June 16, 2013 THESE NOTES HAVE NOT BEEN EDITED
The Art of
Godliness
Proverbs 3:1-12
SIS—Being a successful father requires the same
virtue as being a successful anything:
make it your goal to be more godly and God has made it His
responsibility to make you more prosperous.
In 1982 a man
published a runaway best-seller titled, “Real
Men Don’t Eat Quiche.” Though the
book was intended as humor it also addressed a growing problem in American
culture: the blurring of gender roles,
particularly by extreme feminists.
I wonder what the
author of that book would think today with “sex change operations” becoming
almost commonplace? I’ve come to the
conclusion that society is absolutely incapable of providing guidance for what
it means to be a real man—or a real woman for that matter. Society is incompetent to assist men with
guidance on what it means to be a real man, and a real father. Our nation is just about at “rock bottom”
when it comes to morality.
It is inevitable
when a nation loses an appreciation for the sanctity of life, that the sanctity
of marriage doesn’t have a chance. The
last nail in the coffin of many nations as they slid into the dust bin of
history has been a blurring of gender roles and an all-out assault on the traditional
view of the family: a father, a mother,
and children from that union.
So, it should not
surprise any of us that this Father’s Day, 2013, we find our nation completely
adrift with no real answer to the question of “what is a real man, or a real
father?” Likewise, it should not surprise
you, sitting here in the pew of a Baptist church, that I would have the answer
for how to be a successful father—how to be a real man, or for that matter, how
to be a real woman. The Wisest Man to
ever live, gave us the instructions we need for success in life—whether as a
man or a woman, or even a child. Here it
is:
SCRIPTURE
READING: PROVERBS 3:1-12
In reading for my
sermon preparation this week I came across this very insightful quote: “Being
a good dad doesn’t come easily. Being the kind of dad whose kids will one day
remember him with fondness and joy is hard work.”
There is much truth
to this statement. I might add, “being a
father is as hard these days as it ever has been.” I hope and pray that all the fathers here
today will listen to what God has to say about being a father. I hope all the women and the children in our
congregation today will pay close attention to what the Bible says about “being
godly.” The same principles and virtues
that help a man become a success as a father are the same principles and
virtues that help anyone become a success in anything. The lesson is about “godliness and how it
leads to success and prosperity.”
Let me add a word of caution about success and prosperity. The
idea of “prosperity, or success” is very much abused in some Christian circles,
especially among T.V. preachers. Proverb
3:2 uses the word, shalōm, (שָׁלוֹם) which
can be translated, “prosperity (NIV), or in the HCSB, “well-being.” But, shalōm,
means much more than the shallow view of prosperity as “more and better stuff,”
or simply riches. It can also mean, “success, soundness, welfare, peace” and
a host of other words. It often involves
“wealth” but not of necessity. The
Holman Christian Standard Bible captures the essence of shalōm, as “well-being.”
Many people have riches without well-being and many have well-being
without riches. In fact, the latter are
in a biblical sense, richer. The N.T. word
for “success” or prosperity is euodoō (εὐοδόω),
which literally means, “good (eu) way (hodos).”
We would say, “to have a good life” as in being led by the Lord. This is the essence of success in our passage
as seen in verses 5-6. Prosperity is a matter of following God’s plan
for your life and experiencing His favor, or grace (verse 4).
Here’s four tips
for being a success as a father—or as anything else.
This is one of
those times when reading Hebrew would be very helpful. However, having about six different
translations might do the trick. Here’s
a sampling of the different renderings of the words translated by the HCSB as
“loyalty and faithfulness”:
Net Bible: “truth and mercy”; the KJV: “mercy and
truth”; ESV: “steadfast love and faithfulness”; NIV84: “love and faithfulness.”
The Hebrew words
are “chesed wĕ emeth.” The word, chesed, is so broad and deep that it
requires pages to fully define, and then, you have only scratched the surface
of what it stands for. Often, it is
translated, “lovingkindness.” It carries
all the connotations of “goodness, care, mercy, kindness, and even redemption.” Chesed carries
the idea of the depth and greatness of God’s love. It carries with it the idea
of “abundance” as in “abundant kindness, or abundant goodness” when used to
refer to God’s character. As with the
HCSB is can express the idea of loyalty.
Think of chesed as “love on
steroids” and you are getting close to the meaning.
