How many of you were fans of the “Rocky” movies
growing up? I always loved the training
scenes in those movies and always felt like doing some type of training myself
after watching Rocky Balboa train! We
learn from the “Rocky” movies just how important discipline and training are to
an athlete’s success. Have you ever
considered that the same principle is true spiritually? Discipline and training
are vital to a Christian’s growth in the Lord.
In 1 Timothy 4:6-16, Paul
charged Timothy to train, or discipline himself for godliness in order to work
out his own salvation and to protect his hearers. This training would help Timothy guard himself
against a departure from the faith and would protect his hearers from doing so
as well (16).
The call to spiritual discipline, or training, may
be one of the most needed words for the church today. So many believers today are struggling with
sin, struggling in their marriages, struggling with depression, struggling with
knowing their Bible and their faith well.
Ironically, most believers I talk to when they come to me in their
struggles have very poor discipline when it comes to their spiritual lives. They rarely read their Bibles, rarely pray,
are very inconsistent in their church attendance, etc. I don’t believe that is a coincidence. God’s people need be reminded of the
importance of discipline and training in working out their own salvation and in
their mission to reach others with the gospel.
My prayer today is that God would rekindle a passion for the spiritual
disciplines among His people. This
passage is going to call us to discipline and training in our spiritual lives
in two ways. We’ll consider the first
one today:
[6] 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.
[7] Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself
for godliness; [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. [9] The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full
acceptance. [10] 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.
[11] Command
and teach these things. [12] Let no one despise you for your youth, but
set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in
purity. [13] Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of
Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. [14] Do not neglect the gift you
have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands
on you. [15] Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all
may see your progress. [16] 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. (1 Timothy 4:6-16)
I. Answer
the Call to Spiritual Discipline (6-10)
a.
The Secondary Goal of Spiritual Discipline (6-7)
In contrast to the false teachers, whom Paul has
labeled insincere liars and tools of Satan (4:2), Paul charges Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:6-10 to “train” himself for godliness in order
to be “a good servant of Christ Jesus.” This is what I’m calling the SECONDARY GOAL of spiritual discipline. We’ll see the primary goal of spiritual
discipline later in this passage, but I want to go ahead and distinguish
between what I’m calling the secondary
goal of spiritual discipline and the primary
goal of spiritual discipline. One goal
of an athletes’ training is to bring their body to the point where they can
compete at a certain level in a given competition. This is one goal, but normally they have a
deeper, more primary goal, or passion behind their training. They don’t merely want to compete; they want
to win the prize! This is their primary goal. 1st
Timothy 4:10 shows that our prize is the living God Himself! This doesn’t belittle the secondary goal; it just puts it in proper perspective
and gives it the proper motivation.
What is this secondary goal of spiritual
discipline? It is to “be a good servant of Christ Jesus.” Verse 6 gives us two characteristics of a
good servant of Christ Jesus. First,
they are someone who is “trained” in “the words of the faith” and “the words…of the good doctrine.” They know the gospel, the scriptures, and the
theology that comes from them. This
means that a good servant is equipped with proper beliefs. Second, a good
servant is also equipped with proper behavior. These are things that Timothy has “followed,” or put into practice. And part of practicing truth is speaking it as well (Timothy will be
this good servant “if” he puts these
things before the church). Again, this
is a goal of spiritual discipline, to
be a good servant of Christ who believes, practices, and speaks truth.
b.
The Meaning of Spiritual Discipline (7)
Paul then moves on to give us the MEANING of spiritual discipline in verse 7. Spiritual discipline is spiritual training. Paul tells Timothy, “train yourself for godliness,” and compares it to “bodily training,” or exercise in verse
8. The Greek word for “train” here is “gymnasia”, which is where we derive our English word,
“gymnasium”. It is meant to bring to
mind the training required for an athlete to master some skill set. Timothy is to approach becoming godly, the
way that a devoted athlete would: with intense
training and discipline. Many of the key words used in this passage serve
to emphasize this idea of training: trained
(6), train (7), training (8), toil (10), strive (10), devote (13), practice (15), immerse (15),
persist (16).
It is helpful at this point to remember how the
Bible presents the process of our sanctification, or spiritual growth. The Bible presents our sanctification
ultimately as a work, or miracle of God.
