Train Yourself for Godliness, 1 Timothy 4:1-16 (Tenth Sunday After Pentecost, July 29, 2018) Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 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. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 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. 11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. PRAY We are in 1 Timothy on Sundays this summer and our text for today addresses a very contemporary issue. We live in a physical world, and by that I mean we live in a world where questions of what we should do with our bodies or what we should put in our bodies constantly surround us. We are bombarded with messages from advertising, from social media, from film and television, and from magazines at the grocery store checkout line about what our bodies should look like, what we should eat to fuel our bodies, and what we should wear on our bodies. We are told we should feel good about ourselves when it comes to the body. And of course we are also bombarded with ideas about what we should do with our bodies when it comes to sex. Sex, and all the issues that surround it, have probably never been more at the forefront of Western Civilization than they are right now. But there is nothing new under the sun. These questions have always been around, and as we can read from 1 Timothy 4 they were present when the apostle Paul wrote some instructions to Timothy, a young pastor in the first century Asian city of Ephesus. These questions vexed the church back then, too. Paul tells Timothy a couple of things in this chapter: first, how are Christians to relate to the physical world around them. Second, how can we do this? How can Christians to relate to the physical world the right way? ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 1
First, how Christians must relate to the physical world around them. Let s read verses 1-3a: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods Let s take a few moments and just walk through these verses to see what they mean. In verse 1 we read that the Holy Spirit (through the ministry of the New Testament apostles, like Paul) talks about the later times. Whenever you see later times or last days in the New Testament, don t think of a period of time still to come in our future. Don t think year 2050 or later. Those phrases always refer to the period of time between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his return. Paul and Timothy were living in the later days in the first century, A.D. as are we today. It s also called the church age, the time between the two appearances of Jesus Christ. Again, verse 1: the Spirit says in the later times some will depart from the faith. You will frequently see, Paul says, professing Christians, people who are in churches and who claim to follow Jesus, leaving the true faith. Why? Because, end of verse 1 and verse 2, they will be devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teaching of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared These professing Christians are being led astray by a form of teaching that is, ultimately, demonic in nature. False teachers deliver this message, but the message originated in the mouth of hell. From this little passage we are reminded of an important fact: we are bombarded with instruction about the world around us, and none of that instruction is neutral. It all comes from somewhere. Either we are encountering and taking to heart truth from heaven, or we are encountering and taking to heart lies from hell. There is no in-between. No matter how innocent the melody might sound, the lyrics being sung on the radio have a message, a worldview behind them. I m not saying you must turn off the radio nor am I recommending any particular station to listen to. I am saying we must be discerning, we must test the spirits. But what exactly is the instruction Paul is concerned about in 1 Timothy 4? It has to do with the physical world, the body, specifically as it relates to sex and food. In verse 3 Paul says demonic lies are spread by false teachers who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods Paul warned Timothy that the people in his church in Ephesus would encounter some false teachers who would say, If you really want to be holy, righteous, and close to God, you won t have sex and you won t eat meat. You will be celibate and vegetarian. Why? In the Greco- Roman world they took a very dim view of the body. They were Platonists and taught the body is bad, but the soul is good. They said, If you want to be holy, you can t give in to the appetites of your body. If you refuse those appetites, you can separate your soul, your true self, from all that is dirty and defiling, and find salvation. Now if you wonder, What in the world could that possibly have to do with us today? I don t blame you. It took me staring at it for a few hours last week before it began to make sense. ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 2
The Platonist view never really left the world. People still confuse abstinence with holiness. Plus, if you are going to abstain from things that everyone enjoys and lots of people around you are doing (and sex and eating meat certainly fall into those two categories), it takes discipline and self-control. It s not easy to say no when so many around you say, not just yes, but oh boy yes! It takes a lot of self-control. It s hard work, and religion takes hard work. So people have always tended to just assume, You know, if this person over here is so disciplined and self-controlled, denying himself food and sex, he must be holy. He must be close to God. This kind of thinking was present in Paul s day and it is present today. Our culture says something very similar about food. There are lots of vegetarians who preach that it s wrong to eat meat not just a bad idea, but morally wrong. But there are even more people who say it s wrong to eat carbs. Bread is evil for a lot of people. The grains will only bring you pain, we re told in diet after diet. Bread and pasta are forbidden now to so many people. You may think, Yes, sure. But no one really thinks you re holy because you don t eat carbs. Are you sure? We get disciplined, we stop eating bread and sugar, and all of the sudden our clothes fit better, we look better, we feel better not just physically but about ourselves. Or we to the gym and start working out and others notice: they look us differently and compliment us. And we have language for how this makes us feel. We don t use the language of religion in our culture but we say, I feel so much better about myself. I have more self-confidence and a higher sense of self-esteem. I feel like I m taking control of my life. What is that? That is nonreligious language to describe