Convictions, Principles, and Preferences
We talked last week about a conviction being something you are convinced about. It may or may not be something you would die over, but not all convictions carry the same weight. A conviction about the Gospel and a conviction about the end times carry different eternal consequences. I have convictions about each, but I am not convinced that a post-tribulational rapture or an amillennial position will send you to hell. I am convinced that our premillennial, pretribulational position is biblically accurate, so in our terms, it is a conviction, but not all convictions are the same.
And that’s okay.
My convictions are based on the Word of God. Sometimes it’s through clear commands that leave no wiggle room. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” is clear.
But my convictions are based the Word of God in other ways, too. In fact, for the Bible to be timeless and able to transcend every culture, it would need to be broad enough to address the waves of change and nuance in every life throughout history. If it addressed each of us specifically in every area (comprehensive and exhaustive), it would be too long to even be able to read in a lifetime, let alone obey.
So, even when we don’t find a “thou shalt not…”, we can still base our convictions on the Word of God through biblical principles.
I like how one pastor said it: “A principle is the thing you do that lets you make 100 decisions at once.”
Last Sunday’s sermon was going over the Bible’s “Put off… Put on…” principle. You put off the old flesh and put on the new man, and then the rest of the book of Ephesians shows the “100 decisions.” You put off stealing and put on hard work. You put off cursing and put on encouraging. You put off anger and put on kindness.
That’s a principle. It’s broad enough to apply to many areas.
From the verse that says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” we get the principle that church attendance is important. There’s not a verse that says, “Thou shalt attend church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night,” but in my home growing up, there might as well have been. We never missed.
But that was based on the principle that church attendance is vital to help us obey the commands listed in Heb. 10:22–24, and that missing church was a bit like “forsaking” God, when He said He would never leave nor forsake us.
So, living by the principle that we never miss church helped us make those “100 decisions” really easily. Never once—not even one time—did it ever enter into my mind to ask, “Are we going to church today?”
Some people call that legalism, and we’ll get to that in future sermons, but I’m thankful it was never more to me than just a heart-shaping liturgy of our home that helped me value and love what God loves and values—His church.
This isn’t about church attendance, though.
This is about the principles we live by being Bible-based.
Some would take the extreme position that “if it’s not specific, it’s not forbidden.” I disagree. For example, cocaine use is not specifically mentioned in Scripture, but I believe it is forbidden by other biblical principles.
“How many principles?” you ask.
I don’t have an exact metric, but each of us holds a certain level in our own understanding of Scripture and experience with the Lord to be able to discern between what is right in wrong. If Romans 14 and 1 Cor. 9 teach us anything, it’s that God-fearing Christians can arrive on various sides of an issue based on a lot of factors.
“The Holy Spirit led me to ________. If it’s different from you, one of us is wrong.” That may not be such a clear-cut statement, and I would have a hard time being as dogmatic as all that.
I have convictions—things I am convinced about—and I have preferences, and if you are honest, so do you. I hope you do, at least, because opinions (convictions?) about carpet color ought not be raised to the same level of importance as convictions about how a soul is saved from sin.
I like what Pastor Tom Brennan says about it:
Only a fool is convinced that everything he thinks and does is entirely correct. A wise man, on the other hand, accepts that he has limitations. He realizes that he is not perfect, that he does not have a perfect grasp of the will of God, especially in the areas about which God does not speak specifically. Because of this, he sometimes prefaces his comments with, “Here’s what I think…” He has reasons, oftentimes biblical ones, for that thinking. He has experience, perspective, judgment, counsel, and the Holy Spirit, too. But if he does not have a thou shalt or a clear application of Bible principle he says, “In my judgment, this is what I think we should do/go/be…”[1]
Tonight, we’ll try to talk about all three: convictions, principles, and preferences.
-Pastor Ryan
[1] Brennan, Tom. Yes, It Matters: What the Bible Says About Our Appearance (p. 35). Xulon Press. Kindle Edition.