Principles for Honoring God

Two weeks ago I gave the message uh how shall we honor God? Now you remember for those of you who were here, those of you who weren't here, basically I wanted to look at the fact that we live in this world where so many people in good intention keep and observe things and they say that it honors and they're doing it to honor God.

I wanted to step back from that and say, do we get to decide that? Does go does God say how he wants to be honored or do we get to choose for ourselves how we honor God? Like that's probably an important question to to look at. So we walk through the ways in which God says he's honored which is through obedience. So he gives us his commandments and he gives us the Sabbath and he gives us the holy days and he gives us food laws and he gives us tithing and other commands that we understand and we follow because he says do these things. Thou shalt do

these things. So we do them to honor God. So what was interesting about that was a number of the conversations that I had after services with people in which questions come up about well God doesn't say here about this decision I have to make thou shalt do this and thou shalt not do that. What do I do? And those of you who've counseledled with me, you know that I'm not going to answer that for you. But what we will talk about are principles.

And that's what I want to talk about today in a follow-up message that I'm calling principles for honoring God. When God's not clear, he doesn't give thou shalt do and thou shalt not do, we have to figure out, well then if I'm trying to honor him in choices that I make, in things that I do, how what do I do? what what what are the principles that I would apply to that that will help me make a decision that truly honors God? So, I want to walk through some of that today.

And I want to begin over in Hebrews chapter 5:14. Hebrews chapter 5. Actually, I'm going to start here in verse 12. Sorry about that, you notetakers. Little scribbling here and there is good for your notes. It's going to happen with me. You know that. All right, let's start in verse 12. Hebrews 5.

He says, "For though by this time you," so who is you? The book is titled Hebrews. The author is writing to Jewish Christians in the first century in the church. Okay. Okay. So he says, "For this time, for by this time you ought to be teachers of what?" Of your beliefs. If someone asks you what you believe, you ought to be able to say what you believe and defend that.

Right? So he says, "You ought to be teachers of what you believe. But now you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. and you have come to need milk and not solid food. So what is milk spiritually speaking? What is milk? Well, the imagery that is supposed to be evoked obviously would be of a baby nursing, incapable of holding a spoon, feeding themselves, can't change their own diapers, right? Can't dress themselves.

They are incapable of caring for themselves and utterly dependent on mom and dad. Right? That baby needs milk spiritually. What is the equivalent? Someone brand new, someone who's really never heard the truth before, who if you demanded that they justify the Sabbath or the holy days would be like it's in the Bible, right? And so he says here that you're incapable of anything stronger than milk. You can't handle solid food.

What is solid food? Again, the equivalent, a human being sits down and has a beautiful steak and they cut that up and they eat that and they enjoy that along with all the trimmings and we understand an adult eating a meal. Would you do that with your six-month-old child? cut that big piece of ribeye and shove it in their mouth. Really? I do. They even have teeth at all then at six months.

Do they have teeth? I can't remember. When do they start getting teeth? Not. No. So, they're going to gum that thing and choke on it probably. No. None of us does that. Spiritually, what's the equivalent of solid food? I know that's a harder question. I'll give you a clue.

Whatever it is scripturally that leads us to the kingdom of God, that is solid food. that takes you further down that road, that narrow path that leads to the kingdom. That's solid food. Now, that that's higher level Christian living. That's higher level Christian processing. Continuing on, he says, "So for everyone, verse 13, for everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

But solid food, verse 14, solid food belongs to those who are of full age. That is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Okay? So he's added a lot here for us to think about, for us to chew on as we think about this subject. The word discern here according I'll I'll give you theer's Greek lexicon's definition.

It defines it as a thorough judgment. The ability to distinguish or discriminate between things especially between right and wrong, truth and falsehood. Okay, one more time just to be clear. What does discern mean? Because it said that those who are full of age, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern.

Well, that discern means a thorough judgment, the ability to distinguish or discriminate between things, especially between right and wrong, truth and false. Okay? This is what we're supposed to be able to do to be able to discern. The babe cannot do this. The full of age do this. So this isn't surface level observations. This is a spiritually developed skill.

