The document is a bulletin from First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi that includes information about an upcoming Sunday school and prayer meeting. It also provides a summary of a sermon given on the topic of godliness based on 1 Timothy 4:6-12. The sermon defines godliness as devotion to God that results in actions that please Him, like Enoch who "walked with God" and "pleased God". It says godliness includes having an attitude of fearing, loving, and desiring God above all else.

1. The Practice Of Godliness
1 Timothy 4:6-12
February 10, 2013
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi, USA
FEBRUARY MONTHLY SCRIPTURE MEMORY VERSE
Psalm 51:10
“God create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10
SUNDAY SCHOOL FACT
 Of individuals who only attend worship, fewer than 20 percent are still active in
church five years later.
 However, of those who attend both worship and Sunday School, more than 80
percent are still active after five years.
 Thank you for being passionate about reaching out to and ministering to
people through Sunday School!!!
 When a guest visits in our class or a new member joins our class, make a special
effort to let them know how glad we are that they are here.
AMERICA, ISRAEL AND GOD’S PROPHETIC TIMETABLE
Dr. Sherlock Bally
Thursday, February 28
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Fellowship Hall East
 The importance of Jerusalem to God’s prophetic timetable.
 America and Israel’s prophetic parallels.
 Israel and its position in the Middle East.
 The importance of America to continue to stand with Israel.

2. GODLINESS
1 TIMOTHY 4
 You are as close to God as you want to be.
 The time you have here on earth is an opportunity for you to prove how close
you want to be to God forever.
 Do you want to be closer to God than you are right now?
 Do you at least desire to (want to) want to be closer to God than you presently
are?
PRAYER
 “Father, give me the desire to want to be closer to You and then please
change those desires into action.”
 THE GREEK WORD FOR GODLINESS:
EUSEBIA (you SAY be ah) Literally, it means:
◦ “to worship well”,
◦ “to be very devout”,
◦ “good reverence”.
Our text today:
1 Timothy 4:6-12 NASB
The key verse:
1 Timothy 4:8
8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but
godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds
promise for the present life and also for the life to
come.

3. Background passages on wholeheartedness:
2 Chronicles 16:9
9 For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may
strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
2 Chronicles 16:9
Matthew 22:37-40 KJV
37 Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40 KJV
Isaiah 66:1-2 NASB
1 Thus says the Lord,
“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?
2 “For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.
“But to this one I will look,
to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My
word.” Isaiah 66:1-2 NASB
 con· trite (an adjective) - feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected
by guilt.
 Synonyms repentant - penitent - remorseful – regretful.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the (second) coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him (the Rapture), 2 that you not
be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a
message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord (the
Tribulation) has come.
3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy
comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,”
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB
1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be
lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to

4. parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips,
without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness,
although they have denied its power. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB
 The Ephesian church, where Timothy was serving when Paul wrote 1 Timothy,
had been warned already about the coming of false doctrines (Acts 20:28-31).
Acts 20:28-31
28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased
with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come
in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men
will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31 Therefore be on the alert,” Acts 20:28-31
 Throughout Paul's letters, the Spirit speaks expressly that the church will see
apostasy, a falling away from the true faith ( 2 Thessalonians 2).
1 Timothy 4:1
1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the
faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,”
1 Timothy 4:1
 Paul points out that the cause for the apostasy is not the "growing intelligence
of scholars" but the satanic influence of demons so that professed believers
deny the basic doctrines of the Bible.
◦ The problem is not with the head but with the heart!
Text for today:
1 Timothy 4:6-12 NASB
6“In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of
Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound
doctrine which you have been following. 7 But have nothing to do with worldly
fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the
purpose of godliness; 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is

5. profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the
life to come. 9 It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 10 For it is
for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God,
Who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 11 Prescribe and teach
these things. 12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in
speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who
believe.” 1 Timothy 4:6-12 NASB
Key verse:
1 Timothy 4:8 NIV 1984
8 “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.”
1 Timothy 4:8 NIV 1984
 If everything is going to be perfect in Heaven and if you are going to be like
Jesus when you get there, why go to any effort or trouble while we are here on
Earth to be like Him?
 What is verse 8 talking about when it says that godliness has value for all things,
holding promise for both the present life and the life to come?
1 Corinthians 3:6-15 NASB
6 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then
neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God Who
causes the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each
will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are
God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master
builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be
careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the
One which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the
foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s
work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed
with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any
man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any
man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so
as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-15

6.  What is the greatest reward a person could ever have?
 The greatest reward anyone could ever have is to be in the presence of God!
Revelation 22:12 NASB
12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every
man according to what he has done.” Revelation 22:12 NASB
2 Peter 1:3 NIV 1984
3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness
through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.”
2 Peter 1:3 NIV 1984
1 John 2:28
28 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have
confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”
1 John 2:28
 There will be no shame or remorse in the final Heaven, but what about during
the thousand year reign here on earth?
 What is Godliness?
◦ A study by: Jerry Bridges
◦ Article contributed by:
▪ NavPress Visit NavPress website
◦ From:
▪ "Value for All Things" and "Devotion to God"
in the book:
 The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges
(NavPress, 1983).
 As we see the importance of this foundational spiritual attribute (godliness), we
commit ourselves to building it into our lives now.
 There is no higher compliment that can be paid to a Christian than to call
him/her a godly person.

7.  The words godly and godliness actually appear only a few times in the New
Testament; yet the entire Bible is a book on godliness.
 When Paul wants to distill the essence of the Christian life into one brief
paragraph, he focuses on godliness.
 Paul tells us that God’s grace "teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives" as we await the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-13).
 We are to train ourselves to be godly.
 We are to pursue godliness— the word "pursue" indicating unrelenting,
persevering effort.
 Godliness with contentment is held forth as great gain; and finally,
godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and
the life to come. (v8)
 When Peter, in looking forward to the, day of the Lord when the earth and
everything in it will be destroyed, asks what kind of people we ought to be, he
answers that we are to live holy and godly lives (2 Peter 3:10-12).
 Here Peter uses the most momentous event of all history to stir us up to our
Christian duty—holy and godly living.
 Surely, then, godliness is not an optional spiritual luxury for a few quaint
Christians of a bygone era or for some group of super-saints of today.
 It is both the privilege and duty of every Christian to pursue godliness, to train
himself to be godly, to study diligently the practice of godliness.
 We don't need any special talent or equipment.
 God has given to each one of us "everything we need for life and godliness" (2
Peter 1:3).
 The most ordinary Christian has all that he needs, and the most talented
Christian must use those same means in the practice of godliness.
 "What do you think of when you think of godliness?"
 The answers, though varied, always end up expressing some idea of Christian
character, using such expressions as "Godlike," "Christlike," or "the fruit of the
Spirit."
 Godliness certainly includes Christian character, but it is more than that.
 There is another, even more fundamental aspect of godliness than godly
character.
 It is the foundation, in fact, on which godly character is built.
Devotion in Action
 The Bible gives us some clues about godliness in its earliest pages.

8.  Genesis 5:21-24 tells us about Enoch, the father of Methuselah.
 In a short three-verse summary of Enoch’s life, Moses twice describes him as
one who "walked with God.“
Genesis 5:24
24 “Enoch walked with God (stayed constantly in touch with God); and he was
not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:24
 Much later in the Bible, the author of Hebrews gives Enoch a place in the great
Faith’s Hall of Fame in chapter 11, but he sees Enoch from a slightly different
perspective.
 He describes Enoch as "one who pleased God.“
Hebrews 11:5-6
5 “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not
found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his
being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to
please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a
rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:5-6
 Here, then, are two important clues: Enoch walked with God, and Enoch
pleased God.
 It is evident from these two statements that Enoch’s life was centered in God;
God was the focal point, the polestar of his very existence.
 Enoch walked with God; he enjoyed a relationship with God; and he pleased
God.
 We could accurately say he was devoted to God.
 This is the meaning of godliness.
 The New Testament word for godliness conveys the idea of a personal attitude
toward God that results in actions that are pleasing to Him.
 This personal attitude toward God is what we call devotion to God.
 But it is always devotion in action.
 It is not just a warm, emotional feeling about God, the kind of feeling we may
get while singing some grand old hymn of praise or some modern-day chorus
of worship.
 Neither is devotion to God merely a time of private Bible reading and prayer, a
practice we sometimes call "devotions."
Focused On God
 Devotion is not an activity; it is an attitude toward God.
 This attitude is composed of three essential elements:
◦ the fear of God
◦ the love of God
◦ the desire for God.
 Note that all three elements focus upon God.
 The practice of godliness is an exercise or discipline that focuses upon God.

