1Timothy 4

Godliness is about relationship with God. It means to be like God, to imitate him. And God is all about relationship. The trinity may be a mystery but at the heart of the universe in a relationship, Father , Son and Holy Spirit.

And we are called to godliness.

Relationships need to be worked on!

they don’t ‘just happen’

Your relationship with God is critical because it affects all your other relationships.  And the word of the Lord says that you have to train yourself in godliness – work-out daily on your relationship with God.

 Why? What makes this so important?

 

 God is faithful, we may not be.

 attractive alternative gospels "Come to Jesus and all your troubles will go away"; "human sacrifice / hell is offensive so we don't talk about those things"

 authoritative rule based gospels: "Just do what I say and you will go to heaven"; "Be christened, confirmed, take communion, marry in church and have the last rites and your salvation is pretty certain"

 restrictive gospels Only nice people go to heaven; The church is where I meet my friends;

 godless myths: "Peter stands at the pearly gates"; "there was a donkey in the Christmas story";

Old wives tales; "Touch wood"; "chanting the Lord's prayer in itself is of value"

 Train yourself in Godliness Exercise daily in God

Training is necessary;

It is not someone else's responsibility, it is yours. We can help and encourage you but you have to do it.

godliness is not being religious or pious.

here we have in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

. SPEECH You are in command of your tongue, it just has a habit of saying what you should not be thinking. What you say comes from where your heart is. Get your heart in the right relationship with God and your mouth will follow but God’s word is quite clear that this is an constant discipline. It always needs attention.

Activity: think of a verse of scripture and then tell the person sitting next to you. Any verse, any translation, speak God’s word now!

.LIFE It is about life style. What is your life-style saying? Are you living for Jesus or living like your family and neighbours? What are your priorities? Does your time with Jesus take precedent over your family or your work or your leisure? Are you Christ-like or vogue-like? Good training means that we choose as Jesus would choose, we are self-less and Jesus-more; we get control over our TV watching and our passion for sport or whatever you are enthusiastic about. We find time for Jesus in the business of family and work.

It is not just right doctrine it is "Watch your life and doctrine closely." What you know is of little value if you do not live it out. So every time you read God’s word, reflect on what it changes in the way you live.

 

.LOVE This has deep meaning in godliness because God is love. So love is a reflection of him. And his love is sacrificial, a matter of the will rather than the emotion.

Activity: We are going to greet each other this morning. Remember each of us is different so this is a matter of sensitivity, you are giving rather than receiving or showing off. To do it we need some space and one or two will need to sit down, so if you are not able to stand for a few minutes, stay where you are and we will come to you. The rest of us come to the front, where you greet me and then stand next to me up the centre aisle, the next person greets me and the person beside and joins the line and so on until everyone is in the line. Then everybody will have greeted everybody else! Sounds complicated but I assure it works!

 

. FAITH Are you practicing faith? How do you train in faith?

Faith is about being convinced that God is trustworthy and you practice it in prayer when you ask and believe that he will answer.

Knowing God’s word and believing God is right so you carry out what he says.

Faith is practicing forgiveness because you know that you are forgiven and you imitate your Father by forgiving.

Faith believes that God is with us so we practice the presence of God by consciously recognising his presence and talking to him whenever we have the opportunity or just being content that he is here.

Faith lives the hope. We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting, so our need for the things of this life is much less, we can live without good health, wealth, lots of friends, we seek a city that is to come

Faith is developing your spiritual gifts. God has plans for you in his service and we need to explore what spiritual gifts God has for us and develop them together because they are for the community rather than for the individual.

PURITY. Jude ends with these words ²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear -- hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy -- ²⁵ to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and for evermore! Amen.

 

To be pure even though we are deeply into our community with all its sin. To go out to the lost, risking our own faith; being close to sinners but still remaining pure. I believe we are too isolated and yet not concerned with our purity. Jude tells us that we are meant to be risking all for the salvation of others, trusting God to keep us from falling and cleansing us when we fail.  The call for purity is never to stay away from sin. It is to live such lives that commend the gospel to everyone.

 

The question that remains is what are you going to do about godliness? Park it up until next Sunday? Or set targets in godliness to practice during this week?

 

Whether the Olympics, or the football or the Motor racing or the tennis stirs you up, the question is does Godliness stir you up to do the training? Are you vaguely sitting around hoping heaven will arrive or are you actively seeking the Kingdom of God now?

 

¹⁶Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don't be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation.

 

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