"Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory." 1 Timothy 3:16
Godliness is a word
that has fallen into disuse lately. It is quite literally a mystery in our
current generation. It seems that only a couple of generations ago it was at
the top of the list, at least for Christians. Granted, I am not one who thinks
that the Christianity of the past had everything right. Our need is not
to return to the 50's style of Christianity. To idealize the era of Leave
it to Beaver, is to forget that each and every generation has its
shortcomings and blind spots. Every generation insists on certain things
to the detriment of other things. Even things that we say that a certain
generations did better than others we must understand that those things that a
generation did well outwardly, may have lacked substance underneath.
Ultimately it was up to each person within that generation to pursue the
substance rather than the shadows. (Col 2:17) The same is true for us today.
The goal in looking
back and seeing what has been lost is to regain those things that previous
generations, at least outwardly, had a firmer grasp on. As we look back on
those times when Christianity was more accepted and weaved into the warp and
woof of our culture we don't want to fall into the trap of nostalgia and just
try to make our life look like theirs. This is what I would call longing for
the "good ole days." We live in a different time and faithfully
following Jesus Christ is going to look a little different in our current world
then it did then. We ought not
compromise on anything, but should "conduct yourselves with fear
throughout the time of your exile" (1 Peter 1:17) This world wasn't, isn't
and shouldn't be our true home. In fact it is probably to our benefit that the
line between Christian and non-Christian is somewhat clearer. Believers and
unbelievers should be different.
On the other
hand, we must be careful not to fall into what CS Lewis called
"Chronological Snobbery." This is where we in our pride think
that our generation has evolved such that we have the corner on the market
(have arrived) while all previous generations could not have done, believed,
worked, etc as well as we do now. It is to think that they have nothing to
teach us, that what they did or believe is out of fashion. We would be
wrong in our assumption that they did everything perfectly back then, and just
as wrong to think that we do now. Everything we do now must not be the
best way to do it or our world would look a whole lot different.
How do we avoid these
two pitfalls? "Chronological Snobbery" and longing for the
"Good ole Days" are both alive and well, especially amongst
Christians. This brings us back to our initial realization, Godliness is
a mystery in our current generation. So what is to be done? Is
godliness and righteousness important for the Christian today? To say no is to think that we have evolved or
moved on from such primitive ideas as Godliness and its necessity for the
Christian. (1 Peter 1:15-16) And yet the
way that we get to godliness still seems a mystery because it can’t be by
merely patterning our lives after those in a previous generation why got it
right. If we do that we will miss what
was supposed to be believed, trusted and sought after. Trying hard to be like
them just won’t work.
As Usual the
Scriptures come to our rescue. Paul in 1
Timothy gives word to our struggling with this question. “Great indeed is the
mystery of godliness.” He knew the
trouble: being godly is hard work, and just trying really hard would backfire
in pride and self-righteousness. How
would he or anyone else get there? What he says next seems as if it comes out
of right field, but it is indeed the answer to our question. “Great indeed, we
confess, is the mystery of godliness: He
was manifested in the flesh,” All of the sudden Paul begins to talk about a
person. How is the mystery of godliness solved? How are we to become godly in
the sight of God? He was manifested in
the flesh. This is no accident, no slip of the mind or pen of Paul as he
wrote Holy Scripture. The mystery of godliness, how we actually become godly is
wrapped up in a person. The Person of
Jesus Christ. As Paul goes on, the mystery of godliness is wrapped up in the
person who was “vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed
among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”
That, my friends is
Jesus Christ and that is where godliness is found, not just that we find in Him
our example of Godliness and righteousness, but that we find ourselves in Him,
trusting in Him, and through that we find righteousness and godliness given to us
as a gift. Godliness is not found in longing for the good ole days, trying to
pattern our life after Leave it to
Beaver, nor is it found in our chronological snobbery of thinking ourselves
too evolved to need it. It is found in a person: Jesus Christ who came to grant
it (and continue to grant it day by day) to those who trust in Him and look to
Him to change them.
In Christ, My Only
Hope,
Pastor Steven
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