9.  From this God-ward attitude arise both the character and the conduct (doers
of the Word) that we usually think of as godliness.
 So often we try to develop Christian character and conduct without taking the
time to develop God-centered devotion.
 We try to please God without taking the time to walk with Him (stay constantly
in contact with Him) and develop a relationship with Him.
 This is impossible to do.
 The devil tried to trick Eve with the lie, “Just do this and you will be like God!”
 There are no shortcuts to discipleship.
 Consider the exacting requirements of a godly lifestyle as expounded by the
saintly William Law in A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.
 Law uses the word devotion in a broader sense to mean all that is involved in
godliness—actions as well as attitude: Devotion signifies a life given, or
devoted, to God.
 He therefore is the devout [godly] man who lives no longer to his own will, or
the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God; who considers God
in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his
common life parts of piety [godliness], by doing everything in the name of God,
and under such rules as are conformable to his Glory.
David Platt says we are to:
Enjoy His grace
and
Extend His glory!
 Note the totality of godliness over one’s entire life in Law’s description of the
godly person.
 Nothing is excluded.
 God is at the center of his thoughts.
 His most ordinary duties are done with an eye to God’s glory.(Bro Lawrence)
 In Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “whether he eats or drinks or whatever he
does, he does it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10)
 It is obvious that such a God-centered lifestyle cannot be developed and
maintained apart from a solid foundation of devotion to God.
 Only a strong personal relationship with the living God can keep such a
commitment from becoming oppressive and legalistic.

10.  John writes that God’s commands are not burdensome; a godly life is not
wearisome, but this is true only because a godly person is first of all devoted to
God.
 Devotion to God, then, is the mainspring of godly character.
 And this devotion is the only motivation for Christian behavior that is pleasing to
God.
 This motivation is what separates the godly person from the moral person, or
the benevolent person, or the zealous person.
 The godly person is moral, benevolent, and zealous because of his devotion to
God.
 And his life takes on a dimension that reflects the very stamp of God.
 It is sad that many Christians do not have this aura of godliness about them.
 They may be very talented and personable, or very busy in the Lord’s work, or
even apparently successful in some avenues of Christian service, and still not
be godly.
 Why?
 Because they are not devoted to God.
 They may be devoted to a vision, or to a ministry, or to their own reputation as
Christians, but not to God.
 So godliness can be defined as devotion to God which results in a life that is
pleasing to Him.
 Enoch walked with God, and Enoch pleased God.
 His walk with God speaks of his relationship with God, or his devotion to God; his
pleasing God speaks of the behavior that arose from that relationship.
 Some of our aversion to the phrase "fear of God" may be due to a
misunderstanding of its meaning.
 The Bible uses the term "fear of God" in two distinct ways: that of anxious dread,
and that of veneration, awe, and reverence.
 Fear as anxious dread is produced by the realization of God’s impending
judgment upon sin.
 When Adam sinned he hid from God because he was afraid.
 Although this aspect of the fear of God should characterize every unsaved
person who lives each day as an object of God’s wrath, it seldom does.
 Paul’s concluding indictment of ungodly mankind was, "There is no fear of God
before their eyes" (Romans 3:18).
 The Christian has been delivered from fear of God’s wrath (1 John 4:18).
 But the Christian has not been delivered from the discipline of God against his
sinful conduct, and in this sense he still fears God.
 He works out his salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12); he lives his
life as—a stranger here in reverent fear (1 Peter 1:17).

