Among God's Giants - Puritan Wisdom in an Age of Superficiality

When my father retired in 2002 and moved to Glasgow, his library had to squeeze into a very small third bedroom.  Many of his books had to go.  Some went to a grateful son while others found a welcome home in many other places.  After his death in April 2020 and with my mothers recent move to Edinburgh, I had to sort through my fathers library.  Much of it went to the Westminster Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Newcastle but I was keen to hold on to at least some of his books.  When my father retired, he couldn't part with the books that were in many ways the three elements of his ministry: 1. Free Church (and particularly Highland) piety - the best of the Free Church fathers - John Kennedy, Moody Stuart, Rabbi Duncan, Prof John Murray and of course Andrew Bonar and Robert Murray McCheyne. 2. The Covenanters.  My father kept a vast range of the best of covenanting history.  He loved the stories of bravery in the midst of persecution and often spoke at conventicles. 3.The Puritans.  My father kept a wide range of Puritan works.  Many were 1-200 years old and were the fruit of his early days in the Banner of Truth in the 1960's.  These books are freely available now thanks to the Banner and many other reformed publishers.  He also had many books about Puritanism and I have been enjoying reading these over the last few months.

One of these books is J.I.Packer 'Among God's Giants'.  This is now published as 'A Quest for Godliness' by Crossway.  I read this many years ago (it first came out in 1991) but I was encouraged to pick it up again after reading 'J.I. Packer: An Evangelical Life' by Leland Ryken.  It is impossible to read a life of Packer without catching something of his passion for the Puritans.  Packer's biography coincided with a very welcome Christmas present of the new set of Puritan Paperbacks from the Banner of Truth which, if you are not familiar with the Puritans, is a great place to start.  I personally think Thomas Watson's 'All things for Good' and 'The Godly Man's Picture' are worth their weight in gold.  It is hard to believe these books can be anything but encouraging and helpful to any Christian that picks them up with a prayerful spirit.  There is more depth and profundity in a page of Watson than whole books of many modern authors.  

The Puritans have been rehabilitated over the last 60 years and J.I. Packer needs to take the credit for much of this work.  Rather than being seen as peevish, censorious, conceited, hypocritical and loveless the Puritans give us a coherent and God centred vision of the Christian life.  As Packer says:

There was for them no disjunction between sacred and secular; all creation, so far as they were concerned, was sacred, and all activities, of whatever kind, must be sanctified, that is done to the glory of God. So, in their heavenly-minded ardour, the Puritans became men and women of order, matter-of- fact and down-to-earth, prayerful, purposeful, practical.  Seeing life whole, they integrated contemplation with action. worship with work, labour with rest, love of God with love of neighbour and of self, personal with social identity, and the wide spectrum of relational responsibilities with each other, in a thoroughly conscientious and thought out way.  In this thoroughness they were extreme, that is to say far more thorough than we are, but in their blending of the whole wide range of Christian duties set forth in Scripture they are eminently balanced.

This quote struck me as we seem to live in a world that is increasingly unbalanced.  Nowhere is this more apparent than social media.  The recent storming of the Congress in America was certainly inspired by a narcissistic and unstable president, but it was in many ways the natural development of the echo chamber of social media that whips people up to a frenzy and perpetuates conspiracy theories that never need to meet with truth or reality.  If there was ever a time for wise and balanced theology it is now and we have so much we can learn from the Puritans.

In his first chapter in Among God's Giants, Packer outlines three groups of evangelicals who would be helped by the example of the Puritans and I think these groups have come in to sharp focus during lockdown:

1. The Restless Experimentalists.  Packer defines these Christians as shallow and rootless.  He says: 'their outlook is one of casual haphazardness and fretful impatience, or grasping after novelties, entertainments and 'highs', and of valuing strong feelings over deep thoughts.'  He continues: 'they conceive the Christian life as one of exciting extraordinary experiences rather that of resolute rational righteousness.' These Christians, argues Packer, have turned the Christian life into a 'thrill seeking ego-trip.'  

