Doctrine and Piety

Here's something that I recently read in some book or other:

        … sound doctrine is the soul of piety…

One of the things that stood out to me as I read it is that there are lots of Christians who are not persuaded that it's true.

Part of the problem might be definitions. So, what is piety? That's an archaic and useless word to too many Christians. But it's just trying to communicate this thought: a body and soul fully given to working at following Jesus and doing that in a way that shows. That doesn't sound so archaic. And isn't it what Jesus calls for from all who profess to be His disciples?

But then there's this thing 'doctrine'. Why would anyone think that knowing doctrine is important? That sounds so academic. And it is academic if by 'doctrine' you mean something like the infralapsarian view of the order of the decrees of God. But Jesus is Lord is also doctrine. So, while infralapsarianism has little to do with piety, embracing the Lordship of Jesus and all that it means has everything to do with piety. And someone who fails to embrace that doctrine cannot follow Jesus well - or maybe at all.

But, according to the quote, it's not just doctrine that's important. It's sound doctrine. And here the point being made is that there is a difference between doctrine that is correct in what it is saying and doctrine that isn't. Caesar is Lord is also doctrine. But it's not true. There are those who embrace modern variations of that doctrine. And their lives show it. They need to embrace sound doctrine, things like Jesus is Lord.

There are too many Christians who do not see the importance of sound doctrine when it comes to developing piety - or to say it differently, the importance of knowing the truth of Jesus well so that they can follow Him well. God disapproves of that opinion. That's why He had the Bible - with all of its various doctrines - written.

Add to Your Faith

I expected to return to the Gospel of John this week, but as you can see that's not where we're going. Instead, we're going to take a look at a couple of things in one of Peter's letters. You may have noticed that there have been a few particular themes that have been showing up in my teaching these days. I need to say that I did not plan for that to happen. I do not figure out what I'm going to be teaching months in advance. After choosing a book of the Bible to work through, my planning is pretty much week by week. So, any theme that shows up is not by my design. One of these themes has been the idea of choosing. I have tried to impress upon you the importance of making wise choices. Let me explain why this theme of choosing wisely is important. It seems clear that our culture is in the process of becoming increasingly antagonistic to any public expression of being a disciple of Jesus. As one headline I read put it, 'We fought the culture wars, and we lost.' Associated with this increasing antagonism will be an increasing darkness in our culture. That is obvious. If you extinguish the light all you will have left is darkness. Evil will be more outspoken and will hold sway more easily. Life for faithful Christians is going to become more difficult. This seems clear to me. The question that pops into my head at this point is whether we are ready for that. And by ready I mean prepared to take a stand against that evil. That will be not only unpopular but also costly. It will be costly to you and especially to your children. And please understand. When I talk about taking a stand I'm not talking about attending some rally or writing your senator or anything like that. I'm talking about gently but firmly responding to a popular opinion your neighbor just repeated to you by saying, 'You know, because I'm a Christian I really don't think that's a good idea.' I'm talking about respectfully telling your boss that, because of Jesus, you cannot, in good conscience, do what he just told you to do. Joining some political group or signing a petition is relatively easy. Disagreeing, face‑to‑face, as a disciple with someone who clearly is not is much more difficult. Being ready for that kind of stand against evil is the fruit of a series of wise choices. And that, of course, is itself the fruit of learning whom to fear. So, in the hope of helping you to be ready for the hard choices that will soon enough confront you, if they haven't already, and in obedience to the direction of the Spirit, I want to speak to you from 2 Peter 1.  Our text is 2 Peter 1.3-11.

Self-Interest

We’re going to return to the same text that we looked at last week. But this week we’re going look at it from a different angle. We’re going to consider an assumption that Jesus makes when He offers this promise. Understanding Jesus’ assumption will help us understand ourselves and how we can do a good job of making our way through this life. So, first let me read again Jesus’ offered promise.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

Piety: The Church and Relationships

Matthew 6.9-12

We are once again looking at piety and still considering the Church as a tool that the Spirit uses to develop that in us. To get at this today, we will use the Lord's Prayer. In this prayer that Jesus taught you will find six petitions, each covering a certain category of life. We're going to focus on just one of those petitions: 'Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.'

Let me begin by telling you what this petition is not about. I find that I am slowly entering the high tech Internet world with its online bill paying and the like. So, each month I get an email from FirstEnergy written in the classic corporate dialect of English, 'Welcome to Penelec Online Bill Presentation. Your electric statement for your account is available for review and/or payment.' Then after listing the account details it goes on with this. 'To access your statement, click on the following link to our World Wide Web site...' And off I go. When I get there I read the bill, type in some numbers and hit the payment button. My debt to Penelec is now cleared - until the next time I hear from them. This is not the kind of transaction that Jesus is talking about. But, sadly, for too many folk, asking God for forgiveness of their sins is just a variation on what I just described. They are notified that they have an outstanding debt. They perform the proper steps to clear the debt - in this case a prayer of confession - and then they tell themselves, 'My debt with God is cleared - until the next time I hear from Him.'

That's not what Jesus is pointing us to in this part of His prayer. We are not dealing with some impersonal corporation that tries to sound friendly as it tell us that we owe it some money. We are talking with our Father, our Father who really loves us, our Father who, because of that love, wants us to help us deal with our sin. A mere mechanical reaction is not what Jesus is talking about. No, Jesus is talking about making sure that our relationship with the Father is in good shape - piety. This part of the prayer is about relationships. This petition is here to teach us about our relationship with the Father - and more.

Let's look for carefully. For one thing, did you notice Jesus' assumption? (This is so helpful and freeing.) Jesus assumes that you will sin against the Father - and thus will need to ask for forgiveness. He doesn't state it, let alone prove it. He just assumes it. He knows we are sinners. He knows that what we do best is sin. He knows that we sin a lot. And yet, this does not stop Him from loving us. We should be saddened by our sin but never surprised by it, and certainly never despairing because of it. Jesus knows all about us. He knows that we are sinners. And He loves us anyway. No one has ever loved us like that. And it is simply amazing that He, of all people, would.