It's the ability to detect the difference between things that may not be obvious at first glance. You have to think it through. You have to apply principles that help you to see what's right and what's wrong with whatever it is. This requires maturity. That's the point of full age means mature. So God expects us to grow in maturity.

Now spiritual maturity doesn't mean we always have a verse to quote for every situation. Like unless you have a photographic memory and I don't what happens for me is and maybe this happens for you is I will remember a paraphrase of it a principle or a a something that is in the scriptures you know and I'll be like I remember a scripture that just talks about x y or z and then to find that I'll Google it if I want to find it quickly or I'll bring up esort and I'll bring up the little magnifying glass and

I'll s and I'll search for it and I'll find it that way. But, you know, I mean, I read through my Bible. It doesn't mean I don't know it's in there, but I don't have it all memorized. I'm just not that good. And I am 60. That's a complete defense. You won't you wouldn't know, but trust me. All right. But it does mean, by the way, so so I don't expect everyone to be able to apply the specific book, chapter, and verse to every situation that you're going to come in contact with. It's just impossible for our minds. We just, unless you're that miracle person. But

it does mean that we've trained our minds with God's word so that we can rightly evaluate what is good and what is not. We remember the paraphrase. We remember the gist of what the Bible says on something and the principle we want to apply.

And that's where our minds should be going is is working to build in that knowledge. Even if I can't quote precisely where it is exactly in the Bible. So discernment is the application of God's revealed mind in areas where he may not have given a direct command. So as we grow in maturity, we learn to apply the foundational principles of God's word. Principles that help us judge not just what is allowed, but what truly honors God.

My first point, God expects us to discern based on his character and his word. God expects us to discern based on his character and his word. A scripture you probably are familiar with here. I'm going to turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 21. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, "Test all things, hold fast that or hold fast what is good.

" The word test here means to examine, prove, or scrutinize something to determine its genuiness. So, I mean, I can picture I can picture I I remember when my wife and I were shopping for her engagement ring and we're at the Shane company. And have you ever Can any of you actually see a flaw in a diamond when they give you the lens thing? Because I learned then that I have zero skills at this.

I don't even know what I'm looking for. And he goes, "Yeah, there's a slight imperfection right here in this little region here. Can can you see that?" And I'm like, "No, really, I'm going to be honest. No, not at all.

" But if you have an eye for it, if you've been trained for it, you can scrutinize that diamond for its flaws. Presumably, you can identify them. I had to take their word for it. And they mark it on the piece of paper to give to you, too, by the way. They tell you right where the flaw is. Presumably, somebody else who looks at it goes, "Yeah, that's right." If they're trained. I am not that person.

Mint, you know what the thinking now is? What if there's like a dozen flaws and he only told me about one? She's got a bad ring and I don't even know it. And now she's been wearing it for 37 years. At this point, it's no longer my fault. Going to be honest. All right. So, but that's what the idea there is, is that you have to try to figure out what is the genuiness of the thing, the decision you're trying to make.

It's the same word that's used for testing metals to determine their purity. All right? So, this tells us God expects his people to examine every practice, every tradition, everything that we do, not out of convenience for how it affects my life and anything like that, but really with spiritual eyes analyzing with a spiritual scrutiny.

Does this honor God? And it said, of course, we just read, if something is good, what does it say? Hold fast what is good. So, we're supposed to be analyzing the choices that we're making to hold fast to what is good. That's why we're examining what we're doing. So, discernment then is not about looking for loopholes, gaps.

Can I get away with this? It's about searching for whether or not we are aligned with God's will. Is what I want to do is what I'm being is what I'm looking at or choosing between doing is it does it align with God's will? Notice that Paul didn't say, "Hey, test all forbidden things." Right? It's test all things, right? test all things. You're supposed to look at everything.

All right, that's that's an important clue about what he had in his mind. Okay, so that means customs and habits and cultural practices, family traditions, the holidays, even new ideas and worship and so forth. Everything should be scrutinized. Everything should be scrutinized to ensure that it honors God. Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1:es 9 and 10, Paul says in verse 9 here he says and and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment that you may approve the things that are excellent that you may be sincere

without offense till the day of Christ. What is the day of Christ? That's when he comes back. Until that day happens, this is what we're supposed to be doing. Practicing this kind of discernment in our lives. Not just accepting because, well, that's the way I grew up. My family has always done that. It's our practice.

