
We are not yet like Christ. But that’s the standard. Christ
likeness, holiness, practical righteousness is the standard. Paul paints the picture again.
Look down in chapter four, verse 20. which first we already considered
just briefly, you did not learn Christ. You’ll see these verses
about six times this morning. So don’t worry. You did not learn
Christ in this way. If you indeed have heard him
and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus, that
in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside your old
self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the loss of
deceit, that you 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. As I said, these
images, these exhortations stack one upon another, but they all
point to the same thing. It is the standard of our Christian
walk. Look at one more. Maybe two. Look at chapter 4, verse 30. Do not grieve. the Holy Spirit
of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. What
there he alludes to is our life and our lifestyle as being crucial
and important and that we can grieve the Holy Spirit by the
way that we live. Or we can please God with that same life. Look at chapter 5, verse 3. What
I would call saintly living in a practical morality. We are
called to holiness and it’s a holiness that flushes itself out in all
that we do. Look at verse three, but do not
let immorality or impurity, any impurity or greed even be named
among you as is proper among saints. We’re called to a standard.
And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting
which are not fitting, but rather the giving of thanks For this,
you know with certainty that no immoral or impure or covetous
man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God. We’re called to a standard. And the last image of this standard
to which we are called. You’ll find in verse seven of
chapter five. Where again, as we’ve seen, Paul says, therefore,
do not be partakers with them for you were formerly darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness
and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord and do
not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead
even expose them. For it is disgraceful even to
speak of the things which are done by them in secret, but all
things become visible when they are exposed to the light. For
everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason, it
says, Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will
shine upon you. As one said, as children of light,
they were to show by their conduct that they loved, enjoyed, and
reflected its luster. Their course of conduct ought
to prove that they hated the previous darkness, that they
were content with no ambiguous twilight, but lived and acted
in the full splendor of the sun of righteousness.” We’re called
to a standard. It’s the Christian walk. And
we are to be, as it were, on a very specific path that is
the path of holiness. If that is not your goal, if
that is not your desire, then you are not a Christian. But there’s another point that
we want to consider. And for that, we need to go back to the
beginning of this section. We’re considering the Christian
walk, that is the great theme. We looked at the standard of
the calling of this walk, which is holiness. But I want to point
out to you another feature of this Christian walk. I want to
point out the mutuality of our calling in this walk. That it
isn’t just you. Surprise. Look at verse seven
of chapter four and look at our mutual giftedness. We’re very briefly, Paul just
points out, but to each one of us. Not just to the pastor of the
church, to each one of us, grace was given and don’t misunderstand
there that grace refers to a grace gift. God gives each believer
a gift package, as it were. At the point of salvation, and
they are to use that to glorify God. Look at it again, but to
each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s
gift. God gave it according to a sovereign
pleasure, and he gave it in various measures to every believer. Every Christian. John Eady, in
his great commentary on Ephesians, said this about the gift and
the sovereignty and God giving it. The gift is measured and
while each individual receives, he receives according to the
will of the sovereign distributor. Whether the measure be great
or small, whether the contents be of more brilliant endowment
or of humbler and unnoticed talent is all equally Christ’s gift. All equally indispensable. to
the edification of the body. Did you hear what he said? That
everyone and everyone’s giftedness is absolutely indispensable to
the edification, to the building up of the body. And we’ll come
back to that as well. Point two of that little subsection,
the mutuality of our calling. Look at the mutual ministry that
we have. The ministry isn’t just preaching.
It’s not just standing up here. I love this part of it, but it’s
a very small part of the greater ministry. Verse eleven of chapter
four, he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists,
some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints.
