Feodore Dostoevski in The Brothers Karamazov brings Christ
back to earth in imagination to a 16th century setting in Spain. It
was during the terrible Inquisition when so-called heretics were
being burned at the stake in great number. Jesus began at once to
heal the sick, make the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dead
to rise. When the Cardinal of Seville, the Grand Inquisitor, entered
the square in front of the Cathedral he observed what Jesus was
doing, and ordered Him arrested.
That night the Grand Inquisitor came to see Jesus in prison, and
warned Him that if He did not cease to hinder the work of the
church He would be burned at the stake. "The masses," he said,
"want bread and not freedom. Why have you come to disturb
them?" Jesus did not answer, but approached the old man in silence
and kissed him, and that was His only answer. The old man
shuddered, went to the door, opened it, and said, "Go and come no
more, come not at all, never, never." He let him out into a dark alley
and the prisoner went away.
The story could be repeated in a thousand ways in every age, and
it would always be the same, for Jesus is always the same, and
people and society are always the same. That is why Hunter Blakely
wrote, "Jesus Christ is life's Great Disturber. He is the most
revolutionary character whoever set foot upon this planet. He
disturbs everything everywhere. There is no area of life which he
does not enter. He came into a world where men were nowhere in
complete accord with the will of God, and until God's will is done on
earth as completely as it is done in heaven, Christ will always be the
Great Disturber."
Jesus would not fare any better in the 20th century than He did
in the first. His godliness would again bring upon Him the wrath of
man. Godliness is too disturbing to man. They must either destroy
it, or conform to it. What is it? According to the Interpreter's
Bible, "...it is strong awareness of the God-relatedness of all life. It
is that attitude which sees all things in their relation to God." The
Greeks used the word to refer to reference for, and loyalty to God.
In the New Testament it is basically an absolute loyalty and devotion
to God. This is a quality to life that leads us to great favor with God,
but great disfavor with society in general.
The greater ones godliness, the greater the chance of ending up
on a cross. This is why Jesus would be crucified in every age.
He would denounce all prejudice, and refuse to accept rationalizing
cooperation with any form of evil. He would not respect our social,
educational, and racial walls. He would trample them under His
feet, and stir up a storm of opposition. He would refuse to limit His
followers to any denomination, and so He would be despised by
many in the church as well as those in the world. Jesus was, is, and
every shall be to the end of the world, the great disturber of men.
Jesus could have exhibited all of the virtues that we read of in
Peter's list and been well received. All men admire a bold man; a
man of keen intellect, and abundant knowledge. All people
recognize the value of self-control, and patient endurance. In the
abstract these are acceptable to all and universally honorable. The
problem comes when all of these virtues are directed toward a
definite objective. If is to be a great soldier, sportsman, musician, or
business man, you will have your envious enemies, but the majority
will applaud. However, if you use all of these virtues to do the will
of God, you run into a wall of majority opposition. The ungodly
consider it a crime, and waste of life and talent. The superficially
godly are put to shame by superior devotion, and they demand a
return to mediocrity so that they are not disturbed.
If Jesus had not insisted on being so God-centered and
God-controlled, He could have easily worked out a program of
peaceful coexistence with the Pharisees, but He was determined to
make godliness primary, and that led to the cross. This says
something about where we have arrived in this list of essential
spiritual weapons for the battle of life. It says we have reached a
new plateau of spiritual experience when we add godliness to our
equipment. All the others are used by wise pagans, and servants of
the devil. There can be no doubt that Satan himself has a good
measure of boldness, knowledge, self-control, and perseverance. But
with godliness we come to a great divide which separates the heroes
of Satan and the heroes of God. Godliness followed by brotherly
love and love lifts us into the unique realm of Christian virtues
which cannot be matched by the natural man.
The fact that godliness is a virtue that is to be added to the
Christian life indicates that it is possible to be saved and still not
possess godliness. Non-Christians cannot have it, but Christians
even may not have it. This simply means that one can be saved by
faith in Christ, and not go on to become totally God-centered and
God-controlled. This ought not to be surprising since it is true in
each of our lives. We know that we are far from absolute loyalty to
God and His will. If we are honest, we know selfish motives and
other values beside the will of God determine our attitudes and
conduct. Godliness is not only a great divide between the Christian
and non-Christian, it also is the point at which there is a great
separation between the mature and the average Christian. Godliness
is a virtue so seldom thought of that I doubt if one in a hundred, or
possibly even a thousand, could say they have ever heard a sermon
on it.
There is very little literature on the subject even though it is
frequently dealt with in the New Testament. Paul uses the term
most frequently. He begins the letter to Titus with these
words-"Paul a servant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to
further the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth
which accords with godliness." One of Paul's purposes in life was to
aid Christians in growing in the knowledge of the truth which
accords with godliness. The godly man is a man who knows the
truth of God. Is a man whose theology is based solidly on the Word
of God. Ignorance is hindrance to godliness. To add godliness to
our lives we must be students of Scripture. No person can be
god-centered who does not know the truth of God and the will of
God. No matter how zealous one is for some truth, and no matter
how he defends it with great boldness, and even dies for it, if it is not
God's truth he is defending, the man has no more godliness than
Satan. Godliness is totally dependent upon truth, and specifically the
truth of God's revelation.
