The Kingdom’s Personal Piety
Chapter 6 of Matthew’s gospel, the center of the famous Sermon on the Mount, is then instructive for our presumptions of what piety means and how to put it into practice in a number of interesting ways. First of all, notice the list of topics that our Lord chooses. Giving, prayer, fasting—so far, so normal in terms of what we would expect under the topic of piety—then money again, this time from a different angle, which is perhaps not so surprising given the preponderant difficulty that most humans have with money and possessions. But then Jesus finishes with a long section on anxiety or worry, which is not exactly a “spiritual discipline” as such, and in the middle of that is one of the more well-known statements in the Sermon on the Mount about seeking first the kingdom of God.
Second but more importantly still, notice the ongoing contrast that runs throughout this chapter. Over and over again, Jesus is telling His followers not to be “like them,” those who make a display of piety, but instead to be “like this,” those who give thought only to God as their audience. You can see this contrast in Matthew 6:1–2, where Jesus describes the extraordinary showy behavior of givers at the time and then tells His followers, “Sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.” So don’t be like them. Instead, be like this: “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matt. 6:3).
You can see the same contrast when He teaches on prayer: “When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites” (Matt. 6:5). So don’t be like them. Instead, be like this: “When you pray, go into your room . . .” (Matt. 6:6).
We can see the same contrast in Jesus’ teaching on fasting: “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites . . .” (Matt. 6:16). Instead, “when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face . . .” (Matt. 6:17). Don’t be like them; instead, be like this.
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Don’t Pervert the Truth by Misusing It
In an increasingly relativistic culture, it is imperative that we remain committed to God’s truth. It is an indispensable asset and a precious commodity—one that transforms our minds, increases our wisdom, affects our speech, guides our steps, anchors our emotions, equips our ministry, and informs our worship.
Speaking the Truth in Love
Among the characters in Disney’s 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid is a seagull named Scuttle, whom Ariel mistakenly considers an expert on humans. Scuttle explains the functions of various manmade trinkets; for example, he identifies a fork as a “dinglehopper,” which he says humans use to straighten their hair. Demonstrating how he thinks the fork is supposed to work, he says, “Just a little twirl here and a yank there and voila: you got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go nuts over.”
On occasion, I may or may not have been reminded of this scene when forced to tell one of my growing daughters, “Stop putting that fork in your hair.” In response, none of my daughters has ever asked, “Should I not comb my hair?” or “Should I never use a fork?” And with good reason. They instinctively know I have nothing against fork usage or combing hair.
The point of my command is not that hair combing is unimportant, or that forks are useless. The point is that forks should be used properly. As useful as they are, forks don’t lend themselves to creating an “aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair,” no matter what Scuttle says. That’s not what they were designed for.
Similarly, those of us in the body of Christ can use truth improperly. We can mischaracterize, minimize, or overemphasize its role. And in so doing, we wield truth contrary to how it was designed to function. The result is, shall we say, a “morally unpleasant configuration of haziness that makes humans act like nuts.”
There are, unfortunately, many ways we can do this. Let us look at three examples.
1. Equating Truth with Love
The command to speak the truth to our neighbor (Ephesians 4:25) is different from the command to love our neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). The two are not synonymous, just as combing hair and using a fork are not synonymous. Obedience to one command does not equate to obedience to the other.
And yet, there are those who have conflated truth and love, imagining that it is inherently loving to speak truth to someone. Thus, the more you speak the truth, the more loving you are. However, love knows there are times when it is better to listen rather than to share truth, and even to overlook a wrong rather than confront it with the truth (Proverbs 19:11). There are occasions where we just need to pray and let God do the talking to the other person. It takes wisdom to know when and how to speak, and when to remain silent (Proverbs 15:23, 25:11; Ecclesiastes 3:7b; Amos 5:13).
One functional effect of the “truth equals love” paradigm is the devaluing of love, as if it were an automatic appendage of the truth, achieved effortlessly as long as truth is spoken. If that were the case, one might expect Jesus to summarize the law of God as “truth.” Instead, he summarizes the entirety of God’s law as “love” (Matthew 22:40). Paul echoes this sentiment when he says the law is “summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Romans 13:9).
It is important both what we say (the truth) and how we say it (with love). We cannot separate the what and the how and imagine that only the what is of consequence. Motives and methods matter just as much as our message. The wrong methods won’t fly under God’s radar simply because they are attached to “the truth.”
Let there be no mistake: one can speak the truth and be unloving at the same time. That is why the apostle Paul encourages us to always be “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). If we don’t speak the truth in a loving way, we will forsake “building up the body of Christ” (v. 12) and instead act like “children” (v. 14). Love is designed to guide and direct our use of the truth so that we communicate effectively and redemptively.
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Individualism and the Churches
‘Who am I?’ is an understandable question in a secular world. What can I say about myself? Am I the mere transient product of the forces of blind chance? Many young people are anxious over such questions. Therefore, the church and its teachers have for the last decade or so rightly responded to this question assuring Christians of their identity in Christ.
Many churches I come across see to be experiencing a lack of commitment compared with former years. This is seen in different ways. It could be the demise of the evening service. It often has a generational aspect to it. The faithful ‘never miss’ attenders are from an older age group while the younger married people are missing. It is seen in a lack of volunteers to take on responsibilities for the church like in children’s work or becoming an elder etc. It is also seen in a reluctance by many Christians to become church members – they like the fringe where they can hang loose.
My main message to pastors is that this lack of commitment in the church is not necessarily your fault. No doubt the devil likes to use this to tell you what a useless pastor you are. But actually, the bigger picture says something different.
