I Timothy 4
Key verse: 8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
Thesis: If you truly believe, it will change your days.
When I was in high school I started to loose the little boy body and my arms and torso started to look more like a man. I could tell, even if no one else could. I thought, �Hey, I could develop this.� So I started working out. I tried a number of times to get disciplined and have a routine, but I just wasn�t that motivated and committed. I stayed in shape, but nothing real impressive. It was mostly a waits of time.
Now, they have all these energy drinks to help motivate you and get you moving. What is your drive and motivation to do what ever it is that fills your day?
Are you working out to be physically fit or spiritually fit?
Missionary C.T. Studd was moved into action, and ministry, by a statement from an atheist. The atheist said,
�Did I firmly believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean to me everything. I would cast away earthly enjoyment as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought, and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I would labor in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of Eternity only. I would esteem one soul gained for Heaven worth a life of suffering. Earthly consequences should never stay my hand, nor seal my lips. Earth, its joys and griefs, would occupy no moment in my thoughts. I would strive to look upon Eternity alone, and on the immortal Souls around me, soon to be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable. I would go forth to the world and preach to it in season and out of season, and my text would be, �What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?��
Today, let�s address the fact that if you truly believe, it will change your days.
We are looking a I Timothy chapter 4. And in here we find Paul�s Spiritual Fitness Program.: Effort, Understanding and Diligence.
I Timothy 4 verse 1
1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
6If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
9This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.
11Command and teach these things. 12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
15Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Let�s consider the first secret to Paul�s Spiritual Fitness Program
I. Effort
Effort requires
1. Focus (6-7)
6If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
He�s saying that there are a lot of things that can distract you, but you must stay focused.
The Olympic gold-medalist in small-bore rifle competition, Lanny Bassham, was quoted in Sports Illustrated, about his marksmanship: "Our sport is controlled non-movement. We are shooting from 50 meters--over half a football field--at a bull's eye three- quarters the size of a dime. If the angle of error at the point of the barrel is more than .005 of a millimeter (that is five one-thousandths), you drop into the next circle and lose a point. So we have to learn how to make everything stop. I stop my breathing. I stop my digestion by not eating for 12 hours before the competition. I train by running to keep my pulse around 60, so I have a full second between beats--I have gotten it lower, but found that the stroke-volume increased so much that each beat really jolted me. You do all of this and you have the technical control. But you have to have some years of experience in reading conditions: the wind, the mirage. Then you have the other 80% of the problems--the mind.
You can take all the classes the college has to offer, but if you do it just to get the grade, but don�t engage your mind, you�re going to miss the mark. You�ve cheated yourself and your future employers, or congregations.
Let the mind of the master be the master of your mind.
Stay focused.
Effort also involves
2. Values (8-10)
8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
9This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.
I read a story once about a body builder who made a guest appearance on a talk show. He came out all buff and cut. And in the interview the host asked, �so what can you do with all those muscles?� The body builder stood before the crowd and flexed isolated muscles from his calves up through his chest and down his arms. The crowd cheered. But he host tried again, �Of what use are they?� and again the body builder wowed the crowd. It was clear; he had no other answer. He was getting what he wanted from his hard work, the praises of others.
How many of us are like that? We fill our heads and our lives full of knowledge and godly things, but we don�t know how to use them for anything useful. But we sure look or sound impressive.
The second secret to Paul�s spiritual fitness program is
II. Understanding
First of all you need to understand your
1. Weakness and Strengths (12-14)
12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
Now remember this is a letter from Paul to Timothy. Paul is pointing out perhaps Timothy�s biggest personal obstacle, his youth.
Now, I don�t know if this is a proper interpretation of this scripture, but my 5th and 6th grade Sunday School class and I came up with a version that was inspiring to us. We thought �don�t let� sounded harsh and hard to control. How do you control how people look at you? And what part of being young is bad? So we took this perspective, �Don�t cause anyone to look down on you because you are immature.�
So that addresses the weakness, how about the strengths? Evedently Timothy�s strengths and gifts were preaching and teaching, so Paul encourages him to keep it up. What are your Strengths and gifts? If you don�t know, don�t stress it. That�s normal but keep looking. Be a student of yourself.