Jesus has another assumption at work here. He also assumes the ministry of the Spirit. So often, we do not see our own sin. But the Spirit sees it. And, from time to time, He will point it out to us. He does not do this to make us feel bad, to feel condemned. He does this because He loves us. So, Jesus teaches us that when the Spirit does His work of pointing out our sin, we should go to the Father and ask Him to forgive. These are assumptions that are built into Jesus' words.

Now, let's stop and ask a question. What does it mean to ask for forgiveness? What are we actually asking for? What are we asking the Father to do? Imagine this. What if the next time I get that email from FirstEnergy I reply with something like this. 'Dear Sir or Madam: Would you please forgive this debt. Thank you. Cordially, Leon Ben-Ezra'. What am I asking my electric company to do? Let me translate. 'Dear FirstEnergy, You know that 30 bucks that I owe for the electric bill? What if you just let it slide? What if we both just forget all about it? Thanks loads. Leon'. That's forgiving a debt. Now, how much do we owe God for that sin we're asking forgiveness for? I think that we'll all agree that we're not talking 30 bucks. This is in a whole new category. But how do we gauge it? What would pay the debt? How do we answer that? This is the Gospel's answer. Payment for one sin: Hell. Forever. 'Dear God, You know that debt I owe You - you know, eternity in hell for insulting You - what if You let that slide? What if we both just forget all about it?' Can you imagine asking for such a thing? But that is what we are doing every time we ask the Father to forgive even one sin. It would be the height of presumption to do such a thing - if it weren't for the fact that this is exactly what Jesus tells us to do. 'Pray like this... “Our Father who art in heaven... Forgive us our debts”'. I wouldn't dream of writing to FirstEnergy with a request to forgive a 30 dollar debt, but I do something much more astounding all the time with the Father. And so do you. And we can make this huge request because of what Jesus did on the Cross. He has suffered hell for our sins, each and every one. Because of Jesus we can have a cleared relationship with the Father, one without the clutter of sin to muck it up. That's what Jesus is talking about here. This is a great gift of the Gospel.

We're not done with Jesus' words. Listen again to what He teaches us to pray. 'Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.' It's amazing the difference that a little word can make. I'm thinking of the word 'as'. Jesus is tying together two things. He's tying together our forgiveness by the Father to our forgiving other people. By including that 'as' Jesus is telling us that our being forgiven by the Father depends on our being forgiving of others. Now, that's a big deal, and I think Jesus knew that it would raise some questions. So, just a couple of sentences later we find Him saying this. 'For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.' So, let me repeat what I said. Our being forgiven by the Father depends on our being forgiving of others. The Father's forgiveness of our sins is conditional. I'm sure that this raises all kinds of questions that, in one way or other, start out, 'That can't be right.' But it must be right, because Jesus said so.

Now, I want to take that and apply it in just one area. I want to take this call for you to be forgiving and relate it to one group of people you know. According to Jesus, the quality of your relationship with the Father depends on the quality of your relationships with the other people in this room. Notice the wisdom of God. It is so easy for us to forget about other people, to neglect them and our relationships with them, and to focus on ourselves. That's one of the consequences of being sinners. So, Jesus gathers up sinners like us, and He puts us into this thing called the Church and then He tells us, 'If you want to enjoy your relationship with your Father, then you'll have to learn how to get along well with each other.' Now there's motivation. Do you see how being the Church, as Jesus defines it, is a tool that He uses to develop piety in us?

Let's develop that a bit so that we are all clear on what Jesus is saying. Imagine someone saying, 'Well, I have no outstanding debts with anyone in the church. There is no one that I need to forgive. So, it's all good, right?' Wrong. A husband who has not had an affair with someone who is not is wife, who hasn't even thought about any such thing, has not yet fully kept the commandment about adultery. Though God spoke the command in the negative, 'You shall not commit adultery', He was also expecting the positive, 'Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church.' This kind of thing happens a lot in the Bible. So, our Larger Catechism not only asks what sins are forbidden by the Ten Commandments, but it also asks what duties are required by each of them. So, Jesus' stated expectation that we would forgive the other people in this room also includes His unstated expectation that we would work hard to develop good relationships with them. And He makes that explicit elsewhere. 'This is my commandment, that you love one another' - and then the standard for that love - 'as I have loved you.' So, it is pretty clear that we need to work at the relationships that we have with each other. And we need to do that from both sides of the coin. We need to work at the part that requires that we deal with sins in such a way that it leads to our granting forgiveness to each other. And we need to work at the part that requires that we develop ties of love with each other. Remember: the quality of your relationship with the Father depends on the quality of your relationship with the other people in this room.

Let me finish by mentioning few things to help you deal with what I've just told you. The first comes out of my own experience from this past week. As I worked on the sermon, I was really hit with the tie that Jesus makes between our forgiving each other and the Father's forgiveness of us. It wasn't news to me, but it hit me in a new way. How I relate to you really makes a difference in how I am able to enjoy the Father. That made a dent. I hope that you also see that in a new way. I realize that this probably feels overwhelming. But it doesn't have to because of two things. When the Spirit brings us to see something of the Gospel in a new way, that's an expression of His goodness to us. He's simply saying that we've learned the last skill of Godly living well enough so that we can now move on to the next. He's opened another door so that we might become even more like Jesus. New expectations of us always feel a little daunting. But we need to remember that this is good. This is a sign of progress. And thanks be to God for that. The other thing that we need to remember is that whenever Jesus calls us to take the next step, whenever He says, 'Now, let me show you a bit more clearly what following Me looks like', He will also provide the grace we need to be able to take that next step. Ours is a religion of grace. It always boils down to God granting more of His favor to us, His children. He showers His favor on us as we work at obeying Him. So, don't give in to feelings of being overwhelmed. The Spirit is here. He will guide us and take care of us. He will give us whatever we may need to follow Jesus. He will never abandon us to our own resources because He knows - better than any of us - that to do such a thing is to consign us to failure. And if anything is true, this is: He wants us to flourish. So, if you are feeling a little overwhelmed, in a way that's good. You understand what is being required of you. But don't stay there. Don't allow that feeling to dominate you. Believe the Gospel of God's grace and then work at obedience.

