Welcome to the 2014 Shepherds
Conference, General Session number 8, Steve Lawson. I invite you
to take your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 4...1
Timothy chapter 4. And this afternoon I want to
bring a message that I want to entitle, The Costly Discipline
of a Godly Pastor. It's the costly discipline of
a godly pastor. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and I want
to begin reading in the middle of verse 7. The Apostle Paul
is writing to his young son in the faith, Timothy, and Paul
writes, and as he does, he writes to every man in this room, especially
to those of us who have been called into gospel ministry to
give ourselves to the work of God and to put our shoulder to
the plow. This has come down through the centuries to every
one of us here in this room. And if you're not in vocational
ministry, you're here as an elder, you're here as a seminary student,
you're here searching for the will of God and the future for
your ministry, nonetheless, this is laid at every one of our feet. But what I want you to note as
I begin to read this, this is Paul's first pastoral epistle
as he is writing to his young son whom he has placed in Ephesus
as a pastor. So this has unique, specific
instruction for us who are in the work of God. First Timothy
4 verse 7. Discipline yourself. for the
purpose of godliness. For bodily discipline is only
of little profit. But godliness is profitable for
all things since it holds promise for the present life and also
for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement
deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and
strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God. who
is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. It was the young,
zealous pastor of Dundee, Scotland, Robert Murray McShane who flamed
out for God at age 29 and gave himself to the work of God as
perhaps no young pastor has so uniquely given himself to God's
work. And McShane said before he died,
the greatest need of my people. How do you think he'll complete
that? The greatest need of my people
is my personal holiness. McShane understood that the effectiveness
of his pastoral ministry, including even his pulpit ministry, depended
in large measure upon his personal godliness. McShane saw himself
as a chosen instrument in the hand of a sovereign God and as
an instrument in the hand of the Lord, he must remain pure
and clean. McShane said, to other pastors
in his day, how diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber
clean and sharp. Every stain he rubs off with
the greatest care. Remember, you are God's sword.
His instrument in great measure according to the purity and perfection
of the instrument will be its success. He then added, it is
not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to
Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon
in the hand of God, close quote. McShane rightly saw that the
power of his ministry began with the purity of his life. McShane
prayed, Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be. This must be our prayer here
this afternoon, and this must be our passion. Lord, make me
as holy as a pardoned sinner can be. McShane then added, your
whole usefulness depends on this. Down through the centuries, those
who have been the greatest preachers have understood that the power
of their ministry has been measured in part by the purity of their
lives. The towering Puritan theologian,
England's Calvin, John Owen maintained, quote, a minister may fill his
pews, his communion rolls, the mouths of the public. But what
that minister is on his knees in secret before Almighty God,
that he is and no more." That is no preacher's effective
ministry can advance beyond his own personal devotion to the
Lord Jesus Christ. It was no less than the prince
of preachers himself, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. who said, as
ministers, your whole life, your whole pastoral life will be affected
by the vigor of your piety. If your zeal grows dull, you
will not pray well in public. When your soul becomes lean,
your hearers without knowing how or why will feel your barrenness,
perhaps before you perceive it yourself. Your discourses will
betray your declension but there will be a perceptible loss of
spiritual force. You will shake yourselves as
at other times, even as Samson did, but you will find that your
great strength has departed. On another occasion, Spurgeon
explained in his lectures to his students. It will be in vain
for me to stock my library or organize ministry or project
schemes if I neglect the culture of myself. For books and agencies
and systems are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling. My own spirit, my own soul and
my own body are my nearest machinery for sacred service. My spiritual
faculties and my inner life are my battle acts and weapons of
war. As Spurgeon is saying, a loss
of purity will guarantee a loss of power in your ministry. Your life is more important than
your library and your soul is more important than your shelves.
This is precisely what the Apostle Paul prioritized with his young
son in the faith, Timothy, as we look at verse 7 when he says,
discipline yourself...discipline yourself...discipline yourself
for the purpose of godliness. Timothy, as I've said, was serving
as pastor in the church at Ephesus, there by appointment by the Apostle
Paul himself. And young Timothy was surrounded
by waves of problems that were pressing in all around him within
the church. He had unqualified elders. He
had unqualified deacons. He had aggressive women who were
overstepping their bounds in ministry in the church. He had
the care of widows that was being neglected. And there was the
growing heresy of Gnosticism, layer upon layer upon layer that
was threatening to suffocate Timothy as he found himself in
this challenging ministry situation. And as he is there, Paul says
to Timothy, first and foremost, address the spiritual condition
of your soul. External challenges in ministry
must never cause this young minister to lose sight of what is most
important, and that is to keep his sword sharp and clean within
his own heart and soul. We who are ministers and shepherds
in the Lord's church must maintain this same priority at all times. We too must discipline ourselves
for godliness. We must keep our minds pure and
our hearts clean. We must keep our soul unstained
and our life holy. We must be, as McShane said,
a pure instrument in the hand of God. We must be a battle axe
that is sharp and fit for our Master's use. I want us to walk
through this text. Now I want you to note five main
headings with me as we walk through this passage. I want you to note
first, the command issued, and that is in the middle of verse
7. Paul begins this ministerial charge to young Timothy by calling
him to discipline himself in his inner spiritual life. And
Paul writes, look at it again, discipline yourself. Advancement
in the Christian life requires self-discipline. And nowhere
is this more important than in the life of a pastor. In fact,
it starts with the spiritual life of the pastor, like priest,
like people. A disciple after he's been fully
trained will be exactly like his teacher. There can be no
spiritual discipline in the pew until there is spiritual discipline
in the pulpit. Now this verb, discipline yourself. It's drawn from an athletic background. It drips with athletic imagery. The word comes into...the Greek
word comes into our English language as gymnasium, or gymnastics,
gymnasio. And the word means to exercise
or to train and literally it means to be naked. Because an
athlete would go into a gymnasium and he would strip down and he
would remove anything that would restrict the full movement of
his body so that he could expend himself in training and in workouts
in order to build himself up. And Paul is saying to Timothy,
you need to look at the athlete and you need to learn from him
because you need to be just like the athlete in the spiritual
arena. Picture an athlete in ancient
times who has made the decision to run a marathon or enter into
a boxing match or into a wrestling event. And in order to compete,
he must first make this fundamental commitment to train, to work
out, to get in shape. And this requires months and
even years in advance. If he is to go into the gymnasium,
not occasionally, But daily, if he is to win, there he is
in the gym, do you see him? He must strip down and remove
all clothing that would restrict his movement. He must come under
the strict tutelage of a trainer. And he must lift weights. He
must build up his muscles. He must shed excess baggage.
