HOW TO GROW AS A GOOD MINISTER OF CHRIST JESUS
Part ll: Training Ourselves To Be Godly

1 Timothy 4:6–16; 6:11–12                                      Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 11-13-11
Key Verses: 4:7b–8 Adapted from @Josh Jeon@’s message delivered at Leadership Workshop

“…rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life an d the life to come.”

In this message, we are going to continue talking about “How to grow as a minister of Christ Jesus.” We’re not talking about growing in some skill, like public speaking skills or growing in a likeable personality. These are not the core of being a minister of Christ Jesus. If we are going to grow as a minister of Christ Jesus we have to grow in godliness. Through a study of this passage may God help us to decide to train ourselves to be godly.

Part l: Godliness has Great Value And Requires Training (4:6-9)

What does it mean to be godly? Look at verses 6-7. “If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather train yourself to be godly.” In these verses Paul urges Timothy to nourish himself on the gospel truth and with these teachings, train himself to be godly. To be godly is to be aware of the living God and to be like God. This is our calling and one of our purposes in Jesus. Ephesians 4:24 reads, “and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Jesus saved us from our sins and set us on this course to a new life. Our direction in life is now is to become more and more like God. This new course that we have been set on is given to us through the deep grace of Jesus. Our sins were making us so spiritually ugly. On the outside we may have seemed OK. But on the inside we were drifting further and further from the image of God as sin took a firmer grip on us. But, by the grace of Jesus we were saved. We have salvation from condemnation, that is, the forgiveness of our sins and the hope of transformation. We are made righteous only because of the pure gift of God.

But after we are saved, then what? How should we live our lives? God wants us to grow in godliness. That’s why Paul says in verse 4:7, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” But how do we begin to train ourselves? In order to understand this, we must understand the fact that it is not we, who are taking the lead role in training ourselves, but it due to the moving of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sifts things out, convicts us, leads us to repentance, heals us and gives us power to change in meaningful ways. Training ourselves to be godly then, is basically providing an environment for the work of the Holy Spirit and obeying the spirit’s leading. Philippians 2 describes this well, “Continue to work out your salvation in fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

There is a difference between physical training and training in godliness. We can learn from both. Look at verse 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.” Physical training shapes our bodies but training in godliness shapes our minds, our hearts, our character and our lives. It affects our relationships, our influence, and our ministry. It has value for all things. When we engage in physical training, then we may prosper in physical things and other things like teamwork and mental focus etc. In Augustine’s basketball brochure, it says that basketball training will mold a person in how he sees himself, how he feels about what he does, how he works with others, how he makes others better and how he learns. They sum it up in five words, “humility, passion, unity, servant hood, and thankfulness.” They encourage the boys to play hard and compete, get back on defense, go for the rebound, defend against the opponent, and value the ball. Wow! Such wisdom! And it is not even in the Bible. These are good goals of physical training. But they have their limits.

We see the limitations of physical training in a recent biography of Walter Payton. Walter Payton was one of the best football players that ever played the game. His physical training made him like a human train on the field. But his biography showed that he his life was full of chaos and pain. He was suicidal. He abused drugs. He was unfaithful to his wife. Prior to meeting Jesus I trained in taekwondo, jogged and did light weights. These were all good, but they could not save me from the spiral of sin that I was plunging into. High school varsity sports can not save its players from falling into sin. Physical training only has some value. But godliness has value for all things. It is the secret to deep joy and real peace. It holds the promise to for both the present life and the life to come. So how should we train for godliness?

Part ll: Godliness Is Hoping In The Living God (10)

Part of training in godliness is training our hopes. Look at verse 10, “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.” To train ourselves in godliness we must hope in the living God. Those who put their hope in the living God will become godly. David was a good example of this. In one of his psalms, he wrote, “4 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Ps 19:4) Why did David want to please God so much? It is because he put his hope in the living God. God was his Rock and his Redeemer. God was his security and his satisfaction. To David, God was better than life itself. (Ps 63:3) David wanted God more than anything. When we put our hope in God then we can train ourselves to be godly.

