1 Timothy 4:6-8

Introduction:

Today is the first day of the year, and with it, all kinds of New Year’s Resolutions

-I saw one website estimate that 95% of all New Year’s Resolutions are healthy related

-The number one New Year’s Resolution according a couple of other websites I saw, unsurprisingly, had to do with working out this New Year

-And it’s not super surprising!

-According to the CDC, the benefits of working out are:

-that it can prevent certain types of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease

-It helps you manage your weight or lose weight

-strengthens your muscles

-Helps with brain health

-It strengthens your bones

-Improves your ability to do daily activities

-Increases your chances of living longer

-And helps people manage chronic pains and disabilities

I mean, there’s a lot of benefit to working out!

-And while Paul may not have been aware of all of those benefits and the science behind it, Paul recognized the benefit of exercise

-But he then goes on to tell us about something so much better than exercise

**Read Scripture and Pray**

Background:

-It’s not entirely certain exactly when Paul wrote this letter, and we don’t have time to work through all the possibilities, but many scholars believe that it was after his imprisonment that ends the books of Acts

-Many people believe that Paul was released for a time and resumed his missionary endeavors before he was once again imprisoned and later beheaded

-It was probably during this time that Paul wrote this letter of 1 Timothy

-It seems that Paul has sent Timothy (a young man that he discipled and partnered with in ministry) to Ephesus to strengthen the churches and combat false teaching that has arisen in the church

-Paul tells Timothy explicitly one of the big reasons he is writing to him

1 Timothy 3:14–15 NKJV

These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

-The book is filled with amazing gospel truths, commands and exhortations, and practical instructions for the life of the church at Ephesus

-Paul has just finished instructing Timothy on the roles of men and women in the church (chapter 2), as well as the qualifications for pastors and deacons

-Paul then quotes what was probably an early church hymn that extolls the glories of Christ found in the Gospel, and one that would be familiar to us as a church as well

1 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

1 Timothy 4:1-5

Paul then wants to warn Timothy about the certainty of apostasy

Vs. 1

-The latter times here does not necessarily refer to the tribulation or the time near there, but really Paul views he and Timothy as already in the latter times

-We know this because he is speaking of the situation that Timothy is already facing in Ephesus

-He warns him that people will depart from the faith

-they will be lead astray by deceitful men and demonic teaching

-Paul hear is not talking about occult practices necessarily, but instead showing that all false teaching is ultimately demonic and energized by the forces of Satan

-Paul now turns from those who are leaving the faith to those who are leading them astray

Vs. 2-3a

Almost every other translation starts verse by showing that who is now being talked about are the false teachers who lead those in verse 1 to apostasize

-For instance, the NASB says “by means of the hypocrisy of liars”

-And this is the better translation

-The false teachers who lead others astray are liars and hypocrites

-They deceive people

-Like a scammer online or over the phone who tells you that they belong to your bank and asks you for your credit card information, only to take your money, these people are deceivers and actors, leading others astray

-While many people might be bothered in their conscience about lying and taking advantage of others in this manner, these false teachers are not

-Their consciences have been seared, numbing them to the sense of guilt that they ought to feel

-Furthermore, they preach a strict asceticism

-The Oxford Dictionary definition of asceticism that you’ll get if you google this word is “severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.”

-It’s where you think that you can impress your god or gain the sympathy of your god through your rigid self-denial

-It seems they were preaching that all sex, even within marriage, is evil, as well as certain types of foods

-Or maybe they were teaching that if you were really godly that you wouldn’t need those types of enjoyable things

-Maybe similar to the people today that peddle around the unbiblical idea that being vegetarian or vegan makes you more spiritual

-Paul goes on to combat this false teaching, showing that dietary restriction for spiritual reasons is not necessary

Vs. 3b-5

-So if you’re trying to impress or please God or be more spiritual by restricting your diet, you’re wasting your time

-God has created all food and there is no restriction for believers who understand this and receive it with thanksgiving!

-No restrictions for the believers about eating pig, or cow, or goat, or deer, or plants or anything else!

-Every kind food is created by God and is meant to be enjoyed

-And this is something that was a big deal back in ancient world at this time

-I mean, remember how important dietary laws were to the Jews?

