How Convictions become Character (part one)
By Jay Wegter
Section Objectives (Goals of this Lesson):
- To deepen our conviction that God alone is the source of life and purpose.
- To understand that the satisfaction Christ accomplished in redemption is the basis for our satisfaction in God.
- To learn that biblical convictions develop an eternal value system (core values which control and animate us).
- To grasp that biblical convictions are necessary in order for believers to be continually conformed to the truth—resulting in a renewed mind and a transformed life.
- To understand that our convictions are closely tied to what we love (our affections).
I. Biblical convictions hold us, we don’t hold them
(EX. I will argue a belief, but die for a conviction.) In terms of belief, a conviction is the mental state of being convinced—the fixed state of belief. To hold a conviction is to ‘be held by’ an unshakeable belief without need of further proof or evidence (See Hebrews 11:1-3.). This morning we will explore how conviction becomes character and why biblical convictions are at the very core of godliness.
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).
Our Savior 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. 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 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. “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).
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 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.
Why is the Trinity so 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 creation. 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 (impenetrable from man’s side) 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 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 facts, but are grounded upon God’s loving purposes to share Himself and extend His glory (now our rational, reasonable service of worship).
II. Biblical convictions enable us to live unto God
We are to grow up into Christ and thus be protected from every ‘wind of doctrine’ (Eph 4:14). We are to follow the doctrine of the Apostles (1 Tim 4:6; 6:1). We are to guard against those who promote a ‘different doctrine’ (1 Tim 6:3). 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.”
Convictions 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 (an eternal value system) and moral authority (he boldly speaks the truth in love) as the result of following Christ (Heb 12:25-29).
Therefore, biblical convictions gives us profound discernment in all of his life choices (1Cor 2:14-16; Heb 5:11-14). Convictions enable us to serve as a ‘spiritual paramedics’ helping others recognize and mortify idols in their lives. Biblical convictions enable us to gladly count the cost of following Christ—refuting the world’s lie that love of self and love of pleasure will make him happy.
III. Biblical convictions align our lives with God’s purposes
The saint’s aim is 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 deadly 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. 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. My experiencing in witnessing to Edwin, “I just do my own thing.” In other words, I don’t hurt anyone, so I must not be that sinful. Jesus said that only those who do the Father’s will are going to heaven—Matthew 7:21.)
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 (Jas 1:21-27). 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. The goal of First John is to make sure that we are operating and living completely and holistically in the realm of God’s truth. To live in the realm of truth means you are a 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 book of Ephesians is the book of God’s loving, gracious, and glorious purpose for His people. And the great evidence that the believer is the object of God’s redeeming mercy is that the saint radically aligns himself with God’s purpose. To be aligned to God’s purpose is to be diligent in doing God’s will—and God’s will is that we be conformed to Christ in holiness (Rom 8:28-30; Eph 1:4).
The purpose of mortification (putting sin to death) is to arrive at the goal for which God in His grace laid hold of us—namely, conformity to Christ (2 Thess 2:14; Rom 8:29ff.). God always accomplishes His purposes with a precise goal in view. God declares the end from the beginning (Is 46:10). God decrees, He predestines, He foreordains—He works with the end in mind.
We must learn to cultivate the habit of mortification of sin with the END in mind. Mortification of sin is not an end in itself. We are not putting sin to death merely for the purpose being practical moralists, or because a virtuous life is superior to an unethical life. In our struggle with the flesh, we must begin with the right end in mind. The goal of mortification is life with God in glory. All we do in our efforts at sanctification by way of mortification of sin should serve an ultimate end—the end for which we were created anew in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5:17; 1 Jn 3:1-3; Eph 5:27). Since sin has twisted the image of God, the Lord in redeeming us, recreates and restores His people to the perfect image of God. Since we are new creatures created anew in Christ, we are to abandon the old sinful behaviors and attitudes and adopt the new. Our efforts at mortification are not merely focused on abstinence, but upon replacement behaviors. Therefore, in mortification we are to put on the new man and put off the old man (Eph 4:22-32; Col 3:8-17ff.) (Chris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within). Mortification of sin, and daily putting on the ‘garments of grace’ is how the new man asserts himself (Col 3:5-4:6).
