7. A Transparent Life
7
A Transparent Life
Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.
1 Timothy 1:5
A “transparent” Christian is one whose life is open, genuine, and authentic. This kind of life belongs to a believer who has nothing to hide and nothing to fear. Transparency is just the opposite of hypocrisy. The word hypocrite means “a play actor, one who wears a mask.” In other words, a pretender. In the ancient world, actors wore various masks as they played different roles in the drama; and most of the Pharisees considered their religion just a matter of wearing masks and acting the part. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was artificial and Jesus rejected it (Matt. 5:20). Read Matthew 23 for our Lord’s assessment of hypocritical religious people.
In his letters, Paul used the word conscience twenty-one times, so it’s an important subject that we dare not ignore. In our text, Paul emphasizes a transparent life of integrity: a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. Hypocrites have divided hearts, not pure, loving hearts. Their conscience is defiled and their faith is a matter of routine acts and not the devotion of the heart.
But before I judge these people, I must examine my own inner life, especially the condition of my conscience. Conscience is that “inner window” through which God’s light of truth shines to help us know right from wrong. If I do right, conscience applauds me; if I do wrong, it accuses me. If I keep violating my conscience, the window becomes dirty and the light becomes dimmer, and my relationship to my conscience deteriorates. Let’s consider five admonitions that will help us to enjoy a transparent life because of a good conscience.
Emphasize Integrity—the Good Conscience
Integrity is the opposite of hypocrisy and duplicity, just as an integer (whole number) is the opposite of a fraction. The Pharisees in their thinking were double-minded and in their hearts tried to serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). Their inner person was divided. They told others what to do but didn’t obey God’s will themselves. They advertised their “piety” by praying aloud on the street corners and blowing trumpets when they brought offerings to the temple. Jesus knew what they were doing and tried to deliver them, but they rejected Him. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were among the few in the Jewish council who received the truth and trusted in Jesus (John 19:38–42).
A good conscience must be exercised by obedience (Acts 24:16) or it will gradually cease to function as it should. Caustic American writer H. L. Mencken defined conscience as “the inner voice that warns us that someone may be looking.” But Christians don’t obey because they might be seen by someone and become embarrassed, but because they know the Father always sees them and is pleased when they do His will. Our Father in heaven has many blessings laid up for us, and if we obey Him, He will open His treasury. The humblest Christian who maintains a clear conscience can be sure of God’s continued blessing.
Encourage Maturity—the Weak Conscience
As we grow in grace and knowledge (2 Pet. 3:18), our conscience should also mature and become more and more discerning. God’s truth doesn’t change but we must grow in our understanding and applying of that truth. We must grow in knowledge and perception. When I was a new believer, a friend gave me a copy of a tract that explained that the Lord has a personal plan for my life and I must follow Him and not other people (Phil. 1:9–11). Yes, others can teach me and encourage me, but only Jesus can be my Lord. To use the examples of other Christians to excuse or defend my activities will never lead to maturity. I must allow the Spirit to develop my conscience as I pray, read the Scriptures, worship with God’s people, and obey the Lord.
I have learned that there is such a thing as “geographical Christianity.” A friend of mine (whom I will call Wally) was leading an American gospel team in Finland. As he and the team were going with their host to the service, Wally began to whistle a gospel chorus. “Who is preaching tonight?” asked the host, and Wally replied, “It’s my turn to preach tonight.” “Oh, but you can’t preach!” the host exclaimed. “You just whistled, and Christians don’t do that!” My friend didn’t know that whisthng a gospel tune was sinful in Finland. During my years of pastoral ministry, if I had used tobacco, I would probably have been fired; but I’ve preached in churches where pastors used tobacco and nobody was offended. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones told me that Dr. G. Campbell Morgan sometimes smoked eight cigars a day! Eminent Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon also used tobacco. Most church people today avoid tobacco for health reasons rather than religious reasons.