Let me urge you to consider what Jesus assumes and says in our text. Let it percolate during the week so that the specifics that the Spirit wants you to get will become clearer. And then rejoice in the grace of the Gospel that makes following Jesus possible.

Piety: The Church

Ephesians 4.1-16

Today, we'll continue on with the theme that we've been looking at for the last several weeks, piety. Let me remind you of our working definition. Piety is knowing Jesus and working hard to follow Him. For the past two weeks we've been looking at the tools that the Spirit uses to develop piety in us. The two we've considered were prayer and the Bible. I hope that you can see what we've been doing as we looked at these two tools. All we've done is step back a bit so that we can see these two in the context of the bigger picture. I doubt that I've told you anything radically new over the last weeks. That wasn't my goal. What I've wanted to do is to talk about these things in a slightly different way than what you're used to. I've done this in the hope that you would be able to see the familiar in a fresh way so that you could enjoy the Gospel a bit more. Today, we'll be looking at another tool that the Spirit uses. Today, we'll be looking at the Church. And again I'll try to help you to step back and see it from a slightly different point of view.

Our text doesn't use the words 'piety' or 'church', but it's clear that the Spirit is talking about the church and its relation to the development of piety. So, at the beginning of our text Paul talks about walking worthy of our calling, the eagerness that we are to have to maintain the unity of the Spirit, and such things. What are these but different expressions of piety, knowing Jesus and working hard to follow Him. And then, at the end of our text we find Paul telling us that there is one body, the body of Christ, which is just another way of talking about the Church. So, our text, at beginning and end, is dealing with the Church and its relation to piety. So, what do we find in the middle? Paul, there, tells us that Jesus gave gifts and quotes a Psalm as a proof text. But the gifts of this passage are different from those, say, in 1 Corinthians, where Paul talks about tongues, the ability to heal and the like. These are Jesus' gifts given to individuals. In our text, the gifts of Jesus are gifts that He gives to the Church as a group. 'And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers...' These are Jesus' gifts to the Church so that we might develop piety. These are tools that the Spirit uses in the life of His Church, in your life.

As you noticed, I'm on that list. As pastor of Faith Reformed, I am a tool that the Spirit uses to develop piety in your life. As I thought about that it led me to this question: How am I supposed to be this tool for your good? What does that look like? What does it mean that I'm your pastor? I debated how personal to make this. I could have simply talked about how the office of pastor relates to the life of a church. Saying it this way has some advantages. For one thing, it sounds more humble. But it's just a fact that when it comes to your experience of being a church there is no 'office of pastor'. In your experience there is me. And so it seemed good to set aside the vague and theoretical and make this personal. 'How am I supposed to be this tool for your good?' It sounds less humble, but it's much more practical and, hopefully much more helpful. So, that's how I'll approach today's topic; not in sterile, academic terms, though that would be safer for me, but in personal terms which hopefully will be better for you.

So, where do we start? Let's start with the label that Paul uses: pastor. It's funny what a little study will turn up. Every other place in the New Testament where this word translated 'pastor' pops up, it's never translated 'pastor'. In every other place, it's always translated 'shepherd'. Sometimes it's referring to literal shepherds, like those terrified and ecstatic men that the angels sang to when Jesus was born. Other times it's used figuratively as in when Jesus says, 'I am the good shepherd.' I think that we would be helped in answering our question if we read this word in our text as 'shepherd'. I am your shepherd. In fact, the newest edition of the English Standard Version, which I use, does in fact translate it in this way. 'And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers...' I am called to be your shepherd.

That helps. And it helps because it naturally leads to this next question: 'What do shepherds do?' That's a question that the Bible answers. So, to start, let's consider parts of John 10, where Jesus describes a true shepherd. This is where He says, 'I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me...' And then there's this. 'But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.' A good shepherd knows his sheep. He knows them by name. He knows each one as an individual and not merely a member in good standing of the group. He knows what makes this sheep different from that one. He knows the sheep. This kind of knowledge is important because a shepherd cannot care for his sheep if he does not know them. How can the shepherd meet their needs if he does not know what they are? A good shepherd knows his sheep.

Jesus also makes a contrast. 'He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.' The hired hand doesn't really care. It's just a job with a paycheck. At some point he will decide that the paycheck isn't good enough, and so he abandons the sheep. A real shepherd will not do such a thing. In fact, as Jesus says, a real shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Being a shepherd costs. But a true shepherd pays the price. And he does that because he cares.

Let's move on to Psalm 23 to see more of what it means to be a shepherd. The shepherd leads his sheep. He leads them to green pastures, beside still waters, into paths of right living. In this way he meets the needs of the sheep so that they shall not be in want. The shepherd guides and protects the sheep with his rod and staff. With the one he keeps the wolves away, and with the other he keeps the flock together on the right path. There are other places where the Bible talks about the calling of a shepherd, but this will do for now.

I've given you a thumbnail sketch of what Jesus has called me to do. But there is one more aspect that I need to add. All of what I do with you is tied to the Gospel. My caring for you and caring about you, my leading you, my protecting you, all that I do is tied to the Gospel. As your shepherd, I am called to bring the Gospel to bear on your lives. And I do that basically in two ways. First, I teach you the Gospel. I do that in sermons, in Bible studies, in one on one discipleship, formal counseling, and by chatting with you here and there. In these different ways I work to relate the riches of the Gospel to the different aspects of your life. Just as an unbeliever cannot be converted without a basic knowledge of the Gospel, a Christian cannot develop piety without a growing knowledge of the Gospel. I need to work at getting the truths of the Gospel into your minds so that the Spirit can get them into your hearts and thus change your lives.

