On the Tonight Show, they have a segment of the program is called Headlines. It’s a time when they feature funny lines from articles in newspapers and magazines. And some of them are quite amusing, like this one: Someone placed an ad in the classified section, and it said this: “Nordic Track never used. Will trade for bread-maker.”
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1 Timothy 4:6-10 |
Obviously somebody got a Christmas present they didn’t much care for! Their spouse was probably trying to give them a hint. “Here, Honey. Its just for you.” You can imagine the glare they got in return.
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Lately you may have heard a lot of talk about how people in America are out of shape. My wife and I always laugh when they do these types of reports on the nightly news. When they give their reports they always have pictures that they show along with the report. And when they talk about people being overweight, all they show is fat stomachs. They don’t show the people’s faces, but it’s a shot from the neck down to the knees. And all through the report you see these pot bellies bouncing around.
But whether it be in the content of the report or simply by the wide angle pictures that are shown, their point is made: America is a place filled with unhealthy people.
And you know what? The same can be said about the church in America. A lot of people lament how the morality of America has plummeted to disgraceful lows. But we have to ask ourselves, “Is the church in America any better?” I would bet that our society suffers because Christians in America are out of shape. We are unhealthy pot-bellied Christians.
That’s why we are studying God’s divinely inspired fitness plan. He shows us here how to get in shape. Of course we are not talking about a Richard Simmons workout plan. This is God’s plan for spiritual fitness. God shows us here how to have a robust spiritual life.
If you want to develop into a healthy Christian, you must adhere to God’s spiritual fitness plan. It tells us that to be a healthy Christian you must do three things: You must eat right, workout, and stay motivated.
If you are going to be fit, one of the first steps that you have to get your diet under control. And that’s what the Apostle Paul, who may be considered our Spiritual fitness trainer, says that we need to do for our spiritual lives too.
I. Eat right [6-7]
Look at verse 6. We read this last week, but I want you to take note of what it says again. It says, “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained (or a better way to translate this is being nourished) in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.”
This is the first tip in spiritual diet. You have to feed on nourishing foods.
Timothy had been educated in the truth of Scripture. He had been fed good doctrine all his life and there’s good reason that Paul uses this word for “nourish.” The truth of Scripture had been his meat and potatoes—it had given him the necessary nutrients to build up his should and provide him with the spiritual vitality he needed to be a minister of the gospel.
It is interesting that Paul has just gotten done talking about food. He had spoken out against the food cults of his day. Now in this verse, he points to the real food; the food that is good for the soul. Here is where health is really to be found. It is not in your Kale breakfast shake or in your multivitamin. It is in the doctrines of Scripture.
And it is this diet that gives you the ability to perform spiritually. Timothy could be a good minister of the gospel because he had been nourished in the doctrines of Scripture.
So if you want to have the best spiritual performance, then you need to be chowing down on Scripture. If you are not in the word of God on a regular basis, you are going to be malnourished. You are not going to be able to serve God to the degree that you should because you are not getting the spiritual nutrients that you need.
That’s why I want to encourage families to be in the word together. I want to encourage you in your own devotions. Young people, I always want to challenge you to be having your own time of devotions, where you are reading Scripture on your own. Take a few minutes a day to study the word of God. Read a chapter or two. Get a bible devotional and read a section of it. Feed yourself and nourish yourself with the Word of God.
If you do that, you will find that you are going to have more spiritual energy to devote to the Lord.
But, of course, eating right doesn’t just mean you eat things that are nourishing. It also means you need to cut the non-nourishing things out.
You can’t be spiritually fit if you keep eating a ton of junk food. If you eat an apple a day, you might not be able to keep the doctor way if it is followed up by a daily dose of snickers bars and peanut butter cookies!
The same goes for being spiritually fit. You not only have to nourish yourself with the Scripture, but you have to cut the junky doctrines out of your diet.
That’s what Paul says in the next verse. Look at what it says in verse 7. It says, “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.”
We don’t know exactly what Paul is talking about here. Some people think that it is the stories that the Jews made up. The Jews have all kinds of stories in the Talmud and the Mishna about bible characters. There’s stories about Abraham when he was a boy. One stories talks about how he lived in a cave until he was 3 years old.
