Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today Stuart Briscoe begins a new series called Cheerful Godliness. Today's message is a primer about what godliness is. But before we launch into the program, today's culture is a revolving door of ever-shifting views and beliefs. That's why it's so important to test new ideas against the timeless truth of scripture. It's the best defense against the world's confusion.

We want to help ground you in the foundations of your faith by sending you Stuart Briscoe's six-message series on the book of Second Peter, Six Things We Must Never Forget. This series will anchor you in six time-tested truths from God's word so you can stand strong in your beliefs as you remember the deep spiritual truths that are foundational to your faith.

The Six Things We Must Never Forget series is our thanks for your gift to help keep Telling the Truth going strong, sharing life-giving teaching from Stuart and Jill with more people all over the world. So request your copy when you give today and get help staying grounded in truth in today's shifting culture. Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388 or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now here's Stuart with his message for today, The Basis of Godliness, the first in the series called Cheerful Godliness.

Stuart Briscoe: The last time I had the privilege of talking to you, I directed your attention to Paul's first letter to Timothy in the second chapter. And the reason for directing your attention to that passage of scripture was that it tells us that we should be praying for all people, and with particular emphasis on those who are in authority. And the reason that we pray for those in authority is in order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life, in order that our lives might be characterized by godliness and holiness. I was particularly interested in asking people if the people that we pray for are able to create for us a peaceful and quiet environment, what will we do with it?

And the answer that I got from a lot of people was, well, we'll have freedom to do what we want. And this was something that was greatly cherished, and that of course is understandable. I tried to point out to people that the biblical idea of freedom is not freedom to do what you want, but the opportunity to be what you ought. And there is a big difference. The difference between free to do what you want and the opportunity to be what you ought, because quite frankly, very often what we want is the diametrically opposed to what we ought to be and ought to do.

And I was therefore thinking very much about this description of the life that we're called to live in this environment of peace and quiet. And that is the life that is characterized by godliness. I've given as the title for this series Cheerful Godliness. And somebody said to me that sounds like an oxymoron. An oxymoron is where you get a statement with two apparently contradictory things stuck together. I think my favorite oxymorons are civil war and rap music.

But cheerful godliness does seem oxymoronic, doesn't it? Let me explain why I use this term. One of my favorite poets is William Wordsworth, the Lakeland poet from the North of England where I grew up and was raised on his poetry. And he on one occasion towards the end of the 18th century was bemoaning the moral and spiritual state of England. He was thinking how wonderful it would be if John Milton were to come back and have a profound influence on the society.

And this is what he said, "Milton, thou should'st be living at this hour. England hath need of thee. She is a fen of stagnant waters." And he went on to explain the moral and spiritual degradation and depredation in the country at that time. And then he goes on to describe Milton, how Milton lived his life and was a beacon light. And he says that you lived your life with cheerful godliness. And those two words jumped off the page at me.

And I thought, you see, the problem that we have when we talk about godliness is that for many people it sounds singularly unattractive. Who in the world wants to be known as godly? That's like being called meek. Who wants to be called meek, either? They don't seem to fit into our idea of what a robust, healthy life is all about. And yet I think we'll see as we look into the idea of godliness that that is a total misunderstanding of what it is.

But it is most appropriate to recognize that people like Milton were able to be thoroughly godly and totally cheerful about it. And as a result of that wonderful mix of those two things, cheerfulness and godliness, they were a beacon light to the people around them. And Wordsworth mourns the day that Milton passed away and longs to see somebody like him return to have a profound impact on a culture that is desperately in need of him. And I want to say this to you. I would like to be known as somebody who is a cheerful, godly person.

And I would like to think that the church by and large is producing people characterized by cheerful godliness. And so with that in mind, let's look into the scriptures and see what we can learn about it. Now we're going to start off in Paul's letter to Titus. Titus is a little hard to find. It's just a small epistle towards the end of the Bible. But if you can find Hebrews, that's quite a large chunk, it's about the second on the left from there.

And the opening words of Paul's letter to Titus are as follows: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness." Now the first thing that we'll dig out from this scripture as we try to unpack it is this: godliness is based on knowledge of the truth. That's a pretty straightforward statement. We'll try to amplify it now. Godliness is based on knowledge of the truth.

