“TAKE HOLD OF GODLINESS.” 1 TIMOTHY 3: 14-4:16.
TIMOTHY 4: 6-7a, 7b-10, 11-16.
We learned last Sunday from Paul’s first letter to Timothy that taking hold of Truth calls for being true in the face of false teachings. Timothy is the son of the devout Jewish mother, Eunice, and a Greek father who may have died before Paul met Timothy.
On his second missionary journey Paul and Silas stopped in Lystra, in Galatia, and invited Timothy to join them as a member of the missionary team. Paul had him circumcised to avoid undue criticism by sensitive Jews.
Although young and timid, Timothy stayed behind at Borea with Silas while Paul moved on to
Athens and Corinth. He rejoined Paul, then was sent back to Thessalonica to strengthen the congregation there. After some sojourn with Paul, Timothy was sent to Corinth to straighten out some of the many problems distressing the young congregation there.
Last Sunday we discussed a phrase in 1 Timothy 3: 14-15 that is the whole reason why the pastoral letters were written. Paul wrote to young Timothy who at that time had been left in charge of the church in Ephesus. “I am writing these things to you, hoping, as I write, to come to you soon. But I am writing, so that, if I am delayed, you may know how to behave yourself in the household of God, which is the assembly of the living God, and the pillar and buttress of truth.
The epistles were written to tell men how to behave within the churches. The word for “to behave” describes what we call a man’s walk and conversation. It describes his whole life and character; but it especially describes him in his relationship with other people. Within the church a man should be in fellowship with his fellow men. You will probably want to read 1st Timothy 3 to see the privilege and the responsibility. But let’s hurry on to “take hold of Godliness” that we may be stronger Christians.
Godliness is a lifestyle worth pursuing. Greek literature used the word godliness to refer to an attitude of proper respect toward men and the gods, but Scripture almost exclusively uses the word to refer to our attitude toward God.
Godliness is our devotion that is always looking to God and doing what pleases Him. It is more than making a religious profession or being moral. Godliness includes the reality and the power of an intimate relationship with God. Paul used this word in 1Timothy 5: 4 to show believers how they are “to practice their religion.”
Paul also used the term in2 Timothy 3: 5 to refer to those who hold on “to the form of religion” in contrast to true godliness.
The Greek word for “godliness” is found 15 times in the N.T., and 10 of these references are in Paul’s Pastoral Letters. The word was well known among non-Christians as well as among believers. It was as familiar as the word religion is today, and this is one of its basic meanings.
Other meanings are “piety” and “reverence.”
In the Bible, godliness refers to reverence toward God, but others used it of their gods also. Paul used the verb form of the word in Athens when he said that the Athenians in ignorance worshiped or reverenced an unknown God.
False teachers have “a form of godliness,” but not the real thing. They see religion as a way of financial profit for themselves. Christian godliness, however, is centered in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are to pray for government officials that we might be able to live in peace and be able to live a quiet life in all godliness.
Physical exercise has its place, but as Christians we discipline ourselves for godliness. Godliness does not bring health and wealth, but it brings contentment. Therefore, all Christians should seek to grow in godliness.
PLEASE READ 1 TIMOTHY 4: 6-7a.
It is possible to establish convictions regarding a life of holiness and even make a definite commitment to that end, yet fail to achieve the goal. Life is strewn with broken resolutions. We may determine by God’s grace to stop a particular sinful habit---entertaining lustful thoughts, criticizing our Christians brother, or whatever.
But alas, only too frequently we find we don’t succeed. We do not achieve that progress in holiness we so intently desire.
Jay Adams puts his finger on the problem when he says, “You may have sought and tried to obtain instant godliness. There is no such thing…We want somebody to give us three easy steps to godliness, and we’ll take them next Friday and be godly. The trouble is, godliness doesn’t come that way.”
Adams goes on to show that the way to obtain godliness is through Christian discipline. But the concept of discipline is suspect in our society today. It appears counter to our emphasis on freedom in Christ, and often smacks of legalism and harshness.
Yet Paul says in 1 Timothy 4: 7, we are to train or discipline ourselves to be godly. The figure of speech he uses comes from the physical training the Greek athletes went through.
Paul also said in 1 Cor. 9:25, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.” He said in 1 Cor. 9:24-27 this was an attitude of his life, and one that each Christian should have. If an athlete disciplines himself to obtain a temporal prize, he said, how much more should we Christians discipline ourselves to obtain a crown that lasts forever.
As these verses indicate, discipline is structured training. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary lists as one definition of disciplines, “training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character. This is what we must do if we pursue holiness. We must correct, mold, and train our moral character.
Discipline toward holiness begins with the Word of God. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3: 16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.” The last item he mentions is training or discipline in doing righteousness. This is what the Scriptures will do for us if we use them.
Jay Adams says, “It is by willing, prayerful and persistent obedience to the requirement of the Scriptures that godly patterns are developed and come to be a part of us.
Discipline toward godliness begins then with the Scriptures ---with a disciplined plan for regular intake of the Scriptures and a discipline plan for applying them to our daily lives.