11.  For the child of God, however, the primary meaning of the fear of God is
veneration and honor, reverence and awe.
 Murray says this fear is the soul of godliness.
 It is the attitude that elicits from our hearts adoration and love, reverence and
honor.
 It focuses in awe not upon the wrath of God but upon the majesty, holiness,
and transcendent glory of God.
 The angelic beings of Isaiah’s vision in chapter 6 demonstrated this awe when,
with two of their wings, they covered their faces in the presence of the exalted
Lord.
 We see this same awe in Isaiah himself and in Peter when they each realized
they were in the presence of a holy God.
 We see it most vividly in the reaction of the beloved disciple John in Revelation
1:17, when he saw his Master in all of His heavenly glory and majesty, and fell at
His feet as though dead.
 It is impossible to be devoted to God if one’s heart is not filled with the fear of
God.
 It is this profound sense of veneration and honor, reverence and awe that
draws forth from our hearts the worship and adoration that characterizes true
devotion to God.
 The reverent, godly Christian sees God first in His transcendent glory, majesty,
and holiness before he sees Him in His love, mercy, and grace.
 God wants us to first “seek His face”, to get to know Him and not always be
seeking His hand, to ask what He can do for us.
 There is a healthy tension that exists in the godly person’s heart between the
reverential awe of God in his glory and the childlike confidence in God as
heavenly Father.
 Without this tension, a Christian’s filial confidence can easily degenerate into
presumption.
 One of the more serious sins of Christians today may well be the almost flippant
familiarity with which we often address God in prayer.
 None of the godly men of the Bible ever adopted the casual manner we often
do.
 They always addressed God with reverence.
 The same writer who tells us that we have confidence to enter the Most Holy
Place, the throne room of God, also tells us that we should worship God

12. acceptably with reverence and awe, "for our God is a consuming fire"
(Hebrews 10:19 and Hebrews 12:28-29).
 Paul, who tells us that the Holy Spirit dwelling within us causes us to cry
"Abba Father," also tells us that this same God lives in "unapproachable light"
(Romans 8:15 and 1 Timothy 6).
 In our day we must begin to recover a sense of awe and profound reverence
for God.
 We must begin to view Him once again in the infinite majesty that alone
belongs to Him Who is the Creator and Supreme Ruler of the entire universe.
 There is an infinite gap in worth and dignity between God the Creator and man
the creature, even though man has been created in the image of God.
 The fear of God is a heartfelt recognition of this gap—not a put down of man,
but an exaltation of God.
 Even the redeemed in heaven fear the Lord.
In Revelation 15:3-4,
3 they sing triumphantly the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of
the Lamb:
“Great and marvelous are Your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are Your ways,
King of the ages.
4 Who will not fear You, O Lord,
and bring glory to Your name?
For You alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before You,
for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” Revelation 15:3-4
 Note the focus of their veneration upon God’s attributes of power, justice, and
holiness.
 No wonder, then, that with that day in view Peter tells us to live holy and godly
lives now.
 God is in the process of preparing us for Heaven, to dwell with Him for eternity.
 So He desires that we grow in both holiness and godliness.
 He wants us to be like Him and to reverence and adore Him for all eternity.
 We must be learning to do this now.
 In our day we seem to have magnified the love of God almost to the exclusion
of the fear of God.
 Because of this preoccupation we are not honoring God and reverencing Him
as we should.
 We should magnify the love of God; but although we revel in His love and
mercy, we must never lose sight of His majesty and His holiness.
 Not only will a right concept of the fear of God cause us to worship God aright,
it will also regulate our conduct.

