Devine Nature Access - Godliness

2 Peter 1:1–8 NKJV

1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Godliness - The right view of God

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume σέβομαι, σέβω

Classical and Hellenistic Usage. The meaning “to shrink from”

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume σέβομαι, σέβω

for mere reverence but for worship as a cultic act.

Godliness is action is worship.

Romans 12:1 CSB

1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

I. Know yourself.

Romans 12:3 NKJV

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Narcissism is a term that comes from Greek mythology, and if you know the story of Narcissus, he was a man in Greek mythology who was understood to be incredibly beautiful; indeed, he had achieved the perfection of beauty, and people were obsessed with his appearance. As you read about him, women would even kill themselves when they found out that they couldn’t have him. As Narcissus would reject these women, eventually a man named Nemesis lured him to a body of water, to a pool, and encouraged Narcissus to look into the pool. When Narcissus looked at the pool and he saw his reflection, he became enamored with himself. He became obsessed with his own beauty and with his own likeness, and he couldn’t leave the pool and ultimately died from staring at himself.

There is a disproportionate number of narcissist in the role of pastor.

Narcissism - the enemy of humility

Grandiosity

Entitlement

Attention-seeking

Low empathy

Overcome The Sin of Pride.

Proverbs 16:18 NKJV

18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

Embrace Humility

Psalm 147:6 NKJV

6 The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.

There is a disproportionate number of narcissist in the role of pastor.

Narcissism - the enemy of humility

Grandiosity

Entitlement

Attention-seeking

Low empathy

II. Know God

Revelation 4:11 NKJV

11 “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

Just as Narcissus died kneeled to see his own reflection, we should lay down our lives to see God.

Knowing His Love

Romans 8:38–39 NKJV

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Knowing His Glory

Psalm 147:5 NKJV

5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.

Isaiah 40:22 NKJV

22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

He is everlasting

Psalm 90:2 NKJV

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

He is beyond time

2 Peter 3:8 NKJV

8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Omnipresent

1 Kings 8:27 NKJV

27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!

Omniscient

III. Know Jesus

Knowing His Nature

John 10:30 NKJV

30 I and My Father are one.”

John 1:1 NKJV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Knowing His Resurrection

Philippians 3:8–11 NKJV

8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

John 14:1–4 NKJV

1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”