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Faith and a Good Moral Conscience
“having faith and a good moral conscience. Those who cast this aside have shipwrecked their faith.”
(1 Timothy 1:19)
What are the qualities of a good soldier of Jesus Christ? While we might list many attributes that Christians are to strive to have, Paul focuses on two here in this verse and combines them with a warning. What are those two attributes? The first is faith and the second is to have a “good conscience.”
Faith ought to be obvious. One cannot please God apart from faith (Hebrews 11:6) and likewise, all that is done without faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Further, this faith is not something we generate within ourselves, but we must be born again from above (John 3:3), it is the means that guides the way the believer lives and walks (Hebrews 11:1; 2 Corinthians 5:7) and it is not only how we are saved on this side of the Cross of Jesus, but it is the way the saints of old also walked (Romans 4:12; Hebrews 11:2). If you would be a good soldier of Christ, saving faith is the starting point and it is God’s doing.
Yet, there is an aspect of this “good soldiering” that also speaks to our participation. We are called to have a “good conscience.” Paul uses the word συνείδησις (suneidesis) in this context, which primarily speaks of the question of morality, or that of a moral conscience (hence the translation above). In other words, Paul is speaking about a person who chooses right over wrong, life over death, and God’s way over the ways of man (Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Romans 12:1-2). The one who knows what is right and yet refuses to do it is not a good soldier; indeed, he is one from whom we must separate ourselves (2 Thessalonians 3:6). And those ignorant of the ways of God must be taught (Matthew 28:20).
The challenge (to preserve the analogy) is that many in the church are not good soldiers and many churches are not interested in training good soldiers. People are often lax when it comes to growing in their faith and obedience to Christ’s commands and are often content with the idea that they are destined for heaven while they go about living worldly lives. If you have ever served in the military, you understand that obedience to the commands of your leaders is not an option and contentment in mediocrity is never an acceptable option. It isn’t in the church either. At least, it isn’t in Christ’s true church.
While it is certainly true that a true conversion (which is God’s work in us) does often supernaturally produce a change in the moral conscience. Indeed, it must! One is being transformed from death to life! Nevertheless, the true believer also seeks to mature his or her moral conscience every day of their life. We seek to discern what is the good and acceptable will of God and as we mature in the faith God has given to us, we grow more like Christ and less like the world. We grow to hate the things that God hates and to love the things that God loves in every aspect of our lives. In other words, we participate in maturing our “good moral conscience” so we may become a better soldier.
What happens if we do not? Therein lies the warning (and even examples in the following verse!). When you do not seek to be that good soldier, you make a shipwreck out of your faith. Does that mean you will lose your faith? No, God loses none of His own. But it does mean that your spiritual life will be tossed and battered by every wave and storm of human invention. And folks, if you have ever been aboard a ship that has been in danger of shipwreck, you understand that it is not a voyage that you would enjoy. A life such as that is filled with misery and guilt rather than with the satisfaction that comes with the fact that God is using you to build Christ’s Kingdom.
So be that good soldier and build on the faith that God has instilled in you (Jude 20).
God’s Grace (1 Corinthians 15:10)
“Yet, by God’s grace, I am what I am, and his grace towards me is not in vain; rather, I toiled more than all of the others, yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me.”
(1 Corinthians 15:10)
Paul reiterates his point once again. His apostleship is a result of nothing that he had learned or done. He did not merit anything except God’s condemnation. It is by God’s grace that he was called to be an apostle and it is only by God’s grace that he was strengthened to labor in the mission field harder than the others. Paul wants us to understand that not only is he a man who is totally sold out to God, but he is a man who works and acts totally at the good pleasure of God. There is not one success or conversion that he can lay claim to. He labored in the field, but God did the work.
Oh, how wonderful it would be if all believers were able to adopt this attitude. All too often we are quick to accept the credit for our successes in life. I have heard many preachers speak of people being converted under their preaching or laymen speaking of the people that they have “led to Christ.” This is common language to use, but it is not accurate. A person is converted because the Holy Spirit is moving in their life, regenerating their dead soul and bringing faith where there was none. A person is led to Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit as well. Indeed, our preaching or our witnessing is an important part of the process; God allows us to participate in the Holy Spirit’s work and to be vessels through which the Holy Spirit flows. Yet, if it were up to us, on our own power and strength, not one person would be converted.
Frankly, I find that comforting. While I strive to work hard in the fields, sharing the gospel with others, I am keenly aware that the success or failure of my work does not depend on just how persuasive my arguments happen to be. That takes a big burden off of my shoulders. It prevents me from staying up all night when someone rejects the gospel, wondering if I could have used different words and illustrations to make my argument more convincing. It also prevents me from taking pride in the successes that God allows me to participate in.
Indeed, there is much work to be done, and God has commanded us to go into the fields and reap. For some, those fields will be in foreign lands with peoples who speak an unknown language. For others, the fields will be close to home and consist of unbelieving family members, neighbors, or co-workers. Regardless of the locality of the field, we are to labor. But though we labor, it is the power of God working in and through us that brings any successes we might see. Paul understood that the only thing good in him was Christ in him. It is no different for you or I.
The Preacher's Study 