1 Timothy 4:1-6 Keeping Doctrine Pure

The Battle cry of our time is that truth is relative. You can believe what you want to believe and as long as you believe it sincerely that's ok. However, truth by it's very nature is specific and exclusive. Two competing thoughts cannot be truth. Yet in churches all over the place this morning - there may be a rather large... variation in what is being proclaimed as truth. Not merely because the Bible is a big book but because false teachers and false teaching have not been restricted to the first century church.

On the heals of saying that the church is the pillar and support of the truth and in defining godliness as the person of Jesus Christ, we receive a warning from God himself. Times are coming (and I think are here) when people will fall away from the faith they've been instructed in. The source of their failure will be that they have believed the lies of the enemy. This morning I want you to listen carefully so that you may learn how not to depart from the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
I want to help you Stay on the Straight Path.

Please open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4:1-6 and read this together with me.

The Spirit's Warning

The entire passage is a warning to us all that the days are coming when some will fall away from the faith.

Notice if you will that the article "the" appears here in this passage. Throughout first Timothy¹ whenever paul uses the phrase, "The faith" he is not talking specifically about personal saving faith but about "creedal faith." Creedal faith is the same thing as "the true teaching" about the faith.

For someone to fall away
from creedal faith means they deviate from teaching and believing the truth. To be certain there are severe consequences. As we've already learned at the end of the first chapter (1 Tim 1:19) - deviating from the faith can be devastating and painful. Hymenaeus and Alexander deviated from the truth of their faith to such an extent that they were blaspheming. And as a result they were handed over to Satan's authority. Without God's armor of protection they would suffer in the enemies domain until such time as they might repent.

Deviating from the truth of the faith is a repeated theme of warning in 1 Timothy. In the context it flows quite naturally. If the church is the pillar and support of the truth, than we the church need to know that the deviation is neither normal, nor is it harmless. Even when Paul was writing this, there were people deviating from the truth. (cf. 1 Tim 1:6).²

It is equally important to know that God is not the author of this confusion. The source of lies is both demonic and human.

Free Lies: Straight from the source!

First they are "paying attention to deceitful spirits." "Paying attention to" means more than just hearing it means choosing to believe it and following after. I want you to notice that in the first instance here he's talking about people listening to what demons have to say.

In our day the occult runs rampant. Even people who say they are Christians today read their horoscopes and know their "star sign". This is just one of the ways that demonic influence has in some places infiltrated the church. Sometimes it's intentional but I think it's usually accidental.

How many of you know that the devil likes to whisper lies to you already? He is the tempter and the liar and the deceiver so it is completely consistent with who that liar is to try to get God's people off the mark and he'll even misuse the Bible to do it. Don't forget that the devil quoted the Bible to Jesus when he was tempting him in the desert. One way to identify that the devil is trying to trick you is by exposing yourself to all of God's word and cross checking what you think you're seeing.

I once had a professor who warned us that whenever we see something in the text which no-body else has seen in 2000 years - it's time to pull out the Bible study fire extinguisher and call another believer who can help shoot down your heresy before you start spouting it.

Be aware that sometimes lies come straight from the devils themselves.

A Softer, gentler path to error

Yesterday I opened up my email and someone sent me a little meditation or something or other from the Dalai Lama. Now folks, I don't care what you happen to think about Llama's, that one is not following the path of Christ. And if you're not following Christ you're following the devil. So am I supposed to read that and get a boost for the day from it? I think not. I promptly sent it to the bit bucket.

Not every Christian will dabble in the occult (which is by the way like dabbling with pure plutonium). But a lack of discernment could easily expose you to doctrines of demons. Even though most Christians are not interested in the occult at any level, many times these same, people show little to no discernment when they go about picking reading material. I'm not even talking about reading material from the adult fiction section of the library, I mean the plethora of books available even from inside "Christian" bookstores and websites. Not to mention the assortment of preachers on the radio and television. Certainly not all of them are bad - I don't want to be mistaken that way, there are several that I willingly listen to. But even then we must listen to with a careful ear. One of the highest complements paid in the scriptures is to the Berean's in Acts 17:10-12 because they didn't just believe everything they heard, they opened a Bible to see if it was true!

Characteristics of False Teachers

Of course if you look back at 1 Timothy 1:6 and then here again at 1 Timothy 4:2-5 you find out that quite often false teachers are not somehow deluded and tricked into teaching heresy. In truth they are actively rebelling against God! ³ Sometimes people actually choose to leave solid teaching in favor of fluff and lies.

