How Do I Avoid the Pitfalls of Too Little Introspection and Too Much?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:22.000 | Oh my, so many great memories come back when I listen to old T4G albums like
00:00:27.480 | this one. As many of you know, Together for the Gospel 2018 begins today,
00:00:32.000 | Wednesday, and it's gonna run until Friday, April 11th through the 13th, and
00:00:37.120 | the conference is sold out, and I think that means over 12,500 people have
00:00:42.920 | registered. This is incredible, and Pastor John, you're about to get on a jet here
00:00:46.260 | in Minneapolis to get to Louisville where you're scheduled to once again
00:00:49.880 | cap off the conference with the plenary session Friday afternoon. A message I
00:00:54.600 | really look forward to hearing. Here's just the title, "New God, New Gospel, New
00:01:00.760 | Gladness. How is Christian joy distinct?" And I got a little preview in a recent
00:01:06.600 | meeting and Psalm 4:7 just came alive. I'll never view that text in the same
00:01:11.200 | way, Pastor John. So looking forward to that message, but more on that later.
00:01:15.040 | Before you leave for Louisville or Louval, Louisville or Louval, however you
00:01:20.160 | say it, here's our next question. How do we know if we're given to too little
00:01:24.400 | introspection or to too much introspection? How do we find the right
00:01:28.880 | balance between self-examination neglected and over self-examination made
00:01:33.920 | toxic? It's another really good question from a listener to this podcast. His name
00:01:37.600 | is Nolan. "Dear Pastor John, I earnestly desire to take the Bible seriously when
00:01:41.360 | it talks about evaluating yourself, but I often find myself encountering
00:01:44.760 | unhealthy introspection into the sin in my life and my failure to overcome it. It
00:01:50.680 | on many days has led to despondency and discouragement, making it a challenge to
00:01:55.560 | believe the truth I try to preach to myself. What are some strategies you
00:01:59.440 | evaluate yourself with while at the same time not going overboard to the point of
00:02:04.200 | paralysis and discouragement?" What would you say to Nolan? Such a good
00:02:08.520 | question, so relevant for so many people. I suppose I've wrestled not only myself
00:02:14.920 | but with people after services in prayer about this kind of doubting of ourselves
00:02:21.600 | because of introspective failure as any other thing I've had to deal
00:02:28.760 | with. So the first thing I want to say to Nolan is don't give up in your fight for
00:02:35.440 | faith and in your fight against sin and against paralyzing introspection. I have
00:02:42.360 | known people who, because of these kinds of inner conflicts, simply throw in the
00:02:49.840 | towel on Christianity and walk away from Christ and give themselves to whatever
00:02:55.120 | kind of heart-numbing habits they can find. And I'm pleading with you, Nolan, and
00:03:01.440 | others like you, that you not do this. That you be willing to struggle with
00:03:09.000 | this, if necessary, all the way to the grave. Don't throw in the towel on
00:03:15.840 | Christian faith. Not only do you not know what wonderful and surprising
00:03:23.360 | breakthroughs the Lord may have for you ten years from now, after a long struggle,
00:03:29.560 | but you will find on the other side of the grave how short life was and how
00:03:36.640 | wonderfully worth it it was to hold fast to Jesus in all the struggle while
00:03:43.440 | he was holding fast to you. But you asked for strategies for avoiding paralyzing
00:03:50.560 | introspection, so here are two or three passages from the Scripture and a couple
00:03:55.920 | of thoughts. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 3 and 5, 3 through 5. "With me it
00:04:02.480 | is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do
00:04:07.320 | not even judge myself, for I am not aware of anything against myself." In other
00:04:15.640 | words, generally I have a clear conscience. "But I'm not thereby acquitted. It is the
00:04:21.560 | Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time,
00:04:25.360 | before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness
00:04:30.080 | and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his
00:04:35.440 | commendation from God." When Paul said, "I do not even judge myself," he didn't mean
00:04:41.360 | he never examines himself, because he says in 2 Corinthians 13 5, "Examine
00:04:47.960 | yourself to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize
00:04:53.440 | this about yourselves that Christ Jesus is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet
00:04:58.400 | the test?" Paul wants us to have enough self-knowledge so that we can enjoy the
00:05:06.040 | assurance of our salvation through faith in Jesus. So let's meditate on those two
00:05:13.000 | passages, letting 2 Corinthians 13 5 protect us from a cavalier failure to do
00:05:20.560 | any serious self-examination, and letting 1 Corinthians 4 3 protect us