That leads to the second way that I am called to bring the Gospel to bear on your lives. I once said that I thought it would have been better if God had chosen angels to be the shepherds of the flock. At the time it made a lot of sense to me. I have, from time to time, reflected on my calling to be a shepherd. As I have done that, I have reviewed my years here at Faith Reformed. Whenever I do that, one word almost always makes its presence felt: 'failure'. I recall the times when what I have done or have failed to do not just resulted in missed opportunities to do good, but, worse, it hurt the people I was called to care for. I am in the process of learning how to deal with that, to see this as part of the process of growth. But the harmful effects of what I did remain. So, it made sense for me to think of angels. God's angels do not fail. But, oddly enough, I've changed my mind, and that because my understanding of my calling has deepened. It's not enough for me to tell you the Gospel. I also need to show it to you. The Gospel does not touch angels. To be sure, they are interested in it, but only as observers. Angels are not saved by the Gospel. But shepherds are. A shepherd's interest in the Gospel is nothing like that of a mere observer. So, along with teaching the Gospel, a shepherd needs to show the Gospel. He needs to show his own wrestling with sin and repentance of it, his own growing wonder at what God does in his soul, his own longing to get to the end of the story so that the best part of the story can begin. Or to translate some of that from church words: a shepherd needs to show the Gospel by how he deals with his own failures by believing that Jesus will accept him anyway, and in the hope that one day there will be no more failures. Angels can't do that. Only redeemed sinners can do that. So, that is also something that I need to do. And as I work to fulfill my calling - this calling to be your shepherd - the Spirit will do what He does so well. He will surprise us all by how He will develop piety in you and in me.

So, what do we do now? Where do we go from here? One of my goals for today's sermon is to help you step back and look at this thing 'Church' from a bit of a different perspective. For that goal to be achieved you will have to digest what I've said. One way or other, that will result in a call for adjustments in how you live. That's true of any sermon. So, here's one thing to digest. Every aspect of what I am called to do presupposes something about you. You have needs to be met by what I am called to do. Do you see that? Will you let me help you? Will you let the Spirit use me to meet those needs?

Also, if this is going to work, I need to get to know you and you need to get to know me. As I thought about this during the week, one thing became clear. I am a very private person. My walls are pretty high. I am an introvert which means that I focus on what's happening on the inside more than what's happening on the outside. And it also means that I am reluctant to let you know what's happening on the inside. I have walls. And you have walls too. That's not good. We need to get to know each other. How can I be a faithful shepherd to you if there are walls between us? I'm going to work at lower my walls. I'm asking you to do the same.

Making changes in these areas is not just hard. It's beyond us. We cannot change our hearts. But the Spirit can. So, we need to ask Him to do just that. If we are going to do better at being what a church is called to be, if we are going to grow in piety, it will only come about because of what the Spirit will do. So, let's ask him to work on us, to fill us with His power and love and wisdom. Our God loves to answer prayer. I know that He will answer this one.

Piety: Prayer

Matthew 6.5-9

We've been looking at piety for the last couple of weeks. In the first week I told you how to define piety. Piety is about knowing Jesus and working hard to follow Him. In that first week I also told you that if we are going to achieve the goals that Jesus has for our church then piety is a necessary ingredient. Last week I followed that up with a sermon on the Bible as one of the tools that the Spirit uses to develop piety. This week we're going to look at another tool that the Spirit uses. Today, we look at prayer. We're going to look at prayer with a very basic question in mind: Why? Why pray? Let's see how the Spirit will encourage us in our prayers this morning.

Our starting point is a phrase that Jesus repeats. The phrase is, 'When you pray...' He says this three times in our text. 'And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.' 'But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door...' 'And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do...' I think that it's pretty clear from this that Jesus assumes that we are going to pray. He says 'when' not 'if'. With that assumption in mind, He guides us into the right way to pray. That's the point of this part of Scripture. Jesus is teaching His disciples - the original group as well as all of us sitting here - how to pray. And He does this because He assumes that we will pray.

Let's take the next step by asking a question. Why is it that Jesus assumes such a thing? Let's start with what is not a reason He assumes this: it's a rule for those who want to be Christians. Jesus is the anointed of God. He's gathering followers and so, it just stands to reason that He must indoctrinate them in how to be a part of His group. So He says, 'Here are the rules. My followers will keep these rules if they expect to be one of mine. Keep the rules or else. ' Right? Wrong! Rule-keeping in order to be part of the group is something that religious people do, but not Christians, not people who love Jesus. Every religion boils down to keeping a list of rules. Being a Christian boils down to knowing a Person. If you can keep this straight it will make a huge difference in following Jesus. The evil one persists in pushing you to be religious, to think in terms of rules. Don't be fooled by him. Being a Christian is about a Person and not about rules.

Jesus' assumption about your prayer life isn't based on some idea about rules. No, instead it's based on who God is. 'But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.' I'm pretty sure that for the disciples, the notion of calling God 'Father' was another one of Jesus' surprises. When He said, 'Now this is how I want you to pray, “Our Father...” ' it probably blew them away. 'Far too familiar!' But that's what He said. And that's why He makes the assumption that He does. We pray because God is our Father in heaven.

Let's look at that more closely. There are those who have had a great father and a great relationship with their father. But as you know, there are many who have not had a great father. It's hard for them to be encouraged by the idea that God is their Father. Part of the work of redeeming this world includes redeeming and restoring the idea of 'father'.

The Bible, however, is clear about what it means for God to be a Father. Here are some examples.

'The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.' [Psalm 103]

What images do you see here? What impressions does this make? This is what I see. My Father is infinitely patient. He is never exasperated with me, regardless of how stupid I've been. He is gentle, not just with an affectionate touch, but also with words that encourage, that heal my wounds, words that give wise direction. My Father forgives me freely. He will never throw my past foolishness back at me. And He understands my severe which are so very great. This is what I see here about God, my Father.

Then there's this.

In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me. [Psalm 18]

What a picture! David is in trouble. He cries out. And what is the response? It's almost violent. God comes to deliver this one in whom He delights. He is like an enraged parent rushing to the defense of one of his children. That is so comforting to me because I know where I live. I live in a world filled with evil people and evil spirits. But when they come to attack my soul, one cry, and my Father rushes to my rescue.

One more.

