Sermon Title: Exercise for Holiness
Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:6-16
Wesleyan Community Church
Terry, Mississippi
Sunday Morning – June 9, 2002
Scripture Introduction:
There are just some things in our lives that we cannot be warned of enough. Paul is no exception when it comes to the preparation of his student in the faith Timothy. Paul more than likely knows that his days are numbered and there is a time limit that has been imposed upon the ministry that he was so gloriously converted to fulfill.
There is a repetition of many things that we find in the Bible. Why do you suppose that is? It is through the repeating of the important lessons to be learned that those that are thick of skull make the connection and begin the process of earnestly and honestly applying these things to their lives.
I am one of those that qualify for the title “thick of skull”, I have been the recipient of many a repeated lesson, and without that repeated lesson or the occasional refresher, I would have difficulties in certain things. Just like the repetition of ideas cause our minds to fully embrace them, we have a physical equivalent and that is the process of exercise. A weightlifter does not simply lift a weight a single time, he lifts them repeatedly in what are called repetitions. Prepare yourselves for a reminder as we read this morning’s Scripture.
Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 4:6-16
6If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. 7But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. 8For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 9This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. 10For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 11These things command and teach. 12Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Sermon Introduction:
As I was preparing and praying about this mornings message, I thought perhaps I should name it the 4 R’s. In light of the things that we believe we must always remember, refine, reflect and then recall the things which we see as important in our personal walks with God. You will notice that I use the word “personal”, because nobody has the right to dictate their beliefs on anyone else, the only authoritative source is from God Himself. Now does that mean we are all free to believe whatever we choose? Absolutely not, and anyone who might even think that way is certainly jumping the gun or else has no idea from where I am coming from.
We are all responsible for our own prayer lives, and as such that means we are also responsible for what should comprise a majority of that time, and that is listen and submission.
We must first Remember what we have been taught! Sounds almost so simple that it hardly rates mentioning, but the greatest measure of our progress is that which we can recall, obviously, if someone takes the time to teach us something, if we cannot recall any of it, what was the use? We can have the laws of physics presented to us, however if we don’t remember what they are, then we have really not learned anything.
The next step in the process is to Refine what we believe! In the course of our lifetimes we have countless facts and figures that pass back and forth through our minds. This is just as true of things having to do with our spirituality and our beliefs. All of the facts and the figures may not agree and we are responsible for paring them down and rejecting those that do not fit. Refining can be a brutal process from the viewpoint of what is being refined. Just as purity effects the value of gold and silver, so to is purity the determining factor in the value of our doctrine.
That leads us to the third step in our spiritual body building process, we must Reflect on the things that we profess! There is no other way to put it, but there are some things that we hold dear that are just ridiculous. There are things that we believe, that we believe, yet we don’t really know why. There is a story that tell of someone who had an aunt that made the most delicious beef roasts in the world. In an effort to duplicate the results, this person would trim about 3 inches off of one end of the roast prior to placing it in the roasting pan. One day when that same aunt was visiting, after trimming the standard three inches off, asked her aunt why she always did that. Much to her surprise, the aunt trimmed the meat not for flavor, but because her roaster was never big enough to accommodate the entire roast. We must know why we believe the things that we believe.
And finally, we must Recall the reason for our labor! To often in the different processes that we go through we loose sight of the reason that we started out to begin with. This is a dangerous point to get to when it comes to our serving God and the kingdom that He wants all of us to share in.
Let us pause for a moment of prayer!
Point 1: Remember what you have been taught!
There are some things in our lives that we are almost born with the ability to do, however there are other things that we must be taught and through that process, remember what it was that we were taught. Paul tells Timothy in verse 6, and this goes for us as well:
6If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
Herein lies something that we usually have no problems complying with joined together with something that oftentimes gives us great difficulty. We usually have no problem corrected others when they might be in error or heading in this direction, however, we tend to be just a little on the sensitive side when it comes to our being on the receiving end of it. We are commanded of our need to bring to recollection the things that are of great importance, and those are namely the tenets that God has set out for us. This even tells us that we will be good ministers if we do this. The very next statement tells us how we get to the point where we can do this recollection stimulating and become the good minister. We must be nourished in the Word. We must be nourished in sound doctrine, and this is a place that we do not suddenly arrive at, it is a position that we work our way up to. How is that done? There is no better way to explain the process but through the old and true saying, “practice makes perfect”, and that means repetition and that means that we would have someone stimulating our recall before we can stimulate the recall of others.
Point 2: Refine what you believe!
