A sermon preached by Gabriel Hughes on the Lord’s Day, February 11, 2024; at Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, AZ.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “The Scriptures reveal Jesus. [As Jesus Himself said, ‘They testify of me.’] No more powerful motive can be urged upon Bible readers than this: he who finds Jesus finds life, heaven, all things. Happy is he who, searching his Bible, discovers his Savior.”
We have been learning about being trained in godliness, pursuing Christ and becoming more Christ-like. Let us continue to explore these things reading again in our text 1 Timothy 4:6-16. Please stand in honor of the word of the King. I’m 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
Once again, the heart is this passage is in verses 7-8: “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.”
We compared this last week to a professional athlete, who doesn’t compete at an elite level simply by sitting on his couch and abstaining from junk food. He gets up and he trains. He is in pursuit of the prize even in his training. And we must be doing the same thing spiritually—we must continually be in pursuit of Christ.
The athlete is the easy go-to here. The language sounds like athletic training. And Paul else where makes a comparison to athletes, as he will in his next letter, too—in 2 Timothy. But this concept applies to many other examples. If you want to get good at something, you must do it continuously.
Best-selling author Malcom Gladwell popularized the idea that it takes approximately 10,000 hours of guided practice to reach greatness. “With enough practice,” he claimed, “anyone could achieve a level of proficiency that would rival that of a professional. It was just a matter of putting in the time.” Do you want to be proficient at guitar? Piano? Cooking? Sewing? Your occupation, whatever that might happen to be? Put in the time. Practice. Train hard.
The same must be said of godliness—day in and day out, we are in pursuit of Christ. In Luke 9:23, Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” What we want to consider today are more of the specifics of what it means to be trained in godliness. Not just the general concept—train yourself for godliness—but specifically what must one do to be trained in godliness? Remember our outline. Last week, I said this section could be broken down in these three ways:
- Know these things (v.6-10)
- Teach these things (v.11-14)
- Practice these things (v.15-16)
We only considered verses 6-10 last week. Today, we’ll consider Paul’s instruction to Timothy to “Command and teach these things,” and then “Practice these things.” Notice something under “Teach these things” in verses 11-14. Paul tells Timothy to be an example in these five ways: speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Then in verse 13, he says to be devoted to these three things: the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching. And then under “Practice these things,” verses 15-16, he is instructed to let others see his progress; and keep a close watch on himself and on the teaching. These of course are instructions for Timothy, but we will consider how they pertain to us as well.
Command and Teach These Things (v.11-14)
Picking up where we left off last week, Paul next instructs Timothy to teach these things. Look at verse 11: “Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Notice that it’s not just command these things; it’s not just teach these things but command and teach. So Timothy was to exhort the church: you must do this. But not merely issuing cold commands. He was also to teach them. In other words, “Train yourself for godliness,” and here’s what that looks like.
Consider that Paul says, “Let no one despise you for your youth.” Now, we don’t know exactly how old Timothy was at the time of this letter. It is theorized that when Paul first met Timothy in Lystra according to Acts 16, Timothy was probably in his late teens. So at the time of this letter, Timothy may have been in his young 30s. I was ordained at 29 and became a senior pastor when I was 32. And I can tell you that 1 and 2 Timothy were close companions of mine for those first few years of my pastoral ministry. In fact, I was continuously amazed how much bad doctrine a young pastor could avoid just having a healthy understanding and application of 1 and 2 Timothy.
The reason, though, that Paul tells Timothy not to be despised for his youth is because Timothy was to recognize that it wasn’t his age or his position or even that he was appointed by an apostle that held any authority. The word of God was the authority. So regardless of the fact that he was young, he was not to think of himself as green and inexperienced. Having traveled around in ministry with the Apostle Paul, he had plenty of experience. But again, that wasn’t the game. Timothy was not the authority—the word of God was the authority.
Timothy was not to be timid in his youthfulness concerning the work that was before him as a pastor of the church in Ephesus. Rather, Paul tells Timothy to be in pursuit of godliness. And growing in godliness, he is able to “set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
Now, of course, this is an instruction given to Timothy. But just like I had said when we were going over the qualifications of an overseer, your elders are to be godly examples of a mature Christian that any of us should want to aspire to. So even here, Timothy is supposed to be an example in these five things. What does that automatically imply? That you should want to follow that example and likewise grow in those five areas.
