I. A Godly Man is a man who has established a personal relationship with God.
A. He knows God personally.
1. He knows Christ as Savior
a. II Timothy 1:12 "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."
2. He knows Him as Lord
a. Philippians 3:10 "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;"
b. The proportion in which I know my Lord is the proportion in which I am prepared to serve Him. I s it not certain that when I know as I am known I shall be more perfectly prepared to serve?
B. He maintains a daily walk with God.
1. Genesis 5:24 "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
2. Hebrews 11:5 "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
3. Walking with God means to go in God’s direction.
4. Walking with God means to share His companionship.
II. A Godly Man is a man who keeps his priorities straight. (He maintains the proper order of first God, then Family, then Vocation.
II Kings 4:26 "Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well."
A. He places God first in every area and above everything else.
1. Philippians 3:8 "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,"
2. According to Dr. Jack Graham, a poll revealed that 40% of Americans claim that God is first in their lives. Yet, of this group those earning between 50,000 and 75,000 gave 1.5% to ALL charities including their churches while spending 12% on leisure activities.
3. Our Statement of Faith says that we believe that the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
4. If God is first, then why is it that we can follow the precepts of only nine of the commandments. Realizing that while I am not under law and do not observe the Sabbath; I am under a higher law the law of love.
B. He maintains the proper family/work relationship.
1. Former Vice President Al Gore said in an interview printed in Family Circle (6/24/97, p. 132), "What makes a man a good father? He maintains a viable balance between work and family, even when it is most difficult. And he is involved day to day in his children’s lives, in their development and their education."
2. Making a life is more significant than making a living.
3. Some time ago, Jerry Johnson divorced his wife of 26 years when he left coaching a college team to become head coach in the National Football League. He said he needed a wife while coaching on the college level for social functions and to show families that he would be looking out for their sons. In pro football, however, she was an unnecessary accouterment and a distraction to winning. He said winning football was his number one priority and his two sons second. How tragic! In contrast to this, Tom Landry, the former coach of the Dallas cowboys who died in February 2000 said, "The thrill of knowing Jesus is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I think God has put me in a very special place, and He expects me to use it to His glory in everything I do. Whether coaching football or talking to the press, I’m always a Christian ... Christ is first, family second and football third."
4. Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers. Men of Integrity "When I took the job as head football coach at the University of Colorado in 1982, I made a solemn promise: I told everybody that with me, God was first, family second, and football third. But I didn’t keep that promise for long. The thrill and the challenge of resurrecting a football program in disarray simply took too much time and attention. As my teams kept winning year after year, I kept losing focus of my priorities. When we won the national championship in 1990, many people said I had reached the pinnacle of my profession. But for me, there was an emptiness about it. I had everything a man could want, and yet something was missing. I was so busy pursuing my career goals that I was missing out on the Spirit-filled life that God wanted me to have. All because I had broken my promise to put God first and foremost in my life."
C. He not only makes sure his priorities are right but he makes sure his family’s priorities are right.
1. Joshua 24:15 "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
2. What is amazing about Joshua’s recommitment of himself and his family is that it is made at the end of his life. Note Joshua 23:1, 14.
3. II Timothy 3:2 "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,"
4. One of the hardest jobs for a parent is making a child realize that "no" is a complete sentence.
III. A Godly Man is a man who teaches by precept and by practice.
A. He teaches his family God’s truth through God’s Word.
1. Deuteronomy 6:5-7 "And you shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And you shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when you sit in thine house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up."
2. Abraham was chosen to be a blessing to the whole earth, but his vocation was to begin to take effect in the simplest way. He was called to teach his own household, who again would hand down the truth to their households. His being a blessing to the world depended on his being a blessing to his own home.
3. Genesis 18:19 "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."
4. James C. Dobson (1936- )The father’s most important responsibility is to communicate the real meaning of Christianity to his children.
5. Ephesians 6:4 "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
B. He applies God’s Word to all he does.
1. James 1:22 "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
2. He teaches kindness by being thoughtful and gracious even at home.
He teaches patience by being gentle and understanding over and over.
He teacher honesty by keeping his promises to his family even when it costs.
He teaches courage by living unafraid with faith, in all circumstances.
He teaches justice by being fair and dealing equally with everyone.
He teaches obedience to God’s Word by precept and example as he reads and prays daily with his family.
He teaches love for God and His Church as he takes his family regularly to all the services.
His steps are important because others follow.
3. Jeremiah 9:13-14 "... they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; [14] But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:"
4. Daddy had a little boy,
His soul was white as snow.
He never went to Sunday School
Cause Daddy wouldn’t go.
He never heard the Word of God.
That thrills the childish mind,
While other children went to class,
This child was left behind.
As he grew from babe to youth,
Dad saw to his dismay,
A soul that once was snowy white,
Became a dingy gray.
Realizing that his son was lost,
Dad tried to win him back.
But now the soul that once was white,
Had turned an ugly black.
Dad even started back to church,
And Bible study too;
He begged the preacher,
"Isn’t there a thing you can do?"
The preacher tried, failed, and said
"We’re just too far behind;
I tried to tell you years ago,
But you would pay me no mind."
And so another soul was lost,
That once was white as snow;
Sunday School would have helped,
But Daddy wouldn’t go.
5. The religion of a child depends on what its mother and father are, and not on what they say. Henri Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881)