This is the foundation of godliness, but it is not the whole of it.
Most New Testament references to godliness indicate it is a way of
life, which includes both attitudes and actions. Let us not be so
unwise as to think we can divorce the theoretical and the practical
aspects of godliness. You are not likely to fall in love by reading
books on courtship and marriage, for love is a personal involvement
with another person, and not a matter of ideas. But one can get
more out of the experience of love, and put more into it, if he has
read on the subject, and knows truth relating to the experience and
practice of love. So it is with godliness.
Knowledge of the Bible and God's nature are not in themselves
godliness, but one can never truly be godly apart from this
knowledge. If a person happens to do the right thing, but not
because he knows it is pleasing to God, but simply because it seems
like the best thing to do for his own welfare, he is not being godly.
Godly living is that activity of the Christian which is done in direct
and conscious obedience to the known will of God.
Later in this letter in 3:11 Peter, after describing the destruction
of the physical world, says, "Since all these things are thus to be
dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness
and godliness,..." Here godliness is connected with one's manner of
life. Godliness is a term referring to the whole context of one's
relationship to God in mind, soul, and body. To be godly is to obey
the two great commandments which sum up the whole of the law
and prophets. It is to love God with your whole being, and your
neighbor as your self. Godliness is that virtue that leads us to more
than temporal victories, but to eternal victories. Paul writes to
Timothy in I Tim. 4:7-8, "Have nothing to do with godless and silly
myths. Train yourself in godliness, for while bodily training is of
some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise of
the present life, and also of the life to come."
The training in godliness includes every conceivable subject in its
relationship to God. All virtues, duties, truth, and all conduct come
under the subject of godliness. That is probably why it is so seldom
treated, for it is so broad a subject that it is difficult to narrow it
down so that you can concentrate on it, and know precisely what
you are aiming at. If there is one word that can help us grasp the
whole of this virtue, it is reverence. Reverence is that attitude and
pattern of life which exhibits profound respect for God mingled with
love and awe. The difference between the strong mature Christian
and the weak Christian is the difference in the degree of reverence.
Reverence means depth and strength. Irreverence means
superficiality and weakness.
Thomas Carlyle said, "A man is never so noble as when he is
reverent." If the church of today is weak, and often anything but
noble and heroic, it is because of the obvious lack of reverence
Christians have for God, His Word, and His purpose for men.
Describing the scenes of a church conference George Redding said,
"Church leaders milled in and out through the audience during
speeches and prayers with as much reverence as that displayed by a
group of politicians at a fish fry." Be still that I am God is God's
advice to those who would know an experience depth in reverence
and godliness, but like much advice, it is ignored. We American
Christians are so influenced by the fast pace of life, and the noisy
hustle and bustle of our society that we don't know how to be still
and reverent.
The result of our lack of deep respect for the things of God is that
the world has no deep respect for us and our message. Christians
are not persecuted in our society, but are ignored as having little or
nothing of relevance to offer. Christians know that their superficial
allegiance to the truth of God does very little to meet the needs of
today. They experience the lack of power that comes with
half-hearted loyalty, and they get discouraged with Christians
themselves. They either fall away from the church and become
indifferent, or they develop a surface type religion that is basically
mere words. These latter Christians not only make themselves
immune to the deeper life, but they prevent others from finding it.
Rupert Brooke expressed it in a poetic picture.
Safe in the magic of my woods
I lay and watched the dying light
Faint in the pale high solitude's,
And washed with rain and veiled by night,
And I knew
That this was the hour of knowing....
And suddenly there was an uproar in my woods,
The noise of a fool in mock distress,
Crashing and laughing and blindly going.
Of ignorant feet and swishing dress,
And a voice profaning the solitudes.
The spell was broken, the key denied me,
And at length your flat clear voice beside me
Mouthed cheerful clear flat platitudes.
In plain prose, the man who tries to be deep and reverent in
his search for the presence, power, and truth of God is constantly
being interrupted and distracted by the superficial saint who solves
everything with a cliche, or a verse he has memorized, but has never
deeply meditated upon or applied in life. So many Christians are like
this, and they have no depth because they do not wrestle with every
issue as to how it relates to God and His will. Godliness is what
makes all of life revolve around God and His will. If we go through a
week and never relate anything in life to God until we get to church
on Sunday, we are not gifted with the virtue of godliness.
If you say that so and so is a godly person, you imply that the
things of God play a primary role in their everyday life. They give
evidence by their actions and life style that they put God, and the
will of God, in a place of priority. Their resources are used to
support the work of God; their time is used in the causes that please
God, and their talents are dedicated to the glory of God. Eusebius,
the third century church historian and theologian was named after
the Greek word for godliness, which is eusebeia. He defined it as,
"Looking up to the one.. God, and life appropriate to Him." He
captured the two basic element of attitude and action. May God
help us all to be more conscious of our need to daily add to our lives
the virtue of godliness.