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. ... How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. [Hosea 11]

These are God's words to a rebellious Israel. A very rebellious. But what do you see? Here is deep love and affection. God is so concerned for this errant child of His that He is all twisted up inside. Israel needs to be disciplined, and yet there is such sorrow at the thought. This is a father's love.

The God whom Jesus reveals is a Father, a great Father. Your Father.

There is more to Jesus' description of God here. He is our Father who is in heaven. This isn't just to make sure that you know which God Jesus is talking about, 'You know, the one in heaven?' Something else is going on here. Heaven is the one place where there is no debate about Who has the power around here. Our God is the God of heaven, the God who rules over all with power.

Nebuchadnezzar understood this.

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?" [Daniel 4]

Did you catch it? When our God acts there is no one who can stop Him, no one who says, 'Hey, wait a minute!' He is the God who has power, and He isn't afraid to use it for the sake of His children. Do you see why Jesus included this little phrase, 'who is in heaven'?

Jesus has come so that this God could be your Father. That's the Gospel. We know this is true, but it is more profound than any of us can understand. Consider this. We all start out as children of the devil. He is our father and we are his sons and daughters. And left to ourselves, we would remain his children not just for time but for eternity, suffering the same eternal fate as he. But Jesus has changed that. He abducted us from Satan's household so that we might be adopted into the family of God. Satan was your father. He hated you and abused you. He relished the idea of your suffering. Jesus rescued you from that. And now you have a new Father. Now you have a Father who cares for you, a Father who loves you deeply. Now God is your Father. And this explains why Jesus just assumes, 'When you pray...'

Today is a very important day for Johnny. He's just a little tyke but today - no more training wheels! Dad wasn't so sure that little Johnny is quite ready - he's just a little tyke - but Johnny was oh so persuasive. And so, there they are, Johnny and his Dad, at the school parking lot. Johnny is pedaling away with Dad alongside, holding onto the seat of the bike. 'Let go, Dad. I can do it. Let go! - Please!!' Dad lets go. Johnny pedals harder, wobbles a bit and crashes into a heap. His hands and knees are cut and bleeding - not terribly, but enough. And so, what does little Johnny do? He cries. Now, you know that little kids have different kinds of cries. There's the 'I'm overtired' cry and the 'I am so angry' cry. This is the 'I'm hurt. Help me!' cry. And little Johnny's expectation is that Dad will rush over, pick him up and make it all better. And that's exactly what Dad does. So, what do you think? Was this crying something that Johnny had to be taught? Did Johnny even pause to consider how to respond? No. He just knows: Dad is near. He loves me a lot. He's going to take care me. And little Johnny knows this because - well, that's his Dad.

Your life is filled with bike crashes of different sorts. Most of them are not life and death crises, though some of them are. And what is the natural response of the Christian to these crashes. You cry out to your Father. It's the natural response of someone who knows: Dad is near. He loves me a lot. He's going to take care me. Jesus assumes that you are going to pray because He assumes that your natural response to bike crashes is crying out to your Father. We start out praying after the bike crashes occur. But with time and some maturing we learn to also pray before they happen. Prayer is the natural response of a Christian to his God, the natural response of a Christian to his Father in heaven.

So, do you see why I say that if a Christian isn't praying the problem is not that he's broken some rule. The problem is something quite different. The problem is that he isn't believing the Gospel as well as he might. The Gospel says that God is your Father. The Gospel teaches you to say: Dad is near. He loves me a lot. He's going to take care of me. A Christian who isn't believing this, isn't enjoying the Gospel as much as he might. It's not that he's consciously rejected this fact. It's just that it isn't a part of his soul yet like Johnny's simple assumption about his Dad. Instead of making Johnny's assumption, this Christian assumes something very different.

So, let me ask you: Do you believe that God is your Father in heaven? I think you'll find the answer to that question by answering this question: Do you pray? Do you just know: your Father in heaven loves you deeply, that He can deal with anything? Do you pray, especially about the little things? I stress the little things because we all pray about the big things. Someone's in the hospital, and we all know to pray. But what about the little things? Do you find yourself praying through the day about the little things? I think that most of you can answer with a clear, 'Yes, I do believe that God is my Father, and my prayers are the proof of that.' You share little Johnny's assumption. And that is so very good. You should be greatly encouraged by that. The Spirit has been at work in your life and that's something to give thanks for.

It is my desire that what I have preached to you this morning would help you to do what you're doing - to pray, that it would help you to understand a bit better what this thing prayer is and that it would give you another glimpse into the unexplored wonders of a Gospel that teaches us that the God of heaven is our loving Father.

And that leads to our last question. 'How do I grow in this area? How can my prayer life improve some more?' The answer to that is not complicated at all. It's not a matter of renewed resolve to keep some rule. The answer is believing the Gospel - that Gospel which tells us that the God of heaven is our Father. We're back again to the work of the Spirit. When the Spirit wants us to take the next stop in believing this Gospel, He'll point out our sin, in some specific way, so that we can repent of that sin and believe a little more what it means that God is our Father in heaven. That's always the answer: the Spirit guiding us into a greater belief and enjoyment of the Gospel. So, let me repeat what I've said before. Put yourself in the place where the Spirit does His work. And as He does that work of change in your hearts, you will grow in our piety. You'll get to know Jesus better. You'll grow in following Him. And you'll make progress toward the goals that He has for you, as individuals and as a church.

Growing in Piety: The Bible

2 Timothy 3.10-17

Last week I talked to you about piety. And I did that in the context of talking about goals for our church. I said that we would not succeed unless we were a pious people. I also told you that in the following weeks we would be considering the tools that the Spirit uses so that we might grow in piety, the Spiritual disciplines. Today, we look at the first of those tools, the Bible and we do that asking a simple question. How is the Bible to be used to grow piety?

Let's start with a popular model of how to use the Bible. This is not really stated in black and white, but more assumed, especially among Reformed types. It goes something like this. You need to get to know your Bible because it has information that you really need - for the test. And so, the Bible becomes something like a textbook for that class that you're taking. As a result, you are tostudy it with some diligence. Maybe you underline important parts that you want to remember, or you take notes in the margins or maybe even fill a special notebook with thoughts and questions about what you're studying. And then there are the Cliff notes written by the experts. There is information in that Bible that you had better get. After all, the big exam is coming. And if you want to pass the test you had better know this stuff. So, get cracking. This is what we might call the education model for using the Bible.