13.  As John Murray says, "What or whom we worship determines our behavior."
 Albert N. Martin has said that the essential ingredients of the fear of God are:
(1) correct concepts of God’s character,
(2) a pervasive sense of God’s presence, and
(3) a constant awareness of our obligation to God.
 If we have some comprehension of God’s infinite holiness and His hatred of sin,
coupled with this pervasive sense of God’s presence in all of our actions and
thoughts, then such a fear of God must influence and regulate our conduct.
Proverbs 9:10
The beginning of wisdom is to learn the fear of the Lord.
Proverbs 9:10
 The fear of God should provide a primary motivation for, as well as result in,
obedience to Him.
 If we truly reverence God we will obey Him, since every act of disobedience is
an affront to His dignity and majesty.
 John 14:21 Obedience = love,
Gripped By God's Love
 Only the God-fearing Christian can truly appreciate the love of God.
 He sees the infinite gulf between a holy God and a sinful creature, and the love
that bridged that gulf through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 God’s love for us is many-faceted, but He supremely demonstrated it by
sending His Son to die for our sins.
 All other aspects of His love are secondary, and in fact are made possible for us
through the death of Christ.
 The apostle John says, "God is love" (1 John 4:8).
 And he explains,
1 John 4:9-10
9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into
the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:9-10
 The love of God has no meaning apart from Calvary.
 And Calvary has no meaning apart from the holy and just wrath of God.
 Jesus did not die just to give us peace and a purpose in life; He died to save us
from the wrath of God.
 He died to reconcile us to a holy God Who was alienated from us because of
our sin.
 He died to ransom us from the penalty of sin—the punishment of everlasting
destruction, and of being shut out from the presence of the Lord.
 He died that we, the just objects of God’s wrath, should become, by His grace,
heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

14.  How much we appreciate God’s love is conditioned by how deeply we fear
Him.
 The more we see God in His infinite majesty, holiness, and transcendent glory,
the more we will gaze with wonder and amazement upon His love poured out
at Calvary.
 But it is also true that the more deeply we perceive God’s love to us in Christ,
the more profound will be our reverence and awe of Him.
 The psalmist caught this truth when he said,
Psalm 130:3-4
3 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with You there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.
Psalm 130:3-4
 He worshiped God with reverence and awe because of God’s forgiveness.
 In our practice of godliness, then, we must seek to grow both in the fear of God
and in an ever-increasing comprehension of the love of God.
 These two elements together form the foundation of our devotion to God.
 This awareness of God’s love for us in Christ must be personalized in order for it
to become one of the solid foundational corners of our "triangle of devotion"
to God.
 It is not enough to believe that God loved the world.
 I must be gripped by the realization that God loves me, a specific person.
 It is this awareness of His individual love that draws out our hearts in devotion to
Him.
 Our awareness of God’s love for us must also be constantly growing.
 As we mature in our Christian lives we are increasingly aware of God’s holiness
and our own sinfulness.
 In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he reflects upon God’s mercy in appointing him to
the Gospel ministry.
 Paul recalls that he once was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent
man.
 This description no longer applies to Paul; it is all past tense.
 But as he continues to reflect upon the grace of God, he slips, almost
unconsciously it seems, into the present tense of his experience:
1 Timothy 1:15b
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
1 Timothy 1:15b
 He is no longer thinking about his past as a persecutor of Christ.
 Now he is thinking about his present daily experience as a believer who falls
short of the will of God for him.
 He doesn't think about other Christians, whom we know were way behind Paul
in their devotion to God and their attainment of godly character.

