Paul’s Words to the Ephesians The beginning of Ephesians 5 is striking. Paul writes to former idolaters and fornicators, reminding them of their new life in Christ. He opens with a call to holiness. Believers must “be imitators of God,” walking “in love.” To walk in love means that believers must live making personal sacrifices to build… Continue Reading
| | Private and public worship are not the same. There is a difference between the regular, ordinary times of worship for a gathered group of Christians organized as a church and the irregular times of worship personally, in our homes as families, and with other groups of Christians. The former is what we call… Continue Reading
Beyond the matter of exposing Christians to past and present examples of Christian piety, a pastor or leader within the local church can seek to encourage Christian piety through his teaching ministry. What follows are some thoughts on how this plays out in a local church, along with some recommendations. First, as leaders, we ought… Continue Reading
How can we conserve and promote true piety within the lives of the Christians in our churches? Phrasing the question differently reveals the size of the task: how can we teach our people to love God rightly? This is the bulk of the task of ministry, so it is certain that a blog post can… Continue Reading
Conservative Christian churches wish to weather the winds of secularism and pass on authentic Christianity to the next generation. This means conserving the gospel itself, conserving a robust, consistent and thorough body of Christian theology, and conserving biblical worship. An offshoot of the conservation of biblical worship is the matter of Christian piety. In some… Continue Reading
The section on prayer in John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is surely one of the most beloved passages of that influential work. Therein, Calvin addresses, among other matters, the importance of reverence in corporate prayer. For Calvin, an essential mark of reverence in corporate prayer is attentiveness. He says, Whoever engaged in prayer… Continue Reading