He must lose the fat. He must run great distances.
He must build up his endurance. He must exert great energy in
order to be prepared to compete in this event. And when Paul
writes to Timothy and says, discipline yourself, this is exactly the
image that flashed into the mind of young Timothy as it would
relate to his spiritual life and this is exactly the frame
and the picture that needs to be imaged in your mind right
now. As a young man in the ministry,
whatever your age in the ministry, we must be like athletes who
are disciplining ourselves. And just as any athlete who is
serious about getting in shape must come to the gymnasium and
strip down and go through the workouts, even so, Paul charges
Timothy to do the same spiritually. As a man of God, Timothy must
get in shape spiritually. Timothy must lay aside every
personal encumbrance and every sin that would entangle him.
Timothy must deny himself many liberties. Timothy must remove
all excess baggage and whatever would hold him back from being
in pristine shape. Timothy must get into God's gym
and he must work out in the Word and he must pump iron in prayer
and he must exercise his muscles in faith and in obedience and
he must shed the baby fat and he must get in shape if he is
to be a lean, mean preaching machine. Timothy cannot be passive
about this. This is a call to serious action. It is absolutely necessary for
every man of God to discipline himself spiritually. We must
get in shape. We must work out...work up a
spiritual sweat. We must shed excess weight. We
must tone our spiritual muscles. We must monitor our heart rate
for God. We must do heavy lifting and
confessing our sins. We must beat down our fleshly
desires. We must restrict our liberties
to that which only is expedient. We must build up our endurance.
No matter if you have been called into the ministry long in the
past, or if you are new into God's service, whether you are
a pastor, whether you are a teacher, whether you are a seminary professor,
whether you are a seminary student, whether you are a lay elder,
no matter who you are or where you are in the ministry, you
and I must get in shape. Now I want you to look at this
verb again, 1 Timothy 4 verse 7, discipline...discipline yourself. First of all, it's in the present
tense. Paul is saying to Timothy, be
always disciplining yourself, be constantly disciplining yourself
and make this your lifestyle, make this your habitual pattern. There is no off-season for you,
Timothy. Second is in the active voice.
Timothy, you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and you're
going to have to be active in working out your sanctification. This is not let go and let God. This is not some quietistic view
of sanctification. You're going to have to expend
energy in the pursuit of holiness. Third, it's in the imperative
mood. And Paul is saying, Timothy, I charge you as an Apostle on
behalf of Jesus Christ, discipline yourself. This is not a wish.
This is not an option. This is not a suggestion. This
is not a hope for. This is a command from the throne
of God through the pen of the Apostle Paul. Fourth, it's second
person singular. This is directed directly to
Timothy. It is as if Paul is saying, you
Timothy, you young man, this is an arrow aimed directly at
the heart of Timothy and it is aimed at every heart here today.
This is not for a whosoever will. This is directed to the man of
God. And then fifth, he follows it
by the word, yourself. Discipline yourself. No one else
is going to be able to discipline you. Your elders cannot discipline
you. Your secretary cannot discipline
you. Your wife cannot discipline you.
Your parents cannot discipline you. Your little prayer group
cannot discipline you. You yourself are going to have
to own this. You're going to have to buy into
this. You're going to have to embrace
this if you are going to be a man of God. And quite frankly, there
are too many spiritual couch potatoes in the ministry who
have spiritual pot bellies and who are overweight. and who are
just eating spiritual junk food and who are flabby and fat and
no wonder their ministry has such little effect because they
are out of shape and they are like...they are like someone
who is pretending to be an athlete but in reality has never trained
himself in godliness. I want you to turn back to 1
Corinthians chapter 9. First Corinthians chapter 9 which
is another passage, another text in which Paul uses this athletic
metaphor. And while it is addressed to
the entire church in Corinth, nevertheless it has specific
instruction for each one of us here today. And in 1 Corinthians
chapter 9 and in verse 24, Paul writes, do you not know? Stop right there. That's what
John MacArthur says. Stop right there. That is to say, every one of
you knows this. Do you not know? Do you have
two brain cells that are touching somewhere between your ears?
If you are breathing, you know this. Do you not know that those
who run in a race all run? But only one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may
win. He is saying to the Christians
there in Corinth, it's not good enough just to be on the team.
