Title: Being Godly When No One Is Looking
Series: Living Godly Lives (Sermon # 2)
Text: 1 Tim 4:7-8
Date Preached: June 15, 2008
COPYRIGHT © Joe La Rue, 2008
Introduction
A. Hook: Several years ago I heard what is likely nothing more than an “Urban Legend,” one of those stories that gets passed around as if it had really happened, but something about this one makes me wish it were true. According to the story, a man was driving down the interstate a few years ago and saw a stranded limousine on the side of the road. He’s running late on his way home from work, so he starts to drive on by. But then, he starts thinking about how if he were having car trouble he would hope that somebody would stop to help him, so he pulls to the side of the road and walks up to the driver’s window and offers his cell phone. The driver says that his phone wasn’t working, so he gratefully accepts.
As the driver called for help, the back window of the limo rolled down, and Donald Trump stuck his head out to thank the man for his assistance, and to ask if there is anything that he can do for him. The man tells Trump that the best thing he could do would be to send his wife flowers, because she would never believe that the reason he was late getting home was because he had stopped to help the Don. Well, Mr. Trump said he would do just that and took the man’s wife’s name and address.
The next morning the doorbell rang. The wife answered the door to find a gigantic flower arrangement, with an attached card that read: "Thank you very much for the help. I took the liberty of paying off your mortgage, Donald Trump.”
B. I bet the next time you see a limo on the side of the road, you’ll stop, won’t you? Seriously, the man in the story did not have to stop that night to help the limo. He didn’t know he was going to get a reward. He just knew that the right thing to do was to stop and help, and so that’s what he did.
C. Each of us has to decide on a daily, and sometimes hourly basis – Will I do what I know is right, or not? And the answer to that question is huge, because it clarifies who we are. Someone has said that our character is really defined by who we are when no one is looking. It’s not the same as reputation – what other people think about us. No, character is who we really are. That’s character. Now, the obvious question is, do we want to have godly character or not?
1. Most of us would say, “Of course we do!” The problem is, while it’s fairly easy to have godly character while we’re around others who are godly, it’s not always so easy to be godly when we’re around those who aren’t, or when we’re by ourselves in our private moments.
2. Few of us commit any heinous sins on Sunday morning at church, because we know everybody’s watching. But what about when we’re away from church, when we’re at home, or at work, or alone? Do we go off our “best behavior” and make choices that we know dishonor God, but we make them anyway because they seem like they’d be fun or advantageous to us, and besides, nobody from church will ever know?
a. Maybe it’s how we treat people. Maybe it’s what we say to hurt others, or maybe it’s the type of language we use. Maybe it’s books we read or magazines we look at or movies we watch or what we view on the internet.
b. Whatever it is for each of us, most of us face temptation on a fairly regular basis to compromise our godly character.
D. Maybe that’s why the Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 4:7, “Train yourself to be godly.”
1. Train yourself – the original Greek word is gumnadzo, from which we get our English word gymnasium. The word literally meant, “to exercise naked,” which was the usual way ancient Greek athletes exercised. But here, the word is being used figuratively to indicate that the Christian must train inwardly, where he or she is naked before God. Others may not see, but God does. Even on the inside, we’re naked before Him. So, in our most inward, personal, private lives, we are to exercise ourselves, train ourselves to be godly. And it’s not just that we do it once and then we’re done with it. The form of the verb used here is present imperative, which in the Greek language indicates that you keep on doing it. In other words, we keep on training ourselves to be godly.
2. Now the word “godly” describes a manner of life, born of faith and lived in such a way that God is honored and others are confronted with His truth as they see us striving for piety. It suggests that we are trying to be God-like, with the characteristics of God, things like love, and faith, and purity, and generosity, and kindness. “Godly” doesn’t mean that we are perfect. It means that we are struggling for perfection, that we are doing our best to live lives that are pleasing to God, honoring to Him, and convicting to others.
3. And here’s why we do it. Verse 8 – “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
a. Here Paul acknowledges that physical exercise does some good. It helps you slim down and improves your health. It has some value. But someday you’ll still die; it’s not of eternal value.
b. But spiritual training, producing godly lives – that has value, Paul writes, for all things, because it holds forth a promise for this life – that is, that we will have a clear conscience and know that we’re honoring God and we’ll draw others to Him because of our conduct. It has promise for this life, but also for the life to come – we’ll live forever in heaven!
E. Trans: So, how do we do it? How do we train ourselves to be godly? How do we develop the type of godly character that stays true to God, even when we’re away from church or by ourselves and Satan is tempting us to compromise our faith and do things or say things we know are wrong? First, its important that we
I. Make a Spiritual Commitment!
A. The Bible says in Psalm 119:106, “I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.” The writer is talking about a spiritual commitment to be godly, and without that type of commitment, our godliness is going to be hit and miss at best. Now, that may seem obvious, but you would be surprised at the number of Christians who have never really made any type of real commitment to godly living.