What do we do with all the things that we have learned over the years as far as what to believe in the realm of our spiritual nature? We certainly can’t hold on to the things that are false can we. We must go through a process of refining our beliefs. Paul gives Timothy a contrast of sorts. Let us read verses 7 through 11:
. 7But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. 8For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 9This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. 10For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 11These things command and teach.
Paul tells Timothy of the need to discount the wives tales and the profane, now we need to remember that the definition of the word profane has nothing to do with obscenities but rather of the things that are considered common. There is nothing common about the Word and the message of God! Paul then contrasts it as follows, but exercise unto holiness. We do not become holy without following a regimen that produces holiness as an end product. The comparison to bodily exercise is astounding. The more we train our bodies the more adept they are at what we train them for. The training requires repetition, and if the training is flawed in some aspect, then correction is required lest the end result be contrary to what was intended. We become more effective in prayer through the process of repeated sessions of prayer. We become more effective at reading and applying God’s Word through a process of repeatedly reading and studying and using the message that is contained within. What happens when the person ends the process of training? Do they maintain the same proficiency? What happens to the Christian who suddenly discontinues his time of prayer and stops reading God’s Word? Do they maintain their present relationship with God? Absolutely not!
We work out spiritually to become stronger spiritually. We may even have to put up with ridicule, we need to remember that many who fail to have a relationship with Jesus are either ignorant of the wonderful blessing of fellowship with the Savior or else deflecting the twinges that come from being under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Point 3: Reflect on the things that you profess!
We also need to think about the things that we tell others that we believe in. If I make a statement against buying foreign products and complain how our money is being lost to overseas corporations, but people see us driving a fancy European car, what does that say about the strength or the validity of our beliefs? If we profess it, then we had best perform it! Paul writes in verses 12 through 15:
12Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
I like this section of Scripture, because it always seems that there is someone who claims to be more advanced, there is always someone who claims to be more experienced, and at times they have no difficulty stating that fact. Put your money where your mouth is! Live up to or surpass the set standards! One of the greatest roadblocks that confronted me in the beginning of my pastoral studies was the fact that I grew up in a home that didn’t go to church, that didn’t pray, and that didn’t read the Bible. I did not begin serious studies until after I was saved, and believe you me, I was often reminded of that. The difference was, I was reading extra hard and long to make up for lost time. I had spent extra time in prayer because I needed and knew that I needed every advantage that God had to offer me in my preparation for the ministry. The problem with the ones that pointed out my shortcomings is that they did nothing to maintain their studies.
Paul tells Timothy as well as he tells us, of His need to set an example of the standards that a professing Christian needs to portray in their lives, now notice he does not tell Timothy to refute by word any doubt, but to refute by actions.
Paul tells Timothy and us, to be an example in word. Paul is telling Timothy to be careful of the doctrine that he teaches, he is to teach nothing but the pure and undefiled Word of God. Only God’s Word has the power to transform the lost and bring the most lost soul into the fold. If the message that we hear preached fails to come from the Bible then it is the message of man, and has such has earthly limitations and cannot tap the power that is only available through His Word.
Paul tells Timothy as he tells us to be an example in conversation. Paul is telling Timothy to present himself as a Christian example in all manners of behavior. The things that he says must be appropriate and acceptable for a Christian leader, the things that he does should be appropriate and acceptable for a Christian leader, the place that he goes and the things that he approves of should be appropriate and acceptable for a Christian leader. In all mannerisms and surroundings that Timothy find himself in, those should teach and preach Christianity on their own.
Paul tells Timothy as he tells us to be an example in charity. This means the loving of God and his fellow man as it was commanded of us by Jesus. For many the loving God part may seem to be no problem, however when it comes to the loving of our fellow man, we stumble. We may question the reasoning for loving those that are dirty, those that smell, those that want nothing to do with God and the things that He requires. We may question the reasoning for loving those that do evil against others with what appears to be little remorse, we may question the need to love those that may even have brutally wronged us. This is exactly the people that we must love even more. This is truly an area that separates the sum total of those who are not believers and those that are. We may ask, “But, I find it difficult to love someone who had basically knifed me in the back”, Yes, it is difficult if not impossible for us as men and women of the world, however we also must remember that as sinners that were truly lost on our own, the power of God was able to deliver us. If God can snatch us from the jaws of hell, I am certain that He can correct the fact that we have faulty forgiveness.
Paul tells Timothy as he tells us to be an example in spirit. As I researched what Paul was talking about here, I discovered that he was implying the manner and disposition in which we do things. What motivates us to do things, What is the driving force behind the things that we do, and what about the attitude that we display as we go about doing these things. We see many examples today of how not to be an example in spirit. Donations that have their only reason for existence as a tax write-off are not the spirit in which we are looking for. A child begrudgingly helping someone to do something because it was highly stressed under threat of punishment, is not the spirit of doing that we are looking for. Doing things because we wish to do them, because we love God so much that we want to do them, that we love people so much that we want to do them is the spirit that Paul tells Timothy to display, this is the spirit that Paul tells us that we must display.
