Godliness

There are many virtues that make being a disciple what it is. Some of those virtues are well known and pursued, while others aren’t. One neglected Christian virtue is curiosity. You may have some questions about seeing this as a Christian virtue. But think about it. Isn’t it a Christian virtue to be curious about God and all the things that He has created, things that reveal who He is? It is that kind of curiosity that results in wonder. I would encourage you who are parents to work to cultivate curiosity in your children so that they will be captivated by the wonder of God.

At the heart of curiosity is asking questions like, ‘Why did God do it like that?’ That can apply to the color of the sky or the way that the next generation is created.

Here’s a question, an expression of curiosity, that I have been asking you lately. What is God like? In a couple of recent sermons, I spent some time exploring that question. In one sermon, I showed you how God describes Himself in terms of His love and compassion, among other things. In another sermon, God was described in terms of exacting the vengeance of justice against people that He hates. Understanding these, and other, characteristics of God will be an encouragement to your faith.

I’m going to pose a different question today, one that, I suspect, needs to be raised more often in the Church in America. What does God expect of you? I think that you will agree on the importance of that question. I mean, what happens if some Christian does not meet God’s expectations?

There are different ways to answer that question. Here’s what you might call the big picture answer. It comes from Deuteronomy.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6.4–5

In that one sentence, we have the one goal of the whole Bible. Everything else about being a person flows from it. The main point of the sentence is clear. But the details are also important. That we are to love God with all our heart makes clear that this is not first and foremost about how we act. It is, first, an attitude of the heart. The addition of ‘with all your might’ makes clear that working toward this attitude will be demanding. That’s one way to answer the question, ‘What does God expect of you?’

Today, I’m going to talk to you about another perspective on God’s expectations of you. You might call it a subset of loving God. Today, I’m going to talk to you about godliness. God expects you to work at becoming a godly person. We’ll spend the rest of our time exploring what that means.

We’ll start where we usually start in sermons like this, with a definition. You could say that godliness is the practice of true religion. Or you could say that it is living up to your profession of faith. There is something to both of those definitions. But they are not as helpful as they need to be. So, let me offer something else as a working definition. Godliness is wanting God. It’s wanting God more than anything or anyone else.

Here’s one example of someone expressing his godliness.

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Psalm 27.4

The desire for God is David’s ‘one thing’. He wants God more than anything else.

There are a good number of Scriptures that touch on this idea of godliness. I’m going to go through a few of them.

First, here is where godliness is set out as a goal for Christians.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 1 Timothy 2.1-2 [NASV]

Peter also urges the saints he was writing to to live as godly people.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness… 2 Peter 3.11

Paul adds to that by identifying some things that need to be jettisoned and replaced with godliness.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…  Titus 2.11-12

Sadly, as with so much else when it comes to the Gospel, there are those who twist the truth. Paul warns Timothy about false teachers who think that

godliness is a means of gain. 1 Timothy 6.5

And here Paul has financial gain in mind. How foolish. But he goes on to say this.

But godliness with contentment is great gain… 1 Timothy 6.6

And here he’s not talking about money.

Then, there’s this where Paul describes some phonies to Timothy. These people have

the appearance of godliness, but deny its power. 2 Timothy 3.5

What I’ve just read to you describes some qualities about godliness. The focus is shifted a bit in what follows.

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness… 2 Peter 1.5–6 [NASV]

Peter is not describing, here, the qualities of godliness. No, rather he is commanding Christians to add godliness to their faith. Being a godly person is not optional.

But this command - this expectation - bumps up against certain hidden assumptions that many hold. According to one way of looking at things, there are the regular Christians who get along in life adequately well. But then, there are some rather special Christians. These are always doing more, going the extra mile and the like, when it comes to being disciples. It is these who are the godly. But they are different from normal, everyday Christians. And that’s fine, according to this kind of thinking. So, we have regular Christians and godly Christians.

But is it right for a Christian to tell himself that it’s okay if he not like some Christians, godly Christians, that he hears about? Can someone say that it’s okay not to be especially godly? Peter would answer that question with a clear, ‘No’. According to him, all Christians are to add godliness to their faith. It’s something that God expects.

Here’s one particular place that has some important things to say about godliness. Paul writes this to Timothy.

…discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 1 Timothy 4.7-8 [NASV]

First of all, we need to be sure that this passage in the Bible is directly intended for you. Remember that not everything written in the Bible is. To whom is Paul writing? Who is the original audience? He’s writing to Timothy. And what do we know about Timothy? He is a pastor. There are some things that Paul writes to Timothy that speak to him as a pastor but say nothing directly to you. Here’s just one example of that.

…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 2 Timothy 4.2

This call to preach does not apply to you. It applies to me, but not to you. There are principles behind this call that do apply to you, but not the call itself. It’s important to be careful about this when you are reading Scripture.

So, does what Paul wrote to Timothy about godliness apply to you? Or is it just a pastoral sort of thing? Actually, it does apply to you. And there are two reasons that I say that. First, it sounds like Paul is applying to Timothy a general principle that applies to everyone, everywhere.

…godliness is profitable for all things.

That’s true for all of us.

Second, in light of all those other Scriptures about godliness that I read to you earlier, it’s reasonable to conclude that what Paul writes here about godliness also applies to you.

So, let’s take apart what Paul wrote. The first thing that I want you to see here is that godliness has a particular value.

