Calvary Road Baptist Church
“AN END OF THE YEAR CHECKLIST’S SPIRITUAL BENEFITS”
Just like the title of last Sunday night’s message from God’s Word revealed that it was not a sermon, having no sermonic form, the same is true of this. It is what the title (“An End Of The Year Checklist’s Spiritual Benefits”) declares it to be, another checklist.
This checklist’s spiritual benefits, too, will be entirely non-controversial. They will also be uncomplicated. There will again be predictable unanimity among those who claim to believe the Bible is the Word of God and insist that it is our final authority for faith and practice. Our agreement may not be that of uniform practice and behavior, but I would be surprised if we are not uniform in accepting the checklist’s spiritual benefits as right, good, beneficial for all concerned, and without doubt, God’s blessings in our lives.
In First Thessalonians 4.3, the Apostle Paul lists one of several patterns of behavior declared to be God’s will for our lives. Giving yourself to the Lord is the will of God, Second Corinthians 8.5. Serving Christ is the will of God, Ephesians 6.6. Giving thanks is the will of God, First Thessalonians 5.18. Exercising patience is the will of God, Hebrews 10.36. Submitting to others is the will of God, First Peter 2.15.
In First Thessalonians 4.3, the will of God for your life as a believer is something called sanctification, which is your growth in grace and the knowledge of God; it is your process of maturing as a believer to become more godly with time, as you study God’s Word, as you serve the Savior, as other believers mentor you, and as you are nurtured with spiritual truth over time.
The process is slow. It is sometimes arduous. It is a consequence of repeated activities that become habits over time, habits that become character over time, and by such means, a childish young babe in Christ grows to become what the Apostle John labels first a young man in the faith and eventually a father in the faith, First John 2.13-14.
What I did not, for the most part, address last Sunday night were the spiritual benefits of complying with the checklist. I intend to do so tonight, to go beyond doing God’s will because it is God’s will, and to survey in a very basic way the benefits to you and yours of complying with the checklist I set before you last week as an end of the old year and beginning of the new year enterprise and goal.
The basis for the checklist I presented was Second Peter 1.5-10:
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.
Your proper assurance of salvation as a believer in Jesus Christ is addressed in this passage. This is how you give diligence to make your calling and election sure. This is how you comfort yourself that your soul is in Christ’s capable hands by faith and that God has given you to Him. And you have no right whatsoever to imagine that you are a believer in Jesus Christ, with a saved soul, if you are not on this track.
The checklist I set before you last week is not at all complete, but it is a good end of the old year and the start of the new year, in no particular order. So, at this time, let’s reflect a bit on the spiritual benefits to you of the checklist given to you last week:
First, EVANGELISM
Have you committed to evangelism and reaching others with the Gospel of God’s grace? It is a valid question that believers should ask themselves and that Church members should ask each other. After all, who does not need Christ? Who will not benefit from Christ? And who would deprive another human being of the opportunity to hear the claims of Christ and consider Him?
Evangelism is how the Christian faith spreads. Evangelism is how you come to believe in Christ if you believe in Christ. And evangelism is the earmark of genuine Christianity. No one who believes the Bible denies this reality, though many disobey this imperative.
This is understood: what are the benefits of a commitment to evangelism? How about the conversion of your children? Ought any child of God expect his or her children to consider the claims of Christ when they have no memory of their parents being committed to evangelism? How about the ability to pillow your head at night without guilt, a hardened heart, and a seared conscience, and the knowledge that if your children grow up and perish in their sins, at least you have done what a mother or father could do to set before them by your words and actions the value and benefit of such a Savior as Jesus? And that is besides the benefit of the Spirit of God not being grieved and quenched by a refusal to do what every Christian ought to do, what every Christian is challenged to do, and what every Christian is given the opportunity by God to do. That is not even considering the benefit to other believers you might know, how they are bolstered by your participation in efforts they hold dear, and how your example in seeking to reach the lost both instructs them and encourages them to faithfully undertake the golden responsibility left to us by the Savior.
Next, DISCIPLESHIP
The Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded in Matthew 28.18-20, is a passage that contains only one Greek verb, the command to make disciples. Therefore, one must be utterly blind to the force of the Savior’s three-and-one-half-year ministry to His disciples and the apostle’s subsequent ministry to the believers in Jerusalem following the Day of Pentecost to dispute the central practice of the Christian faith being discipleship. What kind of pretend Christian utterly ignores the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Indeed, the way an individual in a congregation, and a congregation as a whole, seeks to fulfill the Great Commission is by making disciples, the first step of which is this practice of evangelism, which Paul labeled to the new Christians in Thessalonica as the work of faith. I pointed this out last week.
Once again, consider the strength of the apostolic ministry being the Spirit of God’s use of the commitment to disciple-making to prepare believers for the arduous experiences of the normal Christian life. You and I have no idea what things God can accomplish as a result of our commitment to disciple-making and being disciplined. We know the prominent place discipleship occupies in the New Testament scheme of Christian living.