Now the Apostle Paul goes on to say this: that his ministry has two particular emphases here. He is concerned about nurturing and developing the faith of those whom God has called to himself, and he is also interested in making sure that they understand the truth so that it begins to develop in their lives a characteristic godliness. He goes on and says the faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God who does not lie promised from the beginning of time, and at his appointed time brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.

All right, that's a typical Pauline section of scripture. It's dense, it's packed, it's full. So let's take it piece by piece. Notice that he starts off by talking about God who does not lie. God who does not lie. That is a foundational statement. You see, if God does not lie, that means that that which he says and that which he pronounces is truth. And we need to have something solid upon which we can build our lives. We're desperately in need of something foundational, something of which we can be sure, something that we can hitch our wagon to and live our life in accordance with.

Notice that this God who does not lie is committed to the truth and he committed to the truth in that he made promises, interestingly enough, before the beginning of time. That's what Paul says here. God who does not lie made promises before the beginning of time. Now put those two things together. God does not lie, made promises before the beginning of time. If he does not lie, it means he is committed to truth. If he made promises based on truth before the beginning of time, that means they are eternal.

Before time was, eternity is. Can't say it was, can't say it will be, it just is. And so God is committed to eternal truth. Now this is a foundational statement. If God is committed to eternal truth, what it means first of all is if what he says and what he promises is eternal, it means at any given moment of time it is contemporaneously relevant. Have you got that? If it is eternal, at any moment of time, that which God says and promises is contemporaneously relevant.

The second thing is this: if it is truth, it is true for everyone. Now put those two things together. That which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time is eternally true. What it means is that everything that God says is at any given moment relevant and true to any given person. That is an astounding statement. And I'll tell you something: if I didn't believe that, I would quit preaching today. In fact, I would quit now and I would go out and earn an honest living somewhere else.

But seriously, think of this: God who does not lie promised before the beginning of time. Now Paul goes a step further and says but that which he promised before the beginning of time he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God the Savior. Now he's saying, all right, God who does not lie—that means he's committed to truth—made promises before the beginning of time—that means they're eternally true. He has now brought those eternal verities to bear in time and space.

He's brought them to light through the preaching of the gospel. That means not only that there is eternal truth out there in some vague sense that we can't get a hold of, but what it means is that eternal truth has now been proclaimed in language and form that is understandable to people in the here and now. Think of that for a minute. Now I fully recognize that what I'm saying flies totally in the teeth of postmodern thinking. Postmodern thinking wants us to believe that there's no such thing as absolute truth.

It wants us to believe that you can't be sure of anything, that truth is whatever you want to make it. But I read a fascinating column in the Chicago Tribune in which the columnist reminisced and thought about the 11th of September and wondered if along with the collapse of the twin towers there had not been a collapse of something called postmodernism. And I thought that was a fascinating idea because I think that columnist may be hitting on something. You know why? Because I haven't met anybody who looked at those desperately wicked events on the 11th of September and did not say that is wrong. That is wicked. That is evil.

And I want you to notice they are all absolute statements. And so it could be that we might have the great opportunity of saying to people who have loved floating around, wallowing around in a morass of postmodernism, we might have the great opportunity of saying to people, I've got some good news for you: God who does not lie, before the beginning of time, made promises which have now been brought to bear through the gospel. And you can live in the good of them and be sure of it and build your life upon it.

Hitch your wagon to this star. Now Paul then goes on to explain to us that these promises that God has made available in the context of the gospel have to do with the hope of eternal life. They have to do with the hope of eternal life. Now what is he talking about here? Well let me back up a little bit. In the beginning God created all things. The all things that he created included human beings. Aren't you glad? That's why we're here.

Now it is obvious that human beings enjoy life. It is also obvious that human beings enjoy life that is clearly related to other life forms. That is why, for instance, we recognize that we have a similarity in life form to the animals. If you don't believe that, then how do you account for the fact that our doctors and researchers experiment on animals before they experiment on us and even now take some of the organs of animals and transplant them into us and they work?

Now clearly, whilst there is a similarity and there is a kind of solidarity with animal life, there's something distinctively different about human beings. In the same token, we have a solidarity with minerals. We have a solidarity with vegetables. We eat vegetables and they seem to do us good even though teenagers do not believe that. We recognize that our bodies are made up of all the minerals that are to be found lying around in the world.

