1 Tim 4:7-10 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 
We ended last week with the heart of the Apostle Paul expressed unto Timothy in terms of godliness in association with several other key truths of Christ Jesus. 1 Tim 6:11 ....pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. We are considering the fact that godliness is of such importance that it is declared more than nine times within the New Testament, in the writings of both the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter. Godliness is seen as piety, yet it is not piety in the sense that someone is better than another when spiritual issues are in place. It is the piety that desires to please God because it is sincere, and humble, and reverent before Him. It is the recognition that we are before the Almighty Creator of all things. That increasing realization causes us to humbly tremble in His awesome presence, before His Majesty. It is the expressed love of God that seeks to honor Him in all that we do. In that true godliness, that humble piety, we are rather seeking after the greater ability to express God’s love unto others, as He has so loved us. That is why it is grouped with righteousness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.	
Against this picture, the Apostle Paul instructs us that this world’s values are anything but honoring to God. There is a mockery of godliness and an increasingly irreverent attitude and behavior toward God and all the things of God, including His Beloved Son and His Church, His Body on this earth. 2 Tim 3:1-7 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 
This world has twisted true godliness into an ugly aberration which vaunts itself above all else. Rather than seeking to completely please and bless the Lord, this earthly form of godliness seeks but one thing, to please itself. This practiced deviation of godliness is completely set on what it can gain from others, whether by deceit, or shameless power, or brutality, or lies, or any such self-promoting practice. It brings everything into the central basis of what I deserve, what I can get out of it, what serves my interests, what is fair to me, and what brings pleasure to me, no matter how it hurts and attacks others. Concern for others has no place in this honoring the deity of self. All that matters, all that is considered is my place within scheme of my self-glorification. This is the wicked expediency that is expounded within the chains and slavery of this world. 
It is into this dark depravity that God has shined forth in the majesty of His Lovingkindness to show, through His Only Begotten Son, the true and intense value of godliness. Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. Jesus Christ is the One in Whom true and pure and perfect godliness has its every basis. As we are in Christ, by the grace of God, through His death and resurrection, so will our lives be conformed to Him. We will learn what it means to reverence God. We will come into the freedom of no longer being bound by the chains of slavery to self. We will see the vast need for God in this world and will desire that He is honored, glorified, and given all the majesty that is rightfully due Him.
Next, in Titus 1:1-3, we read, Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior… Godliness is embedded in the truth of the Word of God. It values every promise, every revelation, every comfort, and every admonition which shows forth the greater measure of God’s love. It expresses a living faith in the fact that God has done, and will do, everything that He has told us in His Word. We find the fortitude and the determination of living unto Him in our every godly action on this earth. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to know and to believe and to live in the absolute verity of godliness in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
As well, the Apostle Peter lists some of the good deeds that are characteristic of the godliness that is ours in Christ Jesus. These are those elements that give forth the evidence that there truly is a new master of our lives, a loving and kind and gentle master who desires only the best for us. He reveals Himself to us through His divine character of Love. 2 Peter 1:2-9 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 
	First of all, notice that grace and peace are now infused into our lives through the true knowledge of God which results in having every aspect of our lives covered by God’s love. In the expression of His godliness, He draws us into those lives that will serve to bring forth from our hearts, increasing honor and glory and praise unto Him. As we learn more of Him, we learn to more fully appreciate Him, which leads into increasingly more accurate expressions of our reverence before Him. Our very lives become the expression of godliness because He is the very core of our beings.
	Notice how the godliness that is ours in Jesus Christ is intertwined with the very course of our lives and our actions and our joyous consideration of Him. And, reemphasizing the Apostle Peter, Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. As we know Him more and more, and revere Him more and more and honor Him more and more, we learn the value of diligence. We realize that we are not just Christians on Sunday mornings. We do not just read the Word occasionally. We do not pray only when we are in need. We grow into spiritual maturity as we become diligent unto the things of God in our lives every moment of every day. 
	As that diligence becomes established, we find that our faith is increased. We trust God and we know that He is the only purpose of true life. That faith in turn creates the desire to moral excellence in our behavior on this earth. It is not for show and tell purposes. It becomes the single course of our lives because we know that it pleases God and honors His great sacrifice of Love for our salvation. Our spiritual knowledge increases exponentially with our diligence and moral excellence. We know that God is pleased and we come to know, in increasing reality, that God will be pleased in these lives that are His. 
	As well, our knowledge of Him and His ways develops self-control. We become less and less governed by the whims and fancies of our self. We become more and more set upon only those things that develop greater measures of living our lives unto Him. This in turn means that we have, built up in us, perseverance. We do not find ourselves demanding God to do this or that and to do it right now. We faithfully stand fast in Him, waiting and watching as He does that which will result in the more perfect manner of His expression of Love. We are less and less anxious and find that desperation becomes less and less of a concern. We know that we can count on God. Therefore, we live in accordance with the manner of perseverance that holds forth His banner of love in the midst of seemingly hopeless odds and circumstances. We do not give up as God does not give up on us. 
	That holding fast to God is what develops the godliness of our consideration, the complete and faithful reverence and enthrallment of God. We find that our every thought becomes focused on what will please God. We want to please Him in every aspect of our lives, not because we are forced to do so, but because we love Him. All these elements bring forth the characteristic of honoring God simply because He is to be honored. 
This naturally leads to brotherly kindness because, as we love God, we can do nothing but love our brothers and sisters in Christ. As we treat our beloved brethren in lovingkindness, we are brought face-to-face with the exact expression of what is at the heart of godliness, the true love of God. Oh, the Love of God! It is that love which holds nothing against another. It is that love which gives itself, even unto death to be of service for others. It is the love that is Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who gave Himself freely for our sakes. It is the Love that is Our Heavenly Father in giving His Only Begotten Son to be our way of salvation. It is the Love that is the Holy Spirit as He indwells us and works from within us to bring forth His ever increasing measure of godliness in our lives. It is the Love that is opened into us by His Word made life through the effective ministry of the Holy Spirit.
	Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 
	As is evident, there is so much instilled into the admonition unto godliness in our lives and in the expressed life of the Church. It is vitally necessary for the Holy Spirit to exercise that truth and to do so with loving discipline as He works to strengthen and to increase the measure of godliness that is poured super-abundantly into us by the Love of God. The every aspect of this discipline is set in the divine nature of Our God, to Whom all glory is due. In that truth, we are so blessed by being shown, not only God’s love in action, and the need and the desire to give Him all blessing and honor, but as well, the complete founding of our eternal hope in Him. In that hope, we pay tribute to Him and Him Alone in His godliness as we live before Him. So be it!
But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Amen

This morning’s benediction is 2 Peter 3:10-13 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.    
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you… Amen.