That title will sound to our American ears like heresy. Aren’t we constantly being told and telling our children, “Believe in yourselves”? Yes, and as we all know, “Disney dreams come true.” Who would dare to defy the Mouse?
I shared some insightful truth from John Owen three years ago that helps correct these arrogant modern ideas. But if we are not careful we will default to these enlightenment / renaissance ideas that have saturated our culture with assumptions about the internal goodness of human nature and the need to actively cast off any religious restraint that might try to oppose such ideas.
But what does the Bible say?
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ‘“’I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.’”
Jeremiah 17:9-10
Well, maybe Jeremiah was having a bad day. He did spend an inordinate amount of time in dark wells.
“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
James 1:14-15
God is never the source of temptation, evil or sin. There is one clear and definitive source of evil: our own human hearts. Yes, the devil deceives and entices us but his target is our hearts and minds, seeking to tap into those deeply rooted selfish, sinful desires.
“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
James 4:1-3
James was just pointing us back to his big brother, Jesus.
“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Matthew 15:18-20
Ceremonial hand-washing was not the right thing to focus on, according to Jesus. The better place to look is at the heart. That is where temptation and sin come from. That’s why Jesus brought out the heart of the Jewish Law saying it’s not enough to just avoid murder and adultery, you have to deal with the anger and lust in your heart if you really want to be righteous.
I have been struck these last few weeks as we have gone through the seven letters to the churches at how prominent the theme of self-awareness and discernment has become. Jesus is the one with “eyes that blaze with fire.” His perception is both perfect and penetrating.
“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance… But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”
Revelation 2:2,4
Ephesus continued to work hard, but their affections had waned. They had lost their first love. Did they know it?
“I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
Revelation 2:9
Smyrna did not fully perceive their spiritual strength due to their material poverty. At the same time, they had some who lobbied for full obedience to the Old Testament Law (no doubt feeling very righteous about that) who had become the tools of the devil.
“But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”
Revelation 2:14-15
Pergamum had fallen into the trap first laid by Balaam who realized you can’t get God to be unfaithful to His people, but you can get God’s people to be unfaithful to their God. This church had multiple cancers within it that Jesus Himself threatened to come and excise with the sword of his mouth.
“But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.”
Revelation 2:24
Thyatira had people overtly learning “the deep things of Satan.” Were they somehow unaware of this? Or had they simply grown weary of dealing with it?
“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”
Revelation 3:1
Sardis had a positive reputation as a church but was spiritually dead. Were a few people aware of this condition or had they all become numb to the truth?
“Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.”
Revelation 3:9
Philadelphia had a nearby synagogue that claimed to be faithful Jews but were actually serving Satan by attacking the believers in the church. This was the one church who seemed to have an accurate self-perception but their immediate neighbors did not.
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
Revelation 3:16-17
Laodicea faces the strongest rebuke from the Lord Jesus. And they have the worst self-awareness of all the churches. This made Jesus feel physically ill. What is the Lord’s counsel?
“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
Revelation 3:18-20
Jesus is knocking at the door of a church to see if they will let him in. This is not an evangelistic presentation to unchurched non-believers. Jesus is outside of the church building, seeing if the “believers” inside will open the door for him.
Will we?
Based on the repetition in the seven letters it seems like six out of seven churches, and probably a similar percentage of “believers” do not accurately perceive their true spiritual condition.
Do we?
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”