It's not good enough just to be in the stadium. It's not good
enough just to be in the race. You need to run the race in order
to win. Don't be a loser in your Christian
life. Be a winner for God. Go for the
gold. So he says in verse 25, everyone
who competes in the games, and that would be every believer,
and that would include us, every man called into gospel ministry,
everyone who competes in the games. This word compete is a
verb, agonizomai. You can hear the word agony in
it. No pain, no gain. If it was easy to be godly, we
would all be godly to the extent that God would desire us to be,
but it requires sacrifice and it requires agonizing as we run
the race. He says, everyone who competes
in the games exercises self-control. Paul isolates here this one virtue
in this text as what distinguishes a champion athlete. He has self-control. He is in control over his life. He is in control over his schedule,
when he goes to bed, when he wakes up in the morning, what
he eats, the regularity with which he goes into the gym. The
training, the discipline, the dedication, the determination. Listen, an athlete tells his
body what to do. The body once says, I want to
stay in bed and sleep. The athlete says, no body, we're
getting up and we're going to go work out. The athlete in the
midst of the training, the body says, I need some rest, I need
to stop. But the champion athlete has
self-control and he pushes on through the pain and he presses
on to the mark and he will not listen to his body. He is answering
to a higher call. That is what Paul is saying.
Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control
in all things. And the All Things opens it up
to lengthy training and arduous drills and proper diet and sufficient
rest. They do it to receive a perishable
wreath, but we, an imperishable. We ought to put Olympic athletes
to shame. With the rigors of our training
and our discipline in the Word of God and in prayer, and in
the pursuit of godliness, and in our saying no to temptation,
and in our fleeing from ungodly things, and in our pursuit of
holiness, we should be more sold out than the greatest Olympic
athlete that there is. Because they compete for a mere
tarnished trophy, but we an incorruptible crown from the hand of our Master,
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. So Paul says in verse 26, Therefore I run in such a way
as not without aim." In other words, I have the goal clearly
fixed in mind and I will stay on track and nothing is going
to pull me aside or pull me away. Nothing is going to trip me up.
I see the prize, I see the goal and I will stay on track and
I will push on to the finish. I box in such a way as not beating
the air. In other words, Paul says, we
only have so much energy and so much time and we don't have
any time to be throwing punches that are not connecting. We need
to know the target, the chin of our enemy. And every punch
must count or we will wear ourselves out in the great arena. And then
in verse 27 he says, but I discipline my body. This word for discipline
here is a different word than what we saw in 1 Timothy 4, 7.
This word for discipline literally means to beat black and blue. The idea is to give a black eye,
to give a bloody nose to the opponent, to go for the knockout
punch. And who is the enemy? Who is
the opponent that is in the ring with us that we are...that we
are swinging at? Notice what he says in verse
27, but I discipline my body and make it my slave. The last
time body was used in the book of 1 Corinthians was in chapter
6 verses 15 through 20. It is used five times and it
is referred to the...refers to the sexual drive within a man
whose body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God and he must
not attach his body or his temple to a prostitute and become one
with Christ in the midst of that, that he must exercise self-control
as he lives his Christian life. And did not Jesus say, if your
right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It would be better
for you to go to...for you to be blind than to go to hell with
your sight. And if your right hand causes
you to stumble, chop it off. It is a call for radical obedience. I disciplined my body. I beat
it down. I mortified the deeds of the
flesh. I don't play around with this. and make it my slave so that
after I have preached to others, I myself will not be a docimus,
disqualified, benched, booted and put out of the games. Not
to lose your salvation which is impossible. but to lose your
qualification for ministry, to lose the power of God upon your
life, to lose the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul
is saying we must discipline ourselves. We cannot just go
with the flow and go with the culture and just let it go and
blend in. No, we are fighting our way upstream
in the midst of a godless culture and the power of our ministry
hangs upon the purity of our own lives. That's the command
issued. I want to ask you, are you disciplining
yourself? Do you see yourself as an athlete
as you are in the ministry? Are you under strict training?
Are you living in God's gym? Are you doing heavy lifting in
God's Word? Are you shedding excess fat in
your life? Are you pumping iron in prayer?
To be a man of God, we must discipline ourselves. Second, I want you
to note the character required. We've seen the command issued.
Second, the character required. That too is in verse 7. There
is a great and glorious goal for this discipline of self and
the chief aim of our discipline. Note, he says, discipline yourselves...yourself
for the purpose of godliness. When he says godliness, this
word, Eusebia, comes from a Greek root word that means reverence
and awe. It refers to the inner condition
of the heart, the inner attitude of the soul, the inner life of
the human spirit. It needs to be gripped. with
reverence and awe and what is implied is reverence and awe
for God. Such a person is a God-fearing
man. Philippians 2 verse 12 says,
we are to work out our salvation. Did you hear that? Work out.
