God as the Benchmark

The More Excellent Way
Virtue, Goodness, and Integrity
Christian Moral Formation

Lesson #2: God as the Benchmark

by Joel Stephen Williams

There are many different types of ethical systems in the world. One key factor that distinguishes many of these ethical systems is the standard or and basis by which right and wrong are determined. This video will give a very brief review of utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue/character ethics. Then, a concise summary of biblical and Judeo-Christian ethics will be noted with a focus on the standard or the benchmark making ethical choices, which is the character or the nature of God, that is, his divine attributes.

The Tree of Death

by Justin Imel

When my brothers and I had acted up at my grandparents' home, they gave us a choice--they could either spank us or they could call Santa Claus. Not necessarily an easy decision to make, but Mom and Dad could give us a choice because God created man with freewill.

In the Garden of Eden, God presented Adam and his wife with a choice--they could eat from the tree of life and live forever, or they could eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and sin against the I AM. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve chose poorly.

God gave Adam and Eve and all mankind freewill because he wants man to serve him of his own free volition. You and I have a choice to make--are we going to serve God, or are we going to serve self. As we face those decisions, we would do well to consider the consequences for our actions.

“Battle the Burden of Expectations”

by Bill Bagents

I’m glad that titles can’t be copyrighted. This one came online and immediately caught my contrarian eye. Expectations aren’t inherently good or bad. “Expectation” is a neutral word like cold or hot. Cold ice cream seems so necessary as to be redundant. Most of us strongly prefer hot pizza.

Expectations have played a major role in my life. Overwhelmingly, that role has been positive. As we left home during the teenage years, Dad would say, “Remember who your mother is.” Message received: Don’t do anything that would embarrass, disappoint, or make her cry. We were expected to tell the truth and treat others with respect. We were expected to behave in school and to do well. We were expected to work and worship with passion. I can’t imagine a life without expectations.

Even at my advancing age, I’m still somewhat at war with my self-imposed perfectionist expectations. I’ve never yet done anything perfectly, but on some level, I still believe that I both can and should. To be fair, I got really close when Laura Lynn and I married. I’d be way worse without her.

I should not imply that the battle with perfectionism has been all bad. It’s kept me from being a lump who settles and surrenders at the first sign of challenge. It has helped fuel life-long learning. It has made me appreciate the people who can deal with me “warts and all.”

Especially in light of my advancing age, there’s a bigger and more dangerous battle with expectations. Inexplicably, I still expect the people around me to do right, be kind, act rationally, and live as if God’s judgment is certain. And that’s not all bad if I teach and live in a way that pulls them in those good directions.

You know where the bad comes. On weaker days, it makes for a short fuse, long sighs, and jerk-level judgmentalism. On the worst days, you can’t please me; I can’t even please myself. It’s a terrible choice to be ruled by unfair expectations.

What should this awareness lead me to do? How can God, scripture, and friends help me act better than I feel when that’s stunningly needed?

It’s a blessing to contemplate God’s expectations of us. All He wants is us—heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:28–31). If we give ourselves to Him, He opens unimaginable windows of blessing. That’s why Paul by inspiration calls the choice to be a “living sacrifice” our “spiritual worship” or “reasonable service” depending on translation (Rom 12:1–2). It makes no sense to save your life if saving it means losing it (Luke 9:23–25 and 17:33). Scripture is so good with paradox.

It’s a blessing to acknowledge and resist the STRONG human tendency to expect more of others than of self. Scripture speaks of it often (Matt 7:1–4 and 18:21–35; Luke 18:9–14, 19:1–10, and 20:45–47). Each time we acknowledge this terrible tendency, we remember Matthew 7:2, “For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

It’s a blessing to show mercy every time mercy can be shown (Matt 5:7, 9:13, and 12:7). Think of Jesus with the compromised woman (John 8:1–11). Think of Jesus with Peter (Matt 16:21–23 and 26:31–35). Think of Jesus with Saul / Paul (Acts 9). Think of both the Father and Son with us (Rom 5:6–8).

In a nutshell, the Creator of the universe expects us to welcome His love and to love Him in return. There can be no higher or better expectation. If we find that good news to be a burden, MAJOR IMMEDIATE repentance is needed (Matt 11:28–30, 1 John 5:1–5).