There are other stories about Sara that talk about her tent being a place where people came to meet with God. You may remember that God heard Sara as she was laughing in the tent. The tent became a place where God was closely connected.[1]
Some other scholars say that this refers to the old Greek mythology; the stories about Zeus and the other gods.
We don’t know what exactly it is referring to, but you can probably see people sitting around talking about these stories. These were their forms of entertainment. It was their prime time television.
Paul tells Timothy that these guys need to ditch that stuff. It is not good for their souls. It is just a bunch of junk that isn’t providing any real nourishment.
Now, most of us probably don’t have grandma telling us stories around the fire. We probably aren’t into Greek and Jewish mythology, but we do have Netflix and prime time television. We probably have more access to fiction today than any other period in history. And we have to acknowledge that heavy doses of novels or Netflix is probably not that great for our spiritual well being.
Television needs to be thought of like a snickers bar. Sure it tastes good, but you can’t have that as the main part of your diet. A diet of snickers bars is not going to be good for you.
So, if you are going to be spiritually fit, you need to make sure that you get your diet in order. Nourish yourself with healthy doses of Scripture and cut back on the fictitious junk that the world is offering you. Spiritual fitness
But, if you are going to get fit, you not only have to eat right, you also have to work out.
II. Work out [8-9]
Paul says to Timothy in the second half of verse 7, “Train yourself for godliness.” Paul is telling Timothy to put into practice some sort regimented labor for the sake of godliness. In other words, spiritual muscles don’t come by osmosis. We to implement a workout program to cultivate godliness.
But what do we need to know about our spiritual exercise program? Paul tells us three things about this spiritual regiment. The first thing he says is that this workout program must be…
A. Regular
If you want to look like Arnold Swartsenager, you can’t do it if you go to the gym only when you feel like it, or if you can squeeze it in that day. If you want to achieve that goal, you have to work at it regularly.
Now we just talked about Bible reading, and how we should be in it daily. And that is a spiritual disciple. And I want to urge this upon you once again, but this time to you young people. Now is the time for you to begin this holy habit. Those of us who are older will probably tell you how stronger we would have been had we started off earlier than we did.
I know that there will be things you just don’t understand. There will be words you struggle with and passages that just don’t make sense. But don’t let that deter you from keeping at it. I guarantee that with time, you will come to understand it better.
What is really important now though is simply getting it a part of your regular practice. I promise that if you make it a priority and it becomes a pattern for the rest of you life, you will find that you will become a spiritual strong man.
I can say that because Paul not only says your workout program should be regular, he says it will also be…
B. Rewarding
Look at verse 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 is saying, “Hey look. Someone who works out regularly sees change in their life. They get muscles, they live longer. But spiritual exercise is even better! It holds promise not just for this life but also for the life to come.”
Part of that reward is that you will grow into a Christian Arnold Swartsenager.
You know how people look at him, especially when he was in the prime of his weightlifting days. People gawked at his build. They were like, “Wow, look at his muscles! That’s amazing!”
And young people, the same will happen to you. People will be amazed at your maturity because you made it a habit to study God’s Word.
And even if you are not one of our young people, its never too late to start. Because the reward of spiritual discipline goes beyond this life. That’s why it is better than physical exercise. Think about it. While Paul does call it good, he says its limited. You can work out all you want, but you’re going to die. And even if you look good in your coffin, you’re still dead.
But spiritual exercise goes beyond this life and into the next. So you can think of it as preparing for the big game. You’re discipline now is getting you ready for glory.
But Paul not only tells us that your exercise should be regular, and that it will be rewarding. He says it must be…
C. Rigorous
Read with me verses 9-10: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive”
Toil and strive. The word strive is the Greek word “agonizomai” from which we get the word “agonize.”
Paul’s saying that spiritual fitness takes effort. Wimps cannot mature spiritually. Or if they do, it won’t be much. If we think about Arnold again. He didn’t get to looking like he did by going into the gym and giving high five’s and slapping guys on the rear-end! He had to put weights on the bar and do the bench press, arm curls, leg swats.