…it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Here, I need to tweak that working definition that I mentioned earlier. I had said that godliness is wanting God. I need to add something to that. Godliness is wanting and gaining God. That’s what makes a godly person stand out. He or she has actually gained something of God. That means that this person experiences God, experiences Him more and more deeply. For this person, God is not some concept to be believed in. He is a person with whom he lives each day, a person whom he is getting to know intimately, a person whom he enjoys deeply. That is what godliness is about, wanting and gaining God.

This godliness, Paul teaches, holds promise. It holds promise, first, for this life. Gaining God in this way includes gaining His blessings. The blessings are not the goal of the pursuit of God, but they are a benefit of gaining Him. Here are just a few examples of the blessings that God gives to those who want Him and gain Him: an enduring sense of peace; the freedom of contentment; a kind of rest that reaches to the soul. All of that is about how such a person will feel within himself. But then there is how this person will relate to others. So, for example, there will be the love that shows as patience, kindness, gentleness and more. And then, there will be the ability to love God with all the heart and all the soul and all the might. All of that is the promise that godliness holds in this life.

But Paul tells us that godliness also holds promise for the life to come. Here, it’s important to understand a basic notion about life in the age to come. We do not all start over from scratch. We all will be perfected. But that doesn’t mean that we will all be the same. No, instead, we will pick up where we left off here. That will be the starting point, and we will progress from there. So, whatever experience of God and His blessings that a Christian enjoys in this life will be the starting point for a greater experience of God and His blessings in the age to come. And it will go on from there. Some will start further along than others.

There’s more in Paul’s words to Timothy. He wrote,

…discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 1 Timothy 4.7

‘Discipline yourself’. The word that Paul used here is related to our word ‘gymnasium’. Becoming godly will take effort, like going to the gym. And that, unfortunately, is why so many Christians assume that this godliness is only expected of the elite. It takes effort that they are not sure they want to invest. But remember that the goal of godliness is not optional. There are things that you need to do because God expects those things of you.

But you need to understand that call to effort correctly. Listen to Peter.

[God’s] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness… 2 Peter 1.3

There is nothing that you are to do as a Christian that you do alone. There is nothing that you are to do as a Christian that you do depending on your own resources. And that’s really good because apart from God’s divine power you can accomplish nothing, nothing that is any good.

There are two poles, here, to avoid, and both are wrong. There are those who think, ‘It’s all on me. I need to make this happen. I need to make sure that it comes about’. What a burden, a burden that no one can bear. Then, there are those who think, ‘It’s all automatic. I’ve made my profession of faith so all I need to do is sit tight and watch God do His magic in my life’. Is this person even a Christian?

There is a call to action when it comes to developing as a godly person. Paul writes, ‘Discipline yourself.’ There are things to be done, things that will take disciplined effort. And yet, as we pursue those things, we are to depend completely on God’s ‘divine power’, that is, His grace, to get us to the goal. We must act. But our hope is not in what we do. So, I say to you, with Paul, discipline yourselves for godliness. And then, with Peter, I remind you to depend only on the promised divine power of God for that to happen.

So, what have I told you, this morning? You need to work at becoming godly people. This is not for some special, elite Christians. It is for all of you. Remember the definition of godliness: wanting God more than anything or anybody, wanting and then, by His grace, gaining Him. This will take effort. But there is more than enough grace in God to make it happen. All of this is just another part of the Gospel that you are called to believe.

Now, for the down-to-earth question. What exactly are you supposed to do? Here are three things that the Scriptures command you to do. And they are commanded so that you will grow in godliness.

First, be here on Sundays. The weekly worship of God is key to your growing as godly people. And that’s because when we come together to worship God, when there is corporate worship as the Church, something supernatural happens. During this time of worship God acts among His people in a special way. He acts using the Word read and preached, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and the prayers that are offered up. By these means He acts to give you the grace that you need to grow in godliness. So, being here, ready to meet with God and worship Him, is the critical element when it comes to growing in godliness.

Here’s the second thing for you to do: meditate on the Scriptures. Or to say that differently, be curious about what you hear and read from the Bible. Ask questions. Why is this promise here? What does it have to do with that command over there in another Scripture? What does this familiar word really mean? What is this teaching pushing back against? Meditate. Ask questions. Be curious. Follow the rabbit trails. You will be surprised at what the Spirit will show you.

And the third thing is always important. You need to pray. You need to pray for things like curiosity and discipline. You need to pray and ask God to give you the deep desire to want Him. And you need to pray for the grace to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of becoming godly, things like the world, the flesh and the devil. You need to pray. Nothing good happens without prayer.

Last thought. I’ve mentioned how the Bible gives different perspectives on things like what it means to love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might, one perspective of that being the pursuit of godliness. Let me conclude this sermon with a perspective on the Gospel, a perspective on the reason why Jesus has come. He has come so that all of you can become godly people. That’s the goal. He deals with sin, gives you His Spirit, has the Bible written and all the rest so that you can become godly people. This is something that holds great promise for daily living in this fallen world, as well as for living in the glory of what awaits us once Jesus returns. Becoming godly people is not an add-on to the Gospel. It is its heart. And it is something that can happen to you. It’s why Jesus has come. So, believe the Gospel, depend on God’s grace and then, discipline yourselves for godliness.