It's like, okay, but you're called out of this world now. You need to take a look at all of that stuff. analyze it, critically evaluate that, scrutinize it. And what does he say here to do about that? He says, "That you may approve." This is our decisions. That we may approve what? That which is excellent. The things that are excellent.

That's what we're supposed to be working on. So that's a higher standard than just avoiding sin, isn't it? you know, the the person who's okay, we've all have children. Most of us have had children, raised children. You know, the attitude of the younger child. I mean, when the kids are down here at this age, they're trying to find out what I can get away with most of the time.

And so, they're not saying what it what can I do here, mom and dad, that would absolutely please you. We would love it if they did that. Most of the time it's just trying to find out what can they do just short of getting a spanking. Like that's most kids that's where they live. Where am I going to how far can I go without getting in trouble? That's not what God's really looking for in the spiritual adult. Just putting it out there.

Maybe a higher standard like really seeking to please him, which is what we would want from our kids. But the ability to make these kinds of judgments that's not automatic. It has to be developed in us. So we read about the training that we need in Hebrews. Now it doesn't use the word training. It uses the word what? Exercised.

Right? It says those who by reason of use have their senses exercised. If I said, "Can you think of a physical example of what that's talking about?" When it uses the word exercise, and by reason of use, I think of going to the gym.

That means something probably different when I was a kid because when you went to the to the gym as a kid, you played basketball or you played volleyball if that's what the deal was. Sometimes indoor soccer, puff softball with the whiffle ball. We played some whiffle ball when I was a kid. But you go to the gym to work out. What's interesting is that word exercised is from the Greek word gumnazo. Guu m a z o.

That's the Greek word. That's the same root word that forms our word gymnasium. And so you can't help but see this connection to the idea of by reason of use. We go to the gym and we by reason of use of our bodies exercise ourselves. Here he's saying okay spiritual exercise does the same thing you have to practice these things whatever these things are this is how you build your discernment and it is discernment that's required to be able to see what God wants and decide between what is right and what is wrong what is true and what is false

we notice here that the Bible is our tool and this is where we need to be building our discernment from. So 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17. 2 Timothy 3 16 and 17. Just a reminder, all scripture, this is now all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that if we do those things, if we yield to the process, that the man of God, the woman of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So when God doesn't speak specifically, this is where we go to learn, well, what principles of God do I apply to help me to do what he wants me to do that would honor him? Not just, hey, God, is this allowed? Like, yeah, we can start there, but he really wants us to move past is this allowed to would this please you? That's really where God wants us to live.

So God does not want us to stumble through life guessing about what we should do or should not do to honor him. He wants us to discern that. And he's given us everything that we need to be able to do that. He's given us his commands, his judgments, the holy days, his plan of salvation. He has given us the indwelling of his holy spirit so that we can evaluate not only what is right but what is excellent to God so we can approve that.

So I want to walk briefly through seven principles because my second point is godly discernment is guided by clear biblical principles. Godly discernment is guided by clear biblical principles. I want to walk through seven of those today to help us to see what we should be paying attention to when we're making choices, when we're deciding what is excellent before God.

So number one, the first principle, is it associated with false worship or pagan practice? The first question we need to ask about something that we're considering doing is, is it associated with false worship or pagan practice? That might seem like the most obvious principle, but we cannot afford to overlook it.

God repeatedly warns his people not to adopt religious customs that come from the worship of false gods, even if those customs are repurposed, which happens today. Let's go over to Deuteronomy 12. God is not ambiguous about this. Deuteronomy chapter 12, I'm going to begin in verse 30. Actually, I think I'm going to start earlier than that. Let me look here.

Yeah, let's pick this up in verse 29. Deuteronomy 12:29. It says, "When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess and you displace them and dwell in their land." So this is after they go into the promised land and God is going to push out all those peoples. He says, "I'm going to give you their land.

And when you go in to take their land," verse 30, he says, "Take heed to yourself that you're not ins snared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, "How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise." Verse 31. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.

