In 1 Timothy 6:11, Paul urges Timothy to “pursue” a number of qualities, one of which is eusebeia, translated “godliness.” This is a term that Paul uses frequently in the letter. (See 2:2, 3:16, 4:7, and 6:6.) It describes a state of spiritual fitness, and it is expressive of another English word that has largely fallen out of fashion: piety.
According to Merriam-Webster, someone who is pious is “marked by or showing reverence for deity and devotion to divine worship.” But that’s just the first definition. The word piety is usually treated as derogatory today, describing the kind of religious activity that people find obnoxious or even offensive—hence the second definition: “marked by conspicuous religiosity.”
Even many believers distance themselves from ways that are counted pious according to Scripture—and frankly, they impoverish themselves in the process. Most of us, if we’re honest, could stand to be more pious (in the positive sense, of course). And there are few respects in which this is more obvious than the way in which we treat the Lord’s Day—particularly the attention we give on that day to the Word and to worship.
If we want to challenge our assumptions about what a lazy Sunday afternoon ought to look like, we will benefit from hearing from some of those saints who lived before us who had no fear of the word piety. Particularly helpful is the advice of Lewis Bayly, a seventeenth-century Puritan, bishop of the Church of England, and chaplain to King James I. His legacy lives on today in the book The Practice of Piety, which offers a stark challenge to our contemporary suppositions. In a chapter titled “The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord’s Day,” he suggests how we ought to act “when the sermon is ended.”
An Opportunity for Godliness
Before we turn to Bayly, it’s critical to address the elephant that stands in the room of every discussion of the Lord’s Day: the matter of its rightful practice.
There is no question that there is a legalism and a self-deceit that is wrapped up in false kinds of piety. It is surely just as grave a danger to let our fears of legalism keep us from seeking godly piety. God has given us the gift of His Word and His presence. Yes, Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their long public prayers and their sanctimonious Sabbath-keeping. Yet even as He abhorred their public exhibitions of legalistic religiosity, He urged His disciples to pursue a modest piety: “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:4, 6, 18). In other words: Don’t draw attention to yourself. But nevertheless, pursue godliness. Be pious.
There is a direct correlation between the ways we use our time and the pursuit of godliness. There is certainly a place for doing things we enjoy, so long as neither our motives nor the activities themselves are sinful. But the priority that many Christians today have given to worldly appetites leaves us with little time for the godliness—the piety—that we have been called chiefly to pursue. The truth is that otherwise good things can become sinful things when they stand in the way of our love for and obedience to God.
As we come to understand the obligation and opportunity of the Sabbath, we will see how time spent in pursuit of godliness is a benefit to us. And, critically, such a time-bound pursuit of godliness is not about externalism. It not about checking all the boxes nor making a display of a religious lifestyle. While the Pharisees had it down on the outside, they were not godly in their Sabbath-keeping. But there is a biblical Sabbath principle that needs to be applied faithfully in every age, and we ought to take great care in respecting the consciences of others who are seeking faithfully to apply it.
Even as Jesus abhorred the Pharisees’ public exhibitions of religiosity, he urged his disciples to pursue a modest piety.
As we consider, then, the demands on our lives today and the kinds of distractions that present themselves, we will not be so well served by asking, “What is allowed, and what is not?” as we will be by asking, “How can I best pursue godliness on the Lord’s Day, or any day?” To this end, Bayly is able to offer one possible and very practical answer, addressing how we may act throughout the day.
When the Sermon Ends
Many in the pews like to treat a pastor’s closing “Amen” as if it were the starting gun for a race to the parking lot. Sometimes there is a matter of necessity that calls people away. More often, though, the root sentiment is that we have given God what we owe Him, and now we are eager to move on to our own concerns. But there is great value to be had in dwelling a moment with God and His instruction to us in the preached Word. Thus Bayly compares our quick-footedness to the ungrateful leppers in Luke 17:11–19:
Beware thou depart not like the nine lepers, till, for thine instruction to saving health, thou hast returned thanks and praise to God by an after prayer, and singing of a psalm. And when the blessing is pronounced, stand up to receive thy part therein, and hear it as if Christ himself (whose minister he is) did pronounce the same unto thee.