And if we are going to grow spiritually, if we are going to train ourselves for godliness, we have to go perform the arduous tasks that will get us there.
Again, Bible reading can be rigorous. We have to get our pens and highlighters. We have to concentrate on what’s being said, etc. But there are other disciplines that we can labor in.
How about prayer? Prayer takes a lot of discipline. For one you have to sit still for a period of time (without falling asleep!). And then you have to concentrate on your conversation with God. How many of us rattle off prayers to God without even thinking about what we are saying (“God I thank you for this day.”)
Or how about fasting? Fasting wasn’t something that only the people in the Old Testament did. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for making a show of their times of fasting, but he did not condemn the act of fasting. As a matter of fact, one time he was asked why his disciples didn’t fast, and he responded by saying, “they cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, but there will come a time when they will fast.”
Fasting is a spiritual discipline. It involves the body, but it’s a rigorous act that God uses to discipline your heart.
Just like there are many ways to exercise your body, there are many ways you can exercise your spirit. And there are a lot of things we could do that I didn’t mention. But the point is: God wants us to implement a workout program. One that’s regular, rigorous, and rewarding.
But God knows that this isn’t easy. No regimented fitness program is. That’s why everyone bails out on their New Year’s resolutions to get in shape.
Paul knows this. That’s why he says in your spiritual fitness you not only need to eat right and work out, you also need to stay motivated.
III. Stay motivated [10]
That’s what we find in the last part of verse 10: “For 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.”
When you go on a diet or when you implement that new fitness program, you have to keep your eyes on something. You have to have something to motivate you to work out and to change your eating patterns. Some people, when they go to the doctor, the doctor tells them that if they continue what they are doing, they are going to die. So that moves them to turn their lives upside-down.
So I ask, what should motivate you to read your Bible, to pray, or go without food for a certain amount of time? The Bible says our motivation comes from the fact that Jesus Christ is the Savior.
Now, this verse might sound a bit odd to you. We know from the rest of Scripture that God does not save everyone. Matthew 25 says that there will come a point where God will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” God will not save everyone, in the sense that everyone will go to heaven.
So what does this verse mean when it says, “God is the Savior of all people”? The word Savior must be taken in its more general sense. That is to say God allows people to live for a time on earth, rather than destroying them right away in his wrath as they deserve.
So you might rightly say, “God is the Savior of all people,” or “God is the Preserver of all people.” But to those who believe on Jesus (that is those who put their faith in Jesus) they especially will be saved because God will make them to live forever in heaven.
And that is what should move us to cultivate spiritual disciplines: A deep rooted gratitude for his loving grace. When he should have wiped us out, he has permitted us to live our days here on earth. And through faith in Jesus Christ, we even have the opportunity to live forever in glory.
Some of you have made resolutions to get spiritually fit. Most likely its been one of those new year’s resolutions, that quickly fell by the wayside. Oh, you were diligent there for that first week or two, but it wasn’t long before your dedication wavered. Why did that happen?
It’s because spiritual disciplines are hard. Cultivating Godliness is not an easy thing to do. There are a lot of things that are a lot easier and a lot more fun. And there will come times where you will say, “I don’t want to read my Bible. I’m not in the mood.” Or “I have a big day ahead of my, I’m going to skip my prayers this morning and sleep a little longer.” It’s easy to loose your motivation.
It’s in these times you need to remember that God is your Savior. The thought that God has and will continue to preserve you, keeping you from His hot anger, ought to pull you from those bed sheets. You ought to be so thankful that you would be willing to sacrifice all your meals for him, let alone just a few for a short time.
His love, his mercy, and his grace ought to be a holy stimulus to you.
Conclusion:
Recently there was a reality show on television called “The Biggest Loser.” Some of you may have seen some of the episodes, or perhaps seen some of the advertisements. They took a bunch of people who were overweight and challenged them to lose weight. I didn’t watch the show, but I caught enough to see that these contestants struggled against all their fleshly desires. They wanted to eat and eat and eat. They didn’t want to do the excruciating drills that they were challenged to do. But those that kept their eyes on the goal and stayed motivated, were able to look back at the end and see the payoff of all their toil.