My Favorite Bible Verses

My Favorite Bible Verses

A Bible Lesson Idea

by Joel Stephen Williams

Every minister and Bible class teacher needs to have a couple of Bible lesson ideas ready for those impromptu, unexpected situations when you are called upon to teach, because another teacher did not show up or other scheduling problems arose. Even with the best of planning, it will likely happen every now and then. One easy Bible lesson idea you can teach that can work well, especially for a small group, is to study favorite Bible verses. You, as the teacher, can share with the class your favorite Bible verse or verses, why it or they are special to you, and a little of the meaning of these verses. Then, as time allows, allow others in the class to do the same. Conclude the class with a reminder of the sufficiency of Scripture and the importance of God’s written word in our lives.

For me, my favorite Scriptures have changed over the years. The same is probably true for you. Shifting to a new favorite Scripture is normal for several reasons. Sometimes we shift in our love for a new Bible verse simply due to discovery as we study different parts of God’s word. Even though we may have read a book of the Bible many times, some part of it may become new to us as we have grown older and have different needs or as we have matured in our thinking. What follows is a brief discussion of my three favorite Bible passages, at present.

Psalm 73:25–26

Whom have I in heaven but you?
                   And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
                   but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (NRSV).

Asaph’s psalm is like the book of Job in miniature. Why does it seem like the wicked are doing well while the righteous are not? Is one wasting one’s time trying to live a godly life (73:13)? But while worshipping God, Asaph realized that the way of the sinner was ruin (73:17–20). But what is the reward for those who are godly? Their reward is God himself, nearness to him, and a relationship with him (73:25–26).

Ecclesiastes 8:12

Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him (HCSB).

In Ecclesiastes, the words of the Teacher are analyzed. What can we know about the meaning of life and man’s destiny (3:21; 8:17)? Injustice seems to be present everywhere (9:11). No one knows what the future may hold, and disaster can strike in an instant (9:12; 10:14). Despite uncertainty from his own observations about life and life’s seeming vanity, the Teacher makes a bold declaration of faith. Fearing God and obeying him is the right way to live, and it will go well with those who live this way (8:12; 12:11).

1 Peter 4:11

Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen (NRSV).

Whoever is teaching, exhorting, or sharing wisdom or knowledge (Rom. 12:7–8; 1 Cor. 12:8) in what might be called “authoritative speech in worship assemblies,” they should speak as one speaking the very words of God (cf. 1 Thess. 2:13). [1] Our teaching must be biblical. Preaching and teaching have eternal consequences. Those who teach will be judged with greater strictness, so let us be sober and serious about our task (James 3:1). In our ministry (diakonia) to others, let us humbly depend on God’s strength. Why do we do these things? So that God may be glorified through Christ. And thus we can pray or sing the doxology: “To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever, Amen.”

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[1] J. Ramsey Michael, 1 Peter, Word Biblical Commentary (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1988), 250.

The More Excellent Way: Christian Moral Formation (Lesson #1)

The More Excellent Way
Virtue, Goodness, and Integrity
Christian Moral Formation

Lesson #1: The problem

by Joel Stephen Williams

Where does the title of this series of video lessons come from? The apostle Paul wrote, “I will show you a still more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31; NRSV), and then he discussed Christian love. The more excellent way, the ethical Christian way of living, is the way of love. The sub-title “virtue, goodness, and integrity” is based on 2 Peter 1:5–8. This series of lessons will be a study of virtue and Christian character. All of this sounds quite positive, does it not? Maybe you are wondering what the problem is? After all, “the problem” is the title of lesson #1. Before we start on our journey through moral formation toward virtue, goodness, and integrity, we need to face the reality of the problem of human existence. It is the sinfulness of mankind. Our fallibility is a challenge to the more excellent way. In these lessons I will challenge you to live above the bare minimum, to strive for excellence.

DEVELOPING EXPOSITORY SERMONS

C. Philip Slate

In response to my recent article about preachers’ giving their best, I have been asked to explain how to develop expository sermons. Since there is sufficient material on this subject to teach an entire semester course, as well as entire books, I must give only a small capsule.

