A Form Of Godliness.

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.​

2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.​

It's not by accident, I think, that Paul begins his list of characteristics of evil men above with "lovers of self." Out of this self-love flow all of the sins Paul lists to Timothy. What is strange to me, though, is that the very ugly description Paul gives of men who are lovers of self ends with the observation that such men "hold to a form of godliness, although they deny its power." Surely, money-grubbing, unholy, brutal, treacherous, conceited men would not have anything to do with godliness. Nonetheless, Paul says some of these men, at least, will sit in church on Sunday morning, maintaining an outward from of godliness while denying the power of God in their lives. They will make themselves members of a local church community and appear to be of the Body of Believers. Surprising. And disturbing.

If it's possible for people of the sort Paul described above to attach themselves to the Christian religion, maintaining a form of godliness but lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, what about you and I? Do we pretend to godliness but in the mundane, day-to-day events of our lives, serve ourselves rather than God, loving the World, bound under the power of our Flesh, and prisoner to the wiles of the devil?

Sometimes, having a mere form of godliness is not easy to recognize. Let me give you an example: I was teaching a discipleship class last Sunday evening and was going back-and-forth with the group, asking questions and engaging with those who provided answers. At one point, a woman offered some observations about the topic of our discussion, laying out what she thought were entirely true and spiritual notions. But when I asked her if she could anchor her assertions to God's word, she paused, blinked, and said in an amused tone of voice, "No." The woman then just stared at me with a crooked smile on her lips, as though her amusement at her own total inability to ground her thinking about her faith in Scripture was sufficient to alleviate her of any censure for being completely ignorant. I didn't want to press her with this observation and embarrass her, but it has stayed with me how oblivious she was to the deep incongruity in her thinking about her faith. Though she was eager to share what she thought godliness looked like, she could not connect her thoughts to actual biblical references. Amazing! And what's more amazing was that she thought this state of ignorance was entirely okay - amusing even!

The Psalmist wrote, "Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Psalms 119:11) His statement draws a direct link between a knowledge of God's truth secreted in one's heart (that is, memorized), and one's ability to avoid sin. If this link is true for us all generally - which I am convinced it is - then I can be relatively sure that the woman I just described, ignorant of what Scripture actually says, has no little problem with sin in her life. Is she as bad she could be? Probably not. Is she like the men Paul described above in his letter to Timothy? No. But she was, it seemed to me, quite content to have a form of godliness while denying God's power in her life, sitting in a Discipleship class, doodling away on her notebook, offering occasional remarks about the nature of a godly life, while profoundly ignorant of the Bible which is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God might be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

I had an instance in a Men's Life Group (what used to be called a Sunday School class), where one of the men confidently declared to us all, "God helps those who help themselves. That's in the Bible, y'know." The rest of the men in the class murmured their agreement, nodding their heads at the sagacity of the first man's observation. I was astonished at such a statement, knowing that Scripture indicated the exact opposite. I said as much, quoting from God's word passages that directly denied what had been asserted (ie. John 15:4-5; Romans 5:6) There was a confused and uncomfortable silence and then the "facilitator" of the class carried on as though I hadn't said anything.

The man in the class who was so sure about his man-centered view of walking with God revealed in his statement a profound misunderstanding of how to live as a Christian. This misunderstanding would necessarily bear concrete negative effects in his life. No one can be godly in their own effort. Only God can produce godliness. While the man was likely not as corrupt as the men Paul described above, Scripture indicates that the life God calls all of His children to cannot be obtained by human striving. And so, it is certain this man's life, relying on the wrong power source for Christian living, was crowded with spiritual failure, frustration and hypocrisy. But there he sat on Sunday morning, making false assertions about the nature of a godly life, in experience knowing it was false, but confident nonetheless that he was speaking truth. He had a form of godliness (being in attendance at Sunday School class) but was directly, openly denying the power thereof (Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:13; Philippians 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Romans 8:13-14; Galatians 2:20; 1 Peter 5:10, etc.)

I've been guilty of the same in the past, going through the motions of Christian living, compelled to do so in no small part by the fact that I grew up as the son and grandson of Baptist pastors. I didn't hang out with "ungodly" kids, I didn't listen to "ungodly" secular music, I didn't go to the "ungodly" movie theater, I didn't swear (not in front of anyone, anyway), or read wicked books or magazines. On the surface, my veneer of godliness was pretty well-polished. But my heart was far from God. The thing is, I didn't feel the least but hypocritical. Over time, I had developed all sorts of justifications for my cold-heartedness, my spiritual apathy, my "form of godliness that denied the power thereof." And, over time, I was able to settle pretty comfortably into my self-deception, slowly going blind and deaf to my actual condition, bit-by-bit hardening into the life of a religious hypocrite.

There were signs, though, if one was looking for them, that gave away where I was really at with God: I could be observed on every Sunday morning to be totally tuned out of the message that was being preached, drawing cartoons in the margins of the weekly church bulletin, or dozing, or counting how many times the letter "e" appeared in each verse of "How Great Thou Art." I never initiated the God topic with others; I never naturally wanted to talk about my faith or my experience of God. I had no experience of God - except the gradually-quieting, convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. I never read my Bible on my own, eager to study its contents. My prayers were perfunctory and ritualistic, just a string of Christian slogans, usually. I battled endlessly with the same issues, never evidencing in my life a process of God-wrought change, but persistently anxious, withdrawn, selfish, ill-tempered, and bitter.

I read Paul's warning to Timothy quoted at the top of this post these days and don't look for out-and-out "wolves in sheep's clothing," obviously carnal, arrogant, divisive, treacherous people, but rather for the give-aways, the "tells," that deny God's power in the lives of those claiming membership in God's family. If one is at all in tune with God, the "lovers of Self" Paul described above are fairly easy to pick out; it's the quieter, subtler, more practiced hypocrites for whom I have to keep my eyes sharply peeled. Why? So I can point a finger at them and condemn them? No. Not at all. I look for those settled comfortably in spiritual compromise because I have lived the frustrating, dry, sin-filled lives they are and have tasted of the bitterness and death God promises result from such a life (Romans 6:23; Romans 8:6; Galatians 6:7-8; James 1:14-15). I have been swathed in blindness and deafness to God and found myself in the darkness and terror of the "wilderness of sin." I don't want this to be the experience of any of my brother's and sister's in Christ. And so, where I can, I look for those with a "form of godliness" and, through discipleship, help them to find the joyful, restful, life-changing walk with God they were created to have.

So, where are you at spiritually? Are you enjoying God daily and living enthusiastically to His glory? Do you live each day in humble, restful submission to Him, more and more conformed to the Person of Jesus Christ? Or are you a "lover of self rather than a lover of God"?