Living in hi-fi

  • Pastor Chris White
  • Dec 27, 2007

Here’s something I like... Theology, from audio technology...

 

My friend Dave Keane and I are doing a study of 1st Timothy. If anyone knows how to dig into God’s word, it is my friend Dave. We carve apart the verses, looking at the language of origin, different translations and biblical contexts, well... we’ve been meeting for about 3 months and only in chapter three of this, our first book we’ve studied together, yet every time we meet, I come away a little closer to the one who made me.

 

One day, Dave and I hit a word that we wanted to understand better. 1 Timothy 3:16 says, “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
   He appeared in a body,
   was vindicated by the Spirit,
   was seen by angels,
   was preached among the nations,
   was believed on in the world,
   was taken up in glory.”

 

Well, we wanted to understand this “mystery of Godliness.” What does it really mean to be Godly, anyway... and so it led to... swell... homework... find the definition of Godliness. So I looked, it turned out the Greek word for Godliness eusebeia was only found in the new testament... I got excited about this strange occurrence, until I realized that only the New Testament was written in Greek... The old testament... was Hebrew. Realizing I had not uncovered any new mysteries of the Bible I continued to investigate. The definition of  eusebeia:  piety towards God, Godliness... So great, the definition of godliness is godliness... but what was this new word piety... so I looked that up... it had nothing to do with pie...

 Piety: 1: the quality or state of being pious: as a: fidelity to natural obligations (as to parents) b: dutifulness in religion : devoutness 2: an act inspired by piety 3: a conventional belief or standard : orthodoxy synonyms see fidelity 
So, Godliness means a fidelity to natural obligations... I had no idea what fidelity meant in that context, but the definition seemed important, as part of the definition of piety, and a synonym. So, of course I looked up fidelity.
Fidelity: 1a: the quality or state of being faithful b: accuracy in details: exactness 2: the degree to which an electronic device (as a record player, radio, or television) accurately reproduces its effect (as sound or picture) 
Now, here was something new. It was a powerful statement that the definition of Godliness, Piety, and fidelity was to simply be faithful but there was more to it. To be exact in the details of our faith perhaps? Well, perhaps. But, look at the second definition of fidelity. The degree to which a device accurately reproduces its effect. Let me change some words, and here’s what I found to be my new definition of Godliness. It is being faithful, it is being exact, but it’s reproducing the effect that Jesus has in my life as a person, made new by Him, in such a way to accurately reproduce the effect of Jesus in the lives of those around me. So, a new year’s blessing for you my church family:

May you experience Jesus in such a way that He can empower you to live in 2008 in Hi-Fi: High Fidelity- accurately reproducing the effect of Jesus in the life of all whom you encounter this year.

 

 

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