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The Courage to Be Godly, Part 4 

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 

by Steve Dumas

Speaking of God's providence, Andrew Fuller, the fearless Baptist minister of the eighteenth century, and a dear friend of William Carey (whom many call "the Father of Modern Missions"), said, "In the early ages of the world there appears to have been a much stronger persuasion of Divine interposition in human affairs than generally prevails in our times" (The Works of Andrew Fuller, page 744). In other words, God's sovereignty is not as popular today as it used to be.  Fuller goes on to say that even followers of false gods believe that their gods oversee and intervene in the affairs of men.  If in the eighteenth century the idea of God's control and power seemed outmoded, then how must the doctrine of God's providence sound to postmodern ears?  Every age has had an aversion to the supremacy of God, because every age is polluted by fallen human nature.  It takes courage to believe and proclaim the Lordship of God in any age.

At the very least, God's sovereignty means that He alone rules and reigns everywhere, everyday, all the time. He is on His throne and will accomplish everything He sets out to do.  Absolutely nothing can dethrone Him. So we must trust Him.

The Christian home should be the place of all places, outside of the gathered church, where God's sovereignty over history and salvation finds its clearest expression. When we suffer, we proclaim and embody the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. When we are blessed, we thank God and ascribe all glory and honor to Him. Instead, we find little substantive difference between unbelievers and their evangelical neighbors who get their theology from Netflix rentals and Google search results.

In the churches where I have served, I have been surprised to discover the number of Christians who come up to me after a sermon and say things like, "I have never heard this before, and I have been in the church for twenty years." We sing, "Have faith in God; He's on his throne. Have faith in God; He watches o'er His own." Then, after a life-changing event we struggle to accept that God had anything to do with it.

One passage that has invoked surprised-by-sovereignty responses is the familiar and beloved Psalm 127. This Psalm makes God's Lordship clear by pointing out His supremacy over four areas: 1. Building a house (127:1a); 2. Protecting a city (127:1b); 3. Providing for a family-God is the ultimate provider, not you! While you sleep, God is working (127:2); and, 4. Planning and Raising a family (127:3, 4, 5). 

To be continued... 

• Fat Christians make great churches (F - faithful, A - available, T - teachable).
• A church that does not reach out will die out.  
• If a church does not take the Lordship of Christ seriously, then the community will not take the church seriously.   

How can we recover the new affection for Christ and his kingdom that so powerfully impacted our life-long worldliness, and in which we crucified the flesh with its lusts?

What was it that created that first love in any case? Do you remember? It was our discovery of Christ’s grace in the realization of our own sin. We are not naturally capable of loving God for himself, indeed we hate him. But in discovering this about ourselves, and in learning of the Lord’s supernatural love for us, love for the Father was born. Forgiven much, we loved much. We rejoiced in the hope of glory, in suffering, even in God himself. This new affection seemed first to overtake our worldliness, then to master it. Spiritual realities—Christ, grace, Scripture, prayer, fellowship, service, living for the glory of God—filled our vision and seemed so large, so desirable that other things by comparison seemed to shrink in size and become bland to the taste.

The way in which we maintain ‘the expulsive power of a new affection’ is the same as the way we first discovered it. Only when grace is still ‘amazing’ to us does it retain its power in us. Only as we retain a sense of our own profound sinfulness can we retain a sense of the graciousness of grace.

- Sinclair Ferguson "Expelling Worldliness with a New Affection"

Of First Importance

The twelve challenges are clear enough from the text:

1. Forgetfulness (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)
2. Division (1 Corinthians 1:10-3:23)
3. Impostors (1 Corinthians 4)
4. Sin (1 Corinthians 5-6)
5. Asceticism (1 Corinthians 7)
6. Disobedience (1 Corinthians 8:1-10:13)
7. Legalism (1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1)
8. Autonomy (1 Corinthians 11:2-16)
9. Thoughtlessness (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)
10. Selfishness (1 Corinthians 12-14)
11. Death (1 Corinthians 15)
12. Decline (1 Corinthians 16)
    

In the coming weeks I will be sharing excerpts and my thoughts on this book.  For now, I leave you with a quote from the preface:

"Paul called the Corinthian congregation to be not divided but united, not worldly but holy, not selfish but loving. That's not the surprising part. The surprising part is how he argued this with them. He called them to forsake divisions, because God is one. He called them to forsake sin, because God is holy. He called them to forsake selfishness, because God is loving. In all of this, the governing presupposition is not that the church should operate by a rule book of spiritual manners and etiquette, but that the church is a living reflection of the living God. There is one God. He is holy and has given himself in love. His church, therefore, should reflect his own character; we should be united and holy and loving or else we lie about him!" (page 10) 

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!