Every Christian who makes progress in godliness is a person who has disciplined his life so that he spends regular time in the Bible. There simply is no other way.
In last week’s lesson we studied Paul’s directives to Timothy regarding what to do with the false teaching that was infiltrating the church in Ephesus. Clearly Timothy was not to sit idly by, but he was to strongly engage in battle, and he was to be firm, even stern, in his commands against the false teachers.
Exposing doctrinal errors is one part of the equation; the other part is to teach correct doctrine and show people how they are to live out and practice the truth.
In Ch. 2 and 3 Paul gave Timothy some instructions to pass on regarding prayer and church leadership. In Ch. 4 Paul returned again to the topic of false teaching, even mentioning some of the specific things the false teachers taught. The antidote Timothy was to teach was the goodness of God in what He created and the sanctifying work of prayer and God’s Word.
Timothy would be a good servant of Christ Jesus if he would point these things out to the brothers. What things? This could be a reference to all Paul had written thus far, but it could refer just to Ch. 4: 1-5.
If these things refers to what immediately preceded, then Paul was saying Timothy would do well if he spoke out against the practices of forced celibacy and asceticism.
To point….out these things is not the same as the stern commands Timothy was earlier told to issue. This verb speaks of advising others. It is a much softer, gentler word meaning, literally, “to lay under.” To lay these words under someone else is to suggest what they should do.
Why was Paul using such a mild word when earlier he spoke so strongly against the false teachers? The difference was in whom Timothy was to address.
In Ch. 1 the stern commands Timothy was to issue were against the false teachers themselves, but now in Ch. 4 Timothy was to advise the brothers. These weren’t the false teachers themselves but the Christians in the church who had been exposed to the false teaching.
Brothers is the Greek word which means, literally “from the same womb.”
Believers are brothers from the same womb in the sense that they have the same Heavenly Father. Believers have experienced the new birth from the same Father and thus they are all part of the same family.
Timothy would be a good servant if he were able to teach the truth to his family in Christ and keep them from following the false teaching. Although Paul used the same word servant that he used in Ch. 3: 8 for “deacons,” he was not here referring to the office of deacon. As all Christians were to serve, even though only a few had the official designation of deacon.
Timothy was to carry out the functions of a servant. A good servant of Christ Jesus captures beautifully the idea of one’s whole service for the Lord. Humble servant is the calling of all believers.
The one thing that would help Timothy instruct the believers in these things was the Word of God. Paul reminded Timothy that he had been nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. Timothy’s nourishment came from several sources. His mother and grandmother had taught him the Scriptures from an early age. He also learned from his experience in his local church. And of course he had learned from his father in the faith, Paul. What had been Timothy’s nourishment? The source for the words of faith and sound doctrine was Holy Scripture.
Although Timothy was well grounded in God’s truth and lived accordingly, Paul still followed his assessment of Timothy’s knowledge and obedience with the injunction: “But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths.” Paul was referring to the false teachings he first mentioned in Ch.1, the destructive teachings that were either grounded in Gnosticism or Jewish theosophy. Here he described these myths as irreverent, a term that reflects the idea of being religiously bankrupt.
The myths were so irreverent, so profane, that it was lawful to trod over them. Paul also described them as silly, because they were full of frivolous speculation and not worth giving serious attention to.
Paul’s words to Timothy were a strong injunction---have nothing to do with them. In Ch. 1 Paul told Timothy to command the false teachers to have nothing to do with these false teachings. Now Paul seemed to be telling Timothy the same thing.
Paul’s instructions, however, were for Timothy not to waste his time answering all the idle chatter about these false teachings. Instead, Timothy should focus on teaching truth. The best way to speak against lies is to present the truth.
2: PLEASE READ 1 TIMOTHY 4: 6-10.
The verses 6-10 is a passage close-packed with practical advice, not only for Timothy, but for any teacher or any servant of the Church who is charged with the duty of work and leadership in the church.
It tells us how to instruct others. The word that is used for laying these things before the brothers is a most suggestive word. It does not mean to issue orders: It means rather to counsel, to advise, to point out, to suggest. It is a gentle, a humble, and a modest word. It means that the teacher and the leader must never dogmatically and pugnaciously and belligerently lay down the law.
It means that he must not issue his instructions with the dogmatism of a dictator or the arrogance of tyrant. It means that he must act rather as if he was reminding men of what they already knew, or suggesting to them, not that they should learn from him, but that they should discover from their own hearts, what is right. The guidance, which is given in gentleness, will always be more effective than the bullying instructions which are laid down with force. It is always true that men can be led when they will refuse to be driven.
It tells how to face the task of teaching. Timothy is told that he must feed his life on words of faith. No man can give out with out taking in. He who would teach must himself be continually learning. It is the reverse of the truth that when a man becomes a teacher, he ceases to be a learner. A man must ever feed his own mind before he can feed the minds of others; he must daily know Jesus Christ better before he can bring Christ to others. To bring others to the faith a man must himself feed upon the faith.