We must cultivate our hope in the living God. As growing minister of Jesus, we often find ourselves in situations where we feel hopeless. Some people are tempted to give up hope and turn back to the world and are laden with interpersonal problems. The only thing that keeps us going is our hope in the living God. Our hope is not in other peoples’ growth, but in God. We serve God trusting that he will complete the good work that he began in them. We can’t change others. We can’t even change ourselves that much. But our hope is in the living God. We do not need to despair. The living God is at work and we can have strength to continue to grow in godliness.

Part lll: Godliness Is Pursuing Love And Purity (11-12)

Godliness, love and purity go hand and hand. Look at verses 11-12, “Command and teach these things. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Timothy had to teach about godly living to the members of his congregation. But his words would have no power if his own life didn’t exemplify godliness. Being a good minister is not about saying the right things. Ministry is an extension of our lives. There can be no ministry without personal godliness. That is why Paul told Timothy to be exemplary in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Among these, let’s think about just two: love and purity.

First, “set an example for the believers… in love.” Being a minister of Christ Jesus necessarily means we have to love God’s flock. It is not enough to plug people into various programs. We have to genuinely love them. Those who only value outward productivity will have a hard time with this. Loving one person is not easy. The more we get to know people the more we see weaknesses. But when we grow in God’s love for them we are ready to embrace them, despite of their sins, and walk alongside them until Jesus heals their hearts, minds and souls. This requires growing in the unconditional love of God that was given to us. We must grow in this love.
We are living in a very impersonal world. We don’t know our neighbors and our relations with others are shallow, sometimes only being friends on Facebook. Being impersonal is a huge deterrent of godly love for it is rooted in selfishness and indifference. We have to eradicate impersonality and instead relate to each person that we minister to as a real person. In the same way that God is relating to us we must relate to others. People are not numbers or objects. They are children of God. They are not people we need to fit into our schedule. We must truly love them.

When we strive to love people and not let impersonal encounters suffice, then we will quickly run into walls. We will face our limitations, realize our impure motives, and discover our own insecurities. There are some people who have opened their hearts to love others, but they have been hurt and crushed. They are tempted to never open their hearts again. When we face such walls, we need to repent and ask God to help us grow in godliness. Then we can train ourselves by struggling to genuinely love others. Let’s be growing ministers of Christ Jesus who a have heart to love people.

Second, “set an example for the believers… in purity.” As growing ministers, purity is an important matter. If we loose purity and become hypocrites, our witness will suffer. This is one of the greatest pitfalls in ministry. We are all surrounded by sins and temptations. There are people close to us who are caught in various sins. Paul councils minister of the gospel in Galatians 6:1, “ Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” We need to be humble and know that we are not beyond succumbing to temptation. This means that we have to learn our boundaries. 1 Timothy 5;1-2 reads, “Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” We have to be aware of Satan coming into the relationships in the church and perverting it. Billy Graham left no room for this by never counseling women alone. Jesus has some harsh words towards ministers of Jesus who let impurity take control of their hearts. He commanded us in Matthew 5:29-30, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Does that mean that we should be a congregation of self inflicted blind people and amputees? No! It just means that we must get serious about the purity factor among us and pursue purity.

We must pursue purity aggressively. That is what the meaning of pursue is. If we are passive in this respect we will be swallowed up by the flood of impure images, messages, and innuendos in our media. Pornography is a click away. Most movies have raunchy scenes. We can’t even walk up to the cashier at Wal-Mart without being barraged by impure images. Adultery is being considered the norm in many circles. In such an environment, we must be aggressive and pursue purity. We must turn our eyes away from temptation as soon as possible. We must train our minds to see things from God’s point of view. We have to train our hearts to not be shaken by the allure of temptations, but see them for the empty promises that they are. We need to be brutally honest about this issue. Do we secretly love sin? Or do we seek purity? Come to Jesus, repent of all sin and God will restore in us the proper desire for purity. Galatians 5:16 reads, “ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” We must be dead to sin and alive unto God. (Rom 6:11) Let us be dead to sin and alive unto God and surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Part lV: Training In Godliness Is Being Grounded In The Word Of God. (13-15)

