Paul’s two letters to Timothy include a number of instructions. Some are obviously meant to apply to all Christians. Some instructions are personal just for Timothy. Some parts are obviously directed especially to ministers and church leaders who are responsible for teaching the church and standing up to false teaching and false teachers.
Devote yourself … to preaching and to teaching. (1 Timothy 4:13)
2 Timothy 2. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Those instructions were particularly important for Timothy and by extension for all ministers and church leaders today. But then Paul has a number of pieces of valuable advice which are surely relevant for all Christians as we seek to serve and glorify God. When we looked at what Paul says about the qualifications required by Christian leaders, we saw that it was all about character. Being like Christ is not just for leaders but for every Christian. So here is the most important advice Paul gives to Timothy.
1 Timothy 4:7 …. train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
Train yourself to be godly. We should train ourselves for a holy life. Keep yourself in training for godliness.
J.B. Phillips Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.
Train yourself to be godly
8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
In our first sermon I said that the trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance is the one that follows which talks about God who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe. That sounds more like the kind of trustworthy saying the Early Church might have passed around. But it could actually be referring to the previous verse. The saying to be believed and trusted and accepted by everyone could indeed be that godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. That is just as true and just as important.
Physical fitness only lasts for this life. Godliness brings blessings in this life plus all the glorious promises of the life to come.
Message Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart.
J.B. Phillips Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.
Train yourself to be godly. Across these two letters we can find a number of pictures for living the Christian life which illustrate this idea of getting fit for godly living. We saw the first three in our reading today in 2 Timothy 2
2 Timothy 2 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.
The first picture is of a soldier. Living the Christian life is like being a soldier in a battle. We need the same singleness of purpose as a soldier.
2 Timothy 2 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
The Christian life is indeed a spiritual battle.
1 Timothy 6 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
We should all fight the good fight of the faith.
1 Timothy 1:18 you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience,
Approaching the end of his life, Paul wrote,
2 Timothy 4 6 … I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight,
The Christian life is a spiritual battle and we should all show as much commitment to following and serving Jesus as soldiers do to obeying their commanding officers.
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, Christians should not let lesser things get in the way of following and serving Jesus.
The second picture is of an athlete. Living the Christian life is also like being an athlete. We need dedication and intense preparation and we need to stick to the rules.
2 Timothy 2 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.
RICHARD BAXTER It is a most lamentable thing to see how most people spend their time and their energy for trifles, while God is cast aside. He who is all seems to them as nothing, and that which is nothing seems to them as good as all. It is lamentable indeed, knowing that God has set mankind in such a race where heaven or hell is their certain end, that they should sit down and loiter, or run after the childish toys of the world, forgetting the prize they should run for. Were it but possible for one of us to see this business as the all-seeing God does, and see what most men and women in the world are interested in and what they are doing every day, it would be the saddest sight imaginable. Oh, how we should marvel at their madness and lament their self-delusion!
2 Timothy 4 7 … I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
We will come back again to this picture of the Christian life as a race in the last sermon in this series.
The third picture Paul uses for ministry and for living the Christian life is a bit unexpected.
2 Timothy 2 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.
We should be like farmers. The thing with farming is that all the hard work comes first in the ploughing and the sowing and the watering. The harvest doesn’t come until much later. The challenge is for Christians to persevere in their faith just as a farmer must do. We need to work hard in this life for the future reward of a heavenly harvest.
1 Timothy 4 15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Soldiers, athletes and farmers all need determination, hard work and perseverance. Then we find a one more striking metaphor for serving God and living the Christian life later in the chapter.
2 Timothy 2 20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
We should see compare our lives to vessels or utensils in a great house, which serve different functions. This is a call to holiness. We need to purify ourselves if we want God to use us for his special purposes. God deserves the finest spotless china, not a stained plastic cup. We need to set ourselves apart to be holy and to be useful so that we will be suitably prepared for any good works God calls us to.
The Message “In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.”
It all boils down to how much we want God to be able to use us in his service for his glory. Become the kind of container God can use. Training in godliness. Soldiers, athletes, farmers, vessels for noble purposes. But all of this sounds very challenging. We are all only human. How can we possibly accomplish such things for God?
Paul gives Timothy the secret of serving God
2 Timothy 1 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
The work of the Holy Spirit was especially important to Timothy in his ministry.
2 Timothy 1 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
At the same time every Christian needs the help of the Holy Spirit to serve and glorify God. We all need to fan into flame the spiritual gifts God has given each of us to enable us to serve him.
7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of POWER. We need to consciously open our lives to the awesome power of Almighty God! We need to invite God to work miracles in our lives. Our God is a supernatural God! So often we only expect Him to work in “natural” ways. God is able, and indeed God longs `to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.’ (Ephesians 3:20).
`He longs to do much more than our faith has yet allowed,
To thrill us and surprise us with His sovereign power.’
God wants to fill each of us afresh so that we experience more of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of power.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of LOVE. We need to open our lives to the love which the Holy Spirit brings. To allow the Holy Spirit to give us a fresh experience, maybe an absolutely overwhelming experience of just how much God loves us. And at the same time God will help us to love other Christians in the same way as God has loved us and at the same time to love our neighbours. God wants to fill each of us afresh so that we experience more of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Love.
The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of SELF-CONTROL. We need to allow God to break into our lives and make us holy – to set us free from all with the sins which keep us away from God. By itself our human efforts in repentance will not set us free from sin. We need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the power of Christ which saves from the gutter-most to the uttermost! God wants to fill each of us afresh with the Spirit of Self-control.
Not every Christian is called to be a minister or a leader in the church. But God calls every Christian to live a godly life, full of good works. We all need to train ourselves to be godly – but we can’t do this in our own strength. We all need power and love and self-control. We need the Holy Spirit. We need to approach our Christian lives like single-minded soldiers and dedicated athletes, but we can’t serve God in our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit. We need to be like hardworking farmers and we need to cleanse ourselves to be utensils God can use for his special purpose. But for all these things we need the strength of the Holy Spirit. These are the challenges and the adventures of living the Christian life.
2 Timothy 1 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.