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Building Spiritual Muscle: A Training Guide to Personal Convictions Following the Sunday morning service, the pastor stood at the back of the church, shaking hands with the worshipers as they left. As one man shook hands, he looked intently at the pastor and said, "Powerful sermons, Pastor. Thoughtful, well researched. I can always see myself in them . . . and I want you to knock it off." Citation: From a cartoon by Lee Johnson, The Best Cartoons from Leadership Journal, Volume 1 (Broadman & Holman, 1999)

You may feel that way about this message by the time we are done. You see I think we will all see ourselves today in this message. As I have pondered this subject for the last few weeks I have come to believe that it is for every person in this church. It doesn’t matter if you have been here for fifty years or five Sundays, there will be truth that all of us need to stop and think about today.

Keith Drury, Professor from Indiana Wesleyan University, tells a story of a childhood friend’s grandmother. She was a poor woman who went to church every time the doors were open. She always had a pan of stew on the stove made up of some interesting ingredients. It was called leftover stew. She would put all the leftovers after a meal into this pan and it was always available. Her grandson speculated that there were some food items that may have been in that pan for years. She would sit in the dark in the evening to keep from having to pay high electric bills. That doesn’t sound very appetizing but she was an elderly lady on a fixed income and that was a way to not be wasteful. When this Christian lady died they found an amazing discovery in her home. They found uncashed checks from the State of Pennsylvania totaling over $20,000. You see this humble servant of God found out that some of the money to support the elderly in the State of Pennsylvania came from lottery sales and she wanted no part of money that came from gambling.

I wonder what you think about Mrs. Eckley. Why would she make that kind of a choice? What would cause somebody to make a decision that many or most of us would probably never make? She had integrity. This lady was practicing a very important but often ignored practice. She was living out her personal convictions.

I want to talk with you this morning about personal convictions. Personal convictions are critical to your development as a Christ follower.

There is in the United States of America today a brand of Christianity that is very weak-willed, willy-nilly, watery, no spine, no backbone, entry level commitment. There is a crisis in the evangelical church today. It is not that we do not have numbers or attendees the problem is the lack of strong sturdiness and commitment.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you. Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating going-to-work, and walking around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.” Romans 12:1-2 (The Message Bible)

I. Defining Personal Convictions

Personal convictions are our own individual codes of behavior; rules that we make for ourselves based on biblical principles.

My rules will differ from your rules but I must have some rules because the Bible is not a book of rules it is a book of principles that must be applied to our lives.

There are not a lot of do’s and don’ts in the Bible. There are a lot of principles that are meaningless unless you apply them to your life.

Sample principles:

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. (do no work)”

What personal rules have you established to keep these biblical principles?

The New Testament is full of principles that are not defined. Steer clear of worldliness. Be not conformed to this world. What does that mean for you?

Phillips translation says, “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.” Rom. 12:2

That is a principle that is throughout the whole New Testament. What do you do with this kind of scripture? You can’t just ignore it. It is in the word of God.

While I would not attempt to stand up here and decide for you what is and isn’t healthy for you spiritually, I have failed you as a pastor if I have not challenged you to apply the word of God to your life.

You need to apply this principle to what you watch, what you listen to, what you eat, what you do to your body and where you go.

If you don’t do something about this principle of not letting the world come into your life it will destroy your Christian life. As important as it is God did not make a list of rules about it. You have to make the list with the aid of the Holy Spirit.

As soon as some of you heard this sermon topic you began to get very nervous. Anywhere there have been strong personal convictions in the past there is often an attempt on those who are the children and grandchildren of those with strong convictions to get as far away from them as possible.

I understand why some have wanted to get away from the excesses of the past but I must ask you today. In an attempt to get away from the past have you developed any personal convictions? Your parent’s convictions are irrelevant to you today. I am asking you about yourselves. Do you as you read the word of God ask yourself how can I apply this to my life?

What personal convictions are not:

1. They are not requirements for becoming Christians. Often people will want to attach personal convictions to becoming a Christian. Salvation is free. You can’t do anything to earn it. It is not about salvation. You can do nothing to earn your salvation. You are not saved by keeping rules.

2. They are not opinions. Personal convictions are application of truth to my life. They are not my opinions. Opinions cost me nothing. I can have opinions about lots of things. Especially things that don’t affect me. Opinions are about you and your life but personal convictions are about me.

I can have an opinion about smoking but I am not tempted to smoke so I can’t have a personal conviction about it. Eating lots of food and not taking care of my body. Now that is something I need to have a personal conviction about. Convictions cost you something. The Bible says, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to other, I myself should become disqualified.” I Cor. 9:27 You have to ask yourself what does this mean in my life and what does God want me to do or not do.

3. They are not rules from the Bible for everyone. It is very dangerous when people start developing personal convictions because new people can come in and automatically think they need to start keeping all the 500 rules they see everyone else keeping. New people must go to God’s word and find out what God is saying to you. You must ask what is God saying to me.

