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Thank you, Paul and Clara.

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Now let's open our Bibles together please to 1 Timothy chapter 6.

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There are some words that we use that are so familiar to us that we use them understanding

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what we mean.

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But they're the kind of words that are occasionally hard to quantify.

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For example, the word peace.

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I have peace about that, we say.

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Really?

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Well that's good.

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And we think we know what we mean and we think others understand what we mean, but really

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what is peace?

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How do you define?

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How do you explain peace?

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Or we sing as we did this morning, I love you with the love of the Lord.

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Now there's another word.

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We use it often.

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Love.

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And we have a general idea of what love is, but how do you quantify love?

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There's another word the same way as a key word in the whole book of 1 Timothy.

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It is found in our text this morning.

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It's the word godliness.

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Now we hear the word godly or the word godliness and we think immediately, oh yeah, I know

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what that is, but do we really understand what godliness looks like in street clothes?

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The word godliness is sometimes defined as piety.

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That's the way Vine describes it in his dictionary.

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Now if there's another word that gives me a fit, it's the word piety.

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It sounds so puritanical, so Victorian.

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Oh, he's a pious person.

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Now it's a wonderful word, but it has all kinds of connotations.

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Such is the word godliness.

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The word literally means well-devoted in the Greek language.

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Well-devoted.

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It means to be well-devoted to God.

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14 times that word is used in the New Testament.

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Eight of those 14 times in this one epistle that we've been studying.

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There's another time a word is translated godliness, at least in my translation, in

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chapter 2 and verse 10.

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There it's a slightly different word.

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It means they're God-devoted.

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It's described as godliness in the English.

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What does it mean to be godly?

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Well, it describes a life that has a right attitude toward God.

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A godly person properly relates to God in his daily routine.

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What is godly is what is well-pleasing to God.

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Godliness is a wonderful and spiritual word, but it's often, as I say, fuzzy and obscure

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as to what it really looks like, clothed in humanity.

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So that's what I want to attempt to do this morning, to describe godliness in street clothes

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as it is exposed to us in the text of 1 Timothy 6, 1 through 10.

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Godliness is a way of seeing life.

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Godliness is a way of seeing life, putting God at the very center of it.

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Every one of us who is a believer in Jesus Christ is called to godliness.

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In chapter 4, verse 7, the apostle instructed, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

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All of us are called to godliness, and Paul says it requires discipline.

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So what does it look like when one is disciplined this way, when one has learned to be God-centered?

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What does his life look like?

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For you see, a godly person is one who learns to put God at the center, who learns, in other

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words, how to govern his life by what pleases God, what is well-devoted, well-pleasing to

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him.

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In chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, we see that godliness governs how we treat others.

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Let all who are under the yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor,

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so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be spoken against.

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And let those who have believers as their masters not be disrespectful to them because

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they are brethren.

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But let them serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit, that is,

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of the good service of the slaves, those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved.

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Teach and preach these principles, writes Paul.

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Godliness governs how we treat others.

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One of the most telling measurements of true religion is how it causes us to deal with

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others in our lives.

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The measurement of true religion is not how loud we shout, how strict we are, how orthodox

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our doctrinal statement is, or how ascetic or austere our lifestyle.

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But a true measure of godliness is how we handle relationships.

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Here the Apostle Paul points to one of the most difficult of relationships to illustrate

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the point.

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For he writes to slaves.

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We read about slavery, we hear about slavery, but none of us are slaves, though we may feel

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like it from time to time.

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But we're not really slaves.

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Slaves had no rights, period.

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Slaves did not belong to themselves.

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They belonged to an owner.

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And there are some historians who say that up to half of the people living in the Roman

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Empire in the days of the New Testament were slaves.

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You think about that.

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Up to half of them in the Roman Empire were slaves.

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Some of them were very educated and cultured.

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Some physicians, for example, were slaves.

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But they didn't belong to themselves.

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They had no personal rights or liberty.

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They belonged to someone else.

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It would be a tough way to live.

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And so the Apostle writes to those in such a predicament in life.

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And he explains to them as he explains to us what godliness looks like in street clothes.

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Down where the rubber meets the road, godliness determines, it governs how we treat other

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people.

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For example, how a slave would treat his master.

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Or how we today, by way of application, would treat those that are in authority over us

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at work in our place of employment.

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That was not an exact parallel.

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There couldn't be.

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But there are some applications to it.

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In the first place we see here that a god-centered person will give others their due honor.

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A slave is to honor his master.

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Respect and regard, even for our enemies, is a hallmark of authentic Christianity.

