Spiritual Health (part 2)

So spiritual health part two last time we looked at uh... physical health and spiritual health and uh... while we pay a lot of attention to ailments, physical ailments that come our way and we look for help and try to get better.

Sometimes when it comes to spiritual health we I typically tend to ignore it until it gets into a catastrophe and then I need to get pulled out of a ditch uh... So the purpose of last week and this week is just to kind of remind ourselves of how we ought to be uh... you know taking some spiritual vitamins you know for physical health we all take something, good food, rest and vitamins.

We need to be uh... in the word and being nourished by it and prayer and communing with the Lord. And uh... when we do get into uh... ailments and we call the equivalent of those ailments as sin uh... how do we deal with those sins that uh... do uh... fall upon us.

And so we looked at one specific sin we looked at the sin of bitterness as more as an example of how you work through it. So while we uh... what we did was we just took some scriptures and touched upon them we didn't really dive into them but at least it gives us an idea of what bitterness is.

And how do we deal with bitterness uh... scripturally. And so we just we just kind of laid some content or some foundation. Of course there's a lot more to speak about it and more specifically if someone is dealing with if i am dealing with bitterness.

But today i'm going to do something a little bit different uh... We are going to now work through the mechanics of how you take those scriptures and apply them in our lives uh... And also not just for ourselves for others.

If uh... if someone want if you need someone to help you how do you go and approach them. And if you want to help someone who's struggling with this how do you uh... help them through the scriptures uh... in this particular area i mean bitterness is just an example.

We might actually pick something else today. So uh... before i get started i need to wear my glasses so i can read what i've written. Did anybody have an occasion to apply what we learned last week anything that happened.

Actually if you did just raise your hand i won't call upon you. Okay i'll raise my hand because i did need to apply what i thought it actually helps that you're teaching because it's like right on your mind you can't forget it.

And if anyone wants to uh... share feel free to in terms of how this was applied in your life. But uh... sharing some things like this is a little more challenging. You know i always say you should be ready to share your testimony of how you got saved anytime you know.

And not a testifony but a testimony because it can be a lot more about myself my sin and my greatness rather than the Lord and his goodness and his power uh... And the same thing here you know. And there are times when some things are appropriate to share and some are inappropriate to share uh... i can i can be bringing someone down or elevating myself up.

It is appropriate to share how the Lord has helped us in specific ways because it can encourage others how they can be helped going through their own trials. And just like testimony when it comes to salvation uh... so also when it comes to our sanctification we can testify of how God has helped us because it will bring glory to God.

And also uh... help others who might be going through the same trial. Now uh... couple of uh... preliminary comments before we dive into today's new material. Just a reminder again. The whole premise of this spiritual health check.

And how do we uh... work through getting healthier if we are sick or in sin uh... begins with the gospel. Can someone just give me a quick one minute summary of the gospel key points that you think come to your mind when you think of the word gospel grace is free unmerited favor.

Okay what else do you think of. So it is on the finished work of Jesus Christ on my behalf the perfect life substitutionary atonement. And that's the basis of my we call um... new birth the spiritual life that begins.

I'm born as a uh... infant john three. And then i'm growing now as a. So my health as a spiritual being begins in the gospel and it begins with the person of Jesus Christ. Anything else did I say another redemption from sin.

So we really want to be remembering that we were dead in our trespasses and sin we were slaves to unrighteousness. And really you know when I sometimes as a spiritual health I think oh you know I'm saved.

I must be this superhero great guy. Why do I do these things. And I need to remember that this is the bit from which I got saved out of and God has given me positionally has made me perfect in Christ.

But he is transforming me into his son's image progressively. So that is going to be the step movement upward. And so when I think of where I am now with the specific sin I'm caught in I need to remember that God is.

I don't need I don't have to wallow in guilt because Christ has forgiven all my sins including the one that I'm in. I do need to confess and ask for his forgiveness. But it is in the basis of what he has accomplished that I have my hope that he'll finish what he has started in me.

Redemption. Great. Any other thoughts on the gospel. I think that pretty well covers it. The one thing I would probably add is just where it all begins. You know we have a holy God a righteous God a God who is the judge of all the universe who is also a God of who loves and has placed his affection upon me.

