Title: BE ON GUARD!
Focus: The war on sin starts and spreads from the human heart. Followers of Christ do well to diligently search their souls while serving the Lord.
Function: To gingerly probe the depth of our depravity, so that we may turn more and more to Christ.
Text: Psalm 19:1-14
Confession: Lord’s Day 44
The American strategy in the war against terror is to fight the terrorists on their own territory, in their own countries, so that we do not have to deal with terrorist attacks on our own soil. The Bush doctrine of the war on terrorism is this: “Strike the terrorists in their own backyard. Kill them before they kill you!” Personally, I am in favor of that strategy. If we must wage war against terrorists, then let’s bring the battles to them.
In fact,
when I think about it, we Christians, tend to have a similar strategy when it
comes to fighting the war on sin: Mainline Christians tend to fight the war on
sin in the social arena: “Let there be justice and housing for
the homeless; food and welfare for the poor.” Evangelical Christians tend
to fight sin in the political arena: “Let there be justice and
life for the fetus; prayer and the 10 Commandments in the public
schools.” And Reformed Christians may add another war cry to this war in
the political arena: “Let there be justice and tax dollars supported
education for all the public, including children who attend private
schools.”
Christians, then, will wage war against sin and the miseries of sin on many different battlefields of daily living: the political, social, judicial, economic, national and international areas of life. That’s good! Such a strategy is in line with the biblical view that says that all areas of life are under the Lordship of Christ. But we should never forget that the war on sin starts and spreads from the human heart. And that’s why we do well to diligently search our souls while serving our Lord Jesus Christ.
THE CATECHISM: L.D. 44
In the 10th commandment, God speaks to us these words: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” That sounds to me pretty straightforward. God is concerned about coveting, desiring or strongly wanting to possess something that belongs to someone else. The key word in the 10th commandment is “covet.”
Now listen to the Catechism in its answer to the question: What is God’s will for you in the tenth commandment? A. That not even the slightest thought or desire contrary to any one of God’s commandments should ever arise in my heart. Rather, with all my heart I should always hate sin and take pleasure in whatever is right. That’s strange, is not it? In the 10th commandment God makes reference to the sin of coveting. But it seems that the Catechism throws all 10 commandments at us, including the kitchen sink of coveting. God talks about coveting; the Catechism talks about “the slightest thought or desire contrary to any one of God’s commandments.” What’s going on?
Some Observations:
· Take note: the Catechism
does not have a superficial, nonchalant attitude toward this 10th commandment. On the contrary, it probes the depth of God’s will expressed in that commandment. And it gets to the core of our rebellion against God. The battlefield of coveting is not just with our neighbor’s possessions—wife, ox or donkey. Oh no, the battlefield is much closer than that. Listen: “That not even the slightest thought or desire contrary to any one of God’s commandments should ever arise in my heart. Rather, with all my heart I should always hate sin and take pleasure in whatever is right.” In other words, when God speaks against coveting, God is talking to us about our heart. The war on sin starts and spreads from the human heart. This is a bitter pill to swallow; this is personal. We may not like it, yet, in the 10th Commandment God places his finger on our hearts.
·
As the Catechism locates the
battlefield of sin in our
hearts, we also observe the Catechism’s strategy to wage war against this
coveting, this rebellious uprising in our hearts to violate all God’s
commandments. Listen: “Rather, with all my heart I should always hate sin
and take pleasure in whatever is right.”
In other words, as a follower of Jesus Christ, bent on fighting sin, keen on loving and obeying my Lord and Master, I must be on guard! Guard duty is part of my soldering for Christ. Sin is my enemy. I must fight it, ward it off, and never underestimate its power in my life and world. I must see sin—any sin—as an enemy to fight and overcome.
More than that! I must hate sin. For example, I may not admire an adulterer who gets away with seducing his wife’s best friend. I may not playfully fool around with gray areas to fiddle my tax figures and fool the Internal Revenue Services. I may not close my eyes to fibbers and liars in politics; I may not dull my senses against abortion and euthanasia to accommodate the culture of death rather than promote the sanctity of life. I must hate sin.
