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Godliness: Awe—then Action!

Professor Howard Hendricks shocked a class of young seminarians with this statement attributed to Robert Murray M'Cheyne: "My people's greatest need is my personal holiness."¹ Few, if any, of those sitting in class that day had ever thought their personal godliness was so important to the needs of their future congregations. If surveyed, the students would have indicated that the faithful preaching of God's Word was a congregation's greatest need. What those students didn't know then—and what many pastors don't know now—is that few things sour the spiritual stomach more than a biblical meal served with the dirty hands of deceit, by one covered in the stench of sin.

When Paul told Timothy to exercise himself for "godliness," he used the word eusebeia, which means "reverence, respect, piety toward God."² The term occurs fifteen times in the New Testament, thirteen in the Pastoral Letters of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, and a whopping nine times in 1 Timothy alone (2:2, 10; 3:16; 4:7, 8; 6:3, 5, 6, 11). Because the Pastoral Letters are the last written by Paul, his call to godliness is hot with urgency.

Godliness , however, is not a stain-glassed word for worship. It doesn't describe serene expressions, bowed heads, or folded hands. It's not a word for the monastery or nunnery. Godliness is alive and active. It marches out into the world and shines the light of faith. It's the Isaiah-like obedience of a man awestruck by the person and presence of God, rising to his feet and saying, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8). It is "Awe—then action!"³ Only the God-struck doers of the Word are rightfully called godly.