Great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
(1 Timothy 3.16)
(1 Timothy 3.16)
What has godliness to do with worship? Everything! I love to sing to God, and really appreciated the musicians here at Bristo. Praise is part of worship. But only part. Worship is something that involves ‘giving God His worth’. In the every-day routine, reality of living.
That’s what Peter is getting at in 2 Peter 1.5-6. He makes clear that faith is the door into the Christian life. That’s why, once a person’s grasped enough about Jesus that they want to identify with Him, we begin with baptism. But baptism is not arrival. It is the beginning of a journey. A journey punctuated by the fellowship meal of the Lord’s people, reminiscent of the Passover meal their predecessors shared before going from Egypt into the desert, towards the Promised Land. Deeper into and looking to the full coming of the Kingdom of God.
Worship is about being taken up into the life of Jesus Christ. A long process. Worship comes out of a human life that is seeking to be shaped by the Who, What and How of Jesus Christ. This is a life that expresses true worship.
When our lives are focussed on following this path, we are embarked on worship. And such worship is properly understood as godliness. What is godliness? It is a life seeking to be rooted in Jesus Christ. A life that really wants to belong to Jesus Christ.
A life pursuing godliness seeks to be filled by the Holy Spirit. And equally importantly, a godly life wants to work out the implications of this in practical, daily affairs.
A life pursuing godliness is not just about following rules. It’s deeper than that. It’s about following through on what it means to be harnessed to Jesus Christ. This is why faith has to be supplemented with goodness, knowledge, self-control and perseverance.
This doesn’t produce slick answers to all of life’s challenges. But it does mean that, through the challenge and the struggle, there is the shaping in us of a life that better reflects the light and truth of God.
