Sermon Lessons: Consistency

^33-37"And don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, 'I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, 'God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say 'yes' and 'no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong."

(Matthew 5:33-37)

^26-27Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

(James 1:26-27)

I remember watching James Bond movies as a kid.  Secret Agent 007 would cleverly avoid those pesky pursuers with the such things as trick pens that dispense sleeping gas, or a car equipped with a gadget that emitted a huge billowing smoke screen, causing his car to be able to speed ahead without his enemies knowing he had moved on.  We are sometimes guilty of using these kind of tactics to avoid real disclosure of our true intentions, the hidden secrets of our hearts, or the hurts of our past - sending up smoke screens with our words to attempt to create a "disconnect" between the real us and the image of "reality" that we want to portray.

James puts it that we are really just "setting ourselves up as religious" by talking a good talk!  We have probably heard it said that "talk is cheap" - I think that is what the Lord may have had in mind when he said that we need to be "real" in our walk.  There is no value in "embellishing" our character with talk.  Whenever we do this, we are presenting a false image of who Christ is and what Christ has done.  

I always thought Christians were supposed to act all pious and "in control", never really showing any sign of fear, mistrust, anxiety, etc.  To admit that you struggled with depression, feelings of low self-worth, or even being addicted to something was something we considered a sign of tremendous weakness!  So, for years, we Christians kept things "bottled up", presenting nothing more than "smoke screens" that gave an illusion that kept people from examining us too deeply.  The end result is that we may have "escaped" people knowing us for who we really are, but that "escape" comes at a high cost.

There is nothing more helpful for me than to hear another believer share that they struggle with some of the same things that I do.  The fact is, we are all made of the same material and influenced by much the same influences.  We may not have been raised in the same home environment, faced the same challenges, etc., but we have similar emotional, spiritual, and physical make-up.  So, why do we struggle so hard to be what we are not?  In the removal of the smoke screen, we become who we are, allowing others to see us as the "real" us.

Jesus and James speak of the same idea - we need to say what we mean, means what we say, and live openly.  In so doing, we are not saying one thing, but doing another.  There is no "facade" to our religion - it is genuine.  This is what we could call consistency or congruence.  What is seen is in alignment with what has been said - no smoke screens.  Jesus refers to putting up the "religious facade" as in-genuine - you look good, but if you were examined closely, the image of what was portrayed would not hold the test.

There is something liberating in being the "real" you.  There is also something quite enlightening to others - they see that even Christians struggle with the tough stuff of life.  When faced with cancer, we crumble in fear.  When challenged with debt, we attempt to dig our way out.  When overtaken by temptation, we find ourselves mopping up the damages.  When crushed by criticism, we doubt our value.  We are human!  We struggle with human stuff!  There is no value in putting up a "religious" smoke-screen!  

The sad thing is that when we put up the "religious" smoke-screen, we destroy the other person's ability to see how God's grace counteracts the fear of cancer, improves our financial stewardship, restores what has been damaged by wrong decisions, and builds us up when we are feeling low.  The value of "consistent" or "congruent" living is that others get to see how God answers the basic needs of hurting lives.  So, the next time you are tempted to send out a "smoke-screen" to hide behind, think again!  

Cultivate your relationship with God

 ^22-23Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others. You're fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you're not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you're out of line. If the way you live isn't consistent with what you believe, then it's wrong.

(Romans 14:22-23)

Paul spends almost two chapters in his letter to the Roman church to describe the conduct becoming of a child of God.  In summary, he spent a full chapter on the futility of trying to impose your way of believing on another individual.  This summary was in response to the issues at hand in the church whereby the members were at odds about whether you were free to worship this way or another in Christ.  They were trying to impose "rules" into the relationship they had come to experience in Christ - bringing freedom of heart and soul into the bondage of rules and rituals again.

In summary, he tells us that we have a responsibility to cultivate our own relationship with God - not imposing it on others.  This may seem contrary to the idea that we are called to share the gospel message with those who have not heard it.  In actuality, what Paul was driving at was the idea that we cannot share the message of freedom in Christ if we are still living in bondage in our lives - there is an inconsistency in what we are saying and doing.

For most believers, we start our Christian walk with a whole lot of inconsistencies in our pursuit of holiness.  We believe with all our heart that we are free from our past, but we hold onto something we "just cannot let go of".  Past hurt becomes an influencing factor by which we interpret present day events.  Jesus proclaims we are free from that past hurt - we "say" we believe that we are free - but our behavior reveals that we are still responding to that past hurt (either in our expression of bitterness or in our inability to step out in newness of faith in that area). 

Mind, will and emotions all play a part in what we "hold onto" from our life prior to Christ.  It is only to the degree we submit the mind, will and emotions to the influence of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that we will be transformed.  Congruent behavior is based on consistency - all the pieces aligned.  When there is a lack of agreement in what we say compared to what we do, we struggle with feeling like we are making any progress in our Christian walk.


The fact of the matter is that there ARE inconsistencies in our character - mind not agreeing with emotions (we think one way, but respond another); spirit not agreeing with will (we are prompted to do one thing, yet act totally contrary to what we are prompted to do).  This is the truth for ALL of God's children - there is a continual struggle with having our actions align with our beliefs.  No one is exempt from this challenge.


Paul simply reminds us of the need to bring those inconsistencies frequently before God - asking him to align the parts of our character that are not in agreement.  Through his Holy Spirit and his Word, he gives us the tools to begin to affect our mind (helping us adopt the right way of interpreting life); align our will with his (giving us stability in our motivations); and to dissuade us from relying on our emotions to interpret life (providing us congruence between what we believe and how we respond to it).


Since the struggle of living "aligned" or "consistent" lives is common to all mankind, we must bring our struggle to the ONLY source for congruency - Christ Jesus.  As I indicated above, mind and will come into alignment, followed by our emotions.  We often get this backward - wanting to "feel" changed before the work is really "final" within us. The mind must be assured, the will must be submitted, and the emotions will follow.


Ask God today where there are inconsistencies in your character - what is it that you are "saying" (believing), but are not "doing" (acting)?  When he exposes those areas in your life, trust him to align those areas with his Word, even when you may not "feel" fully "aligned" yet.  Congruent behavior is a matter of a yielded heart - mind, will and emotions fully surrendered to his control.