For every abomination to the Lord which he hates, they have done to their gods. For they even uh burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. So he sums this up in verse 32. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it. That's that could not be a more clear instruction for us.

God has already given us what he wants us to do. He doesn't want us adding to it. He doesn't want us taking away from it. Very simple, very straightforward. So, we can't take some pagan practice, repurpose it, slap a label on it that calls it somehow Christian, and then say, "See, we're worshiping God." God says, "That was a pagan practice.

No, thank you. See, notice that the command doesn't just forbid us to worship false gods themselves. It forbids adopting their methods of worship, even with good intentions. So, a practice that's rooted in pagan worship, even if it's stripped of its original meaning, is still not a clean offering to God.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says this, "The detestable things of false worship do not become sanctified simply by attaching God's name to them. So the origin of a tradition matters. If it came from the worship of other gods, false gods, even if modern practitioners deny that connection, it still violates the principle of holiness and separation that God requires.

Point number two, the second principle, does it reflect the holiness of God? Does it reflect the holiness of God? God is holy. And that means that he himself is set apart. That's what it means to be holy. But he himself is set apart and he's pure and he's undefiled. But notice Peter records for us how we're supposed to be in 1 Peter chapter 1 15 and 16.

1 Peterap 1:15 says, "But as he who called you is holy, sanctified, set apart, you also be or become holy, sanctified, set apart in all your conduct." Every choice we make matters. The God who is holy and sanctified and set apart commands us to be like He is. So when discerning whether something honors him, we have to ask, does this reflect God's holiness or does it reflect the world's culture, its values, or its impurities? Because these are the opposite of God.

So holiness isn't just avoiding sin. It's about us aligning oursel with God's very nature, acting like he acts, sanctifying ourselves, setting ourselves apart in this world through our choices to reflect the father and not the world. The third principle, and again, this is not an exhaustive list of principles by the way.

You may easily identify other principles that we should be thinking about, but I want to give you just these. So, I'm on my third one. Does it replace or compete with what God has commanded? Does it replace or compete with what God has commanded? So, another key principle here is that man-made religious traditions often don't just add something, they replace something.

We see this in the New Testament as Christ dealt with the Pharisees and their false religion. Mark 7:es 8 and 9. Let's notice Christ's criticism. Mark 7:es 8 and 9. I actually think I want to now this we we'll pick this up here. So Mark 7:8 says, "For laying aside the commandment of God you," he's telling the scribes and Pharisees, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pictures and cups and many other such things you do.

And he said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition." And he gives us an example right here in verse 10. For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother." This is the commandment that we know. It's the only commandment with promise. "And he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.

" The very high standard of honoring your mother and father. But what were the Pharisees doing? Well, you say in verse 11, if a man says to his father or mother, well, whatever profit you might have received from me is corban, that is a gift to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother. You imagine today if your your parents need help and you're like, "Not my problem." What I was going to help you with, they gave it to the church.

like I had the means to help you, but I chose to give it to the church. And yet the Pharisees were encouraging this exact act. You think that the lay Jew came up with the idea of Corban? Hardly. But this principle is crucial for us when we're evaluating holidays like what? Christmas or Easter or whatever.

They're all out there. We know that they don't exist in a vacuum. They claim to honor God, but in doing so, they replace the actual feasts and the commands that God has given. The most of the time, do you know somebody who's deliberately purposefully keeping observing Christmas and the holy days? I be surprised.

It's like one or the other, isn't it? Because those who preach that Christmas is okay are not preaching the holy days. So, how could you possibly observe both? Which is the point, isn't it? We dismiss the one in favor of the one we want and say that it's okay. I'm not criticizing them. They do it genuinely believing they're honoring God in many cases. But God says, 'But that doesn't honor me.

So it's important for us to realize that if it competes with or replaces what God has commanded, sorry, that's not acceptable. That's the principle that we would apply. Anything that competes with God's commanded observances, either in time or meaning or devotion, does not honor him. So we cannot say that we honor God by engaging in traditions that he never authorized, doesn't approve of, never commanded, and which conflict with what he has commanded.

