Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20031019.htm

SPECIAL INTERLUDE Guarding Our Inner Person (Proverbs 4:20-27 et al.)
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

For many years, both in my own life and in that of fellow believers, I have seen a HUGE need to protect our inner man:

(1) Believers who stand for the truth often experience pain to their inner man while experiencing oppression for their stands, cf. 2 Timothy 3:12! I would guess that about every few weeks over the last twenty-one YEARS, I have had believers either call me over the phone or speak with me in Fellowship Hall about handling pain to their inner man caused by reactions they have faced from others due to godly stands they have had to take in life!

(2) A growing source of "inner man pain" is the "fallout" of "fad" beliefs that float around in various Christian circles. In a phone call my wife had this week with believers who live in another state, they told of a recent "scare" they had from their pastor in church.

Their pastor had recently evaluated his 9 years of ministry with their church while on a church leader's retreat. His ministry by external accounts has been successful: besides his good teaching, this pastor had led his congregation into an extensive building program. Yet, on the retreat, he felt he had "no more direction" to offer, and so had agonized one night by the lake as to what was next for him!

I could tell from this news the pastor had been impacted by the "purpose driven believer" idea that is circulating in Christian circles. It promotes a church set some tangible "goal" for its ministry.

After the retreat, when this pastor related this event in a sermon to the congregation, the people thought he was about to give his resignation as he had run out of tangible goals, so they felt insecure ! Only when the pastor finally concluded he could improve the physical looks of the sanctuary were the people relieved he could stay as he had at lest another tangible "goal" to perform! Meanwhile, there is anxiety under the surface in that church due to his "purpose driven" viewpoint!

(3) In a prayer meeting two weeks ago, I mentioned the struggle we can have with "false guilt," and several people immediately began to roll their eyes or shake their heads in agreement with what I had just said. The battle of the mind with false guilt is a real and painful one!

HOW then do we PROTECT the INNER MAN from the harm caused by what others or we ourselves errantly say or think?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "I have experienced a lot of PAIN in my INNER PERSON in relating to certain people or applying certain views! As we are told to rejoice evermore' in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, IS there some way to GUARD my INNER PERSON from ever being HIT by such PAIN?"

As Proverbs 4:20-27 addressed one's ministry for the welfare of his OWN HEART (cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., p. 908; Bible Know. Com., O.T., p. 914), Solomon urged his readers in Proverbs 4:20-22 to pay attention to what he was about to write in verse 23.
Then, in verse 23, Solomon urged his readers to guard their heart, or "inner man," for doing so was the HUMAN source of their earthly welfare, Ibid., Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, ftn. to Proverbs 4:23.
By claiming as much, Solomon IMPLIED there were harmful, errant, manipulative BEINGS [incl. evil spirits, cf. Eph. 6:11-12] we can face or harmful, errant IDEAS we can adopt that can harm the inner person if we FAIL to GUARD ourselves from such foes!
Thus, to GUARD our inner person from harmful manipulators or views, Solomon gave us Proverbs 4:24-27 (Ibid., B.K.C., O.T.):

First, we must avoid speaking in a devious way: doing so only causes us to deceive other supporters to our loss of their trust and friendships, and that only harms our inner person, Proverbs 4:24.
Second, we must KEEP our FOCUS on WHERE we are HEADED so as to PLAN for a SAFE FUTURE for our inner person:

In Proverbs 4:25 NIV, Solomon urged the reader to look and have his GAZE be conspicuously in front where he was HEADED !
In this context where Solomon pictures a person walking along a path of life's events (4:26-27) and where that person is to avoid harming his inner man (4:23), Solomon's verse 25 advice implies one needs to PLAN in view of what he SEES will occur in his FUTURE so as to PROTECT his inner man in that FUTURE!

Third, we must assess the ACTS we NOW do to determine if they are SAFE for our inner person, and SELECT only SAFE paths, 4:26:

The NIV renders the first verb in verse 26 as "Make level," a verb coming from the noun for a balance scale used to ensure an accurate business transaction in the marketplace, B.D.B., Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 813-814.
Solomon later employed this same verb in Proverbs 5:6 and 5:21 to picture figuratively an accurate evaluation of the uprightness of one's course of life; accordingly, in Proverbs 4:26, he urged us to "evaluate accurately" the steps we CURRENTLY take and make necessary corrections to guard our inner person from harm, Ibid..

