First Timothy, part 6
"If you explain this to the brothers and sisters, you
will be doing your duty as a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is fed by
the message of faith and the true teaching you have followed. Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas
and old wives’ tales. Spend your time and energy in training yourself for
spiritual fitness. Physical exercise
has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises
a reward in both this life and the next." (1 Timothy 4:6-8, NLT)
When we
last looked at Paul's letter to Timothy, his young son in the faith, Paul had
just warned Timothy about false teachers and their demon inspired doctrine
regarding celibacy and dietary restrictions.
Paul continues his instructions to Timothy by spurring him on to godly
living. Every protégé needs a mentor who
exhorts him to a higher standard. There
is no better spiritual mentor than the Apostle Paul. Paul deeply loved Timothy and encouraged him
to use his God-given gifts. He also
warned him about getting lax in his ministry.
He knew Timothy. He knew that
Timothy was young and soft spoken. In
chapter 5, Paul tells Timothy to not let people look down on him because of his
youth; and in 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul urged Timothy to not fear and use his gift
boldly. In this passage, Paul urges
Timothy to focus on his own godliness.
The only way one can be an effective minister is if one lives by one's
own teachings.
So what
does Paul exhort Timothy to do? The
first thing is to continue teaching sound doctrine to the believers: "If you explain this to the
brothers and sisters, you will be doing your duty as a worthy servant of Christ
Jesus." The
"this" in this passage refers back to verses 1-5 where Paul denounces
the false teachings of the ascetic lifestyle.
Timothy needed to continue to explain to the believers that there is no
particular virtue to being a celibate vegetarian. By doing "this," Timothy is performing
his duty as a worthy servant of Christ Jesus.
Now the
only way Timothy can perform his duty as a pastor is if he is
diligent in his own study and preparation.
In order for a pastor to be an effective shepherd of the flock, he needs
to spend quality time in prayer and study:
"one who is fed by the message of faith and the true teaching
you have followed." Timothy needed to continue being
"fed" the word of God (that is what is referred to as the
"message of faith and the true teaching"). The only way someone can combat false
doctrine is by being firmly rooted in sound doctrine. The word "fed" is interesting. The word of God is commonly referred to as
our spiritual food: "Your
words are what sustain me. They bring me great joy and are my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty" Jeremiah 15:16; "You must
crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your
salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk" 1 Peter
2:2. We are to feed on the word
of God so that we can stand up to false teachers and refute their falsehoods
with the truth.
Now
combating false teachers and their falsehoods is right, but there comes a point
where a debate becomes unprofitable.
Paul warns Timothy against this too:
"Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’
tales. Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual
fitness." Have you ever
engaged in a debate or discussion with someone you've disagreed with, and after
a certain amount of time you're just repeating the same points over and over
again? As Christians, we're not to waste
our time arguing over minutiae. False
teachers will try to lead the argument over small, insignificant details in an
effort to move away from the larger issues.
Don't let that happen! Proclaim
the truth, present your arguments, and if the person you're talking with
refuses to see your point, move on. We
are to, like Timothy, spend our time on training ourselves spiritually, not
engaging in fruitless debates over "godless ideas."
Finally,
Paul uses an analogy between physical fitness and spiritual fitness: "Physical exercise has some value,
but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both
this life and the next." He
had just told Timothy to spend his time in spiritual training. To highlight the importance of this, Paul
uses an analogy with physical training.
No one is going to argue that physical training isn't beneficial. Physical fitness enhances the quality of our
lives, and may even extend the quantity of our lives. Paul acknowledges this. Physical exercise does have some value, but
spiritual exercise has much more value.
Why? Because physical exercise is
only valuable in this lifetime. A
complete set of free weights does us no good when we're in the grave. But...spiritual exercise not only benefits us
in the here and now, but for all eternity!
Our spiritual training helps us to lead godly lives in the
present--which is good--but the eternal benefits far outweigh the present
benefits. For instance, what we do in
the here-and-now has ramifications in the afterlife (see the parable of the
talents in Matthew 25:14-30).
So we need
to hold fast to the true faith. We need
to spend quality time in spiritual training; feeding ourselves with the word of
God. We need to avoid pointless debates
with unbelievers who won't see reason and only argue to show off their
sophistication. If we do these things,
then we're doing our duty as a worthy servants of Christ Jesus.