Motives, Motives, Motives

For our communion meditation this morning I am continuing the Bible’s teaching on what kind of goal-setting and planning is God-honoring. Reading from Proverbs 16, verses 1-2.

Prov. 16:1 The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits.

Introduction

Last time we saw from verse 1 that we have a responsibility to plan for the future and to commit ourselves to those plans. But the synthetic parallelism shows that we also have a responsibility to make sure that all of our planning has been laid before the Lord, is approved by the Lord, is enabled by the Lord, and is prospered by the Lord.

Verse 2 deals with the motivations for such of plans. And sometimes it is hard to know if our motives for the plans we make are righteous or not. Apart from God’s guidance we won’t know, and that can negatively impact our planning for the future.

Anyway, as we meditate on this second Proverb in chapter 16, we can rejoice that the grace that is offered us in the Lord’s Supper is a grace that can do the impossible - it can transform us from the inside out and begin to change our mixed motives to more and more become pure motives for what we are planning.

The impossible - having 100% pure motives

But let's start by looking at how difficult it is to have pure motives. Solomon says, “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes.”

By instinct we tend to justify ourselves and see our own ways as being pure - even if they are not pure. Even criminals and violent people have testified that they have thought of their actions as being good actions – at least when weighed in the balances of their own criteria. For example, Darren Armstrong, a former thief who had stolen huge sums of money from big corporations, justified his fraud by thinking, “They won’t miss the money.” It was only when Christ regenerated him and gave him a new heart that he began to see how wicked his motives really had been. And his ministry focuses on helping former criminals to find the way out of this - by introducing them to the Lord who weighs our hearts.

Nick Chester wrote an article titled “Criminals Explain How They Justified Their Crimes To Themselves.” He said,

“Criminologists have interviewed every imaginable sample of individuals who break laws, and found remarkable consistency in the use of what we call ‘techniques of neutralization,’” Maruna explained. “There have been studies of deer poachers, terrorists, rapists, shoplifters, cyber hackers, murderers—you name it. And yet the individuals involved tend to use a very consistent and discernible number of post-hoc rationalizations to account for what they did.”

These “techniques of neutralization” form the basis of a concept known as “neutralization theory,” which was posited by sociologists David Matza and Gresham Sykes in the 1950s. The theory holds that criminals are able to neutralize values that would otherwise prohibit them from carrying out certain acts by using one or up to five methods of justification: “denial of responsibility,” “denial of injury,” “denial of the victim,” “condemnation of the condemners,” and “appealing to higher loyalties.”

In other words, the problem of self-righteousness is not only an issue found among self-righteous Christians. Charles Spurgeon said in one of his sermons,

“They who are best acquainted with mankind will tell you that self-righteousness is not the peculiar sin of the virtuous, but that most remarkably, it flourishes best where there appears to be the least soil for it.”¹

If even the worst criminals can come up with techniques to justify their sins, you know that we can as well. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it?” If you are not going to the Lord who weighs your heart every day, the likelihood is that you have justified sins that you should know are wicked - whether your sin is watching pornography, treating your spouse poorly, white lies, immoral gaming, laziness, rationalizing why you cheat on work hours with your employer, or any number of other sins that are justified by false motives.

And notice the universal “all” in this verse - “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes…” Apart from grace, all that we do can be similarly justified. This needs to be taken into consideration when we make our plans.

But God can overcome our self-deception

But praise God! As the second half of the Proverb states, He does not leave us in our self-deception; He can overcome our self-deception. It says, "but the LORD weighs the spirits." Unlike the "but" in verse 1 (which is the soft "but" of synthetic parallelism), the Hebrew word for "but" in verse 2 is be, and is the very strong contrast of antithetic parallelism where each side of the couplet stands in strong contrast.

So what does the proverb mean when it says God weighs the spirits (plural) within a man (singular)? We only have one spirit inside of us don't we? Well, according to The Expositor's Bible Commentary, the Hebrew word for "spirits" in the plural is "a metonymy for the motives."² Other commentaries agree. William Reyburn says, "The spirit is literally 'spirits' and refers here to human nature and its motives. To 'weigh spirits' is to test or judge the aims, purposes, or motives of the person."³ And so I have titled this communion message, "Motives, motives, motives." We must examine our inner motives when planning. And keep in mind that planning is the theme that holds all of the first nine proverbs of this chapter togther. Here is how the apostle Paul applied this Proverb to himself in 1 Corinthians 4. And I will read it in context:

2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

Paul was saying that even though he sought to have pure motives, he didn't trust his own self-judgment. Instead, he constantly looked to the Lord to examine his motives. And the reason is the same as given in Jeremiah 17:9 - who can understand his own heart or his inner motives?

If you want God to continue to help you to distinguish what is true from false within your motives, be sure that you always heed the Holy Spirit when He brings such convictions. We don't want to be guilty of deepening the self-deception by ignoring the Holy Spirit's prompting. Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us, "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with Whom you have to do, including the thoughts and intents of your heart." You might be able to fool others, but you cannot fool the Lord. And if you want God's blessings, you need to take seriously both sides of this Proverb. So important is this proverb, that Solomon gave it twice in the book of Proverbs. He gives it again in Proverbs 21:2.

How does God weigh our motives? The Holy Spirit has many times used His Bible to bring conviction about doing right things with impure motives. I confess that I haven't always responded without rationalization, but that is my goal. I want to not only make the right plans, but also make them with right motives. That is easier said than done. But Isaiah 66:2 gives this marvelous promise to those who open their hearts to the Holy Spirit. It says, "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.”

So as you come to the Lord's Table this morning, I would urge you to ask God in the words of Psalm 139, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." When you do, there are numerous Scriptures that promise that He will revive your heart. For example, Isaiah 57:15 says,

For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

May we be the contrite ones who are willing to have our bad motives uncovered and good motives given. Amen.

Let's pray. Father, though we acknowledge that we have often rationalized our plans and actions with You, we want to put off all rationalizing thoughts. We want to be holy and sincere before You. So as we come to this table, we ask You in the words of David, that you would "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Cleanse us this morning of impure motives and help us to walk in the light as Jesus was in the light so that we can have true fellowship with You and with each other. And we ask that as You expose our mixed motives that we would have the courage to confess them before You, and that the blood of Jesus Christ would cleanse us of all sin. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.