missio

This characteristic has two distinct branches. Part One considered the fact that a godly man is a servant of God. Part Two considers the fact that a godly man does not serve men.

“Be not you the servants of men” (1 Cor. 7:23).

Is there no service we owe to men?

There are 3 ways that the godly man serves men:

1. There is a civil service we owe to men, as the inferior to the superior. The servant is a living tool, as Aristotle says. “servants, obey your masters” (Eph. 6:5).

2. There is a religious service we owe to men, when we are serviceable to their souls: “your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:5).

3. There is a sinful serving of men. This consists of three things:

(i) When we prefer men’s rules before God’s commands. God commands one thing; man commands another. God says, “Sanctify the Sabbath”; man says, “Profane it.” When men’s commands have more force with us than God’s laws, this is to be the servants of men.

(ii) When we voluntarily prostitute ourselves to the impure lusts of men, we let them lord it over our consciences. When we are pliable and conformable to any beliefs, either Arminian or atheist, for either the gospel or the Koran. When we will be what others will have us be, then we are just like Issachar, who is “a strong donkey crouching down between two burdens” (Gen. 49:14). This is not humility—but ignorance, and it is men-serving.

(iii) When we are advocates in a bad cause, pleading for any impious, unjustifiable act; when we baptize sin with the name of the Gospel, and with our speech wash the devil’s face—this is to be the servants of men. In these cases, a godly person will not so unman himself, as to serve men. He says, like Paul, “If I yet pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10); and like Peter, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Use: How many leagues distant from godliness, are those who serve men, who either for fear of punishment, or from hope of promotion, comply with the sinful commands of men, who will put their conscience under any yoke, and sail with any wind which blows profit. These are the “Servants of men”; they have abjured their baptismal vow, and renounced the Lord who bought them.

To the one who is so bendable as to change into any form, and bow as low as hell to please men, I would say two things:

1. You who have learned all your postures, who can cringe and tack about—how will you look Christ in the face another day? When you say on your death bed, “Lord, look on your servant”, Christ shall disclaim you, and say, “My servant? No! you renounced my service, you were “a servant of men”; depart from me; I do not know you.” What a cold shoulder this will be at that day!

2. What does a man get, by sinfully enslaving himself? He gets a blot on his name, a curse on his estate, a hell in his conscience; no, even those who he basely stoops to, will scorn and despise him. How the high priests kicked off Judas! “What do we care? That’s your problem” (Matt. 27:4).

That we may not be the servants of men, let us abandon fear and advance faith (Esther 8:17). Faith is a world-conquering grace (1 John 5:4). It overcomes the world’s music and threats; faith steels a Christian with divine courage, and makes him stand immovable, like a rock in the midst of the sea.

At first glance, this title may be a little off-putting. You may think that it is putting ourselves into a place where only God Himself belongs. Instead, it’s not an off-putting statement. It’s a redundant one. To be godly inherently means to be like God. So it’s not off-putting, in fact, it’s recognizing the truth that we have been made in His image. We were not meant to sin, but because of our rebellion, we have. We were originally made good.  And through Jesus, we are now being reconciled to become more like Him. In theological circles (and in Scripture) this being formed like Him is called the pursuit of holiness. A godly man is therefore holy.

He has the same judgment as God; he thinks of things as God does; he has a Godlike disposition; he “partakes of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). A godly man bears both God’s name and image; godliness is God-likeness. It is one thing to profess God, another thing to resemble him.

Holiness is the most brilliant pearl in the King of Heaven’s crown: “glorious in holiness” (Exod. 15:11). God’s power makes him mighty; his mercy makes him lovely; but his holiness makes him glorious. The holiness of God is the intrinsic purity of his nature and his hatred of sin. A godly man bears some kind of analogy with God in this. Holiness is the badge and mark of Christ’s people: “The people of your holiness” (Isaiah 63:18). The godly are a holy as well as a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9). Nor have they only a appearance of holiness, like the Egyptian temples which were fair outside—but they are like Solomon’s temple, which had gold inside. They have written upon their heart, “Holiness to the Lord”. The holiness of the saints consists in their conformity to God’s will, which is the rule and pattern of all holiness.

The goodness of a Christian lies in his holiness, as the goodness of the air lies in its clarity, the worth of gold in its purity.

The question then becomes: how does our Godlikeness affect our lives?

First of all, the godly set themselves against evil, both in purpose and in practice. They are fearful of that which looks like sin (1 Thess. 5:22). The appearance of evil may harm a weak Christian. If it does not defile a man’s own conscience, it may offend his brother’s conscience; and to sin against him is to sin against Christ (1 Cor. 8:12). A godly man will not go as far as he may, lest he go further than he should; he will not swallow all that others may plead for. It is easy to put a golden color on rotten material.