And he loved me so much that he sent his son. So there is this balance of the holiness of God and the love of God which we don't have to balance. They are all one in him but I can tend to forget one over the other.

And I always want to be looking back to the nature of God while I'm working through my own sanctification and the gospel is anchored in the character of God himself. So that's that's one thing I want to remind.

The second one is I said salvation. You know we normally think of as three elements. I kind of alluded to it here. What were the three. And I see a lot of hands going up but they were not raised to answer what are the three aspects of salvation as a whole that we normally refer to.

Okay I'm probably not making a lot of sense. Justification. Sanctification and glorification. Justification positionally you know declared not guilty before the courtroom of God. Positionally I am in the heavenlies declared righteous sanctification.

And that's what we are actually talking about yesterday and last week and this week I'm being made holy. I'm practically working out. I'm switching to my next verse. I'm being more and more into the image of Christ.

There's going to be times when I'm going to keep sinning and I will look for God's grace and I will find his grace in my time of need. And I will be able to reflect the goodness of God even in the darkest of times.

And when I look back at my life from when I got saved to where I am now if I do not see a fruit that is in conformity with my faith then I want to be looking back at whether I did have a regeneration to begin with.

So if someone says I have no fruit at all then we would ask them to go back to justification and make sure that they genuinely did trust in their Lord. But for those who are saved sanctification is a joyful process where we get to see those areas of our lives in greater measure as the word of God shines and it illumines more and more.

We understand in greater ways the holiness of God. We understand in greater ways how the sinfulness that I the flesh that I have to struggle with. And so Paul at the end of his life would say you know the chief of sinners because he gets to see God in that much greater measure.

And so also his own uh... uh... sin and failure that needs God's grace to help him through. In this process you get to see how you are transformed into the image of Christ and be an aroma to those around you.

But the last one is glorification. And uh... it's always helpful to remember glorification is in the future. Sometimes in my sanctification I have such a zeal that I want to be uh... in heaven. And that's not a bad thing.

But if I have expectations and uh... if I uh... maybe of myself it's not a bad thing if I have such expectations of others and they don't live up to my uh... expectation of being glorified that can be problematic.

We do have the assurance that one day we will not dwell in the presence of sin anymore. So that's something a glorious future we're looking forward to where we get to see God face to face with nothing uh... hindering our eyes.

So all of these are foundations upon which we're going to be talking here because our focus is going to be very narrowly on sanctification. It's going to be focused on what you must as a believer who is dealing with sin in your life.

And uh... last week again I alluded to this philippians 2 uh... it's not about just your effort you know here's seven steps to get out of whatever it is that you're struggling with anxiety and uh... bitterness or anger or you name it sexual sins.

But rather this is something that God is working in you philippians 2 we looked at. You must work out your salvation with fear and trembling and urgeo push. You know you're going to bench press 140 pounds not of just metal but here of spiritual uh... struggles that you go through.

You must be sweating and toiling as you work out your salvation. It's not a you know just play catch with a tennis ball. This is really something that you're just going to have to work out your salvation.

But it's not just your effort alone you know just bootstrap pick it up and move on. Because for the believer because you have this new life in you you have a regenerate. Your heart is regenerated. You have the spirit of God indwelling you.

You're one in Christ. There is something in that is working itself out and it is God who puts that desire even for the things that uh... you want to grow in holiness. And he's also the one who's enabling.

He's the one who wills and to act according to his good purpose. He's the one who provides you the guidance the wisdom and the power in order to be transformed uh... into his goodness. So everything that we're talking about is happening under that matrix.

It's God's work in you. It's not just my work that makes me sanctified. So now uh... for today's thing I mentioned it's not just for me but also for others uh... if someone can open up to Galatians 6 1 and 2 and just read that whoever has it first can read it and the others can follow.

You don't have to wait for me. So here's a command really for us we ought to be able to not just watch out for the spiritual health of myself but also for uh... others who are it says here caught in any transgression uh... and the way you do it is by keeping watch.

