Living Between the Extremes - Lesson 9 - Biblical Boundary #7

Biblical Boundary # 7
For helping us find direction in those gray areas.
Does my conscience condemn me for it?

This is an area of degrees.
Your conscience will convict you heavily about murder.
Your conscience may convict you less if you are speeding
and going along with the flow of traffic.

There are two examples and there are many.

Is the conviction less if the consequence is worth the pleasure we are going to receive?
Think of a child disobeying.
They heard you and they know they are going to get a spank on the hand
or go to bed early and they went ahead and did it anyways.

Did they believe they were going to get the consequence
Or did they not believe the consequence would be handed out
because of their parent’s inconsistency?

It might be easier if every time we sinned
the Lord handed us the same punishment every time.
At the moment of the offence.

We get away with speeding.
Some of us have gotten caught,
But we have gotten away with it.

We have told our children they would go to bed early
And let them stay up to their normal time.
Do our past experiences dictate our level of conscience in this regard?

Opening thoughts…





When we are caught doing something we don’t like it,
But we understand the consequences.
What about when we are falsely accused of something
Or misunderstood of doing something?

1 Peter 3:16-17, ‘Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.’

How often do we truly suffer for our well doing?
Based on this verse it should be more often than it probably is.

Can you help us to understand our conscience?





I mentioned speeding and everyone doing it.
I believe the nazi soldiers used that same defense.
The same is true with mob psychology during riots.
Individually the people would never have done things like that
They were caught up in the moment.

What about our children.
At a church function in the gym.
We tell our children not to run
Don’t play so rough.
Others are doing it.

Our children are in a room with other children.
Does our children rub off on the others and they rise to a higher standard
Or do our children do what the other children are doing?

Titus 2:7-8, ‘In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.’

Our children need to learn that from us.
As we should have learned it from Jesus.

What practical advice do you have for us here?





With our children I believe we have to be proactive teachers
Rather than reactive disciplinarians.

Rather than criticizing others and pointing out what they are doing wrong
Maybe we need to be a little more proactive and give advice before a situation comes up.

Hebrews 13:18, ‘Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.’

I think we should pray a little more for each other in this room.
We are a team

Can you elaborate on any advice?





Our worldly wisdom tells us that we probably won’t get caught doing what we are doing.
No one knows what we are thinking.
Just like the world has trained us of this over time.
We can train or re-train ourselves to remember
The Lord is watching.

2 Corinthians 1:12, ‘For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.’

How can we re-train ourselves to this way of thinking?





1 Peter 2:19, ‘For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.’

It is hard to do but again we read we need to do it.

Can you give me some advice as to how I am to endure this?





Sometimes we are good with this.
Other times we don’t want to hear it.
That implies inconsistency.

Some of us are good at handling the big problems,
But freak out at the little things.
Again incinsistancy.

1 Timothy 1:5-7, ‘Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.’

Don’t tell me, it’s a heart issue.

What can you share with us here?





We expect the unsaved to act unsaved.
We expect the baby Christian to act like a baby.
We expect other peoples children to not act as well as ours.

We expect our spouse to act better than other spouses.
We expect our children to act better than other children.
How does the Lord expect us to act?

1Timothy 4:1-3, ‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.’

Your thoughts...





That is not talking about the unsaved world.
All in one sentence it says some shall depart.
Depart means that you were already there.

Still the same sentence
Speaking lies – well it was just a little white lie.
- I didn’t lie; sure I withheld some critical information.

If you burn a part of your body bad enough
The nerves get damaged and you cannot feel that area any more.
You cannot feel hot or cold
Pleasure or pain.
You are numb there.
There is also probably a scar that others can see.

Let’s not be one of those dearly departed.
Let’s ask the Lord to restore that scar.
Let’s ask the Lord to return the sensitivity that was taken away by a harsh burn.

Possibly the sensitivity was taken away gradually.
Like a callous.
Over time skin cells have grown over that area
Making it less sensitive to the subtle changes.

We expect more from our children and we should
We know what they are capable of.
As we are the Lord’s children how much more should He expect of us.

We expect more from the one we are married to
How much more should the Lord expect from us?

Let’s ask Him to help us when we are weak – as we are week
and even before we know we are going to be weak.

That physical scar that has lost it’s sensitivity can be healed if He chooses to.
That callous can also be healed as He chooses.

As we have programmed our mind based on past events
I challenge you to re-program your mind based on the promises we have read.

He wants to help you
He can help you.
Let’s pray together for wisdom to make the right decisions
and the strength to follow through with them.

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