Introduction

Open your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy. We’re picking up this morning at chapter 4 verse 6. And we’ll read through the end of the chapter.

If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on 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. 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. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 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.

Command and teach these things. 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. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

In many areas, Christianity involves affirming truths that seem to be opposites or in competition but which, in fact, are complementary. The unfortunate tendency at times in churches is that we swing the pendulum back and forth from one extreme to the other, over-emphasizing one truth to the point where we deny another. The challenge is to fully affirm both truths and then sit in that tension where necessary. This passage can raise one of those issues.

On the one hand, a central claim of the Gospel is that in Jesus Christ we find our rest. “Come to me,” Jesus says, “all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This is a truth that we must absolutely embrace and lean into. When it comes to our efforts to be “good enough” to merit God’s grace, we can stop from our labors. Jesus did it all on the cross. His sacrifice for our sins was necessary and sufficient. Full stop. “It is finished.” Rest in Christ.

And yet, at the same time, that doesn’t mean that the Christian life is meant to be one of sitting on the beach drinking cocktails, metaphorically speaking. The same Jesus who said “I will give you rest” would also say, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Our passage today shares that latter emphasis, of the work and labor necessary in the pursuit of a Christian life. Look again at some of the imperatives that Paul gives here:

V.7 - Train (or discipline) yourself to be godly
V.10 - Labor and strive
V.15 - Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them
V.16 - Watch your life and doctrine closely

Physical training / training in godliness

This isn’t coasting. In fact, the analogy Paul uses is physical training or (as the NASB puts it), discipline. I’m currently training for a half-marathon. There are some things involved there. Researching training strategies, putting a plan together, making a schedule; and then most importantly: doing the work—getting up while it’s dark, putting in the miles, recovery, repeat. But let’s be real: I’m swimming in the kiddie pool here when it comes to physical training. Think of the discipline required to complete at an Olympic level, for example.

The discipline necessary to get to that level is admirable, I think, and is the pattern Paul wants us to have in mind when it comes to our spiritual training. Like he says here, physical training has “some value”. The point of the passage isn’t to disparage physical training. It’s a good thing. It has value. But the value is temporary. All your gains are gone the moment your life on this earth is done. And let’s be honest … all your gains are gone long before that. My fastest 5K time and 1-rep-max bench press are long behind me, no matter how much training I do.

In contrast, spiritual discipline, we’re told in verse 8, has value both for this life and the life to come. You often hear the saying “You can’t take it with you.” Well, this you can!

But there’s a right way and a wrong way to approach training. If my half-marathon training plan consisted primarily of watching running documentaries on Netflix, that just isn’t going to be effective no matter how much time I invest in it. It’s a waste of time. Similarly, Paul tells us what to avoid in verse 7, things that will suck us in and waste our time in the realm of spiritual discipline: “godless myths and old wives’ tales”. Or “irreverent, silly myths” as the ESV puts it. The phrase here is an idiom for the type of vacuous babble that tends to consume people’s interest. Perhaps the best modern-day phrase would be to “have nothing to do with conspiracy theories”. The amount of time and civic currency that Christians spend arguing conspiracy theories is maddening. To stay on track, we must avoid anything that competes with what we’re supposed to be focused on, Paul says, which he lists in verse 6 as “the words of the faith and good doctrine”.

Good doctrine matters

Words of the faith. Good doctrine. So—side note—everyone has a hobby horse. Everyone has favorite topics that they like to come back to over and over again. The danger when it comes to preaching is that we then take any given text and find a way to make it talk about our hobby horse rather than what the passage is actually about. So, for example, no matter what the passage is about, it ends up being about the end times, or Reformed theology, or politics, or whatever.

So, full disclosure here, one of my hobby horses is that I’m on a crusade to fight against the modern cultural current that downplays the importance of rigorous study of the Scripture, in order to focus on the “more important” issues of Christian living, social justice, evangelism, purity, etc. That sets these up as competing priorities—things we need to balance—and in practice consistently nudges us away from good doctrine.

Now, I wanted to set that out there because I legitimately think that the main point of this passage argues precisely against that type of thinking. No less than four times in these ten verses, Paul commands Timothy to focus on and emphasize doctrine and teaching as the fuel for an effective Christian life and witness. But I thought it fair to be upfront about that, and you all can study the passage for yourselves and judge if I’m importing my hobby horse into the text.

Roughly speaking, our passage can be broken up between verses 6-10, which speak of personal spiritual discipline, based on the truths of God’s word and good doctrine, and then verses 11–16, which demonstrate how to put that doctrine into practice. So, to continue the analogy with physical training, verses 6–10 are the grind of daily training. Verses 11–16 are race day, time to perform. Not “perform” in the sense that we’re trying to impress others for our own glory, but exactly like verse 15 says, “so that everyone may see your progress.” We’re encouraged as we see one another grow in the faith.

But that all starts with the spiritual discipline and training emphasized in these first verses, in the truths of the faith and good doctrine; good teaching. And this meant to be hard work. Verse 10 says that we “labor and strive” in this spiritual discipline, spiritual training.

But why do we labor and strive? Glad you asked that question, because verse 10 answers it: we labor and strive “because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people.”