It tells us what to avoid. Timothy is to avoid profitless tales like the tales which old women tell to children. It is always necessary to remain at the center of the faith. It is easy to get lost in side-issues and in by-ways. It is easy to get entangled in things which are at best fripperies.
It is on the great central truths and realities that a man must ever feed his mind and nourish his faith.
It tells us what to seek and finally, this passage shows us the basis of the whole matter. No one ever claimed that the Christian life is an easy way: but its goal is God. The greatness of the goal makes the toil of the struggle worth while.
3. PLEASE READ 1 TIMOTHY 4: 11-16.
One of the difficulties which Timothy would have to overcome, was the fact that he was young. We are not to think of him as a mere stripling. After all, it was fifteen years since he had first become Paul’s helper. The word that is used for youth can in Greek describe anyone of military age, that is up to the age of forty. But the church has always liked its office-bearers to be men of maturity.
The Apostolic Canons later laid it down that a man was not to become a bishop until he was over fifty, for by then “he will be past youthful disorders.” But Timothy was young in comparison to Paul, and there would be many who would watch him with a critical eye, ever ready to find fault and criticize.
When the elder William Pitt, the great Earl of Chatham, was making a speech in the House of Commons at the age of thirty-three, he said: “The atrocious crime of being a young man… I will neither attempt to palliate or deny.” The church has always regarded youth with a certain suspicion, and under that suspicion Timothy would inevitably fall.
The advice that was given to Timothy is the hardest possible advice to follow, and yet it was the only possible advice. The advice was that Timothy must silence criticism by conduct.
Plato, the great Greek philosopher, was once falsely accused of dishonorable conduct. “Well, “ he said, “we must live in such a way that all men will see that the charge is false.” Arguments and verbal defenses cannot silence criticism; conduct can. What then were to be the marks of Timothy’s conduct?
Fist, there would be love. Agape, the Greek word for the greatest of the Christian virtues, is a largely untranslatable word. The real meaning is unconquerable benevolence. If a man has agape, no matter what other people do to him or say of him, no matter how other people treat him, he will seek nothing but their good.
He will never be bitter, not ever resentful, never vengeful; he will never allow him self to hate; he will never refuse to forgive. No matter what his fellow men are like in themselves, and no matter what they do to him, he will seek only their good.
Now clearly this is the kind of love which takes the whole of a man’s personality to achieve. Ordinarily love is something which we cannot help. Love of our nearest and dearest is an instinctive thing which is part of a man’s being. The love of a man for a maid is an experience unsought and unachieved,. It comes unbidden.
Ordinarily love is a thing of the heart; but clearly this Christian love is more than a thing of the heart; it is a thing of the will. It is not something which a man can not help; it is an achievement and a conquest.
Christian love is that conquest of self whereby we are enabled to develop an unconquerable caring for other people. So then the first authenticating mark of the Christian leader is that he cares for others, no matter what others do to him. That is something of which any Christian leader who is quick to take offence and prone to bear grudges should constantly think.
Second there is loyalty. Loyalty is an unconquerable fidelity to Christ, no matter what that fidelity may cost. It is not difficult to be a good soldier when things are going well. But the really valuable soldier is the soldier who can fight well when his body is weary and his stomach is empty, when the situation seems hopeless and when he is in the midst of a campaign the movements of which he cannot understand.
The second authenticating mark of the Christian leaders is a loyalty to Christ which defies circumstances, which is true whatever light may shin or shadow fall.
Third, there is purity. Purity is an unconquerable allegiance to the standards of Jesus Christ.
When Pliny was reporting back to Trajan about the Christians in Bithynia, where he was governor, he wrote: “They are accustomed to bind themselves by an oath to commit neither theft, nor robbery, nor adultery: never to break their word; never to deny a pledge that has been made when summoned to answer for it.”
The Christian pledge was to a life of purity. The Christian ought to have a standard of honor and honesty, a standard of self-control and chastity, a standard of discipline and consideration, that are far above the standards of the world. The simple fact is that the world will never have any use for Christianity, until the Christian Church can prove that it produces the best men and women in the world. The third authenticating mark of the Christian leader is a life lived on the standards of Jesus Christ, and not on the standards of the world.
Certain duties are laid upon Timothy, the young leader designate of the Church. He is to devote himself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and to teaching. In that instruction we have the pattern of the Christian Church service.
The object of public reading is not mentioned, but we can rightly assume that Paul was referring to the public reading aloud of Scripture. The Scriptures at this time included the 39 books we know as the O.T., and it may have included some of the N.T. writing as they began to circulate among the churches. According to 2 Peter 3: 16 even in the first-century church some of Paul’s writings were seen in a part of the Scriptures.
Paul had been addressing the problem with false teachers and the nature of the teaching ministry Timothy was to carry out in the face of false teachings. Paul was telling Timothy that if he would persevere, conscientiously practicing the gift of preaching and teaching that God had given him, he would save himself from the influence of the false teachers. And as he saved himself from these false teachings through conscientiously teaching correct doctrine, he would also save his hearers.