Notice that Paul calls them hypocritical liars. That's the kind of phrase that points to knowing the truth and not caring about it. He describes them in two very descriptive ways.

Seared

First of all he says that they are seared in their conscience. Now, we've all known people - or at least seen people on the news and you just have to ask yourself, "don't they have a conscience?" Well, yes they probably do in a sense. But they've ignored it's warnings so often that it's all but impossible for them to feel any remorse anymore when they do something against it. If you take a hot branding iron and hold it to your skin long enough to destroy the nerve cells underneath you won't be able to feel anything under the scar even after it heals.

False Asceticism

Paul picks up just two of the doctrines which these teachers have been teaching. Number one they advocate abstaining from marriage.⁴ And second they tell you not to eat certain foods.⁵ The problem with both of those prohibitions is that they fail to account for the fact that God made both marriage and food. And he intended that we as Christians partake in them with thanksgiving towards God.⁶

The clear point of the matter at hand is that false teachers are often easy to spot because both their teaching and their life are going directly against what God's word actually says.

The Holy Spirit warned the church from the beginning that the truth of the gospel would be under attack. Demonic influences will attempt to lead believers astray and some false teachers will lie through their teeth in order to spread their own version of error.

Application

Ok, all of that is true and it's a dangerous world out there. But, you say, "Pastor, I'm not a theologian - how can I be certain not to fall away? How can I be sure that I'm not buying a lie?"

That's an excellent question and I want to tell you. The answer to that lies in this text.

1. Don't put yourself into spiritual danger by venturing into demonic territory. I've warned you before about the occult. You might not be tempted to sacrifice on an altar to satan but dabbling in the occult can seem pretty innocent. You may think it's no big deal to just read your horoscope or call Madam whatever's mind reading telephone line for fun. Any fascination with the supernatural can open you up to direct demonic influence. God alone is the only acceptable source of power.

2. Consider the source of the teachings you take in. The bible tells us that Satan appears like an angel of light and his servants look nice too. Just because some teacher has a winning smile and quotes the Bible doesn't mean they teach the truth. Satan quoted scripture when he was testing Jesus. Remember that. Much of Paul's argument here regarded identifying some of these false teachers and it all boiled down to: "Do their lives measure up with God's word?" Be Like the Acts 17 Bereans. Check everything against God's word, which is the third answer.

3. Compare THE source. In other words: sound doctrine. Looking at the context which follows we see that Paul points out a few of the heretic's specific errors and then points to the solution: knowing the truth. If we realize that God created both marriage and food so that we might receive them both with gratitude toward God then we will be able not only to recognize false teachers who rail against such things but we will also be able to defend ourselves from error. Verse 6 has the answer here: "being constantly nourished on the words of the faith and the sound doctrine which you have been following."

4. Consult your pastor or someone else you trust who themselves exhibit sound doctrine.

5. Finally, not because it is the least important but because I want it to stay with you. Pray as you study the Bible and as you listen to teaching. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.

1The list may be divided between anarthrous (having no article)[1 Tim 1:2, 4, 5, 14, 19;2:7, 15; 4:12; 5:12; 6:11] and articular (having the article) [1 Tim. 3:9, 13; 4:1, 6; 5:8; 6:10, 12, 21]. (Though in 1:19 faith has no article it is otherwise specified as "their" faith and could be taken to indicate the creedal faith which they had.)

2Mounce, William D. Vol. 46, Word Biblical Commentary : Pastoral Epistles. Word Biblical Commentary, 235. Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002.

3Mounce, William D. Vol. 46, Word Biblical Commentary : Pastoral Epistles. Word Biblical Commentary, 235. Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002.

4Although Paul commended singleness as an estate in which one could give more time and energy directly to serving the Lord (1 Cor. 7:32, 35), he always insisted that marriage was not wrong (1 Cor. 7:28) and that God had indeed gifted many to marry (1 Cor. 7:7...). These errorists forbid marriage as inherently wrong. George W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles : A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids, Mich.; Carlisle, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1992), 190.

5These are not the only indicators of false teachers but even though these are spelled out for us in the pages of scripture there is no shortage of people and groups teaching these very things. The Catholic church still forbids it's priests to marry; and has through the centuries advocated abstention from certain foods. Even today many Christians are hung up on alcohol. They treat it almost as the unpardonable sin but it is not the consumption of alcohol that is the problem, it is getting drunk on it. Vegetarianism - while not a sin, is often touted as a superior level of spirituality.