Like a skilful surgeon Packer brings the scalpel of Biblically infused Puritan wisdom to the restless experimentalists.  He suggests that they would do well to learn from the Puritans through their:

• God centeredness - this is central to the discipline of self denial.  As Lloyd Jones used to say 'we are on too good terms with ourselves.'  If the modern church was God centred we would be more humble and more prayerfully dependent on the Lord.
• The primacy of the mind - it is impossible to obey biblical truth unless we understand it.  Experience has replaced theological understanding with so many Christians.
• The demand for humility, patience and steadfastness at all times - the Holy Spirits ministry is not to give us thrills but to make us more like Christ.
• Not relying on our feelings - our feelings go up and down and God frequently tests us by taking us 'through the wastes of emotional flatness.'
• Worship as life's primary activity.
• Regular self examination
• The Puritans believed that 'sanctified suffering bulks large in God's plan for his children's growth in grace.'  The Puritans had a well developed theology of suffering largely lacking in the modern church.

Many relentless experimentalists have struggled through lockdown as they have been forced to find God through setbacks and disappointments. Time will tell if this will lead to a refocussing of Christianity in a largely experience-led western church.

The Puritans believed that 'sanctified suffering bulks large in God's plan for his children's growth in grace.'  The Puritans had a well developed theology of suffering largely lacking in the modern church.

2. The Entrenched Intellectuals.  Packer diagnosis this group well: 'Constantly they present themselves as rigid, argumentative, critical Christians, champions of God's truth for whom Orthodoxy is all...There is little warmth about them; relationally they are remote; experiences do not mean much to them; winning the battle for mental correctness is their one great purpose.  They understand the priority of the intellect well; the trouble is that intellectualism, expressing itself in endless campaigns for their own brand of right thinking, is almost if not quite all that they can offer, for it is almost if not quite all that they have.'  We see the entrenched intellectuals on social media.  These keyboard warriors love exposing inferior Christians.  They lob grenade after grenade from their bunkers and accuse other Christians of cowardice, worldliness and compromise.  

The entrenched intellectuals is often how the Puritans are characterised but Packer helpfully show us that the Puritans lived and taught in a way that completely counters arid intellectualism in a variety of ways:

• True Christianity claims the affections as well as the mind
• Theological truth is for practice - William Perkins described theology as 'the science of living blessedly for ever.'  Some of us have attended churches where the preaching is solid and the people know and love the Lord but their brand of Christianity is not portable to the day and age we live in.  Children who grow up in these environments drift away to find a warmer and kinder Christianity or turn their back on the faith all together.
• Conceptual knowledge kills if one does not move on to the realities of which they refer.
• The gospel calls for faith and repentance issuing from a life of love and holiness, in other words gratitude expressed in goodwill and good works.
• The Spirit is given to lead us in to close companionship with others in Christ.  The Puritans fought for church reform and were eventually ejected from the Church of England.  The frosty separatism which is a badge of honour for so many entrenched evangelicals todays was alien to most of the Puritans. 
• The discipline of discursive meditation is meant to keep us in ardent and adoring in our love affair with God.
• It is ungodly and scandalous to become a firebrand and cause division in the church, and it is ordinarily nothing more reputable than spiritual pride in its intellectual form that leads men to create parties and splits. 

I'm afraid I have to confess that I can identify myself with many of the traits of the arid intellectuals.  I have gone through periods in my Christian life where I have relished reading theology rather than the Bible and my social media engagement has been more active than my prayer life.  My love for debate and controversy was greater than my love for other believers - 'winning the battle for mental correctness' as Packer says.  In his seminal book 'Knowing God' Packer teaches that while one church may have much of the truth, another church with less truth can make much better use of it and please God with their zeal for the gospel and love for Christ.  The Puritans contended for a confessionally faithful church and for Scriptural church order but this was never in isolation from spiritual renewal and revival.  Only the Holy Spirit fanning the flames of ardent love for Jesus can keep us from entrenched evangelicalism.

The Puritans contended for a concessionally faithful church and for Scriptural church order but this was never in isolation from spiritual renewal and revival.  Only the Holy Spirit fanning the flames of ardent love for Jesus can keep us from what Packer called 'entrenched evangelicalism'.