God has worked it in. We are to work it out. We are
to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. This word for godliness. means
that the soul is dominated by devotion to God. Godliness is
an inner life that is God-centered, God-focused and God-honoring. It is the antithesis of being
flippant towards God. It is the opposite of being kicked
back and cool and casual toward God. This word godliness is really
a central theme and 1 Timothy, if I could draw your attention
to this, back in chapter 2 and verse 2 is the first use of the
word godliness in 1 Timothy which is like a thread that runs through
this book and it's really like a clothesline on which Paul will
hang his thoughts as he writes this epistle in 1 Timothy 2 verses
1 and 2. He says, first of all, then I
urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be
made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority
so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness. and dignity. The idea is godliness
refers to the inner life. Dignity is the outer expression
of that inner life, that you would conduct yourself with dignity
as a representative of the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
that you would walk in a manner worthy of the high call of God
upon your life. But on the inside is godliness. You take God very seriously. You give God the highest respect
and reverence and awe. Later in 1 Timothy chapter 3
and verse 16, we come to the next use of the word for godliness. In this epistle, in 1 Timothy
3 verse 16, Paul writes, by common confession, great is the mystery
of godliness. This refers to the incarnation. Aspergian was once asked to come
preach at a Unitarian church and they gave him one condition,
that he could not preach on anything controversial. So he chose this text. By common
confession, great is the mystery of godliness. And he preached
the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The mystery of godliness is the
incarnation of Christ and here godliness refers to the deity
of Christ in human flesh and as it would apply to us, it is
Christ's likeness. It is living as He lived and
walking as He walked and becoming increasingly conformed into the
image of Christ. It is growing in the grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is godliness and there has
never been a greater revelation of God to man than the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. But when we come to chapter 4
verses 7 and 8, the word godliness is used twice. It's in the very
passage that we are looking at. And then in 1 Timothy 6 and verse
3, he says, if anyone advocates a different doctrine and does
not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ and
with the doctrine conforming to godliness. All true sound
doctrine produces godliness. In verse 5, he speaks of those
who suppose that godliness is a means of gain and it is used
sarcastically here by the Apostle, of those who are pursuing ungodliness.
Look at verse 11, 1 Timothy 6, but flee from these things, you
man of God, and pursue righteousness, 1 Timothy 6, 11. pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Do you see right
in the middle of this cluster of virtues? is position godliness. Righteousness really refers to
the outward behavior. The idea is being conformed to
a standard and that standard being God Himself. But on the
inside of the life that is living with righteousness is godliness. It is godliness that is producing
the righteousness. How important godliness is in
the spiritual life of any man of God. We come back to chapter 4, 1
Timothy 4, and we would ask the question, why is personal godliness
so important, especially in a pastor, or an elder, or a minister, or
a shepherd? And in 1 Timothy 4 verse 16,
we see the answer. Pay close attention to yourself
and to your teaching. Please note the order. You start
with yourself. This is like Ezra 7 verse 10
where Ezra set his heart to study the Law of God, to obey it and
to teach it. You've got to live it before
you can teach it to others. It's been said, if it doesn't
work at home, don't export it. Just keep it to yourself. So pay close attention. to yourself. The idea is to watch over your
own spiritual life with great diligence. Yes, we need sound
doctrine. Yes, we need correct theology.
Of course we do. But we must have more than just
a dead orthodoxy. We must have a spiritual life
that is on fire for God and we must be pursuing godliness and
in order for that to happen, Paul is saying, we must discipline
ourselves. It's not going to just fall out
of the sky into our lap. He goes on to say in verse 16
on why this is important, pay close attention to yourself and
to your teaching, persevere in these things, don't ever give
up in these things, keep on keeping on paying close attention to
yourself. For as you do this, meaning watching
over yourself and your teaching, you will ensure salvation both
for yourself and for those who hear you. As it related to Timothy,
the salvation was sanctification, his growth in grace. And for
those who heard him, for some it involved conversion and for
others there's sanctification. But how critically important
it was for Timothy to live the message as he would preach the
message because the effect upon the listener, it's as much caught
as it is taught. The Puritan Richard Baxter writes
in the Reformed Pastor. Be careful that your graces are
kept in vigorous and lively exercise and that you preach to yourselves
the sermons that you study before you preach them to others. Oh
brethren, he says, watch over your own hearts. Keep out lusts
and passions and worldly inclinations. Keep up the life of faith and
love and zeal. Be much at home with God. If
it be not your daily business to study your own hearts and
subdue your corruptions and to walk with God, if you...if you
make not this a work to which you constantly attend, all will
go wrong, he says in the ministry, and you will starve your hearers. Listen, when pure water flows
through a rusty pipe, even the water becomes rusty. And when
that pure message comes flowing through our lives, if there is
the corruption of rust in our soul, in some way it has an effect
upon the message that we bring in the application. So what Paul
is saying to young Timothy and to every spiritual leader here
today is first and foremost, what we are is more important
than what we do. Our godliness is more important
than our giftedness. What we are before God takes
precedence over what we are before men. Our private life takes priority
over our public life. How we live is more important
than where we serve. Our walk with God is more important
than our work for God. The size of our hearts is more
important than the size of our church. Our piety is more important
than our platform, our purity than our programs, our integrity
than our ministry, our soul than our success. This is the character
required. Every man in this room, beginning
with the one standing in this pulpit, we must discipline ourselves
for the purpose of godliness. or your knowledge and your books
and your theology is worth nothing. Third, not only the command issued
and the character required, I want you to note third in verse 8,
the comparison made. Paul is a master teacher and
Paul gives an illustration here, a picture is worth a thousand
words. And Paul wants Timothy to see clearly what he is saying. And so he gives an illustration
that is convincing and irrefutable. He gives the illustration of
bodily discipline and then applies it to spiritual discipline. He says in verse 8, and this
is the picture he wants Timothy to see, for bodily discipline
is only of little profit. The imagery is clearly what we've
already articulated in the first century. These athletes were
placed on pedestals just as they are in our society today. Those
who won the games, there would be statues chiseled out of Italian
marble that would line the streets leading into the major cities.
The Olympic Games, the Isthmian Games and other famous games
were being played and so the gyms were everywhere and there
were young men aspiring to be these great...these great gods
before the eyes of the Greek culture and the Roman Empire.
