Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Godliness
(II Peter 1:6-8)
Genuine godliness is in short supply in our carnal society. And, unfortunately, many counterfeits to godliness have entered—and have been accepted by—the church. In fact, the state of American Christianity is so worldly, some professing contemporary saints wouldn’t recognize godliness if it smacked them in the face. For them, the contemporary church sets the standards; and the standards have been set mighty low.
Take, for example, modern churches that advertise their aversion to “rules.” We have one such church within a few miles of Faith Baptist. Their slogan: “No Rules, Just Jesus.” The problem with such nonsense is that they could not possibly be referring to the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). So you see, the Jesus of the Bible has commandments—“rules,” if you will. Maybe, however, they’re not worshipping the Christ of Scripture.
In essence, “godliness” means to be like God. And God is, above all else, holy. Practically, godliness requires my lifestyle to line up with the standards of the Bible and the holiness of God. It means my lifestyle should be a contradiction to the world. It means my conformity is to God, not to the fashion of the age (Rom. 12:2). Godliness teaches me that I must deny “worldly lusts” in my quest to be a “peculiar” person for the Lord (Titus 2:12, 14). You see, genuine godliness will make you different from the rest of the crowd. The commitment to godliness makes a church different from the bulk of the evangelical community. And the difference godliness makes is an essential additive to our faith.