If you don’t like this language of “hating sin,” then take the positive approach of “delighting in whatever is right.” I assure you that when you delight in whatever is right, you’ll discover a dislike, a bitter taste, a hatred for whatever is wrong or sinful.
·
Is the Catechism right to
emphasize this guard duty of
every Christian? I think so. It’s a biblical posture: listen to Philippians 4:8
“…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy—think about such things.” Or listen to Romans 7:7,8 “What
shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have
known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what
coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet.’ But sin, seizing
the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of
covetous desire.”
Ah, the war on sin starts and spreads from the human heart. The first sin of Eve sneaked from her heart to her eyes (she coveted) to her hands (taking the forbidden fruit), and right there with her stood her hubby, Adam—and you and me and all of their offspring—and we all ate—placing ourselves under condemnation and death. The psalmist knew rebellion of the heart when he prayed (Ps. 139:23, 24) “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Surely, as followers of Christ we do well to diligently search our souls while serving our Lord each day.
PSALM 19:1-14
The psalmist teaches us to do so in Psalm 19. There he holds before us two mirrors of God’s revelation. Both mirrors declare God’s brilliant glory. The one mirror is found in the cosmos. Listen: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they display knowledge.” The universe with its brilliant lights of stars, moon and sun—they all speak to us, revealing the greatness of our Creator.
The other mirror of God’s revelation is the Word of God, found in the Law and the writings of the Prophets. The Scriptures shine into our hearts and minds and reveal to us a power, a life that is holy, heavenly, and pure. It’s the life of God.
The psalmist marvels at God’s self-revelation in creation as well as in the scriptures. But then he stops in his tracks of praise and meditation. And he says—as if struck at the core of his being—“Who can discern his errors?” It’s a cry from the heart! It contains a measure of despair. It hints at our blindness, our inability to see the beam of sin in our own eyes. And it’s a question whose answer is implied: No one can discern his errors on her own. We need the mirror of God’s perfect Word, and we need the searching Spirit of God to know our heart as the true battlefield of sin, issuing forth and spreading throughout our lives and world.
Note how the psalmist covers the territory of our rebellion against God. He moves from what seems minor to what is truly major. Listen: “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults, keep your servant also from willful sins.” The psalmist does not close his eyes to any blemish that may possibly linger in his heart. We must face them and call them by name: errors, faults and willful sins; fibs, white lies and outright lies. Name the enemy. And expose them with the light of God’s Word.
Note also how the psalmist recognizes the need for forgiveness, and for restraint: “Forgive my hidden faults; keep your servant also from willful sins.” And note the psalmist’s awareness of the power of sin: “may they not rule over me.” Also, note how he longs to be found “not guilty” of any sins: “Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.” Clearly, as followers of Christ we do well to diligently search our hearts while serving our Lord.
But why should we? Simple! Know Yourself: having self-awareness, developing a deep understanding of the depravity, the depth of sin in our souls—keeps us humble, and on our knees. Having a clear and proper diagnosis of our own fallen condition, prepares us to seek the cure for sin and death—NOT in ourselves, or in our abilities, but in SOMEONE ELSE—the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why should we consider the
battleground of sin in our own hearts? Simple! By facing the pit of sin located
at the core of our being, we are driven to look up to Christ: Just
as the snake-bitten Israelites in the desert during the days of Moses needed to
look up to that bronze snake on a pole, so we must look up to Jesus Christ—the
one who was crucified, died, who rose again, and now is our ascended ruler and
king. He is our health, our healer, our savior. Know yourself, and flee to
Jesus. Look up to him! He is the one who says: “Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Why this posture of guard duty as a soldier of Christ? Simple! In Christ there is victory and power: Jesus has given us his Holy Spirit. And in him, we stand strong; in him we must strive; in him we conquer; in him we persevere. And in him, we can do all things—even seeking to obey our heavenly Father in living by his expressed will as found in the 10 Commandments.
Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as it was
in the beginning, is now and always shall be: world without end. Amen!