Okay. Principle number four. Does it offend the conscience or cause others to stumble? Does it offend the conscience or cause others to stumble? So sometimes a practice may not be obviously sinful, but maybe it causes confusion or damages somebody else's understanding of the truth, something we should be thinking about on the issue of holiness.

Paul addressed this extensively when he was talking about food offered to idols. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 beginning in verse 23. He says here, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful." All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.

Just because it's legal to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do when it comes to offending a brother or sister. Like it might be okay or legal for you to do it, but you know, we get people coming into us who are new to our beliefs and they don't maybe understand everything perfectly just right out of the gate. And maybe something we might do might offend somebody who's that new to the process.

And who might be wondering why we're so liberal to feel we can just do that thing that for them feels like an offense to God. So what do we do? Call them weak? Accuse them of having an inadequate relationship with God? You simply don't understand the truth? No. Paul says it may be lawful, but if it ruins their spiritual walk, if it unwinds them, if it causes them to stumble and fall spiritually, what did Christ say? Woe to those who caused the least of one of these of my children to stumble. Be better if they

had a millstone hung around their neck and they were thrown in the sea. Yeah, it's like he's not a fan. We can go with that. He's not a fan of that. So, this is something that we have to think about in making these decisions. It's a principle that we need to apply. Discernment requires us to consider how our choices affect others.

Even if we feel free to do something, if it sends the wrong message, it may not be appropriate. All right. Point number five or lesson number five or excuse me, principle number five. This is the heart of it, I think. Is it pure, lovely, and of a good report? A simple question, a simple analysis on whether we should do a thing because we are trying to honor God in our choices.

Well, is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it of a good report? Philippians chapter 4 where Paul says, "Hey, this is something we should be considering in our choices. In fact, this is the way we should be thinking every day, what we should be contemplating." Philippians 4:8 where Paul says, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

So if a practice doesn't meet this criteria, if it's impure, if it's based on a lie, it's morally inappropriate, celebrates things contrary to God, we need to look at that. We need to scrutinize that. But this is a positive principle because it's not just what we're supposed to avoid.

It's what we're supposed to pursue. This is what we're looking to pursue these things. So as a principle, this is something we should have at the forefront of our mind. Is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it of a good report? That might affect shows I'm watching, music I'm listening to, places I go. All those decisions run through this might change things that I'm doing if I have these thoughts at the front of my mind.

Might even be the news that I'm listening to. Sorry, I was listening to the news coming up today and I was like, man, it's what's edifying about this. It's not a lot. I can tell you that. Not a lot. All right. Principle number six. Does it glorify God or ourselves? Does it glorify God or ourselves? Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 only. Let's go down to verse 31.

1 Corinthians chapter 10:31 where Paul says therefore whether you eat or drink am I in verse 31 1 Corinthians 10 1 Corinthians 10:31 therefore whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God so discernment asks who's being honored by this action Is God being glorified or is it more about nostalgia, family pressure, cultural consequences, being cancelled if you don't go along? Like what's it about? And I was thinking about how we as human beings tend to rationalize our way through decisions that we make. And sometimes the decision

can be very challenging, right? So we might be thinking about ourselves in the decision-making process. How will this affect me? Not whether it honors God, but how will I be affected? What choice am I making here? Will it embarrass me? Will I have to answer questions that I'm uncomfortable answering? Maybe I'll have to actually know a scripture that defends a belief I have. Maybe that puts us in an awkward place.

Maybe I just don't like the idea that I might be singled out because I'm the one person in the room that doesn't believe in this thing. It's like, if it's about me, why is it about me? It's about God. It's supposed to be about God. What's honoring God? What glorifies God? If that's what we're truly after, then the personal embarrassment of the moment or the discomfort that we feel because we're in a circumstance that we don't think really honors God, maybe we realize we're going to have to do something about that.

Well, nobody likes that a lot. But it is something, it is a principle that we need to apply. It is the glory of God that has to be the guiding concern in everything that we do. All right. The seventh principle I want to give to you is simply this. Would Christ do this? Would he approve? Would Christ do this? Would he approve? Years ago, those of you who are older probably remember the bumper stickers we would see WWJD.

