Godly Life Series

Theme: Godly Life

Text: 2 Timothy 3:1-17

Introduction & Greetings: I greet you all in the name of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Today we are going to meditate on the theme ‘Godly Life’ based on the scriptural verse 2 Timothy 3:1-17. How to live a godly life in the last days. Paul expresses three ways to do that:

Turn away from the ungodly

Tune to the godly

Turn to the Word of God

1. Turn away from the ungodly life (2 Timothy 3: 2-5)

Paul uses the word in the last days with a broad term in the New Testament, and broad enough to where one could say that the last days began with the birth of the church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17).

During my childhood, my pastors told me these are the last days. I am telling my youth boys these are the last days. Paul told Timothy these are the last days. The days of the Messiah mark the last days, yet the term is especially appropriate to the season immediately before the return of Jesus and the consummation of all things. The policies of the last days would be live as you like. Grasp whatever you want. Swindle whatever you could. Enjoy everything without rule and morality. These teachings are absolutely against the will of God, against the principle of community living.

2 Timothy 3:2-5 gives the list of acts people carry out in day to day life. The list as follows: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Calvin says that we should note that lovers of themselves come first, and it can be regarded as the source from which all the others spring up. William Barclay says that the love of self is the foundational sin, from with all others flow. The moment a man makes his own will as the centre of his life, then the divine will and human relationships are destroyed, obedience to God and love to men become impossible.

I feel that such men continuously indulged in these kinds of characteristics. They are found even today in every part of the world and every walk of life. Recently we have witnessed elections in the USA and India. Men are the same, and their evil devices are the same. We also see in our churches, the self-centred love of the leaders cause severe damages to the growth of the mission work and church developments.

So, run away from such leaders. Be aware of the self-lovers. So, Paul in his epistle to Romans says that through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly, as God has dealt with each one a measure of faith (Romans 12:3). We must see ourselves as we are – both the bad of what we are in the flesh and the glory of what we are in Jesus Christ.

Enduring commentary puts: “The signs of the end times are the rejection of God and celebration of self. There are celebrations of sex, drugs, alcohol, food, and work. So, whatever they do, they often do it out of control.” (ref: enduring word commentary). Paul continued to narrate the strategies of the ungodly in life. Paul uses two words to refer to the men in the last days. They are evil men and imposters.

The word 'Evilmen' refers to the obvious, open enemies of Jesus, impostors refer to those who appear good, and many think of as fine persons. But they are destructive forces among followers of Jesus. Imposters do much harm than the evil men to the truth and the Church fellowships. (2 Timothy 3:13-15).

2. Tune to the godly life (2 Timothy 3: 10-13).

Teaching, quality of life or practising, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, doing ministry in various places with the same vigour, vision and vitality even through persecutions and sufferings are sources of the Godly life of Paul.

Paul brings a crystal clear divisive point in this context between the godly and ungodly persons. Godly will be persecuted. And the ungodly will go from bad to worse in their characters. Godly is guarded by God from all their enemies, sufferings. They are rescued and redeemed from afflictions.

Paul told Timothy that he had seen and heard how Paul preached, conducted himself during persecution, the objects of his preaching, his fidelity to God and his trust, his long-suffering with those who walked disorderly, and opposed themselves to the truth, and did what they could to lessen to his authority and render it suspected, his love to them and the world in general, and his patience in all his adversities.