Spiritual Maturity
The Human Conscience
March 10, 2013 | 
Author The Human Conscience
by Theophilos on Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:46 pm
The function of conscience is knowing right from wrong coupled with an expectation that we should act accordingly.
The first part of this function tends to make us feel autonomous. We don’t need any one telling us what to do,especially God, and we certainly don’t need, nor do we even believe in, absolute standards.This puts us right up there with God, doesn’t it? I mean all I need to do is be true to myself and I will…, will what?
The problem is that our concept of what is right is not even close to what God says is right. When the rubber hits the road, we are always going to look out for our own. God says, in the Bible, that in His ideal society, we should have an attitude which puts others first. It is our nature to do what pleases us.
Conscience is also coupled with the idea that we should always act accordingly. This is one of the problems. We may think that we know right from wrong in a limited sense, but we will not keep on doing the right thing. We do not have that power. That is not in our nature.
This leads to another function of conscience which is to produce feelings of guilt when we don’t act according to our conscience. Conscience not only responds to some wrong which we did, but also to something which we believe we should have done and didn’t, or even something which we believe we should have been and weren’t.
Conscience is that part of our nature which causes us to think that we don’t really need God, because we know what is good.Conscience coupled with pride produces feelings of autonomy.Conclusion: Conscience is not from God and it is not how God speaks to us.When we don’t do things consistent with who we believe ourselves to be, conscience produces feelings of guilt, shame, inferiority, anxiety, or fear; resulting in some form of defensive behavior, self-punishment, hiding, avoidance; or repression, rebellion, compulsive activity, or obcessive thinking. (Because of a function of the mind called imagination, what we believe ourselves to be may be completely unrealistic.)There is a difference between being guilty and feeling guilty. Our mind can make us feel guilty, due to unrealistic expectations from ourself or from others. On the other hand, we can also be guilty without feeling guilty.Conclusion: Guilt feelings should never be used to motivate others, whether it is preaching or parenting.
Following is scripture from the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the Bible, this is probably one of the best known passages in all of the Bible. I believe this tells about what happened to humanity. It also shows that God created Adam and Eve with freewill, the freedom to choose. They chose to be disobedient in the hope of becoming like God and thereby be independent of God.
Genesis 2:15-17
5 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 2:24-25
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 3:1-6
1. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6. And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:7
7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Genesis 3:8-13
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself. 11. And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest [to be] with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this [that] thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
It seems pretty clear to me that Adam and Eve changed, they were different and their relationship with God was different. I believe Adam and Eve received exactly what was intended, through their disobedience they realized a conscience. They obtained a degree of knowledge of good and evil. They did not, however, receive power over it.What was the last thing God asked them? Would He have asked that if He knew they already had a faculty for knowing it before they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
What was their feeling? They experienced shame, fear & anxiety.
What did they do? They covered themselves and they hid.
We should also note that this fear did not bring them to repentence.[1] This fear is not the same as how we are to fear God. The change described here is their death, the presence of God is no longer in them. The condition is still present in all of us, because we are born in the image of Adam. It is also our death. It is the death part of “Guilty and Dead”. We are not only guilty of disobedience, but we are spiritually dead, because, unless we have been “born again”, we are missing the image of God.
HUMANISM:
This new characteristic is the basis for people to think that they don’t really need God, because they are pretty good.
This new character (which is known as the “fallen” nature, or the “Flesh”) is the basis for all humanistic religious philosophies and systems. Even Christian humanism which uses a biblical vocabulary, to establish a system which teaches “If it is going to be, it is up to me”. Understanding our human nature, is one of the primary requirements to come to an understanding of our condition before God.
In this day, it is not difficult for us to imagine someone, even a neighbor, killing us over an argument, or cheating us out of our property, destroying our property for the fun of it, or saying things to hurt us. If we really think about it, it is not difficult to know that we have had, and responded to, similiar thoughts based on retaliation, envy or ways that we can succeeed at someone else’s expense. The Bible says everyone is like this. This is how we are born.
Our condition before God is all bad, but our conscience might have us believe otherwise.The whole biblical message is about this condition in humanity and what God did about it.
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SEARCHING FOR MEANING AND PURPOSE, STRIVING FOR SUCCESS:
Because of some part of our nature(conscience), we are driven to be accepted by others(no one wants to be rejected). Thus we are driven to do things which are expected by others in order to be accepted by them, or to get our way with them. There are two ways to look at this, we can be either the driver or the drivee. Relative to each relationship which we have, we are creating the expectations or we are responding to the expectations of others. We usually want to be the dominate person in a relationship. We want our way.
God’s way is just the opposite. We are to think about the well being of others and put them first. Down deep inside, we all yearn for this type of peaceful, noncompetitive life, but this is only found in the spiritual relationship with God.
Copyright © 1996 – 2008 Theophilos and gflstudy.org web site. All rights reserved.
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How Do We Increase in Faith?
How Do We Increase in Faith?
by Theophilos on Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:51 am
Christian faith is not our intellectual resolve and commitment to something, this is just religious belief.
Faith is not our hope in a promise.
Faith has to do with our experiencing the object of our faith in our heart.
God has never spoken to me, or anyone I’ve ever known, verbally, or through any means of direct revelation. But, I know Him through a “spiritual” communication in my heart. I believe God speaks to us spiritually with a still small voice deep in our inner being which is also called our heart.
