Half Piety

Let us give to God our whole hearts, and no longer halt between two opinions: if the word be god, let us serve that; if pleasure be a god, let us serve that; but if the Lord, He be God, let us, oh, let us serve Him alone. Alas! why, why should we stand out any longer? Why should we be so in love with slavery, as not wholly to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil, which, like so many spiritual chains, bind down our souls, and hinder them from flying up to God? Alas! what are we afraid of? Is not God able to reward our entire obedience? If He is, as the almost Christian’s lame way of serving Him seems to grant, why, then, will we not serve Him entirely? For the same reason we do so much, why do we not do more? Or do you think that being only half religious will make you happy, but that going farther will render you miserable and uneasy?

Alas! this, my brethren, is delusion all over; for what is it but this half piety, this wavering between God and the world, that makes so many, that are seemingly well disposed, such utter strangers to the comforts of religion? They choose just so much of religion as will disturb them in their lusts, and follow their lusts so far as to deprive themselves of the comforts of religion. Whereas, on the contrary, would they sincerely leave all in affection, and give their hearts wholly to God, they would then (and they cannot till then) experience the unspeakable pleasure of having a mind at unity with itself, and enjoy such a peace of God, which even in this life passes all understanding, and which they were entire strangers to before. - George Whitefield

The full text of this sermon can be found here, and other selected sermons by Whitefield are also available.

Paying Attention To What We Claim To Believe (Part 2)

James 1:22-25 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (KJV)

The word that is translated as “looketh” implies careful consideration. Even if you want to quibble with the meaning of the verb, the man spoken of here is looking into the mirror long enough to see himself as he is. He sees himself and he takes careful note of his appearance: unkempt hair, rotten teeth, unwashed face. He sees that he is a complete mess, then leaves and forgets what manner of man he was.

Our condition is the same. We hear the word of God expounded and we see ourselves. We take notes during our college chapels, Sunday school hours, and morning worship. We detail our faults in sermon notes like the aforementioned man details his physical defects. We don’t love God. We despise our neighbor. We entertain ourselves with what we know displeases God. We see that our lives are a complete mess.

Then at noon when the Pastor is finally winding down, when it’s time to go back to “normal” life, we close our Bible and walk away forgetting what manner of men we are.

James says that we must look into the law of liberty, we must meditate on it, we must remember it, and we must put it into practice. Are you applying the things you profess to believe? Or does your life reflect that your stated “beliefs” are only lip service?

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. - James 1:26

Verse 26 can be applied to many other areas than just speech. If the faith you claim you have does not shape and change the things that are seen externally then your religion is worthless.

Let us be known by our fruit.

Paying Attention To What We Claim To Believe (Part 1)

Enough with the posturing.
If God has declared something to be wrong, is it right or wrong?
It’s wrong.

If God has declared something to be wrong that means we should not do it.
That means we should not encourage others to do it.
That means we should not be entertained by it.

“ Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” –Romans 1:32

So, if you actually lived by that principle how many of your video games, movies, books, jokes, and songs would you want to keep in your life?

If murder is wrong, and God hates it, why would you play Grand theft auto?

If talking to the dead is wrong and God hates it, why would you watch Lost?

If lust is wrong and God hates it, why would you watch any movie that exploits someone’s sexuality to any degree whatsoever?

If taking Gods name in vain is wrong, and God hates it why would you continue watching ANY movie that uses his name in vain even *once*?

How many of your movies draw your eyes to God, and cause you to glorify him? or are they about the ability, glory, and greatness of a human? Don’t justify sin because the hero demonstrates courage.

Our actions speak loudly, and they condemn us.

The Fading Reality of God

Isaiah 40:18-25

18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

¹⁹ The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

²⁰ He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

²¹ Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²² It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

²³ That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

²⁴ Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

²⁵ To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

God makes it very clear that he is wholly unlike anyone or anything else. No comparison can be made to a graven image, or to a wooden idol. No comparison can be made to men. So to whom then will you liken God?
Modern Christianity has lost it’s focus on the reality of God. He has been replaced with an idol of the mind that we worship with the least possible effort.

Our churches are filled with rituals that we no longer think about. An example: In many churches there is a “welcome time” when the piano plays and everyone shakes hands. Would we not greet one another if we were not told to by our authority? In many churches the parishioners would not. Is that cynical? Surely. Very few people that say: “How are you?” want to hear an answer. They mouth empty words to each other. Of course this is not true of everyone in every church.

