Train for Eternity: 1 Tim 4:7-10

1 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

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.

Train for Godliness

1 Timothy 4:7 “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;”

A. Focus on the Goal

An Olympic athlete has to work out all week. They have to train day and night. They practice their sport all the time.

Simone Biles trains 32 hours a week! That is like going to work for 4 days! That is almost a full time job!

Just like an Olympian has to train hard and frequently to win gold, we also need to train if we are to become Godly.

Question? How do we train for godliness? By practicing godliness. They Olympian gets good at swimming or running or soccer or hockey by playing his sport. We get good at being goldy by being godly. We do godly things, and that gets us used to being godly so that we can grow to be even godlier people.

So my question to you is what are some godly things that we should do?

Read your Bible, pray,

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

I have to ask myself how I can practice love. I have to ask myself where I need to have patience. I have to ask myself how I can be faithful to do what I say I am going to do.

I can show mom love by cleaning the kitchen for her. I can be patient when I am at the store with my dad and he is taking a long time to figure out where the item is he is looking for, and then taking awhile to pick an option. I can be faithful to my parents by doing the chores that I told them I was going to do right after I finish my game.

B. Ignore Distractions

1 Timothy 4:7 “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;”

Imagine you have just spent all this time working out and practicing. You are hot and sweaty, and you need a shower, but on your drive home from the gym, you spot a chick fil a. And you’re thinking of a peach milkshake. What happens if you go in the store and buy the shake? You aren’t going to get in shape for the Olympics! You’re going to get fat! When it comes time to compete, you aren’t ready cause you had too many milkshakes! You got distracted from your goal of winning a gold medal.

The same is true about our Spiritual life. Paul warns Timothy that if he is to be godly, he must avoid irreverent and silly myths. Timothy can’t get distracted by other unimportant things if he is going to grow into a godly man. Just like the olympian has to focus on his goal of winning a medal, we have to focus on being godly.

There are a lot of things that might distract us. What might distract us from godliness? TV, Videogames, fishing, Work, School work,

These things are not bad, but they are sometimes things that keep us from really focusing on God.

But I think Paul has another idea in mind. I think he is worried that Timothy is going to get caught up on some tiny, minute detail or word in the Bible and study it and become distracted by it - losing sight of what is most important - living out the gospel!

A swimmer might practice their jump into the pool over and over again, but forget to practice their back stroke. So they are really good at one tiny part, but not the whole.

Don’t get distracted even by good things. Keep everything in its’ proper place, and make the main thing the main thing.

Godliness has value

1 Timothy 4:8 “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.”

Why should I train to be godly? Does godliness save me? No, I cannot be godly enough to go to heaven because I am a sinner, and God cannot allow sin into heaven. I am only saved by putting my faith and trust in Jesus.

So why train to be godly?

A. It helps us in this life

How does being godly help us in this life?

Psalm 1:1–3 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

When we live a godly life that is free from sin, we are like a tree that is planted by a river. That tree grows large, and is not destroyed when the storm comes. It produces fruit - being prosperous because it is healthy and well nourished.

If we live a goldy life, then when hard times come we don’t collapse and fall apart because we are following Jesus. We are prosperous - not necessarily a promise of financial security, but of the prosperity that comes about by doing good and being good. We have God’s blessing upon us.

Psalm 1:4–6 “The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

If we live an ungodly life, then we are blown away like chaff. We do not have God’s blessing, and we are doomed to perish in this life or the next.

B. It helps us in the next life if we have accepted Christ.

It is true that training our bodies is useful in this life. It has some value. You are able to live longer if you train your body and are healthy. You can do more if you are healthy, like play a sport or do certain kinds of work. You can serve people in more ways if you are healthy by doing things like yard work for someone who is older, or helping a family move from one house to another.

But I have some bad news. Eventually, we are all going to die. No matter how much we train our body or live godly on this world, we will still die.

And everyone will stand before God, and he will judge you based upon your deeds. And if you tell him that you lived a godly life while on earth, what do you think he will say to that?

He will say that you lived a sinful life, and he will condemn you to eternal punishment in hell. But you were a good person! You lived a godly life! But that is not what gets you to heaven. You can’t be godly enough to get into heaven because you are a sinner, and God cannot tolerate any sin in heaven.

That is why Jesus had to die. He took the punishment of our sin upon himself, and gave to us his perfect righteousness, so when we trust that Jesus is the perfect Son of God who died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day, and repent of our sin - committing to follow Jesus instead of our own sinful desires - then we are saved and admitted into heaven

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

We are saved by putting our faith in Jesus. If we put our faith in our own godliness, then we are doomed, because we can never be godly enough to please God. Only Jesus could be godly enough to please God, and so we put our faith in him as the source of salvation. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved by trusting in Jesus.

And then after we have trusted Jesus, we do good works out of obedience, and worship to our savior. That is why we pursue godliness - not because it gets us to heaven, but because we are already going to heaven, and we want to be like Jesus who is in heaven, and waiting to receive us into heaven after we die if we are trusting in him.

We are saved by God

Commands:

Don’t lose sight of the main thing

Train yourself for godliness

Reason:

Godliness has value in this life and the next

Result:

We are saved by God

We hope on him