These are five specific places where we can grow in godliness: speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Let’s go through each one of those together…
1) Speech
First of all, speech. Do you understand that even the words we say are to sound different than the rest of the world? We’re not to talk like the rest of the world talks. James 1:26 says, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”
I’ve shared with you about when I was a pastor in Kansas, we were right next door to Ft. Riley, and greater than 60 percent of our congregation was either active or retired military. As you may know, soldiers are not exactly known for their flowery speech. And some of these young Christian men would be convicted about that. It was not uncommon to have a young soldier approach me and ask, “How can I control my tongue?” or “How can I stop swearing?”
Once I was helping a soldier and his family move in to their house. We were attempting to move a chest of drawers off the moving truck. He wasn’t paying attention, and his hand got caught between the drawers and the wall of the truck. He pulled his hand back really fast and let fly a swear word (I won’t tell you which one, but the one you’re thinking about will suffice). He was mortified, realizing, “I just swore in front of the pastor!” He said, “Pastor, I’m so sorry.”
I said to him, “I forgive you. We have something we can work on. For now, let’s get these drawers off this truck.”
Being godly in speech means more than just not swearing. Remember, as we have considered, you don’t become more godly simply by abstaining from doing bad things. I’ve known people who weren’t Christians and yet believed that speech riddled with foul language was inconsiderate and also demonstrated low cognitive function. Not swearing didn’t make them more godly.
In addition to swearing, there are other sins we commit with our tongues, such as telling lies, or gossiping about others, or complaining about our circumstances, or speaking words that tear others down. Think about how you may speak that is a reflection of godly character. If you are a follower of Christ, does your speech demonstrate that?
Ephesians 4:29-32 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
There are things we are not supposed to do. But the instruction doesn’t just sit on, “Don’t do that.” Rather, we are to pursue those things that are good, and then the bad things do not have any place on our tongues. Do people know you for unpleasant speech or as someone who builds up as fits the occasion, giving grace to those who hear? That begins at home, in your closest personal relationships, with your spouse or your children—kids, with your parents or your siblings. Then this kind of conduct you also demonstrate at work or at school, when you’re running errands, when talking with strangers. Be godly in your speech.
2) Conduct
Next, Paul says have godly conduct. This is the Greek word anastrophe. It means to change one’s outward behavior in conformity with their inward beliefs. In other words, what you believe is manifested on the outside. People see that you are a follower of Christ. In speech, you don’t talk like the world talks. In conduct, you don’t act like the world acts. Your example is Jesus, and you want to be an example of Jesus.
I read to you last week from 1 Peter 1:15. He says, “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. He later says in chapter 2:11-12, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles,” meaning this world is not our home but we as Christians are citizens of Christ’s kingdom, “abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” Sexual immorality, greed, bitterness, holding grudges—these are passions of the flesh, and they wage war against your soul. These aren’t just external things—they have spiritual implications.
Peter goes on to say: “Keep your conduct [in the world] honorable, so that when they speak against you as evil-doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” In Matthew 5:16, Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” You have the light of Christ in your soul. Let others see it in your conduct, that they may give glory to God.
3) Love
We must be godly in our speech and in our conduct. Third, we must be godly in love. The Greek word here is agape, meaning not only love but also benevolence and goodwill. Now, in order to be a loving person, you must actually find ways that you can show love to others. There was a song in the 90s by dcTalk entitled Love is a Verb. Love is an action word. Just like with godliness, you’re not a loving person simply by abstaining from doing bad things. You must find ways of showing love to others.
Consider what Paul said about love in 1 Corinthians 13. This is known as the what chapter of the Bible? It’s the love chapter. At what kind of event might you expect to hear the preacher read from 1 Corinthians 13? At a wedding, right? Hey, guilty as charged. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve preached from 1 Corinthians 13 at a wedding before, and I will probably do it again. But Paul was not being romantic here when he said, in verse 4, “Love is patient, love is kind.” He was actually rebuking the Corinthians, because everything they were doing was actually the opposite of love.
First of all, “Love is patient,” meaning that it is long-suffering. You don’t just give up on someone when they don’t behave like you want them to. We understand this concept. Do you disown your kids every time they do something bad? Of course not. So as with others, we don’t just write them off or cancel them whenever they annoy us. But we are patient with one another.
Colossians 3:13 tells us to be patient with one another, “bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.” Listen, no one has been more patient with you and forgiven you of as much as God has. If you know God has been lovingly patient with you, then you must be lovingly patient of others.