God calls each of you to become a Big Loser. The challenge laid before you: To receive the nourishment that God has provided in his Word and to discipline yourself through acts of piety. And if you stay motivated, if you remember that God is the one who preserves and saves, you can meet his challenge. And you will not only be able to look back and see the payoff, but you can look forward to eternal rewards.
[1] http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/stories-of-our-ancestors/2/#
But whether it be in the content of the report or simply by the wide angle pictures that are shown, their point is made: America is a place filled with unhealthy people.
And you know what? The same can be said about the church in America. A lot of people lament how the morality of America has plummeted to disgraceful lows. But we have to ask ourselves, “Is the church in America any better?” I would bet that our society suffers because Christians in America are out of shape. We are unhealthy pot-bellied Christians.
That’s why we are studying God’s divinely inspired fitness plan. He shows us here how to get in shape. Of course we are not talking about a Richard Simmons workout plan. This is God’s plan for spiritual fitness. God shows us here how to have a robust spiritual life.
If you want to develop into a healthy Christian, you must adhere to God’s spiritual fitness plan. It tells us that to be a healthy Christian you must do three things: You must eat right, workout, and stay motivated.
If you are going to be fit, one of the first steps that you have to get your diet under control. And that’s what the Apostle Paul, who may be considered our Spiritual fitness trainer, says that we need to do for our spiritual lives too.
I. Eat right [6-7]
Look at verse 6. We read this last week, but I want you to take note of what it says again. It says, “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained (or a better way to translate this is being nourished) in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.”
This is the first tip in spiritual diet. You have to feed on nourishing foods.
Timothy had been educated in the truth of Scripture. He had been fed good doctrine all his life and there’s good reason that Paul uses this word for “nourish.” The truth of Scripture had been his meat and potatoes—it had given him the necessary nutrients to build up his should and provide him with the spiritual vitality he needed to be a minister of the gospel.
It is interesting that Paul has just gotten done talking about food. He had spoken out against the food cults of his day. Now in this verse, he points to the real food; the food that is good for the soul. Here is where health is really to be found. It is not in your Kale breakfast shake or in your multivitamin. It is in the doctrines of Scripture.
And it is this diet that gives you the ability to perform spiritually. Timothy could be a good minister of the gospel because he had been nourished in the doctrines of Scripture.
So if you want to have the best spiritual performance, then you need to be chowing down on Scripture. If you are not in the word of God on a regular basis, you are going to be malnourished. You are not going to be able to serve God to the degree that you should because you are not getting the spiritual nutrients that you need.
That’s why I want to encourage families to be in the word together. I want to encourage you in your own devotions. Young people, I always want to challenge you to be having your own time of devotions, where you are reading Scripture on your own. Take a few minutes a day to study the word of God. Read a chapter or two. Get a bible devotional and read a section of it. Feed yourself and nourish yourself with the Word of God.
If you do that, you will find that you are going to have more spiritual energy to devote to the Lord.
But, of course, eating right doesn’t just mean you eat things that are nourishing. It also means you need to cut the non-nourishing things out.
You can’t be spiritually fit if you keep eating a ton of junk food. If you eat an apple a day, you might not be able to keep the doctor way if it is followed up by a daily dose of snickers bars and peanut butter cookies!
The same goes for being spiritually fit. You not only have to nourish yourself with the Scripture, but you have to cut the junky doctrines out of your diet.
That’s what Paul says in the next verse. Look at what it says in verse 7. It says, “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.”
We don’t know exactly what Paul is talking about here. Some people think that it is the stories that the Jews made up. The Jews have all kinds of stories in the Talmud and the Mishna about bible characters. There’s stories about Abraham when he was a boy. One stories talks about how he lived in a cave until he was 3 years old.
There are other stories about Sara that talk about her tent being a place where people came to meet with God. You may remember that God heard Sara as she was laughing in the tent. The tent became a place where God was closely connected.[1]
Some other scholars say that this refers to the old Greek mythology; the stories about Zeus and the other gods.