Why? For the work of ministry. You’re
in the ministry. for the equipping of the saints,
for the work of ministry. Why? To the building up of the
body of Christ. It’s your job, not just mine. Lord Jesus gave all these various
gifts to the church to teach, train and ground the greater
body of Christ, who are themselves gifted by God. And he did so
because he desires all believers to participate in the great building
up of his church. There’s another illustration
of this point. Our mutual calling, look at verse
16, start in verse. Sooner or later, I got to start
tearing these down, start in verse 14 of chapter chapter four,
verse 16, our mutual usefulness. We know that we’re called, we
know that we’re gifted and we’re also useful. Isn’t it enough that God saved
me? It is. That’s what’s so hard to understand.
That God, who doesn’t need any of us, desires to use us. As a result, we are no longer
to be children tossed here and there by waves carried about
by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness
and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love,
we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the Head, even
Christ, from whom the whole body And that’s you. Being fitted
and held together by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working
of each individual part. Did you hear how many times he
says it? You and your participation, your efforts, the exercise of
your giftedness in this local body is absolutely crucial to
the work of God in this place. It is. It causes the growth of
the body for the building up of itself in love. The whole
body, fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies
according to the proper working of each individual part. The basic thought of the whole
sentence is that the whole body causes the growth of the body.
When every believer, every part of the body is working properly,
they supply their portion of the contribution to the building
project of the body. See, the church is God’s training
ground for Christian maturity and every Christian is to play
his part. There’s a third point that I
wish to illustrate to you in the course of this Christian
walk. Not only is the standard of this walk holiness, the mutuality
of this calling along this walk. We’re not walking alone, but
I want you to see the interactive role of others on this walk. The interactive role of others.
And to illustrate that, we have to go back to the beginning of
the section, back to chapter four, verse one. I, therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling
with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness. Those are touch points between
other souls that are also on that walk. You don’t exhibit
humility in a vacuum. You don’t exhibit gentleness
in a vacuum. Those things come into play as
you come into interaction with other Christians. With all humility
and gentleness. With patience. Showing forbearance
to one another in love. Being diligent to preserve the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This forbearance. I want you to have it clear.
It cannot possibly be equivalent to the modern idea that gets
kicked around all the time. This idea of tolerance. Putting
up with. Especially with the suggestion
of tolerating sin, is that what Paul is saying? Not at all. As
we’ll see in a moment, the context is plain as verse one and two
indicate. The forbearance of sin, this forbearance rather,
isn’t with sin in a fellow believer’s life. Rather, it is a godly tenacity
of oneness. It’s an attitude that refuses
to give in or give up on a relationship with a Christian brother or sister. Paul illustrates this further
in verse fourteen as a result. This admonition comes into play. Gently, but firmly correcting
when necessary. Look at verse 14. As a result,
we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves,
carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of
men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth
in love, we are to grow up. That’s how you grow when a Christian
brother comes to you in humility, having prayed over the issue,
having sought the counsel of God’s Word, and comes to you
in humility and lays out to you what they see in your life. It’s out of love. You know my
quote? I never even had to write it
down when I read Richard Baxter had written this. He said, pretend
not to love them. Don’t call it love. If you hate
not their sin and seek not their salvation. If you can interact
with brothers and sisters in Christ and ignore their sin,
call it whatever you want, Baxter says, don’t call it love. The
most loving thing that you can do is go to them. It’s plain
from the context here that growth in godliness, progress in holiness,
the great means presented here is that of admonition. Speaking
the truth in love. We interact with others. Also,
look down in verse 25 of chapter 4. Dealing truthfully with one
another. Dealing with others with integrity.
Therefore, laying aside falsehoods, speak truth, each one of you,
with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
Paul says, look, you are knitted together. You are one with your
brothers and sisters in Christ. The question is simple. Is Paul
admonishing here simply that Christians must always say what
is true to one another? Yes, simply, but in what sense? The greater context will also
stand to give clarity here. It is truth with regard to our
perspective, not only of ourselves, but others. It’s not just that
we’re supposed to put on a genuine front. We’re not supposed to
be pretentious and phony. But we’re also supposed to speak
truth to our brothers and sisters in Christ, not falsehood, not
a gloss. Not a whitewashing of our brother’s character, not
falsehood. But the truth. Far more than
just pretentiousness. It points to not allowing others
to present themselves as something that they are not. Look down at verse 429. We interface
again. This one, you could name edification,
speaking words that have a positive influence on others. Look at
how many different ways we interact in the course of this Christian
life. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but
only such a word as is good for edification. According to the
need of the moment that it may give grace to those who hear.