So you don't actually fall in the same sin uh... but also bear one another's burden and fulfill the law of Christ the law of Christ being love your neighbor as yourself and uh... bearing one another's burden.

So this is you know we talked about bench-pressing uh... you know when you're talking about your own spiritual growth now this is more like spotting you know this person is struggling to lift that weight that they are with uh... you know ultimately the only person who can genuinely help them is who?

Christ come to me all ye that are lay... all ye all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. You know Christ is the one who actually takes our burdens upon himself. He's the one who enables us.

But we are meant as a body of Christ to come alongside one another and help and bear one another's burdens as we read in Galatians 6 too. And uh... this is more like spotting where you actually help the person from you know just putting their weight over their neck and choking to death or someone who's already in that state.

And you're like okay desperation come alongside and let's pull this person uh... back to safety. So uh... i mean with all those analogies aside now let's figure out how this process works. So uh... i'm going to be talking in the context of helping someone else but this is we'll go one level deeper to what we talked last time which is about helping ourselves how do we look to the Lord and to the word and to through prayer for our own uh... working out our salvation when we are stuck in a specific sin.

But i'm going to speak it in the context of helping someone else in terms of just the method that would be helpful to do uh... So i have a bunch of books here i might pull one of them based on the questions that we have but i'm i'm going to use a few steps just to kind of lay out the process and then we'll work through them specifically with bitterness in mind.

But if some other example comes we'll switch over to that. So last time if you remember i gave you a few examples i'll just refresh you. Uh... we talked about uh... becky i didn't realize is becky i think she's teaching uh... i didn't realize becky was sitting here when i used this name.

This example just gave that. But uh... in in that in that example we had this person becky who had a inappropriate advance by a worship leader came to the church the they didn't seem to do anything about it and led her to bitterness.

David's father killed by a drunk driver got away with a light sentence bitter with the unfairness of life uh... laura's husband not interested in meeting her needs emotionally and we saw how that led her to kind of wanting to give up on a marriage.

Claire's boss critical and humiliating her in front of her her co-workers and treating her unfairly. And uh... she was unable to let it go and looking for revenge. And so these are just some example.

So whether this is happening in your own life or in the life of someone that you are helping with how do you go about looking to the word for help and then and applying the word in growing out of that that that you might be in this particular one being bitterness.

So we began last week by doing some definitions. We just said okay here are some. What is the bible talk about bitterness. What is bitterness. To begin with uh... can someone if you remember can you just tell me what you remember as definitions of bitterness.

What is bitterness. Unforgiveness is a key component of bitterness. That's right. What else do we remember from the scriptures on bitterness anger. And and we looked at it there is a anger that can be righteous and an anger that can be sinful but an anger that is sinful and not dealt with in a biblical way.

Uh... over a prolonged period of time can come into a state of settled bitterness. And that's that is dangerous for us all. It is a sin against god and against the person you're bitter with any other thoughts on bitterness that you remember from last time.

I think that covers the key ones. Uh... there were a few others that i want to just throw them out to you. So if you're looking to yourself and you're struggling with looking at god because of like this uh... the guy who had his uh... dad killed or maybe the boss who's being unfair here may be a couple of things to be thinking of.

One is uh... like you said unresolved anger. Ephesians 4 26 uh... tells us that uh... be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. It needs to be dealt with quickly. Uh... The other part might be uh... willingness to submit to god.

Uh... we didn't touch upon this last time. But there may be trials and circumstances in my life that you know they are happening and i can just say well you know i'm going to take this on my own uh... i can handle this instead of submitting the trial and the problem before god.

I might be saying okay i need to do this on my own. I keep failing and then i just go down the path that can lead to bitterness because this situation of this person or this problem is just too big for me.

And i need to remember that i'm dependent on god for my sanctification uh... and submission of the trial but really submission of my own life before the lord because there may be things in which i'm required to respond in these particular circumstances but i might actually be uh... wanting to do things my own way you know the lord says and i say no because i want to solve this on my own and they need to change not me in terms of forgiving the person that is that i'm dealing with.