A person with a weak conscience lacks biblical knowledge and has a difficult time dealing with the question, “What is spiritual and what is worldly?” During World War II, under the auspices of the city, our high school teachers would take entire classes to a local movie theater on school time, and the students would watch an entertaining movie and a few cartoons, and then hear a patriotic pitch promoting war bonds and liberty stamps. Some of my Christian friends refused to attend because they boycotted the movies, but I noticed that after they graduated they became moviegoers.
The early church was seriously disturbed by questions relating to diets, food offered to idols, and obedience to the law of Moses. Strict Jews had one point of view and the Gentile believers (who had never been under the Jewish law) had another. Paul dealt with the problems of Christian freedom in Romans 14:1–15:13 and 1 Corinthians 8–10, and the principles he laid down still apply today. More mature Christians who understand their freedom in Christ are not to abuse that freedom by setting bad examples and causing others to stumble; neither should the immature believers criticize and condemn those who know how to use their freedom to the glory of God. It’s simply a matter of growing up in the Lord.
When our children were small, my wife and I were very careful not to leave knives, pins, scissors, or other dangerous items lying about the house. When there were only the two of us, we had no such policy. Why? Because we were both experienced enough to avoid danger and use these items properly. The difference was maturity. It is important that new believers be taught the Word of God and how to apply its precepts and principles to their own lives. The test of maturity is freedom that is based on Bible truth and used to the benefit of the church and the glory of God. We must not make these borderline issues tests of fellowship or orthodoxy. We must obey 2 Timothy 2:2 and patiently lead new Christians into maturity.
A weak conscience makes some people overly scrupulous, and they become so involved in the minute details of right and wrong that they get out of balance and have no freedom at all. Some believers will not step on cracks in the sidewalk, and if they do they return to their starting point and begin their journey all over. Famous British writer Samuel Johnson was afflicted this way. The word scruple comes from the Latin and means “an irritating, sharp little stone in one’s shoe.” There are people who have irritating little scruples in their eating, driving, and even working, and these habits rob them of joy and sometimes of efficiency. A healthy conscience helps us establish the right values and avoid childish habits that destroy our freedom in Christ.
Avoid Impurity—the Defiled Conscience
Remember, conscience is like a window that lets God’s light into the inner person, and if that window is dirty, the light will be dim.
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good [healthy], your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad [diseased], your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matt. 6:22–23)
Outlook determines outcome, and if our vision is blurred, our decisions will be bad and the consequences painful.
Each time we deliberately sin and fail to repent and confess our sin, we damage the effectiveness of our conscience until it can become so defiled that no light comes in at all and (even worse) the light becomes darkness. “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled” (Titus 1:15). A defiled mind can easily find opportunities to sin, and a defiled conscience has no problem defending the sinner.
In the Old Testament tabernacle there was a large laver that held gallons of water, and the priests washed their hands and feet at this laver as they served. There was no floor in the tabernacle, so their feet would become soiled, and their hands would become defiled from offering the various sacrifices. This laver was made from the brass mirrors donated by the women of the tribes (Exod. 38:8), and mirrors are a picture of the Word of God (James 1:22–25; 2 Cor. 3:18). To keep your mind and conscience clean, spend time reading and meditating on the Scriptures. Wash at the laver of God’s Word! The Bible is a mirror that helps us see ourselves as we really are, and it is also water that cleanses us (Eph. 5:25–27). If we confess our sins, the Lord will forgive us and the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1:5–10).
To confess sin effectively means to say about it exactly what God says about it. We know what we have done, and it only makes matters worse when we try to make things look better. Sin is sin and confession to the Lord must be heartfelt confession. “If I have sinned” accomplishes nothing. If we don’t come with a broken heart and honest confession, we have wasted our time. Prayer, worship, offerings, and good works do not bring forgiveness, but sincere repentance and confession do. Whenever we sin, we must deal with the matter immediately and claim the Lord’s promise of forgiveness. Unconfessed sins that accumulate lead to the worst kind of conscience—the evil conscience.
Cultivate Sensitivity—the Evil Conscience
People with an evil conscience are described in Isaiah 5:20. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” The meaning of personal morality is so confused in today’s world that some professed Christians boast about their repeated sins and call it “liberty.”
