Sermons of Redeeming Life Church

“Committed to Godliness” (1 Timothy 4:1-16)

Where can we find hope today? What does it mean to train in godliness? How is false teaching a dangerous threat to the church? In his sermon, “Committed to Godliness,” centered on 1 Timothy 4:1-16, Pastor Josiah answers these questions and others as he speaks on the importance of committing yourself to following Christ and modeling your life after him. Deceitful words and the hypocrisy of others can often times draw us away from Christ and can even cause us to turn our backs on Him completely. However, when we commit ourselves to a proper diet and discipline of knowing God’s word, living in purity, and training in godliness, we are able to stand firm against the lies of the enemy that seek to trap us and can also be used by God to help rescue others out of the fire as well. This sermon was preached on July 28th, 2024. Copyright 2024. For more information, please visit RedeemingLifeUtah.org.

Duration:: 35m
Broadcast on:: 29 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

You're listening to a sermon preached at Redeeming Life Church. Church, I am excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning, and I hope you are too. If you've got your Bibles with you, I'd like to invite you to turn with me to 1 Timothy. We're going to be looking at chapter 4 this morning. If you're using one of the Red Church Bibles near around you, we're going to be on page 1052, 1052 in those Red Church Bibles, and then as always, everything is on the You version Bible app as well. As you're making your way over there to 1 Timothy chapter 4, I don't want to alarm anybody or cause anybody to get up suddenly and leave, but I do need to warn you, and I do need to let you know that our text this morning is really centered around proper diet and self-discipline. Sorry, so buckle up, we're going to get through this. In his letter to Timothy, Paul really stresses the importance of a proper diet in the discipline lifestyle that's really centered around godliness, and that's what I hope we will see from God's Word this morning. Let's turn to our attention to 1 Timothy 4 now and read those 16 verses together. It says, "Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They forbid marriage and demand accidents from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the Word of God and by prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed. But have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths, rather, train yourself in godliness for the training of the body has limited benefit. The godliness is beneficial in every way since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. For this reason, we labor and strive because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially of those who believe, command and teach these things. Don't let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation and teaching. Don't neglect the gift that is in you, it was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the counsel of elders. Practice these things, be committed to them so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching, persevere in these things. For in doing this, you will save both yourself and your hearers. This is the word of the Lord, will you bow your heads one more time with me? Let's pray together. Dear Lord, I thank you so much for the opportunity that we have before us today, to gather together to open your word and to hear from you this morning. Lord, I pray today that you would humble me, help me to make much of you Lord, open our minds and ears to hear your voice, Lord, you say that your word is living an act of sharper than a two-edged sword, and I pray that we would see that today, and that you would reveal the truth of the gospel to us this morning, and that we would leave here changed not because of what I've said today, but because of what you said through your word for us. It's in your holy and precious name, Lord, we pray. Amen. All right, so as we examine chapter four together this morning, we're going to look at one of the major heresies that was wreaking havoc on the church in Ephesus. We're going to discuss the steps that Paul suggested to Timothy in order to overcome these false teachings and rescue the church from the devil's snare. The first thing that Paul tells Timothy is to call out these false teachers. Call out this false teaching. Here in today's text we see Paul charged Timothy to fight against the false teachers and the false doctrine that has risen up within the church, and he gives Timothy four ways or four things that he needs to do to battle these demonic attacks against the enemy. I know we just read this, but I want to go back and reference those first five verses again. At the beginning he says, "Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. Through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared, they forbid marriage, and they demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the Word of God and by prayer." If you've been with us throughout our study of 1 Timothy this past month, then you most likely discovered now that the entire letter is really centered around false teaching and how it hinders people from finding their salvation. False teaching. This issue was so important to Paul and was causing enough issues in the church and emphasis that Paul's entire letter here to Timothy is really focused on false teaching and combating these false teachers by being a healthy church, led by a godly pastor who is committed to godliness and following Christ. That's how important this issue was. This is how dangerous false teaching is. Paul has strategically sent Timothy to Ephesus to address this issue and to care for the church. Even the final instructions that you would write to someone as you're sending them off to college or to the mission field, or maybe