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It is a mistake for Christians to attack, malign, and assault those who disagree with

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them or mistreat them.

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That is one reason there is such vitriol in our society today regarding some of the social

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issues.

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Because those of us who bear the name of Jesus Christ have attacked and assaulted those whose

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lives, whose choices, are sinful and immoral.

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Godliness governs how we treat other people.

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We are to respect others, even those who disagree with us.

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Respect is based upon the fact that all of us are created in the image of God.

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Even those who are ignorant of that.

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Even those whose choices don't even remotely resemble what God would want.

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They are nonetheless created in the image of God and because of that they have a certain

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dignity.

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We must never forget it.

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And we who know God, who are authentic Christians, we who are choosing to live with God at the

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center of our lives, must treat all people with respect, even those we may not like.

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Now that respect doesn't imply that we agree with them.

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It doesn't signify that we are going to compromise on issues where we differ greatly.

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But it does mean that we are going to respect other people to the glory of God.

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A God-centered person will give others their due honor.

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Secondly, a God-centered person will concern himself with God's reputation in the world

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because you see that's what's at stake.

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That's what Paul points out here to these slaves.

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He says, you honor your masters so that the name of God and our teaching may not be blasphemed

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and spoken against.

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Is it not amazing that the God of the universe so identifies with us that the way that we

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treat others risks the reputation of His name?

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Our actions will either make God famous or infamous to people in the world.

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Now there are many texts and scriptures I could turn to to undergird that, but I'm not

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going to this morning.

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I'm going to basically leave it at that point and say that a God-centered person will concern

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himself with God's reputation.

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He will treat others in his life in such a way that God's reputation is enhanced and

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the gospel of Jesus Christ is glorified and magnified.

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Even if it's an owner and you're a slave.

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Thirdly a God-centered person will not presume upon other believers.

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Some of the slaves apparently were saying, well my owner is a Christian.

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My master is a believer.

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Therefore I should have special privileges.

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He ought to treat me in a certain way because he's a Christian too.

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Because we think that about our bosses, don't we?

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Well he's a Christian, how can he do that to me?

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I'm a Christian too, why doesn't he give me special privileges?

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But Paul says a God-centered person will not presume upon other believers.

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We should not get special treatment because of who we are, that's wrong.

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We should follow the golden rule spoken by Jesus.

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If all of us just did that, it would revolutionize our relationships.

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A God-centered person like these slaves he speaks to in verse 2 will not presume upon

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other believers because of that special relationship in the family of God.

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Will not presume upon them.

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Now if they initiate it, if they give it, then that's wonderful.

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We should not presume or expect it.

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So when we think of godly living, and we think of what godliness is, let's put it down here

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in street clothes.

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And understand, as wonderful as it sounds and as a spiritual term as it is, it means

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that we will treat others in a way that honors the Lord.

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And sometimes that's tough.

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Secondly, godliness governs how we value truth.

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The apostle continues writing, if anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with

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sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness.

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He is conceited and understands nothing, but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions

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and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions,

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and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose

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that godliness is a means of gain.

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Godliness determines how we value truth.

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A God-centered person discovers what truth is, and discerns what error is.

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Do you know we're living in a day when people don't really much care, even Christians?

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When we talk about truth, or we talk about doctrine, or we talk about teaching, it's

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one of those subjects that a lot of people just shrug off and say, well, you know, so

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what?

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A godly person understands and values truth.

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The apostle describes truth here as the teaching that conforms to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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He implies further that it's more than teaching, it's also a lifestyle that conforms to the

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Lord Jesus Christ.

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Here in the epistle he said, great is the mystery of godliness.

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He was revealed in the flesh.

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What he's saying there is that godliness was dressed in street clothes in the person of

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Jesus Christ.

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When he walked on the earth, you and I had the opportunity to see what godliness is in

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human form.

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He was revealed in humanity once and for all in the incarnation.

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And now truth is whatever conforms to him, to the standard that he set.

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The standard of his lifestyle.

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The standard of his words.

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A god-centered person seeks to discover what truth is and brings what he hears, brings

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the way he lives before Jesus Christ and says, Lord, you shape it, you mold it, you cut off

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what shouldn't be there.

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He discovers what truth is as measured by Jesus Christ.

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But then also a god-centered person discerns what error is.

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And that's really the main point that Paul is making here.

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He warns that there are those who advocate a different doctrine.

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Literally he says a hetero doctrine.

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He means a doctrine of a different kind that does not conform to Christ.

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So has a lifestyle that does not conform to Jesus.

