Sin, Grace and Sincerity



Recently I heard a story of a family friend who was a believer and is now in the Lord’s Presence due to the passing of death. At one point in his life he realized that he needed the Lord Jesus to save him. He told a friend, “My heart is black and full of sin.” He knew that he needed the grace the Gospel proclaims and did embrace the Lord Jesus and he sincerely sought to be the Lord’s disciple the remainder of his life. What is so striking about this man and his testimony is the simple and powerful godly “sincerity” evidenced in many different ways.

The story of his life and his impact upon others demonstrated for me this truth: Sincerity is indeed the key to understanding how to please God. For we cannot rely on ourselves to achieve moral perfection in our thoughts or behavior, nor can we utilize any other natural gifting or inheritance in this life from our family or social position to please God. Sin has ravaged us and corrupted our being to the core. But God is faithful and in Christ is working in those with faith to heal and restore them to spiritual health.
“The soul-monster of sin has so marred man’s sweet countenance that it is no more like the comeliness God created than the fiend of hell’s similarity to the holy angel which he had been in heaven. But by His grace Christ has undertaken to heal this wound which sin has given to man’s nature. His healing power is at work in His elect, but the cure is not yet so complete that no scars remain; this, then is the uncomeliness which [godly] sincerity covers.” (William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour, Vol. 2 [The Banner of Truth Trust: 1988], pp.54-55)   
I have learned through bitter experience that I have no power or intelligence within myself to keep me from sinning against God and those people closest to me. No amount of training in pious discipline has ever changed the inner orientation of my soul toward satisfying my own self-interests at the expense of other people’s needs. Indeed, I cry out with Paul, “What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me?” (see Romans 7:24) But I found great encouragement in the discovery that God will receive me and my feeble efforts to choose to serve him so long as these are rooted in sincere faith. Though the gap between my desire for holiness and my actual holiness remains God honors my sincerity and meets me in my pain and weakness to progressively make me holy.  

Paul used himself and his co-workers to demonstrate how God does receive those who approach him by faith. “Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with frankness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God—and all the more towards you.” (2 Corinthians 1:12, NRSV) Paul knew existentially that all good gifts and the soundness of good character in himself were due to God’s love and power operating within him. And this operational power of the Holy Spirit was activated as he continually exercised his faith. 

What a joy to know this truth! What freedom to know that I do not have to fake it and pretend I am not utterly weak and defenseless in myself! What a relief to hear the Lord of Heaven’s Armies say to me: “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16, NLT)

The truth of the abundance of God’s grace towards me gives me courage to be bold in prayer and in living. For it is the assurance of mercy that gives me confidence to speak to God. And I would not be seeking mercy if God had not taught me to humble myself. And if I have humbled myself then God can do what I have asked him to do—to make me holy and happy to pursue righteousness. And if this is true of me then I can actually know serve God in the power of the Holy Spirit moment by moment.  
Again, Gurnall states better than I can the effect of humility and thus sincerity towards God:  
“To take care of this problem [of people not praying due to knowledge of their shortcomings] God has provided the promises—which, in any case, are our only ground for prayer—and has made them to fit the tiniest degree of grace [gifted to person with faith]. And as a well-done portrait faces everyone who enters the room, so these promises of the gospel covenant smile upon everyone who sincerely looks to God in Christ.” (The Christian in Complete Armour, Vol. 2, p.57) 

May the Father grant us knowledge and willingness to take him at his word. Show us your ways and correct us so we will walk in the truth and be free through godly sincerity.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discernment

Some writers and some lives are so God-filled that they are granted special insights and abilities by the living God. St. John of the Cross was one of those persons. I share a quote here that has helped me tremendously in different circumstances when I needed to understand what was happening with others--and particularly in different Christian communities.  This is a recalled statement of John of the Cross, something he said in conversation and which was written down and preserved. The citation can be found in T he Complete Works of St. John of the Cross , Vol. 3, p.315) i leave this for the reader to ponder.    “I sometimes heard him say that there is no lie so carefully devised and composed that, if we study it carefully, we cannot tell it in one way or in another to be a lie.   Nor, he would say, is there any devil so completely transfigured as an angel of light as not to be recognizable if he be looked at carefully.    Nor is there a...
Read more

The New Tribalism

The era of human history in which most human beings live now (or have been profoundly influenced by) is known as “modernity” or simply the “modern era.” This period of history can be differentiated from eras prior in at least one primary way: The modern era is dominated by ideology rather than theology. On the one hand, theology is a conviction and perspective about the nature of reality, of the meaning and purpose of human life and the reasons for ethical and moral imperatives; this is explicitly rooted in a particular understanding of God and revelation granted to humans by God. On the other hand, ideology can be described as a comprehensive philosophy which asserts an explanation about the nature of reality, the meaning and purpose of human life, and gives an explanation for the ethical and moral imperatives people recognize and value. What makes an ideology different from a theology is simply that ideology allows no space for the Deity which its philosophical framework and e...
Read more

Struggling Under the Blessing (Part 1)

One of the general lessons from the Genesis narratives regarding Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph is this: Simply that God’s grace supersedes human will, human scheming and human sin. God has a purpose for which he is working—the redemption of a people who will belong to him. He is forming from among those who will respond to God’s call his own people to be a treasured possession from humanity. This purpose has culminated in the coming of the Lord Jesus and his proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The Scriptures give us multiple examples of people’s faith response to God and his revealed word. In this I want to look at Jacob. He was a man who believed in God but who trusted more in himself and his ability to save his own neck when he was in trouble. But God met him and changed him into a man of faith whose life became pivotal for the well-being of his family and millions of his descendants. Let us see what we can learn from the life of Jacob. Some background information...
Read more