Paul tells Timothy as he tells us, to be an example in faith. Paul is speaking about fidelity to the things and the teachings of God. There is a loyalty in the strongest sense that is driven not out of ought but out of want. Adam Clarke writes that we should “Lose nothing that God gives, and improve every gift that he bestows”. We have been trusted by God with the greatest gift that is ever made possible, given to us freely and paid for with the highest of price, His Sons life, upon the cross for you and I and we are given freely the gift of salvation but then we are entrusted to see to it that it is shared with all, and yes it includes those that we have to regularly pray for God to change our hearts and allow us to love.
Finally, Paul tells Timothy and us as well to be examples in purity. This purity extends much further then the worldly definition of the physical pureness, which is indeed a major factor, but also purity in each and every aspect of our lives. Our speech must be pure, our motives must be pure, our thoughts and the deepest recesses of our hearts, must be pure.
Even, if someone should call into question, our ability as a Christian it is the actions that we live out and not the verbal defense that we offer, that will vindicate us from the improper accusations. Although it is indeed the tongue that can cause us the greatest problems it is its silence that does more in the process of our vindication. There is a degree of truth to the saying it is better to remain silent and thought a fool then to speak and remove all doubt. Jesus was silent before His accusers, because the charges against Him were so ludicrous that they did not even warrant a response.
Point 4: Recall the reason for our labor!
Paul tells Timothy to again to recall the reason for his calling. Reading this mornings final verses:
16Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Why are we called into service for God? How are we told to precede? Paul tells Timothy to watch out for his own relationship with Jesus, we need to remember that as we seek fulfilling the things that God has placed upon our hearts, it is “I” that is ultimately responsible for the eternity that I am judged to enter. There is no group plan, family ties mean nothing, we can’t buy our way in and we certainly won’t be able to argue our way in. One way and only one way, and that is through the shed blood of Jesus, the total and full admission of our sins and repentance of our sin, and a desire to continually grow closer to God and follow closer the expectations He has placed before us. Timothy is told to watch and abide by the doctrine and that is the pure undefiled Word of God, as it is written, without amendments or omissions or alterations or modifications by man. He is to do these things, we are to abide by these same things and in so doing, our lives will speak volumes more then the words that we say. Our lives and the way we live, when we live like God intended, when we live like God reflected, will be sufficient with the conviction of the Holy Spirit in and on the lives of the lost to turn them toward Jesus and to turn them to becoming heaven bound. The testimony of our lives can prevent a lost soul from being condemned to an eternity in hell.
Conclusion:
As we close this morning I ask the following questions, do we Remember what we have been taught? Paul reminds Timothy and he is a pastor, we all in the same note need to be reminded at times as well. There are standards that have been set before us that are above and beyond the expectations of the world, do we reach out and claim the prize before us. Paul writes in Php 3:14 “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.
As time goes on the amounts of things that we have heard and we have learned become greater and greater. There are even things that we have been exposed to that are contrary to what God wants and expects out of us. Have we Refined what we believe? Paul has written in Philippians 4: 8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”. Are these the standards that we live by or are we affected by worldly values?
Is the life that we live consistent with the values we proclaim. It would be wise to take some time and Reflect on the things that we profess. Once again referring to Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Php 1:20 “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death”.
At times it seems that the battle never ends, and the energy we have remaining to fight is low and running on reserves, do we remember why we eneterd the fray in the first place. When the situation is grim and our resolve is in jeopardy of being clouded we must Recall the reason for our labor! Paul will write of his recollection to Timothy in his second letter. We read in 2 Timothy 4:6-8:
6 For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. That my brothers and sisters is the ultimate end of our living for God, that my brothers and sisters is why He sent His Son to die. Part of that last section of Scripture is inscribed on the headstone of my beloved mentor Dr. Harold Brown, I know that he loved me and guided me as Paul guided Timothy. In his last days before meeting Jesus, after the effects of a second stroke took a preachers and counselors ability to speak; nonetheless, he continued to testify of his love for the Lord and the need for the lost to find Jesus. With every ounce of his energy, he raised his arm with a finger pointed heavenward as the tears streamed out of his eyes. He recalled the reason for all his years of labor and no one that knew him was untouched by God. Is that the reason that we labor?
Closing hymn: Will Jesus Find Us Watching? #470