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He is talking apparently about some who knew the truth and then turned from it.

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You know when you reject healthy doctrine, it inevitably results in spiritual sickness.

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And he says such a promoter of false doctrine is characterized by conceit.

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It's puffed up, literally he says.

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Someone has said you can pick out actors by the glazed look that comes to their eyes when

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the conversation turns away from themselves.

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A false teacher is that way.

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The arrows point inward.

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And because of that conceit in his mind, he understands nothing, says Paul.

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There's a morbid craving on his part for controversy.

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And for word wars.

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That's literally what he says.

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Not Star Wars, word wars.

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Have you ever met anybody like that who likes to dispute words?

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I have occasionally run across people even in churches whose greatest love is controversy.

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If there's not a controversy they can get involved in, they start one.

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Because controversy is what they live for.

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That's what they identify with.

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And they love to bicker and argue about words.

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Be careful, says Paul.

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He says this all results in envy and strife, in abusive language, in evil suspicions, and

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in constant friction.

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Word constant friction means to rub together so as to irritate.

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Have you ever been around people and you rub up against them and the result is just irritation?

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It doesn't feel good at all.

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Just constant friction.

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Paul says that characterizes a false teacher.

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Furthermore he says that they imagine that they're going to make godliness a means to

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wealth.

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That somehow they're going to gain money or fame or power or some kind of personal gain

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out of religion.

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That's what they're about.

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There's no value of truth.

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What they are espousing has one purpose and that is to benefit them.

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And he says that these are to be rejected.

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Benjamin Franklin said, arguing is a game that two can play.

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But it is a strange game in that neither opponent ever wins.

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Here we have a person who likes to argue and he argues out of error.

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And thus evidence is that he is not god-centered.

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Because you see a god-centered person values truth.

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And he causes that, he evaluates and measures that truth by the Lord Jesus Christ in what

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he taught and how he lived.

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And because of that measurement of truth he is also able to discern error when it comes.

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Now we think when we read the Bible like this, well he's talking about false preachers or

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televangelists who are on the tube raising the bucks or whatever they're doing.

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Well he's talking about that sort of thing.

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But let me tell you the greatest, the most prominent kind of error today doesn't come

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from a preacher or a televangelist.

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I'll tell you where it comes from, its sources are many.

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It comes from advice columnists in the newspaper.

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As often as they're right, they're dead wrong.

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It comes from self-help books and magazines that you pick up everywhere.

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You say what's wrong with that stuff?

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Most of it leaves God out of the center of it.

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That's what's wrong with it.

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You measure it by the Lord Jesus Christ in what he taught and how he lived and its error.

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But it is the hottest thing selling in America today.

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Not just shelves, but whole stands of this stuff appears in bookstores, grocery markets,

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error.

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You hear it on TV talk shows or radio talk shows.

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Just espoused all the time.

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I mean there was a terrible tragedy that occurred because of a television talk show a few days

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ago.

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A man was killed.

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But just think of all the error that goes out all the time and that the audience applauds

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on those programs.

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And the louder the applause, the more the general population says, oh that must be true.

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That must be the right thing to think.

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That's what I should do.

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That you measure what has been said by the guest or by the host or by the applause against

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the Lord Jesus Christ, his words and his life.

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And 99 times out of 100 it will probably be error.

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A godly person discerns that.

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A godly person doesn't just listen to that stuff and take it in and act on it.

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He measures everything that he hears.

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Because a godly person values truth.

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He discovers what it is in Jesus Christ and then everything else is measured against that.

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And he discerns the error and doesn't participate.

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Every now and then there's somebody that I'm talking to who is facing a crisis in life.

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This doesn't happen all the time by any means, but every now and then it happens.

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And in the course of our conversation the person tells me what some of his or her Christian

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friends have said to do in this time of crisis.

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And I slap myself across the side of the face and I say how in the world can a Christian

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ever give that kind of advice?

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And people who are in crisis are often vulnerable.

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They're looking for help.

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And here's a Christian brother or a Christian sister who just gives them error.

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And if they choose to follow it there's tragedy and heartache.

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But a Christian told me to do this.

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You see, and error doesn't just come from liberal churches and from the new age books

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out there.

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It's just so everywhere prominent that we can take it into our own lives almost without

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realizing it and spout it back to others.

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We have to measure carefully what truth is.

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And that truth is always measured against the Lord Jesus Christ, his words in life.

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That's how we discover what is true.

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And that's how we discern what is error.

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A godly person knows how to value truth.

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His God-centeredness governs the way that he values truth.

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Truth is important.

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Number three, godliness governs how we appraise things.

