Godliness (5)
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Part 5
Part 5
Godliness is another way of referring to glorifying God through obedience to His Word.
Jay E. Adams, “Godliness,” The Practical Encyclopedia of Christian Counseling (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 90.
GODLINESS Respect for God that affects the way a person lives.
Thomas Strong, “Godliness,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 662.
Godliness is a lifestyle consistent with the character of God
Godliness does not mean perfection, but it means that as a habit of life we begin to recognize those time we fall short and we bring those ungodly habits to God and submit them to him.
last week we talked about how this happens in our life.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;
5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.
6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.
7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;
8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Today we are going to talk about the motivation for living a godly life.
In chapter 6 Paul tells timothy that there is one thing that distracts and keeps people from living a Godly life.
One thing that poeple have to have in the proper place so they can live out the Godly life,
That one thing is money.
10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
Paul says that we have to Get money right if we are to live a Godly life.
Bur we are talking about the motivation of living a godly life.
6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.
Paul tells timothy that living a Godly life brings great gain. Great wealth.
The thing is how are we viewing that?
Do we try to use God to get our blessing.
4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,
5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
Paul is saying there is a differnece , and it all has to do with loving money
This one thing can affect our move toward godliness.
What Paul is talking about is what today we would call materalism.
Because there are many christians today who would say that I don’t love money.
because you got to have it to love it.
So lets define materialism.
It is when the physical (stuff) has a greater priority that the spiritual.
Basically when i seek the stuff rather than the kingdom of God and then let the stuff be added.
10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
so if we want to have Great Gain in our life then accorcing to Verse 6 something has to happen.
6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.
Lack of contentment stiffles our move toward Godliness.
while the presence of contentment with the pursuit of godliness give you great wealth that will blow your mind.
But you know what He is the one that judges if you living with contentment and pursuing Godliness, We don’t.
He is the one who looks at your motives and see if you are truely living with contentment as you pursue godly living.
Tony evens say it this way in his comentary
Contentment can be described this way, being at ease ( inner Sufficiency) where your are and being thankful for that you have.
Content does not mean complacency; rather it is learning to be satisfied until God gives you more.
And so Complaining is the proof that we see in our life that shows we are not living contented lives.
5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
As you look to the world around you everything is telling you that there is so much that you are missing out on.
Every comercial, every add is telling that there is so much missing in your life, how can you be content.
That is what social media does we are constantly seeing the good that everyone else has that we don’t have.
but contentment has to be learned and chosen
11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
You see Paul learned how to be content as he went through the ups and downs of life.
As he was going through those ups and downs paul was learning to rest in his God.
so you and I learn contentment not by always having it all but by barely having any and learning that we are ok there, because we are resting in the fact that God is working behind the scene.
mexican fisherman story....
We live in a world that is continually telling us that there is so much more, they job is to make us discontent so we want the next great thing.
and when we live discontent we put the spiritual aside and we chase after the physical.
1 tim 6;9
9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
so paul is telling timothy that he needs to be on the look out for 2 types of people.
Those who long to be rich and those who are rich.
So if I was to ask a question today...
So we need to define who is rich before we can go any further today.
first thing it is not wrong to be rich or to want to be rich.
17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.
So God is ok with us being rich.
But know we need to determine who is rich.
The reason that most people don’t believer they are rich is because they are always comparing themselves to someone who has more.
There fore rich is always a moving target in the world.
but rich is not a moving target in the bible.
and so we need to define who is rich, because the issue is not money the issue is godliness, but God knows that Money, or materialism gets in the way of our move toward becoming more godly.
So how among us ie rich.
8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
Godliness with contentment brings great Gain, so if we have food for our stomachs, Covering for our body clothes and shelter, with this we should be content.
With these we should be at peace
So everyone hear is rich according to the bible.
So here is pauls concern, believers who are rich but not being content.
when your rich and everyone here is rich, not being content will bring side effects.
You ever pay attention to the commercials for the drugs they want to sell you..
so what does paul say are the side affects of us being rich, and all of us are rich. ( food shelter clothing)
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
There are 2 side affects of the discontented christian.
Pride causes us to look down on others
Shifting Hope. Where is our hope is it in God or in the money.
So in verse 18 he gives us the answer to the side effects of being rich the things that would make us discontented and stiffel our pursut of godliness.
17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
Rich in good works
Generous and ready to share
have and eternal perspective
“to be America's best quick-service restaurant at winning and keeping customers.” And the Chick-fil-A vision statement is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
life indeed is experiencing the reality of God operating in your life and in your circumstances so that you have his supernatural presence at work in your life.
So many people who are rich by the worlds standards don’t have life indeed.
they don’t have peace in the midst of trouble .
they have the American dream (money ) but they don’t have life indeed
God is offering us who are rich to life godliness with contentment to experience life indeed.