Training for Godliness Requires a Divine Diet and Exercise
Foundations of a Healthy Church • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Notes
Transcript
Opening. Were are 15 weeks into the year, How are your New Years Resolution going? I have been trying to eat healthier and exercise this year and I am doing ok. The problem is that I have been focusing on the effort and not the aim.
My aim is to be healthy, enjoying mobility later in life, having energy, seek adventure, get back into Jiu jitsu. But initially all I could focus on was the food I missed and how sore I was, all the time. I do not like what it takes to get healthy, but if I want to be healthy bad enough I will put in the effort.
I know that eventually I will understand how diet and exercise serve me and I will look at them fondly but I am not there yet.
Football: I hated practices but I lived the games so I practiced to play, then eventually I realized practice helped me have a better game then I finally understood the value of practicing and I began to love practice for the games sake.
Need. When we only focus on the effort and lose sight of our aim it is easy to get off course or even quit aiming for something all together. We are a pleasure pursuing society and it it doesn’t bring me pleasure I am inclined to reject it.
Today we are going to see that as follower of Jesus our aim is on heaven and living like Jesus, which takes practice. If I do not understand my aim I will not put in the effort.
However if you focus on Jesus and desire to live and love as He did on earth, you will see that the list Paul gives us to exercise our spiritual lives becomes a great opportunity not an obligation.
Interrogation: What is the aim of your faith and how much effort are you giving it?
If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
Command and teach these things.
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Training for Godliness Requires a Divine Diet and Exercise
Training for Godliness Requires a Divine Diet and Exercise
We must train ourselves in the Word. (6-7)
We must train ourselves in the Word. (6-7)
1 Timothy 4:6–7 (ESV)
If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
Explanation
A Pastor is to be 5 things for the church and Paul mentions them here.
Shepherd: feed the sheep the Word and give them
exercise.
Servant: How we serve is through shepherding
Evangelist: words of faith or the passages that cause
people to put their faith in Christ.
Preach/teach: The whole counsel of God’s Word.
Disciple/Disciple-maker: They have learned and train
others.
The Word train in verse 6 is where we get the English word nutrition.
2 ways we nourish ourselves in the Word
Words of faith (Evangelism, 10, 16)
Doctrines that guide our lives (but need lived out)
Resulting in assurance and security.
You’ll identify false teaching and see it as silly and godless.
Illustration:
Diet and fitness industry can leave uniformed people questing the whole thing.
Uniformed Christians can also be led astray by people looking to make a buck.
You will know how God wants you to live (by faith).
Paul is not adding works to salvation. The concept of free and free indeed is that we are free from the law seen in v. 4 last week, but we are also free indeed to do what we could not do before train fro godliness.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?
In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.
You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder.
Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
Our aim as unbelievers was not heaven or to live like him. Now that we are free from sin we are able to pursue godliness and keep practicing it as we walk through life.
Transition Training for Godliness does not just mean healthy diet of the Word, we must also condition ourselves.
We Must Train Ourselves in Godly Conduct. (8-16)
We Must Train Ourselves in Godly Conduct. (8-16)
for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
Command and teach these things.
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Personal training (GYM) requires vitamin E (effort)
Paul gave a a bunch of imperatives to Timothy a young pastor that serve as the exercises. but v.10 is our aim, it is our “Why”
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
Our aim is the hope we have with God in heaven who has saved us to Himself.
Our aim is living like heaven is real and I am really going there.
How I live then matters since it “holds a promise in the present life and also the life to come.”
Illustration
How I could show you Wednesday I was going to play Friday.
Locker
Plays
I could show you last week’s program
Have my teammates vogue for me.
In the same way we should be living a life that is clear to all we are on God’s team, doing what Christ did, loving as Christ loved and helping others be saved too.
I am saved, by a Savior, who is the Savior of all.
Is this a universalist statement? NO
Illustration
The YMCA is my gym it is for everyone offer income assistance, It is a gym for fitness especially those who work out there.
Paul calls us to workout in a few ways
Don’t be despised (it’s them not you don’t fall 4 it)
Be an example
In Speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity
Devote yourselves to reading the Bible publicly.