6Where error springs from one side it's correction often creates another error so Paul defines what it means for these things to be good. 1) God created them. 2) They are to be received by giving thanks. 3) they are sanctified (Set apart for our holy use) by means of the word of God and by prayer. Which is the clear justification for praying for your meal. When you pray you are asking God to sanctify the meal, you are acknowledging God as the source of the meal and you are expressing gratitude that you get to share the meal.

1 Timothy 4:13-16 A Little Dabble Won't Do

Dabbling is defined as “a superficial or intermittent interest, investigation, or experiment.”
¹I can enjoy dabbling in a lot of things. I like to dabble in technology. I work with it just enough to feel good at it. I dabble with woodworking. I'm learning to cut things straight. I feel good about a little something that I've built now and then – but if the results aren't exactly perfect, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I'm willing to bet that a number of you have dabbled in certain things.But there is one thing in particular which no one can afford to dabble in. You cannot afford to dabble in your faith. A little dabbling will not do it. Jesus said in Luke 9:62 “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We cannot start to serve God and get distracted with other things. But we do. We need to be reminded of 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Dabbling in our relationship with the Almighty will only leave you wanting. If upon serious reflection you can see the tendency to go light in your walk with Christ than today I want to call you to getting serious about your faith.

Now to a certain extent you may already be taking your walk with Christ seriously. But if we are truly following Christ there really is no point short of perfect Christlikeness at which we can say, "it is enough. I am full of God enough to satisfy me so I do not need to walk with him any more than I do." there is always something in our lives which must be surrendered.

Let me ask each one of you this morning to cease dabbling in Christ and to seriously commit yourself to living for God today. No more settling for lesser things. No more being enamored by the things of this world but wholly consumed with living in Him. After all Christ gave everything for you all he wants is all of you.

Open your Bible this morning for your instructions to 1 Timothy 4:13-16 and read along with me.

The supremacy of the Word
(4:13) Until I come, give attention to the [public] reading [of Scripture], to exhortation and teaching.

Remember that in Timothy's day few people actually owned a copy of the scriptures. In that time much of the time teaching was spent in publicly reading the word of God so that the entire congregation could benefit. So the reading was necessary then. Today everyone of us has a copy of the Bible, and there is no excuse for it not being read at home. Even so, I continue to read the Bible in small portions as we teach because my teaching is founded upon the Bible.

But look how all three categories of usage here are involved. There is biblical intake in the reading of it. There is biblical application in the exhortation of what has been read and there is biblical understanding in the teaching of it.

The word of God must be supreme; and we know this and believe it. This is why we've just sent over six thousand bibles through
Love Packages so that more believers in India and Africa can obey the word of God by first having a chance to read it.

And you have got to be in the word if you want it to impact your life. If you want to do more than just dangle your toes in the waters of God's grace you need to enter into relationship with him by drawing near to him in his word.

The obedience to God's gifting
(4:14) Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.

God has given to every believer certain abilities to serve him; Timothy was no different. During one of their meetings, a prophet had stood in the service and declared that God had given Timothy a specific gift. The elders (or presbytery) then had acknowledged that statement and had ordained Timothy into service by laying hands on him and praying.

Not everyone has such a clear announcement of their gift. But God has given you one. Often you can determine your gifts by considering not only what you are able to do, but what you have a passion to do and what you do that is fruitful.

This is likely one area which through lack of use causes the most frustration to believers and I believe to God as well. When the LORD gives his children a gift or a skill, He has every right to expect us to serve Him with that gift. As the apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:10...

(4:10) As each one has received a [special] gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (4:11) Whoever speaks, [is to do so] as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves [is to do] [so] as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

How about you? Are you using your gift? Are you serving God with it? Don't neglect what God has given you to do.

The struggle of one focus
(4:15) Take pains with these things; be [absorbed] in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

The price of living for Christ is difficulty. I am not calling you to an easy life but to a difficult life. Yes there is a comfort and assuredly there is a joy in living for Christ - it is only in God that we can find satisfaction. Yet we must understand that comfort is not the place of satisfaction in the Lord's service- obedience is.