II. Developing Personal Convictions

      a. Does it make me closer to God?

“Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.” 1 Cor. 6:12 (The Message Bible)

Does it help me? Does it build me up? Does it make me closer to God? Does it make me stronger? Does it make me a better Christian? Can I say after I’ve listened, or watched, or smoked it or drunk it or whatever else boy I sure am closer to God now?

Would I be able to stand up or give a testimony on video and encourage others to do this because this sure helps me get closer to God? Is it pulling me down?

“Test all things, hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” I Thessalonians 5:21-22 If you are a Christ follower you have to deal with those verses. When is the last time you applied scripture like that up against your life or lifestyle?

Last Sunday I made a comment that I want to repeat. We need to be adjusting our lifestyles to fit our beliefs not adjusting our beliefs to fit our lifestyles.

There’s a second part to that verse. “If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.” You should ask:

      b. Does it control me?

Certain habits and actions become controlling factors in your lives. They in fact can become so dominating that we allow the habit to affect our relationships because it becomes more important then people or what God wants in our lives.

      c. Does it hurt others?

“But God does care when you use your freedom carelessly in a way that leads a Christian still vulnerable to those old associations to be thrown off track. For instance, you say you flaunt your freedom by going to a banquet thrown in honor of idols, where the main course is meat sacrificed to idols.

Isn’t there great danger if someone still struggling over this issue, someone who looks up to you as knowledgeable and mature, sees you go into that banquet? The danger is that he will become terribly confused—maybe even to the point of getting mixed up himself in what his conscience tells him is wrong.”

Christ gave up his life for that person. Wouldn’t you at least be willing to give up going to dinner for him?”
1 Cor. 8:9-13 (The Message Bible)

Does it cause others to sin? In the New Testament church this whole issue of eating meat offered to idols was a hot topic. Most early Christians were vegetarians because they thought this meat was contaminated.

Paul was teaching about deference. You and I must be sensitive to the needs of weak or new Christians.

In past days there may have been people right in this church who used this verse to try and control what others would do. I want you to hear this. This principle is being taught about new Christians and being careful not to influence them in a way that would cause them to give up their salvation.

If you’ve been a Christian for forty years you ought to be mature by now and be working on your own personal convictions and not everyone else’s!

      d. Does it glorify God?

“So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you’re eating to God’s glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. At the same time, don’t be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren’t as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone’s feelings in all those matters, I hope you will be too.”

            1 Cor. 10:31-33 (The Message Bible)

There are some personal convictions that we should have based on this principle alone. This thing I do or this habit I have does not bring glory to God or cause people when it is all said and done to say, “Wow God is really great.”

III. Dangers of Personal Convictions

I believe that there is going to be a revival of personal convictions. There are a couple of generations of teens and twenty-something’s that I believe will respond to this message. Most of them are sick of the shallowness that Christian faith offers. They practice shallowness and have very little sturdiness but they are hungry for something that calls for the best in them. Something that will make them believe in something strong enough that it changes their life and causes them to be sturdy.

If that happens we might experience some of the dangers.

      a. Legalism

When my rules become so important to me that I trust the rules for my salvation I am heading toward legalism. Legalism takes Jesus off the cross. Legalism diverts my attention from faith in Christ for my salvation to faith in my personal convictions. Can you see how this would happen? Hopefully you will take this message and began to develop a personal code of behaviors. . . I will do this, I won’t do that, I will watch this and I won’t watch that. The problem is that down the road it becomes very easy to say or believe of that you are a Christ follower based on your list of rules.

      b. Judgmental attitudes

Once you have started to apply God’s word you will be amazed at how God will show you areas in your life that you need to clean up. Even if you’ve been in the church for a lot of years there are areas that God will show you that you need to work on.

Think with me for a moment. You used to be weak and just an anything goes kind of Christian now all of the sudden you are plugging into God’s word and you feel as though you are growing and then you start looking at those around you and man are they lame. You are now a person of integrity. You now have a backbone. It is very easy to start judging others by your rules.

      c. Spiritual pride

You are now applying scripture to your life for maybe the first time. It will become very easy for you to look around and feel superior to other people. A group of people may ask you to do something and your response is that classic line. . . “No, others may but I cannot.” You begin to swell with a sense of accomplishment because of your new found strength and spiritual muscle.

Spiritual pride is one of the most rotten and nauseating sins of all. Avoid it at all costs.

Some of you are wondering why in the world I would preach this message. I can tell you. You and I have to have an honest effort to apply the Bible to our lives. If we don’t earnestly pursue God we end up just spinning our spiritual wheels and to be honest you can do a whole lot more damage to others by not applying the Bible to your life.

