Wednesday, October 31, 2007

More on before...

With Monday's post fresh in my memory I was today making my way through John Bevere's A Heart Ablaze, conveniently borrowed from the co-founder of this blog.

In A Heart Ablaze Bevere quotes an early church leader named Cyprian, who said of worldy entanglements:
"The one peaceful and trustworthy tranquility, the one security that is solid, firm and never changing, is this: for a man to withdraw from the distractions of this world, anchor himself to the firm ground of salvation, and lift his eyes from earth to heaven...He who is actually greater than the world can crave nothing, can desire nothing, from this world (Cyprian's letter to Donatus, sec. 14) [Bevere, A Heart Ablaze p. 83].

Bevere also notes that "...many in the church live materialistic lives in the pursuit of pleasures and treasures of this world. We think nothing of lining up for the same movies, entertainments and amusements that the world pursues" (p. 83).

And..."the early church stressed the importance of a changed heart, which would produce a godly lifestyle" (p. 87).

I found it amazing that in this book I found a similar vein to what had been discussed both here and at culturewatch, while also providing that beautiful insight into what we are exploring here at eusebeia. The changed heart that produces a godly lifestyle is surely a treasure to be sought after from the LORD.

On the subject of entanglements, I thought I would share some trivia that casts some light on the issue. My great-grandfather was a constable in the state police force in the early 20th Century and had to answer a series of background questions when applying to join the force. Apart from being quizzed on whether one was a member of any secret societies or able to ride a horse, applicants were asked whether or not they had any illicit entanglements (with females). I think this is an excellent question to be asking in examining one's own life and dedication to the ways of godliness: do I have any illicit entanglements that prevent me from carrying out my duties as a servant of the LORD?

In relation to the subjects covered above, are you illicitly entangled with the things of the world?
For the Scripture says:
"Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)
"No soldier on service entangles himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier." (2 Timothy 2:4)
Therefore we must be untangled from worldliness in all it's deceitful forms if we are to be free and on the path to perfection in godliness and purity.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Happenings of elsewhere...

I noticed in my travels through the little blogroll-realm we've set-up here with Eusebeian Way, an article by Bill Muehlenberg at his Culture Watch site, covering a topic we recently discussed in our introductory series: http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2007/10/26/contentment-in-an-age-of-excess/.

In it, Bill quotes the Scripture on godliness and contentment in 1 Timothy 6:6-8, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

The article concludes with Mr. Muehlenberg suggesting that, "... at a fundamental level, any message or any gospel which keeps us fixated on our material wants can be said to be a false gospel." If you recall, when looking at this Scripture I mused that one could not help but think of the prosperity gospel when thinking of the temporal state of material possessions described in this portion of the Word.

I think that materialism and consumerism are true obstacles to godliness. How can one worship God in the correct way if one knee is already bowed to mammon? In the religions of the world, asceticism or the renouncing of goods and possessions is seen as a great sign of piety. While I do not think that this in itself constitutes godliness buy any means, I would be inclined to think that many times over material greed (covetousness says the commandment) has disqualified the living of a eusebeian life.

I'll probably look at this issue further in a future series titled "Culture contrary to godliness", along with other obstacles that are readily embraced even by whole churches, with dire consequences to personal and corporate godliness.

In any case it is great to see another witness in our loop speaking on this common subject.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Holy conversation & godliness

2 Peter 3:10-13

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Well what a fantastic Scripture for the final post on the New Testament's use of eusebeia - one that indeed deals with finality itself. I love discussing the "end-times" so to speak, but I believe these verses speak for themselves.
The day of the Lord is coming in a sudden and dramatic manner and we ought to take note of this fact and prepare ourselves in those things which will not be swept away in this awesome event.
Those things being in this case "holy conversation" and godliness. Holy conversation actually refers to much more than speech, but is closer in meaning to a general application towards all communication and conduct. So in all our way of life and dealings with people and situation, we are to have a mind for holiness. This is very complimentary to our examination of eusebeia as a concept of living out the correct attitudes and actions towards God in reverence.
It is with this correct attitude and focus that we can look past the terrible destruction of the heavens and elements to the hope of new creation full of righteousness, where the godly life can be lived out in perfection.