And so everyone was...was working out in hopes that they would
attain to the crown that would be given to the winner of the
games. They would be given tax-exempt
status. They would be given free extended education. There would
be all kinds of laurels tossed at their feet and they had every
reason and every motivation not to be half-hearted and not to
play games at this, but to pour themselves into the discipline
that is required to be a world-class athlete. I mean, if you're going
to go for it, go for it all. And so he says, for bodily discipline,
he admits it is of little profit. There is profit. But it is only
little profit, he says. It's one-dimensional. It is only
for the body. It is not for the soul. It is
only for time. It is not for eternity. You have
to have been an athlete. to really be gripped by this. I've never been a farmer. I've
never been a shepherd. I've never been a sailor. In
all of those illustrations I can read about it, I just can't feel
it because I've never lived it. But I've lived athletics. I've
played football, basketball, baseball, run track, played golf. I played college football for
four years. It requires dedication, determination,
inner drive, commitment, discipline, curfew hours, rising early, restricted
diet, monitored sleep, training when no one is watching, self-initiative,
motivation, all-out effort. I attended school and played
in West Texas at Texas Tech. I went home each summer to Memphis,
Tennessee. and there no one could see what
I was doing in Memphis, Tennessee. My coaches were all out in West
Texas, all my fellow teammates, they were in Dallas and Fort
Worth and Houston and San Antonio and I'm here by myself. And I
know when I report back the beginning of August for two days, when
And that temperature is at 105 degrees in West Texas and there's
no rain and there are no clouds and the astroturf is like a...literally
a gridiron. You can't even see the goalposts
on the other end for the heat rising off of the synthetic field. And the first day back, you're
going to run the Red Raider mile and they've got a time for you
and you're going to have to be under that time if you're going
to...if you're going to play football this year and you're
not going to get your pads until you run this under this time
that they have for you. So you can goof off all summer
all you want. You've got Christian liberty
to live however you want to live. You can abuse that liberty. But
that day is coming when I'm going to stand under
that blazing heat and line up and look around at all these
other guys. And it makes you get up early, it makes you push
yourself, it makes you have other people come up to the school
and throw the football to them and work out in the weight room
and do everything you can and run through the night and go
to bed and restrict your diet because you want to play at the
highest level and you want to excel at this opportunity that
is before you and you do not want to squander it. And all
of this is being applied to the Christian life. And all of this
is being applied to the ministry of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. And God has called you, and God
has put you into the game, and God has put you onto the track. God forbid that you would claim
your liberties that you can sleep in, or have this, or drink that. Can you drink? I didn't even
drink Cokes when I was in college. I'm going to deny myself anything
and everything that I thought would hold me back from winning
a place on the first string. So that is why he says to Timothy
here, and Timothy gets this picture, there's no football back then,
but there's plenty of boxing and plenty of wrestling and plenty
of marathon running and plenty of discus throwing and plenty
of all of these other events. Timothy sees this. Timothy can
feel this. Timothy understands this, don't
you? So he says in verse 8, for bodily
discipline is only of little profit. If you would go to all
of this, regimentation, self-denial, self-restraint, sacrifice just
for a little profit? Shouldn't you go all out for
that prophet that really counts with God and for the eternal
crown of glory that awaits at the end of the race when the
Lord calls us home? So he says, but godliness is
profitable for all things. And when he says godliness, implied
here is the spiritual discipline required to achieve this godliness. Let me tell you this, little
discipline Little godliness. Stagnant discipline, stagnant
godliness. There's no easy path for the
man of God to model the message that he preaches. But godliness
is profitable. Notice bodily discipline was
of little profit. But this is just profitable,
meaning it's very profitable. It is much more profitable. It
is exceedingly profitable, he says, for all time...for all
things, meaning not only for the body but also for the soul,
not only for time but also for eternity. What motivation this
ought to be for us to roll up our sleeves and to get in God's
gymnasium and to be in the Word of God and to be in prayer and
to get the Word into us and to meditate and to fast and to resist
temptation and to buffet our body and to all of the things
that are necessary to be spiritually in shape for God. He goes on
to say here in verse 8, for it, referring to the spiritual discipline
that leads to godliness, for it holds promise. It's a promise
that God holds out to you that if you will discipline yourself
for godliness, that there is a great promise that will come.
There is great fulfillment. It will be worth it. And the
one who is making the promise is the one who chose you and
called you to be in the games and the one who is standing at
the finish line and the one who will be the judge before whom
you stand at the judgment seat of Christ. That is the one who
is issuing the promise since it holds promise for the present
life. It is really worth it right now
to be disciplined spiritually. For the present life, it brings
joy, it brings happiness, it brings spiritual power, it brings
God's blessing. And also for the life to come.
Think of it in that moment when we stand at the judgment seat
of Christ after having run the race that He has set before us.
