INTRO.- The Godly life is NOT what many people want. I think many people would rather have the world and all of its goodies.
ILL.- How would you like to own a 5000 square foot home with 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, three car garage, etc.? We’re talking $500,000 to $600,000 home. And let’s say you have two brand new vehicles: a car and truck of your choice. And you work a 40-hour work week but make over $200,000 a year.
How would like to have all of this and heaven too? I think you realize that most of the time it doesn’t work this way. God doesn’t work this way and life doesn’t turn out this way!
You have perhaps the old saying, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” What’s the meaning or idea? It’s the idea of “you can’t have it both ways” or “you can’t have the best of both worlds."
I believe, however, that many people would like to believe they can have their cake and eat it too. By this, I mean I think many people would like to enjoy everything this life offers and heaven too! But I’m not convinced this can happen. We have it pretty good anyway.
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
If a person’s heart is on this world or devoted to the things of this world, how can their heart be devoted to Jesus at the same time?
It sounds to me like you can’t have both at the same time. I’m sure there are some rich people who love the Lord Jesus, but having great riches are generally a deterrent to a godly life in Christ.
Matthew 16:26 “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
And some people have traded their souls for riches in this world.
ILL.- My mother, rest her soul, dated an older man in Webb City, MO, some years before he died. He was at least 10 years older than mom but they enjoyed one another’s company and he would buy her lunch. His name was Ralph Lee and had worked hard all his life to make money. It seemed that “making money” was his passion in life. He was worth over a million dollars when he died and all of his money went to his grandchildren. His wife and two daughters died before he did. Ralph at the age of 91, I believe.
One time while visiting with mom I went out for my daily run. Ralph happened to drive by, saw me running, stopped his car and said, “If I had your energy I could make some more money.” Sadly, Ralph died not knowing the Lord.
At all cost, we must be committed to something in this life and I say, let it be Christ. Let it be the godly life. This should be our greatest desire in life. Only one life. Twill soon be past. Only what is done for Christ will last. Eternity is just around the corner and the only thing that really pays or lasts is living a godly life in Christ.
PROP.- Living the godly life. What is it? What will it take?
1- The godly life will center on Christ
2- The godly life will bring on persecution
3- The godly life will rely on scripture
I. THE GODLY LIFE WILL CENTER ON CHRIST
12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus....
There is only one way to become godly and that’s in Christ. A person must first know Christ and then begin to grow in Him in order to become godly.
Jesus reveals the Father to us. He shows us who God is and what He is like. He is God in the flesh. Like father, like son. We must have the Son in order to have the Father. We must be in Christ in order to become Godly or God-like.
John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
I John 2:22-23 “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
The truth of God is the truth about Jesus! The greatest truth that this world will ever hear is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And not only is he the greatest truth, he is way to holiness or godliness. He is the way to become a godly person, which is something we all should desire.
Our desires are often many: get married, have a family, raise your kids to become good, decent, hard working, and Christian. Also, make a decent living for yourself, enjoy life somewhat, have some rest and relaxing times, etc. BUT ISN’T THERE MORE? ISN’T THERE SOMETHING ELSE? SOMETHING GREATER?
ILL.- In 1972 I won the Iowa State Weightlifting championship in the light-heavy division and I dreamed of some day become a national caliber weightlifter and then perhaps going to the Olympics. That dreamed never panned out and it’s probably a good thing.
We all have our desires, goals, passions in life but most fade with the passing of time and leave us still wanting something more or something better. Our main focus must be on Jesus in order to be what God wants us to be and in order to be Godly.
Colossians 3:1-3 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
II. THE GODLY LIFE WILL BRING ON PERSECUTION
10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted. It’s not much in the US but it is in other countries.
ILL.- Nigeria, West Africa. Authorities in northern and central Nigeria tried to restore calm Saturday, December 25, after suspected Muslim militants targeted churches and other sites in Christmas Eve attacks that killed as many as 38 people, police and church leaders said.
