After some research I discovered a couple of things that are commonly mistaken for Piety.
Piety is not being a quote a Holy Joe
We all have are own conception of a Holy Joe, but there are some common basic characteristics.
A Holy Joe will go to church, why ( Pause) because their family has always gone to church.
They are not concerned with the Salvation of others but are trying to do good things, good works in hope of obtaining their own salvation.
They think Piety is the amount of time you spend on your knees.
Many Holy Joe's believe their salvation was inherited because their family was one of the founders of the Local Church.
Holy Joe has heard the word of God and probably made some type of commitment to God at one time in his or her life.
But, that Commitment was not deeply rooted in Christ and they became caught up in themselves and in the world. (Pause)
Another type of False Piety is the Mechanical Christian....
Yes, we all know Mechanical Martin.
He is even less well intentioned then our friend Holy Joe.
He goes through the motions of a religious life that he knows little about and has never experienced.
He will go to Church as a safety measure (Pause) just in case there is a Heaven or a Hell.
You will not see much peace or joy in the life of Mechanical Martin.
He has never made any type of Commitment to Christ.
His prayers are just words repeated over .......(Slow) and over again.
In Matthew it does say that many will say Lord, Lord and not enter the Kingdom of God. (Pause)
They think Piety is doing certain things and saying certain prayers, if they think of Piety at all.
This sadly happens to be the most common type of Christian in the Western World today.
But, Our headliner in the false Piety category is our old friend Phil the Pharisee.
Phil and his group are not satisfied with being hypocrites to themselves and the Lord, they have to flaunt it to the whole world.
Their lives are a flat out contradiction to how they try, let me repeat, try to appear.
At least Mechanical Martin attempted to keep his life within bounds.
For Phil the world is a stage and he wants to play the part that is cloaked in righteousness.
He wares a mask and at times may even convinces himself that he has become righteous.
Many times Phil will attain a leadership position in the church and try to complicate the Salvation experience of others with various Rules and Regulations.
Phil is different from both Mechanical Martin and Holy Joe because he has chosen not to direct his life toward God but toward his own recognition.
Phil is not the real thing he is a counterfeit.
As we know, a counterfeiter does not try to copy a one-dollar bill because it has minimal value.
Christianity is counterfeited because it does have value, value and worth (Pause).
There are two main defects that can effect a Pious Life:
(1) they have a mistaken version of Piety as Holy Joe and Mechanical Martin or (2) they knowingly reject Piety for self-fulfillment like Phil the Pharisee.
Well we have looked at false Piety, now lets take a look at true Piety and as we do I am sure you will begin to see the importance of planting a life filled with true Piety.
Where do we begin?
Piety is genuine when it comes from a commitment to Christ.
Not knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, for even Satan and his demons know that.
But a commitment, one on one, face to face, eyeball to eyeball excepting Jesus Christ as not only Savior (Pause) but also as Lord of your Life.
When you take that first step, when you yield that first part of your Life to Christ, you begin your Pious walk with the Lord.
Piety is a walk in the Spiritual realm. When you except Christ into your life you only open that door so very slightly.
It reminds me of an old Ivory Soap commercial that stated that the soap was 99 and 44/100ths % pure.
Well after we except Christ we begin that Spiritual walk but are still 99 and 44/100ths % in the Flesh.
But some day we may be like Enoch who was so much in the Spirit that he was walking down the road and the scripture says,...... He was not!
Well I am still here so God is still working on me.
I wish I had known the power of walking in the Spiritual Realm earlier in my life.
When I was a child I would pray at my bedside almost every night and I knew that Jesus heard every word I said because I could feel him right next to me.
I knew that he would bless everyone I prayed for, my mother, my father and yes even my brother and sister.
Through my teenage years I would go to Church and attend youth group but there was little time spent in prayer and even less in reading the scriptures.
During my four years at Ohio University I did not think of God very often if at all.
It wasn't until a year or two after graduating from college that a turn in my life began.
