Evangelical Piety - Part 1

Deuteronomy 4:8-10 “What great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children— how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’”

Prior to all the pandemic and social tension of 2020, our church’s associate Pastor, a former world-evangelist, brought up in a Staff Meeting and communicated to me of his deep concern for the lack of Christian Discipleship and the obvious Biblical Illiteracy within the Christian Church today because the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ to “go make disciples of all nations” was not happening in this nation. The natural consequences of sin and a lack of biblical knowledge, church doctrine and the Godhead (Father, son and Holy Spirit) has naturally led to the decline in national Christianity, Christian values, reverence for God, diluting of ethics, adulterating of morals, mitigating of honor and respect in a deteriorating society that has no solid foundation or moral compass except existential secular humanism. Recent survey shows declining church attendance, declining belief in God, and lack of knowledge of biblical truth. What has been removed and omitted from Christianity to cause this?

Pastor was formulating a vision and associated new church program to evaluate where people were in their Christian walk, then begin discipling individuals, starting with the Gospel message, the marks of evangelicalism, the substantive element of evangelical piety and the basic elements of evangelicalism and disciplinary aspects of grace found in the teaching the Word of God which are missing in the contemporary church today. The institution of such a discipleship program is temporarily on hold due to the Coronavirus pandemic closing the church campus and almost all ministry efforts are focused on online virtual worship production. But, the awareness of the need, the visionary planning to succeed for the kingdom of God and communication of evangelical piety restoration continues and prepares. The nation needs discipleship and the Lord commands it. Sharing the gospel and our testimonies is what we're explicitly called to do. 

Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

As to not be speak some foreign language, let’s define some of these terms that are not commonly used in everyday conversation, yet important for biblical learning and understanding for application. The reference source is the 1828 Webster’s dictionary.

·      The word “disciple” means: a learner; a student; a scholar; one who receives or professes to receive instruction from another. Or a follower; an adherent to the doctrines of another. Hence the constant attendants of Christ were called his disciples; and hence all Christians are called his disciples, as they profess to learn and receive his doctrines and precepts. 

·      The word “discipleship” means: the state of a disciple or follower in doctrines and precepts. 

·      The word “secular” means: pertaining to the present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to things not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly. The secular concerns of life respect making provision for the support of life, the preservation of health, the temporal prosperity of mankind. 

·      The word “evangelical” means: according to the gospel; consonant to the doctrines and precepts of the gospel, published by Christ and his apostles; as evangelical righteousness, obedience or piety.

·      The word “piety”, in principle, is a compound of veneration or reverence of the Supreme Being [God] and love of His character, or veneration accompanied with love; and piety in practice, is the exercise of these affections in obedience to God’s will and devotion to His service. Includes devoutness, devotion, faithfulness, goodness, holiness, righteousness, respect and virtue.

Acts 1:7-8 And He [Jesus] said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

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Christian author and teacher Dallas Willard, in his book “the Great Omission”, states that one of the great engines of individual and social transformation has been “evangelical” thought and experience as a sustaining force. “Piety” refers to the inward and outward states and acts that constitute a life of devotion to God. Externally viewed, piety consists of the routine activities carried out in a sustaining relationship that honors God who gives us life and well-being. Piety steadies us, gives our lives a substance, and moves us towards the highest human ideals. The opposite if piety is wickedness, which is defined as: the departure from the rules of the divine law (the Laws of God); evil in disposition or practices; immorality; criminal; sin; sinfulness; corrupt in morals and manners. The Lord Jesus explains in John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil [wicked].” Sin is the root cause of the problem.

Let's continue this message on the necessity of "piety" in the next post.

In Christ Brian