One factor in this may be the increased pressures of modern life. Whereas jobs used to be 9-5 now they verge on 24/7. Another is the so-called therapy culture. People are encouraged to see themselves as frail and to prioritise looking after themselves and their families first.
The Century of the Self
But behind much of this is the fact that society at large is enamoured with individualism. Some sociologists speak of our times as ‘the century of the self’. Your life is yours. You’ve only got one life, live it for yourself (very different from Christian sacrifice). And this attitude has rubbed off on many Christians in the current generation. Today’s digital technology is very individual. In fact, very often ‘progress’ is calibrated in individualistic terms. ‘Personal’ means good (you’re in control).
It is not that current society has no desire for community or interacting with others. It does. But it likes community with few or no obligations or responsibilities – being together at a rock concert, or the pub, or the online chat room. It is community which leaves the individual pretty much free. And of course, ‘freedom to be myself’ is deeply embedded motor of the sexual revolution. And the individualistic mindset which is in the cultural air we breathe, inevitably impacts churches.
We ought to be addressing this current individualism and teaching on it from Scripture – speaking into where our society is at present.
Scripture and Individualism
My tentative summary is that Scripture seems to teach that though the individual is very important, the individual only finds true fulfilment in community. The Bible’s theme is of the significance of the individual in the service of community.
God
From the start of Scripture, we are faced with a God who reveals himself one God existing in three persons. The first verse of the Bible shows us that though there is only one true God, yet there is a plurality within God. In Genesis 1.1, ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth’, the Hebrew noun for God (Elohim) is plural while the verb ‘created’ is singular – denoting one God.
When it comes to the initial description of the creation of human beings we read, ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,”’ Genesis 1.26. The words ‘us’…’our’…’our’ are prominent. Though this is sometimes interpreted as God announcing his decision to create humanity to the heavenly court of angels, it more naturally conveys a first hint of the trinitarian relations in the being of the one God.
The rest of the Bible, of course, makes clear that the true God is Trinitarian, Father, Son and Spirit, one God (e.g., Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14).
Humanity
The way the original making of mankind in God’s image is announced contains both the singular and the plural. ‘So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them’ (Gen 1:27). There is a poetic parallel; ‘He created him…he created them.’
The individual is very important. This is clear from the way that Adam first exists as an individual and has personal dealings with God (Gen 2:7, 16, 17). God addresses Adam as ‘you’, singular (vv. 16, 17). Adam enters the garden alone and is given his own task (Gen 2:15). Yet though the individual is important he or she is not meant to live in a relational vacuum. ‘It is not good for the man to be alone’ (Gen 2:18). A solitary Adam is ‘not good’. That phrase may seem somewhat jarring as we read Genesis. But if we have grasped God’s triunity, the ‘not good’ ought not to be unexpected. Being alone is not what God intends for human beings, persons in his image. It is only through being together with another and others (whether in marriage or wider society) that the image of the relational God can fully blossom. The human individual finds fulfilment of his or her true self in community.
Now, of course, when we come to Genesis 3 things change. We find the devil appealing in a very individualistic way to Eve (Gen 3:6), with the result that with the coming of sin, community is shattered (3:12). Distrust, suspicion and accusation abound – even against God. Community with God and between Adam and Eve is fractured.
Jesus
Jesus frequently acts in such a way as not only to bless individuals, but to restore isolated outcasts to their place within the community of the people of God. Both the individual and the community are important.
He deliberately seeks out the lost. Rejected but repentant Zacchaeus has a new heart for people and Jesus states that, ‘this man too is a son of Abraham,’ – he belongs (Lk 19:1-10).
The miracles of the Master accomplish the same goal. Lepers who must be kept quarantined are cleansed and so reinstated in society (Mk 1:40-45). The demoniac who lived alone among the tombs is restored to his right mind and sent back to his people (Mk 5:19). The isolated woman, embarrassed by her issue of blood which made her ‘unclean’ (Mk 5:32) is healed, confesses her faith publicly and is a ‘daughter’ (5.34) – part of Christ’s family.
Our Lord’s atoning death is, of course, legitimately seen as being for individuals (Gal 2:20), but also has a definite collective aim: Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Eph 5:25). The rebuilding of community is part of Jesus coming to undo and destroy the works of the devil.
The Early Church
The outpouring of the Spirit and the preaching of Jesus as ‘Lord and Christ’ results in the calling together of God’s new community – the church. This fledgeling assembly is marked by togetherness.
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You Can Obey
Our sinful nature is not zapped away when we trust in Christ. But does that mean we cannot obey? No. We have God’s Word and God’s Spirit to guide and empower us to obey. Which means any time we sin as believers it is not because we are unable to do what is right but because we did not yield to the Spirit who dwells within us.
I wonder whether sometimes we give up on holiness before we even get started. We know that we are sinful. We know that this side of glory we will not be sinlessly perfect. We believe in the doctrine of Total Depravity. All stacked together, we can give up before we even get going.
We thank the Father that he sent Jesus to die for us. We are grateful that Jesus lived the perfect sinless life that we couldn’t. We trust in his atoning work on our behalf. We know that we are given the righteousness of Christ and rely upon that to see us made right with God. We believe all of this and know our salvation is secure because of it.
But we just don’t think we can obey. We are sinful, we think. Our old sinful nature remains with us. We thank Jesus that he came, died for us and transferred his perfect life to our account. And then we can think that we won’t be perfect until glory so we kind of give up trying. Sinners gonna sin, innit.
But the fact is, we can obey. Yes, when we were outside of Christ our hearts could only incline towards sin. But being made alive by the Spirit means that we are capable of obedience.
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