Do not permit yourself to be satisfied in the trivialities of life but jump wholeheartedly into a full and passionate pursuit of God's word and intentional service from the Lord's enabling. As you do this your progress will be obvious to others as well as to yourself. But we will not likely grow in Christ if we are content to just let whatever happens happen.

The fruit of labor.
I am convinced that God gives mothers the gift of amnesia. I have been witness to live birth on occasion and I have but one thing to say about it: "that looks painful."

In fact it looks so painful I'm convinced that amnesia has to be involved or Eve would never have had another child! Nor would any other woman. Then again it might be something else. Maybe the fruit of all that hard and painful labor is really so sweet that it is worth the price. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18...

(4:17) For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, (4:18) while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Just as a mother will repeat the pains of labor for the love of a child, in the same way the reward of our labors is worth any effort.

(4:16) Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

Paul's words to Timothy are sobering and yet encouraging. First he says watch your own life. This is what we are all called to. But I am also called to carefully watch my teaching. If you persevere in the reading and teaching of the word as well as being sure to exercise your God given spiritual gift than you will ensure yourself salvation.

Does this mean somehow that we must earn salvation? No but it does mean that diligence for Christ begets assurance of the salvation he has granted. Perhaps this is one reason why so many Christians remain unsure of their own salvation. They may accept Christ and fully believe so that they are saved, and yet they merely dabble in Christ finding themselves unduly absorbed in meaningless things. Since then they walk so distant and lovelessly with their savior they have no sense of his nearness and grace.

Does this describe you? Are you simply dabbling in your own discipleship?

what is holding you back from a full commitment? What keeps you from being absorbed in these things.

Wake up! No more resting and slumbering. It is time to move forward.

1Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary., Includes Index., Eleventh ed. (Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).

1 Timothy 4:6-8 Being A Good Servant

Open your Bible to 1 Timothy 4:6-11 where we encounter what could almost be called a formula for being a good servant of Jesus Christ. In the context it refers specifically to Timothy as the shepherd of the church in Ephesus; but in principle it applies not only to myself but it also applies to every servant of Jesus.

Look at what Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:6-11. Twice we read the injunction teach these things. It's actually repeated again in verse 15 where Timothy is told to be absorbed in them.

"These things" is more than a reference back to the last few verses, but rather serves to represent everything that has gone before. "these things" is equivalent to "everything I've told you".

Looking back over the content of the book we see a number of major themes developed. In the first chapter it's the proper use of law and the graceful intent of Jesus' coming to save sinners. In the second chapter it's a call to prayer born out of God's desire to save souls, and an instruction for proper behavior in the church for both men and women. In the third chapter there was the careful list of requirements for proper church leadership. And the fourth chapter began with a warning of false teachers. Over all of this is the proper application of God's word. If Timothy will continue to teach these many things than he will be a good servant.

From my perspective as a pastor that certainly helps me, but what about the rest of us? Since we are all supposed to serve Jesus Christ, there is an application to you as well. What would it take for you to hear the words, "Well Done Good And Faithful Servant!". The pathway to hearing that is, I think, mirrored in this passage.

As you move through the text, he goes on to list three characteristics of a good servant and all of them, like all of the doctrine discussed up until this point, revolve around the word of God having a transforming effect on your life.

Continuity In the Word

("constantly nourished..." v6)
The idea here is that of being in the word daily so that over the long term you are effected by it. That's why some translations pick the word "train" here. One of the reasons I meticulously preach verse by verse through the scriptures is because I believe that proper doctrine has a transformational effect. Take for instance the doctrine of baptism. If I just ask you to dunk yourself in a tub in front of a group of people you would think I was odd. But if I explain the doctrine of baptism as a reenactment of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and as a public declaration of your personal faith in Jesus Christ; thus identifying you with him - then suddenly getting baptized is not a bizarre phenomenon it becomes something you are not only willing to participate in but as you begin to understand that it is a command of Jesus Christ, than as a follower of Jesus Christ you are going to see the necessity of baptism for your own life.

We desperately need to be continually exposed to solid doctrinal teaching. The only appropriate source of solid doctrinal teaching is the Bible, the word of God.

Now, pay attention to the word "continually". The NIV translates that as "brought up in" but that makes it sound like your Bible education is all in the past. But the word itself requires the sense of constancy.

How many of you know that it's easy to forget something? <pause> It's just as easy to forget what God says as it is to forget where you put the keys. If that's the case, than we need constant-re-exposure to God's word.