The shape of an expository sermons should be governed significantly by the type of biblical material which one desires to preach. As one writer put it, “we need to preach sermons in the shape of Scripture.” The little book by Fee and Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, has useful chapters on the different types of biblical material, whether narrative, parable, epistolary, and so forth. For the sake of simplicity, however, I will deal with a text that lends itself to clear divisions.

Suppose one wants to preach on 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, a loaded text that should be viewed in terms of the entire epistle: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (ESV). Though translated variously, here are five Greek imperatives—not suggestions or hints. The Corinthians were to take them seriously! Further, these are continuing requirements for followers of Jesus, though our situations might be somewhat different from that of the Corinthians. Here, to explain how one can develop a single expository sermon on these five points, I will use only one of the imperatives as an example of what to do with all of them.

A Basic Pattern

Think of a little boy who has developed an interest in baseball. Were you to teach him elementary principles of batting, what would you explain to him? You would tell him how to stand and how to hold a bat. That is basic. Over time, as the boy grows taller and stronger, he will develop his variations on standing and batting, depending on his strength, whether he wants to get base hits or strive for power hitting; but he begins with basic patterns.

The same variations on fundamentals can be found in preaching. As Phillips Brooks said in his 1898 Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching, “Preaching is the communication of truth by man to men. It has in it two essential elements, truth and personality. Neither of those can it spare and still be preaching.”[1] We all know preachers who are naturally given to humor, while others may be pleasant but not funny, with both types being effective. Similarly, different levels of training and maturity, different personality types will bring variations in the basic pattern explained next.

It is helpful to think of good expository preaching as consisting of three components in each segment of Scripture treated. Take one of the imperatives in 1 Corinthians 16:13-24: “Be watchful.” That sermon segment on that phrase should have the components of exposition, application, and illustration. In one’s sermon outline one might simply use those three words as heading for grouping one’s material. The headings should not be mentioned, unless one wants to move from exegesis to application by saying something like, “Now, what does this matter? How is directive applied to our lives?” I want to elaborate lightly on each of these headings.

First, if one does not explain/expound the concept in the text (here, “be watchful”), then the sermon will not be expository. One should strive to understand, and then explain, what Paul meant in the context of 1 Corinthians. Consider the conditions in that church that required one to be watchful, to be on guard against some threat. Biblical texts are not to be used as mere jumping-off places to say what one wants to say on different grounds. The authority is to be found in the text itself. True, one might desire, and even need, to use parallel texts to fix the concept in the mind of the hearers, but the primary text must first be understood correctly. Thus, good exegesis, understanding of the text, is the absolute bedrock of expository preaching. A word of caution: most congregations are wearied by a lot of details of Greek or Hebrew grammar. Give them the benefit of your study without reporting all the intricacies of the process. To borrow a metaphor from Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The patient is not entitled to all the medicine in the doctor’s little black bag.”

Second, one should strive to make application of the textual truth to the needs of at least a segment of the congregation to which the sermon is addressed. Congregations have different needs and different levels of those needs. If one explains the text but does not apply it to people then one is giving a lecture, not a sermon. Obviously, one does not need to spend a lot of time applying a truth that is not sorely needed. That is a form of “scratching people where they don’t itch.” Remember, as Fosdick said, “people are not desperately interested in what happened to the Jebusites.” Good application depends on the preacher’s sensitivity to the positions of his auditors and his interaction with those positions.

Third, following the example of Jesus, paying attention to a vast amount of research, and responding to what we know in our bones, it is important to use illustrations. That is the generic word we normally use for what we ought to call “developmental materials.” An illustration is more or less a “case in point”, an actual example of someone’s being watchful. Making one’s sermons more hearable, vital, interesting, and helpful, however, might involve various types of material. Think of using metaphors, such as Jesus’ comparative metaphor of Herod, “go tell that fox . . .”; use similes, brief stories, short poems, statistics, and other “windows” into the point you are making. Not incidentally, one may—and perhaps should—use developmental materials in the exposition as well as the application. You need to make the text clear. Thus, follow this rule: use developmental materials anywhere you need to make things clear. Using colorful opposites can be helpful. The opposite of “being watchful” could be “dropping your guard” (as in boxing) or being careless and getting bitten by a snake, stung by a bee, bitten by a dog, or getting an infection.

