A sermon preached by Gabriel Hughes on the Lord’s Day, February 4, 2024; at Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, AZ.
I was reminded this past week of a quote from Steve Lawson, who said, “There are only two types of preachers: those who preach the Bible, and those who need to resign.” As I have no intention of resigning, I suppose I shall preach God’s word today.
It is only through the hearing of the word of Christ that we come to faith and grow in our faith. Today, we are going to hear about being trained in godliness. Our text is 1 Timothy 4:6-16. In honor of the word of the King, would you please stand. I’ll be reading from the English Standard Version. Hear the word of the Lord:
“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.”
Introduction
I think we all understand the concept of the kind of rigorous training an athlete must do to prepare himself or herself for a competition. This is an Olympic year—the summer Olympics will be held in Paris, France from the end of July to the middle of August. The greatest athletes from all over the world will compete for the Olympic gold. And no one gets into the Olympic games because they just showed up. They have been preparing almost their whole lives for this.
They have already been competing at elite levels in events such as track, field, swimming, diving, gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts, weightlifting, cycling, basketball, volleyball, tennis, baseball and softball, the triathalon and the decathalon; even badminton, ping pong, squash, and the one I can’t for the life of me understand, synchronized swimming. (I didn’t realize this until just last night, but in 2028, when the summer Olympics are in Los Angeles, flag football will officially be an Olympic sport.)
And as the old sayings go: practice makes perfect. No pain, no gain. Give it all you got. Leave it all out on the field. Second place is the first loser.
Even the Apostle Paul understood this concept of training to win the prize. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, he said, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Now everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
Here to Timothy, Paul puts it this way: “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.” This is an imperative-heavy section. Just about every sentence is an instruction of some kind. We will consider today not just how these things apply to Timothy but how the Spirit directs us to be trained in godliness.
As I’ve joked about practice makes perfect, the word “practice” comes up in this section, synonymous also with “training.” The expression “these things” shows up three times, and is really what divides up these three portions. So we’ll consider how these instructions fall into the following categories:
- Know these things (v.6-10)
- Teach these things (v.9-12)
- Practice these things (v.13-16)
Listen also for words such as good, godliness, value, life, and teaching. We’ll cover just the first section today in verses 6-10, and then we’ll come back to verses 9-16 next week. We’ll spend most of our time this morning in verses 7-8, for that is the heart of the passage: “Train yourself for godliness.”
Know These Things (v.6-10)
First of all that we may “know these things,” we come back to verse 6. Again, Paul says, “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the good words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” Now what are the things that Paul says Timothy should put before the brothers? He’s talking about the instructions he just gave in the previous verses, not the instructions he’s about to give in verses 7-16. How do we know this? Because verse 7 actually begins with the word “but,” or deh in the Greek. For whatever reason, that word does not appear here in the ESV. But it is in the Legacy, the NASB, and even the King James. I don’t know why the ESV translators didn’t include it.
“But” introduces a thought that contrasts with what has already been said. So when Paul says, “put these things before the brothers,” he’s talking about instructions he’s already given. The nearest antecedent of course would be what we just read in verses 1-5, where Paul warned about the doctrines of demons, who forbid what God has made to be received with thanksgiving. But I happen to believe this goes as far back as chapter 3 verse 14, where Paul says he is writing so that “you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”
In verse 16, he says, “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.” And what do we have in this section today? “Train yourself for godliness.” So when Paul says to put these things before the brethren, meaning the whole church body, he’s talking about those main confessions of the gospel of Jesus Christ that undergird the church of the living God. Adherence to the truth also means avoiding the lies and deceptions of the enemies of the church. In this way, Timothy and his congregation will be “trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine,” or right teaching that he has followed. He has been following it—Paul encourages him to remain diligent in it.
And may the same be said of us, brethren. We are a confessional church. This is a church that began with firm footing on the sound words of the faith. Our confession of faith is a summary of the sound words we know the Scripture teaches. We know these things. May we be found diligent to also teach these things and practice these things. And all of this is in light of our knowing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The instruction to train yourself for godliness stands fine on its own, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. This is immediately after Paul made the good confession of the gospel. I could stand up here this morning and tell you, “You must be godly,” and that is a good and right instruction—it’s right here in the Bible. But it would just be law, and you cannot keep the law. We need Christ and His righteousness. So it is in light of the gospel that was proclaimed that Paul says to be trained in godliness.
Now, as I said, verse 7 is where we have the contrast. Verse 6 is an affirming statement to be devoted to good doctrine. Verse 7, pretend there’s a “But” at the beginning of this sentence, because there is. But, “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness.” Literally translated, this verse goes, “But refuse godless myths fit only for old women.”
