The Examined Life

This past Sunday, the sermon at church was titled "The Examined Life" (click here to listen or download). It focussed on the need for and benefits of spiritual examination. (Thanks Mark, great sermon!) The first text looked at was from Psalm 139.

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.

Psalm 139:23-24

Spiritual examination... Been there, done that. Yes, I need to keep on doing that. But hearing the sermon reminded me of a time in my life when I did some deep spiritual examination - which even though it was a painful time, ultimately resulted in good. Those who know me well (or were around me during August/September 2008) probably know what I'm talking about - when I broke my ankle!

To make a long story short(er), I was scrubbing green gunk off of the siding on the north side of my house. The ladder started to sway and I started to get off. In fact, I hit the ground before the ladder did. And by "hit" I mean fell off and hit the ground. I immediately knew an emergency room visit was in order and after my wife got the kids off to a neighbor's house, she drove me to the emergency room. X-rays were negative - "It's not broken" they said, just a bad sprain. I followed up with a doctor a couple of days later, she said to go see an orthopedist. Went to see the orthopedist, they took new x-rays. The X-rays didn't show anything broken. But, he said something to the effect of "I've been doing this for 30 years and I know that it's more serious than just a sprain. Go get an MRI." Well, I went to get an MRI and sure enough, the orthopedist was right. In fact, the radiologist called the orthopedist and said "You're not going to believe this." The orthopedist responded "Yes, I will!" Lots of little fractures in the bones around my ankle. Lucky me, I'd get to spend the next 10 weeks in a cast!

Sometimes sin is like my ankle. Someone might look at my life and say "He's a good guy. Nothing wrong with him." Then someone else might look again and reach the same conclusion. There may not be any big sins for all to see in my life just like there weren't any big obvious breaks in the x-rays. But examine me closely and I'm sure you'll see lots of little sins that, like the little fractures in my ankle, affect my walk.

It took a closer examination to see the fractures in my ankle, but that in turn is what led to the appropriate course of treatment. It sometimes takes close examination to see those "little sins" and lead us to the appropriate treatment - confession and repentence. We may outwardly look like we have a great walk, but in reality we're limping. I'm reminded of one of my favorite verses:

All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Isaiah 64:6

My righteous acts are like filthy rags. Now, if I were translating this verse, I might have said "our righteous acts are like my six year old son's socks." Now there's something filthy for you! Even after going through the wash, they still look dirty. (Yesterday was laundry day, does it show?) But fret not, two verses later we read:

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8

We are the clay (which can be pretty dirty can't it?) and God is the potter. We are the work of His hands and He is molding us and making something out of us. Which in turn reminds me of the previous week's sermon (Good job Nace!).

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10

I'm not saved because of my works or because of my filthy rags. It is by grace. I don't deserve it, but yet it's given to me. I am God's workmanship. I was created to do good works! This is another of the benefits of spiritual examination. As Mark put it on Sunday "It helps us discover patterns of Christ at work in us." Do I see evidence of Christ at work in me? Yes, I do. I see plenty of evidence of how God is blessing me: A wonderful wife, two great sons, a great job, I get to play guitar and bass and serve the Lord at the same time. Praise God!

So if you give a quick glance at my walk and it looks okay to you, maybe that's real. If a closer examination reveals something wrong, that may be real too and it needs to be dealt with. If I'm the only one who knows there's something wrong, it still needs to be dealt with. Let the examination begin, er, I mean, continue! Let the potter have his way with me and make me into a work of art so that those around may see the art in me and want to know the Artist.

One final thought on examination...

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:22-25