We hope you've enjoyed exploring these foundational Scriptures that deal with our topic of godliness/eusebeia. As time progresses we aim to look both at the Scriptures in more detail and also tackle issues relating to godliness and (post)modern society. May we all go forward in strengthening our devotion in love and reverence...

Monday, October 22, 2007

The building blocks of Christian character

We follow on from where we left off in the last post, recommencing in 2 Peter 1:5-9



And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make [you that ye shall] neither [be] barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.



So we are instructed to build up our Christian character with these building blocks. If it were a tower it would look something like this:



CHARITY

BROTHERLY-

KINDNESS

GODLINESS

PATIENCE

TEMPERANCE

KNOWLEDGE

VIRTUE

FAITH



Faith is one of the basic units of the Christian faith (see I played righ into that trap didn't I?).
Without faith it is impossible to please God, as we are told in Hebrews. "For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Heb 11:6).
From there we are exhorted to produce virtue. As I mentioned at the foot of my previous post, virtue (arete) is quite a fascinating concept in itself. Most of us would know that it has certain connotations of strength of character and moral or ethical quality. Basically, I believe this to be some good advice to work on our character and personal conduct in the stage of personal spiritual growth directly following our acceptance of the faith.
Following faith and virtue, we are to add knowledge (gnosis). Knowledge here is not to be thought of in terms of academic prestige, but a dedication to learning the things of God. In Greek, gnosis very often has religious connotations and can refer to mystic and mysterious knowledge. In the case of Christianity, the secret knowledge is the mystery of Christ and the spiritual truths that the Holy Spirit reveals through the Scriptures to the believer.

So once a person has faith in Christ, a testimony through their character and a knowledge of the things of God, they are to pursue temperance. Temperance is the long-lost ability to remain calm and deal with situations in a restrained and sensible way. It is also referred to in the Bible as self-control. This self-mastery is key to Christian maturity, as it prevents one from falling into situations that compromise the virtue that has already been mentioned.

Closely related to this is the next building block of patience (hypomone). Thayer's Lexicon describes it as "the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings." Temperance prevents a person from being moved to ungodliness by emotions and circumstances, while this hypomone patience keeps one's faith and virtue alive despite great adversity or long testing.

And so, to patience we add godliness - eusebeia. How does godliness fit in with the previous building blocks? Well we can see that the foundations have been laid through faith, virtue and knowledge and secured through temperance and patience. I believe that godliness also has something of a securing role, while also sharing in the crowning glory of brotherly kindness and charity. Godliness solidifies the Christian character, by seeking out the correct attitude and conduct towards God and also points towards the common theme of the next two building blocks: relationships.


Brotherly kindness (philadelphia), adds to godliness by showing piety towards God through thoughtful, caring and gentle dealings with one's Christian brethren. It is crucial in the individual's role in shaping and blessing the community of believers and providing a testimony to the outside world.

Finally, charity (agape) the ultimate form of love crowns the character of a mature Christian. It is the love that speaks volumes through action and devotion and the great gift that we yearn to offer to the LORD our God. With perfect love, all the other traits are also perfected and so a Christian should spend their whole life seeking to magnify agape-love through their daily actions.

Stay tuned for the final installment of the introductory series on godliness, coming soon!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

All things that pertain to life and godliness

2 Peter 1:2-3

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

The apostolic greetings are often the source of many easily overlooked, yet astonishing gems about what God has done in and for His people.

[On a sidenote here, we also need to be aware of the importance of prepositions eg; We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Look out for these and what they mean in the above passage]

Grace and peace is a common greeting amongst the early Christian writers, and perhaps one we should use more today. In this case Peter records this wish of grace and peace as being multiplied to the reader through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Knowing God grants abundant grace and increases peace - a beautiful point to gain appreciation of in our lives.