Secretary of Victory Baptist Church, Danjuma Akawu, said about 30 men attacked his church on Christmas Eve, killing five people. The attackers reportedly threw petrol bombs igniting the building. News reports said a Baptist pastor was among those killed.
That’s real Christian persecution! And it’s happening in many foreign countries where Christians are standing up for their faith.
CAIRO, EGYPT (Worthy News)-- Some 130 Christian worshipers, including children, remain imprisoned in Egypt, a month after some 2,000 security forces attacked their church under re-construction, killing several people, American and local missionaries told Worthy News.
U.S.-based Christian Aid Mission (CAM), a group active in Egypt, said "many" of those being held captive by police are women and children who had come to the church on November 24.
They were detained when police attacked the church construction site of St. Marys Church in Giza, a Cairo suburb near Egypt’s pyramids, according to witnesses and rights investigators. "Over 20 people were blinded in one or both eyes, five were killed and scores were injured. Over 25 homes in the surrounding Christian neighborhood were burned to the ground" CAM said.
Brothers and sisters, stories like these abound and especially, in Muslim countries. Christian persecution is ever-present.
If you lived in such a country as these would you be willing to give your life for your faith in Christ? Many Christians have.
Generally, those who suffer the most persecution are those who live their faith the most. However, here in America this may only amount to someone criticizing you, or perhaps calling you a name. Seldom is there any physical persecution.
However, any time you take a stand for Christ you may well incur some opposition in this world.
I John 5:19 “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
Because the whole world is under the control of the evil one we will suffer some persecution for our faith in Jesus, that is, if we live that faith out in the open. Don’t be surprised.
III. THE GODLY LIFE WILL RELY ON SCRIPTURE
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
ILL.- I counted the manuscript sermons that I have already prepared and are on my desk and I have 30 ready to go. My ex-professor and preacher friend, Bob Stacy who is 76 years old and has been in the ministry 55 plus years, said, “I never heard of any preacher doing that.” I think he means how would I have the time to prepare that many sermons ahead of time.
Well, it’s this way. I’m an early bird. I still rise between 4 and 4:30 generally every morning, seven days a week.
You know the old saying, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes the preacher get his sermons ready.”
Seriously, if we all went to bed earlier and got up earlier, most of us could get a whole lot more accomplished than we do. And that’s what I like! I don’t like being late. I don’t like procrastination, unless it’s something I really don’t like to do. I don’t like laziness in anybody. I don’t like excuses. I don’t like getting behind on my work. I don’t like waiting until the last minute to do something.
I delight in studying God’s Word and preparing messages. I’ve said before and believe it, THE STUDY OF SCRIPTURE HAS BEEN MY SALVATION IN MANY WAYS.
It saves me from wasting my time on something else that might be frivolous. It saves me from getting behind on my work. It saves me from temptation, because when I’m in God’s Word I have no time for anything else.
ILL.- When Thomas Edison was asked how he resisted temptations, he replied, “Never have any. I don’t have time.”
When we devote much time to the Lord in prayer and study we won’t have any time for doing evil. And whether you realize it or not, the study of scripture is your salvation as well!
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
It doesn’t make any difference how and when you do it, but please do it.
Psalm 1:1-2 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
Psalm 119:11 “Thy Word have I hid in my heart...”
Not only will the scripture keep you from sin and from some temptations, it will also make you the person you should be. And God wants us all to become more godly than we now are! And for Him to work in us and make us godly, we must pay attention to His word.
II Corinthians 3:18 “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
As we behold the Lord in His Word He will do a good work in us. He’ll change us and make us into better people. He’ll re-make us in His image. He’ll make us more godly.
CONCLUSION----------------------------
I Corinthians 13:11 “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”
Brothers and sisters, we are not children any more. We are adults but even more than that, we are in Christ and have been for a very long time, which means what? It means we should be somewhat mature in Christ and we must put away childish ways.
Our top priority in life should be the goal of godliness! God wants us all to become Godly in Christ Jesus and that’s the only way it will happen.
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