Psalm 128:1 (ESV)

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!

by Steve Dumas

He sat across from me holding his coffee mug with both hands. "When I look around the church, I see regular people just like me. They don't study their Bibles or have daily devotions, and they're okay. I mean, not every one has to be super-Christian. Pastors read their Bibles every day, sure, but not regular Christians. I go to church. I pray before meals. I believe, but I am not a fanatic. I don't eat, sleep and breathe the Bible. But I do listen to the Sunday morning sermon.  That's enough Bible each week. Right?"  

Convincing a professing believer that time in God's Word is not optional seemed strange to me.  There is an old gospel song that says "you can't stand on promises if you don't know what they are." 

"But I already know the promises," He retorted. "I don't have to study them. I have enough already-all I need." 

Scripture after Scripture flooded my mind, too fast for my tongue to keep up.  What about God's Word as a means of our sanctification (John 17:17)?  Or, using God's Word in fighting temptation (Matthew 4:4; Psalm 119:11)?  Or, showing our love for Jesus by keeping his commandments (John 14:15, 23)? Or, finding rest in Christ by learning from Him (Matthew 11:25-30)?  Or, treasuring God and every word from Him because He has revealed Himself to us (Psalm 112:1)? Or, standing firm in the face of life's home-flattening storms by building on the solid rock foundation of the words of Christ (Matthew 7:24-27)?

What do nominal Christians do with the penetrating words of Christ in John 8:47?: "Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God."

The man leaned forward clutching his coffee cup, holding it out in front of him just above the table. "I don't want to be a fanatic!"

Backing up to keep from getting splattered or soaked by sloshing coffee, I responded, "If you are talking about the blustering co-worker who sees company discipline for his bad performance as persecution for his faith, or the guy who turns every conversation into a spiritual debate, then I am with you."

If fanatical means obnoxious, I don't want it either. The Gospel is enough of a stumbling block without our help (1 Corinthians 1:23). But if fanatical means that we are openly Godward in our words and lifestyle, then why wouldn't a follower of Christ want that?

Of course, the Christian life is not for the faint-hearted. Yes, we are weak and He is strong. We are fainters, and He is glorified in keeping fainters from falling away. But the cost of following Christ is high. It takes courage to be a public and persistent follower of God. King David, a man after God's own heart, prayed that God would give him a single-hearted devotion (Psalm 86:11).  The Apostle Paul showed the world that he was single-minded with his "I am not ashamed" approach to the Christian life (Romans 1:16-17). I pray for God to give me the worshipful heart of David and the united heart of Paul.

"But God doesn't want all believers to have King David's heart or the Apostle Paul's zeal, right?" 

Jesus made it clear: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15, 23). How can we live by Jesus' demands if we do not internalize, with trembling hearts, those demands? This is the daily work of Spirit of God within us (Phil 2:12, 13; cf. John 4:23-24; John 14-16). If God's Word is missing from our outside-of-church activities, from our homes, then it will be impossible for our Sunday-morning-only faith to demonstrate, for the sake of our neighbors and our children, that we treasure Christ.

I do not believe it is the fear of fanaticism that keeps us from the Word. It may be our inane craving for amusement that keeps us from reading our Bibles.  It may be old-fashioned laziness.  But these are like alcohol or narcotics. They mask the deeper problem of the heart. Jesus told the religious leaders of his day that they did not have the stomach for His word: "You seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word" (John 8:37, 43).

I believe it is the fear of nakedness that is keeping most churchgoers from God's Word (Hebrews 4:11-13). The hearer-not-a-doer man in James looked into the mirror, saw a mess, and walked away forgetting the mess (James 1:23-24).  The mirror of God's Word is in our laps on Sunday, in our cars during the week, on our coffee tables, serving as coasters on our nightstands, behind the glare on our computer screens, and yet for fear of seeing ourselves as we really are, we look away. Like a magnifying cosmetic mirror.  Every blemish. 