It may be old hat teaching to almost everyone here, but the question remains - are you in the word? Do you read it, study, allow it to permeate your life or not? I can at least say with assurance, if you're here - and if you're listening then you are in the word at least once a week on Sunday. But Sunday isn't enough. Sunday is supposed to be the desert on top of a week long munch fest of God's word. If you're not coming in here already touched by God's word - you are cheating yourself of spiritual maturity. Good servants are constantly strengthened on God's word, not just hit and miss.

I can't brow-beat you into becoming captivated by the word of God, but frankly you will not grow at all if you are not even exposing yourself to it. I have found one of the most fruitful ways to become captivated by God's word is to ask Him to make me hungry for it.

Later when we get to verse 13 we see that Timothy is commanded to read the Bible out loud, this is because owning a copy at that time was expensive and very few individuals if any could afford it. But if the church had a copy and it was read to the congregation than it could be absorbed in that way.

The plain fact of the matter for you however is that if you want to be a good servant of God you're not going to accomplish it without reading the word of God. You must be constantly nourished by it.

Of course it's not enough to just let your eyes hit the page, you have to obey what you read.

Obedience to the Word

Notice that a good servant has been following the word ("which you have been following" v6).

The book of James goes into detail about the fool who opens the Bible, sees what it says about himself and then walks away without doing anything about it. The simple application is, "don't be that fool."

Listen to what James says,
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does." (Jas 1:22-25, NIV)

If you want to be a good servant of Christ Jesus, you need to start in the word, then you need to obey the word, third you need to cut out the inflow of garbage.

Living Upon the Word not the World

Look down at verses 7 and 8. I have no doubt that this is the area which causes us the most problem and it's where I need to spend the rest of our time.

The first order of business is cutting off the inflow of garbage. "have nothing to do with worldly fables..." or as the NIV puts it "Godless myths".

Now what do you suppose that means?

In the context of 1 Timothy we can go back to the first chapter and see him talking about these false teachers who were teaching all kinds of myths which did nothing but generate dialog but they certainly didn't help the kingdom of God grow. So on one level I think we can take that same application.

There's an awful lot of speculation about the Bible that does nothing to to grow God's kingdom. A few years ago there was the Bible codes. If you count letters at random intervals you can spell out the winner of the presidential election and all kinds of nonsense like that.

We can't be certain what all of the myths were that Timothy had to deal with, but there is at the very least and equal amount of false teaching around today. The question is: how do you identify false teaching? The answer is simple: by knowing good teaching.

We need to be people of the book.

This week I want to give you a specific challenge.

If you have not yet developed the daily reading of God's word as a habit I want you to bring that under obedience to the Lord.

If you're going to be a good servant of God you need to be constantly in the word, you need to be obeying what you're reading and you need to be cutting off the inflow of false teaching. So number one, I want you to read a book of the Bible this week. If you're not sure which one to read, how about the book of James. It's a short book, you could read it in one sitting.

But if you'll start by reading it through from beginning to end today and then from Monday to Friday read, study and pray through one chapter a day then by the end of the week you will have a great foundation for returning this coming Sunday.

What ever you do this week, get into the word.

1 Timothy 4:7-8 Discipline Yourself

Some of the recent advertisements out for a consulting firm use Tiger Woods to highlight their professionalism <show a few of the print adverts>. Tiger Woods is on top of his game. As an athlete he is not only one of the best but one of the most recognizable in terms of excellence.

Any fool can play cow pasture pool - but if you want to golf like Tiger Woods it's going to take discipline and hard work; not to mention an enormous investment of time. That company claims that they know what it takes to be a Tiger. Bully for them. You might want to work on that hook or slice you've been nursing but I've got something more important than your golf swing for you to work on.

Do you have what it takes to be godly?

Open your Bible to 1 Timothy 4:7-10 this morning (Read)

Athletes train hard. But quite frankly what they train for doesn't last. High school trophy cases must occasionally be purged in order to make room for new trophies. Super bowl winners have been known to sell their rings for money, crowns fade the cheering crowds disappear and once strong muscles and joints begin to creek and groan.

This body might be the temple of the holy spirit but it is failing and fading. Listen to Paul's first letter to the Corinthians

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." (1 Co 9:24-27, NIV)

It's time to go into training for something that lasts. Physical fitness has it's uses but Spiritual Fitness: Godliness pays off for eternity. It's not likely any of us here this morning are going to win the gold in the 2008 Olympics. But if you'll take today's message to heart, you can win the prize in heaven.