As pastor of this church I am concerned that many of us have not made a personal biblical application to our lives in a long time if ever. It has become very easy to just kind of float along and we develop whatever convictions we have from watching others. Some of us have allowed things into our lives that we know would not be pleasing to God but everyone else is doing it so we never even stop to ask or question our actions.

Just like water we begin to seek and find the lowest level of Christian living.

Personal convictions will help you control your strengths and your weaknesses.
Personal convictions will help you develop spiritual muscle. Avoid atrophy.

Learn to say no to things even when everyone else is doing it because you have developed spiritual muscles.

Bill Clinton was known for listening to focus groups and pollsters to find out what others were thinking and then he would adopt that belief. Whatever the majority said seemed to be the way to go.

Deciding what is right and wrong by taking polls is permanent Jr. High! We have to start living as God wants us to live regardless if others are following or not.

IV. Discovering Your Own Personal Convictions.

      1. Read the Bible as a guide for living and not just for knowing. It is easy to become so scholastic in our Bible reading. More is not always better. Read until you hear God speak and stop and listen.

      2. Learn your “besetting” sins. Every person in here has something you struggle with that others may not. Understand what they are and apply God’s word to these areas. Don’t just pray about them. Develop some personal convictions that move you away from those areas in your life.

      3. Go and talk with older people. Learn from godly older people. Not someone who is old and bitter but find an older person who is still plugged into God. Ask them how they developed their personal convictions. Don’t copy their convictions you copy their commitment. Like the lady in Pennsylvania I want to have convictions that cost me something.

      4. Ask around the church. It is very easy for churches to have collective convictions. You have to be very careful here. What we should pass on to the younger generations is the commitment to developing convictions. In 1920 the convictions that were most notable centered around what you wear. Believe me the devil has devised many other ways to bring you down. Some of you need to seriously step back and consider what you allow to enter into your life through the medium of television and movies. I am not telling you what to watch but I would fail you as a pastor if I did not ask you to step back and run what you take into you mind through the filter of the word of God. I am afraid some of you have reacted against past excesses and in your new found freedom you have thrown out some very important biblical principles.

      5. Try out some for awhile.

On September 22, 1998, Daniel Crocker confessed to a murder he committed nineteen years prior. Nobody had tracked him down, it just came from the conviction God had placed on his heart. At the age of thirty-eight, with a wife and two young children, Crocker practiced what he had read in Proverbs 28:13, “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.” Nineteen years earlier, Crocker had been on a three-day LSD high when he killed nineteen-year-old Tracy Fresquez after meeting her briefly at a convenience store. Few clues were left behind, and detectives admitted the case would have never been solved had Crocker not made his confession. Not long after that murder on October 6, 1979, Crocker realized he had to make serious changes in his life. He quit using drugs and returned to the teachings of his Christian parents. He got involved in a church and started studying God’s Word. By 1986, he married a woman from his church and they started a family. During the summer of 1998, Crocker and his wife came to a consensus agreement that he needed to confess his crime. He said good-bye to his two children and wife, then boarded a flight from his home in Virginia and flew to Kansas City. A prearranged meeting with prosecutors took place shortly thereafter and now Crocker is serving time in prison. He will not be eligible for parole until 2008. His lawyer, Tom Bath, is amazed at Crocker’s confession. He said, “I have never seen anybody willing to risk so much to take responsibility for what he’s done.” District Attorney Paul Morrison admitted, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” Crocker simply says, “It is hard for me and my wife and our children, but it is the right thing to do.” Daniel Crocker understands that the Truth himself uses the truth itself to set us free, even if it means suffering the consequences of our deeds. (John 8:32). People, Dec. 21, 1988, p. 91; Houston Chronicle, Sept. 26, 1998, p. 21A

Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, recently offered WGN Chicago Radio sports-talk host David Kaplan $50,000 to change his name legally to "Dallas Maverick."

When Kaplan politely declined, Cuban sweetened the offer. Cuban would pay Kaplan $100,000 and donate $100,000 to Kaplan's favorite charity if he took the name for one year.

After some soul-searching, and being bombarded by e-mails from listeners who said he was crazy to turn down the money, Kaplan held firm and told Cuban no. Kaplan explained: "I'd be saying I'd do anything for money, and that bothers me. My name is my birthright. I'd like to preserve my integrity and credibility."

"Christian" is the birthright of every follower of Jesus Christ. We have a responsibility to live every day in a way that brings honor to that name. Citation: Gary Yates; Jamestown, Ohio; source: Skip Bayless, "Radio Host Prefers Class over Crass," Chicago Tribune (1-10-01)

How are you living?
Are your convictions holding up?
Have you ever even given this a thought?

I want us to leave this morning with this fresh on our minds. Let’s just pray and ask God to help us to be honest and think this whole issue through in the coming days and weeks.

This message was developed and adopted from a message preached in 1993 by Keith Drury.

2004/05/02