One night I stopped to see to old high school friends that I had not seen in years.
For some reason when you leave high school, life takes you from friends that you thought you would always stay close to.
They asked me if I would sing with them at a Church next Sunday. We had all been in an octet together in high school.
That Sunday we sang together and after the Service we were siting around and talking about things we would like to do with our life.
I mentioned that I would like to be re-baptized in the Jordan River someday. I guess that was the opening they were waiting for because they both turned to me and almost in harmony said ......Jeff, .......... We have been meaning to talk to you.
They both shared with me their individual experiences and what it had meant to them to give their life to Christ.
My question was where are all these Christians hiding? I have never seen them!
All I had ever seen were the Mechanical Martins, Phil the Pharisee's and a few Holy Joe's.
Where were all these true Christians that held the belief they were talking about?
I wanted to see them!
Well, the very next weekend they took me to a fellowship that met at someones home in Chardon Ohio which is South East of Cleveland.
That night there was scripture reading, prayers and singing, .....Prayers that were lifted to God and singing that was simple but full of praise.
The presence of the Lord was in that room and the people were real, ....Real Christians.
At the end of the evening everyone lifted friends and family up in prayer.
At the end of the closing prayer the person next to me who I did not know asked me when I had been saved?
When was I saved?
A few months ago I would have had some arrogant remark as a rebuttal to his question but I knew the answer that night; ......I was not.
I told him that I had never given my life to Christ. He asked me if I wanted to tonight, ......God Bless him for having the guts to ask me, for that night I gave my life to Christ.
All because men filled with true piety had the inner-strength to lead someone, ...... no the word is sinner to Christ.
I had no great feeling that night though I was expecting one.
They gave me a tract that had a train on it Fact on the Engine-Faith on the Coal Car and-Feeling on the Caboose.
Our acceptance of Christ is a Fact that we do by Faith. The promise of Gods word is our authority, Not our Feelings.
Do not let feelings control your life, remember Christ did not feel like going to the cross but He obeyed the Father.
That night I had given my Life to the Lord but it was only the beginning.
Our Lord, the potter must now begin to mold the peace of clay, Jeff Smead, into the man that He wanted him to be.
It did not take long for the process to begin, the next night my neighbor invited me over and he shared with me and prayed with me.
I received the in filling of the Holy Spirit and that night I felt a peace, a peace that truly passes all understanding. I felt like Jesus was holding me in my arms that night.
That presence from my Childhood was there again but even stronger.
I became hungry for the word of God and Fellowship.
I wanted to learn as much as possible and the words of the Bible jumped off the pages.
I began to yield more of my time to the Lords work.
I joined my two friends that led me to Christ and we began to sing at many of the area churches.
The three of us grew in the Lord as we shared our Faith.
But in time we all began to slip away from the Lords calling and we fellow-shipped less and less with each other.
I would like to tell you that I followed a pious life and never fell astray, but I cannot.
Approximately two years after I gave my life to Christ I started dating a girl that did not know Christ as her Savior or Lord.
I knew I was slipping away both in fellowship and prayer, and that I had made Christ far less then the primary focus of my life.
Within the year we decided to get married.
She went to Florida to be with her family to prepare for the upcoming wedding.
While we were separated Greg Heath one of my two high school friends asked me to sing with him at a Church called New Lyme Baptist.
Since I had nothing better to do I decided to go and sing that night.
It was a long drive to the church so we decided to leave right after we finished singing.
As we began to drive home I turned to Greg and said,..... know we are supposed to go back.....
He had the very same feeling so we turned around and went back to the church.
We walked back into the church and as we sat down the Speaker said ......Someone here is planing on marrying a non-Christian in Florida and it is not the will of God.
I felt my heart stop it was like having the wind knocked out of you.
It took two days before I called her.
Before I could begin to speak she told me she had an experience with the Lord so I didn't tell her anything and tried to forget what happened at New Lyme Baptist Church.
We got married in Florida and returned to Painesville Ohio to live.
