Pursue Godliness

"But you, O man of God, ...pursue godliness..." 1 Timothy 6:11

At Delta, we've spent the last several months systematically going through our Core Values...the non-negotiables that define us as a church. We've talked about Truth, Worship, Community, Mission, and began to look at Equipping this month. Scripture is clear that one of the main purposes for scripture (other than revealing God) is to equip people for a thing called 'godliness' - but what is that?

Godliness is the active presence of divine good in our lives.

Godliness is the day in day out, 24/7 proof that Jesus is transforming our lives. It encompasses everything about us - our relationships, our jobs, our families, our money, our recreation, and anything else you can think of. But the important thing about godliness is that it is active and it is good.

I emphasize the point about it being active and good because too many people, mainly old-school fundamentalists and the non-Christian, buy into the lie "moralism" instead of godliness. Moralism is the pursuit of ridding yourself of "sin" or "evil" or whatever else you want to call it. Let me illustrate.

If you walk up to Joe Schmo non-Christian on the street and ask them if they think they will go to heaven when they die (if they belive in heaven), they will most likely answer: "Yes. I'm a good person. I mean, I've never killed anybody or robbed a bank." Do you see how they defined their "goodness"? They defined goodness by the absence of major evil in their lives. You could ask a person who has attended the classic old-school fundamentalist church the question of "what is godliness?" and they will most likely answer: "Godliness is not watching R-rated movies, not listening to certain music, avoiding alcohol, smoking, & drugs, not going to certain food establishments, etc." Their definition of godliness was not exercising godly attributes, it was avoiding sin. They have gotten moralism confused with godliness.

Since godliness is the active presence of divine good, we need to look at passages like Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25) to see what a Spirit-infused godly life should look like. It is my persuasion that if we focus on pursuing godliness, the avoidance of sin will take care of itself. It doesn't work the other way around. Moralism will not result in godliness; it will only result in pride. But godliness will produce a divine morality - for as we focus on godly attrubutes like love, joy, peace, and patience, the sins we should be avoiding will not be enticing to us. Also, some "sins" that man makes main issues will be seen clearly as secondary issues (for example, moralism will tell you that alcohol is bad altogether, while godliness focuses on being filled with the Holy Spirit and not getting drunk (Ephesians 5:18)).

So let's make this very practical. Since we are to be trained and equipped for godliness, what areas of our lives do we need to be equipped in? You see, this is where Christianity comes to life. Christianity is not about 90 minutes on a Sunday morning. Christianity is how your life reflects Jesus is every area. So, think about where you feel you need to pursue godliness. Here are some areas to get your juices flowing:

Marriage. Sexuality. Parenting. Being a good neighbor. Choosing a career. Managing your money.

Please add your list in the comments. You can post anonymously. For further study on this subject of godliness, please read Ephesians 4:17-32.

Grace & peace,

Ryan

Lighten Up

OK, I've realized that the last couple of posts have been a little on the heavy side. And with the big ice/snow storm that came through Springfield last night and the damage it brought with it, I thought I'd just bring a little levity into the picture. So I began to think of things that I really like (I told you this was light). So here you go. Feel free to add your own list in the comments.

Favorite Sports Team: Chicago Bears

Favorite Athlete: Walter Payton

Favorite Pizza (Restaurant): Gino's East in Chicago

Favorite Pizza (store bought): Home Run Inn

Favorite Movie (Trilogy): Original Star Wars (when 'Star Wars' first came on HBO when I was a kid, I watched it 27 times in one month)

Favorite Food: (Tie) Babyback Ribs & BBQ Chicken Wings

Favorite Drink: hmmm...as far as pop goes, Wild Cherry Pepsi; other than that, a Black & Tan

Favorite Vacation Spot: Charleston, South Carolina (my birthplace!)

Favorite Band: U2

Favorite Coffee Place: Caribou Coffee (but a close second in Panera Bread since there's no Caribou's in Springfield, plus they have free refills...which in one sense doesn't matter because I've had to give up coffee for a while, so now I drink their Hot Green Tea with Honey)

Favorite Car: I really dig the Chrysler 300M and the new Dodge Charger

Favorite Website: Probaby my Fantasy Football league on Yahoo!, other than that, ESPN.com

Favorite Read: Now this is tough...the Bible is the default #1, but other than that, I like Michael Crichton novels and whatever is meeting my particular sermon need at the time...would it also be bad if I mentioned Harry Potter?

Favorite Pastor/Speaker to listen to: Ravi Zacharias is brilliant

Favorite Book of the Bible: Ephesians, hands down

Favorite Passage: Romans 12:1-2

Favorite Bible Character: (tie) David & Paul

Favorite Place in Springfield: either Washington Park or Big R (tongue firmly in cheek)

Favorite Place to Eat in Springfield: Holy Land Diner (thanks, Dave!)

Favorite Abe Lincoln Attraction in Springfield: I keep meaning to check one out...honest

Favorite Christmas Song: "Blue Christmas" by Elvis

Favorite Christmas Album: Harry Connick Jr.

Favorite Christmas Tradition: Cooking breakfast for my family

Favorite Christmas "Thing" in General: Seeing my kids unbelievably excited for their presents on Christmas morning

I should stop now. I am spending way too much time on this. It's reminding me of my youth ministry days when every year we would take a trip to either Six Flags or Cedar Point and while we were waiting in line for 3 hours for a 45 second ride, we would just list crap off like all day long. Praise God for church planting.

Stay warm, relax, and be thankful for the favorite things in your life...and spend time doing some of them.

Ryan