a close friend is moving away. Think about the final words that you would want to pass on to a loved one or to a mentee. Those types of last minute thoughts, those final instructions are what are consuming Paul's mind and his focus regarding Timothy and the church in Ephesus. In reading Paul's letter we can determine that one of the major false teachings that was causing issues in Ephesus was called asceticism. We know this is the issue because Paul calls it out and describes it in detail here in the opening verses of chapter 4. If you don't know what asceticism is, don't worry because I didn't either. I had to look it up. But asceticism is the severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence for religious reasons. The more simpler terms asceticism is the practice of denying your physical or psychological desires in order to obtain a spiritual goal or ideal. These false teachers are calling upon people to live life's contrary to God's word, to buying themselves in unnecessary chains under the false pretense that will build them up and help them to live holier lives. To which Paul responds, knock it off. Knock it off. These guys, their consciences, have been seared. Everything that God has created is good. You're supposed to run too bacon, not away from it. The same issue that's happening here in Ephesus was also taking places in other churches as well. I love what Paul says in Colossians 2. Colossians 2.18 says, "Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Which people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind?" Obviously, there are times for self-denial and discipline. Fasting is a biblical practice. As Christians, there are things that we do, there are things that we do not do, activities that we do not participate in because of our faith. But asceticism is not biblical. We are not saved by the things that we do, or even by the things that we don't do. We are saved by the work that Christ has done. As followers of Christ, we shouldn't be rejecting the things that God has called good. Marriage is good. It's healthy. Marriage is a blessing from God. It's doing married things with unmarried people that causes problems. The burdens that these false teachers are throwing onto God's people are not driving them closer to God, but rather are driving them further away. People tell Timothy that in the last days, people are going to walk away from their faith because they're listening to the lies of the enemy, rather than focusing on the truth of God's word. If the Christians here in Ephesus were paying attention to God, were listening to his word, they wouldn't get caught up in this nonsense. Instead, they know just enough about God's word, that these demonic voices, that they're hearing, the things that they're telling them, it sounds true, and it looks appealing and causes them to slowly drift away. As a result, Paul encourages Timothy to call out this nonsense, remind the Church of the Truth, and not to waste his time on these crazy, pointless myths. Rather, Paul has to train himself in godliness. That's the second thing we see from God's word this morning, is, "Timothy is to train in godliness." Look again at verse 6, Paul says, "If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed, but have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths." Rather, train yourself in godliness, for the training of the body has limited benefit. But godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance, for this reason we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living god who is the savior of all people, especially of those who believe. Timothy has been tasked as a pastor and as a servant of Christ to call out hair season false doctrines and to point others to Christ and to remind them of the promises contained within god's word. That being said, it's really easy. Just for Timothy or for pastors only, but for all of us to get caught up in endless debates and pointless conversations in which we argue back and forth relentlessly over scripture. As a result, once again, Paul says, "Don't worry about that stuff. Call out their foolishness, remind them of the truth, and be done." If Timothy spent all his time researching false doctrines and formulating responses to his critics, he wouldn't be equipped to shepherd the flock and disciple others. Paul reminds Timothy that priorities matter. How we spend our time is important. In the effort to drive this point home, Paul uses the illustration of going to the gym. Obviously, there are benefits to exercise. There are physical benefits to eating healthy and going to the gym regularly. I wish there were benefits in talking about these things rather than actually doing them. Because I spend the majority of my time talking about my need to go to the gym, talking about my need to eat healthy and the importance that is, but I never actually do those things. Never seems to actually occur in my life consistently. However, let's say I was. Let's say I was to eat healthy and to go to the gym regularly. There's only a limit to both those things and what they can do to benefit me. At some point, you cross the line from drinking enough water to drinking so much water that the benefits of staying properly hydrated have ceased. Even if I spent all my time at the gym, someday, this physical body of mine is going to deteriorate and decay. Regardless of how long I try to hold on to my youth, I can actively see this playing out already in my life. There's only so much benefit to training myself and caring for our bodies physically. Paul tells Timothy that training for godliness, and that has incredible benefits, not only in this life, but in the life to come. Our Christian life is one life. The godliness that comes from training God's Word has unlimited value in every aspect of our life, both now and in the eternity to come. As a result, Paul