The Art of Godliness

 

June 20, 2021               NOTES NOT 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 Bruce Feirstein  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.  Today, we still see an attack on “gender,” especially maleness, but it is no longer just the feminists pushing the issue—it is Congress! 

That was 39 years ago! I wonder what the author of that book would think today with “sex change operations,” men playing women sports, or calling mother’s “birthing parents?”  I wonder what They would make of Bruce Jenner running for Governor in California as a woman? 

The attack on manhood has become the attack on gender altogether. Society has gone nuts. 39 years ago the debate was the difference between a “quiche eater and a real man.”  Today, the debate is whether there is even such a thing as man or woman.

Consider the difference between a “quiche eater and a real man” in 1982.  In 1982 Feirstein asked the question:  “How many real men does it take to change a light bulb?  Answer:  “None! Real men aren’t scared of the dark.”

According to Feirstein there are three things you will never find in a “real man’s pocket.”  1.  Lip balm.  2. Breath mints.  3 Opera tickets.

Feirstein’s book is a bit irreverent to say the least but it makes the point that being a “real” man means more than simply male chromosomes.  In 1982 society tried to “feminize” men so they could get in touch with their inner woman.  Today, society seeks to erase the idea of a man altogether (and the idea of gender along with it).

The Bible describes a “real man, or a real father.”  The Bible describes “real success” in any endeavor in life.  The Bible is the only “trustworthy guide for being a successful father” or successful anything.  Here’s what be a “real success” as a father or anything else requires:  unrelenting love; intellectual humility; faithful stewardship; and divine discipline.  Let’s read about what makes a truly successful father—or anything else.

SCRIPTURE READING:  PROVERBS 3:1-12

Notice that verse 1 sets up a “contract” of sorts with Yahweh, the One True God. The contract has two parts:  obedience and blessing. Our obedience brings God’s blessing.  This pattern is the essence of the structure of the Old Testament story. God does everything short of taking away our free-will to help us be “obedient,” and therefore, to be “blessed.”  Even a cursory reading of the Bible from a yard away shows how often we fail in simple obedience, and therefore fall into the state of cursing.  Success requires obedience to God’s Word: 

“Proverbs 3:1-2 ^(CSB)[IF] My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands, [THEN] 2 for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being. 

Success as a father; success as a mother; or success at anything in life is dependent upon “obeying the teachings of the Word.”  It is just that simple. Obedience to God’s Word brings success and prosperity - period, end of discussion.

But 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 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).

With that foundation, Here’s four tips for being a success as a father—or as anything else.  Be godly by having 

1.  an attitude of  UNRELENTING LOVE (V3)

³ Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you

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 CSB 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 the 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. All the “human love” in the world combined is not enough love to be a truly successful father—you need a God-sized 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 earth, 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.

2.  Godliness requires an attitude of

INTELLECTUAL HUMITY (5-8)

⁵ Proverbs 3:5–7 (CSB) ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. ⁷ Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 

Becoming a father is a very humbling experience—or at least it was for me.  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 into the ringer washer. Yes, I know that is disgusting and I was scarred for life.  As a result, I could never change a dirty diaper.  I had I had “PDDDSD-Post Dirty Diaper Distress Disorder.”  Two children and four grandchildren and I have 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 when 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 two colleges 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 stiff cliff 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 CSB 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.

3.  Godliness requires the practice of  FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP (9-10)

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 describes a “contract we have with God. [IF] “Honor God with your possessions.”  That’s our part. “[THEN] your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow.” That’s God’s 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.

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. Tithing is “where you start in faithful giving, not where you stop!”

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.”

4.  Godliness embraces the experience of DIVINE DISCIPLINE (11-12)

¹¹ Do not despise the Lord’s instruction [NIV, discipline], my son, and do not loathe His discipline [rebuke, correction]; 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,(“discipline”) carries this meaning, especially after the time of Plato in his writing on citizenship (Politics and Leges).

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 productive” (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—at first. 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.”

I don’t know if “real men eat quiche or if they don’t,” but I know that real men love Jesus and seek to live godly lives.  That’s the only foundation for being a successful father—or successful anything.

It takes unrelenting love, intellectual humility, faithful stewardship, and submission to divine discipline.  This is a recipe for success in any endeavor.