A Leadership Manual (9)

Godliness has value for all things...

As we continue our series today, let’s quickly review what we looked at last week.

Paul admonished Timothy of what would happen in the later times. The later times refers to the time of the early church until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

He said,

1 Timothy 4:1 NIV

1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

There were false teachers in the church in Ephesus, and Paul was writing this so that Timothy could address it. Two things that they prohibited was marriage and the eating of certain foods.

If you were to look at Romans 14, Paul made it very clear that

We are to honour each other instead of judging each other...

on things that literally have no consequence on our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Romans 14:3–9 NIV

3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

On matters of salvation, we need to contend for the faith. These false teachers were preaching another gospel. They were preaching a salvation of works rather than faith. The church in Galatia struggled with the same battles.

Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

The Bible doesn’t preach a gospel of

Faith + works = Salvation

If we can be saved by works, Christ died in vain.

Galatians 2:20–21 NIV

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

The Bible does teach

Faith without works is dead...

Your salvation is not accomplished by your works. When Jesus suffered, bled and died for our sins, He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

You can’t pay for your sins. Jesus became the atoning sacrifice/the propitiation for our sins.

Ephesians 2:10 NKJV

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

It is true that we are saved by faith alone in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, but because of what Christ has done, once we are saved, we do good works, not for salvation, but because God has prepared them for us to do. This is

Not faith by works, it is faith that works...

Paul encourages Timothy to point out what is false, teach what is right, and not to waste time on godless ideas and old wives tales.

Let’s read our Scripture for today,

1 Timothy 4:6–10 NLT

6 If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters, Timothy, you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed. 7 Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. 8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” 9 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. 10 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.

Paul encouraged Timothy that he would be

A worthy servant of Jesus Christ...

if he explained these things to the brothers and sisters.

What things?

The teachings taught by false teachers originating from demons.

He would be a worthy servant because he was teaching truth to believers. Truth exposes error. The Apostle Paul was referring to Timothy being a worthy servant or deacon, a pastor, a teacher of Christ Jesus if he explained and taught about the false teaching.

Let’s focus on the last part of verse 6.

1 Timothy 4:6 NLT

6 If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters, Timothy, you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed.

You will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus,

one who is

Nourished by the message of faith...

and

the good teaching you have followed...

Nourished by the truths of the faith. This is the gospel.

We aren’t nourished by listening to error. We aren’t fed by listening to somebody talk about error, as important as that might be.

Jesus said,

John 15:5–12 NIV

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

If we do not remain in the vine, if we do not abide in the vine, we will die spiritually.

A few years ago, I was not allowed to preach because of the message of the cross. To clarify, it was because I don’t believe that when parents take a step of faith and baptize their children that a child is saved. To me, infant baptism would be more of a commitment for the parents to train their children in the ways of the Lord just as we have baby dedications.

Romans 10:9–10 NIV

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Once we are saved, it is imperative that we nourish ourselves with sound teaching from the Word of God.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

As we move forward this morning, Paul compares

Training in godliness vs physical training...

1 Timothy 4:7 NLT

7 Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly.

Timothy had been taught the truth. It’s important to understand error or false teaching but we mustn’t place all of our focus on it.

The NIV says,

1 Timothy 4:7 NIV

7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

A few days ago, I was part of a conversation that delved into Jesus’ missing years when He was between the age of 12 and 30. There’s a theory with some apparent evidence that He had travelled to England. If we aren’t careful, we can spend all of our time going down rabbit trails trying to find the latest and greatest teaching that in reality has no spiritual benefit to our lives. Don’t waste your time on them. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales.

Train yourself to be godly...

1 Timothy 4:8 NIV

8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Let’s take a quick look at

Physical Training...

Physical training has some value. We do need to take care of our bodies. You might think to yourselves that I’m one to talk, and maybe you are right, but we shouldn’t judge somebody else until we have walked a mile in their shoes.

As we get older we may suffer from misuses of our bodies when we were in our youth. Bad habits were established when we were young, and persist as we get older.

Probably from the age of 9 or 10, I struggled a little with weight. I was Husky, but not obese. I learned some bad habits when I left home and had to try to curb them as I got older. Most of my life, exercise wasn’t an issue because I was quite active with the work that I was doing.

Looking back, I probably had thyroid issues for a long time before I found out about them, but during quite a bit of my farming days, there was financial stress, trying to earn enough money to make the ends meet, and wondering if there was enough. If you have never struggled with money issues, I’m glad for you, but it does give a different kind of empathy for others struggling if you have. I’m sure I allowed stress to rack up and cause some issues that affect me.

Physical fitness, physical training has some value. It is good to be in shape. It is good to learn discipline with your body, but don’t let it become a god in your life. Watching what you eat is important, but don’t let it become a god in your life.

Train to be godly.

It has great benefit in this life and in the life to come. The NKJV says,

“having promise of...

If you have not yielded your life to Christ, today is the day of salvation. Come to Him today.

Then train, be diligent, study to show yourself a worker who correctly divides the word of truth. Don’t depend on someone else to do all the hard lifting for you, but do your best to handle God’s word correctly. This will keep you from going into a ditch spiritually.

Godliness has value in all things. It has value in every area of your life.

Satan wants to confuse us that we are the masters of our own destiny. Nobody has the right to tell me what to do...

God’s word says, “You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.”

Romans 14:7–8 NIV

7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

If we base every decision we make based on being a child of God,

How will take affect our choices?

That tastes so good, I should have more...

Their house is so…nice… I wish that I could have that...

If only…I could...

I deserve to have nice things....

Maybe we need to ask the question,

“Lord, do I need this?”

“Is this decision Spirit led or from my flesh?”

Our list of regrets would be a lot shorter if we knew that we were not making our choices on a whim, but that they were Holy Spirit led.

As we bring things to a close, Paul says,

This is a trustworthy saying...

and everyone should accept it.

1 Timothy 4:10 NLT

10 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.

This is why we work hard and continue to struggle.

The NKJV puts it this way...

1 Timothy 4:10 (NKJV)

10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach...

Why to we work hard in the work of the gospel? Why do we struggle and suffer reproach?

We trust in,

Our hope is in the living God...

1 Timothy 4:10 (NLT)

...for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.

If you ever wonder if the early church believed that Jesus is God, verses like these should solidify our hope in Christ.

2 Peter 1:11 NIV

11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:18 NIV

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

1 John 4:14 NIV

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Where Paul said,

Savior of all people...

1 Timothy 4:10 (NIV)

10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

Jesus died for all people but not all people will be saved. His death was enough. Jesus cannot die again to pay for sin.

God’s will is that all would be saved and that none would perish, but He will not force anyone to be saved. If anybody rejects His great gift of salvation, they cannot be saved.

John 3:16–18 NIV

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

There are not many ways to God the Father. Only Jesus died on the cross for sins and He is the only way.

What happens to people who have never heard about Jesus?

That is a great question. Romans 1 says that there is enough evidence in creation that no one is without excuse. Can God save somebody who has never heard. That we must leave to God, but we have been called to preach the Good News. We have been called to go. Let’s share the gospel to the ends of the earth...

What if people refuse to believe?

Let’s be faithful to our calling and leave the results to the Lord, who is the Saviour of the world.

Let’s pray!