Another aspect of growing as good minister of Christ Jesus is to be grounded in the word of God. Verses 4:13-15 read, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” Paul charged Timothy to devote himself to the public reading, preaching and teaching of the Bible. Paul told him to be diligent in these matters and give himself wholly them. God’s word is the source of knowing what “godly” is and how to train ourselves to be godly. We can’t have a loose tie to God’s word, or try to go on vague memory of God’s word and think that we can pursue godliness. To train ourselves to be godly, we must be constantly in the word- whether through personal study, meditating on it, reflecting on it, or teaching it. How intensely should we do this? Intense enough so that others may see our progress. There should be no ambiguity about it. And so, to train ourselves to be godly, we must never be far from God’s word.

Part V: Godliness Requires Watching Our Lives And Doctrine Closely (16)

Paul told Timothy to watch his spiritual life closely. Let’s read verse 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Watching his life closely is harder to do than it seems. It’s hard because human beings are basically proud. We want to believe that we are already the definition and standard of godliness. We want to be right, whether or not we really are right. So we subconsciously do not watch our lives very closely. We may not even think there is a need to. And so we don’t. This is a mistake. Therefore, to watch our lives closely, we have to learn to be totally honest before the word of God.

We should know that the gospel really provides the freedom to be honest as we watch our lives closely. Instead of putting up a front, we can come to God as we are and be totally honest, saying, “I am messed up.” Don’t feel bad about this because we are only repeating what God already knows. When we come to God as we are, we’ll find God’s sufficient grace for acceptance and for the power to actually change and grow. So we can watch our lives closely without fear. And also, as ministers of Christ Jesus our transparency can be a potent tool to motivate others. Instead of propping ourselves up as models of perfection, share your honest struggles, weaknesses and all, and let the people around see you coming to Jesus and growing spiritually as you watch your life closely. It is much more valuable to all, and glorifies Jesus more, if we set ourselves up as examples of repentance and spiritual progress.

We must also watch our doctrine closely. That means that we need to make sure what we believe and make sure that what we believe is in line with the truth of the gospel. The fact is that most of the time we convince ourselves that we are already believing the right stuff. But if we are to be growing ministers of Jesus, we must know how weak we are and how vulnerable and impressionable we are to the allure of the culture around us. We must watch our doctrine closely or we will be like Timothy’s contemporaries who wandered away from sound doctrine and shipwrecked their faith. If we are not careful, the lies of the culture will change correct Christian doctrine. Verse 4:16 reveals how important watching our life and doctrine is. “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” We have the solemn responsibility to give God’s true word, as it is, to the people who are listening to the gospel message from us. We don’t want to lead others astray by our hypocrisy or our false doctrine. And so we must train ourselves to be grounded in the truth. This is growing watching our doctrine closely and this is part of growing in godliness.

Part Vl: Godliness Is Fleeing From The Love Of Money (6:10-11)

In the pursuit of godliness, we must be wary of the love of money. Paul warns us about this in 1 Timothy 6:10-11, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” How do we flee the love of money? First of all, we have to value godliness more than money. This may seem easy, of course, until we see all of our unbelieving friends and peers getting rich. But we must not envy them, nor covet what they have. 1 Timothy 6:6 says that godliness with contentment is great gain. Money is not worth our lives and our love. It is not worth compromising our relationship with God. It’s OK to earn a living so that you can provide for your own needs and the needs of others and take care of your church. But if you are too busy pursuing money then that is not good. Remember this saying, “If you are too busy for Jesus then you are just too busy.” That is the barometer. May we flee from the love of money and train our selves to be godly.

Today, we have thought about what it means to grow as a minister of Christ Jesus by training ourselves to be godly. Godliness has great value and requires training; it is hoping in the living God; it is pursuing love and purity; it is being grounded in the word of God; it requires watching our lives and doctrine closely and it is fleeing from the love of money. In short, our thought world must be under Christ’s control. Training in godliness requires effort, just as physical training requires effort and discipline but godliness has value now and forever. It can be accomplished by remaining in Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. Let’s decide to grow as good ministers of Christ Jesus by training ourselves to be godly.