Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Milford

SERMON “Godliness Training”

1 TIMOTHY 4:1-16 [NLTse]

Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. 2 These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.

3 They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth. 4 Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. 5 For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer.

6 If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters, Timothy, you will be a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is nourished by the message of faith and the good teaching you have followed. 7 Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. 8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” 9 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. 10 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.

11 Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. 12 Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. 13 Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them.

14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. 15 Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for

the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.

SERMON

In 1 Timothy 4:8, Paul wrote, “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” “Godliness” is an old-fashioned word that means God-like-ness, so, training for godliness is training that makes us more like Christ, more like God. In this passage, the parallel between “physical training” and “training for godliness” teaches us something about that.

First off, Paul tells Timothy and us why we should take up godliness training: And that is, because there are false prophets and false teachers out there who are teaching – not God’s heart and mind and Word, but – the deceptions of demons(!), Paul warns. By “out there” I mean, in pulpits, on TV, writing popular blog-posts; wearing coats and ties, wearing skirts and dresses, wearing jeans; preaching and teaching to hundreds, preaching and teaching to thousands, preaching and teaching to small groups…

At a recent study and prayer meeting of the elders and deacons, we were sharing stories of our run-ins with the devil and his crew of fallen angels (demons). Everyone who shared made a similar observation: Satan doesn’t appear wicked; that is, nobody who’d encountered the devil saw the red, two-horned, pointy-tailed creature with the pitchfork we see in so many depictions of the evil one. No. The embodiment of evil (at least for each and every one of the elders or deacons who shared) appeared normal, typical, average, like anybody else…

We all can be tricked into thinking that we live in a world like Dick Tracy, u where all the good guys looked like good guys and where u all the bad guys looked bad. But the truth is, bad guys can be attractive and be good preachers, too, and bad gals can be attractive and work wonders, too. And that’s why we need to be warned, u and that’s whhy we

need godliness training, because Paul tells us that, in truth, these folks are hypocrites and liars not sensitive to God’s Spirit and who, though seeming faithful, have turned away from the true faith. But we can’t know that if we haven’t trained ourselves in godliness.

And, let’s not fool ourselves into believing that false prophets and false teachers might just be leading us astray about aspects of our faith that don’t matter day by day. No. Paul gives the example of people teaching about what you can eat and who you’re free to marry! These deceivers the devil has sent to infiltrate Christ’s Church are not only taking the freedom of the gospel and twisting it into a new kind of slavery, they’re not only taking the Christian’s desire to obey God out of love and gratitude and twisting it into an obedience coming from fear and obligation, and they’re not only taking the gracious gift of salvation and twisting it into something you or I could take credit for ourselves, but these wolves in sheep’s clothing – these pagans in pastor’s clothing – are also taking the glory of the cross of Christ and equating it with the color of this or that political party or the flag of this or that government; they are also taking the wild and gentle wonders of all it means to be male and female in the image of God and neutering us all down into tame and bland counterfeits; they are also taking the wealth and riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ and making Christian people want the wealth and riches of this life more. We need godliness training so that we can recognize the subtleties and nuances of such differences, especially since (on account of how attractive false prophets and false teachers can be) we can be far down the slippery-slope of their inspiring and entertaining ways before we realize the evil that’s being done to us.

It happened here in this church, for the handful of you here long-enough to remember it. Tim Dean, an elder of the church who has now moved down to Delaware for retirement, was on the committee of

church members who originally interviewed me and eventually hired me to be your pastor. Tim told me about the pastor who was here before me, a fellow well-versed in the Bible and who preached and taught well and often about the cross of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But, after a while, Tim said, somethings just seemed to be off in the ways he was encouraging the church to apply the Scriptures. It eventually got to seem so “not right” to him that he began going home after Worship and looking up the context for all the passages the pastor had referenced in his messages. It became very clear to Tim that the pastor was taking the truths of the good news but twisting them to move the church according to his own plans and agenda. A sermon that pastor gave, sadly titled the “Palm Sunday Massacre” by many who were in the church at that time, woke the entire congregation up to the reality that, nice guy though he was, he was a false prophet and a false teacher, and, praise God, you fired him for it…

Yes, no matter the benefits we can receive from dieting and working out, godliness training is even more important because it affects not only our health and welfare in this life but also affects our place and station in the life to come! And Paul writes in another place, “if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)

What does godliness training look like? Paul says it includes exercising and practicing-using the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us. Paul says it involves giving our complete attention to the things of God: “Throwing yourself” into God’s work, he writes to Timothy. It involves both how we’re living our personal lives as well as what we say and teach publicly to be true about Jesus.

In physical exercise, we train our muscles to be strong and flexible by regularly forcing them to do things that are hard for them to do. Over time, our muscles develop the ability to do these hard – and even harder – things, but only because we have

consistently worked them to do things that, at first, seemed almost too hard for them!

Likewise in godliness training, we won’t grow unless we continually challenge our spiritual “muscles” to do things we find hard. With that in mind, let’s u ask ourselves:

What am I disciplining myself to do that is hard for me to do? As we ask ourselves this question, let’s keep in mind that what is hard for someone else may be easy for us. We’re looking for things that we, personally, find hard to do. “No pain, no gain,” as the weightlifters say.

u Another question: How regularly am I requiring myself to do these things? Down through the centuries, many have found it helpful to have some daily routine of spiritual practices. “Once in a while” has proven not to get the job done. Likewise in physical training: The athlete who finds him- or herself saying, “I’m too busy to train today; it won’t hurt to miss just one day,” is probably not someone you’ll see playing past the high school level, and someone you definitely won’t see competing professionally or winning a medal in the Olympics. (And we are training for a prize far more precious than wealth or fame or 5-minutes of glory on a podium.)

For example, think about something like daily Bible reading. Many would say, “But I can’t read the Bible every single day. There are some days when I’m just too busy to get my reading done.” Well, yes, it is hard — and therein lies the value of it, at least from the standpoint of godliness training. The very act of doing that which is hard is beneficial (not to mention all the other benefits of reading the Bible itself).

The willingness to pay the price and do the hard things is what separates those who are genuinely head-over-heels for Christ and who genuinely desire to be close to Him and like Him from those who simply think of Christianity and faith and Heaven as all being nice ideas.

I hear the Lord calling to me (I hear Him calling to us all): “Honestly, how much do I really mean to you?”

My friends, with all the ways the devil is active trying to trick us and distract us and to satisfy us with lesser things, are we willing to train for Christ’s sake? Are we willing to ask the hard questions and do the hard things to show Him our love and gratitude for saving us in Christ?