Introduction
After the honeymoon phase wore off, I realized Anne is a difficult person to live with. And I bet you, she felt the same way about me. This year we celebrated our 46th year of marriage because we chose to work at making our marriage work.
In ministry, I had this idea when God calls a man to a certain church, He generally leaves him there to serve. This August, I will have been here as pastor 26 years. The average Southern Baptist Pastor today only stays serving at his church 3.6 years. I know why- it takes work to stay longer. In 3.6 years, I get to know you and you get to know me and now we got to work at making it work together. The newness of our relationship has worn off and I have seen you on your good days and on your bad days, and you have seen me on my good days and my bad days. And now, we got to work at making our relationship work.
Last week, we talked about do overs. And there are do overs in a lot of areas of life. In golf, a do over is called a mulligan. There are do overs in the fast food business called re-makes. And you ladies get us guys to spend a lot of money with a do over of a room called a re-decorate. And I explain there is also a do over with God called a return to God- a coming home to God. Remember God’s word to Israel in Hosea 14 “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sin has been your downfall.”
And I can tell you if we must do a do over with God, it is because we did not do the work it takes to make our relationship with God work the last time. In our Christian life span, we may have to return to God many times. And I can say with certainty, it is never God who did not do His part. We must return because we have not done our part.
So, today, I want to share with you what is our part. If you have your Bibles turn with me to 1 Timothy 4:6-10.
Scripture
1 Timothy 4:6-10 (NIV)
6 If 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.
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.
9 This 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.
POINT #1
IT TAKES WORK TO TRAIN YOURSELF TO BECOME GODLY.
7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
I believe that there are three things that we are needing to work on if we are training ourselves to become godly.
A. WHEN YOU SEE A NEED, YOU STEP UP AND HANDLE IT.
It does not help you to become godly by recognize a need and then calling the pastor and telling the pastor the need you see. If you are training yourself to be godly, you got to step in and handle it. God showed it to you; you take the ball and run with it.
One of my favorite Scriptures, in fact, it is hanging on the wall in my home office is Ezekiel 22:30 (NIV)
30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.
When it comes to church and the things of God, we are more comfortable being spectators than participants. The problem is training yourself to be godly requires you move from a spectator to a participant.
B. WHEN YOU NEED TO SPEAK UP, YOU DO.
Christians are called the silent majority for a reason- we seldom speak up. We don’t speak up when we know that sin is taking place, and something needs to be said about it. We don’t speak when God lays on our heart to tell someone what Jesus has done for us. We don’t speak up when God puts a real burden on our heart, because if we tell others they might think that we have gotten too spiritual.
Listen to what King David says in Psalm 40:10 (NIV)
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.
David is saying if you God have laid something on my heart, I am telling everybody.
If you are training to become godly, you are learning to speak up.
C. WHEN YOU NEED TO TAKE A STAND FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE, YOU STAND.
How difficult is it for you to take a stand when your friends are talking negatively about God; or using God’s name in vain. Do you take a stand when someone attacks the values you believe in as a Christian?
1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Point #2
IT TAKES A PLAN TO TRAIN YOURSELF TO BECOME GODLY.
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.
If I was talking with someone who is into physical training, I might ask him or her what is their workout plan? And they may say something like Monday is Cardio; Tuesday is strength training; Wednesday is lower back, abdomen, and pelvis; Thursday is balance training, and Friday is flexibility and stretching.
And it is great that you have a plan because physical training is of some value according to that Scripture. But then it goes on to say that godliness for which you also must train has value in the present life and the life to come.
And so, if you need a plan for physical training which is some value; then you must need a plan for godliness training which is of great value. So, it is a fair question for me as your pastor to ask you what is your plan? Greg, what is your plan to become godly? Toxie, what is your plan to become godly? Edna, what is you plan to become godly?
How are you going to train to see a need and step up and handle it?
How are you going to train to speak up when you need to speak up about your faith?
How are you going to train so that you can take a stand when you need to take a stand?
Point #3
IT MAY TAKE YOU HAVING TO WRESTLE WITH SOME THINGS TO TRAIN YOURSELF TO BECOME GODLY.
(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.
Paul says this did not come easy for us. We had to labor and strive. In other words, we had to wrestle with somethings.
In school, there are some people who have to study, and then there are some people who really got to study. In the Christian life, there are somethings that come easy to you and something that you might have to wrestle with. For example, reading the Bible and understanding it comes easy for me. I can sit and read the Bible for hours but sitting down for an extended time and praying for each of us, I wrestle with that. Anne, on the other hand, can pray for hours, but she struggles reading the Bible and trying to understand what God is telling her; she wrestles with that.
But if we are going to be godly, we need to wrestle with the areas of our life, we need to wrestle with.
Conclusion:
Last week, God was calling us to return and He is still calling us to return today. But if we are to return and stay in right relationship with God, we must train ourselves to be godly. Are you willing to do the work?
Let us pray!
