Big Idea:

The journey of faith is one that calls us to seek and find. It’s a journey with Jesus that leads to discovery, too knowing and transformation. We must become comfortable with looking inwardly and not just outwardly. In our humanity we often default into asking questions of others motives. We make assessments upon others actions, all the while, missing the moment to pause and turn those questions inward and allow the Spirit of God to search our own hearts. Interior examination is a must as a disciple seeking to follow after Jesus. Friend, it’s there, where we’ll discover our next steps of faith. (see: Psalm 139:23-24, Luke 6:41-45, 2 Corinthians 10:5)

I want us to look into why the practice of Interior examination matters for us as followers of Jesus - precisely because we live in a world that tends to like to live on the surface…

If there is one book of the Bible that highlights this so well - it’s the book of psalms as a model of interior examination. Psalm 139 in particular speaks about how well and detailed God knows us - how meticulously and miraculously He created us - loves us & is dialed into us. David closes this Psalm with a prayer of examination. Asking God to search us and to surface things within that are hindering your relationship with Him and adversely affecting your relationships with others. We'd do well to make this a regular practice within our lives.

Jesus said: My Father is always at work - so we should look for it and cooperate with Him. He has your best interests in mind and His intentions toward you, are good.

Compartmentalization refers to a kind of splitting of ourselves in which we offer some parts of our lives to God but deny the rest. WE have areas of our lives that are marked as “off limits” to God. No Trespassing signs posted around them. We then end up living a split life. Segmented. Fractured. But we’ve been made and created to be ‘whole’ person.

Jesus challenged his disciples then and now to deal examine their hearts, the internal desires, appetites, passions that shape our decisions and actions.

41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Socrates, (300 BC) “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Saint Augustine (350-400 AD) “O God, let me know myself; let me know you.”

John Wesley (1700’s) said, “The knowledge of God and that of ourselves are connected. Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God.”

Ice Cube (’90’s rapper) - “You better check yo self before you wreck yo self”

If we want to be faithful to God and seek to live a deeply formed way of life, one that lives more and more like Jesus — then the work of self-examination is imperative!

Ultimately the goal of self-examination is FREEDOM - freedom from destructive thought patterns, dangerous habits, broken inner messages and lies we believe or the ways we wrongly perceive things, so that we walk in intimacy with Jesus

Practice of praying Psalm 139:23-24 and listening to what the Spirit shows us.

Looking at patterns in how you family functioned (healthy or unhealthy practices and patterns)

examining trauma that you endured, shaped you, impacted you

unpacking the scripts/labels given to you, spoken over you that you’re still trapped in…trying to free yourself from or trying to achieve and live up too.

Asking God to reveal and show you things that you need to let go of or more closely hold on to...allowing Him to heal anything from your past that needs his healing touch.

Examining our feelings (they can be deceiving, thus we must not only live by them; but they can also be indicator lights to some things going on…

4 key questions to wrestle with around our feelings - taking inventory/examining ourselves.

As we wrestle with these questions, whether in solitude or within community, we bring to light some of the material that needs to be named, discerned and given over to God for His healing touch in our lives!

Our reactions are a source of important revelation for our lives.

They tell us a lot about ourselves.

The key - is to be able to ask yourself introspective questions in those moments….Why am I reacting this way? What is causing me to feel this angst or anxiety? Why am I triggered by this person or this circumstance?

If you find yourself negatively or disproportionally reacting to someone or something - ask yourself these questions:

The world is in need of people who are willing to more deeply examine their own selves before examining others - the work of ‘other-examination’ comes all too naturally for most of us…that’s what breeds a judgmental, anger-filled, suspicion-driven, cancel culture!

The way of viewing, judging and comparing others is easy. The way of interior examination is hard. But it is what helps shape us as a disciple of Jesus. Remember - a disciple is: “A disciple is someone who knows and follows Jesus, is becoming like Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus.”

or read back through Luke 6:41-45 and ask God to speak or nudge you about anything He needs to get through to you...

We hope you have been blessed by your time worshipping with us -- through song and through the Word!

We'll see you back at Elements next weekend -- on-site or online -- as we continue our series: The Rooted Life...transformational values that help us walk in the way of Jesus.