Another aspect is uh... control. And this is the last time i gave you an example from a few years ago in my life. And i had no idea that the problem the source of what just led to bitterness was actually my desire to control the circumstances of life around me.

And uh... i had not even realized it took months before i realized the reason i was so frustrated and i was just bitter was because i thought i could control these circumstances. And it kind of goes back to that submitting to the lord.

And uh... to come to the point to realize i have absolutely no control of this world. There's only god who controls everything and he does it perfectly. And i need to be able to say ok uncle i can do this.

You are god and i can trust you that you will do what is right uh... And it can come out of uh... from the whole forgiveness thing that could be jealousy that is involved you know in terms of looking at someone who is maybe uh... sinfully uh... successful.

And uh... say okay you know why not me. Why him or her. And uh... those could be all different aspects of it. But then comes the question where. Let me ask you this question. We talked about spiritual health.

What do you think is the goal if i'm in a spiritual ditch. Let us say what do you think is the goal that i should be shooting for when i'm in a spiritual ditch. Excellent. Actually uh... you've been down a little bit of a different part.

But you've used the words that i was going to use just a moment i'll come to you. The words why are you downcast. Oh my soul hope thou in god. You know there is there is times when you feel like david is just talking to himself.

I'm glad i have a psalmist here. Who was it? Okay thank you. And uh... and when the psalmist does that there are times when we go through life i have a pain that normally wakes me up to sin against me.

Or that i'm committing more often than not i just want to get rid of the pain. And i don't really look to what are the circumstances in my life that are coming toward me looking at them through the lens of scripture.

Normally i'm just trying to walk through them quickly so i can get out on the other side. Uh... But asking these questions help you look. Take the time to just pause and say what is happening. How do i examine what's happening in my life in the light of scripture.

What are things in my soul that the lord is doing business with. Those are all good questions to ask. Uh... just a moment. Kora kora kora. You need to start writing some. I had i saw two hands back there.

Excellent. And and actually we we need to always remember the pain would be nice to go away. But maturity in christ is a broader goal that we need to be thinking of. So the pain may or may not go away soon.

But if through the pain even if it gets worse if i'm being made if i am conformed to the image of christ we will realize that i can have peace even when the pain is getting much more intense. I can have confidence in the lord even when things just completely fall apart.

I'm praying for the solution and then nothing happens. I know that god's will is working itself out in me and i'm submitting to his will in the process. Excellent. Excellent. I think between the two of you kind of covered the two components i wanted to touch on as terms of what's your goal.

Last time we looked at this. And what's the chief end of man it is to glorify god and to enjoy him forever. Really my purpose in this trial and recognizing especially that god is sovereign that he ordained this trial is that i would glorify god through this time i need to be looking up to him and everything else that we're going to be looking at scriptures take that sanctification component and then draws it out.

You know if the scripture says love one another and uh... i do not love i'm not glorifying god. Now if i just make a list of you know here's all the love things i'm going to do and magic. I checked off the ten and my trouble needs to go away.

I'm thinking incorrectly. You know i'm just what i need to be looking at this love is the character of god himself. And he's the one who has saved me and he has showed his love upon me. And i need to be able to love others because that's what god tells me is his will.

And how do i love this person in the circumstance that's actually causing me a lot of bitterness. And uh... and i want to be introspective. I just don't want to say let go and let god. You know when it comes to justification and sanctification you know theologically we know that's foolish to say okay you know god will kind of make all things happen the way they will.

You know because god says work out your salvation. The way i work them out needs to be from the scriptures for his glory. And god's good purpose is to make me conform and mature in christ. Great points.

And cory. Okay someone covered it already. Okay. So uh... here are these are all just the steps to uh... think through this process as you get started. And now let's say we got started. Uh... let's let's look at a few things.

Last time we looked at some scriptures and so knowledge of the scriptures is essential. Uh... i'm actually before i say that there are two sides to it. One is i'll call them experience and the other one as biblical knowledge.

Let's maybe just have a little bit of a conversation on this. Because depending on how you see this or more than how you see this how you actually deal with your own spiritual health you'll recognize where you're putting an emphasis on.