a religious phenomenon. It s the way our culture says, I feel holy, I feel righteous, I feel justified because of how I ve been living. I am closer to being a god for how I ve lived. Just like in first century Ephesus, our culture preaches discipline and abstention from food so that we can be righteous. Now our culture says something different about sex something so different that it s hard to see how it could have anything to do with what was happening in Ephesus, but I hope to show it does. Our culture today does not say, Abstain from sex at all, does it? What does it say? Have all the sex you can and have it with anyone you can. We re told not even to let marriage vows stop you I read an article in a major news magazine last week where the author argued that if we had sex with the person we loved, instead of the person to whom we were bound by marriage (after all, they may not be the same person), the world would be a better place. In fact, our culture so highly values sex that it s not just a behavior anymore it s an identity. We are now defined by our sexual desires. Parades are held so that people can show off their identities they are called pride parades. So people today say, I feel so much better about myself. I have more self-confidence and a higher sense of self-esteem. I am transformed. I know who I really am now. Just like with food, it s non-religious language to describe a religious phenomenon. The problem with food and sex in Ephesus two thousand years ago is the same problem we have them today: we are tempted to use them in such a way so that through them we believe we become holy and righteous. They don t just make us happier people; they make us different, better people, more like God. We use them to get control over our lives. ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 3
That s what Paul s writing about. So, in light of that, what do Christians do with food and sex? It can t be just blanket abstention, can it? Let s look back at verses 3-5. Paul says that food and sex are created by God to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:3b-5. Paul sets forth two principles: first, realize that God created the world and it is inherently good. In Genesis 1 we read how God created the heavens and the earth. And after God completed his work each of the six days of creation, the Bible says, God saw that it was good. Now does that mean that night God looked over what he had done and said, What do you know? That turned out pretty good!? No, not at all. God wasn t pleasantly surprised at creation he knew it was good before he made it. Instead, God is declaring creation s goodness. He s formally blessing it and bestowing his approval on it. There is absolutely nothing about this physical world that is inherently bad, certainly not pertaining to food or sex. This world is very good. God says so. In 1 Corinthians 8-10, Paul writes to a church divided over whether or not Christians should eat meat that came from animals sacrificed in temples devoted to demon worship. In first century Corinth, the way the priests at these temples made their living was by selling the meat of the animals offered out the back door of the temple in their own butcher shop. You would think that if God considered anything dirty or defiling, it would be meat from those animals sacrificed to honor demons. But you know what Paul says when he s asked about it? He says, There may be good reasons not to eat the meat, because you might offend your brother or you might wound your own conscience. But don t think for a second there s anything wrong with the meat in and of itself. The meat is just fine. Paul sums up that passage by writing, 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31. Therefore, we can safely conclude, we can enjoy all foods and sex to God s glory. And how do you do that? Second, by receiving it with thanksgiving. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving 1 Timothy 4:4. Since we must receive creation from God, that means it all belongs to him, it was made by him, and only he can tell us how to properly use it. You can t use anything correctly and thankfully without first knowing what it s for. Many years ago now several couples went on vacation together to France, and for one of the couples this was their first ever trip to Europe. Their first night in France they arrived at their hotel, checked in, went to their rooms to freshen up, and then they met in the hotel bar before going out to eat that night. So they walk back into the bar, and one of the couples, the couple that hadn t been to Europe before, starting talking about how cool it was that in France you got a water fountain in your hotel bathroom. The husband in particular was dehydrated from the flight and was really grateful for this European thoughtfulness. And the other couples looked at each other and said, Our bathrooms didn t have a water fountain. Turned out the husband was drinking out of the bidet. He did not know the purpose of the bidet, so he did not use it correctly and once he knew its purpose he was no longer thankful for it. ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 4
God is the creator, so only he can tell you how to properly use food and sex. He created food to fuel the body and to be enjoyed while you eat it. God created sex to bind a man and a woman together in marriage, to bring children into the world, and to be enjoyed while doing it. But if you try to use food or sex for any other purpose they will hurt you and those around you, otherwise you re only drinking out of the bidet! You can t use food and sex as coping mechanisms to try and deal with the pain of life. You can t use them to build your self-image. Christians must relate to the physical world around them and all the pleasures therein as good gifts for which to be thankful and if we do, we will enjoy them and be blessed their use. After all, they are good things. But we must know they are rotten foundations on which to build our lives. And if you try if you use food and sex not to feel good in the moment but instead to feel good about yourself (and those are two totally different things, so many people find it impossible to feel good in the moment while trying to feel better about themselves) if you believe the demonic lies about the physical world sooner or later your life will come crashing down. Second, how do we do this? This is not easy. This notion of enjoying the gifts of God without making too big a deal of the gifts feels like trying to thread a needle. How do we do it? In verses 6-16, Paul tells us we need two things in our lives: we need to be continually bombarded with truth and we need to be continually surrounded by godly examples. First, continually bombarded with truth. Remember, the world