Family Chapel

How does the Christian faith affect how we approach our earthly profession? How does being a Christian shape how we live in the workplace? We will be hearing the answer to questions like these from three of our very own FC members: Jennifer Kim (Law), John Kim (Education), Sarah Sung (Real Estate).

Here in our passage, Paul addresses how Christians are to navigate a world of discontentment. Discontentment ultimately comes from a disconnection with the Gospel and ultimately leads to destruction. Rather than give into greedy discontentment which leads to great destruction, Christians are to live out godly contentment which leads to great gain.

Here in our passage, Paul addresses how Christians are to carry out their work. Christians are to work with excellence so that God’s name and Gospel will not be blasphemed and so that they can serve others well with their work. All work that is done well brings glory to God and love to our neighbors.

As Paul continues to address the church on how to relate to others in godliness, Paul moves on to speak on how we ought to treat elders in the church. Paul shows the importance of keeping elders accountable in living lives of godliness, for they are responsible for equipping the church to pursue godliness as well. The church is urged to honor good elders, and to discipline those whose lives are marked by unrepentant sin.

Here in our passage, Paul addresses how the local church is to help widows, those who are hurting. The local church, in partnership with the family, should support its hurting members by assessing real needs and godly character, in order to avoid hurting others while trying to help. When we try to help others in the wrong way, we hurt them by enabling ungodly behavior and unfulfilled potential.

We have seen the importance of godliness (and training for godliness) over the past few weeks. And from this point forward, Paul gives instructions on what godliness looks like within the context of the church community. He’s going to show how we are to pursue godliness together as a church. But in the pursuit of godliness, sometimes confrontations are needed. Christians in a local church are to push each other towards godliness by confronting each other’s sins, not by harsh rebuke but by loving encouragement as family members.

We saw last week the importance of godliness and how it is fueled by the Gospel. We will be continuing to look at the topic of godliness, and we will see that in order to build godliness in our lives, we must train ourselves up in it. In order to train ourselves in godliness, Paul calls us to two things, which are to live with integrity and to be committed to God's Word.

Here we see the importance of godliness since we are the church of the living God entrusted with the truth. And we'll see that the key to godly living is the Gospel. Resting in the finished work of Christ is what gives us the strength to live lives of godliness (3:14-16). When we lose the Gospel, we will also distort our lives towards ungodliness (4:1-5). We can pursue a deep godliness by deeply resting in the Gospel.