tells Timothy to commit yourself to godliness and to training in godly character. This is Paul's third and final trustworthy statement here in his Laird to Timothy. In the other occurrences of this phrase, Paul leads with the words, "This saying is trustworthy," and then lists something. However, here in chapter 4, he ends his point with this saying. Here, verse 9 is actually hearkening the reader back to verses 7 and 8. This saying is trustworthy, "Have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths, rather, train yourself in godliness, for the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." The same truth that Paul laid out for Timothy applies to our lives today. Brothers and sisters, we have to take Paul's words to heart. We need to remind ourselves of this truth and make it a part of our daily lives. Physical training is great. We should be good stewards of our body, but even more so, training for godliness has value beyond all we could measure or imagine. We've got to hold on to this truth. We need to trust it. We need to live it, and we need to believe it. Hear me loud and clear this morning. If we place our hope in the temporal things of this world, at some point, we're going to be left feeling disappointed and hopeless. It is only when we place our hope in Christ and Christ alone that we can trust and know that we will never be disappointed or found in despair. Jesus Christ is our Savior. Our hope can only be found in the one true and living God. There's no hope or salvation to be found in the false gods of Ephesus, or the non-existent gods that people worship today. It's foolish to place our hope in our government, or in the latest diet trend, or even in our own stock portfolio. The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that putting our hope in these things is futile, in the pursuit of the wind. Rather, Paul tells us our hope is found in Christ alone. Verse 10 says, "This is why we work hard. This is why we labor and strive because we have put our hope in the living God, who's the Savior of all people, especially those of us who believe." If you're sitting here today or you're listening to this message online and you're feeling lost, or in despair, if you're feeling depressed, discouraged, or beat down and defeated, man, my encouragement for you this morning is to look to Christ. Here's your hope today. Psalm 121, David says, "I lift my eyes up to the mountains. Where will my hope come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth." Whatever difficulties you're facing today, put your hope and trust in Jesus Christ. Whatever burdens you've been carrying with you all week, and hand them over to Him, let Him take them off your shoulders. And for the case might be, I promise you, God's got this. After reminding Timothy and the church to place their hope in Christ Jesus, Paul tells Timothy to demonstrate godliness and model godly character for his congregation and for everyone else around him. That's the third thing I want us to see this morning is, Timothy is supposed to point others to the truth. Look at verse 11 again with me. Verse 11, Paul says, "Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. Don't neglect the gift that is in you. It was given to you through prophecy with the lying on of hands by the counsel of elders." So here in verse 12, Paul tells Timothy not to let others look down on him because he's young, which he's in his 30s by the way, but to set an example for others. He then goes on to outline five ways that Timothy can model godliness in various ways. The first thing that Timothy is to do to model godly character is through his speech. One of the key things that can get a pastor in trouble is his mouth. I have people tell me all the time, you'd preach so much better with an outline. No, no, no, no, no. I end up in trouble with an outline. That's why I stick to this manuscript. A pastor's words are going to be helpful, true, and kind. Ephesians 4.29 reminds us that as Christians, we have to guard our tongue. It says, "No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need so that it gives grace to those who hear." So Timothy needs to watch his speech. The second thing he needs to do is model godliness in his life. Now, pastors' lives are not perfect. Our kids are not perfect. Pastors themselves are far from perfect. Pastors deal with the same struggles and the same storms in life that the rest of us face. As a result, pastors should serve as a model on how to navigate through those things. A pastor should be able to repeat the same words that were spoken by the apostle Paul. Imitate me. Also, imitate Christ. Third is Timothy needs to model love. A pastor should model sacrificial Christ like love for his flock. After all, he is an under shepherd of the Lord Jesus Christ. How could he not love and tend for the flock with the same dedication and attention to care for them that Christ himself would demonstrate? First John 3, 16 says, "This is how we have come to know love, that he laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and our sisters." Fourth is faith. Faith. A pastor's job is impossible without faith. Romans 4, 20 reminds us that we too should have faith, just like Abraham had, that God will in fact do what he said he will do. He Abraham did not waver an unbelief at God's promise, but was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God because he was fully convinced that what God had promised he was also able to do. Number 5 is purity. A pastor's life should be pure and wholesome, not just in his heart, but in his attitude and his actions as well. First Peter 1, Peter reminds us of the importance of being purified by the Word of God. First Peter 1, 22 says, "Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other from a pure heart, love one another constantly. Because you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring Word of God." Robert Murray McShane, a pastor used my to lead by God in the early 1800s, was an incredible example in this area. McShane once said, "My people's greatest need is my personal holiness," and that could be said about every pastor. Unfortunately, oftentimes that is not the testimony of many pastors. Too often pastors' marriages fail, and their ministries end a disaster. According to one of the studies I read this week, 50% of pastors' marriages will end in divorce. 