She was attending church very seldom with me and within a short time not at all.
I asked her about the experience with Christ that she had in Florida.
She admitted that she had only told me that so I would still marry her.
I must be honest with you. In my heart of hearts I knew that she probably had not made a commitment.
I really didn't want to know the truth.
Was it Love, was it Lust.
It was probably both of these but it was also the thought that if I didn't marry her I would never find someone else who would ever love me or consider marrying me again.
I guess I thought my God was just too small.
Well, I started to go to Church even less since my wife wouldn't go with me
Pride got in my way, I didn't want anyone to know that anything was wrong and if I am honest I began to act out a Christian Life, a life of False Piety.
During this time I would pray once in a while and while the marriage began to fail I prayed to God that He would never let me totally slip away from Him.
After one year of marriage I ended up in a divorce.
She said she couldn't live with someone that placed such a high emphases on their relationship with God.
As much as I had slipped away from Christ there must have been a small spark left.
I rededicated my life to Christ and became very active in Church.
In 1980 God blessed me with one of the greatest gifts, my wife Lee.
Together we have led many to a relationship with our Lord and Savior. (Pause)
As men of God we are called to be the Spiritual leader in our household. Our home is the best place to begin our Pious journey.
I truly believe that Lee and I have brought up our children in a Christ centered home. Almost every night I will lay my hands on Kristin's and Justin's head while they are sleeping and pray for them.
I always end the prayer with ....Jesus in your dreams.
I still do that today, when they are home, even though they are 28 and 26 years old.
Jesus says that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in their presence.
For those of us men that are married, that other person, should be the one that God gave us in the Sacrament of Marriage, Our Wives.
There is such power when Lee and I do God's work together and pray together.
Our Lords presence brings such peace in those moments that we are in His will.
Our wives are such blessings and they clearly know our weaknesses and I know it is a strong word but they know when we are hypocrites. (Do I hear an Amen?)
If we would only listen to them, If I would only take time to listen.
I believe that God gives our wives a gift of tremendous insight and intuition.
If we would only listen and let that gift permeate our lives.
When I think of Piety and interceding for others it brings to mind a story from a book I read titled One inch from the Fence " and I commend it to you.
The title of this short discourse is called " Kissing Frogs ".
Ever feel like a Frog?
Frogs feel slow, low, ugly, puffy, drooped, pooped. I know! One told me.
The Frog feeling comes when:
You want to be bright, but you feel dull.
You want to share, but you are selfish.
You want to be thankful, but you are resentful.
You want to be big, but you are small.
You want to care, but you are indifferent.
Yes, at one time or another, each of us has found themselves on a lily pad. Floating down the great river of life.
Frightened and disgusted buts too darn Froggish to budge.
The Rest of the Fairy Tale-
Once upon a time there was a Frog.
But he wasn't really a Frog.
He was a Prince that looked like a Frog.
A wicked Witch had cast a spell on him and only the kiss of a beautiful young maiden could save him.
But since when do cute chicks kiss Frogs?
So there he sat an un-kissed Prince in Frog form.
Ah, But miracles happen.
One day a beautiful maiden grabbed him and gave him a big smack.
Crash, Boom, Zap! He became.... he was a handsome Prince.
You know the rest. They lived happily ever after.
Now here is the thing that is so tremendous about being a Christian in the church that Jesus established.
There is no way that each of us individually can kiss all the Frogs that are out there in the World.
So our mission then as Pious men of Christ.... is to go out to find our own particular kind of Frog,........And kiss it.
(Pause)
Beloved, it is not easy out there on the Field of Life. When we feel like giving up we must push on. We must persevere.
To help us persevere, we need at times to plant a stake.
A stake that we can hold on to that declares, Yes that's where God touched me --- that's where God used me.
Approximately a year before I met Lee, I was able to plant a stake on a Faith Alive weekend.
Faith Alive is an Anglican organization that sends a group of men, women and youth to a church to share their relationship with their Lord.
