• Wednesday:  Bible Study 10:15

Note:  A gentle reminder that Melanie is preparing a prelude for us every week.  While she is playing, please prepare your hearts for worship.  Fellowship time happens after worship.  Thanks!

2 Peter 1:1-7  Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:  ² May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  ³ His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  ⁴ Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.  ⁵ For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,  ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness,  ⁷ and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

At a Westerville, OH Lutheran church, it was announced that the congregation’s purchase of the adjoining laundromat was complete.  Carol, a parishioner, heard her husband lean over and whisper “Now cleanliness is next to godliness.”  (From the book Laughing with Lutherans, ed: Julie B. Sevig)

Godliness is not something we talk a whole lot about in the Lutheran Church.  However, it is a big part of our lives.  As you can see from Peter’s second letter above, godliness is a gift from God that has an important part in the role of being a Christian.  Godliness is one of the building blocks of faith and a sustainer of our lives. 

St. Peter writes several times about godliness, as does Paul in his first letter to Timothy.  For both of them, godliness is almost a requirement for being a Christian.  It is a gift that is given by God to those who believe in Jesus, and is passed on to others through the sharing of faith.  As Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:8: “godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”  Living a godly life therefore prepares one for living in the kingdom after the resurrection.  Our lives here on earth then become the training that we need to live in the presence of God in the New Jerusalem. 

Godliness within the Lutheran context is a virtue of our faith that we should strive for.  It means that we live out the covenant made with us at our baptisms, and strive for justice and peace in the world.  It means being a witness to the Gospel and to God’s deeds in the world.  Godliness is a builder of our faith just as our faith is a builder of our godliness.  Therefore we should constantly strive to live out the love that God has for us and the faith that he has given us.

In our prayers this week:  Ann, Robert, Charles, and Scott.

God’s Peace,