You’ve surely heard the expression, “Old wives’ tales.” The origin of this epithet referred to illiterate women who would trade superstitious stories, some of which were intended to scare children from doing undesirable things. Modern examples might be, “If you swallow your chewing gum, it takes seven years to digest it.” Or, “If you cross your eyes, they might get stuck that way.” When I was a kid, my mom had me believe that if I went swimming after eating, my guts would explode. Did anyone else have trouble with that one?
In using this phrase, the point that Paul is trying to make here is to not be devoted to teachings with no basis in God’s word meant to scare you from doing bad things. That is not how one grows up or matures in Christ. To be a godlier person, one must actually pursue godliness. You don’t merely abstain from certain things, and therefore say, “I’m being godly.” You’re probably being lazy. Doing nothing is not being godly. One must strive to be godly. A person doesn’t become an elite Olympic athlete just by abstaining from junk food. They have to get up, go out, and train. Work. Strive. And so it is the same for you if you want to be like Jesus.
And so, Paul says, don’t have anything to do with these myths meant to scare you from doing bad things, like the doctrines of demons he mentioned in verses 1-3. These false teachers scare you from eating certain foods, believing that if I eat this, it’s a sin. That’s an irreverent, silly myth. Have nothing to do with that. Rather, train yourself, discipline yourself, practice, build yourself up in the truth for the purpose of being godly.
Train Yourself for Godliness
Now what does it mean to be godly? “Godliness” is very simply being like God. The Greek word is eusebeia, meaning piety, reverence, or orienting yourself towards God. Some will say that we shouldn’t want to be like God, because wasn’t that what the serpent in the garden promised Eve? If you eat this fruit, you will be “like God,” and that was a lie, so we shouldn’t try want that. On the contrary, Scripture says being like God is exactly what we’re supposed to be like. The lie of the serpent was, “Do this thing that God told you not to do, and then you will be more like God.” In reality, it put Adam and Eve and the rest of mankind further away from God.
In Matthew 5:48, Jesus said, “You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” In 1 Peter 1:15-16, Peter says, “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy.” We must be like God. Of course, we cannot achieve this apart from Christ. By faith in Jesus, He clothes us in His righteousness so that we may be in pursuit of godliness and actually be able to attain it.
Now you may say to me, “But brother Gabe, we can’t attain it until we reach heaven right? Not until we’re with our Lord in glory. Then we will actually and truly be godly. So if I won’t be truly godly until that day, why should I be in pursuit of it now?” First of all, because Jesus told you to. Yes, we won’t be perfect until we reach perfection, but we must still want it and be after it because Jesus told us to be after it. Secondly, you should pursue it because you belong to Jesus. In Philippians 3:12, the Apostle Paul said, “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.”
Because Christ has made me His own, because He left His throne in heaven and put on flesh and died for me and rose from the dead for me, then I am going to desire to be like Jesus. As brother Allen read to us this morning from 1 John 2, “Whoever keeps His word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same manner in which Jesus walked.” We must be in pursuit of Christ.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” We must pursue Christ that we may obtain Christ. We must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. We must be holy as He is holy.
And this is everything. Go back with me to verse 7 and let’s continue to verse 8: “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.”
Recently there were some squabbles among Christians online about bodily training. Many of them were using this verse to say that the Bible instructs us to work out, eat right, and be healthy. Now, there is certainly wisdom in those things. Too often we tend to ignore that God’s word tells us not to be a glutton. Proverbs 26:15 says, “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.” Like a person becomes such a glutton that he sticks his hand in the bag of chips and he’s too fat and lazy to even lift the chips back to his mouth again. That is a gluttonous person.
But if you come to 1 Timothy 4:8 and you think this passage has something to do with diet and exercise, you’ve missed the whole point of the verse. There are so many teachers out there I have warned the body of Christ from going after, because if you listen to their teaching, they never take you high enough. They might have sound, practical advice, but you can ask an accountant or a financial planner for that. It’s like their teaching never takes people to the throne of grace. It’s all bodily training. It’s stuff like get out of debt or fix your marriage or have a positive outlook on life. Some of that is good council, but how does it get you to Christ?
Again, “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.” Bodily training will not get you to heaven. The world’s most impressive athletes will be playing in the Superbowl next week or in the summer Olympic games later this year. We’ll likely have another Stanley Cup this year, the NBA championships, and the World Series. But not one of those champions who stand on a podium to celebrate their victory will enter heaven’s gates for their athletic achievements. There is no eternal value in bodily training.