This issue permeates all of religious life. It’s what I highlighted in my last post and what one commenter called irreducible minimums. Christianity is not just a show. We need to stop and consider why we do what we do. Are we doing it because of our God or are we doing it as a religious ritual that chalks up extra points on our righteousness scorecard?

If we treat God with only a modicum of respect in our daily life and in our worship, do we really believe he cannot be compared to anyone?

Your life and your Sunday worship reflect how you see God. Are you just going through ritualistic motions every week? The reality of God is fading. We must rethink things.

A Whitish Hue

“For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. And since nothing appears within us or around us that is not tainted with very great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the confines of human pollution, anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as if it were most pure just as an eye, to which nothing but black had been previously presented, deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly white.” – John Calvin

Many seek to do what is acceptable in God’s sight. This desire is common in our churches, colleges, and seminaries. Our houses of worship are filled with parishioners that are wondering what the minimal level of sacrifice is to please God. They avoid pornography but consider The Office, Lost, and Family Guy good entertainment. They rejoice that Sunday evening church is cancelled so they can watch the superbowl.

You can not offer God partial devotion, just as you should not offer the President of the United States leftover casserole, it doesn’t matter if Mama made it and it really is good. If our focus is on finding worship that is just acceptable to God, and living a life that is minimally offensive to Christ we are missing the point. The Kingdom of Heaven is not a used car that you try to make a very small down payment on. We would do well to read and re-read Matthew 13:44-46.

Then, if you have not yet looked into getting a copy of William Law’s “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life” you should do so.

Christian devotion is not just a minimal sacrifice Sunday morning thing. Calvin was right. Modern Christianity has become enamored of that which does not even have a whitish hue.

Do You Delight in God?

From John Piper’s book Desiring God.

“…we are surrounded by unconverted people who think they do believe in Jesus. Drunks on the street say they believe. Unmarried couples sleeping together say they believe. Elderly people who haven’t sought worship or fellowship for forty years say they believe. All kinds of lukewarm, world-loving church attenders say they believe. The world abounds with millions of unconverted people who say they believe in Jesus.

It does no good to tell these people to believe in the Lord Jesus. The phrase is empty. My responsibility as a preacher of the gospel and a teacher in the church is not to preserve and repeat cherished biblical sentences, but to pierce the heart with biblical truth.

This leads to the second part of my answer. There are other straightforward biblical commands besides “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” The reason for introducing the idea of Christian Hedonism is to force these commands to our attention.

Could it be that today the most straightforward biblical command for conversion is not, “Believe in the Lord,” but, “Delight yourself in the LORD”?” – John Piper

The above quote is from the web version of Desiring God, and not the book. If you can get a copy of the book you should do so. From what I have seen the book has additional material left out of the web version.

A Serious Call

A fellow blogger recently pointed me back to William Law and his book: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. If you have not taken the time to read and process this book, you should.

“Here, therefore, let us judge ourselves sincerely; let us not vainly content ourselves with the common disorders of our lives, the vanity of our expenses, the folly of our diversions, the pride of our habits, the idleness of our lives, and the wasting of our time, fancying that these are such imperfections as we fall into through the unavoidable weakness and frailty of our natures; but let us be assured, that these disorders of our common life are owing to this, that we have not so much Christianity as to intend to please God in all the actions of our life, as the best and happiest thing in the world. So that we must not look upon ourselves in a state of common and pardonable imperfection, but in such a state as wants the first and most fundamental principle of Christianity, viz., an intention to please God in all our actions.” - William Law

I believe it speaks for itself.

A Beginning

C.S. Lewis wrote in his introduction to “Athanasius and the Incarnation“,

“Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook—even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it.”

Each age does have its own outlook. Lewis believed that reading the old books will help us escape some of the errors of our present age and certainly it will, but only some of the errors. Because we are products of this age we are unable to transcend the problems that characterize this age. Although I intend on bringing up many issues on here, I have no delusions. I do not believe I am capable of producing fitting commentary on theology, culture, or the church. There are other men that are more highly educated and well read than I who have a greater grasp of the issues that I plan to address. I do not expect to solve any major problems. As Lewis said, all contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook. I have not read all the old books.

Our age is not one of reverent churches, sound doctrine, or consistently Biblical living. This will not be fixed in a night, a year, or a lifetime. My goal is not revolution. My goal is to see myself think in a more consistently Christian way. Thinking  in a clear and logical way is a rarity these days.

I am not just doing this for you. I am doing this for myself. However, if this benefits you, I rejoice.