The word there that talks about this garbage This unwholesome
thing. It’s garbage. It’s foul, rotten,
useless trash. And it isn’t even necessarily
talking about bad words. What about all the empty words
that spill out of your mouth? Just utterly useless. Do you
know that you as a Christian, a member of the body of Christ,
are called to a ministry of edification in your fellow believers lives?
You are called to be building them up, not trashing them. with your empty words, rather
than allowing your mouth to literally spew garbage, unwholesome speech,
you are to build up others. Look at verse 4 to 31. What I
would call practical peace in the course of this Christian
walk. We interface, we interact with each other all the time.
And this one I would call practical peace, thoroughly dealing with
setbacks in relationships. A lot of times, all we have to
do is stop talking. And we call that peace. That’s
not what Paul calls it. You want to hear his description
of peace? Look at verse 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor,
this is where it begins to spill out, and slander, this is where
you begin to take your revenge, be put away from you. Along with
all malice. And that’s where it starts and
ends, right? You were angry at them to begin with. That bitterness
or that anger turns into bitterness overall, and it just carries
it forth to full term. It’s so easy, isn’t it, to speak
of being at peace in obtuse terms. I’m at peace with so-and-so.
We had our disagreements. We’ve had our times. But we’re
at peace now. What does that peace look like?
Do you find any of these? what one called a melancholy
genealogy of bad passions. Isn’t that a good way to describe
it? You find any of those on your list with your brother with
whom you claim to be at peace? I’m going to tackle these last
two quickly. A forgiving spirit. When we interact with others,
we have to have a forgiving spirit. Look at 432. Be kind to one another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving each
other just as God in Christ has forgiven you. Look at chapter
5, verse 4. Purity of speech. But do not
let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among
you as is proper among the saints. There must be no filthiness and
silly talk. Put that stuff away. That’s the
garbage that Paul talked about in 4.29. No filthiness, silly
talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting. It doesn’t work
for the Christian. It’s inappropriate. It is not
becoming of us, but rather the giving of thanks. Now, I want
you to look at this. Of all those ways in which believers interact
with others, along this Christian walk towards holiness, consider
how many of them have to do with how we speak to one another.
Speaking the truth in love. Speak truth, each one of you,
with his neighbor. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth,
but only such a word as is good for edification. Put away clamor,
slander, filthiness, silly talk, coarse jesting, giving of thanks.
And my concern regarding our church. This church comes from
this list. It is the practice of admonition. And the syllogism. If we are called to the standard
of holiness, and if your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ
are likewise called, is there any surprise then that the others
who are called would be and should be involved in the cultivation
of holiness in our lives? With us, rather, it is a lost
art. My concern is not that we don’t
know the Bible well enough. This church knows the Bible.
Why, then, isn’t there more loving confrontation taking place? My
concern is that we’re on the Christian walk, and this walk
is in the direction of holiness, and we are on this walk next
to fellow Christians in pursuit of that same holiness. Then why
isn’t there more humble admonition of one another? How come we don’t
know and experience more brothers and sisters in our common Lord,
prayerfully going to one another with observed concerns about
their brothers lives? How come? I’ll tell you what
I believe it is. Let me ask you, how convinced
are you? How convinced are you that you
need to grow? How? that you really need further
reform, further grace, a greater perseverance in godliness. And
if you’re convinced, how desirous are you to grow? How eager are
you to get the log out of your own eye? Do you approach the
matter as if it should be easy? And the really key question,
how receptive Are you to the criticism, correction, feedback
and the admonition of others? Do you cultivate a receptive
spirit to the feedback that your fellow Christians bring to you? When someone comes to you, do
you set everything aside and turn your attention to them and
humbly listen to what your brother has to say? When was the last time that you
sought out someone’s honest assessment of your Christian walk? There is our glaring weakness.
