The Examined Life!

1. The unexamined life is a life without true purpose.

1) “What am I doing here?” is a question that many have asked and failed to produce adequate answers.

2) The hedonistic lifestyle (cf. 1 Corinthians15:32 “. . . if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.”

3) The humanistic lifestyle “Since there is no God to save us, we must save ourselves.”

4) The new age lifestyle–pantheism–we must save the planet.

5) Some say that the purpose in life is simply the search for a purpose.

6) Some have even said that it is just simply irrational and there is no purpose to life.

7) Solomon wrote, ” It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory” Proverbs 25:27.

2. The examined life is a life with true purpose.

1) One must reason beyond the mere physical and realize that the true purpose of life is in the spiritual.

a. Hebrews 11:13-16 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”

b. 2 Corinthians4:16-18 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

3. What is that purpose?

1) Our ultimate purpose in life is to glorify God.

a. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul writes, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

b. Psalm 29:1, 2 “Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

2) What does it mean to glorify God? It means to do everything according to the will of God.

a. John 17:4 “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” John 8:29 “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”

b. In Ecclesiastes12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

1. The unexamined life is a life without true values.

1) “What matters most to us?” is a question that will go unanswered if we do not examine our lives.

2) Worse yet, if we do not examine deeply enough, that is, if we think that the answer lies in the realm of the physical and not the spiritual, then we will answer the question wrong.

3) Further, if our life purpose is wrong, our values will be wrong as well.

4) It is easy to value things that are more concerned with the physical than the spiritual.

a. Money/Possessions

b. Work

c. Recreation

d. Success

e. Power

f. Family/Friends

5) But God has said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. . . No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew6:19, 20, 24)

2. The examined life is a life with true values.

1) If one discovers his true purpose, then his values will be built around it.

2) Our purpose gives our life direction, but our values give our life meaning.

3) The values in our life are those things that matter most to our lives.

3. What are some of those values?

1) Personal values

a. The most valuable thing that each of us have in our personal possession today is our soul. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

b. Now, what should we do with our soul?

a) We should save it!–“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).

b) We should mature our souls–“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:2-11).

2) Social values

a. Family

a) Husbands are the heads of the family and love their wives–Ephesians5:23

b) Wives are in subjection to their husbands–Ephesians5:25

c) The children are in obedience to their parents–Ephesians6:1

d) The parents seek to raise their children in the nurture of the Lord–Ephesians6:4

b. Friends–“Be not deceived, evil companions corrupt good morals” (1 Corinthians15:33)

c. Society-

3) Religious values

a. We value God by giving him our all–Matthew 22:37 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

b. We value Christ by respecting his authority–Colossians3:17

c. We value Truth by obtaining it and never letting it go–Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.”

1. The unexamined life is a life without faith.

1) Concerning those who did not examine their lives–(the context is examples of those who did not have faith)”And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful” (Romans 1:28-31).

2. The examined life is a life with faith.

1) Our text today is 1 Corinthians13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

3. In whom should we put our trust?

1) Not man–“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” Galatians 1:10-12.

2) Psalms 60:11 and 108:12 say “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.”

3) Proverbs 3:5, 6