Here is where the good news shines. The living and powerful Word of God that reveals our every blemish also reveals our blemish-free Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:15-16). Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).  Without the Word it is impossible to have faith (Romans 10:17). 

The courage to fear God.  It is a strange phrase.  Courage and fear don't belong in the same breath.  One inhales; the other exhales.  The idea of courage resonates within the human heart.  Stories of courage and overcoming fear make folklore what it is.  Fearing God is strange in a smile-God-loves-you world.  People are more likely to fear men than God.  Jesus said, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both the soul and the body in hell" (Matthew 10:28, ESV; cf. Hebrews 9:27; 10:31; 12:29).  Fearing God as a way of life is part of what it means "to offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe" (Hebrews 12:28). 

It is important as we discuss fear that we understand what it means and what it doesn't.  For the believer, fearing God does not mean that we shrink back from God. Christians are not to live in a state of fear and have not been given a "spirit of fear" (2 Timothy 1:7). But "no fear" does not mean that we approach God with a swagger. 

We come before God with a settled hope based solely on our great High Priest and his finished work:  "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16, ESV). But we are not fearless as we walk with the indwelling God: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you" (Philippians 2:12-13). We stand safe before God because there is no condemnation.  We tremble because it is He who made us and works in us.  This paradox is the Christian way. 

The courage to fear God means that we make our homes places where God is high and lifted up.  The reason people do what is right in their own eyes is because they do not fear God or his judgment (Romans 3:18).  John Newton said "T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved." A godly home is a place where the fear of judgment is relieved by grace through faith in Christ. It is also a place where the splendor and holiness of God remain. The law of God is not abolished but fulfilled in Christ.  The grace of God is not abused but celebrated in holiness. 

Fearing God is a way of blessing and a way of life:  "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!" (Psalm 128:1a). Those who fear God delight in what he demands: "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!" (Psalm 112:1b).  It is the "beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 4:7; 9:10). "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them" (Psalm 34:7).  To fear God is to be in a right relationship with him.  Not terror, but perspective.

Parents, teach your children that God is thrice holy. Teach them that "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).  Teach them that God has spoken through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), and that Christ is our Priest and King (Hebrews 4:15-26; 12:28-29). Teach them that trusting and obeying God is the only acceptable response to the person and work of Christ.

By Steve Dumas

Like beaches along the Gulf of Mexico, our culture is suffering from severe erosion. While we truck in the white sands of apathy and indifference, the waves of church decline, absentee fathers, abortion on demand, same-sex activism, inner city school violence, gamer-raised children, and internet pornography take our culture out to sea.   Add to this the evangelical church's fascination with finding relevance,  its careless peddling of a brackish gospel, and its losses of masculinity and youth. What are Christians to do?  For starters, we could regain our courage to be godly. 

Making a home where Christ is treasured and God is known requires it to be a unique place, unlike the neighborhood around it. Here are six characteristics: (1) a place where God is praised, (2) feared, (3) obeyed, (4) sovereign, (5) vindicated, and (6) working.  Over the next few days, I hope to take these one by one. 

The Courage to Praise God 

First, the godly home is a place where God is praised no matter the cost or circumstances (Psalm 112:1A, "Praise the LORD!"; Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always").  The more fathers who say "As for me and my house, we will praise the LORD," the more change we will see for the better in our schools, churches, townhalls.

In other words, the courage to be godly means that we declare to our families that no matter the circumstances, whether good or bad, prosperous or poor, that no matter the time of day, whether morning, noon or night, that no matter the location, whether home or work, the battlefield or the ball-field, we will look to God as our only comfort in life and death. This is gospel-saturated living.  We rejoice in the Lord always (emphasis mine, Phil. 4:4). God is acknowledged in all our ways (Prov. 3:5-6), and praised as a way of life (Deut. 6:4-9).

1. Am I prepared for unexpected visitors? Christ?
   
2. Am I presenting the Gospel, the person and work of Christ, plainly?
3. Am I asking my listeners to do anything? Repent, believe, etc.?
   
4. Am I making too much of me? My theological system?
   
5. Am I planning on sharing anything that would be divisive or harmful to the church or my leaders?
6. Am I prepared to unfold the text, and for potential objections to the truth?
7. Am I planning on saying anything that might distract from the lesson? An illustration? A provocative statement?