This wish of spiritual wellness is bid with a call to remembrance, May your grace and peace be multiplied even as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

This once again directs us to the source of life and all godliness: God Himself. It is as Peter said in the first verse I looked at several weeks ago "why do you look earnestly at us, as though by our own power or holiness (eusebeia) we had made this man to walk?"

Amazingly, we also receive all things to do with life and godliness through the knowledge of God - the One who called us to glory and virtue.

So when we know the One who called us, we receive all things related to life and godly living that allow us to fulfill the call to glory and virtue*. That's my understanding of it anyway.



*Virtue (arete) is an interesting word in itself and perhaps warrants further exploration in the future

P.S. I can't help myself but encourage you to look at verse 4 as well, since I will be starting my next post in verse 5. We are told that by these things (life, godliness, knowledge of God, glory & virtue) are given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that by these things we might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Becoming partakers of the divine nature! Escaping the corruption in world! While this verse was going to miss out by being in between my focal points, I must say, these things are surely the aim and ultimate goal of leading a godly life!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

The truth which is after godliness

Well it's been a good start to the week for the Eusebeian Way team.

Many thanks to the guys at Pyromaniacs and Phil Johnson in particular for the add to their ever growing blogroll. At the same time we have launched our humourous response to their "friend of sinners", with a complimentary "enemy of the world" logo. We feel the two go nicely together in explaining the position of a Christian.

We are nearing the conclusion of our foundational series looking at the Scriptures in the New Testament that deal with godliness. In this one we take a look at something interesting Paul said about eusebeia.

Titus 1:1
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

Paul calls himself a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, no doubt designations familiar to those who have read some of his other epistles.

But the follow-up is unique and peculiar...
Paul claims these things "according to the faith of God's elect". Today there is much variance in matters of faith (which is by no means a good thing as some would have you to believe). But here Paul seems to outline clearly that the elect have a specific and definitive faith, one which he rests his apostleship upon.

But then he adds that his servanthood to God and apostleship for Christ are also according to the "acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness". The word after is a contraction of the word kata which is the same word translated as "according to" in this passage. So Paul is a servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ according to the acknowledging of the truth which is according to godliness.

So I'm seeing here that God's elect are also those who acknowledge "the truth which is after godliness". This then, is another important thing to consider about godliness - it's special role in testifying to the truth. In the last passage we saw that there is a "form of godliness" that is devoid of truth, but the opposite is also true: true godliness offers a credible witness to the truth.

Jesus, as we know, lived an impeccable life of godliness and had things said of Him such as: "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." (Jn 3:2). His life and the presence of God upon His ministry were a testimony to that which He taught: the way to salvation and right standing with God.

May we also have godliness as a valid testimony to the truth we profess in our lives.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Having a form of godliness...

This verse addresses the issue of false godliness and its friends in the last days. If you don't believe we're there yet, have a look at our friends at http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/...

2 Timothy 3:1-5
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Let's list 'em
1. self love (breaking 1st commandment)
2. covetousness (wanting things that belong to others & breaking 10th commandment)
3. boasting
4. pride
5. blasphemy (breaking 3rd commandment)
6. disobedience to parents (breaking 5th commandment)
7. unthankfulness
8. unholiness (kind of the opposite of what we're going for here)
9. no natural affection
10. truce-breaking
11. false accusing (breaking 9th commandment)
12. incontinence (no control over themselves)
13. fierceness
14. despising of what is good
15. betrayal
16. headiness (rashness/recklessness)
17. highmindedness (conceit, insolence, inflated with pride)
18. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (breaking 1st commandment)

Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.

So we've nearly got 20 signs that scream at us "turn away from these people!!!"

But while most of these warning signs speak for themselves, it is the last one (of principle interest to us) which carries some mystery with it.