In other words, stay for the prayer. Stay for the closing song. Speak to God about what you have heard from His Word, and return thanksgiving to Him for the blessing that He has given you through it. Remain for the benediction, and receive the assurance of God’s grace even as you meditate on the preaching of His Word. Consider for a moment what has just happened, as Bayly expresses so well:
For in this case it is true, “He that heareth you heareth me” ([Luke 10:16]); and the Sabbath day is blessed, because God hath appointed it to be the day wherein by the mouth of his ministers he will bless his people which hear his word and glorify his name ([Num. 4:23, 27].)
It is good to remind ourselves that we believe that in faithful preaching, the wisdom and word of God is heard through the mouth of a man. It comes to us so that we may grow in godliness as the Spirit sanctifies us. There is a weekly miracle taking place between our pulpits and our pews. We ought not to be so quick to flee from it to other interests!
It is no great cost for us to remain in our seats for half a minute to soak in all that has taken place; but there is great danger in the kind of ingratitude that cannot wait to leave.
When You Arrive at Home
Of course, Sunday is not just “the Lord’s Morning.” It is the Lord’s Day. Our attention shouldn’t turn from piety simply because we have left the church building. Thus Bayly advises,
As thou returnest home, or when thou art entered into thy house, meditate a little while upon those things which thou hast heard. And as the clean beasts which chew the cud ([Lev. 9:3]), so must thou bring again to thy remembrance that which thou hast heard in the church. And then kneeling down, turn all to prayer, beseeching God to give such a blessing to those things which thou hast heard, that they may be a direction to thy life, and a consolation unto thy soul ([Ps. 119:11]).
In other words, Sunday afternoon should not be treated simply as a reprieve from the spiritual labors of Sunday morning. It is an opportunity to reflect on what we have heard from God’s Word and see it cemented in our lives. God established the Sabbath for this very reason: that instead of being consumed by the things of this world, we might grow in nearness to our Lord by giving special attention to Him and to His works.
And, as Bayly notes, there is a danger when we don’t do this:
For till the word be thus made our own, and, as it were, close hidden in our hearts, we are in danger lest Satan steal it away, and we shall receive no profit thereby.
When we neglect God’s various means of grace, we are in danger of being that soil in the parable of which Jesus said, “Some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them” (Matt. 13:4). Satan is ready to pluck the word of God from us at the first opportunity (v. 19).
Many of us, by our own behavior, unleash the birds upon ourselves. The sermon may not even be over, and we’re already thinking about pulling weeds in the garden or turning the TV to the football game or the latest streaming series that has captivated us. Little do we realize how we are aiding and abetting the theft of God’s Word from our hearts.
Sunday afternoon is an opportunity to reflect on what we have heard from God’s Word and see it cemented in our lives.
Our flesh will buck at the thought of a Sunday afternoon spent in quietness and worship—spent not on our own favored recreations but on those activities that will help us to consider the Lord and His gifts. But when we look back on the time spent, what will we find to have been more helpful in preparing us for the week ahead? When we look back years from now—closer than ever to meeting our Savior face-to-face—what will we wish we had spent our time doing to prepare for eternal life?
There is a great benefit to be had in taking the fruit of communal worship and then planting and fertilizing its seeds in our own hearts through a purposeful time of personal devotion. We ought not to be like the man who looks away from the mirror and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22–25). Rather, we should be like those who, being “cut to the heart,” ask in faith, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).
When We Go to Bed on Sunday Night
This sort of Sabbath keeping is aspirational. In other words, we recognize that it is right and good, that it is God’s best for us, and yet that in our flesh, we will sometimes fail to keep it as we should. Thus Bayly advises that as night falls and “the time of rest approaches,”
knowing that in the state of corruption no man living can sanctify a Sabbath in that spiritual manner that he should, but that he commits many breaches thereof, in thoughts, words, and deeds, humbly crave pardons for thy defects, and reconcile thyself to God.
In the confidence of Christ’s forgiveness won for us on the cross, we may look back on our failures of piety without fear of punishment. And yet, in that very moment we have opportunity to turn ourselves to God again as we acknowledge our shortcomings and seek His power to do right. Our failures in piety may tempt us to run from God, but they ought instead to induce us to run to the cross and find comfort—as Bayly puts it, “making thy score even with Christ every night.”
Do you need to ask God for a growing desire to know Him through the practice of biblical piety? Do you feel you’re lacking the wisdom to pursue godliness in these ways without adopting the spirit of the Pharisees? Pray to God today about how this Sunday might look different from the one before it, and ask Him to show you the joys of godly rest.
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This article was adapted from the sermon “A Charge to a Man of God — Part Two” by Alistair Begg. Subscribe to get weekly blog updates.
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