is always preaching one message to us about our bodies, what to put in them, and what to do with them. That message is full of lies. You need another message continually preached to you. You need to be continually reminded of truth found in the Bible. Psalm 1 says, Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Only when you have God speaking in your head more than the world do you really have a chance to enjoy creation instead of making an idol out of it. But notice that Paul does say, If you want to be able to receive the goodness of creation with thanksgiving, you need to have a good, long quiet time every morning. A quiet time is a good thing, it will help, but that s not what Paul says. Instead, Paul says you need to be continually bombarded with instruction. And that implies you must have an instructor in the Bible. Paul tells Timothy, the pastor of a local church, 11 Command and teach these things Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 1 Timothy 4:11, 13-14. Reading and studying the Bible on your own is great and necessary. But if you want to relate to the world the way a Christian does you also need a church where you are regularly getting bombarded with truth to counteract the message of the world. ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 5
Why is that? I realize it s a conflict of interest for me, as a pastor, to tell you how much you need someone to do for you what I do for a living. Nevertheless Paul gives us a hint in verse 6: 6 If you put these things [truths] before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 1 Timothy 4:6. And the way put these things before the brothers is phrased brings to mind a waiter, setting out food for the patrons at a restaurant. At a really good restaurant, they want your mouth to begin to water before you ever smell your entrée, let alone taste it. They want just seeing it to set you off. They put as much work into the presentation of the food as they do preparation. A good preacher of God s word works the same way. He sets the Bible before his hearers to that it is easy to understand and apply and pleasing to hear, even as it challenges and confronts you. I know of one preacher who regularly goes to art galleries. He lives in a big city and enjoys the culture. He likes to go early in the morning and at that hour there are often classes of little grade school children touring the gallery as well. He says he likes to stand behind the children as the teacher explains some of the masterpieces in the gallery and he says that by doing that he s heard some outstanding lectures. The teachers lectures have to be simple and clear, but because they are this preacher has found that after listening to them he walks away feeling like for the first time he s understood what the painting was all about. Good preaching is like that. A good preacher does not impose his own meaning on the text or avoid the plain meaning of the text because at first glance it s obscure or embarrassing to our modern sensibilities. A good preacher sits in front of a masterpiece (like the Bible) and tries to explain it to the people clearly and simply so that they can walk away saying, Now I see what it all means. And this instruction isn t only that creation holds God s gifts for us. It goes way beyond that. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4:16. Paul isn t saying that Timothy, in and of himself, can save anyone. You can t make yourself or anyone else righteous, or holy, or approved. You can t save yourself but you don t have to, because Jesus came to make you holy and righteous. Verse 10 tells us the living God, revealed in Jesus Christ, is the Savior of the world. He came and by virtue of his perfect life he earned the righteousness and holiness we need, and on the cross he died in our place for our unrighteous, unholy lives. To the degree the good news that God loves you completely and totally in Jesus Christ is the foundation of your life, to that degree you do not need food or sex or anything else in creation to feel good about yourself. You re already perfect in him! Instead, you can receive them with thanksgiving them as gifts from God and enjoy them the way God intended. The great struggle in the Christian life is to believe this good news. So we need this constant instruction. Second, we must be continually surrounded by godly examples. In verse 12 Paul says to Timothy, 12 Let no one despise you for your youth [he was probably about thirty], but set the ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 6
believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. And then verses 15-16a: 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself [or on your life] and on the teaching. It s great to be fed the good news of Jesus by clear, simple, and powerful preaching. But even better is to combine that preaching with a group of people around you who are also trying to incorporate that teaching into their lives and who are working hard to enjoy creation for God s glory instead of trying to make themselves holy through it. This why Celebrate Recovery is such a powerful ministry in our church. They combine truth (instruction) with the grace that comes from godly yet broken examples. Those new to Celebrate Recovery have people further down the path saying, I know full well how tempting it can be to make your life about food and sex. I know how tempting alcohol, or drugs, or anger, or codependent relationships are. I know the lies of the demons! But I m fighting them, and I ll fight them with you too. Such power in that! This is why we so desperately want every member of Grace in a small group. We re going to call them Grace Groups, by the way. You should want people further down the path of marriage, of parenting, of working, or just plain living who can say, I know the temptations. I know the struggles. Learn from me what you can, and I ll pray for you and be there for you. But you don t have to have people further along for the examples to help you. The most effective small group I ve been a part of thus far in my life met for only a year. Everyone in the group was younger than me, though at the time we were all married, all had kids, had similar jobs. But just because we met every week and I knew they were, like Timothy, training themselves for godliness, I was strengthened. They didn t give me new insights into marriage or children, but I grew because of their example. I praise God for those men to this day. This world is good. Creation is good. Food and sex are great. But they will rule over us if we aren t deliberate about training ourselves for godliness. So let s pray together that this instruction and these godly examples would mark our church. AMEN ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 7