So uh... let's say bitterness because we're using this helping others. Uh... someone's coming to you and they're just really mad. Let's take that last example of your boss. Someone whose boss is just really mean unfair unkind and wicked.

Uh... and they come and talk to you about it. And they're not asking you for counsel. They're just telling what's happening in their life. Uh... and through these two lens of experience and scripture what do you think would be glorifying god and helping this brother or sister grow in godliness.

Like for you to be able to speak to this person who is approaching you. Maybe my question wasn't clear. Yeah anthony. Excellent. And i think we're missing uh... brother gary here and he mentioned that last time why do we want to pray.

You know first and foremost we want the lord's help. You know all of the great wisdom and you know experience our scripture knowledge is useless if god is not helping this person through this trial. We love this person enough to care for them.

And uh... we need the lord's help. So we need to go to the lord to the lord to get his help. Let me maybe just expand what you just said a little bit. So if you let's uh... you know galatians six one to two it's talking in the context of the church.

So anybody here in this church you know you could think of someone who's a close friend someone who's just an acquaintance. You just meet them. You really don't know anything about their life. Or just well you may know some things about their life.

Or someone who's a like in bbc you have so many people you don't actually don't even know their name. They just you know just so distraught and you just happen to bump into them. It's a brother or a sister in christ.

So depending on your relationship with this person you may or may not be able to connect or understand and explain what is going on. But no matter where this this person is before you are actually even trying to help them.

Let's say you have gone through this trial you actually understand what it is or you have absolutely no experience at all. You're this one person who's never had bitterness in your life. And i i mean that's what i thought before i was bitter in my last trial.

I was like oh i'm never bitter with anybody. I was like oh ok here you go pradeep try this out. So maybe you're in that pre bitterness phase that i was in and i'm like i have no clue what bitterness is.

Why would you be bitter. Come on just trust the lord. Or you know nothing about the scriptures that deal with bitterness. Or you know everything you've studied. You know what the scriptures speak about it.

Now what role do you think these both play in terms of ministering to a friend. And i will pick up what you said about how you get started with helping. Excellent points. There was many things here and i was really not hoping not to have to bring up a couple of books but you've touched on it now i have to.

So the and actually one of the things you mentioned i should it's a confession of my own weakness. There are times when i have used the scripture in a very harsh way speaking to people rather than in a kind way and in a very gentle way in a way that actually applies it in a way that's helpful and not just to people to myself as well.

You know in terms of you know you look at the psalms. The psalms are just so honest about the struggles that people go through and bearing everything before God. And we have a God who is loving and kind and compassionate and merciful and he knows our frame he knows our weakness and he loves us still and he works and he's patient.

He's not looking for me you know to be Mr. Perfect tomorrow he's got all of my life planned out for him. And as someone who's counseling someone else we need to be remembering that as well when we are bringing God's word it needs to be brought with long suffering patience and with kindness.

But i'm going to just pick up a couple of things and have some cautions here both in ministering to others and as well as for ourselves. Empathy, sympathy and support those were three words that can be either used or misused.

So if you think of secular you know there is a sense in which you know whoever is suffering they're the right person and they just need the empathy, sympathy and support to kind of do what they want to be doing rather than looking at what is the truth what does the scripture say is the problem whether it is what they're facing or what they're doing and what does the word of God say as the solution through the problem.

So counseling ultimately is we rest in the word of God as the power you know as we think of the gospel as the power of God into salvation so also it is in the word that we actually have the means by which to help to grow out of to grow in our sanctification to put off sin and to look for God's help as we walk through this trial that we are going through.

So we need to remember that it is always on the basis of God's word that we can actually help. You know all my richest experiences if it is devoid of God's word is meaningless because my experiences could or could not be right or helpful or even connected with what is happening here.

So we need to make sure that the word of God is the foundation the basis upon which I speak. Last week we talked about this. You remember Pastor Mike's counsel you know if it is a sin it is black and white.

We say here is what the Lord says and this is what you need to do in order to grow out of this sin or you know to put off this sin. But if there is wisdom and actually that will come back into this experience he would say you know if I were you you know.