Next, Paul says, “Love is kind.” It extends good to others. “Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant.” All three of these words showing that love is not self-centered. It is not jealous of others. It is not puffed up with pride. “It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
4) Faith
We are to be godly in speech, conduct, love, and fourth in faith. This means that you are to show steadfastness in what you believe. This is not a passing opinion. You are a Christian this year, you will be a Christian next year, and you will continue on being a Christian until Jesus comes. And your faith is not something you compartmentalize, like I have my church life and my work life and my family life and my recreational life. You’re not one person at church and a different person with your friends. You are in Christ all times, enduring in the faith you say that you have.
Because your confidence is not in yourself. You’re not looking for approval in others. You would not change the definition of your faith to be more palatable to other people, maybe hoping they’re less likely to ridicule you as long as you’re not one of those kinds of Christians—do you know what I mean? Your confidence is in God. Nineteenth century American theologian Albert Barnes explains it this way: “At all times and in all trials, show yourselves to be believers by your example, how they ought to maintain unshaken confidence in God.”
5) Purity
Be godly in your speech, your conduct, in love, and in faith. Lastly, Paul says be godly in purity. This word means to be ceremonially clean. Again, this comes back to being holy. Being set apart from the world. You abstain from sin to pursue godliness. You say “no” to sin that you might grow in God.
We will encounter this subject again when we get to Titus 2:12. There it says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.”
My friends, pursuing godliness means that you are also running away from ungodliness. You are either going to be proficient in godliness, or you are going to be proficient in your sin. Is that what you want? To be more practiced in sin than in the righteousness of God? Galatians 5:16-17 says, “Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other.” If the Spirit of God dwells in you, then He has changed your heart, your orientation, your desires, so that you desire Christ and hate your sin.
Now, neither your hatred for your sin or your love for Christ are perfect. But this is growing in godliness. You want to hate your sin more, you want to love Jesus more. The big Bible word we use for this of course is sanctification. You are being sanctified. You are being made holy. You are growing in your affections for Jesus. That’s growing in godliness.
These are five areas where we can grow in godliness: speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Now the tools for growing in those five areas are given in the next three imperatives. Look at verse 13: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” Now these instructions are specific to Timothy. As a pastor, he was to be diligent to preaching and teaching. But every Christian must be devoted to listening to the reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching, right?
Now, as Paul says here, “the public reading of Scripture.” This didn’t mean that Timothy was supposed to go into the town square and read the Scriptures aloud—that’s not the instruction here. Much of the teaching that was going on in Timothy’s day was still happening in the local synagogue. Not everyone had their own Bibles that they took to church. They didn’t even have Old Testament scrolls in their own homes. You had to go to the local synagogue to hear the Scriptures read. And so Paul’s instruction to Timothy was to be devoted to that public reading of the Scriptures. Be sure that everything you teach is grounded in the word of God.
Our confession of faith, the London Baptist Confession, begins with a statement about the Scriptures. Many orthodox confessions begin with a statement that says we believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Why? Because everything else we believe is based in Scripture—what we know about God, what we know about His Son Jesus Christ, what Jesus said, what we are to do—all of that comes from the Bible. If we don’t believe the Bible is true, then what’s the sense in believing anything else about it or doctrine that is based in it?
So Paul tells Timothy first to be devoted to the public reading of Scripture. That’s what we’re doing this morning. You are hearing the public reading of Scripture. In addition to hearing the word, we are to be devoted to exhortation and teaching, and these two go together. To exhort means to tell people what to do in light of what the Scripture says, and to teach means to expound upon or explain what the Scripture says. So in short all of us must be devoted to hearing the word preached, doing what the word says, and understanding what it means.
Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” You came to faith because you heard the gospel preached to you. Likewise, you are growing in faith because you hear the gospel preached to you. We will never outgrow our need to hear the word preached. And not only are we to hear it preached, we are to do what it says. You can listen to me preach all day, but unless you do what the word instructs you to do, what good is your hearing?
James 1:22 says, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
Now, this next instruction is unique to Timothy. Look at verse 14: “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.” The gift that Timothy was given was most likely preaching and teaching. Paul talks about that not only in this letter, but in the next one as well. Do not think of spiritual gifts as something we can just go around handing out willy nilly: “I lay my hands on you, and now you have the gift of discernment! You have the gift of tongues!” That’s not what this means. This was an appointment by an apostle handed down to his protégé that he might continue in the work that Paul and his fellow elders did.