I had a dream a couple of days ago that I was in this place where everyone had a special gift. I found myself on a dock, in a warehouse. And the warehouse was flooded with about two to three feet of water. Now, I�ve heard that in Christian dream interpretation, water usually represents the Spirit of God. The water in this warehouse was a good thing because instead of having to use fork lifts and pallet jacks to move the stuff around, it was effortlessly distributed like rafts. But check this, when a worker near by stepped off the dock to go to work. He simply stepped on to the water and walked on the water. That was his gift. The warehouse was Housing and distriputing fruit.
I hope this is not too abstract for you, but what I got from it was that if you let the Spirit of God fill your life, and you trust him with every step, and you learn to use the gift that He has given you, you�ll produce, move, more fruit.
Also, pertaining to understanding are
2. Beliefs (1-3, 16)
You need to understand what you believe.
Let�s look at the frist few verses and the last verse of chapter 4.
1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Timothy was probably dealing with Gnostics, and as I understand, they believed that God is perfectly good and He is completely Spiritual and the opposite of spiritual is the physical, and man is physical so therefore evil. Under the supreme God were many levels of godheads, and Jesus, being human, was way down here. Though many claimed to be Christians, they discredited Christ, and in there pursuit for godliness they tried to be as spiritual as possible. Shunning physical things of like marriage and some foods. They were extremist, passionate about their godliness.
Extremes are good, but you better make sure you are fighting the right battle. Check what you believe and why you believe it. How does it measure up to the universal perspective of eternity. Can you easily communicate it to the world around you?
The third secret to Paul�s spiritual fitness program is
III. Diligence, and diligence requires
1. Total Commitment (15)
15Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.
An old Italian baker once said, 'if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.'
We cannot be lukewarm, sort of Christians.
In one of his books, author, Jon Johnston, remembered ball player, Clint Courtney. He played catcher for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1950s. During his career he earned the nickname of Scrap Iron, implying that he was hard, weathered, tough. Old Scrap broke no records -- only bones. He had little power or speed on the base paths. As for grace and style, he made the easiest play look rather difficult. But armed with mitt and mask, Scrap Iron never flinched from any challenge.
Batters often missed the ball and caught his shin. Their foul tips nipped his elbow. Runners fiercely plowed into him, spikes first, as he defended home plate. Though often doubled over in agony, and flattened in a heap of dust, Clint Courtney never quit. Invariably, he'd slowly get up, shake off the dust, punch the pocket of his mitt once, twice, and nod to his pitcher to throw another one. The game would go on and Courtney with it -- scarred, bruised, clutching his arm in pain, but determined to continue. He resembled a POW with tape, splints, braces, and other kinds of paraphernalia that wounded people wear. Some made fun of him -- calling him a masochist. Insane. Others remember him as a true champion.
How will people remember you?
When you are in God�s work you are going to take some hard hits. They may not be physical. But Our belief in a omnipotent God who design one way to salvation, is very offensive to many people, but you have to stay in the game.
John Holcomb, said, �You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.�
You can�t kill time without injuring eternity.
Because If you truly believe, it will change how you spend your days.
Also under diligence, we must consider why we are doing it, It�s
2. For Others (9-10, 16)
9This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.
16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Have any of you seen the movie, Evan Almighty?
I don�t mean to endorse a secular movie, or try and reenact it for you, but it was a cute, funny movie with some inspiring biblical truths and there�s one aspect I want to use as an illustration here.
Evan Baxter is a newly elected congressmen with a slogan about �changing the world.� Well, God tells him to build an ark. And obviously Evan doesn�t want to at first. And in one sean Evan without much forethought says, �What about my plans?� And I think the producers and actors did a good job right here, because God gives this belly laugh and just laughs out load. But the laugh is not mocking or insulting, it simply points out Evan�s mistaken mindset. It�s not all about you.
When you�re ready to sacrifice your lifestyle, your prestige, your goals to line them up with God�s. Then, and only then, will you find the abundant life God has for you.
If we truly believed that this short life has any effect on eternity, it would completely change the way we spend it. Each day will be filled with that in mind. From the first thought in the morning to our last thought at night they will be filled with eternity and the goal of winning one more for Jesus. If you truly believe, it will change your days.
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