But having said that, in this vast creation in which we're all part and parcel of the rest of creation, there is something uniquely different about human beings. And that unique difference is that we exclusively are made in the image of God. Which means among other things that we can relate physically to the physical environment, we can relate socially to other inhabitants of the physical environment, but also—and this is paramount—we can relate spiritually. We can know God. We're made in the image of God.

Now something happened after God's pristine, beautiful, pure, gorgeous creation was completed. And that thing is called the fall; sin entered into the world. And when sin entered into the world, everything that was pristine was warped. Everything that was beautiful was defiled. So we're created in the divine image, but the image has been marred. And we're living with the consequences of the marred image every day of our lives. But God didn't leave us there. He sent into the world his Son, and the scriptures say that he came as an express manifestation, a demonstration of the divine image.

So Jesus comes into the world and he's a living, breathing, talking demonstration of God and all that he is and all that man was intended to be. In coming to demonstrate the divine image manifested in his humanity, what does he do? He reveals the wonder of God to us and he reveals to us how far we have fallen. And he draws us to himself in loving compassion and he invites us to receive his forgiveness. And he says more than that: that he, risen from the dead by his spirit, will come into our lives and slowly change us into his image.

But this transformation that is taking place will not be completed until Christ returns in glory, establishes eternal kingdom, and we're told that when we see him, we will be like him. What does that mean? Restored to the divine image. And there in a nutshell is the promise of God. Before the beginning of time, God who does not lie categorically promised that he would move into the affairs of human beings who had fallen from their lofty estate and through the mediation of Christ restore them to what they were intended to be for all eternity.

That's the essence of the truth. That's the essence of the message. Now says the Apostle Paul, this message has been preached and people have come into a knowledge of that truth. He then goes on to say that it isn't just about knowledge, it is about faith. It is all about committing yourself to, trusting yourself to, believing into that which you know. When that happens, you are introduced to something called eternal life. Now this is what God has promised. If God in Christ begins a work of transformation in your heart down here and now, he will finish it in the there and then. And he gives you the promise of life eternal.

Guest (Male): Stuart, what are the benefits of being a cheerful person?

Stuart Briscoe: The benefits of being a cheerful person, the obvious benefit I think is that if you compare the look on the face of a miserable person with the look on the face of a cheerful person, you'll see that there is a very obvious difference and it is a difference that comes from deep down inside. It is not just a matter of disposition; it comes from an inner sense of well-being. It comes from a sense of contentment. It comes away from an idea that things are as they ought to be.

I think that in many instances people are struggling with the circumstances of life, have not really found a way of handling them well, of living well in them. But when they come to an experience of trust in the Lord to undertake for them and obedience to his plans and they take hold of his promises, then they have that sense of well-being and it shows in a cheerful disposition.

Guest (Male): What was God's purpose, Stuart, in sending Jesus into the world as a living, breathing demonstration of God?

Stuart Briscoe: One of the great things that we need to recognize about God is that if God does not reveal himself to us, we are left with guesswork. We have really only our own understanding, our own imaginations to work with. And I think we don't really need to consider this very, very carefully. We recognize that if we're left to our own understanding and we're left to our own imaginations, then we can get things terribly, terribly wrong.

The good news is that God has not left it up to our calculations and our imaginations. The good news is that God has determined that he will reveal himself to us, not in abstract form but in a living, breathing demonstration of his invisible person made visible, his intangible being made tangible, his unknowable person be made knowable in the person of Jesus. He is the living, breathing demonstration of the reality of God.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to Telling the Truth today. We're so glad you've joined us and we pray this message has helped you experience more of the abundant life Jesus promises. We want to share an encouraging note from a listener named Shauna. She recently wrote in to say, "I just love the teaching and inspiration I get from this organization. Thank you for being such devoted ministers of our Lord." Thanks for listening, Shauna.

Today's culture is a revolving door of ever-shifting views and beliefs. That's why it's so important to test new ideas against the timeless truth of scripture. It's the best defense against the world's confusion. We want to help ground you in the foundations of your faith by sending you Stuart Briscoe's six-message series on the book of Second Peter, Six Things We Must Never Forget.

The Six Things We Must Never Forget series is our thanks for your gift to help keep Telling the Truth going strong, sharing life-giving teaching from Stuart and Jill with more people all over the world. So request your copy when you give today and get help staying grounded in truth in today's shifting culture. Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388 or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a powerful message from Stuart about how you can develop cheerful godliness in your life. That's right here on Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe.