How Convictions become Character (Part One)
By Jay Wegter
INTRO: In this Podcast we want to examine why God’s truth has the power to transform us and why biblical convictions are at the very core of godliness —and what this process of change looks like.
There are several ways we could express this transformation by the truth. At the outset of our salvation, the truth of God in Christ sets us free from guilt, sin, and self (Jn 8:32). God’s truth radically changes us because first it gives us God Himself, restoring fellowship with Him so that He becomes the very center of our lives. Then as we grow in Christ, God’s truth systematically trains us in righteousness (which is a key aspect of disciple-making) (2 Tim 3:16). And as biblical convictions begin to dominate exceptionally in us, Christ-like character is formed in us (2 Pet 1:5-8).
Jesus said in John 10:35 that the Word of God cannot be broken—it is immutable (Jn 10:35). It cannot fail to accomplish its mission; it won’t return void (Is 55:11). Why is this so? Because God is one with His Word in sovereignty, wisdom, purpose, and power.
Therefore, in order to be changed by God’s Word we must receive God’s Word as the very revelation of God Himself (as His infallible, authoritative self-disclosure and will). Total reliance upon His Word is what God requires of us—that kind of reliance and obedience is light years apart from merely regarding the Word as a body of truth claims or truthful propositions about spiritual things.
Salvation grants us a new relationship to God’s truth (through Christ; the Truth incarnate). The ‘spiritual man’ described in 1 Corinthians chapter two “has the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). By means of the new birth and the indwelling Holy Spirit, the regenerated man is able to think God’s thoughts after Him—he does so in such a way that God’s truth is unleashed in that man to renew him and transform him. Indeed this is what we desire in our disciples (God is changeless; we must be changed.).
Q. I talk to many professed believers who seem to have a casual relationship with Scripture—almost as if the Bible is viewed as a devotional book for religious people, but not the very Word of Almighty God. Is that a symptom of something deeper?
I. Biblical convictions hold us, we don’t hold them
Up until the end of the 19ᵗʰ C. Westerners for the most part believed that what was in the Bible corresponded to what was in the world out there (worldview of theism). We call that the correspondence view of truth—truth is not merely in the mind of an individual; but truth that is knowable, universal, binding, and authoritative. In the correspondence view of truth, if I state, “The dog is on the lawn,” you can look out the window and either verify or refute that claim. But, as David Wells has said, in this age of relativism, the Western world has lost the correspondence view of truth. It has become popular to think that something can actually be true for one person, but not for another. We have reached a point in our culture in which truth has become relative to the individual.
This trend of relativism has affected the way the rising generation approaches the Word of God. It is common for young people especially to regard Scripture as merely a disjointed body of optional moral advice. . . . rather than what it actually is; our fixed authoritative infallible point of reference for truth and life backed up by the character of Almighty God Himself. In view of this cultural shift toward relativism, we would expect to find a great deal more individuals with shallow beliefs than with deep convictions. (EX. “How Christianity lost America, by becoming a Religion of Faith rather than of Truth,” Mangalwadi). (EX. I might argue a belief or a philosophic position, but I would only die for a conviction. Note: no atheist martyrs.)
In contrast to a belief, a conviction is the mental state of being convinced—the fixed state of belief which involves the whole man (intellect, will, affections, conscience). To hold a conviction is to ‘be held by’ an unshakeable belief without need of further proof or evidence (Hebrews 11:1-3.). By contrast a belief never really rises above probability. But a conviction is like being supported by a ‘continent of rock’. This is why Jesus spoke of building our lives on the ‘rock’ of His words (Mt 7:24-27). No wonder it is true that we do not ‘hold to certain convictions,’ ‘convictions hold us.’
The Bible stresses the central importance of truth and doctrine: “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following” (1 Tim 4:6). “But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.” “Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:1, 6-7).
Q. A casual view of God’s Word is always accompanied by a degree of blindness to His glory. Jay, I have been quite exercised about a question: what happens when dullness to God’s glory is accompanied by the teaching of moral imperatives (in the church)?
Your question is certainly a good one. “Principle-ized” Christianity is manageable Christianity— the glory of God cannot be managed. The glory of God devastates us in a good way.
Christ, the truth incarnate was sent into the world to bear witness to the truth (Mt 18:37). The incarnation of Christ and His work on Calvary was the great cost necessary to put mankind back in possession of the truth. The Lie in Eden offered independence from God upon the false basis that God’s glory opposes our highest good. The gospel of Jesus Christ restores believing sinners to the truth that God’s glory is our highest good. And God’s glory is inseparable from His purpose to be benevolent to us His creatures. In Christ, God has joined His cause (His glory) to our highest good. God’s righteousness (His commitment to His Name, and His zeal for His glory) has become the cause of our salvation (Rom 1:16-17; 3:23-26). Thus, to ‘possess the truth’ is to be experiencing the knowledge of God and His glory and the liberty it produces. The knowledge of God and His glory revealed in our salvation is the foundation of our Christian convictions (Hallelujah!).
Salvation in Christ changes our reliance from self and the world to God who is the source of all we need. The Lord has pledged to be our God and to pour His benevolence upon all those who rely upon Him and place their trust in Him. Faith in God’s Word allows us to continually ‘see’ God as our source of life. Thus, the fight for security and satisfaction in God is fight of faith (1Tim 1:18)—it is always about perceived source or supply.
The prophet Jeremiah documents Judah’s tragic return to the world as its imagined source. This ‘leaky cisterns metaphor’ is the perfect word picture for compartmentalized religion. “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). Without God’s glory driving our devotion, we can slip into compartmentalization, pragmatism—the commodification of our Christianity. Even church programs can become complicit with this deadening tendency.
Q. This glory perspective is a far cry from merely schooling people in moral behavior modification. How can we capture this glory element in our disciple-making?
God giving us Himself in Christ is the foundation for our biblical convictions. Christ prays thematically in this manner in His high priestly prayer in John chapter 17. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (Jn 17:22-23ff.). God giving Himself to His people, and the saints giving themselves back to God is the pattern for holy living. This glorious plan will reach its consummation in eternity, and this is what will make heaven a place of endless bliss—Revelation 21:3-4.
This all-encompassing theme of Glory means that the Trinity is crucial to our saving knowledge of God. It is a remarkable and wonderful truth that our Triune God is a perfectly self-contained ‘community’ of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and as such our transcendent God is satisfied in Himself. In other words, He needs nothing from the creature. However, our Creator desires to share Himself and extend His glory. In order to accomplish His plan, He chose to deal with the sin barrier that separates His creatures from His glory.
In sending the Son as Redeemer, He satisfies His infinite claim and demand for perfect righteousness, and in the cross He satisfies His righteous and just demand to punish all sin. Through Christ, our suffering and righteous Substitute, God satisfies the claims He has upon us for righteousness. Thus the propitiation accomplished at the cross becomes the basis of God setting Himself free to pour our infinite benevolence upon us beginning with forgiveness, and consummating in glorification (Rom 3:26).
These areas of divine satisfaction then become the basis for believers to pursue satisfaction in Him: 1.) As Triune God He is satisfied in Himself. 2.) In His plan of redemption He satisfies His just claims for righteousness and justice against our sins. 3.) These first two aspects of satisfaction become the foundation for our full pursuit of satisfaction in God. This immediately becomes relevant to practical theology—for satisfaction in Who God is in Himself, and what He has done in Christ’s satisfaction (of God’s unchanging righteous standard) becomes the reason we pursue satisfaction in Him. Thus who God is toward us in Christ forms the foundation of our convictions. Praise be to God; our convictions are not merely cold hard moral facts, but are grounded upon God’s loving purposes to share Himself and extend His glory. If we are thrilled by this, it will come through in our disciple-making.
Q. Can we talk for a moment how our commitment to the truth (which is inseparable from our commitment to Christ) is the very opposite of receiving the truth passively?
II. Biblical convictions enable us to live unto God
We are to commit ourselves to doctrine which conforms to godliness (1 Tim 6:3). The goal of biblical instruction is “love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1Tim 1:5). When these truths or doctrines are ‘actualized’ in our practice, they become the convictions by which we navigate through life as the people of God (they order our lives, rectifying us, conforming us).
Our convictions deepen as we are conformed to the truth of God. Convictions are truth in action, therefore they build character. They are essential if we are to imitate the Father as commanded in Ephesians 5:1-2. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” There are no zippy acrostic shortcuts to drawing near to God. Intimacy with God always involves both the mortification of sin and the earnest effort to grow more like God in Christ-likeness (by bedience). Convictions lived out enable a believer to speak the truth of God with sincerity. A true disciple lives to speak the truth as a ‘truth-broker’—in so doing he or she is a spiritual influencer of others (Col 3:16).
God calls us to align ourselves with what God is doing in the world so as to imitate the Father (Eph 5:1-2). Christ’s cause (The Great Commission) must become our cause (Mt 28:18-20). We need to diligently study what will remain after Judgment Day, for the world is passing away (1 Jn 2:15-17).
