Godliness is God's number one priority for his followers. His plan is to gather together for himself a people who are being conformed into the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ.[1] His desire is that we would be obedient, loving, pure, humble, compassionate and willing to serve as Jesus did.
You cannot have got into medical school, and will not thrive in medicine itself, without some degree of ambition. Ambition is not bad in itself but we need to make sure that it is directed in the right way. When we look at the life of the apostle Paul, whose example we are called upon to imitate,[2] we see that he was profoundly ambitious. He was a man full of energy and drive and his greatest ambition was to be like Christ.[3] Do you share that ambition? Sadly, I fear that many Christians have lost this hunger. I hope that this article will rekindle, or ignite for the first time, the desire to be godly.
Godliness - a misunderstanding
The Bible gives us many reasons why we should pursue Christ-likeness and I hope to set out some of these. However, we must first deal with a serious misunderstanding.
As a teenager, I was, to some degree, serious about godliness. I had been raised in a deeply religious home and knew God demanded that I be like his Son. But, on reflection, I was being told to be godly for the wrong reason. The message I heard was that if I was good I would be acceptable to God. I saw holiness as the means of gaining access to Heaven. This of course was a complete, heretical denial of the Christian gospel. As an unregenerate sinner my efforts to please God were self-centred and futile.[4] The foundation of our faith is that we are saved by grace, through faith in Christ alone. We cannot in any way earn salvation; even the faith we have is a gift.[5] We are saved by God, not by our own efforts. Please do not read the rest of this article until you are fully persuaded of these truths. Once we have been born again of the Spirit and have trusted Christ we are in a position to start growing in godliness.
Godliness - why?
But why should we bother being godly? Surely if we have been accepted by God and granted salvation, there is no motive for bothering with Christ-likeness? Surely if Heaven is guaranteed (and it is), then we can live just as we like now? This charge was laid at the door of the apostle Paul, I suspect, on a fairly regular basis,[6] and it is often thrown at Christians today. But, as we shall see, there are plenty of reasons why we should seek to be obedient.
Reason 1: Godliness is pleasing to God
My wife and I have four children and we try to teach them memory verses. An early one we tried was Colossians 3:20: 'Children, obey your parents'! But why are they to do this? Why does Paul give this instruction? Children obey your parents because they know best? Children obey your parents so we can have an ordered society? Good reasons maybe, but not the one we are given. The verse continues that children are to obey their parents because it pleases the Lord. They are also to do as God says because it will please him. And what is true for children is surely true for adults. Our obedience, our godliness, pleases him.[7] This is a staggering truth: the triune, sovereign, holy creator God is genuinely pleased by our obedience to him. Whilst this is not the only reason to pursue a godly life, it is surely the only incentive we need, if we love him.
Reason 2: Godliness is consistent
According to the American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds'. However, the Scriptures actually encourage us to be consistent, to live in line with who we are. Romans 6 confronts us with a very telling argument. In verse 1, Paul raises the question that we have asked above - why bother dealing with sin if we are saved by grace? The answer is one of consistency. Sin did us terrible damage, but we have been rescued from its clutches and have been united with Christ, who dealt with the problem once and for all through his death. The Christian who goes on sinning, ignoring the pursuit of righteousness, is denying what God has done for him.
Reason 3: Godliness makes the gospel attractive
Some time ago I was speaking with a non-Christian relative of mine. He was recounting the antics of one his colleagues. I heard how the colleague was an absolute pain - dishonest, foul-mouthed, incompetent, lazy and immoral. 'Oh, and by the way,' I was told, 'he is a born-again Christian'. Given this example, what will my relative think about Christianity? On the flip side, many people are first attracted to the Christian faith by the lifestyle of those who are believers. The way we live out our faith can and will have an impact on those around us and they are often observing us more carefully that we ever realise. It is little wonder then that the Scriptures encourage us to live good lives in front of an unbelieving world so that we commend the gospel.[8] Godliness is a key element of biblical church growth and evangelism.[9]
Reason 4: Godliness and the future
Often we may feel that godliness is a lot of effort for very little return. We know it is right but there rarely seems to be any obvious impact. What is clear from the Bible is that on the last day, when Jesus returns, godliness will be seen to have been worth it in a way that far outweighs any effort and sacrifice encountered now.[10] Godliness holds promises for the life to come.[11] Christians debate whether or not there will be different levels of reward on the last day. Although I do not think we can be too dogmatic, it is hard to escape the idea that there will be some sort of recompense. The danger of course is that we let this undermine the fact that we are saved by faith and we must not fall into this trap. All justified sinners will enjoy Heaven and it will never be anything less than complete for any part of the bride of Christ. According to the Bible, all our good works are prepared for us by God[12] and he enables us to be godly, so that ultimately all the glory will go to him. But there are simply too many scriptures that point to some form of reward for us to dismiss this.[13] At the very least the reward will be to hear God say to us, 'well done, good and faithful servant!'[14] We cannot know the details of what he has in store for us, but it is plain from Scripture that on the last day our pursuit of godliness will be seen to have been very worthwhile.