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Verse six.

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He says, godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

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For we have brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either.

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And if we have food and covering with these we shall be content.

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But those who want to get rich, that's the emphasis there.

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Those who purpose, those who choose, those who set it as their goal to get rich, fall

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into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into

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ruin and destruction.

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For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered

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away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang.

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As we think about godliness in street clothes we want to observe that godliness governs

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how we appraise things.

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The world knows the worth of everything but the value of nothing.

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The godly person knows that things do not satisfy the soul and understands what is of

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true value.

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He knows where things fit in his ranking of what's important in life.

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A godly person seeks to practice the law of contentment, says Paul, verses 6 through 8.

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The law of contentment.

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The word contentment here was a word that was picked up from the literature of that

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day and it means self-sufficiency.

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Now because of its connotation in our world today, I think there's a better way to define

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contentment.

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Contentment is soul-sufficiency.

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It is soul-sufficiency.

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It is an inner-sufficiency that is independent of outward circumstances.

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It's a rare word in the New Testament used only here and in 2 Corinthians 9, 8.

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Inner-sufficiency.

327
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How can we practice the law of contentment?

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By doing two things.

329
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First of all by remembering what I call the zero principle.

330
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The zero principle is very simple.

331
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It means that we come into the world with zero.

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That's what's on the ledger.

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And through life we add and we lose, hopefully add more than we lose.

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We build up all this profit or loss and we come to the end of life and we die.

335
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And what's on the books?

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Zero.

337
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Because we enter the world with nothing and we leave the world with nothing.

338
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Now if we will remember that, it will help us to be content.

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We get very wrapped up in what goes on in the ledger books in between the two zeros.

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It's easy to get caught up in living for those things.

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But let's remember the principle of the zero.

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That just as we enter the world with our hands open, we leave the world with our hands open,

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holding onto nothing.

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Let's remember what's really important.

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But we will also practice the law of contentment by defining the idea of what needs are.

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The stoic philosopher Epictetus said, contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from

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00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:28,920
few wants.

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It's a good statement.

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Contentment is learning to live with what we have because true wealth is measured by

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the number of things that we can do without.

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We define our needs very, very broadly, don't we?

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And our whole advertising system in America is geared to help us make it even broader.

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We need all of these things.

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You and I will learn to practice the law of contentment if we will define the idea of

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needs the way the Bible does.

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And they're said right here, food and covering, shelter, period.

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Jesus said basically the same thing in Matthew 6 verses 31 to 33, and He says, your heavenly

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Father knows that you have need of these basics, but seek Him first and all these things will

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be added to you.

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But we are suckers for the advertising industry.

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It is possible to be content with but little.

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Possessing much does not guarantee contentment.

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A godly person seeks to practice contentment and will do so by remembering the zero principle

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and by defining his needs biblically.

365
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:15,960
But secondly, a godly person seeks to avoid the danger of money love.

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There's a danger in loving money, and He explains what that is in verse 9.

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He says it brings irretrievable loss.

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One who wants to get rich, who loves money, will time after time fall into temptation

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and a snare, and also many irrational and harmful desires.

370
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That's because the things that money buys do not satisfy.

371
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The love of money will damage one's character.

372
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It will destroy spiritual desires, and it will dissipate the energy of life, the danger

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of loving money.

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He goes on to explain in verse 10 that the love of money is a root sin.

375
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It is a root sin from which springs up all kinds of evil.

376
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It causes a person to compromise his morals.

377
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It causes a person to steal, to swindle, to plagiarize, to gamble, to murder.

378
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All of these things come out of the root sin of the love of money.

379
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And notice the consequences.

380
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He says that because of longing for money, there are some who have wandered away from

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the faith.

382
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It wasn't a direct detour, it was a wandering.

383
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It just slowly happened.

384
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And he says they pierced themselves.

385
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:16,680
It's like falling on your own sword to love money.

386
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They pierced themselves through, he says, with many a pang, that is many a pain in life.

387
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If you think of some of the wealthy, wealthy families in our area, in our country, I think

388
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:41,160
of one family in particular that I'm not going to name, has been very involved in our

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00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:43,000
national life.

390
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And tragedy after tragedy has come to that family.

391
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And you begin to investigate how the money was made.

392
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:59,240
It was made in sin and in leading others to sin and to waste their lives.

393
00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:05,120
And it has brought nothing but ruin to that family, though they are today fabulously wealthy

394
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:09,080
and very prominent in America.

395
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The tragedy of loving money.

