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