Now, often chesed appears in conjunction with other
nouns, such as in this case, emeth which
means, “faithful, or firm.” When this happens it forms what linguist call
a hendiadys. This comes from Greek meaning, “one thing by means of two.” Two nouns are joined by and serve to
strengthen the meaning of both.
Thus we have
“faithful love,” as the second noun of hendiadys functions as an
adjective. Therefore, the ESV, really
captures the expression as “steadfast
love.” This is what I call, “unrelenting love.” Love that just won’t quit. You are going
to need this kind of godly love if you want to succeed as a father: or in any other area of life. Unrelenting love.
Corrie Ten Boom was
a young, Dutch girl, during WWII who was arrested along with her family when it
was discovered they had a secret “hiding place” in their home where they were
hiding Jews from the Nazis. She lost her
entire family in a Nazi prison camp, including her much beloved sister,
Betsie. At first, she was quite bitter,
but she found “love,” steadfast love and she became what she called, a “Tramp
for the Lord.” She travelled all over
the world for some four decades spreading the gospel of God’s unrelenting
love. She once said, “Often
I have heard people say, “How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for
our church picnic and look at the lovely weather!” Yes, God is good when He
sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to
starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one
occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and
there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had
forgotten us. “No, Corrie,” said Betsie, “He has not forgotten us. Remember His
Word “For as the heavens are high above the hearth, so great is His steadfast
love toward those who fear Him (Ps. 103:11).” Corrie concludes, “There is an
ocean of God’s love available-there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you
never to doubt that victorious love-whatever the circumstances.”
If you want to
succeed in life, whatever the endeavor may be, you will need to pursue
godliness, including unrelenting love.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 think about
Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths. 7 Don’t
consider yourself to be wise; •fear the Lord and turn away from
evil. 8 This will be healing for your body and strengthening
for your bones.
It does not take very long as a father to
discover: “wow, how does one of these
things work,” and of course, I’m talking about a diaper. Anybody remember the days when real men
changed real diapers? I mean the “cloth
kind” that you don’t throw away. I was
about seven years old. In the bathroom
was a “dirty diaper hamper.” It was my
chore to “rinse the dirty diapers” in the toilet before they went in the ringer
washer. Yes, I know that is disgusting and I
was scarred for life. Two children
later, I have still never changed a dirty diaper. I don’t know that I would know how to even
begin. I admit to my “intellectual
insufficiency” when it comes to diapers.
With Intellectual Humility I readily confess: I don’t have a clue.
In fact, it was not
only diapers that confused me as a father.
Nearly everything about a child—no, everything about a child left me
wonder what to do next. I’d been a
father about twenty minutes whe I realized that if I had any shot at success, I
needed “intellectual humility.” I needed
to confess, I don’t know it all—in fact, I really don’t know much at all!
I have been to
college and two seminaries with the degrees on my wall to prove it. I cannot tell you how many facts passed
across the neurological highways of my brain only to drive off into some dark
corner never to be heard from again. The
single-most, important lesson I learned in four years of college and five years
in two seminaries is this: my knowledge is finite but my ignorance is
infinite.
If you want to be a
success as a father or at anything in life, you need “intellectual
humility.” Solomon warns: “do not trust your own understanding—trust
only in the Lord.”
I’ve heard people
criticize Christianity as “being a
crutch.” This is meant as an insult,
but it is extremely accurate.
Christianity IS a crutch—and I am a cripple who would fall on my face
without Jesus.
The word translated
by HCSB as “rely,” means to “lean.” Lean on God, not your own understanding or
you will fall on your face.
Success requires
godliness, and godliness requires INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY.
9 Honor the Lord with your
possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; 10 then
your barns will be completely filled, and
your vats will overflow with new wine.
This is one of the
hardest virtues for a person to master. “Honor
God with your possessions.” People
get more nervous, and some even bent out of shape, when the preacher discusses
the topic of “money.” Some preachers
avoid this topic like a plague. But,
here it is: godliness requires the practice of FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP.
Stewardship is a
fancy name for “money management.” In the
N.T. we read (1Cor. 4:2): It is expected of managers that each one of
them be found faithful.
Other translations
use the word, stewards, for
manager. Someone who is a steward or a manager is someone who has responsibility of possessions that
belong to someone else. In regard to
mankind as a steward those possessions involve . . . well, everything—our
relationships, our stuff, and even life itself.
Everything belongs to God and we are simply his “managers” or stewards.