But if there is application in this, there is a spiritual gift that you have been given for the benefit of the church. If you don’t know what the gift is, ask the church to help you find out what that is. And use that gift for the benefit of growing in the body of Christ—instructions that we receive in Romans 12, in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, and in other places that address this subject. And don’t neglect the gift you have, but use it to benefit your fellow saints. As 1 Corinthians 14:12 says, “Since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.”
Practice These Things (v.15-16)
We have heard the instruction to put these things before the brethren, to command and teach these things, and last of all, we have these final imperatives in verses 15-16: “Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Be regular in doing these things. Again, we come back to the concept of training, practice. The more you do something, the better you get at it—even when it comes to godliness. Remember, Jesus said, “Take up your cross daily and follow after me.” Every single day, we wake up, and we train ourselves for godliness. We commit our thoughts and our actions to the Lord. We show love to others. We grow and persevere in faith. We keep ourselves unstained by the world, we put to death any fleshly temptations we may have, and we pursue Christ and His holiness.
Now understand, it is not by your will-power that you are able to accomplish this. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that is within you that training for godliness has a transforming effect on the life of the Christian. You hear these commands, and you are convicted and committed to obey them, because of the Holy Spirit who compels you.
Later, Paul will tell Timothy, “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” Timothy is able to accomplish the work that is set before him by the Holy Spirit that dwells in him. And the same is true for you and me. We are able to be trained in and achieve godliness because of the Holy Spirit who works these things in us.
Sometimes I am asked, “Brother Gabe, do I have a responsibility to obey God, or is it God who works this obedience in me?” And the answer is yes. Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” By the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, train yourself for godliness. Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them. I’m a good Baptist, so I love that word “immerse.” Swim in it, if you must. Let the waters of Christ pour over you!
Paul tells Timothy, “Let others see your progress.” Though Paul is telling Timothy to be devoted to sound doctrine and teaching, he was not to be one of these ivory tower guys, locking himself away with his scrolls and his books, only coming out when it’s time to preach. He was to be in every way committed to the fellowship of this body. As he was to be an example to them, let others see how hearing the word and doing the word transforms the Christian.
In verse 16, Timothy is told, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.” About this, John Calvin said these are the two requisites of a good pastor. His teaching will be of no avail unless his own life accord with it; and his own purity of life is not enough unless he is diligent in teaching. Don’t get careless. Don’t think you can just coast through this, or that godliness will just accidentally happen for you without being intentional.
As a pastor, I have to be careful not to think that just because I preach and just because we attend church every time the doors are open, that my wife is being sanctified by her husband or my children are automatically going to become Christians. Like any other father, I still have to be diligent to disciple my wife and my children. And so, don’t think that just because you attend church, you’re now godly. How are you being intentional with this? How are you putting these things into practice in your life?
“Persist in this,” Paul says, “for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” That is not to say that doing these things will earn your salvation. Timothy was already a Christian—he had already received his salvation. But this is set in contrast with those who do not endure. Look back at the very first verse of the chapter: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.”
There are many who will claim to be Christians for a time, but they will fall away, as we sometimes say. It’s not enough that Timothy and his church were Christians for a time. They must endure to the end. You cannot just have started a race. You must finish it. As Jesus said in Mark 13:13, “You will be hated for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Conclusion
And so in summary, we have heard over these past two weeks that we are to be trained in godliness. 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.
We have considered today how we are to be godly in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. We are to be devoted to hearing the word preached, listening to exhortation and sound teaching. And that we are to persist in these things, enduring to the very end.
In our Sundays school class, we have been reading through J. Gresham Machen’s classic work Christianity and Liberalism, and we’ve listened to lectures from Dr. Steven Nichols about the life of Machen. In one of those stories, Nichols said, “Machen loved going to New York City. He had just been to New York City, had just been to the Empire State Building, and rode the elevator from the bottom to the top. This is what he says: ‘The modern builders can uplift the body. They uplifted my body in express elevators 1,200 feet in record time. But whereas the modern builders in an age of unbelief can uplift the body, the ancient builders in an age of faith could uplift the soul.'”
So again, train yourself for godliness. For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise not only for the present life, but also for the life to come.
This manuscript does not necessarily reflect word-for-word what was preached. For a list of past sermons, visit www.prbccg.com.
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