-When Peter receives a vision in Acts, and God commands him to kill and eat of the animals he sees in the vision, Peter says he can’t!

-And there may have been other religions or cults at the time that had different restrictions on what you could eat or not eat

-And this is still very prevalent today!

-Muslims have dietary restrictions, such as not being able to eat pork

-Hindus are mainly vegetarian, but they especially can’t eat beef

-And in case there are Christians out there who think that there are imposed restrictions on them about what they can or can’t lawfully eat, there isn’t!

-The only instructions that we have on that in the NT is just be sure that whatever you eat doesn’t cause another Christian to stumble

-Now, even though we’re not sure all of what specifically lay behind this teaching of asceticism (denying yourself of basic enjoyments), we can at least say that this was an attempt to please or impress God through their made-up rules or self-imposed restrictions

-And so, whether back then or today, if there are Christians out there think that they can impress God or be more spiritual by what they can and can’t eat, you can’t!

-God’s not impressed by your asceticism!

-God is not impressed by how restrictive we can be at curbing our desires!

-God doesn’t love us more based on how much willpower we have

-We can’t impress God or earn more of His love or His favor by doing certain things or restraining from others

-God isn’t someone we can manipulate in this way

6-8

-Is this important?

-Paul thinks so!

-He tells Timothy that he is being a good minister of Christ Jesus as he extolls the glories of Christ and warns his congregants of the dangers of these teachers who teach this

Part of Timothy’s ministry responsibilities is to provide right instruction to God’s people about false teaching

“Timothy, let them know the danger of this kind of teaching!”

Notice what Paul says next though:

1 Timothy 4:6 NKJV

If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.

That word “nourished” there literally means “to train, to be brought up”

-It has the idea of raising a child

-Right out of college, I got a job at a digital marketing company that had an office in Charlotte

-And I was hired to get on the phone and call people and try to sell them a website or some kind of other online service we performed

-So our training managers began to train me how to call people and to get into conversations

-How to overcome objections instead of just being stumped when they said “not interested”

-So we’d go over our script

-And we’d go over how to overcome objections

-And they’d teach me about websites, and how digital marketing works

-And so day by day, I was trained by my managers to be a good salesperson

-They trained me, brought me up in truths of sales

And Timothy was to be trained in, brought up in, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine

-What does words of faith refer to?

-The closes thing I can find to this phrase is from Romans 10:8-9

Romans 10:8–9 NKJV

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

-So the words of faith seem to refer to the Gospel message

-The message of the finished work of Christ on our behalf that is accepted by faith

-And the good doctrine seems to be the teaching that comes from this Gospel message

*** maybe move to later ***

You see, it is God’s intention that His people be trained in, brought up in, the message of the Gospel and the truths of Scripture

-This isn’t referring to only kids who were brought up in a Christian home, and to the rest of you who weren’t, then you missed out

No! This is talking about right now, as children of God, our Father desires that we be brought up and nourished in the truths of His Word!

-Let me ask you something: what are you being trained in, nourished in, and brought up in?

-Are you giving yourself regularly to the reading, memorization, meditation, teaching, and preaching of Scripture?

-Are the truths of God’s Word regularly reverberating in your heart, causing you to love and treasure Jesus Christ more?

-Bringing up a child is no small time commitment, from what I’m told

-Imagine if you brought your newborn son home from the hospital

-You and your wife drive home, open the door, take him to his baby room that you’ve worked so hard and spent so much money to get ready

-And then you told your 4 day old baby son:

“son, this is where you’ll be staying. Your mom and I are going on a 5 week cruise to Spain. We’ll be back to check on you then!”