1. There are some Christians who when they hear sermons about godliness think, “Yeah, the minister’s right. We should live better!” And then they leave church that morning without ever committing to God that they are going to start living better! And without that type of commitment, they fall when temptation arises, and they come back to church the next Sunday wondering what’s wrong with them and why they give in to sin so easily. And you and I both know why – it’s because they haven’t made a commitment to be any different.
2. The Bible says in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil -- now, that’s key! -- resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” See, we’ve got to make a commitment! We’ve got to submit to God and say, “God, I want to live my life in a way that honors you!” And then, when the devil brings temptation, having that type of commitment will help us resist him!
a. ILL: It’s just like with physical exercise or dieting. You’ve got to make a commitment that you’re going to do it, or else you probably won’t do it for very long. It’s painful sometimes, and there are other things you could be doing that would be more fun than going to work out for an hour or two. If you’re going to be serious about physical fitness, you’ve got to make a commitment. You’ve got to say to yourself, “I’m going to do this!”
b. It’s the same with spiritual training. You’ve got to commit yourself to God, “I want to be godly!” in order to take this seriously. You’ve got to.
3. So, there are some Christians who mean well, but they’ve never made that type of commitment. They want to do better, they don’t understand why they always seem to fall prey to the same old sins, but they haven’t even taken the first step!
4. Then, there are other Christians who are, quite frankly, just going through the motions of Christianity. Their motto is, “I love to sin and God loves to forgive, so this is a win-win relationship!” They’re not even trying, and they’re not concerned about it at all. They’re confident that they’re saved, within God’s grace, and the idea of training themselves to be godly seems like a real downer that they just don’t need.
a. They don’t realize the peril they’re putting themselves in. While the Bible makes plain that we are not saved on account of what we do, but rather because of what Christ did, it also says that those who are really saved will live godly lives! James even goes so far as to say in his letter in the Bible that we are justified by what we do, and not by faith alone; and that faith without works is dead. That means that if we are not doing the types of things that spring from a godly life, we can’t be sure that our faith is really any good to us. You can’t just sit back and say, “I believe! I believe!” when your actions are screaming, “NO I DON’T! NO I DON’T!”
b. As Jesus himself said in Matt 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
5. It is vitally important that we make a spiritual commitment that we are going to pursue godliness. We’re going to train for it, we’re going to commit ourselves to it, knowing that sometimes we’ll fail, but as we keep training our failures will become fewer and our successes more frequent. And remember why we do it: spiritual training to be godly has promise, the Bible says, both for this life and for the life to come.
B. Trans: So, we make a spiritual commitment to God that we are going to pursue godliness. Let me give you the second step for living godly lives:
II. Spend Time With God!
A. If we want to be godly, we’ve got to know God, and the only way we can do that is by spending time with him!
1. ILL: I was born and raised in Indianapolis, but I went to college for two years in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I was surrounded by people who talked funny. You know, southern drawl. Well, when I first moved to Knoxville, I vowed that I would never talk like that! But by mid-term break, when I came home to my family, I had picked up the southern accent. I hadn’t even realized it. But just by being around people who had an accent, I had acquired one. Same thing is true with godliness. If you want to have the characteristics that God has; if you want to live a godly life, you’ve got to spend time with God!
2. Actors and actresses understand this principle. When they play the part of a real person who’s still living, what do they do? They try to spend time with that person, so that they can speak and act as that person really would, and so bring that character to life on the screen!
3. It’s the same way if we want to be godly. If we want to do the things that please God and develop the characteristics of God, we’ve got to spend time with God.
B. The people that I have most admired for their godly lives are people who have been deeply committed to prayer and Bible reading. And I am convinced that once a person has made a spiritual commitment to pursue godliness, there is a direct correlation between the time they spend in prayer and Bible reading, and the level of godliness they realize in their lives. The most godly people I have known have understood this, and they’ve been men and women of deep prayer and Bible reading.
1. Psalm 119 says in verse 11, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you,” and in verse 105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” The idea is that, as we study God’s word and get to know Him through his word, our tendency toward sin becomes less and less and our tendency toward making godly choices -- even in our private moments -- becomes greater and greater.
2. Same thing happens as we spend time in prayer to God. As we converse with him, he speaks to our hearts, and we grow closer to him.
3. If we really want to train to be godly, we’ve got to spend time with God.
Conclusion
A. Call for the making of a spiritual commitment, time with God, and reminder to seek and accept forgiveness.