396
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:21,600
A godly person appraises things lightly, as merely temporal and as but means to the end,

397
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:26,040
which is a life lived to the honor of God.

398
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There are some questions to help us measure our godliness.

399
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:33,440
The first question is how do I treat others?

400
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:34,960
How do I treat others?

401
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:42,040
Do I treat them with respect and honor or do I denigrate and malign them?

402
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:48,520
Do I serve others or do I use others?

403
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:54,680
Is God's reputation strengthened by the way that I treat others or do people blaspheme

404
00:35:54,680 --> 00:36:04,580
God behind my back because of the kind of person I am in my relationships?

405
00:36:04,580 --> 00:36:05,760
How do I treat others?

406
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:11,800
The answer to that question will measure how godly I am as a person.

407
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:15,160
How do I value truth?

408
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:16,440
Do I adhere to it?

409
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:17,440
Do I follow it?

410
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:21,880
Is my lifestyle conformed to Jesus Christ?

411
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:28,400
Do I discern what is error out there and avoid it?

412
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:35,520
The answer to that question, how do I value truth, will tell me how godly I am.

413
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,320
And how do I appraise things?

414
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:43,800
Are people or things more important?

415
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:50,800
Am I content with what God has provided or do I crave more?

416
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:58,480
What am I willing to give in order to have more?

417
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:07,280
Asking myself the question, how do I appraise things, helps me see how godly I really am.

418
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:15,040
The ungodly person uses people, ignores truth, and loves things.

419
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:28,040
But the godly person loves people, grows in truth, and uses things for the glory of God.

420
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:34,520
So as we think about godliness in street clothes, I want to ask a question of all of us.

421
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:38,440
Are you godly or ungodly?

422
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:44,760
You say, well I'm sort of in between.

423
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:46,680
No?

424
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:52,960
You see either we are living with God at the center of our lives or we're not.

425
00:37:52,960 --> 00:38:00,280
We are either godly, and the degree of that varies, but we are either leading a God-centered

426
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,280
life or we're not living a God-centered life.

427
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:08,040
We're either godly or we are ungodly.

428
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:14,720
The key to the answer to that question of whether we're godly or not is our will.

429
00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:24,120
It's whether we choose to put God at the control center of our lives.

430
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:29,200
Or we just ask Him to come along for the ride.

431
00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:30,640
God is not content with that.

432
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:34,760
God is not content to be anybody's co-pilot.

433
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:40,160
God will be pilot, period.

434
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:48,320
And when He is, when there's God-centeredness in our lives, then things and people and truth

435
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,520
that all begins to fit into place.

436
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:59,520
Oh God, give us a hunger to be a godly people.

437
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,440
Let's pray.

438
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:08,520
Well, are you godly or are you ungodly?

439
00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:14,080
It's a rather stark question, isn't it?

440
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,480
A blunt question.

441
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:22,920
But I think a legitimate one is certainly an important one.

442
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:24,440
Are you godly?

443
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:25,920
Is God at the center of your life?

444
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:33,400
Is He at control center or is He somewhere on the fringe?

445
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:39,920
He's not content to be on the fringe, nor will that produce the kind of a life that

446
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,920
will be satisfying.

447
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:50,760
Or we live to the honor and glory of God and mean something when you die.

448
00:39:50,760 --> 00:40:00,040
And so my request of you today, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, is to be sure

449
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:02,720
that God's at the center.

450
00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:08,240
The godliness is something you're willing to discipline yourself for.

451
00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:11,720
You're willing to let godliness govern you.

452
00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:18,280
God-centeredness govern and control your life in every dimension.

453
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:21,080
Are you?

454
00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:30,800
If you would say today, Pastor, that is my desire, that is my desire, whether you've

455
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:36,960
lived that way up to this point or you haven't, but you're saying that is my desire, would

456
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:41,440
you just say that that's the case by lifting your hand?

457
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:48,200
For some it will be a decision, a turnaround today, but for others it's going to be the

458
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:50,520
trip you've been on for the last period of your life.

459
00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:55,280
But you're saying by the lifted hand, I want to live a godly life, a God-centered life.

460
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,440
Yes, God bless you.

461
00:40:58,440 --> 00:40:59,680
May it be true of all of us.

462
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:07,400
Oh Father, I pray in Jesus' name that we will be a godly people.

463
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:16,520
We live in an ungodly world, and so easily do we become ungodly.

464
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:22,920
May a god-centeredness about us be revealed in the way that we treat people, in the way

465
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:28,840
that we value truth, in the way that we appraise things.

466
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:34,720
May the result of that be your honor and your glory.

467
00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:47,520
As we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.