But it also presents it as a work of the believer, in which we cooperate with the work of God. [12] Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
[13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good
pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)
But by
the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On
the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the
grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10) So our spiritual growth is both the work of God and the work of the believer. The passage before us is addressing what the
work of the believer should look like.
It should look like an athlete in training, because as Christians we are
constantly and simultaneously training for and running our what Paul describes
as a “race.” [24] Do
you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the
prize? So run that you may obtain it. [25] Every athlete exercises
self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we
an imperishable. [26] So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one
beating the air. [27] But I discipline my body and keep it under control,
lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
There is great need today for Christians to understand
of the necessity of spiritual discipline, or training, in their walk with the
Lord. You will not grow or become godly without spiritual discipline. You will not experience lasting victory over
the sin without spiritual discipline. You
will not learn the Bible without spiritual discipline. No one accidentally stumbles into
godliness. Sadly, when we survey many
churches today, what we see is not devoted, disciplined spiritual athletes, but
rather lazy, undisciplined spiritual couch potatoes! The author of Hebrews described such a
situation: [12] For though by this
time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic
principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, [13] for
everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he
is a child. [14] But solid food is for the mature, for those who have
their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good
from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14) This is the meaning of spiritual discipline:
that we train with intensity in order to become godly servants of Christ
Jesus.
c.
The Value of Spiritual Discipline (8)
After laying out the goal and meaning of spiritual
discipline, Paul then describes the
VALUE of spiritual discipline. He
says, “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.”
Godliness, which is the product of spiritual discipline, benefits a
person now and in the age to come in every way.
It “promises” this. Notice here that Paul wants what is best for Timothy and his hearers. He doesn’t just want them to avoid the
deception of the false teachers, he also wants them to benefit in every way in
this life and the live to come. He doesn’t’
want them settling for any 2nd or 3rd class
happiness. He wants them to be eternally
healthy and happy, which will only come through disciplining themselves for
godliness.
This explanation of the value of spiritual
discipline makes it ultimately a matter of faith
and the pursuit of joy. Here is where this charge becomes very
convicting and revealing. Why are we so
prone to be spiritual couch potatoes?
Simply put, because we don’t believe in the “promise” of godliness and we don’t want to be as happy as we could
be. As C.S. Lewis said, we are far too
easily pleased.
I still remember what becoming a senior in high
school did to my work ethic in basketball practice. There was something about the realization
that this was my last year to play basketball that took my work ethic to
another level. This was it and that made
me want it so bad. Have you ever
considered that this one life you have is “it” as well? You don’t get a “do over.” Since this is it, how bad do you want
godliness? How bad do you want true joy
and happiness? How bad do you want it?
d.
The Primary Goal of Spiritual Discipline (9-10)
Finally, in verse 9-10, Paul describes the Primary GOAL of spiritual discipline. He says that he and others also “toil and strive” toward this very end
of being good servants of Christ Jesus and then gives the reason why they do so. They
do so because they have set their hope
on the living God, who is the Savior of all.
In other words, the primary goal of spiritual discipline is to know the
living God and to make Him known.
God’s being the Savior of all here does not mean
that everyone will be saved. He is the
Savior of all, but is especially Savior of those who believe. This just means
that God is Savior to all in some ways (common grace) but is Savior to those
who believe in every way.
The bigger point is that the reason they give
themselves to rigorous, spiritual discipline is because they have set their
hope upon the living God and desire to be spent in His mission to save
all. This is why I distinguished earlier
between the primary and secondary goal of discipline. The goal is godliness, but why the goal? We work towards the goal in order to win the
prize! And HE is the prize! He is the finish line! This gives our discipline both an upward and an outward focus and keeps it from becoming legalism.
We see this hope in Paul in Philippians 3:7-14 [7] But
whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. [8] Indeed,
I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count
them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him,
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which
comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on
faith—[10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may
share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any
means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
[12] Not
that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make
it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. [13] Brothers, I do
not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what
lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Do you know what it is to hope in Go and to want
Him more than anything? Do you know what
it is to by faith consider God a
greater treasure than anything this world has to offer and to go after Him with
everything that you have? That’s the
heart of spiritual discipline: a deep desire to know God and make Him known. If you know Him, He has sparked this passion
in your heart. I pray that God would
either fan or ignite this flame your heart today. Would you ask Him to as well?
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