You Can Be Godly Luke 18:1-17
* Every serious Christian longs for the light of Godliness to be turned on in his or her life. * No matter how hard we try, we never seem to measure up to what our image is of a Godly person. * Sometimes we have trouble defining what Godliness looks like.
I. Thoughts on Godliness Godliness is God-likeness Godliness is Christ-likeness Godliness is the character of Jesus in us BUT These characteristics get a little fuzzy when we try to track them down in our own lives. We must conclude that Godliness on this earth does not mean perfection.
Godliness is achievable “Be imitators of God”
(Eph. 5:1)
While Godliness is attainable it is not automatic “Discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness” (I Tim. 4:7)
The term discipline is the same word we get gymnasium. God is calling for some spiritual sweat
III. Jesus Points Out Three Areas of Discipline A.) Persistence in Prayer > To develop this trait we must tone up the muscle of perseverance > Prayer is not a 100 yard dash of flashy effort > Prayer is a marathon of slow and steady persistence > Persistent prayer demonstrates faith and humility > Godly people pray fervently and in belief > Godly people never give up on God
B.) A Heart of Humility > To be Godly we must tone up the muscle of humility > The Pharisee’s prayer was bloated with pride > With pride, we become impressed with ourselves and very judgmental of others > The Tax Collector who was a thief and ostracized by the community held up his cup of spiritual poverty and received the riches of God’s grace > Godliness demands we start here in the training room of the humble
C.) Progress in Patience > The third characteristic of Godliness is an exercise of patience > Probably thinking Jesus had more important things to do the disciples began turning the children away > Jesus opened His arms to children of all ages > It takes great patience to train up a child and too often we brush them aside as interruptions but, a: - child’s laughter teaches us about joy - child’s eye guides us to the wonder of creation - child’s reaching hands shows us the kind of faith God awaits from us
Concluding Thoughts: 1.) God wants us to be persistent in prayer. It is time to stop bothering others with our complaints and start praying to God with our real concerns.
2.) God wants us to be humble in heart. We must stop trying to impress others with our image of piety and start asking God for mercy. 3.) We must progress in patience and come to God like a child in pure joy, wonder, and faith.
