Essential Readings for A Godly Living

IV. The Nature of Mystery

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh... (1 Tim. 3:16)

Godliness is a mystery! Fail to grasp this fact and you will never understand the nature of godliness. It is a mystery to the human mind because human wisdom naturally thinks in terms of human effort. But true godliness is received as a gift from God through a supernatural work of His Spirit. God uses the divine power of His Spirit to provide a new nature within our eternal soul when we are living wholly by faith in Him. (2 Pet. 1:3-4)

The Galatian Christians provide an example of how even earnest believers have a tendency to rely on their own human efforts to become righteous after receiving the gift of the Spirit. Because these Christians had not learned how to walk under the control and power of the Holy Spirit by dependent faith, Paul needed to correct them.

This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by...faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit {regeneration and a past event}, are you now being made perfect {complete in self-sacrificing love} by the flesh ? Have you suffered so many things {to break the self-sufficient spirit} in vain...? (Gal. 3:2-4)

For we {as God's called-out children} through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (Gal. 5:5 Emphasis added)

The Galatians are not the only Christians who have been taken through many painful trials to remove their self-sufficient spirit in vain. Many trust in the Lord to be forgiven for their sins and justified before God, but then they attempt to improve their Christian life by their own human efforts. Paul would have this same question for every Christian who is still living by their own fleshly efforts: "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect {complete in love} by the flesh?"

Someone who has seen expressions of God's divine life of love may be tempted to imitate the life by trying to reproduce similar acts of benevolence. But everyone who is still living by their own efforts will continue to find a self-centered nature corrupting their most loving acts. Until this old nature has died out and Christ has been enabled to establish His Kingdom-life of love within the heart, their identical acts of benevolence will lack the nature of divine love.

Pride may persuade you "not to be out-done" by someone who is genuinely spiritual. You may even impress the undiscerning with your acts of generosity {which includes service to God}, and thereby achieve your selfish ends, but your "generosity" will not be "godliness." When self is still in the middle of your works, your "generosity" will continue to have a selfish quality about it!

The carnal nature, even when it is trying to love as Jesus did, will expose itself when not properly rewarded. For example, when the self-centered nature still prevails, even earnest Christians will eventually lose their motivation for serving if they are not rewarded or recognized for their "loving acts." They will also become irritated whenever someone interferes with their plans. As Jesus has said, "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth {eventually, if not immediately} speaks." (Matt. 12:34)

In contrast to these works of the flesh, godliness – or God-likeness – is the direct and exclusive consequence of God's activity in His children. When God is supernaturally displaying His life of love through His children of faith, the Lord's indwelling presence completely satisfies their inner soul. These spiritual Christians therefore have the capacity to continue loving others even when they are being treated poorly. As they continue to give of themselves to the work of the Lord, they are rewarded with a constant inward flow of God's eternal life of love. "Indeed, the water I {the Lord} give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14)