Reason 5: The desire to avoid discipline
God is not afraid to use the stick as well as the carrot. Sometimes he disciplines us in love to get us into shape. What loving father doesn't?[15] He warns that if we stray from his ways or do not take him seriously, he will bring us to our senses, and this is far from pleasant.[16] This is a strand of Christian doctrine that is often neglected, but to live with a right fear of God is a good and wholesome thing.
Reason 6: Godliness brings joy
In recent times the popular theologian John Piper has been very strong on advocating this theme. I think he probably overstates the case to the exclusion of the other reasons for being godly but he has hit on an important truth - godliness brings joy.[17] As a consequence, it is rare to find a joyful, backslidden Christian. Move away from God and we experience misery. Come to him in faith, looking to submit and obey, and we experience joy, even though this may coexist with great heaviness of heart.[18]
Godliness - the difficulties
I hope, given the reasons above, you will be more fired up about growing in godliness. As we have seen, there is every reason to seek to grow in Christ-likeness. But, if we are to make progress in the Christian life, we need to recognise that it will not be easy because of sin, temptation, the world (ungodly influences around us) and the devil.
Although we have been made righteous in God's sight through faith, this side of death or Christ's return we are still very much bothered by indwelling sin. Sin is powerful. It affects the mind so that we do not think straight and leaves our wills weakened. It is a constant nagging force inside us giving rise to evil desires and tripping us up in our good intentions. A battle rages within that leaves us prone to wrong thinking and wrong actions.[19]
Indwelling sin also leaves us prone to temptation. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus commanded his disciples to pray, not for himself but for them, so that they might not fall in the face of temptation.[20] We are very weak and, given the opportunity to sin, we often grab it with both hands.
The inward pressure is bad enough, but add to that the pressure from the world, which encourages us to join in, not to mention the devil who is always out and about looking for business, is it any wonder that we struggle to be godly and often fail abysmally?
Godliness - the way forward
In the face of such opposition and inward pressures we could, in our own strength, make no headway. We desperately need God and, wonderfully, the Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who is working within us to transform us. Given that God is powerfully working in us what do we need to do? Let me suggest four essential needs:
1. We need to pray
We have already seen that Jesus urged his disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation. Jesus prayed and he stood firm, the disciples slept instead and then fled. Scripture after scripture encourages us to pray for our growth in godliness. The growing Christian is a praying Christian. Whilst it is good to pray generally about our Christian growth it is also wise to pray specifically. For example, some may need to pray for the strength to remain sexually pure or to be wise with their money. Others will need to pray for control of their tongue, or for more gentleness. Above all it is vital that we do pray - our lives will always be busy, but we must make the effort to set aside time for prayer.
2. We need the word
The Bible is the written Word of God and it tells us a great deal within its pages about how we need that Word to sustain us. It must be the centre of church life; we are to meditate upon it and encourage one another with gospel truth. The Word of God is powerful. It convicts us, showing us where we are wrong. It teaches us how we are to live. It encourages us when we are down and weak. Like prayer, the Word is indispensable to Christian living and Christian growth. To grow we need to be sitting under church ministry that opens up the Word. We need solid, healthy food; you will become spiritually very weak if you try to live off theological dung. Daily Bible reading is a great benefit. Go on, you can do it - you got the A-levels to get into medical school so you must be able to read a book for 20 minutes a day!
3. We need to take action
Godliness requires us to apply ourselves. Passage after passage of Scripture encourages us to make the effort. These efforts are prompted by God but we also have a responsibility to act ourselves. We may need to take radical action. Colossians 3 teaches us about putting on and putting off - the acquiring of good habits and the disposal of bad ones. Those things that displease God must be put away and destroyed.
4. We need the church
The Christian life is not meant to be lived out in isolation. Although Christians can survive on their own, we are not made to be 'lone rangers'. This problem is a real headache for junior medical staff who are moving on a frequent basis. On-call commitments leading to chronic tiredness can also leave us badly isolated. The reason we are to meet together as a church is so that we might encourage one another.[21] We need the church - not the building but the body of believers. We need to be fed not only from the front but also by other Christians who encourage us when we are down and look to rebuke us in love when we stray.[22] Open supportive relationships within the church setting are the God-given way of maintaining our Christian sanity. Look to support others and be supported. Prayer triplets and regular times with good Christian friends are extremely helpful.
Conclusion
- Pursue godliness
- Pray for godliness