3.  The Disaffected Deviationists - I know many people in this group and I like the way that Packer deals with them in 'Among God's Giants'.  He doesn't pretend that evangelicalism doesn't have some culpability in many people turning their back on evangelical orthodoxy.  As he says: 'Modern evangelicalism has much to answer for in the number of casualties of this sort it has caused in recent years by its naivety of mind and unrealism of expectation.'  

So who are the disaffected deviationists?  Packer explains: 'They are people once saw themselves as evangelicals, either from being evangelically nurtured or from coming to profess conversion within the evangelical sphere of influence, but who have become disillusioned about the evangelical point of view and have turned their back on it, feeling that it let them down.'  Many leave for intellectual reasons, others feel betrayed having been promised a prosperity gospel that lets them down.  Packer continues: 'Hurt and angry, feeling themselves victims of a confidence trick, they now accuse the evangelicalism they knew of having failed and fooled them, and resentfully give it up; it is a mercy if they do not therewith similarly accuse and abandon God himself.'  

Again Packer points us back to an older, profounder, wiser evangelicalism of the Puritan era to help with the 'casualties of modern evangelical goofiness':

• The mystery of God - the modern evangelical God is too small.  The God of the Bible is transcendent and inscrutable.  We can never understand God's ways.  Bafflement and disappointment must be accepted as recurring themes in the life of a believer.
• The love of God - a love that redeems, converts, sanctifies and ultimately glorifies sinners.  God's love was unambiguously and gloriously displayed at the cross and nothing will ever be able to separate us from God's love.  While this comforts God's children, no situation in this world 'will ever be free from the fly in the ointment and the thorns in the bed.'
• The salvation of God - the Puritans have much to teach us how Christ has put away our sins and is now leading us through this world to a glory that is even now being prepared for us.  Christ is instilling within us a desire for and capacity to enjoy eternity.  I love Packer language here: '...holiness here, in the form of consecrated service and loving obedience through thick and thin, is the high road to happiness hereafter.'
• The reality of spiritual conflict - the life is a battle against the world, the flesh and the devil and anyone who promises a life of health, wealth and happiness is a charlatan.  
• The Puritans emphasised the protection of God - they believed that God could overrule and sanctify our sufferings. 
• The glory of God - it becomes our privilege as Christ's disciples to further his glory by celebrating his grace, by our proving of his power under perplexity and pressure, by totally resigning ourselves to his good pleasure, and by making him our joy and delight and all times.

The Puritans show us that the 17th century had its fair share of  spiritual casualties.  Then, as now, there are Christians who think simplistically and 'hoped unrealistically' and they became disappointed, disaffected, despondent and despairing.  The Puritans ministry was to seek to raise up and encourage these wounded spirits rather than driving them further away.  The way to win these disaffected prodigals is to return to the Biblical Christianity of the Puritan era with all its depth and richness.  The goofiness of modern evangelicalism may look and sound slicker but if we want to build God's kingdom we need to build it on the right foundations.  Skin tight jeans and stylised worship will only hold people until the next 'brand' comes along.  

Why do we need the Puritans?  In an age of superficiality and gimmicks the Puritans give us a an example of mature holiness and seasoned fortitude  As Packer says they 'shine before us as a kind of beacon light, overtopping the stature of Christians in most era's and certainly so in this age of crushing urban collectivism, when Western Christians sometimes feel and often look like ants in an anthill and puppets on a sting.'  Surely lockdown is a wake up call to the church that the over stylised, gimmick driven Christianity does not meet the deepest needs of our hearts and is far from the God centred, Christ exalting  Biblical gospel.  The Puritans, with all their faults and failings have much to say to us today.  They have things to say through their writings that we badly need to hear.  The 17th century Puritans was a movement for church reform and spiritual revival.  If there was ever a time when we needed a similar movement it was today.

The Voice of God

This was an article published by my father the Rev John J Murray.

There are ultimately only two voices in the world – the voice of truth and the voice of the lie. We can trace the origin of the great divide back to the Garden of Eden. God is the God of truth and  communicated Himself through His Word. The Word created all things, including man in the divine image. Man lived by the Word that proceeds from God. (Deut 8.4). The voice of God was heard in His command to man (Gen 2.16). The voice of the lie was introduced by Satan: 'Yeah, hath God said?' and 'Ye shall not surely die.' (Gen 3.1,4). It was the serpent's word against God's, and our first parents believed the lie of Satan.  The divine image was lost and when the Voice came to them after the Fall they hid themselves, for their foolish acceptance of the lie was exposed. (Gen 3.8).