Those false teachers who are trying to scare you from bad things or eating certain foods or whatever, they are at best training your body, but not your soul. Abstaining from certain things will not gain Christ. Being in pursuit of Christ will gain Christ. And that benefits you in the present as well as for eternity. Bodily training may have some present value, sure. You can even make a living or get rich from bodily training. But what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Recently at family devotions, I told my children that their school work was very important. It is important that you learn how to do math—all my kids groaned at that. You have to learn to read and understand the scientific method and study history and all of that. But nothing, I told them, is more important than knowing Jesus. No matter what happens for the rest of your life, I said, be sure you know Christ and get to the other side. I pray daily for my children that God would make Himself known to them. Nothing is more important than that.
My friends, the most fearsome thing you will face in life is death. The last time I checked, one out of every one person dies. It is the one statistic that is the same for everyone. No one has ever figured out a solution to our death problem, but one man, and that is Jesus Christ. You and I will be mocked for following Christ, but I have sometimes said to my scoffers, “Listen, if you figure out another way we can get past death, you let me know. But until you do, I’m trusting in the one who actually rose from the dead.”
Godliness is of Value in Every Way
Godliness holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. In verse 9, Paul says, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance,” and again this is in reference to what he just said: Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Godliness is of value to us now, of even more value than bodily training. The late Baptist theologian John Gill says, “Godliness is profitable unto all things; to the health of the body, and to the welfare of the soul; to the things of this life, and to that which is to come… For God has promised to His spiritual worshipers, to them that fear Him, and walk uprightly, that their days shall be prolonged, that they shall want no good thing, nor will He withhold any from them that is for their good, that is proper and convenient for them.”
Think of how beneficial it is to know that by faith in Jesus, your sins are forgiven and you have everlasting life with God? What do you think knowing that does for your mental health? Hebrews 13:6 says, “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'” In Romans 8:31, Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? … Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” Does that not give you, as we sing in the old hymn, “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow?”
My friends, I know this goes without saying for some of you, but your body will fail you. Even the most practiced athlete will grow old, weak and frail, and die. You cannot put your hope in your own body. Put your hope in Christ. Oh, how rewarding this hope can be, even for the present life as well as for the life to come.
At the close of this particular section, Paul says in verse 10, “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” Now be careful with this verse. This is one the universalists have used to say that God has saved all people, and therefore all are going to heaven. Well that would be to neglect other words from Paul where he has said quite the opposite, and even the words of our Lord Christ Himself.
Nineteenth century theologian Charles Ellicott says the following: “These words, like the assertion of 1 Timothy 2:4″—remember, that’s where Paul said that God desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth— “these words have been often pressed into the service of that school of kindly, but mistaken, interpreters, who ignore, or explain away, the plain doctrine of Holy Scripture which tells us there are those whose destruction from the presence of the Lord shall be everlasting, whose portion shall be the ‘second death’ (2 Thessalonians 1:9, Revelation 21:8). These interpreters prefer to substitute in place of this terrible, but repeated declaration, their own perilous theories of universalism.”
As I’ve said about universalism, it is worse than even atheism. The atheist believes that there are no consequences for our actions—when you die, you die. But the universalist believes that there is an eternal reward for our actions, whether good or bad. So you could become an evil dictator like Nero, Mao, or Hitler, making life miserable for millions of people, and you will still inherit the place where God dwells, whether or not you had faith in Christ. That is an absolutely evil notion.
To say that Jesus is the Savior of all people is simply to say that there is one Savior for everyone in the world. There is not a Savior for North America and then another Savior for South America and another Savior for Africa and another Savior for Europe or Asia or Australia or Antarctica (there are still researchers on Antarctica, right?). He is the Savior of all people. But He is especially the savior of those who believe. He definitely saves them. We who know Him are saved from the judgement of God that is coming against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
Conclusion
We have heard today about being trained in godliness, and we will come back to this again next week. Paul says to know these things and to put them before the brothers, that we may train one another up in this most holy faith. Next week, we will read about how Timothy was to command and teach these things (and therefore we are to follow them); and also practice these things that we may be diligent in them and not fall.
I come back again to Hebrews 12:1-2, in which we are encouraged, “Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
As Jesus endured, setting His eyes on the prize, on things that are above—looking past the suffering of the cross to the glory of the throne of God—let us also be disciplined to do the same. In Colossians 3, Paul says to set your eyes on the things that are above where Christ is—not setting our minds on earthly things but on heavenly things. And as you may recall Christ to have said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all that you need will be added to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
Pursue Christ that you may attain Christ. Have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths, but 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 that is to come.
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