Are you ready to get to work? Here are the ground rules for winning the gold.

Avoid Spiritual Junk Food

He says have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales. The word used there means reject it outright. The urgency with which we are ordered to reject these should give some indication of the damage they can cause. 1 Timothy 1:4 demonstrates that at the very least they fail to accomplish anything of value for the kingdom. 1 Timothy 1:19 indicates that at worse they can cause irreparable damage to your faith.

Worldly or godless myths translates something that is antithetical to that which is holy. This is not merely stuff that is not Bible related but rather the stuff that is against God's word in principle.

Rule number one is don't waste your time absorbing garbage. It isn't worth the price. You are a Spiritual athlete in training for the gold. You don't have time for fluff.

Notice then that he gives a different direction. That idea of "on the other hand" is strong here. He says ..."discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness." Let's take that phrase and work backward. If you're going to avoid spiritual junk food you need to be mindful of what IS worthy of taking in; you need to clarify what your goal is supposed to be.

Clarify Your Goal

In a word, the goal is godliness. Back in 1 Timothy 3:16 we've already seen godliness defined as being embodied in Christ Jesus - but disciplining ourselves for godliness in our lives means being like Jesus. And that is hard work.

"Godliness is a right attitude and response toward the true creator God. A preoccupation from the heart with holy and sacred realities."^{(MacArthur 164)}. Don't miss that idea of preoccupation. Disciplining yourself for the purpose of godliness means being obsessed with conformity to Christlikeness.

Training for godliness means that godliness is the goal. Ask yourself the honest question, "what is my goal in life?" Some of us might answer, "Comfort" . Others of us might say, retirement, wealth, my hobbies, fame, popularity or reputation. But quite frankly those goals are off course for a Christian. "Pursue Godliness" is the goal.

What is your goal? If it isn't godliness it's time to take that to the Lord in humble repentance. If you're not living with God as your first goal than you're out of balance. Once you've re-oriented your goal it's time to get down to work.

Discipline Yourself

Discipline yourself. Our word Gymnasium comes from this word for discipline. Becoming godly demands that you train in gymnastic discipline. You have to control yourself by thorough discipline. Look back at what paul said in 1 Corinthians "... I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave... "
^{(1 Corinthians 9:26-27)}

Discipline isn't easy but it is required. There is a double characteristic which I want to highlight in this phrase, "discipline yourself".

make yourself obey

First it means what you expect it to mean: "Make yourself obey!" This isn't necessarily a popular perspective in our culture. Personal discipline is at an all time low in our society. If you want evidence look at the obesity which has come upon this country with epidemic proportions. America is fat because people are undisciplined in what they eat, and in how they exercise (which is usually not at all).

And when it does come to the celebration of athleticism, we tend to shift our attention from the personal pursuit of physical fitness to the vicarious hero worship of the professional athlete.

A very common business practice today is called "outsourcing". Outsourcing means hiring an outside company to do something inside your company which is considered to be too expensive, too complicated or too time-consuming for your own business to do by itself.

In the same way we tend to shift our godliness from our shoulders to the pulpit and the stage. We will not pray - the pastor should pray enough for all of us. We do not read or study the Bible - the pastor or Sunday School Teacher must do it for us. We won't worship - the song or the song-leader must move us. We will not ourselves serve Christ by serving others - let the church step in and do something about it.

But godliness is not outsourceable! It's not something that is best left in the hands of professionals. Godliness is not merely an essential function; it is the essential function of our lives.

Look at what he says: "godliness is profitable for all things" Many Christians however are intellectually and Spiritually lazy. There is no mental or spiritual discipline in their lives. A good servant of Jesus Christ however will be marked by strong personal discipline. We need to discipline ourselves for godliness.

practice

There is a secondary characteristic to this word which might serve to give hope to the undisciplined and that is the aspect of practice. You're going to have to work for it. The word used here is intense, indicating that it is to be a constant training.

Training is a constant which can never be ignored. Last week we talked about the need to be saturated in God's word. This week we discover that the that saturation has to come at a cost. The cost is that we have to start rejecting the godless and silly myths and false doctrines of our time. Secondary to the cost is that we must continually work at godliness. Like any exercise or personal discipline worth doing, it requires that we be diligently and completely absorbed in it.