And if we have paid the price to sacrifice and to give ourselves
to spiritual discipline on that last day, it will be so worth
it. Jonathan Edwards was convinced
that to the degree that one advanced in godliness, to that degree
there would be enjoyment of God and the manifestation of the
glory of God in your life commensurate with your advancement in godliness
in this life. Notice fourth, the confirmation
stated, verse 9. Paul now underscores the certainty
of what he has just stated to Timothy. There must be no doubt
in Timothy's mind. There must be no question in
Timothy's mind regarding the truthfulness of what he has just
asserted. There can be zero doubt in Timothy's
mind. And so to drive this home to
Timothy's mind, and I trust to every one of us here today that
none of us will be trying to think around what Paul has just
said, or look for loopholes, or look for lame excuses so that
all of us will embrace what he has just said. Paul writes this
in verse 9 to drive a stake down and to punctuate what he has
just said. He says in verse 9, it is a trustworthy
statement deserving full acceptance. And that is just like Jesus saying,
truly, truly I say unto you, everything that Jesus said was
inspired and inerrant but some things rise to a higher level
of importance. And this is a statement that
Paul uses throughout his three pastoral epistles to highlight
in yellow what is extremely important. A trustworthy statement means
it's a proverb-like phrase. It's a commonly used phrase that
has already found its way into the Christian vocabulary. A trustworthy
statement means it is very important. It can be counted upon. It is
well-known. It is indisputable. It must be
accepted and received. And notice, at the end of the
verse he says, deserving full acceptance. You can't just agree
with it in your mind, you must accept it into your heart and
into your life. Full acceptance. Sometimes in
the pastoral epistles, the trustworthy statement follows this statement. At other times, it precedes this
statement. In this case, the trustworthy
statement is found in the previous verse, what we just looked at.
That bodily discipline is only of little profit but godliness
is profitable in all things. And it really also includes what's
at the end of verse 7, discipline yourself for godliness. This
is the trustworthy statement. It is indisputable. that if you
and I are to grow in our sanctification, if you and I are to be further
developed into the restored image of God in us, if we are to grow
in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we
are to be increasingly putting to death the deeds of the flesh
and are to be increasingly pursuing holiness Then Paul is saying
we must, we must, we must be like a world-class athlete entering
into strict training in our spiritual lives and be buffeting our body
and pushing ourself under strict regimentation that we might be
everything we can possibly be by the grace of God for the glory
of God. I have a fear that this is no
longer a trustworthy statement. I am thinking especially about
many parts of the evangelical church that has come to be known
as the young, restless and reformed. I praise God for the recovery
of much of what has been regained in the doctrines of election
and predestination and justification. I praise God for the young and
the restless and reformed. And when you buy that book, there's
part of a chapter of me even in that book. But tragically,
the Reformed truth of sanctification has been left outside the stadium.
And we hear all kinds of strange chatter from Reformed voices
who get it right on election, who get it right on predestination,
who get it right on justification and who utterly fail on sanctification. They tell us things like this.
Do not preach the imperatives of the Bible. Do not be telling
people what they are to do. Only speak with indicatives.
Do not use the third use of the law. Do not hold people to the
Ten Commandments and tell them that this is how they have to
live. Just look back at your justification. Just keep looking back at your
justification. I think Paul said, forgetting
what lies behind and pressing on to what lies ahead. There
is value in understanding that I have been justified but how
many times would you have to look back to remind yourself
that there is no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus?
No in this movement. They say you are justified by
faith alone. apart from any works of the law,
so therefore you are sanctified by faith alone apart from any
works of the law. And tragically, they confuse
sanctification with justification as though whatever you say about
justification automatically carries over to sanctification without
any distinctives whatsoever wrong. I was just in St. Andrew's Church
in Orlando, Florida and I was leading a Q&A with Dr. R.C. Sproul
and I intentionally asked him this question in front of his
church and a lot of young men in this young, restless and reformed,
Dr. Sproul, will you tell us the
difference between monergistic regeneration and synergistic
sanctification? Monergistic regeneration means
there is only one agent that is active in the new birth in
the spiritually dead sinner, not two, one agent and that agent
is God the Holy Spirit. It is not a joint effort. God
acts upon the spiritually dead soul and it is God and God alone
who raises the sinner to life. It proceeds and it produces saving
faith. But many of these new to Reformed
truth now want to carry this over to sanctification and teach
monergistic sanctification. That it's just God at work within
me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure, Philippians
2 verse 13, but they totally overlook Philippians 2 verse
12, work out your salvation in fear and trembling. They read
the Bible every other verse. And their cliff notes are upside
down. One such highly visual, best-selling
author within this Reformed resurgence writes, think of what Paul tells
us in Philippians 2 verse 12, work out your salvation with
fear and trembling. We've got work to do, he says.
But what exactly is it? Get better. He's saying that
sarcastically. Try harder. Pray more. Get more involved at church.
Read the Bible more. He then comes down with an emphatic
negative. You don't need to read your Bible
more. You don't need to pray more. You don't need to try harder. You don't need to go to church
more. Not if you want to be more like
Jesus. All you need to do is just look
back in a passive glance at sanctification, that's all you need to do. God
can't love you any more, God can't love you any less, just
be what you are. The same author goes on to say,
the Christian life is not about my transformation. It's about
Christ's substitution. Listen, Theology 101, that's
justification, Christ's substitution. Sanctification is my transformation. Another highly, highly visible
pastor in this young, restless and Reformed writes, People outside
the church are typically guilty of breaking the rules, that's
breaking the rules legalism, while many inside the church
are guilty of...now, you ready for what you're guilty of? Keeping
the rules legalism. Let me give you a theological
category for that, antinomianism. It's the death nail of the church.