Of course not. That’s not how you train or bring up a child

-We call a person who rarely ever spends time with their kids an absentee parent

-Bringing up, training, nourishing a child is a constant thing

-You constantly watch for and take care of your child

-In the same way, we are deceiving ourselves if we think that coming to the morning service every now and then is going to really bring us up in God’s Word

-One 30 minute sermon a week from your pastor is not going to be able to do train you up in God’s Word

-Coming to Sunday School, the worship service, the afternoon service, and Wednesday night service will help a lot, but even that falls short of the training we need

-We need to be readying the Bible on our own, studying it, meditating on it

-We need discipleship from other believers

-We need to be given over to God’s Word

-Maybe instead, we’re being nourished on TV shows, Movies, Youtube, Facebook, Snapchat, or Fox News

Vs. 7a

-Timothy is to reject old wives’ fables

-This was a sarcastic term for worthless ideas and conversations

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 46: Pastoral Epistles Comment

It refers to the stereotyped kind of stories bandied back and forth between gossipy women who have nothing better to do

-The talk and teaching of the false teachers was empty, useless, not even worth Timothy giving the time of day for

Instead, Timothy is to do something else . . .

Vs. 7b-8

-what does that mean?

-Let’s work our way through this passage and make a few observations, and then some applications at the end

-The word for “exercise” here is the word “gumnazo” — from which we derive our words “gymnasium” and “gymnastics” from

-It is derived from athletics and bodily training as we see in the next verse

-It carries the connotation of sweat, of hard work, of discipline

-It would have evoked images of athletes perhaps who competed in the Olympic or Isthmian games, or other competitions

-People who trained hard in order to win a prize

And Timothy is to “exercise toward godliness”

-What is godliness?

-It has to be more than just outward actions

-There are many people who may be nice, kind, go to church, give in the offering, but not be godly

-So while it is not less than right actions, it is certainly more than just that

-John Stott says that the basic meaning of the word has to do with reverence or respect

-It has to do with loving God and treasuring Him above all else

John Stott says this:

The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus ii. An Ethical Test: Godliness (4:6–10)

Godly people are God-fearing people. They have experienced the Copernican revolution of Christian conversion from self-centredness to God-centredness. Previously it could be said of them that in all their thoughts ‘there is no room for God’. But now they say: ‘I have set the LORD always before me.’ They have heard God’s call to renounce ungodliness and to live a godly life,23 and so to anticipate on earth the God-centred life of heaven, which is dominated by God’s throne.

So let’s stop here and make an observation(s):

Godliness does not happen in our lives automatically or without effort

-When you and I get saved, we immediately get regenerated, born again

-We receive the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God

-We go from death to life

-We are new creatures! Old things have passed away and God has made everything new!

-And yet, we don’t automatically get made completely holy and godly and mature in Christ instantly

-There’s a very famous movie that came out in 1999 called the Matrix

-It follows a character named Neo, who comes to find out that the world he lives in, while it appears to be normal, is actually a fantasy world

-He and everyone else has actually lives in a computer world, created by aliens who are enslaving humanity

-Once he realizes this, he and some other rebels are able to manipulate the bounds of this computer world they live in

-Since it is a computer world, they are able to simply upload certain skills that they need into their minds, and then immediately use them

-If they need to be able to know how to fly a helicopter, they simply upload that skill into their mind, and they can now fly like a pro

-If they need to be able to fight well, they simply upload kung-fu into their minds, and they can fight

-And brothers and sisters, that is not how sanctification and godliness works

-And anyone who tries to teach you that, they are the ones living in a fantasy world

-There are those in Christianity who hold to a “second experience of the Holy Spirit”

-A kind of teaching you find in Wesleyan Holiness circles and other various sects of Christianity

-Where you get saved

-And then at a later date, you have an encounter with the Holy Spirit, and you surrender yourself to Him, and then all of a sudden, you’re godly!

-But Paul’s clear teaching here is that godliness takes Holy Spirit empowered discipline and grace-filled effort

Now, let’s ask a couple of questions that may be on your mind as we work our way through this passage:

First: “how is this different than the asceticism Paul just warns against?”

“I mean, Paul literally just got done condemning this rigorous self-denial that these false teachers were teaching, and NOW, he’s telling us to exercise and train towards godliness”

“So what’s the difference?”

Second: “Is sanctification (the work by which I am transformed into the image of Christ) a work of me or of the Holy Spirit?”

Let’s deal with that second question first:

-Is sanctification a work of the Holy Spirit or of me?