Nobody ever learned to play the piano by listening to musical recordings. If you want to play you have to practice. And if you want to be an excellent pianist you must discipline yourself to practice much.

If you want to be godly you have to discipline yourself for the purposes of godliness.

Be honest with yourself and ask the question: could you describe yourself as "absorbed" in the faith? Or is your faith just something you dabble in?

Serving the Lord Christ has got to stop being one of the things we occasionally do and it has to become an obsession at which we continually work. Godliness is not obtained by accident, it must be pursued with athletic intensity.

I don't watch a lot of sports myself but I always wonder when I look out into the crowds and I see those guys at the football game, who when it's snowing outside; have stripped off their shirts and painted their bodies in their team's colors. They're cheering and hollering and carrying on and I just wonder what their faith looks like. I don't think it's unlikely that some of those guys are Christians. But if they're Christians do they put that kind of intensity into their faith? Quite frankly, if they don't than they are sadly out of balance and completely off the course.

Take Responsibility

If I could make one more quick observation about discipline it's this: note that he says, "discipline yourself!

This is not something which I can do for you, neither is it possible for someone else to do it for you. I can do no more than be a personal trainer at best - ultimately it is YOU who must decide how seriously you are going to pursue the faith. You have to do the heavy lifting if you want stronger spiritual muscles.

Cut out the Spiritual junk food, set your eyes on the prize, and make yourself obey. Those are the ground rules for winning the prize.

The exercises themselves are familiar.
Pursue biblical knowledge by reading and studying your word.
Walk in obedience to what you read and learn.
Pray continually.
Spread the gospel.

Yes the exercises are familiar - All that's needed is the discipline to work at them. Don't run aimlessly. Don't box the air. Do the heavy lifting. Don't give up. Don't quit. Don't lose your focus. The prize is before you. Pursue it! Yearn for it. Work at it.

Discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness.

1 Timothy 4:9-11 Strength to Strive

Introduction

I can remember as a child wondering why my dad kept getting up and going to work every day. It didn't seem like fun. I thought it would be a lot more entertaining to stay home and watch TV. Little did I realize then that a large amount of the fan mail my dad seemed to get on a regular occasion was at least a partial reason for his strong desire to head off to work in the mornings. To put it briefly, he worked hard because I ate a lot and needed new clothes.

Why do we work hard for the kingdom?

When you begin reading with verse nine you the last of three "trustworthy statements" which are found in 1 Timothy (1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11; Titus 3:8). It refers to the last portion¹ of the tenth verse "We have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers." This is an axiomatic statement which is meant to shrink a significant Christian doctrine down to a bite sized chunk.

In verses 9-11 Paul addresses the question "why do we need to work hard for the kingdom?" The trustworthy statement of verse 10 answers that question with three motivations for focussed labor and intense spiritual struggle.

This, says the apostle, is what we labor and strive for.

Labor means to work hard physically. Strive indicates the intense struggle of an athletic contest. It is used in Colossians 4:12 of Epaphras who is always "striving" in his prayers. Labor may symbolize the hard physical work of ministry but striving refers to the hard spiritual struggle of ministry. Satan is relentless in his attacks upon Christ's servants. But we continue to fight against him through prayers and spiritual struggle.

The hard work of ministry is described here. We cannot dally at the gospel we must push it forward with all our might. People are dying. Their souls are the prize. It is worth any physical or spiritual hardship and struggle in order to reach a solitary soul.

Because God is the Security of our Hope

But from where does the Power to work hard come from? First it comes from hope.

Hope is one of the most powerful forces in human nature. With the slightest bit of hope someone will continue to fight against impossible odds. But without hope someone who has everything going for them will give up and walk away.

As Christians we have an eternal hope. This is what Paul says when he writes, because we have fixed our hope on the living God. We labor because we hope in God. We don't labor because we pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. We don't labor because it's the right thing to do. We don't labor because we're trying to work our way into the kingdom. We labor because we hope in God.

Hope does not mean that our salvation may or may not come to pass but rather means our "confident anticipation". We have a confident anticipation in eternity. We know that because of redemption and forgiveness in Christ that we are going to see and be with God!

Moreover it is the fact that God is alive, which further helps Paul to labor with such intensity. A dead god is no god at all. But the knowledge that our God is truly alive means that he is a rewarder of those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6). This is the essence of faith. and prepares us for the salvation saying which follows.