40% of pastors admit that they've had an extramarital affair since beginning their ministry, and 50% of pastors visit adult websites and view inappropriate things on the internet that they should not be looking at. By setting an example in all his ways, a pastor is able to perform with integrity all that God has called him to do. The pastor's primary job is not only to teach the Bible, but to preach it as well. The pastor is to devote himself to both the exhortation of and the teaching of Scripture. We've touched on this the past few weeks as we've examined elders and deacons together. There's a difference between teaching God's Word and preaching God's Word. We see this distinction outlined in the book of Acts, where it says that Paul and Barnabas both taught and preached the Word of the Lord. Many pastors today only teach God's Word, but there were pastors responsibility not only to show you the truth that's contained within the Bible, but to make it appeal to you and urge you to respond to what you've heard and understood. The Word of God is living, it's active, and it is the pastor's primary task to present the Word of God to others in its fullness so that they might be shaped and modeled by the doctrines contained inside. This is an impossible task if a pastor makes a shipwreck of his life or let's go of his faith. A pastor must be filled up with the Word of God and overflowing with the love of Christ as he holds fast to the Lord. This is why the last thing that Paul tells Timothy in chapter 4 is to persevere until the end. Lastly, Paul encourages Timothy to persevere. That's the fourth thing I want you to see. He says persevere, stay the course. As we close out chapter 4, we see Paul encouraged Timothy to persevere and stay the course. Look at those last two verses with me. Paul says in verse 15, "Practice these things, be committed to them so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching. Bear in these things for in doing this, you'll save both yourself and your hearers. Paul instructs Timothy to be committed. Be committed to godliness. Commit yourself to guarding the truth, to living in purity and actively training yourself in godliness because in doing this, not only will Timothy save himself because he's going to save others as well. Be committed, Paul says, and there's a difference between being dedicated to something or involved in an issue and being 100% no going back committed to the task before you. When you sit down at breakfast, the hen is dedicated, but the pig is committed. The hen is dedicated, but the pig is committed. The hen wants you to have a nice breakfast. She's gifted you and blessed you with two eggs that you can enjoy and have as part of your breakfast. The pig, however, is 100% dedicated. He's committed. He's fully invested to serving you and helping you start your day off right. There is a difference between dedication and commitment. Ask yourself this question this morning and be truly honest with yourself. Are you truly committed to living your life in godliness and pursuing godly character in all that you do in every aspect of your life? Here's why I ask. One of the greatest threats that we face today is the same threat that the Ephesian church battled, lies, and deceptions from the devil. In fact, this hasn't just been an issue since the early church, this has been a threat to god's kingdom and an ongoing issue since the beginning of time. Satan doesn't show up on your doorstep with a pig's fork and a red cave and say, "Greetings. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and I was wondering if you had some time available that I could come in, spread some pointless and silly myths. In fact, I was hoping I could maybe possibly deter you from your faith in Christ a little bit and with any luck cause you to walk away from your faith completely and lose all hope in him. Do you have five minutes? That doesn't happen. Instead, this deceitful lies come into our lives through our cell phones, through YouTube videos, through popular pastors, through our friends, and sometimes even through our own family members. We still fight dangerous heresies and false doctrines today. You battle against false teachings, like the prosperity teaching. Prosperity teaching promises you everything that the devil promised Christ when he tempted him in the desert. Can we talk about red flags? How about cult teaching? Cult teaching that denies the truth about who Christ truly is, fills our brains with deceptions and lies that confuse us and hide the truth of God's word from us and causes us to believe in a God that doesn't exist and isn't the true and limiting God of the Bible. Unfortunately, there's even popular teaching that leads us down a dangerous path that twists God's word to fit within society. It shapes God's word around the culture instead of allowing the culture to be transformed by the gospel. This teaching is the wide and easy path that Jesus talked about in the gospels that leads to destruction. This type of teaching shapes mindsets around the dangerous idea that I'm okay with my sin and I want God to be okay with it too. All of these teachings and others like it are demonic heresies that pull people's hearts away from Christ and draw them out of the church. Paul says we shouldn't be surprised when this happens. We shouldn't be surprised when people should come to these