As a redeemed child of God your life is now defined by, filled with, enveloped by, and encompassed with God’s loving purpose to make you like Christ. These purposes of God are spiritual realities which are intended to fill your consciousness, vision, and desires. They are to shape your goals, your hope, and your motives—in other words, they must become your core convictions. But in order for God’s loving purpose to control us, we must be “filled with the knowledge of His will” by paying close attention to His Word (Col 1:9-12). Your relationship to God’s Word is a faithful barometer of your walk with God (EX. Note the ‘Tremendous Jones’ quote, “Five years you will be the same person you are now except for the books you read and the people you spend time with”).
A genuine believer studies God’s Word in order to understand it because he knows he can’t live without God’s Word. He also studies the Word because those who have salvation live lives characterized by ongoing fellowship with God. They continue seeking God through His Word, through prayer, and through Christian fellowship—that is daily ‘foundry’ in which convictions are forged.
IV. Biblical convictions are there to transform us
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. “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). “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 in one’s life—that is the condition for fruitfulness and harvest according to Matthew 13:23 and Luke 8:15.
Convictions are filled with ethical obligation because all truth is moral in nature—truth always calls for action. 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 out and do your functional worldview. At the university 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.
V. Biblical convictions are never theoretical
God’s truth is not safe in a theoretical category or compartment. Scripture indicates that the larger that gap between faith and practice, the more danger there is that we’re living a life of hypocrisy. This is why we need to develop first-hand convictions. Having first-hand convictions is much different than merely sitting under a strong pulpit ministry. Countless Christians have ‘second hand convictions’ (second-hand meaning that, “I believe such and such because my pastor believes it”).
By contrast, first-hand convictions mean that you personally diligently study the truth, love the truth, live the truth, and proclaim the truth. The Berean believers in Paul’s day showed the diligence necessary to develop first hand convictions: “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
VI. Biblical convictions are held by both our mind and our heart
When you have first-hand convictions, your heart affections are conformed to biblical truth. Therefore you love the truth in the inner man. “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom” (Ps 51:6). Even the battle to mortify sin takes place at the level of our convictions. John Piper says it this way: “All spiritual warfare takes place at the level of spiritual sight. Your pleasure is the measure of your treasure.” This is why truth is never held at the theoretical level only—it is to be rooted in our desires and affections.
Scripture warns that if we hear the truth and agree with it, but don’t practice it, we have deceived ourselves. “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25). Many in Christendom today are attempting to do what they hate (holiness) and not do what they love (sinning). It is a cardinal principle that God’s truth will only effectively order your
life IF you are seeking your highest satisfaction in God.
To believe the truth so as to do the truth is a ‘whole soul’ act. This means that your mind, affections, will, and conscience are all joined in embracing the truth and relying upon it. In his high priestly prayer, Jesus indicated that believers are set apart to God in holiness and it is the Word of God that has the power to sanctify us, setting apart to God and His purposes. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (Jn 17:17). A true believer is set apart to God in all his faculties: in his mind, his body, and his heart. For Christ has made it clear, true believers don’t merely agree with historical facts of Christ’s life, they follow Jesus (Lu 9:23). Therefore, a believer is a true disciple or follower of Christ. That person’s time, talent, affections, and resources are poured into aligning themselves with God’s purpose. Christ’s cause becomes their cause. Thus, to follow Jesus is to be controlled by biblical
convictions.
Our convictions are also joined to a clear perception of the desirability of Christ. As we keep on believing the promises of God in the gospel, we exhibit Christ and display Him to our heart affections. As a result, we adore Him as advocate, as High Priest, as our sealing and righteous covering, as our covenant, and as our propitiation. When we love Christ, we have a deep appreciation of His work for us (1 Pet 1:3-9).
His atoning work exerts a transforming power in our lives—the application of His cross to our lives shatters our cowardice, it breaks up our stealth (covert, undercover) Christianity. We find ourselves emboldened in His service, and we welcome the truth that God reserves the right to define every square inch of our experience. The strongest believers are Christians of deep conviction—they follow Christ, for surrender to Christ produces endurance and boldness in service (Eph 6:18-20).