-Some people have “let go and let God” theology

“I can just sit back, kick up my feet, watch Netflix, and become more like Christ”

It’s a completely passive process

“It’s just all grace! Christ died for me and forgives me, so all the rest of the details just aren’t as important”

Others have a view of sanctification where it’s all of me:

“If I just work hard enough, God will be happy with me!”

God was the one who saved us, and now it’s our responsibility to get to work and do the next part on our own

This can take the form of a formula view of sanctification

“If I just do these 7 steps, I’ll be godly”

So which one is it?

Well, a biblical view of sanctification doesn’t veer to one extreme or another

-I would say this: biblical change (or sanctification) is an act of the grace of God through the Holy Spirit, but it requires my participation and Spirit-empowered effort

Let me give you a few passages:

Philippians 2:12–13 NKJV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

1 Corinthians 15:9–10 NKJV

For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Colossians 1:28–29 NKJV

Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

You see, any change that happens in our lives, any growth in the Lord, any right or godly liveing, is a purely God’s grace right?

-We can’t change us to look like Christ

-But this only happens as we obey the Lord and exercise ourselves towards godliness

So this helps us answer the second question: how is this different than the asceticism (rigorous self-denial) that Paul preached about earlier?

-The kind of self-denial that the false teachers were propagating is ultimately all about me

-Whether it’s that I think I can impress God with my spirituality

-Or whether I just want others to be wowed with how amazingly spiritual I am

-Or whether it is me just trying to feel good about myself

-Ultimately, it’s a form of self-worship that makes me the center instead of loving and treasuring Christ as the center

But spiritual discipline, exercising towards godliness, is something that we do out of love for God so we can enjoy him better

When someone is training for a triathlon, what do they do?

-they wake up early to workout

-They run a few miles a day

-they say no the chocolate cake for dessert

-They eat chicken and rice and broccoli

-They go to the gym and lift weights

-They swim, they bike

-They make sure they get to sleep on time, which may mean that they say no to the staying out late with friends

Why??

**So when the time to compete comes, they can compete with freedom, knowing that they disciplined themselves to be able to give their all!**

-So as a Christian, why do we say no to certain forms of entertainment?

-Why do we limit our time on social media so we can spend more time in the Word?

-Why do we discipline ourselves to make ample time each day for prayer and study of God’s Word

-Why do we block out time on Sundays and Wednesdays to come to church?

-Why do we make discipleship a high priority?

Because we want to run this race in a way that pleases the Master!

-Because we want to enjoy Him wholeheartedly

-We want to treasure Christ above all else

-And our ability to savor and enjoy the Lord is hindered when we’re undisciplined, flabby Christians

-If you’re unable to sit down and enjoy 20 minutes of Bible reading

-If you think having to go to all these church services is a drag

-If you can think of 253 other things you’d rather do during the week than meet with a fellow Christian to pray and study the Word

-Then you don’t treasure Christ like you ought to

-You’ve been feasting on the junk-food of the world and sitting on the couch of worldly pleasures and it’s left you no appetite and no desire for the One who gave His life for you

Why is exercising toward godliness such a big deal?

Vs. 8

-Paul acknowledges that bodily exercise is profitable to a degree

-So if you’ve made a New Year’s Resolution to workout more or lose weight, then good for you! That has some profit to it

but godliness of profitable for all things

-What does that mean?

-Well notice the rest of the verse:

-The emphasis is on the duration of time for which godliness is profitable

-The contrast between bodily exercise and godliness is on the duration

-Bodily exercise is profitable for a while

-It really helps you here on this earth to prolong your life, give you a better quality of life, etc.

-But when you die, that’s where it ends

-But godliness is profitable for ALL TIME

-How is that?

-Remember, we talked about how godliness is savoring and enjoying God as the center of my life

-He’s my treasure and my delight

-What do you think we’ll be doing for all eternity?

-the best part of heaven will be that the Triune God will be enjoyed and delighted in by His people forever

-So by you learning to enjoy and treasure God right now, you are preparing yourself for what you will do for all eternity

Application

So, let’s talk through how this ought to affect our lives, and then we’ll be done

-My goal here is not for you to leave here feeling some vague sense of guilt that you’ll never be able to do enough or be godly enough

-There are certain things that we can always do better in, like prayer or witnessing

-I want you to leave feeling challenged and encouraged that you can grow in spiritual discipline and exercise yourself towards godliness

-How can I exercise myself toward godliness?