Fourth, we must NOT let ourselves VEER from (to the left or right) the safe paths once we identify what they are and we have begun to take them; this way we avoid harming our inner person, Prov. 4:27.
[As Scripture is the sole SURE source of truth we have TODAY (2 Timothy 3:15-17 with Psalm 119:105), all evaluations in life to determine what is safe for the inner man should come via Scripture.]

Application: To AVOID harming our INNER PERSON, we must FIRST (1) SELECT the BIBLICALLY CORRECT path of faith in Christ as Savior from sin to be given God's gift of eternal life TO ESCAPE HELL in the FUTURE, John 3:16. (2) Next, we FURTHER protect our inner person by leaning on the Holy Spirit to be able to obey Proverbs 4:20-27, cf. Gal. 5:16-22. (3) Then, we heed Proverbs 4:20-27 by (a) speaking ONLY in a TRUTHFUL [unbiblical] way that only protects the trust good friends have in us to protect our inner person; (b) we also KEEP our FOCUS on WHERE we SEE we are HEADED in life so as to PLAN [Scripturally] for the FUTURE SAFETY of our inner person; (c) we ALSO EVALUATE our CURRENT actions and SELECT only those [Biblically] SAFE ACTS EN ROUTE to the FUTURE that PRESERVE our INNER PERSON, and (d) we NEVER let ourselves VEER from those [Biblically] SAFE FUTURE PLANS or SAFE CURRENT ACTS once we have identified them and have started to use them, Proverbs 4:25-27. We will thus guard our inner person with GOD'S blessing!

Lesson: To PROTECT our inner person's emotions, spirit and mind from destructive ideas or convictions by any kind of external or even internal source, be it a certain party or view, GOD calls us to (1) avoid speaking in a devious way, for that can only breed eventual harm to our inner person. (2) Then, He urges us to FOCUS on what we SEE is COMING in our future so we can PLAN [Scripturally] for a SAFE FUTURE for our inner man; (3) He calls us to EVALUATE [in light of Scripture] the actions we CURRENTLY use to make needed corrections and thus avoid CURRENTLY harming our inner person, and (4) He calls us not to let ourselves VEER FROM these [Biblically] SAVE PLANS and ACTIONS once we start to use them, 2 Timothy 3:13-17; 2 Timothy 2:4-5.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

In this sermon's introduction, I noted a good pastor of friends we know in another state who is gauging the success of his ministry and possible length of stay in his pastorate on what tangible "goals" he thinks he is to set and achieve. When he had first run out of such ideas, he agonized over it and left his people fearing he might resign.

This pastor's view reflects the teachings of a movement that has made the rounds in Christian circles, a stance promoting an alleged need for Christians to be "purpose driven." A conference hosted by nationally known Christian leadership was held in Virginia two weeks ago entitled, "The Purpose-Driven Church " that alleged a church needs a specific, tangible project to make its ministry effective.

However, if we APPLY Proverbs 4:20-27 and other Scriptures to this subject, we see the HARM such a VIEW presents to the INNER PERSON, let ALONE how WRONG it is: (a) first, the "purpose driven" IDEA had this pastor AGONIZING all night and his congregation getting NERVOUS, so ADOPTING the idea can HARM the inner man all OVER the place! (b) Second, having this view only makes for FUTURE PAIN: once the pastor runs out of his OWN tangible goal ideas, he is tempted to feel he must lacerate everybody's feelings by RESIGNING! Yet, HOW can one JUSTIFY ending a ministry of God's Word in a church along with much lacerations of feelings due to a MERE lack of HUMAN IMAGINATION? (c) Third, Scripture NO where directs a pastor to SET his OWN "GOALS"! RATHER, he must proclaim God's WORD with great patience and careful teaching (2 Tim. 4:1-2 and 1 Tim. 4:12-16a), for in DOING THIS (versus tangible goal setting or anything else) will he save himself and his hearers, 2 Tim. 4:16b! (c) Fourth, the "purpose driven" idea so SHARPLY CONTRASTS with the LIVES of our GODLY FOREFATHERS: in our missions conference earlier this year, our missionary said Jonathan Edwards' relative ministered for 60 YEARS in ONE PASTORATE in an era when there was NO such "purpose driven" idea, and that man's PLODDING for Christ impacted Edwards to become greatly used of God in the Great Awakening!

May we then heed Proverbs 4:20-27 to PROTECT our inner man from HARM!