The Mystery of Godliness
And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
1 Timothy 3:16
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 Timothy 6:6
The Meaning of Godliness
There is so much that we don’t understand about godliness and added to that, there are many things that we will never understand about godliness until we join God in Heaven. We should not conclude that because it is a mystery that it is beyond human comprehension. The Lord wants and wills for us to know about this Divine quality because it is to impact our life. It is God’s plan for all mankind to become godly, that is, to be godlike in our actions, our thoughts, our character, and our pursuits. The Apostle Paul adds this note about godliness to remind us that this is something that the human mind did not conceive, contrive, and even comprehend. Without controversy (Beyond all questions, NIV), great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
It should come as no surprise that this mystery begins and ends in Christ Jesus who is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. You might go as far as to say, the meaning of godliness is to know Jesus Christ. He was manifested in the flesh, which means His mystery was revealed to mankind. He was justified by the Holy Spirit, which means the Holy Spirit was given to Him without measure for the work of Salvation and Redemption. He was seen of Angels, which means the Angels of Glory descended and ascended upon the Son of Man because He was the Christ. Jesus was preached unto the Gentiles and believed on in the world. That means that Jesus impacted us with His Glory through the Message of the Gospel. This transformed the believer. This made it possible for all believers to become godly and to be like Jesus Christ. The mystery of godliness is at work in those who believe. We cannot explain it – but we can live and experience it.
Consider also how the mystery of iniquity is working in the world. People are asking, “how can people be so vicious, cruel, and hateful?” It is because the author of iniquity (the devil) is working in the children of disobedience and leading them to commit all kinds of horrendous acts. If iniquity is at work, and we must admit that it is, shall The Lord’s work cease? God forbid. For that reason and even more to transform wicked lives, God has sent the Power of His Spirit to bring about godliness in the lives of all who believe on Him. It is a mystery but yet godliness is at work.
The Mission of Godliness
Let us consider the goal of godliness. There are many people who often say, “I don’t know what God’s Will is for my life.” Well, here is where we understand God’s Will; it is simply by living the godly life. That is God’s Will. In Romans 12:1-2, the Apostle Paul exhorted believers to live the godly life. I beg you brothers, by the Mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service … and don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may test what is that good, acceptable, and perfect Will of God. When believers practice living what the Bible proclaims, that is called godly living. When believers don’t live according to the Bible, they are not committed to following God’s Will and have become pleasure seekers rather than God seekers.
Folks usually think of missionaries in the sense of those dedicated to taking the Gospel to foreign lands. They may even think of missionaries as those who devote their time to a homeless shelter or food kitchen. While those are certainly wonderful examples of missionary work, every believer is called to the mission of godliness. There are three options when we think of our mission in life. We can choose to live for self-gratification, which is living to please self. The result will be self-centered living and the consequences would be devastating to building relationships. Or we could choose a life mission centered on pleasing people. The results of such a mission is bondage. Or we could choose the life mission of pleasing God. This is the higher calling and most rewarding quest. In the Bible, young David made pleasing God his life mission. One day when David visited his brothers on the battlefield against the Philistines, he heard the verbal assault of Goliath. While all the other soldiers were fearful of the giant’s threats, David saw a cause and a need to stand up in God’s defense. He said to the giant, “all the world will know that there is a God in Israel” … “all those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s.” 1 Samuel 17:46-47. How did David know that? He was not an experienced warrior. He was only a youth and yet he was declaring what God would do. The answer is, David was walking godly with the Lord, and the Lord told him. That is our mission: live for God and allow God to speak through us to the situations in life. Others will take note and see what God can do.
The Measure of Godliness
So, how do you know when you have reached the state of godliness? Is there a way to measure such a state? Is godliness based on human observation or is it a standard that God sets for believers? The Apostle Paul gives us part of the answer when he stated, godliness with contentment is great gain. Gain is something you measure. In most cases, gain starts with a baseline and then goes up from there. Gain for the Christian does not have a baseline but does have a starting point. The moment the Holy Spirit forms Christ Jesus in our heart, we start the journey of becoming godly.
Godliness is measured in three ways. It is first and foremost, measured by our obedience to God’s Word. James 1:22, do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. How could anyone claim to be godly and not obey God? That would result in self-deception. The second measure of godliness is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. A godly person will display the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance in their daily life. Galatians 5:22. The influence of Christ character will start shining through their character as they grow more into Christ’s image. In much the same way, we observe fruit on trees, we should be able to see the fruit in every believer’s life. No fruit is a sign of confession but no possession. There is a third measure of godliness that may not be appealing to some, but it is in the Bible. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:12. While suffering persecution may not be the preferred method of measuring godliness, it is definitely unavoidable. Notice the phrase “all who live godly.” That means that no child of God is exempt from suffering. Rather than trying to avoid the persecution, we should embrace it and seek God’s glory rather than safety. Our western culture has embraced comfortable living and public acceptance as standards of success, but that is not what the Bible says about the matter. Jesus proclaimed that believers would be persecuted for His Name sake. All suffering may not be the same, but all will suffer in some way. Believers should approach those seasons of suffering with rejoicing and boldness as they identify with Jesus Christ. It is through the suffering that we learn to be faithful and steadfast in God’s Work as the Holy Spirit leads us through those times.
The Miracle of Godliness
We have talked about the meaning of godliness, the mission of godliness, and the measure of godliness. While those have certainly helped us understand better the mystery of godliness, we cannot leave out the miracle of godliness. It is a miracle in the sense that it cannot be explained even though we observe the Power of God transforming our lives. It is a miracle because it is God at work and not human effort. It is a miracle because it is eternal and not temporary. Godliness is a miracle.
The Apostles displayed such godliness before the Jewish leaders that it testified that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. That was a miracle that Peter and John were standing up for Christ because a few months earlier, they were hiding in fear of the Jews. The miracle of Godliness will give you strength to stand.
The miracle of Godliness will give you power to live. Our challenge is to live a holy life in an unholy world. The pressures of temptation comes often and with great force, but we must persevere. How will we do that? We will press on because of the miracle of Godliness. God is at work producing His Holy nature in us. We can be confident of this very thing, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6. That is a miracle.
Perhaps the greatest miracle of Godliness will come when we appear before God in Heaven. While many have asked the question, what will Heaven look like and what will God look like, the greater question is our likeness. What will we look like when we stand before God? That will a time when each believer will celebrate the true miracle of Godliness. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2.That will be the full expression of the miracle of Godliness. God will complete the work of perfection in every child of God by molding them into His perfect likeness. That is the miracle of Godliness. Praise His Holy Name! Amen.