And so began the age long battle between the truth and the lie. God made known his truth throughout the period of the Old Testament. The Word, who spoke through the prophets (Heb 1.1), became incarnate. 'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us' (John 1.14). The incarnate Son of God was tested in His confrontation with Satan, the originator of the lie: 'he is a liar and the father of it' (John 8.44). This battle took place not in a garden but in a wilderness. (Matt 4.1-11). The lie was spoken three times and was countered each time by the written Word and especially by the truth that 'man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God'.  What was true for Christ in his human nature is true for the life of everyone who is united to Christ.

1 The voice of God must be heard in our Christian life

Scripture is the living Word of the living God. We are reminded by John Calvin that 'the Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard'  (Institutes I, vii, 1). The Word of God radiates with the glory of God..  Abraham Kuyper shows what happens in the the experience of the Christian: 'The veil is gradually pushed aside. The eye turns to the divine light that radiates from the Scripture, and now our inner ego sees the imposing superiority. We see it as one born blind, who being healed, see the beauty of colours, or as one deaf, whose hearing being restored, catches the melodies from the world of sounds and with his whole soul delights in them'. (Quoted in The Mouth of God by Sinclair Ferguson, Banner, 2014, p 52).

The Christian has the complete and final revelation of God in the Bible. This is what conveys the knowledge of God to us and also  what conforms us to the image of God. (2 Copr 3.18). It is what counters the lie of Satan  in our expereincee. Scripture is 'the Spirit's sword'  (Eph 6.17),  a weapon put into the hand of the Christian. We have the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Sincalir Ferguson writes:  'The Spirit uses the Bible to retake what has been enemy occupied territory  in our lives, and then to sow the seeds of new fruits in our character. Through it he cuts down offending characteristics in  his people and and puts to the sword any remaining remnants of opposition to God's kingdom' (From the Mouth of God, p 153).

2 The voice of God must be heard in our churches

The New Testament Epistles were addressed mainly to churches. The infallible message was conveyed to them through the chosen apostles. The words came directly from God. Further words were addressed to the Seven Churches of Asia in Revelation, chapters 2-3, with an application for all time: 'He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”. Are we hearing that voice in the Church today? There are factors that appear to mute it.

a) We are losing the Biblical concept of the ministry. The minister is a man called and anointed by God, with an authoritative message. He is 'God's trumpeter'. His primary responsibility is faithfulness to God's Word.  Many denominations are obsessed with gender balance while in others churches, we are seeing a proliferation of ministries -  associate ministers, mission directors, church plant officers, community workers, youth organiser etc. Where is the New Testament order in all this?  A common view today is that you need special training and techniques to speak to different age groups, especially the young. Sermons tend to be topical and the connecting point with the audience could well be a movie, a pop song or a sportsman. The man proclaiming 'Thus saith the Lord' seems to be disappearing.

b) There is too much time given to trying to defend the inspiration and authority of the Bible. Do we need to answer every critic that expresses a view about Scripture? There is too much emphasis on the Word being defended instead of letting it loose. Spurgeon said that we might as well think of defending a roaring lion. 'The Bible', he said, 'has passed through the fire of persecution, literary criticism, philosophical doubt, scientific discovery and has lost nothing.' John Calvin put it like this: 'Scripture exhibits fully as clear evidence off its own truth as white and black things do of their colour, or sweet and bitter things do of their taste'. (Institutes I, vii, 2).

c) We have almost lost sight of the concept of truth carrying with it confrontation. When the Church is backsliden and worldly and plagued with error, the man of God is called to expose the falsehood. Satan is bent on silencing such voices. At this time there is an urgent need 'to root out, and to pull down and to destroy' (Jer. 1.10).  Where are the ministries today that are grappling with real ills of the Church?. How can the voice of God be heard when error goes unchallenged and evil is condoned? In regular ministry pastors who do not preach for conviction of sin are fighting against the Holy Spirit, who has come to convict the world of sin (John 16.8-9)). We can talk about and pray for revival, but what about the ongoing disobedience to the Word of God?

