A Good Worker and Godliness (1 Timothy 4:6-13)

A Good Worker and Godliness (1 Timothy 4:6-13)

 

6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

11 These things command and teach.

12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

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There are many fakes and copycats in our world. The more valuable an item is, there are more imitations that are created. Take diamonds for example: Genuine diamonds are sold at a high price, so there are many cases of fake diamonds being sold claiming to be the real thing.

 

But there is actually a simple way to distinguish between real and fake diamonds. It is said that Native Americans would take suspicious gems and look at them underwater. If the “diamonds” would shine just as brilliantly and clear in the water as they did on dry land, then they were real. Glass imitations did not have that brilliant clarity underwater while real diamonds remained unchanged.  

 

In today’s scripture, we see the Apostle Paul emphasize to his beloved “son in Christ” Timothy that while physical training is important, spiritual exercise and training in “godliness” is infinitely more vital. “Godliness” refers to the spiritual dedication that naturally shines through us in our lives.

 

St. Anthony the Hermit is known for donating all of his fortune to the poor and then living in caves as a hermit, secluded from the rest of society. It is said that one day he was living his life of seclusion when he heard a voice from the heavens telling him, “Anthony, you may be trying to live a life of godliness, but you are less so than an old man repairing shoes in Alexandria.”

 

Shocked by what the voice had said, he went to Alexandria and found an old man who repaired shoes for a living. He had anticipated the old man to have an elegant and refined life.

 

Seeing the famous hermit saint, the old man eagerly welcomed Anthony. Saint Anthony asked him, “How do you live your life?” Contrary to the saint’s belief, the old man gave a humble reply. “Our family is poor so we get by on the money we make from fixing old shoes. In the evenings we have a family service and teach our children to revere the Lord. We do this each and every day.”

 

Many people today mistake “godliness” to mean a lifestyle like that of Saint Anthony. But “godliness” does not mean you must practice extreme fasting or live in seclusion.

 

A life of “godliness” simply means that you live a life fearing only the Lord, rather than others, keeping your eyes fixed on Him, and opening up your hearts.

 

A person living a godly life such as this does not become idle in reading and learning the Word of God. They obey Him wholeheartedly. A life of godliness is a life that is connected to God in every single way.

 

When Jesus told us to “love one another” he was telling us one of the key ways to live in a godly way: By displaying love, the ultimate representation of God.

 

The basics of godliness stems from the Word and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:5 tells us, “5 …it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” Today we will look into the relationship between training for godliness and living as a good minister and worker of Jesus.

 

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A) If you want to become a good minister of Christ, you must first put all your effort in godliness training.

 

1.  Before I begin, I would like everyone to keep our church’s 2017 motto (“Let us become a good minister for Jesus”) in mind throughout the sermon.

 

In today’s scripture, Paul is telling Timothy, who was leading a church at the time, the virtues of becoming a good minister for Christ. “A good minister” in this scripture is used to describe a person of goodness who volunteers and works for the Lord. It is not a religious title, but rather a term to describe all members of the church, including Timothy.

 

We must all realize that we are all workers of goodness for Jesus and ministers of the Lord will be rewarded. 1 Corinthians 3:8-9 saysm “8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

 

2. What is the most important duty of a good minister? It is spreading the Gospel. In verse 6, “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things…” means to place the Gospel in remembrance among brothers and sisters in Christ. It means to awake the souls of your neighbors.

 

What is the most valuable thing in the world? People think it is money, power, honor, or land. But all of those things are temporary; they can easily be lost or taken away during one’s life and will not last after death. only Jesus can give you precious eternal life.

 

When you spread the Gospel to your neighbors, you open for them the path to eternity. Verse 6 is imploring us to help others receive the freedom and peace of Jesus Christ.

 

3. In order to do this, a minister of goodness must first be “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” God’s Words must nourish us and allow us to grow properly as His good workers.

 

B) A good minister must practice and train in godliness. (7-8)


 

1. “Godliness” refers to man’s proper approach and attitude toward God. It means we must respect, admire, worship, and obey Him. To “exercise godliness” means we must always train ourselves to revere, respect, worship, honor, and obey Him.

 

The First Church also revered “godliness” as a most beautiful, ideal, and perfect way to approach the Lord and His message. “Godliness” is often used in the Bible to be synonymous with “faithful” or “devoted”.

 

2. The Apostle Paul also mentions a “secret to godliness.” 1 Timothy 3:16 reveals to us, “16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

 

When we believe in Jesus, we learn the secret to godliness and that secret is Jesus Christ himself. When someone meets Jesus, truly meets him, they are changed no matter who they were. Jesus Christ has the amazing power to change even the most stubborn of people. Paul claimed that this was the secret to godliness. Within Jesus is the secret of incarnation and the secret of the cross and resurrection.

 

3. We can consider “godliness” to have 4 meanings:

A) “Godliness” is the faithful attitude to know and accept God’s will for us.

B) “Godliness” is to revive God’s holiness and restore the image of God humankind has tarnished.

C) “Godliness” is the balance and harmony of fear and awe. We must know God, grow close to Him, and revere Him, but we must also fear Him and exalt Him.