Soldiers in every modern military are suited for combat by basic training, advanced infantry training, and by an ongoing program of adding and maintaining the skills necessary for survival in combat. How does this analogy not reflect discipleship in the life of the Christian? How can no discipleship mean no preparation to serve God effectively with an expectation of surviving the slings and arrows that come your way?
Finally, what care and concern for the saints in our congregation does a member truly display when he refuses to involve himself in discipleship? What commitment to the team does the football player have who never shows up for football practice but still thinks he has a right to glory in the team’s scoring and is entitled to join in the cheering when the game is won?
Preaching and Bible teaching are crucial to every Church member’s growth, development, and ongoing maturing process. But how can a Church member be equipped according to Ephesians 4.12 if he has no involvement in the pastor’s plan and program for equipping him beyond preaching?
“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
I do not finish all my tasks in a single Sunday morning sermon. I need other opportunities, along with what I can accomplish through other Church members praying for and investing their time in Church members who want to be mentored, discipled, and influenced by members in addition to me.
The benefit to you of discipleship is your personal growth as a child of God. And what benefit to your spouse of a more mature mate? What benefit to your kids is a more mature and godly mom or dad?
Third, DEVOTIONS / LEARNING
The ongoing devotional life of the child of God, spending time every day reading God’s Word, praying to start the day, reading challenging and informative Christian literature, and meditating on and contemplating the truths you are exposed to, is crucial. You have no idea what future stature as a man or woman of God is in store for you. And you never will but for personal devotions and an ongoing plan to read good Christian books written by people now dead. It is part and parcel with hiding God’s Word in your heart that you might not sin against God, Psalm 119.11.
I pointed out last time the benefit of listening to Bible audio and audiobooks. I also emphasized that such practices are no substitute for reading God’s Word, studying God’s Word, praying according to God’s Word, and humbly allowing dead people who wrote great Christian books to influence your understanding of the Bible and the Christian life.
Have you read the Bible through? Read it through again. And if you haven’t read my brochure, How To Read The Bible Through For the First Time, get a copy and prepare to read the Bible through with us this year.[1]
A testimony about one man who came to Christ under my ministry more than forty years ago. A great athlete in high school, he was so shy that he wrote off getting his AA degree in junior college because he could not pass a required speech class without giving a speech. He flunked the course and did not complete his studies. Then he came to Christ and slowly realized how intellectually stunted he was, how limited his vocabulary was, and how poor a reader he was. God promises to renew the Christian’s mind, Romans 12.2. And that takes place when the believer makes the right use of means. The plan he implemented was to learn one new word a day, every day of his life, and incorporate that word into a conversation with someone during the day. He also committed to reading the Word of God and reading Christian literature beyond the Word of God.
He did not bite off more than he could chew but pressed himself just a little bit each day. It had been more than thirty-five years since I had last seen that man when I had dinner with him and another couple one night. But his normal, natural, and unaffected conversation during the evening revealed a level of sophistication, a depth of maturity, a grasp of Bible truth he had acquired over the years, left me stunned. I was ecstatic. What God had done in his life, with tiny little steps taken every day, overwhelmed me. He is not a genius. He is not formally well educated. But he has been a committed Christian man who attends Church faithfully, who to this day still learns a new word each day and talks it into conversation, and who has cultivated the practice of reading God’s Word and other Christian literature. The same thing can happen to you.
Fourth, PRAYER
I have stated that reading and studying God’s Word is analogous to spiritually inhaling and that praying to God is analogous to spiritually exhaling. Prayer expresses to your heavenly Father what you need, want, and have to have to live for Him, love Him, and serve Him effectively.
The benefit of praying? How about this? There are things you will never get from God unless you ask of God, James 4.2
“ye have not, because ye ask not.”
What if God has decided you will not enjoy professional success without asking for it? What if God has decided that your marriage will not thrive without praying for that result? What if your children will not come to Christ, at least not in your lifetime, unless you are willing to join with others in your Church to publicly cry out to God for their conversion?
We have two combined prayer times at our Church that are sparsely attended, at 10:15 on Sunday morning before the morning worship time and at 7:00 PM on Wednesday nights after our Bible study time. I asked last week if there is no one in your life you want others to pray for. I asked last week if there is nothing in your life that you want other Church members to pray for.
I am asking again. You both can and should pray to God, as we are urged to do in Hebrews 4.16. Have you thought about my comment from last week regarding the astounding privilege of approaching God on His throne in heaven, yet not doing so and not taking others by the hand to show them how to do so?
Fifth, TESTIMONIES
Psalm 107.2 urges us to praise God: “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.” Are you redeemed? If so, you are called upon to say so praisefully. Glorify God. Exalt the Savior. Testify to the Holy Spirit’s work in your life.
You who chose to honor Dr. French yesterday by being here will remember the repeated comments of his three sons, each of whom came to profess Christ before Archie’s conversion, but each of them also being wonderfully blessed by their dad’s transformation and life of love and verbal testimonies after coming to Christ.