Did not Paul say in 2 Timothy 2 verse 5, if anyone competes
as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes
according to the rules. But this man is casting dispersion
on the rules and telling young people, an entire generation,
you don't need to keep the rules in the Christian life, just go
down to Starbucks and stare at your navel. Here's what he says about the
Pharisees. This was the Pharisees' problem. They studied and obeyed
the Scripture. That's a direct quote. Well,
Jesus said, first of all, they don't know the Scripture. Jesus
said they don't believe the Scripture. Jesus said they don't obey the
Scripture. But our sanctification is carried out by the sharp two-edged
sword which is the Word of God. We are to study the Bible. We
are to obey the Bible. We are to follow the Bible. That
leads us towards godliness. The same author writes, the only
group of people who produce changed lives are not those who have
worked harder and been more obedient. Those who hear the Word of God
and understand it, don't try to work it out. And then yet
another leading voice, if this is not enough, he said, in the
case of our sin, God resolved the problem by sending His Son
to die on a cross as our Redeemer. If we could be as good and as
faithful as some would suggest, God would have sent a book instead
of His Son. demeaning the inerrancy and the
sufficiency and the power of the Word of God, not only to
save but to sanctify. Did not Jesus pray in John 17
verse 17? Sanctify them in the truth, Your
Word is truth. Listen, sanctification does not
occur by just gazing back, it occurs when the Word of God and
the Spirit of God are applied in our lives, it conforms us
into the image of Jesus Christ. Like produces like. And it is
the Holy Spirit using the Holy Word that produces holiness and
godliness in our lives. One last, he says, there is a
better way of getting better than trying harder. And before
I read the next sentence, would you just look at verse 10? For
it is for this we...what and what? Sounds like a little bit
of trying harder to me. Labor and strive, after he says,
discipline yourself, and yet this person says there is a better
way of getting better than trying harder. Sanctification becomes
a reality in those believers who do not obsess over their
own sanctification. You're just caring too much about
your sanctification. Just chill out. You're just too
stressed out with God and trying to keep His Word.
He doesn't care. Just enjoy who you are. Solomon
wrote, go observe the ant. Paul writes, go observe the athlete. Go into the gym, Watch the athlete
lift weights, see him push himself, observe him perspire with great
effort, hear him grunt, hear him groan under the heavy weight,
smell his sweat, note the bulging of his muscles, see the straining. Paul then says to Timothy, just
do it. How early should you get up?
How much of the Bible do you want? Should you go to church
on Sunday night, Wednesday night, Tuesday night, whatever? How
much do you want to become godly? Fifth and finally, the confidence
fixed. Verse 10, Paul is so convinced
of what he has just stated regarding the need for spiritual discipline
for the purpose of godliness that he now reminds Timothy that
it is for this that they must labor and strive. Notice what he says in verse
10, for it is for this...what is the this? The this is discipline
yourself for godliness. It is for this we labor. Not let go, we labor. Not buffet
your body, buffet your body. It is for this we labor. This word for labor means to
work hard, to toil, to labor to the point of exhaustion, to
expend yourself to the point where you are so wearied you
have nothing left to give. But you just pray yourself to
sleep. You just read yourself to sleep. You just expend yourself. You preach yourself to the point
you can't go on. You with intentional obedience
to the Word of God, you are resisting temptation and trying to incorporate
this into your life by the grace of God with every nerve fiber
in your spiritual being. And then the word strive, it's
the word agonizomai again, that we agonize over this. And we
struggle, and it's the word used of the athlete in the wrestling
match, and in running the marathon, and it is used of one fighting
in war with weapons. It is for this that we labor
and we strive. Also, these two verbs are in
the present tense. We are always laboring and we
are always striving, in season and out of season. Because the
devil is always prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour. We can't let our guard down.
We can't take a day off from this kind of spiritual discipline because we have fixed our hope
on the living God. It is this hope in God that is
motivating us and empowering us to labor and to strive. It is this fixing our hope in
God. Hope looks to the future, looks
beyond the present. It looks to the future when we
will stand before God, when God will conform us in completeness
into the image of Christ. Right now, this ought to put
wind in our sails and widen our stride. and give us spiritual energy.
knowing that the athlete will stand at the judgment seat of
Christ. Every athlete in the race, at the end of the race,
he will come find his place before the judgment seat. There is a
raised platform and the umpire, the judge of all the games would
be seated upon a throne there at the judgment seat. And every
athlete, whether he came in last, whether he came in first, would
come and take his stand before the bimah, the judge's seat. And those who have competed according
to the rules and those who have trained and given themselves
and chiseled out their muscles like a Greek god and have expanded
their lungs so that they can have greater endurance and have
built up their strength, knowing one day that they will stand
before this judge and He will call out their name and put the
Stephanos, put the crown upon their head. How much more should
you and I as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ push ourselves
knowing that we will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and He
will reward those who have faithfully fulfilled their calling and part
of our calling is to watch over ourselves. and to discipline
ourselves. And that's going to require some
commitment and some surrender and some submission and some
obedience. And it's not because we have
to, it's because we want to. Because we want to do all things
so as to please Him and to win His approbation on the last day
and to hear Him say, well done, good and faithful servant. who is the Savior of all men,
especially of believers. Time does not allow to work through
this on the extent of the atonement. But I'll guarantee you this,
this is not teaching a universal atonement. This is not teaching
that Jesus died for all and that all will on the last day be saved. And I do not believe that this
is teaching a temporal salvation either. I think the key is in
the word all. And if you'll turn back to chapter
2 just for a second, back to chapter 2 to untie this potential
knot. Notice Paul has been saying in
verse 4, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth. And in verse 6, Jesus who gave
Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper
time. So what does this word, all,
mean? We have one of two options. It either means all without exception,
meaning every single person who has ever lived, or it means all
without distinction, meaning all classifications of people,
all...all groups of people that He will save a great number out
of all groups and all classifications of people. So what would the
context indicate? We'll look at verse 1 and look
at verse 2 and we will see that what Paul is addressing is different
groups of people. First of all, I urge that entreaties
and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men.