00:05:28.800 | from devastating self-judgment and self-condemnation, which belong only to
00:05:35.040 | God. And then here's another passage that has been so helpful to me. Romans 7
00:05:41.480 | 21 through chapter 8 verse 1. On the one hand, this text is heartbreaking, and on
00:05:49.400 | the other hand, hope-giving. Paul says, "I find it to be a law that when I want to
00:05:54.440 | do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner
00:05:59.720 | being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my
00:06:08.840 | mind, and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched
00:06:14.560 | man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God
00:06:20.760 | through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, I myself serve the law of God in my mind,
00:06:29.120 | but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation
00:06:37.160 | for those who are in Christ Jesus." So it seems to me—and there's a big dispute
00:06:43.080 | about how to interpret Romans 7, I know, but I'm giving you my interpretation, you
00:06:48.240 | judge for yourself—it seems to me that Paul is showing us that Christians walk
00:06:54.960 | through Romans 7, seasons in which we feel the overbearing power of remaining
00:07:03.520 | in dwelling sin that makes us cry out, "Oh, wretched man that I am," without losing
00:07:11.720 | the sure reality that victory has been decisively given. Thanks be to God
00:07:18.680 | through Jesus Christ, it has been decisively given and will someday be
00:07:24.360 | fully experienced through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that we can say, "Therefore," in
00:07:31.680 | spite of all this struggle in Romans 7, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation
00:07:38.760 | to those who are in Christ Jesus." And I think it is a great help when we
00:07:46.480 | diagnose ourselves in the way Paul does, to have categories in our minds from
00:07:53.280 | Romans 7 that help us to understand the nature of our struggle. And the last
00:07:59.120 | thing I would do is draw Nolan's attention to Romans 8, 14 to 17. It goes like this,
00:08:05.200 | "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not
00:08:10.640 | receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the
00:08:14.040 | spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we say, 'Abba, Father.'" The Spirit himself bears
00:08:20.960 | witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then
00:08:26.080 | heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in
00:08:31.400 | order that we may be glorified with him. Now I think Paul is saying that in the
00:08:37.480 | end, at the end of the day, when all introspection is over, the confidence
00:08:44.240 | that we are the children of God is a gift of the Holy Spirit. You can't make
00:08:52.880 | it happen merely through rational introspection. It is a gift, but he does
00:08:59.720 | not just leave us hanging at that. He gives the ordinary pathway along which
00:09:06.600 | the Spirit gives this confidence. He says, "All who are led by the Spirit of God are
00:09:13.200 | the sons of God." All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. And
00:09:20.600 | the being led that he has in mind in this context is not like, "Oh, to be a
00:09:27.640 | missionary or to marry this woman or to live in this location." No, no, no, no, none of
00:09:31.200 | that at all. The being led that he has in mind in this context is, number one, being
00:09:38.800 | led by the Spirit into warfare with sin. "He who puts the death to deeds of the
00:09:46.080 | body will live." Being led by the Spirit into warfare with sin, and secondly, being
00:09:52.800 | led by the Spirit into the humble and dependent cry, like a little child, "Abba,
00:09:59.520 | Father." So, Nolan, hate your sin. Make war on specific sins by the power of the
00:10:08.920 | Holy Spirit, and constantly look away from yourself to your Father in Heaven,
00:10:16.160 | and to Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection make it possible to call
00:10:24.240 | him not only a just judge, but an all-caring Father.
00:10:30.400 | Amen. Thank you, Pastor John. And you can now head off to Louisville or Louville,
00:10:34.400 | however you say it. If you're headed to T4G as well, may the Lord bless you with
00:10:38.320 | safe travels, and may the Conference refuel you, and may you meet Christ in a
00:10:42.600 | special way. Be looking for Pastor John's plenary message on Friday afternoon on
00:10:47.600 | Psalm 47, titled "New God, New Gospel, New Gladness. How is Christian joy distinct?"
00:10:54.240 | Ooh, this is gonna be a good one. Thank you for listening and continuing to
00:10:57.840 | support this podcast by listening and financially supporting The Labors. You
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00:11:21.800 | We'll be back on Friday. I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we'll see you then.
00:11:28.040 | [BLANK_AUDIO]