15.  Paul never wastes time trying to feel good about himself by comparing himself
favorably with less mature Christians.
 He compares himself with God’s standard, and he consequently sees himself as
the worst of sinners.
 Through this present sense of his sinfulness Paul sees God’s love for him.
 The more he grows in his knowledge of God’s perfect will, the more he sees his
own sinfulness, and the more he comprehends God’s love in sending Christ to
die for him.
 And the more he sees God’s love, the more his heart reaches out in adoring
devotion to the One who loved him so.
 If God’s love for us is to be a solid foundation stone of devotion, we must realize
that His love is entirely of grace—that it rests completely upon the work of Jesus
Christ and flows to us through our union with Him.
 Because of this basis His love can never change, regardless of what we do.
 In our daily experience, we have all sorts of spiritual ups and downs - sin, failure,
discouragement, all of which tend to make us question God’s love.
 That is because we keep thinking that God’s love is somehow conditional.
 We are afraid to believe His love is based entirely upon the finished work of
Christ for us.
 Deep down in our souls we must get hold of the wonderful truth that our
spiritual failures do not affect God’s love for us one iota—that His love for us
does not fluctuate according to our experience.
 We must be gripped by the truth that we are accepted by God and loved by
God for the sole reason that we are united to His beloved Son.
 As the King James Version translates Ephesians 1:6, “He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved."
 Does this apprehension of God’s personal, unconditional love for us in Christ
lead to careless living?
 Not at all.
 Rather, such an awareness of His love stimulates in us an increased devotion to
Him.
 And this devotion is active; it is not just a warm, affectionate feeling toward
God.
 Paul testified that Christ’s love for us compelled him to live not for himself, but
for Him Who died for us and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
 The word for "compel" which Paul used is a very strong verb.
 It means to press in on all sides and to impel or force one to a certain course of
action.
 Probably not many Christians can identify with Paul in this depth of his
motivation, but this surely should be our goal.
 This is the constraining force God’s love is intended to have upon us.
 So we see that devotion to God begins with the fear of God—with a Biblical
view of His majesty and holiness that elicits a reverence and awe of Him.
 And then we see that the fear of God leads naturally to an apprehension of
the love of God for us as shown in the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
 As we contemplate God more and more in His majesty, holiness, and love, we

16. will be progressively led to the apex of the triangle of devotion—the desire for
God Himself.
A Thirst For God
 True godliness engages our affections and awakens within us a desire to enjoy
God’s presence and fellowship.
 It produces a longing for God Himself.
 The writer of Psalm 42 vividly expressed this longing when he exclaimed, "As the
deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts
for God, for the living God. When can I go and I meet with God?"
 What could be more intense than a hunted deer’s thirst for water?
 The psalmist does not hesitate to use this picture to illustrate the intensity of his
own desire for God’s presence and fellowship.
 You are as close to God as you want to be and your time here on earth proves
to Him how close you want to be to Him in eternity.
 David also expresses this intense desire for God: "One thing I ask of the Lord, this
is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to
gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in his temple" (Psalm 27:4).
 David yearned intensely for God Himself that he might enjoy His presence and
His beauty.
 Since God is a spirit, His beauty obviously refers not to a physical appearance
but to His attributes.
 David enjoyed dwelling upon the majesty and greatness, the holiness and
goodness of God.
 But David did more than contemplate the beauty of God’s attributes.
 He sought God Himself, for elsewhere he says, "Earnestly I seek You; my soul
thirsts for You, my body longs for You" (Psalm 63:1).
 The apostle Paul also experienced this longing for God: "I want to know Christ"
(Philippians 3:10).
 The Amplified Bible forcefully catches the intensity of Paul’s desire in this
passage:
"For my determined purpose is that I may know Him—that I may progressively
become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and
recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and
more clearly."
 This is the heartbeat of the godly person.
 As he contemplates God in the awesomeness of His infinite majesty, power,
and holiness, and then as he dwells upon the riches of God’s mercy and grace
poured out at Calvary, his heart is captivated by this One Who could love him
so.
 He is satisfied with God alone, but he is never satisfied with his present
experience of God.
 He always yearns for more.
 Perhaps this idea of a desire for God sounds strange to many Christians today.
 We understand the thought of serving God, of being busy in His work.
 We may even have a "quiet time" when we read the Bible and pray.