We don’t know what exactly it is referring to, but you can probably see people sitting around talking about these stories. These were their forms of entertainment. It was their prime time television.
Paul tells Timothy that these guys need to ditch that stuff. It is not good for their souls. It is just a bunch of junk that isn’t providing any real nourishment.
Now, most of us probably don’t have grandma telling us stories around the fire. We probably aren’t into Greek and Jewish mythology, but we do have Netflix and prime time television. We probably have more access to fiction today than any other period in history. And we have to acknowledge that heavy doses of novels or Netflix is probably not that great for our spiritual well being.
Television needs to be thought of like a snickers bar. Sure it tastes good, but you can’t have that as the main part of your diet. A diet of snickers bars is not going to be good for you.
So, if you are going to be spiritually fit, you need to make sure that you get your diet in order. Nourish yourself with healthy doses of Scripture and cut back on the fictitious junk that the world is offering you. Spiritual fitness
But, if you are going to get fit, you not only have to eat right, you also have to work out.
II. Work out [8-9]
Paul says to Timothy in the second half of verse 7, “Train yourself for godliness.” Paul is telling Timothy to put into practice some sort regimented labor for the sake of godliness. In other words, spiritual muscles don’t come by osmosis. We to implement a workout program to cultivate godliness.
But what do we need to know about our spiritual exercise program? Paul tells us three things about this spiritual regiment. The first thing he says is that this workout program must be…
A. Regular
If you want to look like Arnold Swartsenager, you can’t do it if you go to the gym only when you feel like it, or if you can squeeze it in that day. If you want to achieve that goal, you have to work at it regularly.
Now we just talked about Bible reading, and how we should be in it daily. And that is a spiritual disciple. And I want to urge this upon you once again, but this time to you young people. Now is the time for you to begin this holy habit. Those of us who are older will probably tell you how stronger we would have been had we started off earlier than we did.
I know that there will be things you just don’t understand. There will be words you struggle with and passages that just don’t make sense. But don’t let that deter you from keeping at it. I guarantee that with time, you will come to understand it better.
What is really important now though is simply getting it a part of your regular practice. I promise that if you make it a priority and it becomes a pattern for the rest of you life, you will find that you will become a spiritual strong man.
I can say that because Paul not only says your workout program should be regular, he says it will also be…
B. Rewarding
Look at verse 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 is saying, “Hey look. Someone who works out regularly sees change in their life. They get muscles, they live longer. But spiritual exercise is even better! It holds promise not just for this life but also for the life to come.”
Part of that reward is that you will grow into a Christian Arnold Swartsenager.
You know how people look at him, especially when he was in the prime of his weightlifting days. People gawked at his build. They were like, “Wow, look at his muscles! That’s amazing!”
And young people, the same will happen to you. People will be amazed at your maturity because you made it a habit to study God’s Word.
And even if you are not one of our young people, its never too late to start. Because the reward of spiritual discipline goes beyond this life. That’s why it is better than physical exercise. Think about it. While Paul does call it good, he says its limited. You can work out all you want, but you’re going to die. And even if you look good in your coffin, you’re still dead.
But spiritual exercise goes beyond this life and into the next. So you can think of it as preparing for the big game. You’re discipline now is getting you ready for glory.
But Paul not only tells us that your exercise should be regular, and that it will be rewarding. He says it must be…
C. Rigorous
Read with me verses 9-10: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive”
Toil and strive. The word strive is the Greek word “agonizomai” from which we get the word “agonize.”
Paul’s saying that spiritual fitness takes effort. Wimps cannot mature spiritually. Or if they do, it won’t be much. If we think about Arnold again. He didn’t get to looking like he did by going into the gym and giving high five’s and slapping guys on the rear-end! He had to put weights on the bar and do the bench press, arm curls, leg swats.
And if we are going to grow spiritually, if we are going to train ourselves for godliness, we have to go perform the arduous tasks that will get us there.
Again, Bible reading can be rigorous. We have to get our pens and highlighters. We have to concentrate on what’s being said, etc. But there are other disciplines that we can labor in.