Do you think Paul actually is saying here to Timothy that I
want you to pray for every single Eskimo in Africa and every single
Aztec Indian in South America and on and on and on and on around
the globe, that would be impossible. No, the inference is you need
to pray for all kinds of groups of people and in the next verse,
verse 2, he begins to layer out some of these categories. In
verse...in verse 2 he says, "...for kings and all who are in authority."
Do you see all? For judges, for princes, for
administrators, for those who work for the government, for
kings, for whoever else would be in the court. You need to
pray for all kinds of different people who are directly in authority
over you. Verse 3, this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior. That's another trustworthy statement
that is worth deserving full acceptance. Verse 4, who desires
all men to be saved. Not all without exception, all
without distinction. All kinds of men, Jews, Gentiles,
male, female, learned, unlearned. In fact, in 1 Timothy there are
more classifications of people in 1 Timothy than in any other
epistle of its size, or any other letter of its size in the Bible.
And time does not permit to go through all six chapters at the
moment and underline every single little small subculture of people
from husbands to wives, to children, to grandchildren, to slaves,
to masters, to etc., etc., etc. So the word all in the book of
1 Timothy has to do with all without distinction, all classes
of people. I want you to know that when
Jesus Christ went to the cross, He bore the sins of His people
upon that tree and not one drop of His blood was shed in vain. He bought the church at the cost
of His blood. He laid down His life for the
sheep. He purchased the church with
His own blood. And Jesus Christ was not shortchanged
or gypped at the cross. He redeemed everything that He
purchased at the price of His blood. So what have we said in
this message? We have said that godliness in
the life of the man of God is of highest importance. Who you are and what you are
is far more important to God than where you are or what you
are Your character must be blameless. 1 Timothy 3 verse 1, one minister
who sought to discipline himself, and I share this in closing,
and to push himself to godliness was the colonial Puritan of the
18th century, the venerable Jonathan Edwards. And at age 18 and 19,
Edwards wrote 70 resolutions. that would serve as a moral compass
that he would read over and over by which he would determine within
his own heart that he would pursue the glory of God and Christ's
likeness in his life, that he would live every day as though
it were the last day of his life and the last moment of his life,
and that he would discipline himself in the use of his time,
in the use of his tongue, in the use of his talent. And on
January the 14th, 1723, young Jonathan Edwards at age 19 wrote
resolution number 63. that there never was to be but
one, one, one individual in the world at any one time who was
properly a complete Christian. He was reasoning there has to
be at any one moment in time one man who is the greatest Christian
on planet earth, the one who most embodies the virtues of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Edwards says, resolved. I will
act just as I would do if I strove with all of my might to be that
one who should live in my time. It was by no accident that this
19-year-old young man, serving as an intern pastor on Wall Street
in downtown New York. would become America's greatest
pastor, greatest preacher, greatest philosopher, greatest theologian
and greatest author. That didn't just happen. Jonathan
Edwards set a course for his life when he was a teenage boy.
that I will be the strongest, the most complete Christian and
I will strive with all of my might to be that one in my time. There is no virtue in being the
worst Christian in this generation. Now that is a mock humility.
A true genuine humility would be I would most want to resemble
my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Two days before that, on January
the 12th, 1723, Jonathan Edwards wrote this in his diary and I
close. I have been before God and I have given myself all that
I am and all that I have to God so that I am not in any respect
my own. I can challenge no right to this
understanding, to this will, to these affections which are
in me. Neither have I any right to this
body or any of its members, no right to this tongue, no right
to these hands, to these feet, no right to these senses, to
these ears, to these eyes, this smell or this taste. I have given
myself clear away to God and have not retained anything of
my own. I have been this morning to God
and told Him. I have given myself wholly to
Him. I have this morning told Him I did not take Him, I did
take Him for my whole portion and looking on nothing else as
any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were. I've taken
His law from my constant rule of my obedience and would fight
with all of my might against the world, the flesh and the
devil, to the end of my life. and that I do believe in Jesus
Christ and I do receive Him as Prince and Savior and that I
adhere to the faith and obedience of the gospel, however hazardous
and difficult the confession and practice of it may be. Henceforth,
I am not to act in any respect as my own." I want to ask you, have you been
to God this morning? Have you told Him again that
you have no right to anything in your life? Have you given
Him your tongue with which you preach? Have you given Him your
knees with which you kneel and pray? Have you given Him your
feet with which you go to carry the gospel? Have you given Him
your eyes with which you look unto Jesus? Have you given Him
His ears with which you hear His Word? Have you given Him
your will with which you obey? I call you. this day to discipline
yourself for godliness. I call you to labor and strive.
I call you to work out your salvation in fear and trembling. I call
you to be holy as God is holy. I call you to resist temptation.
I call you to put on, to put to death a deed to the flesh.
I call you to pursue holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord. I call you to compete according
to the rules. I call you to forget what lies
behind and to press forward to what lies ahead. I call you to
fight the good fight which is for your godliness and for your
purity. I call you to fight the devil
and to fight the world and to fight the flesh and anything
and everything that would undermine your godliness. that you would
own it, that you would embrace it and that you would be like
a world-class athlete in the ministry and bring your whole
life under the control and the mastery of the Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you. You've reached the end of this
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