Improvement your Efforts

If one will be attentive to these three elements when striving to make a biblical text come alive to and be helpful for people, it will improve one’s preaching effort. Some men are good at exegesis but poor at helping people to see themselves in the text; while others have a wealth of stories and colorful metaphors but are short on understanding and explaining the text. The point is to facilitate good text-hearer interaction. One does not need to “prose on” lest people “doze on.”

Claude Parrish once told me of the time Foy E. Wallace, Jr. spoke to the congregation where Claude worked. Wallace preached a long sermon on the Septuagint or Bible translation or something of the sort. Afterward a brother was leaving the building and said to Claude, “Wow! Wasn’t that a great sermon?” Claude asked, “Well, did you understand it?” “Oh, God forbid that I should understand a brilliant man like that!” Hmmm. It might have been a good sermon, but not for that man. Sermons are to be instrumental for people’s responding to the truth of God, or God Himself. It might produce thanksgiving or repentance, deep reflection and consideration, or encouragement. Grow in your ability to do that. With all prayer, do your homework and God will bless your efforts to help others with His Word.

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[1] Brooks, Lectures on Preaching (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1898):5, as quoted in Batsell Barrett Baxter, The Heart of the Yale Lectures (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1954):3.

The Consequences of Disobeying God

The Consequences of Disobeying God

by Justin Imel

Every action has a consequence--whether it be a child who misbehaves and faces punishment from a parent or an adult who breaks the law and spends time behind bars. Adam and Eve were the first to learn about the consequences of doing wrong. When they disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the first man and woman faced serious consequences, consequences we still face today. This lesson examines the consequences the first couple faced for their disobedience to God.

Variety in Worship

by Joel Stephen Williams

The Judeo-Christian faith is a very complex religion. Since Christianity is “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3), this complexity should be no surprise. As a result, the church is a very complex system, and worship, our expression of our devotion and faith to God, is an equally intricate web of human emotions, beliefs, and relationships. Worship leaders should stop from time-to-time and take an assessment of what is being done in a congregation’s worship services. Is the bewildering variety of spiritual needs of the congregation being addressed? Is the whole range of Christian doctrine, especially core truths of the gospel, being proclaimed and confessed? Is the manifold variety of emotions Christians feel being expressed in prayer, in hymns and gospel songs, and in appropriate spoken words?

Here are a few brief ideas around which a worship service might be constructed. My recommendation is that a whole service be planned on each theme. That is, have all the hymns or songs on the theme. Ask the leaders of the prayers to frame the wording of their prayers around the theme. And, of course, build the sermon around the theme with an appropriate text and relevant application.

Confession of sin: Psalm 51 would be an ideal text. Songs in this genre are not very common. Some of them are old revival songs begging someone else to repent and confess. For example, “Why Do You Wait, Dear Brother?” or “While We Wait and While We Plead.” What is needed here are songs where we express repentance, and we confess our sins. A few traditional and contemporary songs do this, however, such as Bill Maher’s, “Lord I Need You.”

Confession of faith: Matthew 16:13–20 would be an appropriate passage. The worship service would be made more meaningful if the congregation could make confessions of faith together during the worship service, confessing not some cliché of a modern writer, but a few of the great statements of Scripture such as Matthew 16:16; John 6:69; Philippians 2:5b–11; Colossians 1:15–20; 1 Timothy 2:5–6; 3:16. Hymns and gospel songs of confession are so abundant that your only problem here is deciding which ones you will use.

Call to obedience: Matthew 7:24–27 or 21:28–32 would work well. Yes, we are saved by grace. If you have never read the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who warned of an anemic preaching which left out the gospel call to obedience – he referred to it as “cheap grace” – you should consider his warning carefully.[1] He experienced this watered-down type of preaching in his culture and saw its deadly fruits. Preacher – proclaim the full gospel. Yes, tell of the faithfulness of God but do not be silent on our obligation to be faithful and to “live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly” (Titus 2:12). And let us sing,

     My life, my love, I give to Thee,
     Thou Lamb of God, who died for me.
     O may I ever faithful be,
     My Savior and my God! [2]

Lament: The book of Lamentations or a psalm of lament (Psalm 6, 10, 38, 42–43, 130) would be useful. We can lament natural calamities or the loss of loved ones. We can lament the tragedy of our sin. We can lament how our sin brought the Son of God to die in our place on the cruel cross of Calvary. One powerful example of lament applied in a contemporary setting was when a Christian group was visiting the Watts Labor Community Action Committee in Los Angeles to try to understand better how racism had played out in their own area. At one point during the tour, they came to an exhibit of a noose hanging from a tree. The tour guide, Tina Watkins, began singing an a cappella rendition of “Strange Fruit.”