D) “Godliness” is to preserve and maintain “saltiness.” Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:13, ““You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

 

Hence, Paul told Timothy to practice achieving godliness to become a minister of goodness. To become a strong and good minister for Jesus, we must first exercise and train to be godly with all of our might.

 

Russian composer and pianist Anton Rubinstein would carry a “silent piano” with him when he was travelling to perform all over the world. This “silent piano” had all the keys of a piano, but they made no sound, allowing him to practice his fingering and technique without disturbing others.

 

One day, he was travelling on a plane when his students saw him practice on this “silent piano.” His pupil asked him, “Teacher, why are you practicing so hard? Haven’t you practiced enough?”

 

Rubinstein answered, “If I do not practice for one day, I can hear a difference. If I do not practice for two days, my wife can hear a difference. If I do not practice for three days, the audience can hear a difference.”

 

To “practice” does not mean to try something once or twice; it means to repeat the same training, pattern, or exercise over and over. Hard but effective training requires a lot of repetition.

 

The same principles apply in our life of faith. But what practice do we need for faith? 1 Timothy 4:5 tells us, “… it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” We train through His word and prayer.

 

A priest was waling through the streets of Manhattan one night during Lent. Along his way he ran into a robber with a knife. He mugger demanded the priest hand over all of his belongings but the priest had brought no money with him. He did not even have on his watch!

 

With nothing to hand over, the priest pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and told the robber that was all he had, and if he wanted it he could take it. The robber looked surprised and confused. He looked at the priest oddly and then stated, “Father, do you smoke during Lent? Even I don’t smoke during Lent!” And with that he just left.

 

Even a mugger looks down on an unholy priest. It is crucial for a priest to live a priest-like, godly life.

 

The first and foremost step in practicing godliness is the read and learn the Word of God. one of the most important parts of a worship service is the scripture reading and sermon. Without them, a church service is merely a social meeting with music.

 

To know His Word is to know His expectations, plans, and will for us. It is the only way for us to gain understanding of Him and His will. Our lives must be filled with His Word. Our church offers many different opportunities and programs to do just that. We have small group meetings, Our Daily Bread is always available, there are Wednesday services, Friday prayer services, and Bible Study sessions.

 

Whenever possible, read at least one chapter of the Bible each and every day. Make the genuine effort to come to Bible Study. As Christians, we need to make it our goal to read the Bible from cover to cover at least one in our lifetime.

 

Some people die without ever finishing the Old Testament and never even opening a book in the New Testament. If we appear before God without having read a single book in the New Testament, He will surely say to us, “My child, I wrote you thousands of letters filled with love but you weren’t able read even 100 of them.” I’m certain God will incredibly disheartened and disappointed in us.

 

There is a large church is Seoul where instead of a sermon, the pastor would just read the Bible during their early morning prayer services. Although I do not know if they still do this, when they did many deacons, elders, and congregation members testified about how wonderful it was.

 

Of course the Bible is not an easy read. That is why sermons are needed. But even just reading a significant portion of the Bible can feed your soul and fill you with God’s grace.

 

Many churches today tend to care less about the Bible and studying the Bible together. But whose loss will that ultimately become? It will be the loss of those members.

 

What are your goals and plans for this new year? Whatever your goals are, let us all be sure to add “reading the Bible” and “putting more effort into attending church.”

 

4. The second method of practicing godliness is to pray. In other words, you must practice communicating with God. In all of our human relationships, communication is key. It is exactly the same with God. God is overjoyed when we communicate to Him.

 

A believer who does not pray is a believer with a faith of presumptions, assumptions, and premature (and thus inaccurate) conclusions. Without praying, our decisions are based on our own guesses. Without prayer, we cannot know God’s will, so we end up doing whatever we want. People with such stubborn hearts and closed ears are impossible to guide; not even God can get through to them.

 

We must pray whenever we gather together in Christ, and when we return home, we must pray with our families. Together we need to pray for our own prayer requests, each other’s prayer requests, missionaries, the sick, and those in trouble and need. This is how you train in prayer and exercise godliness.

 

Some Christians fail to pray before they eat, all three times a day. Can you say you are truly a Christian when you forget to pray before a meal every time? We must make a conscious effort to properly train ourselves.

 

Founder of Korea’s Ewha Womans University, Doctor Whal-Lan Kim was praying when a voice said, “Work for women.” It was this small voice during Doctor Kim’s that fueled the establishment of Korea’s first women’s university.

 

Samuel once proclaimed that he would never commit the sin of ceasing to pray for God’s people. Jeremiah declared, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3) There is not way to now the “great and unsearchable things” God has in store for us if we do not pray.

 

Hence, the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” When we pray and listen to His message, God shows us our path and gives us the truth and wisdom we need in life. When we obey and follow this path, He will bless us.

 

This is why Paul tells us in todays scripture to practice, train, and exercise godliness. Verse 8 tells us, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

 

Let everyone here today make the decision to dedicate 2017 to practicing godliness by dedicating our time, hearts, and effort each and every day to God. Before we do great things for the world, let us first have our great meeting with our great God.

 

 By Ik s, Ahn