That's a pretty popular model, especially in our circles. And it's wrong. There are some serious problems with this way of thinking about how the Bible works. For one thing, following this model is boring. 'Really, how many times do I have to read the parable of the good Samaritan or David and Goliath or about Paul's Damascus road conversion? I know what it says! Give me the test on any of these. I'll pass it with flying colors! I really don't want to have to read them again.' Ever find yourself saying something like that? Ever find yourself bored with the Bible? Then there's the flip side. There are parts of this textbook that are way too hard. Does anyone here really understand Ezekiel or how the sacrifices described in Leviticus actually work - let alone what they mean? Sometimes reading these things feels like reading something in Chinese. There are parts of the Bible that you just have no clue. Why bother reading them? One more. And I think this is the saddest of the three. This model doesn't work. Studying the Bible this way is not all that helpful. What good is it if I know that Paul was defending his apostleship in 2 Corinthians or that the Moabites were to be excluded from the worship of Israel for ten generations? How does that actually help anyone live? We have real problems to deal with; real problems that we need help with. There's that demanding job with people who just like to give you a hard time, or that depressing sense of loneliness that seems to dog your steps or the confusion of trying to sort out how to live in this very twisted world. I really don't think knowing who was king after Josiah or understanding the theological structure of Romans is going to help anyone with these things. Isn't the Bible supposed to help? But this way of using it makes the Bible seem boring, beyond the ability of normal people to understand and not all that helpful in the real world.

Using the Bible according to the education model, studying it so you're ready for the big test, doesn't work. It fails - miserably. And so, it results in people who no longer crack open their Bible - why should they? - unless they are forced to by a pesky pastor or a guilty conscience. These may do something with their Bibles, but they don't really expect it to make a difference when it comes to real living. And all too often, the education model, if it produces anything, it produces people who are proud. After all, they have studied the textbook. They have put in the time and effort. And so, they really do know the information. They know the list of all the kings of Israel. They can rattle off the outline of Romans - in their sleep. They know that they will pass the final exam with ease, and they let you know that too. Their knowledge might be impressive, but their lives are not attractive. They do not draw people to Jesus. This model of using the Bible does not work. It does not produce piety. And that, after all, is what we're interested in.

So, back to our question. How is the Bible to be used to grow piety? Listen again to what Paul wrote to Timothy. 'But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.' Now, what's this about? Let me first tell you what it's not about. Paul is not reminding Timothy about the time when he was converted. He's not saying, 'Timothy, remember how your knowledge of the Bible resulted in your salvation?' And that's clear if you notice the tense of the verb. '... the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation...' Paul's not talking about what the Bible did in the past but what it does in the present. So, does this mean that Paul is now doubting Timothy's salvation? 'Timothy, you need to stick with the Bible so that you can be converted.' Is that what's going on? No. To understand what Paul is saying you need to have a clear understanding of that word, 'salvation'.

Most Christians think of salvation as a something that happened to them in the past. As a result, their sins have been forgiven and instead of ending up in hell they're on their way to heaven. They have been saved. But that is only a thin slice of what the Bible has to say about what Jesus has come to do. Consider what the angel told Joseph when Jesus was about to be born. 'You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.' He doesn't talk about the part of salvation that deals with hell or being forgiven. Rather, according to the angel, Jesus has come to rescue us from the sins themselves and the evil that they create.

Think about some sin of yours. The popular - and most significant - sins of our culture are lust and fear. Lust says, 'I demand this!' And it could be pointing to anything from a sense of security and an easy life to another chance to beat the video game. Fear says, 'I could never handle that.' And it could be pointing to pain, not having enough money or not being in control of one's life. Those are the popular sins of our culture, and what goes on in our culture affects us. So, think about some sin of yours. Do you know what is so bad about that sin? Here's one way of looking at it. The problem with sin is not that you've broken some divine rule, and now God is mad at you. Rather, your sin robs you of life. It denies you the opportunity to experience the satisfaction of real life in all its wonder and beauty and joy. How do you think Peter felt when it dawned on him that he had denied his Lord three times? What did David feel when Nathan said, 'You are the man!'? Instead of enjoying more of life, they tasted more of death. So, consider that sin of yours, consider how it leads you to experience more death instead of experiencing more life. Jesus came to save you from that. And He does that now. Not in the sweet by and by. He saves you now!

Back to Paul's comments. 'Timothy, you've seen evil people and how their lives go from bad to worse. And you've watched me, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness. You've seen how I have lived, really lived. If you would be like me, continue in the sacred writings. Continue in your Bible so that you would be more and more saved from your sins. Continue in your Bible so that you can rejoice in real life just as I have.' A pious person is someone who is being freed from his sins and from the death that they bring as he grows in the favor and knowledge of Jesus. A pious person is growing in his experience of life.

This is a far cry from the fruit of the education model and its test-taking. This is being freed from your sins. It's about having life and having it more abundantly. And at the heart of all of this is walking with Jesus more and more deeply so that you understand this place in which we all live and so that being here is something that you can do with joy. The Bible makes you wise for salvation.

Let's move on. How does this work? How does your Bible do this saving from sin? Now, we're ready for the famous part of our text. 'All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness...' We have two pairs of words here. The first pair, teaching and reproof, is about how you think. This isn't about pondering abstract theological concepts. Rather, it's about how your heart thinks about your life in this place. Imagine going to your doctor because you've been feeling these odd pains. Your doctor does what doctors do, blood tests, scans and whatever else. You return when he gets the results, and he gives you the news. You have a very serious disease. Very serious. This is going to dramatically change your life - and not for the better. What will you do next? How will you respond? That all depends on how you think. Is God your loving Father who is also the Sovereign over all things, the God who brings tremendous good out of terrible evil? If your heart thinks that way, you will respond by trusting your Father. Sure, you may feel a little nervous about your immediate future, but you will respond with the same words that Mary used when someone gave her some troubling news, news that dramatically changed her life. 'Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word.' You will trust your Father. If, on the other hand, your heart thinks that you are all alone, if it believes the lies of the lusts and fears of our culture, then you will panic. You might fall apart or you might be stoical, but either of these are just different kinds of panic. Whichever it might be, you will not do well.