3 The voice of God must be heard in our nation

If there is one thing that Satan hates it is the Word of God, because it is the revelation of the Truth.  In propagating the lie, his strategy is to cast doubt upon the Scriptures. Through the subtelity of Satan working inside the  Church, created to be  'the pillar and ground of the truth',  our country has lost its hold of the Bible. (see I H Murray, 'How Scotland Lost Its Hold of the Bible,' Banner of Truth, Aug-Sept 2015). In evidence of divine judgment  there is the prospect of the withdrawal of that blessing. which has been despised. A similar thing happened  to Israel in the days of Amos:  'Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it' (Amos 8.11-12).

In such an event the vacuum does not remain unfilled.  The cults press in eagerly to fill it as we see from the  references in verse 14 of chapter 8 to Samaria, Dan and Beersheba.  The truth of God is our only fence against error. We  are warned of what happens when the fence comes down (Isa 5.5; Psalm 80.12-13) The people who would not hear the Word of God are left to taste the poor fare of man-made religion. We see the aimless helplessness of man without the revealed truth of God to hold him steady and still - 'they shall wander from sea to sea'. Man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. If this food is withdrawn,  there is no other way of satisfaction or security. 'In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst' (Amos 8.13) In the famine of the Word of God Amos saw the young as being the sufferers. They are fainting for spiritual food but it was the earlier generation that deprived them of the possibility of finding it. What a thought!

What are we doing with the inspired, infallible, and all-sufficient Word of God?

Dr Guthrie on true Christianity - doing good and being good

What is true Christianity?  There are so many churches and so much confusion today that we desperately need to answer this question.  Knowing and understanding what constitutes true Christianity is critical not only for our own salvation but also so we can preach and defend true Christianity against false Christianity.  It shouldn't really surprise us that there are people claiming to preach Christ when they are preaching error.  Christ said that 'many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many' Matthew 24 v 11.  Many

So what is real, genuine Christianity?  Dr Guthrie, in his book 'Man and the Gospel', entitles his sermon on James 1 v 26, 27 'Doing Good and Being Good'.  In it he gives a helpful summary of true Christianity.  Christianity is about truth and love, faith and practice.  As Dr Guthrie says;

'It is not, therefore, what we profess, but practise; it is not what a man says with his tongue, or signs with his hand, but what he does with his heart, that settles his religion in the sight of God, and on that great day of judgement shall settle his fate.'

Later on in the sermon he also says;

'Still it should not be forgotten, lest any deceive themselves, that to talk about religion, ministers and sermons, missions and missionaries, religious schemes and books, revivalists and revivals, in not religion.  Some have been the most fluent talkers about things who felt them least.  Shallow rivers are commonly noisy rivers; and the drum is loud because it is hollow.  Fluency and feeling don't always go together.  On the contrary, some men are most sparing of speech when their feelings are most deeply engaged.'

James was probably the earliest New Testament book written after the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ.  The fledgling church was struggling with all sorts of issues; their founder was dead and had ascended into heaven, they were impatient, there was bitterness amongst them, some had become materialistic, there was spiritual apathy, they lacked focus, purpose, direction and vision.  Sound familiar?  James was seeking to teach these early Christians what the true characteristics of the faith were.  At the end of chapter 1 he gives them what can only be described a sort of early 'mission statement' of the early church.  How does James define true Christianity?  Well in keeping with this incredibly practical book, often described as the 'Proverbs of the New Testament',  James seeks to define true Christianity as more than just belief in God and a range of doctrines.  Faith in Christ, according to James, is connected to;

• What we say


• Who we love and,


• What we seek

1. True Christianity is directly related to what we say

James 1 v 26 is a powerful verse against hypocrisy.  It says that our words betray our hearts.  The 19th century United Presbyterian minister Robert Johnstone translates the verse like this; 'If any man among you think himself to be observant of religious service, whilst at the same time bridling not his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, that mans religious service is vain.' 