God is a living God and what follows is a dual description of Him. (1) He is the savior of all men and (2) He is especially the savior of believers.

Because God is the Sustainer of all men.

The first description can cause quite a bit of confusion. There are a few different ways of looking at this.

1. It cannot mean all people are saved. The term for this is Universalism. But the Bible is very clear that not everyone is saved. For instance Revelation 14:11 is one passage among many that deals with the lost in hell.

2. Some tend to claim that the word "especially" could be translated as "that is" (IOW: savior of all men, that is, believers.) However there doesn't appear to be any strong evidence for such a rendering.

3. Not Immediately Judging.
   The most likely and most natural interpretation means taking the term Savior in a dual sense which is hinted at with the word "Especially" The word "Savior"means "saviour, deliverer, preserver." In the first century it was applied to all sorts of people to describe anything from protection to provision.²

In this instance it means that God is preserving or saving all people from immediate judgement. 2 Peter 3:9 alludes to God's temporary withholding of judgement. "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. "

We all deserve to die at every instance but God in his mercy maintains the lives of men upon this earth for a time. He withholds judgement as Peter tells us so that more may come to know him. In the temporary sense then, God is the savior of all men.

We labor hard because of God's great mercy in delaying the judgement. His patience is meant for more to come to repentance.

Because God is Especially the Savior of believers:

The Salvation of all men from immediate judgment is one thing. God is the savior of all men, but he is especially the savior of believers. There is no true lasting salvation without faith. Faith and faith alone is the channel through which God's grace brings us salvation.

Picture a group of people clinging to a lifeboat in the water and you are the captain of a ship coming to their aid. You are their "rescuer" who can save them from dying in the deadly churning waters. But when you pull alongside the lifeboat, only a few take the rope you toss to them and are hauled onto your ship. The others, remain in the water to die.

Whose Rescuer were you? Those left behind or the ones who you actually saved? You were the Rescuer of both groups but only the ones who let you lift them out of the water took advantage of your offer of deliverance.³

The fact that Jesus is the savior of all men is a very powerful statement for Paul and Timothy. Remember that Paul is the apostle to the gentiles. For generations the Jews had widely assumed that God cared only for them and would save only them. If anyone else wanted to reap the benefits they had to become Jewish prosy lites. But Jesus came that he might save everyone. Remember back in the second chapter that Paul tells timothy that it is for God's desire to save people that God called Paul as a preacher and an apostle. Paul then invokes a promise saying, "I am telling the truth I am not lying..." Why would Paul insist he was telling the truth unless his detractors were teaching that God would not save gentiles?

But God does save gentiles and God has indeed offered salvation to the world. The death of Christ was sufficient for every one to ever walk the planet he stands ready to be the savior of everyone; but he is specifically the savior only of believers.

The salvation granted to believers is of a much greater kind than that which is given to unbelievers. That alone should motivate us to work for the kingdom.

Leonard Ravenhill tells the story of A notorious British criminal named Charlie Peace. Having committed a capital offense he was going to his death. In front of him a minister was reading from the Bible but doing so rather blandly. Charlie asked him, "Do you really believe in such a place called hell?" The minister replied, "Yes." Charlie responded, "Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees, and think it worth while living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!"⁴

My friends it's time to get to work for the kingdom. Our hope is fixed upon the living God. We are not laboring for a lost cause but for an already victorious one. We are straining from a position of strength rather than for strength. Our God is a living God, the gods of the nations are just dead sticks and fables. The God of Israel is the one true God and he alone is a living God. There is no other. The gods of Islam, Evolution (time and chance), and the whole lot simply do not have life which also means they are powerless. But our God is the savior of all men and especially of believers.

Let's get to work.

1I am well aware of the possible interpretations of the faithful saying referring to all or portions of vv 8 or 10. Having familiarized myself with the arguments in favor of each I find the most likely candidate for the faithful saying being v10b.

2Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English Reader (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997, c1984), 1 Ti 4:9.

3Tyndale Theological Seminary, Conservative Theological Journal Volume 4 (Tyndale Theological Seminary, 2000; 2003), 4:205

4Indelible Ink: 22 Prominent Christian Leaders Discuss the Books That Shape Their Faith, edited by Scott Larsen (Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook Press, 2003). Ravi Zacharias Reading: the Fingerprints on your soul. http://www.rzim.org/resources/jttran.php?seqid=87 He is quoting Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany Fellowship, 1959. p 19.