How do you "win from within"?
1 Timothy 4:7-8: 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For 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.
Are you in shape? Some of you are - you have to be, because you're in a sport and you've been running and lifting and practicing - physical training, the Bible would call it. Some of you are not in shape to that level, but you're still in decent shape. You take strength class or fit class or do other exercise - you do enough to stay in shape - once again, the Bible would call that physical training. In our culture, there is a big emphasis on physical training. And when you're in high school, whether you're at Lakeside or any other high school, you can't escape the emphasis on sports and training.
Our chapel message for this morning is going to focus on how important it is to stay in shape, to stay in training. But we're not talking about physical training, we're talking about something else. (Show Gatorade commercial "one more.") Did you see that little sentence at the end of that Gatorade commercial - "win from within" - it said. What does that mean, win from within? The commercial is talking about Gatorade - that if you have Gatorade inside of you - you will win, from within.
I'm going to twist that this morning - God this morning speaks to you from 1 Timothy 4, and he says to you, win from within. How do you win from within, in a spiritual way. Look again at what he says here in 1 Timothy 4: "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales." In other words, don't fill your mind with junk. Back in the days of the Bible, people would stand around and talk with each other about all kind of things that were just plain stupid, and that still happens today. "Godless myths" today - anytime someone wants to convince you that the Bible is not true, that God did not make the world, it just evolved, that marriage between a man and a woman for life is old fashioned - two men or two women having a committed relationship - that's the way to go - these are all godless myths today. What does it mean to "win from within"? First of all, having nothing to do with all the garbage ideas that are floating around our culture today. Don’t fill your brain with that. Instead…
"Train yourself to be godly." In sports, if you want to get good at whatever sport you're doing, you have to train. You have to practice. You have to do drills. You have to push it - one more - if you really want to be good. What about for your soul? The Bible says, "train yourself to be godly." What does that look like, to train yourself? It looks like this (picture of someone in chapel). It looks like this (picture of someone in religion class). It looks like this (someone reading the Bible). To train your soul means that you hear or read or listen to the Bible, and then you apply it to yourself. You ask yourself, how does this passage apply to my life? This is how you "win from within."
When you do that, you'll feel guilty sometimes. You'll read a passage that says, "Don’t be greedy," and you'll think to yourself, "well, I've been greedy." Then what do you do? You go to passages that focus on Jesus, on his cross, on his sacrifice for your sins. You rejoice in your heart that God forgives you for being greedy, or lustful, or proud, or whatever sin it is. You rejoice that Jesus has taken away that sin on the cross. You pray to God and say, "God, thank you for taking away that sin. Help me to worship you and love you by not being greedy, but by being content." And you do that sort of thing every day, and your soul gets stronger. "Train yourself to be godly" the Bible says. And every time you're in God's Word and apply it to your life, that's what you do. That's how you "win from within."
Now listen to this next passage - "for physical training is of some value. But godliness has value for all things, holding promise for the present life and the life to come." Is this passage saying that exercise is bad, but studying the Bible is good? No. Physical training is of some value. To take care of the body that God has given to you, to exercise, to watch what you eat - all those things have some value. You'll avoid all the problems that happen to people that don't take care of their bodies. Maybe if you're in a sport of some sort, you'll even win a game or a championship and enjoy a sense of satisfaction. Physical training is of some value.
But don't underestimate the value of using God's Word. "But godliness has value for all things - holding promise for the present life and the life to come." When you spend time in God's Word and apply it to your life, it will be a blessing to you in this life. You'll be able to get rid of guilt that comes from sinning. You'll get strength and direction on making good choices in your life. In this life, you will "win from within." You'll have hope and strength when bad things happen to you. Training your soul will help your present life, but listen to this - it holds promise for the present life AND THE LIFE TO COME. In other words, as I spend time in God's Word right now, I receive blessings that go beyond this life in this world. I am training myself for the bigger, better life to come. I do things, not just to make my life better now, but to get myself ready for the life to come - having that mindset - that's how I "win from within."
Another passage from the Bible says the same thing: 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. The Apostle Paul says in this verse that he is in strict training. He compares himself to someone going into the Olympics - they train hard because they want to get a crown - back then they had crowns and not medals. Paul says here that he also is in strict spiritual training, spiritual training, and he says that in the end, he will get a crown too - but not the kind of crown someone in the Olympics gets - that kind of crown doesn't last. The crown Paul is talking about - the crown of eternal life - that’s something that lasts forever.
When you have this mindset, you will win from within. Life is not all about your sport, whatever sport you're in. Life is not all about the things that benefit you in this life. Physical training is of some value - yes that is true. But remember - godliness - being in God's Word, repenting of your sin, rejoicing in God's forgiveness through Jesus - this has value for all things, holding promise for the present life, and the life to come."
Let's pray…
Dear Lord Jesus, help me to focus not just on things that help me now. Help me to focus on the things that will help me forever. Help me to focus on your Word, and as I do, train my soul for godliness. Train my soul to honor and worship and praise you with my life. Amen.