What would Jesus do? Remember all those? That was a big thing years and years ago. Well, a lot of people think Jesus would approve of a lot of things that the Bible says he would not approve of. So, you know, you have to look at the scriptures and say, "Okay, would Christ actually approve of this? Would he do it himself?" Well, you might say, "Come on, he is Jesus." Yeah, he was Jesus the Christ.

He set the bar for what is acceptable and not acceptable in what we do. We are supposed to become like him making the same choices. You know, he wasn't cruel. He was just honest. Think about that. We don't have to be mean when we don't participate in something we know we should not participate in. So, we don't have to be mean and nasty to simply say no.

We can tell them the truth in love. As Paul says in Ephesians, we can speak the truth in love. You don't have to speak the truth in meanness. Speak the truth as nasty as you need to. It's like you can do that in a loving way. So, we have to ask that because John here again, I love going back to first John. So, first John here, we're at the end of the century.

He's the last of the apostles. This is 60 years after Christ's death. 60 years later, John hasn't wavered any. He says here in 1 John 2 verse 6, 1 John 2:6, he says, "But he who says he abides in him," that's Christ, ought himself also to walk just as he walked. What's funny about that to me is if you were truly interested in doing that, you would actually see how he walked.

You'd open the pages of of the Bible, you'd read through the four gospels and you'd see how Christ walked, what he objected to, what he taught, how he lived, how he served. It would no longer be a big mystery. But today, people would rather just say, "No, Jesus was all about love and therefore he would tolerate so many things that are intolerable to Christ.

" And so, it's important for us to realize that John 60 years after the death of Christ was still saying, "Ye ought to walk the way Christ walked." And we have the gospels to help us to do that. One of which was written by the very same author. All right. The last thing I want to talk about today, so I've given you those seven points. I want to transition into something that's important on this issue.

Paul touched on it when he talked about how we treat other people in our decisions and what effect it might have on their conscience. Now, he described the conscience of the person who's brand new as being weak. It just means that they're immature in their walk. They're still babes perhaps and still learning. But yet he still said it was important for us to contemplate their conscience.

And that made me think about the question of well what's happening with our own conscience. So this point is called is is is called this why a trained conscience matters. A trained conscience matters to be able to apply godly principles. Right? When God doesn't say, "Thou shalt do this and such and thou shalt not do this and such for us to be able to sleep at night.

" God gave us a conscience and he wants us to train that conscience correctly. So he gives us his Holy Spirit which is indwelling to help nudge us along in the areas we need to be working on that conscience. Romans chapter 2:1 15 because how we live and practice what we live and practice affects our conscience. Let's notice what Paul says here in Romans chapter 2. Uh, let me see where I want to pick this up at.

Okay, we're going to start here in verse 14. We'll read 14 and 15. He says, "For when Gentiles," so now we know who he's talking about. "For when Gentiles who do not have the law of God," they are called out of this world, they did not have the oracles of God, did not know and did not understand the law of God.

So he's he's noting that, but he but he's got something important to say about that. He says, "So they do not have the law, but by nature do the things in the law. These, although not having the law, are a law to themselves who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. Their thoughts are accusing or excusing.

You hear the voice. You know you do. When you're contemplating a particular thing, your conscience is saying the things you know you should do. Even while you might be debating upon whether that's technically in bounds or not, your conscience is telling you those things you're already convicted of. It's reminding you.

It's telling you, you hear the voice. We all have that voice in us. God gave us that voice. And it bears witness against us. When it's telling us, you know, you shouldn't be doing that. And you're like, I have to make a choice about whether I'm going to do that or not now because my conscience is telling me something.

And I personally have come to the place in my life where I like to sleep at night. So, I like to not violate my conscience as much as possible. So, I try to listen to it. Here's the thing. A conscience can be misinformed. It can be weak. It can be seared. Not every conscience reflects God's standards. In fact, the Bible shows multiple ways a conscience can go wrong. 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4.

verses 1 and two it says now the spirit expressly says that in the latter times times we live in some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. Do you think they know their doctrines of demons? Think they're like, you know what this is? A doctrine of demons. Let's follow that. No.

No. speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. I was contemplating to myself about how many compromises does it take against your conscience to sear it? It's got to be more than one, right? You know you shouldn't do this thing. You did it. You feel as you know awful about that. It happens again. Happens a third time.

I don't know what the number is where your conscience gets seared. It's more than once. It's probably less than a hundred. But I'm like, if you've done something a hundred times, you're long past conscience here. like that's no longer a problem to you or you wouldn't have done it a hundred times, right? And so you can sear your conscience just like a scar, just like being burned with a hot rod, a rod of iron.

This is what can happen. And someone whose conscience is seared no longer feels conviction about doing that wrong thing. It's been dulled by repeated sin. So like skin burned by an iron, it becomes desensitized. That's what's wrong with searing our conscience. We become desensitized to that sin. Some consciences are overly sensitive, which the Bible calls weak, because they're based on fear or maybe culture or misinformation rather than on God's word. That's why the person who's first at it, who's really trying to figure

this out, they're going to be weak on some things. They're trying to figure it out. That's why we don't throw rocks at them and accuse them of being weak in the faith when they're just brand new to it. We try to help them to see what the Bible says about something. So Paul over here in 1 Corinthians 8 touches on this.

1 Corinthians 8 again. He's talking about the things offered to idols. Now, what he's essentially Paul's default position is an idol is nothing. It's a man-made carved image of nothing. There's no spirit in it. It doesn't eat, breathe, talk, walk, do anything. It's just an object. It's stone or it's wood or it's whatever it's made from.

There's nothing in it except we get down to verse seven and he says, "However, there is not in everyone that knowledge. For some with consciousness of the idol until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled." We can have weakness because we haven't educated oursel.

Maybe I haven't looked into something enough to really know it, to really understand it. And maybe I fear doing it simply because I don't know what I'm doing at all. And so I need to be thinking about that. I need to analyze that. I need to educate myself. Others may excuse wrongdoing, reasoning that it is acceptable.

That's a misinformed conscience. One that feels clean while acting wrongly. So the goal is not just to follow your conscience but to train it properly so that it discerns rightly. A mature conscience aligns with God's mind. A mature conscience, one that we're developing, we are working on, we're refining, we're sharpening.

Well, that's going to align with God's mind. And Paul provides the example of a conscience which is formed by truth over in Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter 24 verse 16. Paul now is describing himself. Verse 16. He says, "This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

" I'm getting to that place where I'm striving to have a conscience that's without offense towards God or men. Meaning, I'm not trying to offend either our Heavenly Father or any of you, anyone else at all. He worked to maintain a clear conscience, one that would not accuse him before God or cause offense to others.

And that takes intentional effort. So, a properly trained conscience should be sensitive to what God calls sin. It should be unafraid to reject false standards. It should be firm when pressure to compromise arises. It should feel conviction where God convicts us. And it should be at peace when we live that way.

That's the conscience that we want when we're trying to go to sleep at night where I'm not wrestling over bad choices I made all day long. I worked hard at not doing so. The conscience has to be trained by the word of God. That's how we train a pro a conscience properly. God gives us his word. So that's why we talked about in principle having to know this word, applying what it says here in our lives, practicing, exercising it.

Something that David said over here in Psalms 119 about essentially the same uh same thing. He says here in Psalms 119:1, he says, "Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you." It's just a way of saying, "I have made it a part of me. I read it. I study it. I am living this way. I'm making this a part of me." Your words, this is how I'm training my conscience. your words.

So, it's the word, it's God's word in our heart that becomes the standard that shapes our conscience. And there's only one way to get God's word into our hearts. You have to read it daily. It has to be an intentional part of our routine. It's like going to the gym. For those of you that go to the gym, I probably should go to the gym more than I do.

I probably should just walk. That'd be a good start. But as we strengthen our bodies by training with exercise, so we strengthen our conscience by training it with God's word. That's the point. So that means reading the Bible not just to learn facts, but to learn God's mind, asking questions like, "What does this passage reveal about what God values? What pleases God? What grieves him? [Music] We also train the conscience by honest reflection.

So when we're reading those very words of God and it's offering correction to choices I've made in my past, am I open to seeing that? maybe changing my behavior because I see in myself where I've fallen short of that thing I just read. We have to be willing to honestly reflect on what we read.