Secondly, the godly will fight for the reputation of holiness. When piety is argued against in the world, the saints will stand up in its defense; they will wipe off the dust of a reproach, from the face of religion. Holiness defends the godly, and they will defend holiness; it defends them from danger, and they will defend it from disgrace.

How can those who are unlike God be reputed to be godly? They have nothing of God in them, not one shred of holiness. They call themselves Christians—but blot out the word holiness; you may as well call it day at midnight.

So impudent are some, that they boast they are none of the holy ones. Is it not the Spirit of holiness which marks off the sheep of Christ, from the goats? “You were sealed (or marked) with the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13). And is it a matter for men to boast of, that they have none of the Spirit’s earmark upon them? Does not the apostle say that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14)?

There are others who hate holiness. Sin and holiness never meet but they fight. Holiness discharges its fire of zeal against sin, and sin spits its venom of malice at holiness. Many pretend to love Christ as a Savior—but hate him as he is the Holy One (Acts 3:14).

This is God’s great design which he drives on in the world. It is the object of the Word preached. The silver drops of the sanctuary are to water the seed of grace, and make a crop of holiness spring up. What use is there in the promises, if not to bribe us to holiness? What are all God’s providential dispensations for—but to promote holiness? As the Lord makes use of all the seasons of the year, frost and heat, to produce the harvest, so all prosperous and adverse providences are for the promoting of the work of holiness in the soul. What is the object of the mission of the Spirit—but to make the heart holy? When the air is unwholesome by reason of fog and mist, the wind is a fan to purify the air. So the blowing of God’s Spirit upon the heart is to purify it, and make it holy.

Holiness is that alone, which God is delighted with. When Tamerlane was presented with a pot of gold, he asked whether the gold had his father’s stamp upon it. But when he saw it had the Roman stamp, he rejected it. Holiness is God’s stamp and impress; if he does not see this stamp upon us, he will not own us.

Holiness fits us for communion with God. Communion with God is a paradox to the men of the world. Not everyone who hangs about the court speaks with the king. We may approach God in duties, and as it were hang about the court of heaven—yet not have communion with God. That which keeps up fellowship with God, is holiness. The holy heart enjoys much of God’s presence; he feels heartwarming and heart-comforting virtue in an ordinance. Where God sees his likeness, there he gives his love.

“I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.” Psalm 116:1

Last post (on being a man of faith), we mentioned that it is faith that enlivens are duties. Without faith, our roles as Christians are difficult impossible to fulfill. But just as faith brings life to our daily walk, so love towards Christ sweetens it. A godly man is sick with love towards Him. Brother Lawrence wrote in one of his books on being with God the following:

I have had such delicious thoughts of the Lord that I’m ashamed to mention them.

Wow. That is love towards Jesus. God is the source and meaning of goodness. His beauty and sweetness arrest our hearts with love. God is the saint’s portion (Psalm 119:57). And what is more loved than a portion? “I would hate my own soul,” says Augustine, “if I found it not loving God.” A godly man loves God and therefore delights to be in his presence; he loves God and therefore takes comfort in nothing without him.

The godly person yearns for Christ, and thirsts for Him as a deer panteth for the water. As Matt Chandler has mentined before, this is not a verse meant to be put on a coffee mug with Bambi drinking from a puddle. This is an honest and brutal yearning after Christ with all that we are. Godly men weep when they are distant from Jesus. When the soul sees God clearly, it would gladly be with God. A gracious heart cries out, “O that I had wings, that I might fly away, and be with my love, Christ!” The bird desires to be out of the cage, though it is hung with pearl.

A godly man loves God, though he is tested, tempted, and tried. A mother and her nine-year-old child were about to die of hunger. The child looked at its mother and said, “Mother, do you think God will starve us?” “No, child,” said the mother, “he will not.” The child replied, “But if (my note: not if, but when) he does, we must love him, and serve him.”

Let us test our godliness by this measurement: Do we love God? Is he our treasure and center? Can we, with David, call God our “joy”, yes, our “exceeding joy” (Psalm 43:4)? Do we delight in drawing near to him, and “come before his presence with singing”? (Psalm 100:2) Do we love him for his beauty more than his jewels? Do we seek gifts above Giver? Do we love him, when he seems not to love us?

If this be the sign of a godly man, how few will be found in the number! Where is the man whose heart is dilated in love to God? Many court him—but few love him. People are for the most part eaten up with self-love; they love their ease, their worldly profit, their lusts—but they do not have a drop of love to God. If they loved God, would they be so willing to be rid of him? “They say unto God, Depart from us” (Job 21:14). If they loved God, would they tear his name by their oaths? Does he who shoots his Father in the heart, love him? Though they worship God, they do not love him; they are like the soldiers who bowed the knee to Christ, and mocked him (Matt. 27:29).

Godly men love Jesus.