things and slowly drift away from the faith but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be heartbroken and saddened for them. We need to be spending serious time on our needs interceding for these people. We need to be beseeching heaven on behalf of our friends and family members who are turning their backs on God and making a shipwreck of their faith. The false promises of the enemy and the lore of the things of this world are leading our loved ones off into destruction. First John 2 says do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride in one's possessions is not from the Father but is from the world and the world with its lust is passing away for the one who does the will of God remains forever. The things of this life are temporary and fleeting, both the good and the bad. Praise God that the struggles that we experience in this life are momentary compared to eternity. Even so, being a Christian is hard, it's incredibly hard but I promise it's worth it. The physical training of our body might not last forever but the time spent in active pursuit of God and commitment to Godliness in our lives will earn us eternal gains. Like Timothy, we must commit ourselves to godliness and to training in godly character. That's the main point I want you to see from God's word this morning. We need to commit ourselves to godliness and to training in godly character because when we do, not only we are receiving ourselves but we have the ability to help save others as well. Verse 16, this last verse points our attention back to verse 1 and the opening of this chapter in later times. In the last days, people are going to depart from the faith because they are paying attention to deceitful spirits in the eyes of the enemy, the eyes of the enemy. As a result, we must be training ourselves in godliness so that we can save others and snatch them from the fire. Based on what we studied from God's word today, not only was it important for Timothy to train for godliness, for all pastors to train for godliness as well, but it is vital for each one of us as Christians to devote our time to training ourselves in godliness too. As Christians, we are called to guard the truth, to live with purity and to train ourselves in godliness. For when we do, we not only save ourselves, but we help save others too. In verse 16, Paul told Timothy he would not only save himself, but also his hearers. Obviously, Christ is the only one with the power to save us, so what does Paul mean by this statement? Clearly, Paul is not saying that we, in and of ourselves, can save people, only Christ saves, create the rest of the epistles, and that becomes abundantly evident. But Christ has chosen to bring his salvation to the lost through the lives of faithful believers like you and me. Through the church, through the members and the leaders of the body of Christ, we are able to point others to Christ and help them look up to him rather than hanging their heads down and defeat consumed by the empty promises that this world has to offer. Healthy churches mean healthy disciples. Healthy disciples display the hope of the gospel to a world that is lost and in despair, which results in others coming to a saving relationship in Christ Jesus. We accomplish this in the same way that Paul charged Timothy to live his life. We set an example for others in our speech, in our life, in love, in faith, and in purity. So are you committed today to investing the time in training yourself in godliness? Church, we have to reject the diet of false teaching and feed ourselves on God's word. Okay, caught up in silly myths or pointless arguments, we have two choices before us today. We can either utilize the things that we've learned from God's word to help save ourselves and others or not. Use it or lose it. That's what happens. If we do not constantly sharpen us all or fan the flame as Paul states, we will slowly lose a hold of our faith and start distancing ourselves from Christ as well as countless others. Our lives must consist of a proper diet and discipline in the Word. In the goodness of Christ and the character of Christ and the Word of Christ are evident in our lives, those who are lost in the world will be drawn to him. This is why we guard the truth so that others might be saved by it. This is why we live with purity so people see the difference that Christ makes in our lives. This is why we train for godliness so people will see in us the majesty of Christ, everything that we do, all that we say and the lives that we live, draw others to the hope and loving arms of our great and mighty Savior. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much. Lord for the mighty men and women of God who have come before us, who have modeled godliness in their lives, who have sought to exemplify Christ and who they are and all that they do. I thank you for those that you've used in the lives of each and every one of us, to point us to you, to help us find a saving relationship in you. Now Lord, I pray that we too might be found faithful, that we too would be disciplined and take this time to train in godliness, to fix our eyes on you, to focus on you, and to point others to you, too many Lord. Far too many of our friends, our loved ones, our family members, are headed down a path to destruction, save the Lord, rescue them from the fire, use us to speak your truth into their lives so that when they find themselves disappointed, in despair, lost and struggling because the things that they thought would bring them happiness, freedom, and joy have left them in a pit of despair, that we would be able to point them to you, that we would be able to open your word and show them the hope, oh the hope that is found in Christ and Christ alone. Rescue them, Father. We'd love to have you as our guest. For more information, visit redeeminglifeutah.org. [MUSIC PLAYING]