This is the words of the faith to leading to faith.
Exhortation: Call near and console (evangelism)
Teaching: Instruct in doctrine
Do not neglect the gift given to you (ordination)
So Far we have several imperative commands but you could catalog them easily like muscle groups
Illustration
Don’t skip leg day. Be balanced push, pull, legs
We cannot disregard the command to train ourselves Mental, Physical, and Spiritual.
Mentally in knowing who I am and being content to be rejected by people Hurt people hurt people.
Physically I need to exercise love, faith, good speech, purity daily so that I improve
Spiritually I must know the word so that I can help someone find comfort from it, instruction from it.
We cannot skip “leg day” to instead workout what we favor.
If I am not secure in my position with Christ I cannot help you with your position either
If I do not live these things out no one will care what I have to say (id be a hypocrite) a lot of people do share…
If I do not know the word or do not use it for good I could end up shipwrecked and of no good to God.
Transition
So far we have only talked about the aim of our faith and the ways we condition ourselves but we have not talked about the intensity which we are to condition ourselves.
look at verse 15-16
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Paul wanted the church to be immersed in these practices. He wanted Timothy to keep watch and persist in these things. So that they would have assurance and confidence that they are aiming for the right things.
We are to be progressing in our walk with God in ways that others notice. Those results are found in Vitamin E.
In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Christ has given us an example of the intensity to which we should train.
Paul tells us we need to
1. Practice: word, conduct, evang. (18 minutes a day rule)
2. Immerse: with our salvation and others (intense focus
on it)
3. Keep watch: Set goals (self evaluations) mem. talk.
4. Persist: Have a long-term goal (long game gets the long
gains)
[Christ Transition]
1. This is How Jesus lived, He grew in all ways as a man meaning he practiced obedience.
2. He all in fully focused that at times the disciples had remind him to eat.
3. He pulled away to pray and allow the lord to maintain alignment.
4. Enduring hardship he persisted all the way to the end
What an opportunity it is to grow closer to Christ as we live like Him; practicing, immersing ourselves in our faith, evaluating our motives, and persisting in our walk.
No other religion offers that promise.
The more I do in Christ’s presence the more His presence is confirmed. The more confident I am that I am a Child of God.
V.16 has some wording we should look at
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Is He saying we can earn our salvation through works? NO
Our salvation is through faith alone. In Christ alone
Ephesians 2:8 “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—”
We do not lose our salvation because we did nothing t earn it other than believe.
I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.
Further evidence that Paul is not saying they are able to save themselves is that He already called Jesus the savior of all in 10. We cannot save ourselves.
In the same way Paul challenged the Philippian Church he is challenging the church at Ephesus
So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
Loving Unity and Loving Community is a by product of loving God.
The more we work out our salvation in His power the more we will learn to love the regimen and see its absolute good in our lives.
Even better, God will use your life as an example for others to also trust Christ too.
That is why the Grove exists. To grow in our love for God each-other and to help the world who has yet to believe understand these truths.
Training for Godliness is a wonderful opportunity.
If we see it as an obligation or a burden we are not looking at the right aim. The more we exercise these things the more certain we become of our goals and the more God blesses our progress.
Challenge
The Evangelism seminar opened up with our “why.” It showed a video of dozens of people being baptized a symbol of a recent believers who wanted to be immersed with in God and His way of living.
For someone to reach that place of understanding they must have had some major questions in life satisfied to actively choose to believe in Jesus as the total solution for their life.
If we are not consistently practicing, training, evaluating, and persisting in our walk with Jesus, learning His teachings, and sharing our lives with those who haven't accepted Christ, we are not following God's will for us.
We cannot ignore the importance of building the Love Community piece of our vision that welcomes and listens to people from all walks of life.
We cannot stop at being a close-knit group of saved individuals.
We have to reach out to the world and meet them where they are. This is what Jesus practiced and was immersed in, lets do the same thing!
In doing so you will demonstrate that you are a true believer and you will see others believe too.
Benediction:
The Grove book club one book a month, one meeting a month and purpose to fulfill this passage in our lives.
