Godliness has two forms: inward and outward. This daily devotion looks at how godliness needs to have an aspect of spontaneity.
Nuggets
- Godliness has a dual form as it should be both an inwardly and outwardly expression.
- The quest for godliness is to be spontaneous, not calculated for our gain.
- Unfortunately, some can have a false form of godliness because they are not committed to Sovereign God.
Devotions in the Review 101: Godliness series
Godliness is a huge term. It may be difficult for some to wrap their heads around.
Maybe it will be easier for us to understand if we look at how it is expressed. Let’s see if we can quantify it some.
Let's Put It into Context
Godliness, equated with the Old Testament term fear of the Lord, is an attitude of reverence that is promoted by walking in His Spirit and obeying God’s laws and commandments and produces a moral likeness of God. The fear of the Lord means awe, reverence and love, not terror.
The Dual Form of Godliness
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 1: 5-8)
Godliness has a dual form as it should be both an inward and outward expression.
I know we talked about these verses in the last devotion — and a whole series a couple of months ago. We talked about how these elements help us grow.
Let’s look at now from the lens of what these tell us about godliness itself.
Maclaren argued that it is appropriate for us to list godliness both with virtues and graces. He reminded us that “the fundamental idea is reverence toward God.”
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Then Maclaren said something interesting. He said that the reverence should be all-encompassing: inward and outward.
The inward expression of godliness is communion with God. Prayer is a two-way communication with God. Even if we are praying with our mouths, we are praying with our hearts. Our inward expression of godliness also manifests itself in confession, praise, and worship.
The outward expression is our acts of service for God. Service is an act based on belief in God that comes from a response of worship by acknowledging His power through our submission. The Homilist noted this was directed toward mankind.
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The way I read Maclaren’s sermon is that godliness is made up of the communication and the acts of service.
Maclaren felt that we go from faith to godliness by the following:
- Strength to resist temptations
- Duty to tell the difference between good and evil
- Self-control to discipline ourselves
- Perseverance to increase patience
Thompson noted that we possess that reverence of God because we love His holiness. Holiness is more than a character trait; it is purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
This respect, according to Thompson, is “… a reverence for dignity, station, greatness, power, which is cold and formal and distant.”
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The outward expression implies a love for God’s laws and commandments. We acknowledge His control in our lives.
The Spontaneity of Godliness
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb. 11: 6 ESV)
The quest for godliness is to be spontaneous, not calculated for our gain.
Thompson’s definition of godliness had an interesting twist. He cited Robinson, saying that godliness is a “… reverence toward God which is a spontaneous feeling of the heart in view of His character (see in Robinson).”
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I don’t see Thompson as meaning we should get a wild hair and jump on the godliness bandwagon. I am think he is meaning that it shouldn’t exclusively have an external stimulus.
An external stimulus would take on the form described by the Homilist. There, “… respect for the right, compassion for the miseries, and a loving desire for the happiness of all” would cause us to act.
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We have to pursue godliness because of an internal stimulus. Thompson said we are pursuing godliness because of Who God is and because it leads us to blessedness. Blessedness means we have been perfected.
Abernethy described the inward stimuli. He wrote they must constitute a reverence for God’s majesty, a recognition of His glory, and love, gratitude, and respect.
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We are pursuing godliness because it leads to eternal life. Eternal life is the promise of living eternally – even if we have died in this life – because we have admitted our sins, believed Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord.
One day, we will see God face to face. We need to be ready for that by ABCDing. We need to have being going from faith to God-likeness.
A False Form of Godliness
“These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy” (I Tim. 6: 5 ESV)
Unfortunately, some can have a false form of godliness because they are not committed to Sovereign God.
Paul told us point blank that pursuit of godliness will bring persecution. That makes us wonder why people pursue godliness for gain.
No, the road to godliness is not easy. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (II Tim. 3: 12 ESV).
One would think that verse would scare away anyone who is not fully committed to the Sovereign God. But it doesn’t.
There are some that are pursuing godliness for some external gain. This is more like Paul was taking about in First Timothy 6: 5. “To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy” (I Tim. 6: 5 NLT). They are using it to be a means to an end.
They may have an outward appearance of being righteous. Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
But inwardly, they have not submitted to the Sovereign God. Not. Going. To. Fly.
We are commanded to become godly. Kollock wrote, “We are unequivocally commanded to assume the form of godliness; to testify by external acts our allegiance to the Lord; and to attend on those ordinances and sacraments which He surely did not appoint that we might with impunity neglect them.”
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See what that says? Testify. Witness. Witnessing means we tell non-believers that Jesus can be their personal Savior, even though that may be considered our perspectives and opinions.
We have to tell others what Sovereign God has done in our lives. That is in our job descriptions.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Descriptions
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
We can’t hide the fact that we have submitted our lives to the Sovereign God. Kollock wrote that we can’t just worship Him in our hearts. Why?
The inward expression of godliness has to bubble out to be an outward expression of godliness. “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Rom. 10: 10 ESV).
See. In, then out.
The flip side of that is that it cannot be an out without the in. We cannot believe being a good person will gain admission to Heaven. A person who has not changed to possess the nature of God and follow the commands of God is not godly.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
There is another form of false godliness. The Homilist wrote, “There is often a great deal of external worship where there is no godly devotion.” We’ve called this being a nominal disciple. Nominal disciples are those boasting they loved God without even trying to imitate Him — those who dig on religion and its rituals without having a change in heart.
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Making the Connections
Abernethy contended that godliness is a support of the virtues. Our ability to become godly and to obtain those virtues all stem from obeying God’s laws and commandments.
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Hamer must have agreed. He wrote, “It is no easy thing, under all circumstances, to look calmly and trustfully up to the throne of the living God, and cheerfully commit all our life to His fashioning and to His keeping: it is no easy thing at all times to trace the gentleness of His grace in the ways of providence.
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When we become disciples of Christ, we have to consider godliness our duty. We no longer have the choice of whether we will or will not become godly.
That is part of the package for which we signed up.
How Do We Apply This?
Now that we know the form, we know how to get there. Paul told us to “But you, man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness” (I Tim. 6: 11 CBS).
Yes, this sounds like the Sanctification Road. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts …” (I Pet. 3: 15 KJV).
Looking back over this, the two forms make sense to me. We have to be totally committed. Not just doing lip service to God (at best) while doing wonderful social work. We can’t be praising God at the top of our lungs, and be doing nothing to tell of His love to others.
We have to be totally committed to being like God.
Loving Father. We don’t want to be just giving You lip service. We don’t want our worship to be praise only. We want inward and outward forms of godliness. We want to totally be like You. Amen.
What do you think?
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