     Southern trees bearing strange fruit
     Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots
     Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
     Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Rob Muthiah, a part of the group, says that, “Many were moved to tears. The moment was an arresting example of memory, emotion, and truth telling coming together. It was a moment of lament.” Then Muthiah probed more deeply into the meaning of lament and our faith: “Lament is an act of faith, not faithlessness. You don’t lament to God if you do not believe that God is there. You don’t demand that God do something unless you believe that God can indeed act.”[3] Depending on what we are lamenting, songs like, “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord,” or “Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride” might be helpful for the mood of a worship service.

Adoration and Reverence: Revelation 4:6b–11 or 5:6–14 would be excellent for this worship theme. The sermon can give examples of reverence and adoration in the Bible and church history plus reasons why we should adore and reverence our Lord and God. Hymns should be used for this service rather than gospel songs, as they should be in any context where the focus is addressing God rather than one another.[4]

Gratitude: The cleansing of the lepers in Luke 17:11–19 is a classic text for a study of gratitude, but other equally useful texts are too numerous to mention. Good prayer books might help those who are to lead prayer:

     We thank you for the life that stirs within us:
     We thank you for the bright and beautiful world in which we live:
     We thank you for earth and sea and sky, for the clouds and the birds that sing:
     We thank you for the work you have given us to do:
     We thank you for all you have given us to fill our leisure hours:
     We thank you for our friends:
     We thank you for music and books and good company and all pure pleasures.[5]

And, thankfully, prayers and hymns of thanksgiving in Scripture and contemporary hymns of thankfulness will be found in abundance: for example, “For the Beauty of the Earth.”

Mission: For mission, 1 Corinthians 12:12–31 or Romans 12:4–8 might be good texts to use, because talents or gifts which we use for mission vary within a congregation. Alternatively, Matthew 5:13–16 would work well, since we as Christians should be salt and light in the world. One person’s mission may be to help the homeless while another’s is going on short mission trips to a foreign country while another’s is to teach a children’s Bible class at church. All three are worthy. We are to bring light to a dark world, and this is done in many ways. A worship service might focus on one mission like evangelism, adoption services, feeding the hungry, caring for widows, peacemaking, or many other good works. Or the worship service could focus on our collective mission with intercessory prayers for all our different efforts to be light in a dark world.

Only a few ideas have been mentioned. If you have read this far, you have probably already thought of many more. I would encourage you to write those down and start developing other themes. If you are a worship leader, make sure that worship services are not getting into a monotonous routine where the same general theme dominates the sermons and/or the singing the lion’s share of the time. The gospel of salvation through faith in Christ and our obligation to “live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly” (Titus 2:12) are the main themes in the New Testament. There are many important sub-themes beyond them, but those two main themes alone are rich and complex in their meaning and application. Worship leaders should make sure our worship services correspond in order to aid spiritual growth and maturation.

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[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1959).

[2] R. E. Hudson, “I’ll Live for Him.” Arranged by C. R. Dunbar.

[3] Rob Muthiah, “The Theological Work of Antiracism Needs to Include Lament: The Bible shows us what to do with our frustration, outrage, and complicity,” The Christian Century 138, no. 2 (January 12, 2021).

[4] For the distinction between hymns (songs addressed to God) and gospel songs (songs addressed to one another), see Andy Thomas Ritchie, Thou Shalt Worship the Lord Thy God (Firm Foundation, 1969).

[5] Adapted from John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933), 33. A new updated and revised edition in contemporary English language is now available. John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, updated and revised by Susanna Wright (New York, Scribner, 2014). Another helpful book is William Barclay, A Guide to Daily Prayer (New York: Harper & Row, 1962).