Now that verse gets some people a little uptight. What does Paul mean here when he says that God is the “Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe”? Clearly he can’t mean that everyone’s sins are already forgiven regardless of whether or not they believe in Jesus. That would go against the whole point of the passage: “We labor and strive … because everyone is already going to heaven anyway.” That doesn’t make sense. However we understand this passage, it has to explain why we labor and strive. I think the most natural understanding is informed—as is always the case—by looking at the whole verse in context. We labor and strive because salvation is only in Christ, for everybody, for “all people”. There’s no plan B. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.” We labor and strive, therefore, so that others can find their rest in Christ. So that others transition from a generic sense in which God is their savior, in the sense that he has made salvation possible and offered it, to the specific sense in which salvation has been realized.

Putting it into practice

Starting in verse 11, we are moving from commands that are more in the private sphere to how those play out in the church. And although Paul is writing to Timothy specifically, and one could argue church leaders—elders—generically, note that in verse 11 Paul tells Timothy to “command and teach these things”, “these things” being really everything that’s come before in the letter, but maybe more directly the instruction that we just read in the previous verses. So good doctrine and spiritual discipline aren’t just for pastors—these are priorities towards which everyone should strive.

And this spiritual disciple then, has an impact on one’s life. In verse 12 Paul tells Timothy not to let anyone look down on him because of his youth. Most scholars believe that Timothy was about 30 years old at the time this was written. So, no spring chicken (especially when life expectancy was around 50 or 60 for those who were fortunate enough to survive childhood), but also relatively young for the position into which he’s been entrusted.

Now, let’s be real, this isn’t a command one can credibly enforce through power: “I refuse to let you look down on my youth!” Haters are gonna hate. The point Paul is making here is that by setting a good example in his lifestyle (and he lists five areas here), Timothy will rob his critics of their ammunition. They will have no reason to despise him for his youth because he is not acting youthfully. In other words, this is an encouragement to be mature.

There are five specific things that Paul lists here, and although I don’t think this is necessarily meant to be an exhaustive list, it can be helpful to look at each of them in turn, as well as what the immature alternative might look like, by way of contrast.

Speech - Certainly includes the formal teaching and exhortation that is in view in the passage, but what else? Speech that puts the focus away from self and onto God and others. Speech that is well-considered, even—as James would put it—slow at times. Maturity in speech often looks like not saying anything. In contrast to immature speech: coarse jesting intended to draw attention to oneself, rash words, idle babble.
Conduct - A lifestyle that is consistent with one’s speech that we just looked at. In contrast to a life lacking self-control, or high-sounding ideologies but a hypocritical lifestyle.
Love - In the fullest, Biblical sense. Serving others. Meeting practical needs. Considering their interests above one’s own. Love that requires correction at times. In contrast to immature love. I think back to my understanding of “love” in high school, and even when it rose above emotionism, it was still rooted in self-absorption: “What can I get out of it?” Not so Biblical love.
Faith - Trust in God regardless of what others are saying. In contrast to relying on one’s own strength
Purity - Being above reproach. The word here has sexual purity particularly in focus. In contrast to the lack of self-control that gets so many pastors into trouble as headlines continually and tragically remind us.

Priorities in the church

Paul then gives Timothy priorities for the church in verse 13, things to which he needs to devote himself, which are (1) the public reading of Scripture, (2) preaching or exhortation, and (3) teaching. The only remarkable thing about that list is how unremarkable it really is. I think this quote sums it up nicely:

Verse 12, then, does not lay out new guidelines or propose innovative ministry strategies for Timothy at Ephesus as the church there faced confusing and contradictory doctrinal challenges and unacceptable practices…. He should rather be faithful to the long-established means of grace that over the centuries have earned Christians (also Jews) the appellation “people of the Book.”¹

In an age where so often we’re trying to find the next gimmick to try or cultural movement to latch onto so that the church can be relevant, we’re reminded here of the relative simplicity of it all. And when I say “simple”, I don’t mean easy. That’s the whole point of the passage; this takes labor and toil and diligence. But it’s not complicated; it’s not rocket science and doesn’t require a Masters in Business Administration. We can have faith in the means of transformation that God has given us in his word.

Conclusion

Because the stakes couldn’t be any higher, as verses 15 and 16 conclude. Timothy is told to be diligent in these matters—these matters concerning the truths of the faith, teaching the Scripture, and living it out. To immerse himself in them. To watch—note verse 16—your life and doctrine closely. Hand in glove. Complementary, not in conflict. Nothing less than salvation itself is on the line. “You will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Which means what exactly? Let’s be clear: salvation is a gift from God. We don’t save anybody in that sense by our merit. We are saved by faith. The gospel is the good news that Jesus came to earth, lived a life of perfect obedience, and then died to pay the penalty for sin. Not for his own sins, because he had none, but he died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. There’s no human effort in any of that.

But, as the book of Romans tells us, “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? … faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” God has determined to use the foolish means of preaching to communicate that message.

That’s what verses 15 and 16 are driving at. Why should we as a church put a premium on the character of our leaders and emphasize the reading and teaching of God’s Word? Because that is the divinely inspired means by which God communicates his salvation.

How tragic it is then when the people of God so willingly exchange that means for alternatives. Where instead of faithfully and carefully expounding God’s word, we invest our time…

Regurgitating political ideologies
Expounding philosophy
Offering commentary on social issues
Repackaging insights from business best-sellers
Providing wisdom gleaned from Readers’ Digest and Oprah

All of that—while perhaps more entertaining or “relevant”—lacks the power to truly transform lives in the way that this passage talks about. In the saving sense. Straightforward means, not complicated. But … back to the start of the passage, something that takes discipline, labor, striving. May God empower us by his Holy Spirit to live by these priorities.

Robert W. Yarbrough, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, p.250. ↩