As a church. A.W. Tozer once wrote an article
on the subject of admonition. And he pointed to Israel. Who
had lost literally stiffened their neck against the ability
to receive instruction He says that when Christ came to the
Jews, he found them to be chock full of that arrogant self-confidence
that would not accept reproof. To reprove them was to insult
them. Goes on to point out the churches and Christian organizations,
and I personally would add absolutely individual Christians. Churches. Christian organizations and Christians
have shown a tendency to fall into the same error that destroyed
Israel, inability to receive admonition. The leaders come
to accept themselves as the very chosen of God. They are special
objects of divine favor. Their success is proof enough
of this. Therefore, they must be right. And anyone who tries
to tell them is instantly written off as an unauthorized meddler
who should be ashamed. To even dare to reprove his betters.
I’ll tell you, if you see something in me, I plead with you. To tell
me what you see. Tozer goes on to give a series
of helpful hints on how to receive admonition. He says this. Here
are a few markers of warning to prevent the next traveler
from going over the precipice and to Tozer’s Tozer had four. I’ve added a few more. quickly. Number one, don’t defend
yourself or your church or your organization against criticism.
Just listen and take it to the Lord. If the criticism is false,
he says it can do no harm. If it is true, you need to hear
it and do something about it. These are mine. Don’t retaliate. Don’t respond with your own criticisms
of the person. Isn’t that common, right? You
go to someone and you’ve prayed about it, and you start to share
with them, and they immediately say, well, you did this. No,
no, no. Just sit and listen. If the person
has been faithful, bold, and loving enough to confront you,
if you have your own concerns with them, set your own lunch. Deal with your own sins and issues
first, and then after you’ve prayed about it, approach them
at a later date. Take it with this attitude of
heart. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, right? Another one of mine. Cultivate
an openness. Cultivate an openness to your
brothers and sisters in Christ. A receptive spirit to the wounds
of a faithful friend. Eagerly seek the perspective
of your godly friends. Those who know and love you most.
Give brothers and sisters in Christ the green light to honestly
tell you what they see in you. I did a study of the word instruction
in Proverbs. I have a list as long as my arm,
but I’ll quote just one. When the scoffer is punished,
the naive becomes wise. Proverbs 21 11. But when the
when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge. When someone
comes to you, they’re coming for your own benefit. Tozer’s number to be concerned
not with what you have accomplished. But over what you might have
accomplished if you had followed the Lord more faithfully. Tozer’s number three, when reproved,
this is a good one. When reproved, pay no attention
to the source. Do not ask whether it is a friend
or enemy that reproves you. An enemy is often of greater
value to you than a friend because he is not influenced by sympathy. Isn’t that good? for keep an
open heart to the correction of the Lord and be ready to receive
his chastisement regardless of who holds the whip. Don’t say
that it’s, you know, someone from another denomination or
someone that’s younger than you and doesn’t know any better.
Regardless of who holds the whip. The great saints all learn to
take licking gracefully. And that may be why they were
called great saints. And to Tozer’s number four, I
would add one last thought. It shouldn’t surprise us that someone has observed some
shortcoming in our life, should it? Last week, we read of Christian
before Apollyon, who knew of many sins in his life. And Christian knew of far more
that the devil hadn’t even yet cataloged, right? Why are we
so indignant when someone points out a fault? Why are we so taken
aback, so irritated, shocked, miffed, or whatever? Don’t we
know the battle with sin rages on? Are we so deluded to believe
that we have somehow arrived at this state of holiness here
on earth that we are somehow above correction? Let’s examine
our hearts before Him in prayer. Our merciful God, Cultivate in
us an openness of heart as a church that eagerly receives admonition
regardless of who holds the whip. We ask your blessing on our day.
In Jesus name, Amen.