1 Tim 4:1-10 - A Good Servant of Christ Jesus
I borrowed this sermon title from Paul. Let’s read 1 Tim 4:6-10 ESV
Subtitle: Some Will Depart from the Faith
1Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
Subtitle: A Good Servant of Christ Jesus
6If 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. 7Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8for 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. 9The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10For 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.
1 Tim 4:6 he says, “…you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.”
• How? By taking good care of these two aspects of your life.
• One in verse 6: “Be trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.”
• The other is when the word TRAIN comes up again, and that is in verse 7: “Train yourself for godliness.”
A good servant of Christ TEACH THE TRUTH and LIVE THE TRUTH.
• The 2 important TRAINING that we have to commit to as GOOD servants of Christ are:
• (1) to be trained in the truth, the words of faith and good doctrine, in other words, in knowing God’s Word.
• (2) to train ourselves to be godly, so that we truly WALK THE TALK.
TRAINING OURSELVES IN THE TRUTH
Paul says in 4:6 “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus…”
• In other words, if you point these things out (NIV) to your brothers and sisters (NIV), instruct them (NKJV) or explain these things to them (NLT)… then you will be a good servant of Christ.
• So what are “these things”? We have to look back to 4:1-5.
1Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…
• There are false teachings, even cultic teachings, and the people are being deceived into leaving the truth and following these falsehoods.
2through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
• Paul gave examples of some wrong teachings, like forbidding marriage and eating of some food when 4…everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
• These are wrong beliefs and people are misled into practising them. They are propagated… 4:2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared (4:2).
• They are lies but people believed them.
Paul encourages Timothy to remain true to the teachings of Jesus Christ and instruct the believers in the truth.
• Because Timothy has been 4:6“trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed” (4:6)
• Put in the past tense – you have been trained and you have followed.
• Timothy knows the truth and he has kept the truth, therefore he has to speak the truth and bring the people back to the understanding of God’s truth.
If that is a concern for Paul in Timothy’s time, then it would be a greater concern for us today. We live in an age filled with falsehoods, lies and scams.
• Almost every other week you can hear news of victims being scammed or cheated.
• Even receiving a call or text on your phone can be a scary thing nowadays.
Last week I received a text from a church member telling us not to scan the QR code of a flyer that says we can redeem a free blood pressure device. It might contain malware and steal information from your phone.
One day later I received another link from another church member, directing me to the newspaper report. The insurance company AIA has to come out and explain that it was their legitimate promotion and not a scam. It’s hard to tell right?
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A victim went to a bubble tea shop and saw this QR code pasted on its glass door encouraging customers to do an online survey to get a free cup of milk tea, but the poster did not come from the shop.
Enticed by the deal, the victim scanned the code and downloaded an app onto her phone to complete the “survey”. That night as she was sleeping, scammers used the downloaded app to take over her device and moved $20,000 from her bank account.
Do we know the truth of God’s Word? Or are we swayed by the many falsehoods we are hearing today?
• The false teachers in Timothy’s time were confusing believers with wrong beliefs.
• Paul urged Timothy to teach the truth - the “words of faith” and “good doctrine” that he was trained in and that which he has been faithfully following.
As faithful servants of God, we are called to do the same – to know the truth, stand by the truth and speak the truth.
• As Christians, we are blessed with the truth of God. It is both a privilege and a responsibility.
• So make an effort to read and study the Scriptures, and seek to understand “the words of the faith and of the good doctrine” that we have come to know and follow.
• And stand by the truth and live it. That’s Paul’s 2nd point.
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Paul went on to make a second charge to Timothy.
• 4:7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness.
• NIV: “Train yourself to be godly”, meaning, to be holy.
TRAINING OURSELVES FOR GODLINESS
Paul shifts from talking about TELLING the truth to LIVING the truth. Both are equally important.
• Our lives must sync with the truth. We have to live a godly life - the Christlike life.
Everyone wants a BETTER life but we want a GODLY life, that’s our goal - one that models after Christ and reflects His character.
• Happiness in life is not our main goal; holiness is.
Look at King Solomon. He has everything that man craves in life – wealth, success, status, fame, possession, and every other thing that you can think of.
And yet he could NOT get a happy and fulfilled life. He said it himself in the book of Ecclesiastes when he was aged, that everything is vanity.
Man’s determination to be independent of God is doomed to frustration.
Solomon’s only conclusion in the book? “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man.” (Eccl 12:13
The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism – a summary of the Christian faith written in question and answer format in 1646 - “What is the chief end of man?”
• Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
Don’t indulge in fruitless talks, Paul says, rather TRAIN yourself to be godly.
• This is not how we usually think. We don’t think of training for godliness, maybe for some skill sets like playing the piano or cooking, or for sports or running a marathon.
• But Paul says, to train yourself to be godly and he uses the illustration of athletes in the Games, likely the Greek Games that the readers are most familiar with.
• It takes time and effort, we need to practice and train, again and again. We need discipline and we need to be intentional.
• Everything that athletes at the SEA Games do applies here. It takes perseverance and hard work. Godliness does not come naturally.
A few years back I saw a documentary on the Winter Olympics and it featured how the speed skaters prepare themselves for the Games. The racers train for the event every day for 4 years – 4 years because the Olympics is held once in 4 years.
They train for 4 years every day hoping to win a medal at the next Olympics. You can imagine the sacrifices and efforts they put in. They have to even control their diet and cut down on the simple pleasures of life just to keep in shape and stay focused on honing their skills and techniques.
Finally, the day comes for the Olympic race and they are put to the test. They are fast on the track and the race is over within minutes.
Imagine the effort and time spent in training for those brief moments of competition. They did that for the chance of winning a medal, and for some, maybe an outside chance of getting one, looking at the huge number of competitors.
Four years for four minutes of the race! Should we do more for eternity?
Paul put it in perspective for us when he said in 1 Cor 9:24-27
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
• What the runners get is literally, perishable – for the Greeks, it’s a wreath on your head made of leaves, flowers or branches.
• But for us, as Christians serving God and running this race for Him, our reward is eternal and imperishable.
Paul says, 4:8 …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.
Paul compares the physical training of an athlete with spiritual training for godliness.
• Physical exercise is of some value but is less significant than godliness. The reason being godliness has a value beyond this present life.
• Physical exercise is good for the body but its benefits will not last forever. We can try our best to stay healthy but we cannot get healthier over time.
But not so with godliness. It has value for the life to come. We grow to be like Christ, and that’s ultimately who we become.
• Training for godliness prepares us for eternity. We become like Him when see Christ again and we will be so forever.
But Paul also says godliness has its value “for the present life”. He did not say godliness is useless here.
• Paul knows how Timothy has grown in his faith because of the faith of his godly mother and grandmother.
• 2 Tim 1:5 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
Godliness has an influence. The godly lives of his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice impacted Timothy and Paul saw that faith in him.
• Godly parents and spiritual parents can and do bring about godly children; not automatic but it happens by God’s grace.
• I have been influenced by my believing parents, and by spiritual elders in my life.
I believe you have similar stories. In all of our faith journeys, God uses the godly lives of those around us to encourage and build us up.
• We have the Timothys to teach and instruct us, to warn and guide us. We are here today because of them.
• And now we are the Timothys for others. We are blessed by the Lois, Eunice and Paul God sent into our lives and now we want to do the same for others.
It is not about age. It is the truth that we stand for and the godly lives that we live.
• Godliness has nothing to do with your credentials or competence. It has to do with our character, and it happens when we spend time with Jesus.
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Let me leave you with Paul’s parting shot – an important line:
• 4:10 10For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe.
• On the one hand, we do our part to “toil and strive” and put in the effort to train ourselves for godliness and YET believe that our hope is in God our Saviour.
• Our hope is not in our spiritual disciplines or hard work but in God, who alone transforms us into the likeness of His Son!
• Paul says in Phil 2:13 “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Godliness is not an achievement. It is the work of God by the grace of God. But we need to obey Him and work with Him.
Jerry Bridges (the Navigators) wrote two wonderful books The Pursuit of Holiness and The Practice of Godliness, and he says:
“The pursuit of holiness must be anchored in the grace of God; otherwise it is doomed to failure. It is a joint venture between God and the Christian. No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain it without effort on his own part.”
Transformation happens by the grace of God, but it does not happen in a vacuum, and it does not happen by chance.
• We put in time and effort to read and study the Word, spend time with Jesus in worship and prayer, fellowship and serve with other Christians, and the Lord uses these means of grace to bless and change us.
• Watch where you are investing your time. Look at where you are spending the most amount of time. Prioritize that which is important and eternal.
• A good servant of Christ speaks the truth and live the truth.
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, you are the Potter and we are the clay. Mould us into your likeness, Lord and glorify yourself through us. May our lives continue to tell the story of your love and grace. This we pray in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
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You can listen to the audio sermon with slides at https://youtu.be/XOBJeB-7ZAI
Earlier audio sermons are available at https://tinyurl.com/KTCC-EnglishService