There are people out there that appear godly or exhibit some of the characteristics of eusebeia, while denying the power of it. With the rise of initiatives like Live Aid and Make poverty history, we see an atheist (Geldof) and a Christian cum pluralist (Bono)* leading a movement of people fulfilling the obligation of the just to feed the poor and tend to the needy, while denying the God that proclaims these virtues. Contrary to what some may believe, in doing these things outside service to God, the value of them is destroyed. As Isaiah penned for his Lord, "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (64:6).

Similarly we have cultic groups who make a better effort at standing against worldly corruption than certain churches. Others have greater evangelistic zeal and success. They have a resemblance of godliness based on their deeds and resistance to the world, yet they are enemies of the Christ that produces true godliness.

And of course there are those who exhibit the features listed above in secret or select company, yet have an air of constructed godliness or holiness about them in other situations. Watch out for them and turn away! See Spurgeon for more on the perils of this issue: http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols34-36/chs2088.pdf

But above all, let's make sure we don't get numbered among them...



*As a fan of u2 over the years, it saddens me to dscribe Bono in this manner, however I find it to be the unfortunate truth and need to highlight the fact that his "Muslim/Christian/Jew - all true" slogan is ultimately a confession to a severe lapse in true Christian faith

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Godliness vs. Unwholsomeness Pt. 2

1 Timothy 6:8-11
"And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."

A pastor of mine has been known to quote the first of the above four verses saying "food and raiment therewith to be content" when addressing the Christian's relationship to life's necessities. This contentment that is to accompany godliness is an ability to accept the very basics of life and give thanks to God for them, an area where many of us living in an over-developed world are sorely lacking in our character.

We commonly hear that "money is the root of all evil", but of course this is a misquotation. What we must be on guard against however is how quickly one can go from having money to loving it. Money may be in itself just a tool or commodity, but the influence of the powers of darkness in the world quickly breed chrysophilia or the "love of gold".

How true is it today that many have been lured into coveting money and riches and "erred from the faith". We only have to look at the compromise between money-loving cultures and the churches in first world nations to observe this tragedy. Furthermore, the disaster of this path is highlighted by the many sorrows that pierce those who travel it.

Finally we are instructed to flee to the things of God, which eusebeia falls among as we see: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. [Compare with Galatians 5]
By seeking these things for our lives, we might be spared the calamity faced by those who seek more than they require and receive the character of Christ as we walk with our Lord.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Post hiatus: Godliness vs unwholesomeness Pt. 1

Well after a bit of time not posting, I'd better get stuck into our next foundational Scriptures from 1 Timothy 6. There's quite a bit to pack into this one, but it'll be a lot healthier than some things people sink their teeth into.


1 Timothy 6:1-8
"Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and [his] doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise [them], because they are brethren; but rather do [them] service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit.
These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, [even] the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into [this] world, [and it is] certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."

Mmm that's a lot of Word to digest.

You really can't break it down a whole lot, otherwise the context in which the godliness applies is somewhat lost.

First we have an issue of Christian slaves having the right attitude towards their masters as part of exercising godliness. It is interesting that the reason given for this is to deprive men of an excuse to blaspheme God and the truth...I believe this is one of the keys to understand why a Christian needs to live a godly life - so people can't use our actions to speak ill of God and Christianity.

Then there is the verse on treating Christian masters without despise, which is an interesting idea that I will have to explore in more depth in another post.

We also see some of the characteristics of people who reject wholesome words, the words of Christ and godly doctrines: pride, lack of knowledge, obsession with questions and debates over words, envy, strife, blasphemy, evil thinking, perverse, disputing, corrupt and without truth.

"Supposing that gain is godliness" I can't help but think of the prosperity gospel when I see this verse. An interesting note here that gain should not be counted for godliness, but that godliness is indeed great gain when coupled with contentment. It is funny how easily we can get things around the wrong way, including issues pertaining to godliness.

And to counter the pretensions of materialism, the Word of God instructs us to be content with what we have in life, specifically food and clothing, since as it is often put "you can't take anything with you". So it is interesting for us to see that we are required to develop a contentment for the very basics of life to complement the pursuit of godliness...

See you in Pt. 2