Godliness: Looking like our Father
Are you godly?
If your are about to say, “No, Pastor,” it may be that you base that answer on a mistaken notion about what it means to be godly.
● Many confuse godliness with being religious.
● Others believe that godliness is only for those who are well into their years.
● Some others are convinced that godliness was only possible in another time.
● Some think godliness is reserved for those who are involved in professional church work.
Jerry Bridges writes, “Godliness is no optional spiritual luxury for a few quaint Christians of a bygone era or for some group of supersaints of today.” (Discipleship Journal : Issue 18. 1999 Colorado Springs: The Navigators/NavPress.)
Peter says that godliness should a primary characteristic of every true Christian.
In 1 Timothy 4:8 we read: 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.
Just as physical training shapes our bodies and increases our general health, so godliness shapes our spirit and leads us to better spiritual health. The difference, implied is the passage we just read, is that no matter how well we train our physical bodies, eventually we age and die and the training is lost. But, if we become godly, we gain possession of something that survives our death and reaches into eternity!
So what is this quality that is eternally valuable?
A person who is godly is devoted to God:
not to the work of God, not to acting like God, but to the very Person of God.
In the book of Genesis, we meet a man named Enoch and when we put together two passages about him we gain an important pointer about godliness.
First we are told that the distinguishing mark of Enoch was that he ‘walked with God.’ Second, we are told in Hebrews 11 that he ‘pleased God.’ Interestingly, we know nothing of what Enoch did with his life. The commendation of God is for Enoch’s devotion, that he knew God personally.
Ill. - I am frequently told, “Jerry, I see your Dad in you.” I take that as a compliment. My physical appearance has come to resemble his. But, the comment is often directed at things I do and say. I assure you it is not conscious imitation. There is something more to it. Dad’s DNA resides in me and so does much of his spiritual DNA. There was a transfer from him to me, one by birth, one by relationship.
Key Q - Do friends and family members see the likeness of your Heavenly Father in you?
If we would be godly, devoted to our Heavenly Father, we must experience several things.
1. We must be BORN into the family! Spiritual transformation is the first step towards godliness.
A religious elder named Nicodemus went one night to talk with Jesus. He was finding that keeping the religious rules wasn’t making him godly. As he queried Jesus about real spirituality, Jesus made a strange statement... “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” {John 3:4}
“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” In reply {John 3:5-8}
Jesus answered,
“I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
There is a natural birth, that marks the beginning of life here. That birth, in the figurative language of Jesus, is the birth of water. Becoming like our Father in Heaven, requires a second birth, one that happens when the Spirit of God plants a seed of life in our hearts which we accept by faith. When we are born of the Spirit, the characteristics of God are set in us and we begin to live them.
2. We learn to share the heart of our Heavenly Father when we live with Him.
Godliness is better caught than taught!
Transference of values is the secret of good parenting. It requires modeling of the kinds of values you want your child to have and spending enough time with them to let them see those values at work in you.
If we desire to be godly, we will learn to let Him be with us, to open our lives to the flow of the Holy Spirit, through regular time of prayer, by interacting with Scriptural truth, and responding to His invitation.
One of my favorite NT passages is John 15. There Jesus uses an illustration of a vine to teach about this second step in the development of godliness. Listen to His words. John 15:5-8
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
What is His point?
If we are not intimately connected to Him by faith and through the practice of spiritual disciplines, the life of the Spirit will not flow into us and we will remain fruitless, that is, without evidence of our family heritage. He is the Life Source that sustains the growth of godliness.
This is not merely adopting a new set of moral values, nor is it just about becoming religious. I know many people who claim no religious belief, who would tell you that they do not know God. Yet, they live morally excellent lives.
Godly Christians are more than morally excellent. They love like Jesus. They focus on eternity. They are spiritual.
Make time in your life to be in the Father’s Presence! As we are with God, His nature flows into us and there is evidence of our relationship with Him.
There is a place for our cooperation in the process of becoming godly!
3. Godliness is perfected in practice.
1 Timothy 4:7-8 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 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.
The Greek NT for “train” is “gumnazo.” {goom-nad'-zo} from which we get our English word, gymnasium. It means “to exercise vigorously, in any way, either the body or the mind.”
Mature godliness will not “just happen.” There are choices to be made to allow the process to go forward.
As you grow spiritually, you will reach change points– moments of choice to go on or to turn back.
It is as if God is taking you by the shoulders, looking you in the eyes and saying, “what is it going to be? Are you going to break through this situation, this habit, this challenge OR are you going to settle for the status quo?”
If you desire to be all that you can be for God, to be truly godly, devoted to Him - there will be hard choices, there will be pain of self-denial, there will be times of focused work on defeating old habits and patterns.
We should not expect that God, in answer to our prayers, will somehow open our head and insert whatever it takes to make us a godly person. He provides the resources, the strength, His own Spirit and then reminds us to get with the training program.
When we train ourselves to be godly, we will use all the elements of athletic training:
discipline to pursue the goal,
time devoted to learning skills,
practice to perfect those skills,
the coaching of the Spirit to keep us focused, and
a team for support and encouragement.
Are you godly?
Let’s be certain, it’s more than spiritual talk, more than Sunday religion, more than working at morality. The Bible warns "In the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, ... having a form of godliness but denying its power." (2 Timothy 3:1-5, NIV) True godliness comes from the heart, changing the whole person because of the power of the Spirit.
Let’s not confuse godliness with becoming a boring, sad faced, humorless person. That is a cartoon image of godly.
True godliness is devotion to our Father that allows us to become like Him; creative, loving, relational, serving, joyous, fully alive!
When others are with you for a length of time, does your presence remind them of the Lord?
That is what the world needs... men and women who are just like their heavenly Dad.
2 Peter 1:8-11 8
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ....For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
AMEN