Why the strong emphasis on our words?  Well surely it is because our words reveal what is in hearts and it is our hearts that is the source of sin.  This is very much in keeping with Christ's teaching in Matthew 15 v 17-20.  It is not our surroundings, our background, our social class or even peer pressure that makes us sin.  Some of these problems may make our lives more challenging but we can't blame anything except our own hearts when we sin against God.  What is the evidence of what is in our hearts?  The stuff that comes out of our mouths.  We see this connection between the heart and the mouth again and again in the bible; 'The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil' Proverbs 15 v 28.  James (in chapter 3) describes the tongue as a forest fire, corrupting the whole person, set on fire by hell and just like the rudder on a ship, small but incredibly influential in terms of our direction.

Somebody has said 'the tongue is the hinge on which the whole personality turns.'  James tells us that if we can't bridle out tongue our religion is vain, useless, devoid of power, of no purpose.

2.  True Christianity is connected to who we love

In James 1 v 27 we read that true religion is also connected to who we love.  One of the main characteristics of Christianity is love for the needy.  If we claim to be followers of Jesus we need to follow his example of loving the marginalised.  If Christ loved with no strings attached we need to do the same.

The Bible often mentions our duty to love and care for the widow, the orphan and the stranger.  In Deuteronomy 10 v 17,18 we are told 'He administers justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.'  Time and time again God was identifying himself with the three groups of people who were most marginalised and often despised in society.

Why are these groups of people mentioned again and again?  Well it is because these groups have nothing and the little they have is often swept away in a moment.  None of these groups have anything to repay if we show them kindness and generosity.  If we love God we must love those who God loves; the marginalised, the rejected, the unloved and the unlovely.   We must love with no strings attached.  Christian love is active, risky and costly.  As Dr Guthrie says;

Religion does not consist in doctrinal or prophetical speculations; nor lie like a corpse entombed in old dusty confessions.  She lives in action, and walks abroad among mankind - calling us to leave our books to shut our Bibles, to rise from our knees and go forth with hearts full of love and hands full of charities.

3.  True Christianity is connected to what we seek

It is not good enough to do good - the bible commands us to be good, to seek holiness.  Goodness and righteousness are bound together in scripture.  As Thomas Manton says 'let the hand be open and the heart pure'. As Micah 6 v 8 commands us; do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. James 2 v 27 tells us to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. We are literally to guard our hearts like a fortress.  The 'world' is the sinful system around us that includes what we see and hear every day. As Christians know only too well the world can defile or stain us.

The extent to which we seek the world is an evidence of true religion.  We are called to be in the world but not of it. Just like certain toxic paint that can cause brain damage Christians need to use a filter as we live in this world. We need to view sin as a deadly viper rather than as a house pet that we welcome in and feed.  Holiness can be an incredible witness.  As Manton says 'a holy life and a bounteous heart are ornaments of the gospel.'

Conclusion
So what do these two verses teach us about true Christianity?

Well we see that true faith is active. Visible obedience testifies to inner commitment.  A good tree bears good fruit.

We also see that the Christian who wants to bring glory to God needs to bridle their tongue.  We need to pray that the Lord would set a guard over our mouths (Psalm 141 v 3).  It is in the multitude of words that sin is not lacking (Proverbs 10 v 19).

We also see from these verses that God loves the needy and therefore it should be part of our DNA. Do we love the lonely?  Do we care for the old?  Do we support the sick?  This is the calling of the true Christian.

This passage also show us that true faith involves crucifying the world.  Always remember that the world is a dangerous place for the Christian.  Let's not have a legacy like Demas who forsook the godly because he loved this present world (2 Timothy 4 v 10).

Lastly true Christianity is about seeking Christ.  None of us can display pure and faultless religion without grace. We need to receive Christ by faith if we want to display that religion that God is pleased with.  God calls us to a high standard but not as a tyrant but as a father.  As Manton says;

'We serve God most comfortably when we consider him as a father in Christ.  Duty in the covenant of grace is far more comfortable, not only as we have more help, but because it is done in a sweeter relation.'

True religion is more than Sunday religion, it is a love and obedience from day to day.  Are we fit for Christ's service?  Are we pure?  Are we loving?  Are we guarding out mouths?  Let's remember it is grace that saves but it is also grace that enables us to serve him. Let's seek more of that grace and pray for greater fruit in his service.