Serve Christ!

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.

This has always been a favorite passage of mine. So be warned this is a LONG post. It is such a vivid picture what we have been, who we are, and what we should do. Here Paul comes across as a coach intent on his "Player's/Teams" success. He is making sure Timothy and all of us are keeping focused on the main track. He wants to hit home that false teaching is destructive and if our pastors and leaders are not sound in doctrine/faith/practice, then the Church will not be sound and will crumble. How blessed we are to have the pastor's and leaders we do! These men humbly seek the Lord and are gospel centered in their preaching and direction. They go to the scriptures for truth, not some man-made foolish ideologies. We in turn need to follow their examples, we are all called to godliness, not just the ministers. We to are to love and feed off God's word!

In this passage Paul points out three "spiritual priorities" that are essential for growth and nurturing of a sound spiritual life. Borrowing from BGW Commentary: "1: Nourishment from God's Word (4:6), 2. Training in godliness (4:7-9), and 3. Mission (4:10)." I will try to embellish on those each briefly.

1. Paul stresses the importance to find nourishment in the Word of God regularly. This must be a constant/regular discipline. Far to often we can neglect this. If we want to maintain our defense against false teachings and worldliness, the Bible must be part of our daily diet. Without the truth how will we/can we fend off the false lies we hear everyday? If we feed ourselves one thing it will become more apart of us and we will desire it more. I pray that one thing would be God's Word! May we daily absorb our minds and thoughts in His Word!

2. The word helps us to train in godliness. It shows us what is godly and ungodly. Arms us to fight. Reminds of us of where our hope is! "This genuine godliness holds promise for both the present life and the life to come (4:8). So strong was the emphasis on the pursuit of this life in the Spirit in the early church that verse 8 had become a widely accepted saying: the trustworthy saying referred to in verse 9 is verse 8." - BGW Commentary. Do we make this a strong emphasis? Do we earnestly seek godliness? What a great convicting reminder! I know there is much growth for me. I don't want to "waste my life!"

3. 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. We have a mission, because we have a living hope! Toil (hard and continuous work; exhausting labor or effort) is used to I believe to say that it is not easy, it will be hard, there will be trials. Strive (to devote serious effort or energy, to struggle in opposition) we are to be serious, giving ALL to oppose the evil one. We can push on through trial and turmoil because Christ has already defeated sin! Our hope is eternal! We are given strength to persevere. The end of the verse is an encouragement to evangelize and be a witness to others. As Paul said in Romans...

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

The next five verse could be covered in much more depth, these are just my brief synopsis/regurgitation of them....

Verse 12. Our lives no matter how old we are, are to exemplary. Paul was admonishing Timothy even though he was young, should be mature and set a Christ-like example. Our speech should be edifying, our conduct God glorifying and devoted to self-less service, we are to love one another as Christ loved us, we are believe and trust God in ALL times, and our thoughts and actions should be pure. V.13. This is what we need to be devoted to. V. 14. We are to step out and use the gifts that God has given us, to glorify Him and to edify the Church. V.15. We are do these things regularly, so we can set an example, not in pride, but in humility. I love how Paul uses "immerse." We need to let things cover us, so when people look at us that is what they see, so that God can be brought glory. V.16. Watch ourselves closely. Others are watching and listening. If we fill our minds with filth and false teaching, then we will affect others and be a bad example. We need to "train" hard so that we can "save both ourselves and our hearers."

Will we fight? Will we toil and strive? Will we root ourselves in the truth of God's word at all time? I pray this will be true. What a hope we have! How gracious of God to give us the ultimate "training manual" in His Word. Let's press on!