So when the word corrects us, we have to respond with repentance, not resistance. That's a part of developing a properly trained conscience. But thankfully, God has given us his Holy Spirit to help us train our conscience correctly. Remember John 16:13. One of the roles that we're told the Holy Spirit provides for us in John 16:13. It says, "However, when it the Spirit of truth has come, it will guide you into all truth.

For it will not speak on its own authority, but whatever it hears, it will speak." and it will tell you things to come. So, it's guiding us into the truth if we'll listen. God wants to lead us into the truth. This is why he gives us his spirit. So when we encounter practices or decisions where there's no explicit command, whether it's a cultural holiday or maybe some family event or I don't know personal traditions or whatever, the trained conscience guided by God's word and the spirit becomes the deciding factor.

So because of that a trained conscience brings peace. A trained conscience brings peace. Well, when we follow it, when we don't follow it, we're violating our consciousness. We don't have peace. So, it's like you train it and then you follow it, you'll have peace. That's the point. Romans chapter 14. Romans 14 verses 22 and 23.

22 and 23 it says, "Do you have faith?" Remember what faith is? Belief in God paired with obedience to what God says based on trust in God. That is faith. And he says, "Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemning if he eats because he does not eat from faith. For whatever is not from faith is sin.

That's a strong caution, isn't it? The passage doesn't teach that anything we do in faith is automatically right. Instead, it teaches that acting without a clear conscience is sin. Even in gray areas, if your conscience is pricricked, there's a reason if you've properly trained it, it's pricked. You're supposed to listen to it. It's telling you something's off about this. Something's wrong with this.

What I'm hearing isn't right. What I'm doing may not be right. You need to listen to that. That's the point of training our conscience so that it can help us avoid dishonoring God. This also means we have to respect one another's conscience. That was Paul's point, wasn't it? They might be weak.

I have no right to run over them in an area where I think they might be weak in their understanding. I have no right to do that to them. We need to be tender about somebody else's conscience, too. If somebody says that really bothers me, then we need to be respectful of that as well. I'm really not comfortable with this. Okay. Okay.

If their answer isn't to break God's law, let's be respectful of their conscience. Final thoughts. A trained discerning conscience is not developed by accident. It's the result of immersion in God's word. It's response to correction. It's prayer for wisdom. It's practicing godly judgment. It's submitting to where God's spirit is leading us. The more we live that way, the more we're going to be able to see clearly when scripture is silent to discern when a practice may seem incorrect, innocent, or conflicting with God's nature, or when it's acceptable but not excellent.

So, our goal here isn't to make the safe choice. It's to make the right choice, the honorable choice, the excellent choice in honoring God. So, as we wrap up here, I want to return to the question that motivated our study. How do we honor God in the areas where he has not explicitly spoken? Well, the answer does not lie in personal preference or cultural tradition, but in discernment shaped by God's word.

That's not a loophole for self-justification. That's not a way for us to find room for things we already want to do. It's a spiritual discipline. We have to practice. It's learned. It's over time that it's developed and it helps us recognize what's good, what's better, and what's excellent in God's eyes.

So, not every situation is addressed directly in scripture. Not every decision we face can be examined through God's revealed word. But it can be understood the right way to do something by God's revealed character, by what we know about him, what he's revealed about himself, what he wants us to do to please him.

We have all of that in the pages of our Bibles to study how to truly honor him. the principles we studied today. Is it rooted in false worship? Does it reflect God's holiness? Does it compete with his commands? Does it edify or confuse others? Is it pure and virtuous? Does it glorify God? Would Christ approve? These are the principles we can apply to the decisions that we make about the question of what really honors God.

These are the anchors that we need to have in our lives designed to steady us in a world that is constantly redefining what is good and what is evil. Let's end over here in Ephesians chapter 5 10. Well, I'll start. I'll pick it up here in verse eight. I know if you're not taking it. Sorry, 8 through10. It says, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the world.

Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." That has to be our aim in every decision, large or small, obvious or unclear. We need to seek to honor God, not just in our actions, but in our motives, in wisdom, and in faith.

That's the walk of a mature Christian. And that's what honors God.