-Well going back to verse 6, you need to be trained in and brought up in the Words of faith and the good doctrine

-If you’re only coming to the Worship service right now, I would encourage you to start coming to Sunday School

-Come here the Word of God taught in a smaller group setting where there is the chance for questions and interaction

If you currently come to all the meetings on Sundays, but you don’t come to Wednesday prayer meeting, I would encourage you to come and hear the Word of God preached and come and pray with your brothers and sisters for the needs of those around us

-Maybe you’re not meeting with anyone for discipleship right now

-Maybe it’s not been a big priority for you or something you really want

-I would encourage you to find someone to meet with

-Even if it’s just a phone call during the week where you share what God has been teaching each of you and then pray together, I would encourage you to start there

-Maybe you are not spending time each day in the Word of God

-I would challenge every person here who struggles to be in God’s Word daily

-Spend 7 minutes each day in God’s Word

-Just begin to build that habit

-You might say “that’s not that long”

-You’re right, it’s not, but it’s a great place to start to build consistently

-Maybe you’re doing ok with reading God’s Word, but you could spend more time in it

-I would encourage you to set aside 15 or 20 or 30 minutes in God’s Word

-Sometimes when I ask people if they’ve been in God’s Word recently, they’ll say something like, “No, but I pray a lot”

-Prayer is wonderful, and we’ll get to that in a minute, but prayer is no substitute for being in God’s Word regularly

-If you’re someone who maybe you have a devotional book you like to go through, something like my daily bread, but you’re not actually reading through the Bible yourself, I would encourage you to start reading the Bible on your own on top of the devotional reading you do

-I want to encourage you to set aside some time for prayer intentional prayer. Even if it’s only 7-10 minutes per day

-Exercise and discipline can also require abstaining from things that might hinder you

-Maybe the reason that you don’t have time for some of these things is that your time is being taken up with other things

-Maybe you spend hours a day watching TV, or playing video games, or on youtube, or social media

-Maybe you spend hours each day watching and listening to the news

-And while none of these things are inherently sinful, they can take away time from more important things

-but they can also take away our appetite from enjoying the Lord

-In a similar way that someone who spends their time horking down candy and chocolate and chips and keeps your from desiring nutritious food or from desiring to exercise

-Sometimes, the reason we have so little delight and joy in the Lord is that we are desiring other things

-Maybe there are things in your life that you ought to restrict yourself in so as to love God more and be more effective for Him

Closing

Why do we do all of this?

Back on January 26th, 2020, a basketball player by the name of Kobe Bryant died tragically in a helicopter crash that Sunday morning

-Kobe was known for his intense work ethic

-Probably one of the hardest working athletes of all time, Kobe was known for being incredibly disciplined and spending hours and hours training to get better at basketball

-Before he died, he wrote a poem entitled “Dear Basketball” expressing his love for the game

I’ll just read part of it, but it says this:

Dear Basketball, From the moment I started rolling my dad’s tube socks And shooting imaginary Game-winning shots In the Great Western Forum I knew one thing was real: I fell in love with you. A love so deep I gave you my all From my mind & body To my spirit & soul. As a six-year-old boy Deeply in love with you I never saw the end of the tunnel. I only saw myself Running out of one. And so I ran. I ran up and down every court After every loose ball for you. You asked for my hustle I gave you my heart Because it came with so much more. I played through the sweat and hurt Not because challenge called me But because YOU called me. I did everything for YOU Because that’s what you do When someone makes you feel as Alive as you’ve made me feel.

-Why do we discipline ourselves and exercise towards godliness?

Vs. 9-10

Because Christ has given us everything

2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV

who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

Kobe Bryant disciplined himself for a crown that perishes

But we have something that will last forever

and if we don’t treasure Christ, we can quickly fall into legalism and a purely outward religious life

-But if we treasure Christ, we will be able to give ourselves over to grace-filled, Spirit-empowered discipline