The word in Greek
is, oikonomois, from which we get the
word, economics. There is an “economy” of godliness that
leads to success. Many, most Christians,
never reach the level of success in life—in any area—because they are not “faithful stewards” or managers of what
God has provided.
Solomon writes in Proverbs: “Honor
God with your possessions.” That’s
the obedience part. The result is: “then your barns will be completely filled,
and your vats will overflow.” That’s
the blessing part. Obedience always
leads to blessing. Godliness always
leads to success.
As I said above in
regard to “prosperity” in verse 2,
success, prosperity, or well-being” does not always, or even often, refer to
“getting more stuff.” But, it certainly
can. When you are faithful to “manage”
the possessions God has provided, God is faithful to provide even more. That’s clearly a promise in God’s Word.
Mat
25:21 Well done, good and faithful slave! You were
faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your
master’s joy!’
The key to sharing
the “Master’s Joy,” is faithfully managing the Master’s possessions. Let me say as clearly as I know how: “Honoring
God with your possessions begins by honoring God with His tenth.”
Lev
27 30 “Every tenth of the land’s
produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.
Christians refer to
this as, “tithing.” A tenth is the “bare
minimum” offering required to be a “faithful steward” of God’s
possessions. In the Sovereign Economy of
God, one must give one-tenth of all that comes into one’s possession as a “holy
offering to God.” This is how we begin
to “honor God with our possessions.” This is not “optional.” Godliness cannot be purchased cheaply, and
the starting price is a “holy tenth.” Success
requires godliness and godliness requires FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP. The results are “full barns and full vats.”
11 Do not despise the Lord’s
instruction, my son, and do not loathe His discipline; 12 for
the Lord disciplines the one He loves, just as a father, the son he delights
in.
This is such a
fundamental part of godliness that it is repeated, in the N.T. Hebrews
12:5-6: 5 And you have
forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the
Lord’s discipline lightly or faint when you are reproved by Him, 6 for
the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives.
When we think of
discipline, we normally think of punishment.
There is certainly an element of “harshness, correction, even
punishment” in both the O.T. and N.T. sense of the word, discipline. But, the most significant element of
discipline, from a biblical perspective is “correction,” or training to become
a better citizen of the Kingdom. God
uses the difficult circumstances of our lives, and even engineers “tests” to
educate us to becoming a better citizen of the Kingdom. The Greek word, paidia, carries this meaning,
especially after the time of Plato in his
writing on citizenship:
For
strictly all education is a public affair. It was for the sake of paideia that
Plato wrote his Politics and Leges. Indeed, the state exists on its behalf. At issue in paideia is the
relation of man to the polis, and the fate of Socrates indicates the indissoluble
tension between man’s freedom and the claim of society (TDNT).
Now Plato saw
discipline as the means by which a citizen learned the proper relationship to
the State. In biblical terms, discipline
is God working in our lives to make us fit citizens for His Kingdom. As Paul wrote, “God’s discipline is not
always pleasant, but it is always fruitful” (Heb. 12:5-6). To put it into a common cliché, embracing
divine discipline means: “when God give you lemons, make
lemonade.” Not every test comes
directly from God, but God uses every test in life to make us better—that is,
make us more godly and therefore more successful. Paul wrote of this in Romans 8:
28 We know that all things work
together for the good of those who love
God: those who are called according to His purpose.
What does it take
to be a successful person—father, mother, or otherwise? It takes godliness. The hope of our nation is to raise up a
generation of godly fathers. Several decades ago, something remarkable
took place in Africa. At one game
preserve there were too many elephants.
The only solution available at the time was to relocate some of the
babies. To everyone’s surprise, the
babies thrived. A decade or so after the transfer, something very alarming
started happening at the new reserve.
Someone was killing the rhinoceros which are an endangered species. To everyone’s astonishment, the killers
turned out to be the young adolescent males that had been transferred there as
babies. This was a complete surprise
because this behavior had never been observed in elephants before. They concluded that the problem was that the
elephants had grown up without fathers. New techniques allowed them to
transport mature bull elephants into the area. The concern was that these
“teen-aged” elephants who had grown up without fathers would be too far gone to
save. The shocking reality was: the transplanted fathers worked like a
charm. The conclusion is: “Daddies do matter.”
If you are a
man—you matter to the Kingdom of God in a great way. Through your godliness, not only will you be
blessed and prosper, but those you influence will be blessed and prosper. Unrelenting love, Intellectual Humility, Faithful Stewardship, and
Divine Discipline are principles of godliness that will lead to blessing.
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