But, the weekend does far more than that, it helps the congregation to really begin communicating with each other.
During these weekends, there is a program not only for adults but also for youth and for small children.
I had been involved with Faith Alive for approximately two years working with Adults.
When some friends, who were Children Coordinators called me.
They had both had come down with the flu and they asked me if I would lead the Children's program next week in NY.
Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do as a single young man was to be with a bunch of little children. But I agreed go.
I asked a friend to join me in this great endeavor, I wasn't going to try to do it alone.
This Faith Alive happened to be at a Congregational Church in Lancaster NY, which is near Buffalo.
I had grown up in a Congregational Church in Ohio.
The 3-hour drive gave us plenty of time to panic before we got there.
When we arrived we were not disappointed at all.
There they were 30 little Children ranging in age between 5 and 12 years old.
I don't remember ever having that much energy when I was a Child.
We had a wonderful time together.
We sang, we cut out snowflakes to show how God makes each of us different and special.
We talked about how much Jesus loves us and watches over us.
During the whole weekend the love of Christ is brought into focus through a story called " Warm Fuzzies ".
You see, Warm Fuzzies may look like a Fuzzy ball of yarn, but it really is a symbol of God's Love.
And it beats the alternative of receiving a cold Prickly.
Near the end of the weekend the Children tell the Warm Fuzzy story to the whole Congregation and pass out literally hundreds of warm fuzzes.
It's a vary touching moment, not only for the Children, but for the Adults as well.
We got together with the children one more time to say good by.
But, God had something else in mind.
The Children wanted to know how to get Jesus into their hearts.
I don't remember that happening very often with the Adults.
I guess that's why Christ says to come as little Children.
Well, the manual clearly states " ......Do not have a prayer circle with little children they will not stay still "
But, It still sounded like a good idea to me so we had a prayer circle anyway, Piety again.
I turned down the lights and we sat in a circle on the floor.
As I took the hand of the little girl next to me, I felt the presence and power of Christ in a way I had never experienced before.
We prayed a short prayer of repentance together and I know that Jesus touched everyone of those little Children.
I will also tell you, I wasn't working with Adults anymore.
Well, The story didn't end there.
Two years latter I was on a Faith Alive weekend in Michigan with Lee working with Children of course.
A lady from the Congregational Church in Lancaster NY happened to be part of the team.
She came over to me and said: " Jeff, do you remember the little girl from our church with the learning disability"
Yes, I remember " well, she had to go into the Hospital to have a heart operation, you know what she asked her mommy? Mommy, if I die will you bury me with my warm fuzzy?"
Well, that little girl from Lancaster NY did die in the hospital.
And in her casket she held her warm fuzzy, a symbol of God's Love (Pause).
We must .........Persevere; .....We must (Pause) fight the good fight.
We must move off the sideline and become men and women dedicated to a Pious Christian Life.
Whenever I feel like giving up, I look back at that stake that is planted in Lancaster NY and I remember that little girl.
And, I can say, My Lord used me there.... My Lord touched me there.... And if I persevere He will use me again and again.
I planted a stake that says, " I will never give in to this World. I am in the World but not of it. "
All of you can plant that stake of no return. He has knocked on the door of your hearts.
We must fight the good fight. We must finish the race.
Remember you are the Salt of the Earth, the Light of the World, You are men and women walking in the Spiritual realm, the Pious realm.
What you do no matter how small it may seem does make a difference.
And Beloved, Please Remember the Frogs
It is the follower of Jesus, you and I that can see the worth of kissing, rather than squashing Frogs.
It is through Jesus that we are empowered to be Frog Kissers.
But, Remember, Jesus can not kiss Frogs,....... Without your Lips.
Help: I retired in November 2017 and am attempting to supplement my income by sharing on Sermoncentral. If this Message has been helpful to you, please consider a nominal gift: Send to The Rev. Jeff Smead 11725 Regent Park Drive Chardon Ohio 44024. Blessed To Be A Blessing.