If we want to have transparent lives, we must be serious about dealing with sin. To treat sin lightly is to treat the light sinfully, and the consequences are devastating. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). We can commit sin and cover it up with more sin and end up with an evil conscience, or we can confess our sins and conquer them through the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit. We must jealously guard ourselves against losing our sensitivity to the things of the Spirit and having a hard heart and an evil conscience.
When a professed Christian surrenders to demonic doctrines, pretends to be spiritual, and repeatedly speaks hypocritical lies, he or she develops an evil conscience (1 Tim. 4:1–2). Paul says people like this have “seared” their conscience and it is no longer sensitive to the voice of God. The word seared refers to flesh that has been burned and calloused and has lost its feeling. These people don’t hate sin and reject it; instead, they play with sin and enjoy it. If they confess any sin, their confessions are shallow and filled with excuses. They classify sins as small, medium, and large but rarely admit the greatness of their sins. Like the Pharisees in Jesus’s day, they are more concerned with reputation than with character. If you confront them with the Word of God, they explain it away, with “That’s your interpretation” as their usual defense.
The steps toward an evil conscience are listed in 1 John 1:5–10. If we lie to others (v. 6), we commit hypocrisy. If we lie to ourselves (v. 8), we become double-minded and guilty of duplicity. If we lie to God and make Him a liar (v. 10), we are in danger of apostasy! When you read the life of King Saul (1 Sam. 9–31), you see this deterioration demonstrated. Saul was a man of ability but he lacked integrity. He began well but ended in tragedy that brought the death of his sons, including godly Jonathan. We must pray daily that the Lord will help us to end well. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
Seek Recovery—the Restored Conscience
Believers without a healthy conscience are like ships without a compass or airplanes without radar. They are handicapped people, stumbling from failure to failure and excuse to excuse, never knowing the path God wants them to walk. Yet they can be restored!
For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer . . . sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb. 9:13–14)
However, it is one thing to have sins forgiven and quite something else to remove the sad consequences of those sins. Anybody can pull the nails out of the board, but only God can pull out the holes!
If I were to ask you, “What was King David’s greatest sin?” you would probably say, “Committing adultery with Bathsheba and arranging for Uriah, her husband, to be slain in battle.” But what about the time David broke God’s law and ordered a census of the people? Seventy thousand people died in a plague because of this one willful sin (2 Sam. 24)! By committing both of these sins, David defiled his conscience and suffered under God’s discipline. But Psalms 32 and 51 bear witness to the fact that David humbled himself and confessed his sins, and God forgave him. David married Bathsheba and God gave them a son—Solomon. David bought a piece of property, built an altar on it, offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and the plague stopped (2 Sam. 24:18–25). Years later, King Solomon built the Lord’s temple on that piece of property!
Only the grace of God can take a man’s two greatest sins and build a temple! “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Rom. 5:20).
No matter how much a child of God rebels or how far he or she may drift from the will of the Lord, God offers forgiveness. We must not delay and tempt God but seek Him “while He may be found” (Isa. 55:6). We may suffer from the consequences of sin, but our communion with the Lord and His people can be restored. We can always make a new beginning, and the sooner we do so the better our lives and ministries will be and the more God will be glorified. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Prov. 28:13).
May our heart’s desire be that of hymn-writer Charles Wesley as he expressed it in this song, one of few written about the conscience.
I want a principle within of watchful godly fear,
A sensibility of sin, a pain to feel it near.
Help me the first approach to feel of pride or wrong desire,
To catch the wandering of my will, and quench the kindling fire.
From Thee that I no more may stray, no more Thy goodness grieve,
Grant me the filial awe, I pray, the tender conscience give.
Quick as an apple of an eye, O God, my conscience make!
Awake my soul when sin is nigh, and keep it still awake.
Almighty God of truth and love, to me Thy power impart;
The burden from my soul remove, the hardness from my heart.
O may the least omission pain my reawakened soul,
And drive me to that grace again, which makes the wounded whole.1
Amen and amen!
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1. Charles Wesley, “I Want a Principle Within,” Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1749.