Biblical convictions tell us what will survive the coming judgment of God. Thus, our convictions totally shape our eternal value system. A believer with biblical convictions has kingdom values and moral authority as the result of following Christ (Heb 12:25-29).
We imbue upon our disciples that biblical convictions gives us discernment in all of his life choices (1Cor 2:14-16; Heb 5:11-14). Biblical convictions enable us to gladly count the cost of following Christ, refuting the world’s lie that love of self and pleasure will make us happy. Convictions enable us to serve as a ‘spiritual paramedics’ helping others recognize and mortify idols in their life.
Q. When we are training believers in righteousness by means of God’s truth, do we want our disciples to ‘feel’ just how strong the tension is between their will and God’s will?
III. Biblical convictions align our lives with God’s purposes
Absolutely, the saint’s fight of faith involves his aim to conform himself to God’s truth. This is one of the reasons the book of First John was written—to keep truth and life joined. The Gnostic error was that you don’t have to DO the truth to HAVE the truth. The book of First John puts that to the lie by indicating that it’s not enough to agree with the truth (or merely ‘audit’ the truth, and assent to the truth) we must walk in the truth (this is of central importance to our transformation by the truth).
John’s first epistle puts forth a number of tests which show if a person is of the truth. “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things” (1 Jn 3:18-20). (EX. Witnessing to Edwin, he wanted me to know that he was not a big sinner, “I just do my own thing.” Jesus said that only those who do the Father’s will are going to heaven—Matthew 7:21.) (“Countless people agree with the truth, few actually do the truth,” “in essence, they are merely auditing the truth,” Dr. Carl Stevens.)
Sin and truth are at war; you cannot keep them both—truth liberates and sin enslaves (Jn 8:31-36). But the great error in the church today is that we may hold truth theoretically, in the abstract without diligently practicing it—and still be ‘of the truth’. The apostle John continually asserts that truth is highly ethical. You really only KNOW what YOU DO—if you don’t practice the truth, you don’t really possess the truth. That is shocking to our 21ˢᵗ C. sensibilities. The goal of First John is to make sure that we are operating and living completely in the realm of God’s truth.
To live in the realm of truth means you are the product of your convictions—‘a product of the product’ so to speak. What you are in life and character is because the truths of Scripture are exerting the transforming power necessary to shape and mold your life and character—the Word does its work (1Thess 2:13). The godly man or woman feels this tension between God’s will and the will of the flesh in a most intense way. That is crucial in order to guard ourselves from self-deception.
Q. We know from Scripture that the transformation mandate is all-consuming. It seems doubtful that hearing a sermon once a week will accomplish this goal of making us like Christ. How does the role of the discipler fit into God’s plan of transformation?
IV. Biblical convictions are there to transform us through mind renewal
As disciple-makers, we need to regularly explain to our disciple the contours of God’s claim upon the believer’s life—along with the divine resources needed to comply with that claim. Developing biblical convictions means becoming utterly serious about God’s claim upon our lives. We are not our own, we are bought with a price; we are God’s own possession, thus we are to live as His possession (1 Cor 6:19-20; Titus 2:14). This is only possible by constantly renewing our minds by the truth. “Therefore 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” (Rom 12:1-2). These spiritual postures are linked: reckoning the mercies of God, presenting one’s self as a living sacrifice, renewing the mind by the truth, experiencing transformation.
“That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted 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” (Eph 4:20-24). To deepen our biblical convictions is to be conformed to the truth so that it dominates exceptionally (the condition for fruitfulness and harvest—see Mt 13, “Soils Parable”).
Convictions are filled with ethical obligation because all truth is moral in nature—truth always calls for action. As disciplers, we bring a great deal of realism to this transformation mandate. Our disciples need to know hard the battle will be, precisely the cost of victory, how much they must exert, how often they are to consecrate themselves afresh, how to get up after falling—these things are impossible to grasp alone.
When Christ told us that we cannot serve two masters, He was indicating that no man can live a dichotomized worldview with divided loyalties (Mt 6:24). Your devotion to whom and what you serve is like a laser beam: it is focused, not scattered. Head and heart cannot pull in opposite directions for very long—you will be conformed to that which you love. You will live and do your functional worldview. At the college where I teach, we have conferences called “Truth & Life Conferences.” We want to help students address the ‘disconnect’ between what they profess to believe, and how they live. By deepening biblical convictions, we keep faith and life joined.