Your Bible is useful, 'profitable', to teach your heart how to think. It goes through the mind but the target is always the heart. As the heart learns to think according to what is real, according to the truths of the Gospel, and not according to the lies of our world, you will act well. You will experience more of life.

Teaching the right way to think includes exposing the wrong way to think. Part of this process includes reproving the heart. Sometimes the Bible confronts your heart and points out its errors. It's not very pleasant, especially at times, but it is necessary. So, by instruction and reproof, the Bible is used to teach the heart to think about this world according to the truth. It makes you wise so that you can experience more of the salvation Jesus provides.

The other pair of words are about how to act. 'Training in righteousness' translates into: giving the needed guidance in what right living looks like. And this also has its companion, 'correction'. Our behavior needs to be corrected just as our thinking does. The first pair is about right thinking. The second pair is about right acting. The right acting flows from right thinking, and it should flow naturally, but we are so twisted up inside that we need help seeing how right thinking is supposed to show itself in our actions. But the Bible will take care of that.

So, do you see what's going on? Your Bible makes you wise to salvation. It frees you from the sins that try to destroy life. And it does this by teaching your heart how to understand God, yourself and this place, as well as how to act in light of all of that. If you would be free, if you would grow in piety, you need to use your Bible.

Well, what do we do now? Are we still stuck with some variation of the education model? Do we still need to cram for the exam by stuffing our heads full of Bible facts? No. Remember, you cannot change your heart. Cram all the Bible facts you want into that brain of yours, and you still will not be able to change your heart. Only the Spirit can change your heart. And let me tell you that the more I ponder that the more I am finding it so very freeing. So, first, relax. The pressure is off. It's the Spirit who has to do the hard work. Relax - and then enjoy your Bible. The goal is just to get to know it. So, read it on your own. Read as a family. Read it as a couple. Listen to it during worship. Relax and enjoy it. Pick a place that you would enjoy reading, and read that. Don't cram for any test. There isn't any test. Just read whatever you've chosen and then close the book, and move on to the next thing.

I know that I'm not fulfilling my expected role of the pesky pastor who is supposed to make you feel guilty so that you study the textbook. But I don't need to be like that. And that's because I know what's going to happen. As you simply read your Bible for the enjoyment of it, you're going to see more and more clearly that the Spirit really does use it to change your heart. You're going to be saved from your sins. You're going to experience more of life. Then, you'll find that you'll want to dig in a bit more. When that happens, go for it. But in the mean time, relax. Enjoy your Bible. Get to know it. And be amazed at what the Spirit does. Over time, you will see your own soul become more and more pious as you get to know Jesus and the freedom He brings.

Piety

2 Peter 3.18

As we have talked about our church recently, we've mentioned goals. We need to have some clear goals to work toward. In the last blurb from the session we asked you to pray about this - and I hope that you are. It has occurred to me, though, that having the right kind of goals will be worthless unless we are the right kind of people. What good are the right goals, goals from God, if we do not pursue them in the right way? And so, a necessary ingredient in our plans for the future is an old-fashioned word: piety. Sadly, this word has a bad reputation. It has that sense of being religious but in an odd sort of way. But real piety is about knowing Jesus and working hard to follow Him. We need to be pious people as we pursue God's plans for our church. And that is what our text is about, developing piety. We will meet with success as a church only if we pursue the goals that God has for us as a pious people. Our topic this morning is piety. Let's see that the Spirit has to teach us about this.

'Grow in grace'. I have to confess to you that this command of Peter has baffled me over the years. What does he mean? What could 'growing in grace' actually look like? Fortunately, there have been some breakthroughs recently. Listen to something from Luke. 'Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.' The part that I want to point out to you is this. 'Jesus increased ... in favor.' Believe it or not, that's the same idea that we see in Peter. In fact, what is translated 'in favor' in Luke, is translated 'in grace' in our text. They're actually the same words in the original Greek. Both Peter and Luke are talking about growing in favor with God. Now, that's something that I understand. The Old Testament is filled with statements about the favor of God. Here's a familiar one. 'But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.' Here's pious Noah living faithfully in an evil generation. God sees that and responds with a blessing. 'Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.'

This favor with God is not something that stays the same all the time. It changes. Sometimes it grows. 'Jesus increased ... in favor.' Peter commands that we grow in favor. But there are also examples of those for whom God's favor diminished. Saul, the first king of Israel, is a good example. He was greatly favored and thus blessed by God when he began to rule. But by the time of his death, he had forfeited God's favor. Each of us is either increasing or decreasing in God's favor. This is not to say that His love for us changes. It does not. It cannot. That is set. But His favor is different. Favor with God can grow or fade.

Now is a good time to ask a question. And the question is, 'Why?' Why was it that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord? Why was it that Saul lost favor with God? What do the Scriptures say? It was a matter of their choices. We see the fruit of Noah's choices in this: 'Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.”' Noah repeatedly chose to be faithful. That's why God could call him righteous. And that's why he found favor with God. We also see the fruit of Saul's choices: 'And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue.”' Saul chose differently than Noah. As a result he lost God's favor. God's favor grows in our lives or it diminishes because of our choices. Wise choices, like Noah's, lead to growing in favor with God. Foolish choices, like Saul's, result in a loss of that favor.

Let me pause here to emphasize this point. Our choices are so important. We flourish in God's favor or fail to do so because of the choices we make. This is why some Christians seem to do so well and thrive as people - and other Christians don't. It's the choices that we make. I hope this strikes you as a very sobering thought. The quality of your life right now is due to the choices you have made. I want you to feel how important your choices are. Your experience of God's favor depends on your the choices you make day by day.

