Practical Godliness

I’ve often heard believers of various stripes say, “I wish my pastor’s preaching was more practical” or “you should come to my church, the preaching is so practical.” I usually take it to either mean, “my pastor is constantly going into the doctrine of the Bible” or “my pastor never brings the doctrine and focuses only on practical issues of the day.” The viewpoint is wrong from the beginning. The doctrine of the Bible is always practical. The word practical means “pertaining to practice or action.” Biblical knowledge always leads us to obedience to the One we speak of. If we do not know who God is then how can we say we are obeying him and living for him? If we do not know the plan of salvation and the purpose of God for the age we are living in then how is it possible for us to think we can actually serve God? Without this revelatory knowledge we cannot know or serve God at all! So, then why is my title for this section “Practical Godliness?” Good question! I want to take this knowledge of the Word of God which we have been given by grace through a vindicated prophet and show some very practical ways to live it out in our lives. In other words, now that we have this revelation, what are we to do?

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” Romans 6:17

We start with obedience from our heart, to the doctrine. In order to live for God, we walk in obedience to God. We do not reason away our sin and we do not continue to live in it. We repent and walk in obedience to the doctrine which was delivered through the vindicated prophet for our day. This obedience is from the heart and not from outward pressure. There are churches and pastors that publicly shame their people by preaching against them by name from the pulpit or spreading rumors about people to gain their obedience. This is fear of man and personal pride, not obedience to God from our hearts. God has ordained that preachers feed the flock of God, not beat the flock of God. They are to instruct and teach and pray over the people, not personally shame them in public to gain obedience. Any pastor doing that is not a shepherd, but rather an imposter. As preachers of the word we must limit ourselves completely and surrender to the power of God and allow the preaching and instruction of the Word to gain the people’s obedience. We are not to manipulate them or lord over them. We feed them the food that changes them from inside out. It is clear, then that believers must feed on the Word. This is a primary mode of practical godliness. How much time are you taking to feed on the Word outside of Wednesday and Sunday? Are you studying the Bible for yourself? Are you searching through the Message and searching through the Bible? Are you listening to Brother Branham’s sermons? Are you listening to other men of God’s sermons that are breaking down the message of the hour in this day? Preachers must feed the flock and the flock must eat. In fact, the preacher ultimately is a sheep too and he must feed constantly as well. If we want to see the word of the Lord living in a practical way in us, it must start with continuous, daily feeding on the Word.

Jesus told us to love God first and then to love our neighbor as ourselves. Are we caring for our neighbors? Are we doing good to them, telling them of the love of Jesus Christ? Are we doing kind acts for them, helping them shovel or helping them with projects at their house? Are we bringing them some cookies or giving them a book? To love our neighbors, we need to be in their lives, doing acts of kindness to them. Let’s go further, God forbid that we have any enemies, but if we do are we loving and praying for them? When was the last time you prayed for someone who treated you badly? Have you taken any steps to make them not reverse their mistreatment or attitude (if you are able)?

“Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.” Galatians 2:10

Are we remembering the poor and helping them in a practical way? This doesn’t mean we need to have soup kitchens and such, though it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t either, but do you buy that homeless guy a meal when he asks for money? Do you take some time to volunteer to counsel and feed the poor?

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27

Do we visit and help meet the needs of orphans and widows? Do we take a special notice and care for them? This is something good to looks at and say, this is practical godliness.

The verse before that, (James 1:26), says that if any man claims to be a worshipper, but does not control his tongue his worshipping is in vain. Are we careful about how we speak about other people in our private conversations? Are we careful about what kind of jokes we tell and how much we are teasing?

Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts with diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Are we taking time to examine our hearts and being sure that we keep them right before the Lord? Are we guarding what our eyes see and our ears hear or are we allowing social media and television to control us and our time? These are just a few practical issues to consider as a believer in Jesus Christ, revealed in this day. May the Lord guide each of you.