And then say here is what would be helpful for you to do. And this part of it is actually more of a skill it is it takes wisdom to be able to recognize what scriptures what experiences would actually connect with this person who is actually going through something similar be able to do it in a way with gentleness and compassion not just you know here is your medicine.

Open your mouth. I am going to shove it down your throat gobble it and do this five times a day and you know your fever will go away. I need to be able to work with this person with gentleness as I am trying to help them because they are caught up in sin.

And I need to recognize that I need to be I am repeating myself so just a couple of extra words on this before we move on. So J. Adams this is one of the books that we have and I know we have MacArthur's Biblical Counseling as well in our library.

Those give you the dangers to watch out for you know from the secular forms of counseling and how you need to be anchored in the word of God in approaching this. And there was one thing that I was reading this summer and I am going to just read a little bit of a quote because this may sound very counter intuitive talking back again about experience and knowledge of God.

I am going to ask you a question and then I am going to read this. The question is this does God feel your pain. I am deliberately using the word feel there does God feel your pain when you are going through the suffering.

And what do we think that means whether he feels or does not feel. So just let that rattle in your head. And I am going to read this is again another book in our bookstore Matthew Barrett Nungrader. I know all the elders are reading this and I am getting all the youth to get on it too this summer as I teach their classes.

But and I got an audio book from one of you and I am thankful for that because I like to listen to audio books when I am driving. So here is and so the attribute that he handles different attributes of God.

The one that pertains to what Corey said is impassibility. And there there is a theologian I would call him liberal theologian called Multman and Jorgen Multman and he was trying to answer the question of where was God during Nazi Germany when the Jews were in the Holocaust.

And the question is where is God. Multman's answer God is there suffering with you seems okay so far let's just follow his thread a little bit further. And then he says if you don't say God is hanging there on the gallows with you.

Any other answers. This is a quotation. Would be blasphemy. To speak of a God who could not suffer would make God a demon. And that's what he says. And then I'm going to just read a couple more. Actually let me just stop there.

What do you think of what I just read. God's suffering vulnerable. That's a key word there. Okay. Is God vulnerable. No. Okay. Excellent. So when we look at the the life death burial and then the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have suffering and injustice and torment of a way that we can't even fathom.

Yes. And I think that that's precisely it. And I think that's really where he's going for with his whole experience of you know how can God help if he doesn't even identify with or understand or feel what we are going through.

And I think that's what he's trying to get at. But any other thoughts on this. You can say counter views. It's okay. Don't feel like you have to give the right answer. You can raise your questions even if you can't answer them.

Yes. Excellent. And that's referring to who in the trinity Jesus Christ. So you know here is Jesus who is both fully God and fully man. As a man he's been tempted in every way that we are. Can God be tempted.

Come on guys I'm expecting a quick God. No. Yeah. Sorry. Can God be tempted. And Jesus was tempted everywhere. This is where theology gets a little tricky. Jesus was fully God and fully man. And you know we have scriptures that say God it was.

And it's okay to give me the wrong answer. Because we want to work through these things because our goal is to put all the scriptures together as we are understanding the nature of God the help that God gives us when we ourselves are struggling.

And so we look to Jesus Christ as a when he was the perfect man fully tempted never sinned struggled. He knows all. And I think Hebrews 4 talks about that as well in terms of how he 4 and 5 we can come before him because he is a great high priest who knows our weaknesses.

And there is a sense of identification that you have in the person of Jesus Christ as one who is fully man. But what was talking about was not about the man Jesus Christ. He is talking about God in his deity.

And so the attribute that we were looking at is called impossibility. And that talks about how God is not I think vulnerable. He is not one who is just passing through these emotions. And actually it is challenging because you have scriptures that talk about how God grieves.

You look at the Israelites through the wilderness and how they are constantly fickle. And if you were to read from a surface standpoint it may seem like God was all excited bringing them out with the 10 plagues and then year one and it's all gone down.

It's like these people are just useless. Is that the nature of our God that is reflected in the whole corpus of the scriptures. And how do you read those scriptures that talk about the grief that God experiences in light of all the other scriptures that talk about the unchanging nature of God the sovereign and eternal purposes of God through my trials.