Have you no interest in affecting your children in the same way? And if Archie so affected his sons by his testimonies when they were already converted to Christian adults, imagine the impact on children who are not yet adults and who are not yet Christians.
I have spoken from time to time about cognitive dissonance. It happens when someone firmly grips a comfortable but incorrect conviction while refusing to embrace a truth he is exposed to that he is not comfortable with.
It happens when you like and love your mom, but then your mom comes to Christ. You are suddenly faced with the reality that your mom knows life is not worth living as an unsaved woman, and suddenly, you and she are no longer in agreement about life and eternity. You are troubled about that and refuse to deal with it.
I think Mom needs to press her testimony home to her child’s cognitive dissonance, so he has to deal with it. I think Dad needs to press it home. And such happens when believers give their testimonies here, there, and everywhere.
Finally, FORGIVENESS
I reminded you from Ephesians 4.32 that we have the duty and privilege to forgive those who have sinned against us. I also mentioned some of the benefits. Let me spend some time on the benefits to you and yours of the benefits of forgiving:
First, I remind you that your refusal to forgive someone you are confident has sinned against you or yours creates doubt in those who know you that you are truly born again. Your forgiveness of others is based on the forgiveness you have received from God. If you refuse to forgive, even if your forgiveness is not asked, you create a question about the forgiveness you claim to have experienced.
Next, if you refuse to forgive, you demonstrate arrogance and pride. Who do we think we are to withhold forgiveness from others when we claim God has not withheld forgiveness from us? It requires humility to forgive as you have been forgiven, yet the professing Christian who holds grudges, dwells on perceived slights, and remembers every offense ever committed against him or her does not have the humility to forgive.
Third, if you refuse to forgive, you create doubt about your love for your family, friends, and loved ones. What happens when they sin against you, and they will sin against you? What happens when you hold a grudge against them they are unaware of and learn only through your childish, silent treatment or effeminate pettiness? The nagging doubt and fear you introduce into their lives that you will someday refuse to forgive them as you refuse to forgive someone else will trouble them. Do you want that?
Again, no wife sins against her husband by telling him she fears his refusal to forgive someone else causes her to dread the likelihood that he will someday refuse to forgive her. And the same is as true of her husband, as it is with children speaking the truth to their parents.
Think of the end-of-the-year checklist. Now think of the profound spiritual benefits to you and yours when you comply with this checklist. Are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance valued as essential personality traits to you? I hope so. But the refusal to engage in evangelism, discipleship, devotions, prayer, testimonies, and forgiveness, which are God’s will for every Christian’s life, so grieves and quenches the Spirit of God Who indwells you, that He will not produce these traits in you.
How about the peace of God in your mind and heart that comes with your peace with God, except when you are disobedient? Do you value the peace of God? Many professing Christians do not. But they seem unaware, so used to being disobedient as they are.
I close with this illustration of what many professing Christians tragically subject themselves to by neglect and willful disobedience. I have allergies, and for years went to a wonderful ENT specialist who taught at USC Medical School. His name was Tony Shum. His treatment was an injection into each nostril that was so repulsive to think about that you had to close your eyes as he approached you with the syringe. But his treatments were wonderfully effective.
I recommended Dr. Shum, as I do, with evangelistic zeal. When my mom visited from Oregon, I took her to Dr. Shum. While lying on his table with her eyes closed, my mother asked Dr. Shum, “When are you going to get around to the injections?” He laughed and said, “I already did.”
As we left his office and walked across the parking lot to my car to go home, my mother, who had experienced sinus problems from allergies for years, said, “I can’t believe how uncomfortable it is to inhale through my nose. My sinuses haven’t been this clear for years.”
My mother had become so used to feeling bad that she mistook it for feeling normally. And when her condition improved, it felt for a brief time to be unpleasant. I fear that is the case with some of you.
Your conscience is so seared, your heart is so hardened, and the Spirit of God has been for so very long grieved and quenched that you have settled into a routine of accepting the adverse consequences of your disobedience as normal.
Only it is not normal. It is perverse. It is adverse. You live without peace, so you are used to being troubled, unsettled, and fearful. You live without joy, so used to seeking happiness as you have become. And you live without love. After all, how can one love someone who refuses to witness to them? And how can one love God when one refuses to obey Him?
Let me urge upon you this checklist again, and the benefits that accrue from obedience to God’s will for your life. Only now, let me warn you that genuine assurance of salvation, the assurance that rises up from obedience rather than stubborn insistence, cannot be gained by disobedience but by obedience.
And if your assurance is lacking because your obedience to the revealed will of God is lacking, your problem is profoundly serious, and you have a false hope. Refuse to witness, refuse to disciple, refuse devotions, refuse to pray, refuse to testify, and refuse to forgive, and you are very likely lost.
I want you to experience joy, peace, love, goodness, and other benefits. More important, I want your sins to be forgiven. Not that obedience produces the forgiveness of sins, but that the forgiveness of your sins and new life in Christ produces obedience. That you are born again should be the prime consideration of every individual who steadfastly refuses to give God what God demands.
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[1] Available at ClassicalBaptist.Press
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church