Godliness: Our Profession, Our Gain!
1 Timothy 6:1 KJV - Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
Godliness - The Focus of the Doctrine.
The doctrine of God is important because it is a means to attain His name. Our expectations of what the doctrine of God should bring is God; but when it brings anything less, the doctrine is blasphemed. The doctrine has a focus, it is after Godliness. The teaching of the doctrine must be that which is focused towards producing godliness or godly men; this is the sign that the hope of Life is real.
The Professions of the World-To-Come
The Gospel has results for this present life and transcends to that which is to come. It is a necessary use that is needed much more in the time to come. The profession of this present life is not the same as the life which is to come. This Word is a hewer of professions which are templates of honour. The Son of God is a professor with the partakers of His holy calling.
Godliness and Eternal Life are of the world to come. They are languages of expression. If you lack Life you won’t attain Godliness and will have no reckoning. The doctrines of God are the doctrine of Godliness and Eternal Life. Christ Jesus is our profession that is not of the earthly system. When you are born again you are brought into a heavenly profession from an earthly one. When God emphasizes Godliness it means we must attain and profess Godliness. As we profess Eternal Life, we must, first of all, profess Godliness. We must become professors of Godliness.
Titus 1:1 KJV -Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Godliness - Our Tool For Acceptable Service
It is Jesus’ profession that raises Godly men. Godliness is God-likeness- like God. God has two-dimension- image and likeness and there are created things that bear God-likeness. Jesus was the first man that bore both image and likeness.
You cannot serve God without Godliness; it is the attainment of service. Without Godliness your service is not good nor acceptable. However, we must move from good to acceptable and then perfect. If the service is not good, it cannot be acceptable.
Romans 12:1-2 KJV - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Service must come to the good, acceptable and perfect will of God; these are the will of God; that is the good, the acceptable and perfect are all the will of God. If you don’t come through the door of good to acceptable and perfect, you cannot access God. It is not about hailing through some names (because you might be worshipping an unknown God). What defines the true God is the ladder that shows God. God must be unveiled and made known.
The Focus of The Faith of God
The teaching of Life must be focused on producing Godly men and heirs of Life or salvation. If anyone is not teaching Godliness, he is not teaching wholesome words. The honour of the earthly profession is attached to gain/income. You do not bring the Truth of Godliness with the mind frame of getting gain. Their gain is not naira and kobo or income.
Faith can be used to move anything on the earth realm but it may not be the faith of Godliness, which is also called the Faith of God’s elect.
The Faith of God’s elect is not primarily for natural gain. If you are not God’s elect you can’t use his faith. The faith of God’s elect can do what other faith can do but its focus is not gain. If Faith is not faith as nature, it is an absolute lie. Faith is faith as love. There are several types of faith, described by their nature and how they operate.
The Faith That Raises Godly Men
Reading books of possibility (motivational books) will bring faith, but it is not the faith of God’s elect. Possibility doctrine is a long time faith operation on the earth; believing in God for earthly things is believing in a being. It is also faith but it is not the faith of Sonship designed to raise sons to God. The Faith of the Son has Godliness as a target; the gain of such Faith is the Son in you. When you are being edified, it is gain and it is not appreciated by earthly men. It operates when earthly men have lost all hope in themselves.
The Faith of the Son is designed to raise heirs of salvation or inheritors of Eternal Life. People can grow up if they are not schooled by this Faith; therefore they can use it for men; in what men can believe in for earthly gain (in whatever form it may take). Such people cannot believe to attain to Godliness or raising of the soul.
James 1:3-4 KJV - Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
This is the Faith of God’s Elect. 'Election' is a programme to make men spiritual. No man can come to the realm of the very elect without election. For those termed as very elect, Godliness must be a great gain. Godliness as a profession is a great gain because it is useful both in the earthly terrain and in eternal realms. It can navigate the path of Life and is of profit in the world to come.
Anything that can pierce beyond the earth is great. That is because all things on the earth lose their strength in the face of death. Jesus in His earthly life professed a good profession before Pilate despite not uttering a word; He showed forth his nature in the world. The word ‘good’ is Godliness. The first thing the Lord will approve of in this journey is the 'good'.
The Nature of Godliness
John 9:5 KJV - As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Jesus was the light of the world. He was a light in darkness before he became a light in Light; the daystar. If you cannot be a light in the night, you cannot be a light in the day. Jesus moved from being the light of the world; this is the first place we must occupy.
Matthew 5:14 KJV - Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
A city on a hill is meant to be a wonder in the night. The Church is going to be a wonder in the day, but it must first be a wonder in the night. Godliness is the light of the night season. The journey of Faith can be very tiring if one lacks the required experiences because you have not shone in the night. If you shine well in the light, your light of the Day will be brighter.
1 Timothy 2:9-10 KJV - In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
The nature of Godliness is good. Good Work is the professing of godliness. Godliness is the expression of good work or God’s work, not man’s. It is good and acceptable because it is of God and good in his sight. Any man in whom God has not worked cannot attain to the good and cannot attain to Godliness. It is a sign that your Father has worked in you.
Matthew 5:16 KJV - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
What Apostle Paul taught as Godliness, Jesus taught as good works; that was how much he expected his disciples to wrought good works; to serve. If good works have not been wrought inside, it cannot be wrought outside. You can’t talk about the day of perfection or performance if you can’t refer to the day of good work.
Philippians 1:6 KJV - Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Acts 10:38 KJV - How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Mark 16:20 KJV - And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
What flowed out of Jesus was not power (as the earth terms it) but compassion. He felt as the sick was feeling; it is God’s work. Jesus’ anointing was not tied to demonstration but compassion, which is why it is good. It is possible to have healing gifts without compassion, which will only be showmanship. Jesus does healing as a good work through the door of compassion. He was professing godliness, which is why the root of it was the Faith of God’s elect. He was fulfilling that which was written about him (the prophetic clock) not by studying but by the nature in him.
John 10: 27 KJV - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
The Jews knew that what Jesus wrought were good works because he taught them as one that had authority. At the point we are on earth, men need healing by compassion. Whatever is from man is evil. We need to be taught and be established in good works until our soul dies to man. Good work is by Grace. God will give Grace that is commensurate to every good work available the way it is in his heart. Jesus did works the way it was in the heart of God, no excess.
Matthew 7:22 KJV - Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Conclusion
2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV - And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
Philippians 4: 19 KJV - But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
All the need for good work, so that the work will not stop. God’s love is not too much but so much. He does not waste his love. God does not waste his Grace, if he gives an abundance of Grace it is for what he intends to do and the result he expects must be great work. The Grace is so that we may attain unto Godliness.
May our souls be open to Grace in this season. Amen!
Click on the Link to Listen to The Mystery of Godliness, Service And Good Works – Rev. Busuyi Olabode