If this is true, then faith should be defined as “responding to what God puts into our heart”.
This definition of faith is consistent with scripture and clarifies how faith should work in our life. It is consistent with Eph 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”, so our faith has to be responding to God’s grace which He puts into our heart. It also explains Romans 14:23b “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”, so no matter how good we think it is if we are not responding to what God put into our heart, then it is not of faith and it is sin. So, not only is faith without works dead, but works without faith are sin.
We are not only “saved” by faith, but we are to walk by faith.
Galatians 3:1-5
1 ¶ O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Think about this. If faith is responding to what God puts into my heart, can I increase my faith by my resolve and commitment? Do I increase my faith by doing more for others? The answer is no.
We increase our faith by knowing and responding to what God puts into our heart. And there is a big difference between what God puts into our heart and what someone else puts into our mind.
How do we know what God puts into our heart? I believe it takes time. We must learn to ignore our own thoughts and imaginations, and the thoughts and imaginations of others, and this is not easy. Our tendency is to get on with it. We have a hard time waiting and seeking. I believe when we hear God we will feel enlightened and it will be about something that will make a difference in our life. It is not like pondering the meaning of a scripture and coming to some understanding of it.That is knowledge.
Knowing what God puts into our heart, will have to do with understanding the fulness of God’s grace in our life.
Faith is responding to what God puts into our heart. # Eph 3:14-16, Php 3:13-16
Walking by faith, in the Spirit, not the flesh. # Rom 1:5, 1Cor 2:4.5, Gal 2:20-3:3 5:4-6, Col 2:6.7
SAVING FAITH: is responding to what God puts into our heart concerning our fallen, lost and spiritually dead condition.
WALKING FAITH: we walk the same way we came responding to what God puts into our heart.
Following are some statements relative to this definition of faith:
It is not just an intellectual decision.
It is not initiated by us.
We must learn to know how God speaks to us.
There is a big difference between what God puts into our heart and what someone else puts into our mind, we must be discerning and not just accept any teaching.
Requires thoughtful and prayerful consideration.
Requires humility and setting aside of all self-interest (desire) and self-effort, coming to rest.
Allows grace to be grace, “God acting in our life”. God initiates and we respond as we walk.
It is not necessarily a frequent occurance. If God is not dealing with us in a matter, then we are free to live and choose according to our own decisions being consistent with who we are.
2 Peter 1:3
It is consistent with “whatever is not of faith is sin”. If we are not responding to what God puts into our heart, then we are doing it for some other reason (self-effort, self interest) and that is sin.
It is consistent with “faith without works is dead”. If we are responding, we are doing something. If it is not responding to God, then the faith is dead no matter what we are doing.
People not responding to what God has put into their heart have no faith. They may have a lot of works and pretending, but it is not of faith.
The key to growing in faith is to spend enough time to get to know God personally, not what preaching says and not copying what others claim and pretend, but personally. To learn to know God and how He acts in our life in a personal relationship, we may need to discard some things which we have been taught on how to “look” and “act” like a Christian.
Walking by faith is not trying to do the things Jesus did or doing “Christian duty”, or trying to clean up the flesh to be as good as Jesus is. We are to be “like” Jesus in His attitude. His attitude was that He could do nothing except what came from the Father. Making Jesus lord Vs. living by grace
How do we grow in faith?
Increasing faith is not increasing duties or spiritual disciplines. Jesus said if we had faith as a grain of mustard seed we would move mountains. How many of us are moving mountains? So, it is increasing our connection to or dependence on God, understanding how God works in our lives which increases our faith. There are a lot of views about this. It takes a lot of discernment, prayer and study to sort it out.
Faith increases as we increase our understanding of how God works in our heart.
NOT
Doing more in a denominational congregation,
Volunteering for a mission field
NOT
By cleaning up the “Flesh”
NOT
By doing more for others
Do we grow by doing more for church, God, others and cleaning up our “flesh” or by understanding how God teaches us spiritually?
It is the attitude of the heart not what we do.
How do we grow in understanding the fulness of God’s grace?
Humility – we must be open to God and have a teachable spirit.
Scripture
Testing
Edification by God and by others
Seeking truth
Depending on God
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Copyright © 1996 – 2008 Theophilos and gflstudy.org web site. All rights reserved.
Sanctification
Sanctification is not about us trying to clean-up our “old-nature” by obedience.
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. –2 Thess. 2: 13.
Bob George says, “sanctification of something means it is being used for the intelligent purpose for which it was created”.
Spiritual maturity is not about what we do for God, but understanding what God does in us. It is about putting on the right thing in the right way. What comes out is our love of God and our love of others. This is the “law of Christ” and “obedience of faith”.
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 1 John 4:14-21 (KJV)
Until we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit to really understand this part, we are probably out there giving it all we’ve got to “win” for God. Kind of like our “sacrifice” for God which He said He didn’t want. He wants us to know Him which requires a different attitude in our heart. This attitude change won’t happen until we come to understand and believe that there is nothing we can do for God. This would be kind of humbling, wouldn’t it? Scripture calls it the “offense of the cross”. It all comes from Him if we just come without any fleshly pride and commitments and allow “Christ in us” and His Word to work it out in our life.
Eph 4:21-24
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.Acts 20:32
32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
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