Training Ourselves for Life
Philadelphia Baptist Church
9/30/2007 Sun. a.m.
Training Yourself for Life
1 Timothy 4:6–10
verse 8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
Introduction: Christianity is very unique in that it does not drive us into a stressful attempt to change ourselves so that we can be acceptable to God and others. (We can never be good enough!!) No. It starts with grace and offers us immediate acceptance, love, and forgiveness through faith in Christ. Christian faith brings together, at the same time, the greatest assurance of love and acceptance and the greatest motivation and empowerment for growth and change. One place you see that is in the passage we’re looking at today; it tells us we need certain things in our lives to train ourselves for life.
| Today we get all kinds of unhealthy falsehoods and fables served up on television, the Internet, and every other media source. It’s very easy in this culture to fill your mind daily with spiritual junk food. Every study I’ve seen in recent years says that most Americans spend many hours every week in front of computer screens and televisions. And yet, even among Christians few people spend even 15 minutes a day, reading the Bible, praying to God, and nourishing their inner life. The entire Bible could be read in one year in less than 15 minutes a day, but it’s rarely done and we suffer a sort of spiritual malnutrition because of it. Each year major league baseball go to a particular place for Spring Training. Over the course of several weeks, what do you think these highly paid athletes do? Do they go to camps to learn about obscure but rarely used baseball strategies? No. They practice fielding, running, batting and conditioning, the basics. Every day they hit, run, and field. Imagine what an army of equipped Christians we would be if we returned to the basics on a daily basis.A very troubling reality is the growing segment of professed Christians who live self-centered lives, who give less than two percent of their income to the cause of Christ, who rarely share their faith, pray, or read the Bible, who do not resist temptation or handle difficulties well, who refuse to love their enemies, pray for those who hurt them, return good for evil, or refrain from gossip, criticism, and complaining: this is becoming widely accepted as normal Christianity. |
1. We Need the Practical Discipline of Training for Godliness (vv. 6–8).
A. Good Nourishment (Present Tense verb) (vv. 6–7). Verse 6 teaches us about being continually nourished in the truths of the faith and it calls these truths the “good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained..” The word “good,” in verse 6 is a translation of the Greek word from which we get the word “hygienic” it means, “healthy,” or “wholesome.” To be nourished, we also must rid ourselves of what is unhealthy: “…But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.” (v. 7).
B. Practical Disciplines (vv. 7–8). The Greek word translated “exercise” γυμνάζω is the word from which we get “gymnasium,” and “gymnastics.” It describes the kind of training practiced by an athlete who wants to improve performance. You train yourself by diligently practicing the basics. It’s possible to train yourself in a bad way. II Peter 2:14 talks about people who are experts in greed. The Greek there literally says they have been “trained” or “exercised” in greediness. By the way you allow yourself to live, you can be actually training yourself to be selfish, lazy, or prayerless. The truth is, the way you are living your life today is training you for the way you will live your life tomorrow and the day after.
2. We Need the Powerful Dynamic of Hope in God (vv. 8–10).
A. Salvation Comes Through Hope in God (v. 10). Notice: the Scriptures often speak of Christ as our Savior, but here the Scripture says that God is our Savior. We should never think that our redemption or salvation is just the work of Jesus. The Bible reveals that God is a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Each person in the triune God is fully involved in our salvation. Christ died on the Cross to pay for our sins and rose again to be our Lord and Savior. But the living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is fully involved in our complete salvation. Salvation does not come through human efforts or discipline. The idea in Scripture is never that you go into spiritual training hoping that through your training you will achieve salvation. Verse 10 says that Christians are people whose hope is in God. God is the Savior for all men. That doesn’t mean every one actually receives salvation. At the end of the verse we’re told that God’s salvation is actually received only by those who believe.
B. Hope in God Empowers You to Train Yourself to Be Godly (v. 8). Hope empowers you because hope isn’t just about heaven, or as verse 8 says, “that which is to come.” Hope is also about where you find your strength and joy now, in what verse 8 calls “the life that now is.” The heart that is hoping in God will be empowered to practice the practical disciplines that lead to a life of godliness.
Colossians 3:1–4
Have you ever heard the phrase, “You’re so heavenly minded, you’re no earthly good”? Paul teaches us that we must be heavenly minded to be any earthly good!
1. Set Your Heart and Mind on Things Above (vv. 1–3). Paul isn’t telling us simply to think of heaven. He’s telling us to recognize our union with Christ, who is in heaven! If you have trusted Christ for salvation, you are united with Him. This means:
A. You Were United with Christ in His Death (v. 3). God counts Christ’s death as your death to sin, the payment required (v. 3).
B. You Are United with Christ in His Resurrection, in His Life (v. 1). Christ is now seated at God’s right hand, and your heart and mind should be there with Him.
2. Set Your Eyes Toward Christ’s Return (v. 4). If you have been united to Christ through faith, you will be reunited in a physical sense at His return!
Paul uses these verses as the foundation for his teaching to the Colossians on how to live the Christian life (Col. 3:5). We should be so heavenly minded that no one can deny our earthly good!
| The great British evangelist, George Whitefield, while on a preaching tour of the American colonies. On Saturday, September 29, 1770, Whitefield rode to Exeter, New Hampshire, where someone, seeing his appearance, told him he was more fit to go to bed than to preach. “It’s true,” Whitefield replied, then he burst into prayer: “Lord, I am weary in thy work, but not of it. If I have not yet finished my course, let me speak for Thee once more and come home and die.” A crowd assembled and Whitefield stood precariously atop a barrel and preached. Finishing his sermon, he was helped from the barrel to his horse and he continued to Newburyport. That evening a group of friends gathered and asked Whitefield to speak to them. He rose and took a lighted candle, starting up the steps. Turning, he delivered a brief but moving message. When the candle died out, he continued up the stairs and went on to his bed where he died during the night. |
Conclusion:
If you put your hope in God for this life and the life to come and practice those spiritual disciplines that lead to life, your training will be fruitful in this life and in the life to come. That’s the promise God gives you here. You can count on it because it is a trustworthy saying, the promise of the living God, the Savior of all men, who has revealed His heart in the saving grace that comes through Jesus Christ. Put your hope in Him and train yourself for life.