How about prayer? Prayer takes a lot of discipline. For one you have to sit still for a period of time (without falling asleep!). And then you have to concentrate on your conversation with God. How many of us rattle off prayers to God without even thinking about what we are saying (“God I thank you for this day.”)
Or how about fasting? Fasting wasn’t something that only the people in the Old Testament did. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for making a show of their times of fasting, but he did not condemn the act of fasting. As a matter of fact, one time he was asked why his disciples didn’t fast, and he responded by saying, “they cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, but there will come a time when they will fast.”
Fasting is a spiritual discipline. It involves the body, but it’s a rigorous act that God uses to discipline your heart.
Just like there are many ways to exercise your body, there are many ways you can exercise your spirit. And there are a lot of things we could do that I didn’t mention. But the point is: God wants us to implement a workout program. One that’s regular, rigorous, and rewarding.
But God knows that this isn’t easy. No regimented fitness program is. That’s why everyone bails out on their New Year’s resolutions to get in shape.
Paul knows this. That’s why he says in your spiritual fitness you not only need to eat right and work out, you also need to stay motivated.
III. Stay motivated [10]
That’s what we find in the last part of verse 10: “For 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.”
When you go on a diet or when you implement that new fitness program, you have to keep your eyes on something. You have to have something to motivate you to work out and to change your eating patterns. Some people, when they go to the doctor, the doctor tells them that if they continue what they are doing, they are going to die. So that moves them to turn their lives upside-down.
So I ask, what should motivate you to read your Bible, to pray, or go without food for a certain amount of time? The Bible says our motivation comes from the fact that Jesus Christ is the Savior.
Now, this verse might sound a bit odd to you. We know from the rest of Scripture that God does not save everyone. Matthew 25 says that there will come a point where God will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” God will not save everyone, in the sense that everyone will go to heaven.
So what does this verse mean when it says, “God is the Savior of all people”? The word Savior must be taken in its more general sense. That is to say God allows people to live for a time on earth, rather than destroying them right away in his wrath as they deserve.
So you might rightly say, “God is the Savior of all people,” or “God is the Preserver of all people.” But to those who believe on Jesus (that is those who put their faith in Jesus) they especially will be saved because God will make them to live forever in heaven.
And that is what should move us to cultivate spiritual disciplines: A deep rooted gratitude for his loving grace. When he should have wiped us out, he has permitted us to live our days here on earth. And through faith in Jesus Christ, we even have the opportunity to live forever in glory.
Some of you have made resolutions to get spiritually fit. Most likely its been one of those new year’s resolutions, that quickly fell by the wayside. Oh, you were diligent there for that first week or two, but it wasn’t long before your dedication wavered. Why did that happen?
It’s because spiritual disciplines are hard. Cultivating Godliness is not an easy thing to do. There are a lot of things that are a lot easier and a lot more fun. And there will come times where you will say, “I don’t want to read my Bible. I’m not in the mood.” Or “I have a big day ahead of my, I’m going to skip my prayers this morning and sleep a little longer.” It’s easy to loose your motivation.
It’s in these times you need to remember that God is your Savior. The thought that God has and will continue to preserve you, keeping you from His hot anger, ought to pull you from those bed sheets. You ought to be so thankful that you would be willing to sacrifice all your meals for him, let alone just a few for a short time.
His love, his mercy, and his grace ought to be a holy stimulus to you.
Conclusion:
Recently there was a reality show on television called “The Biggest Loser.” Some of you may have seen some of the episodes, or perhaps seen some of the advertisements. They took a bunch of people who were overweight and challenged them to lose weight. I didn’t watch the show, but I caught enough to see that these contestants struggled against all their fleshly desires. They wanted to eat and eat and eat. They didn’t want to do the excruciating drills that they were challenged to do. But those that kept their eyes on the goal and stayed motivated, were able to look back at the end and see the payoff of all their toil.
God calls each of you to become a Big Loser. The challenge laid before you: To receive the nourishment that God has provided in his Word and to discipline yourself through acts of piety. And if you stay motivated, if you remember that God is the one who preserves and saves, you can meet his challenge. And you will not only be able to look back and see the payoff, but you can look forward to eternal rewards.
[1] http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/stories-of-our-ancestors/2/#