This leads to the second part of our text. Peter not only commands growth in favor. He also commands growth in knowledge. 'But grow in the ... knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.' My point here is simple: favor and knowledge are related. You will grow in favor if you choose to grow in the knowledge of Jesus. Remember, it's all about Jesus. It always comes back to Jesus.

Knowing Jesus is like knowing your best friend, except better. But like all friendships, knowing Jesus is not set in stone. Some friendships grow while others fade. Friends get closer or they drift apart. So, knowing Jesus is not like knowing your math facts. Once you know two plus two is four, you know it. Knowing Jesus is something that can grow - and thanks be to God for that - but it is also something that can fade. Peter helps us to understanding how to grow in knowing Jesus. He did that when he described Jesus as, 'our Lord and Savior'. If you are going to grow in your knowledge of Jesus, if the friendship is going to become closer, it will be because what those two titles are all about becomes more and more real to you.

I have a stationary bike in my basement. One of my goals is to ride it each day. While I ride I'll either read something, or listen to a lecture or sermon on my iPod wannabe. One day this week I decided to listen to a sermon by someone who was new to me. I didn't know it when I chose this sermon, but the text for the sermon was Psalm 73. That's one of my favorites. I've studied it a good bit. So, I'm thinking that I won't hear anything terribly new, but I'll give it a listen anyway. But, as He is wont to do, the Spirit surprised me. He used that sermon to point out some sin in my life. It was the sin of self-pity which was rooted in jealousy. And it was a sin that was on the way to making me bitter. I had known that something wasn't right, and I had prayed about it earlier in the week. The Spirit answered my prayer through that sermon. As a result of what I had heard, I agreed that I had fallen into sin. I confessed it as such and repented of it. And I gave thanks that it had not yet moved into bitterness, that the Spirit had graciously dealt with me before that happened. The next day, I'm on the bike again, listening to someone else giving a lecture on spiritual warfare. In the middle of his lecture, this speaker spends a good bit of time on the topic of bitterness and the great dangers associated with it. The Spirit wasn't done with what He had started the day before. I was able to see, much more clearly, this foul sin called bitterness. I, again, but with more fervency, gave thanks that the Spirit kept me from becoming bitter.

Why am I telling you this? It was through these experiences that I came to understand a little better what it means that Jesus is my Savior. I could point to the bitterness that awaited my self-pitying and jealous soul, and say, 'Jesus saved me from that!' That's what Peter's talking about when he tells us to grow in the knowledge of Jesus as our Savior. You grow in this knowledge as you see what it means that Jesus saves you from sin. Sometimes He rescues you from the consequence of some sin you've already committed, like my self-pity and jealousy which were forgiven. And sometimes He rescues you from falling into a sin, like that bitterness. But growing in the knowledge of Jesus as Savior won't happen if 'sin' refers to some of your slip-ups from long ago or just a vague notion that 'Uh, yeah, I guess I am a sinner'. You grow in your knowledge of Jesus, the Savior, as you see each day's very specific sins exposed and then dealt with by the Spirit. That's how Jesus as your Savior becomes more and more real.

All of this is tied to Jesus as Lord. When the Spirit pointed out my sin through that sermon on Psalm 73, I had a choice. Remember what my sin was: self-pity rooted in jealousy. There was something that I wanted, something that I thought I had a right to, something that other people had, that I did not have. I wanted that. I demanded that. And when I didn't get it, I came close to imploding. I came close to that awful sin of bitterness. But I do not have that something because of Jesus' plan for me. So, when the Spirit pointed all of this out to me, I had a choice. I could hold on to my demand - I could have ignored what the Spirit was saying or I could have justified my demand in some way - or I could submit to Jesus as my Lord. At that moment, the crucial question was, 'Who is Lord of my life - Jesus or me?' Time to choose. Interestingly, once I had made my choice to submit to Jesus, I felt a change. My joy was restored. That had been the tip-off that something was wrong. My joy was missing. That's what I had prayed about earlier in the week. Something felt wrong. And the Spirit answered that prayer by pointing to my sin and then dealing with it by the Gospel.

This is what it means to grow in the knowledge of Jesus as Lord of your life. It's not some one-time decision that you made in the distant past. It is a choice - or better - a series of choices that you make each day. Who is Lord of my life? That is a question that you answer every day in the details of life. And as you answer that question with wise choices you grow in the favor of Jesus.

So, do you see that a pious person is that Christian who works at obeying the command of our text? He is growing in favor by growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And he grows by the choices that he makes. We need to be this kind of people, a pious people, if we are going to be able to pursue the goals that Jesus has for us as a church. Any other kind of person could never pursue those goals in the way they need to be pursued.

I have one last thought. I've told you that our future as individual people, our future as a church, depends on choices we make. By itself, that sentence should terrify you. Does anyone here really believe that he is able to make wise choices - forget all of the time, forget even most of the time - how about just much of the time? If anyone here has that much confidence in himself, he either does not know what a good choice really looks like, or he doesn't comprehend how much evil remains in his heart. Everything depends on our choices, but we are incapable of making good choices even just much of the time. That is scary. And that's why it's so good that we have Jesus as Lord and Savior. My being able to choose wisely when the Spirit used Psalm 73 to confront me in my sin was not because I'm so good or wise or anything like that. By no means! If I were that good, I wouldn't have found myself in that mess. No, it was the work of the Spirit of Jesus in my life. Because of Him, I chose wisely. By His Spirit, Jesus guides His people into wise choices. That is part of His favor to us. But, remember, this favor is not automatic. It is not set in stone. And it becomes ours only by the power of the Spirit.

And brings us back again to something I've mentioned before. You need to put yourself in the place where the Spirit does His work. If you would be pious, if you would have Faith Reformed be a faithful church, if you would have any hope of making wise choices, then you need to give yourselves to things like Bible reading and prayer. It's when we give ourselves to the Spiritual disciplines like these that the Spirit does His work in our lives. It is only then that we are able to choose wisely. For the next few sermons I plan on taking a closer look at these basic building blocks, the Spiritual disciplines, so that we would grow as pious people who pursue Jesus' goals for our lives and our church in Jesus' way. That is the only road that leads to success.