Beloved,
It occurred to me recently that the core principles of our church provide a framework for a humble church. What does a congregation in the corporate grip of the downward disposition of a Godward self-perception look like? It looks like a people devoted to these five core principles:
- God-centered Theology
- God-ordered Worship
- God-delighting Piety
- God-exalting Government
- God-dependent Mission
It is one thing to esteem such principles, and it is entirely another thing to embody them. By owning these Godward principles as our own, we are not claiming to fully exemplify them. That will never be true this side of glory. Yet we must be ardently striving to be about these five things if we would be a church that knows the blessing of God in Christ.
In previous emails, we looked in some detail at the first two principles, and now we move to the third: God-delighting Piety. We cannot know God (theology) and exalt God (worship) without growing to reflect God (piety). That is why when Calvin wrote his preface to his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he explained, “My purpose [in writing the Institutes] was solely to transmit certain rudiments by which those who are touched with any zeal for religion might be shaped to true godliness [pietas].”
Piety is godliness or godlikeness. Like Calvin, being shaped to true godliness ought to be one of our fundamental goals as a congregation as we grow to glorify and enjoy God. We agree with Calvin that…
- Knowledge of God that doesn’t transform us to reflect God is deficient.
- Worship of God that doesn’t transform us to reflect God is deficient.
In other words, our theology and worship ought to be productive of piety. Here is how the apostle Paul put it: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). He goes on to explain that this is not a beholding with the physical eyes but with the eyes of our the soul (2 Cor. 4:4-6). Our hearts cannot behold God’s glory in Christ without being transformed to reflect Him.
We will be exploring this theme more fully in the upcoming weeks, brothers and sisters. But let us resolve to cultivate a piety that encompasses the whole of our souls and the whole of our lives through faith in Jesus Christ. For that is, in the words of Sunday’s sermon, what it means to love our singular and simple God with a singular and simple affection.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Nick