17.  But the idea of longing for God Himself, of wanting to deeply enjoy His
fellowship and His presence, may seem a bit too mystical, almost bordering on
fanaticism.
 We prefer our Christianity to be more practical.
 Yet who could be more practical than Paul?
 Who was more involved in the struggles of daily living than David?
 Still, with all their responsibilities, both Paul and David yearned to experience
more fellowship with the living God.
 The Bible indicates that this is God’s plan for us, from its earliest pages right
through to the end.
 In the third chapter of Genesis, God walks in the garden, calling out for Adam
that He might have fellowship with him.
 In Revelation 21, when John sees the vision of the new Jerusalem coming down
from heaven, he hears the voice of God say, "Now the dwelling of God is with
men, and He will live with them" (verse 3).
 For all of eternity God plans to have fellowship with His people.
 Today, Jesus still says to us as He did to the church at Laodicea, "Here I am! I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I
will come in and eat with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).
 In the culture of John’s day, to share a meal meant to have fellowship, so Jesus
is inviting us to open our hearts to Him that we may fellowship with Him.
 He desires that we come to know Him better; therefore, the desire and
yearning for God is something that He plants within our hearts.
PRAYER
“Father, give me the desire to want to be close to You and change those
desires into action.”
 In the life of the godly person, this desire for God produces an aura of warmth.
 Godliness is never austere and cold.
 Such an idea comes from a false sense of legalistic morality that is erroneously
called godliness.
 The person who spends time with God reflects His glory in a manner that is
always warm and inviting, never cold and forbidding.
 This longing for God also produces a desire to glorify God and to please Him.
 In the same breath, Paul expresses the desire to know Christ as well as to be like
Him.
 This is God’s ultimate objective for us and is the object of the Spirit’s work in us.
 In Isaiah 26:9, the prophet proclaims his desire for the Lord in words very similar
to the psalmist’s: "My soul yearns for You in the night; in the morning my spirit
longs for You."
 Note that immediately before this expression of desire for the Lord, Isaiah
expresses a desire for God’s glory: “Your name and renown are the desire of
our hearts” (verse 8).
 Renown has to do with one’s reputation, fame, and eminence—or in God’s
case, with His glory.

18.  The prophet could not separate in his heart his desire for God’s glory and his
desire for God Himself.
 These two yearnings go hand in hand.
 This is devotion to God—the fear of God, which is an attitude of reverence and
awe, veneration and honor toward Him, coupled with an apprehension deep
within our souls of the love of God for us, demonstrated preeminently in the
atoning death of Christ.
 These two attitudes complement and reinforce each other, producing within
our souls an intense desire for this One Who is so awesome in His glory and
majesty, and yet so superior in His unconditional love and mercy.
▪ From "Value for All Things" and "Devotion to God" in The Practice of
Godliness by Jerry Bridges (NavPress, 1983).
▪ What is Godliness?
 Study By: Jerry Bridges
 Article contributed by NavPress
 Visit NavPress website
 Every follower of Christ is part of a royal priesthood – all believers are ministers
and each Christian has been called to ministry!
 While “the world” judges a ministry by its own standards, none of those criteria
are Biblically valid for assessing the ministry of a believer.
 What a follower of Christ is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he
is and no more said the Puritan genius John Owen.
 The true criteria by which a believer and his/her ministry must be evaluated are
found in the New Testament.
 In 1 Timothy 4:6-16, Paul summarizes those criteria.
 The criteria found in 1 Timothy 4 form the standard by which every ministry is to
be measured.
▪ The following comments are from:
 The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody
Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2007.
 Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Copyright © 1992
by Chariot Victor Publishing, an imprint of Cook Communication
Ministries.
 J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible
 Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)
AN EXCELLENT MINISTER IS, ABOVE ALL, A SERVANT
1 Timothy 4:6b NASB
6b you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus,
1 Timothy 4:6b NASB
 Good (Kalos) could also be translated "excellent.“
 Servant (diakonos) is used in the sense of its more general usage of anyone

19. who serves in any ministry on Christ's behalf.
 Those who serve Christ, those who are bond slaves to Christ, are called to
excellence in their usefulness to His cause.
Colossians 3:22-24
22 “Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not
with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of
heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the
Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the
reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
Colossians 3:22-24
 Having discussed the inevitability of false teachers in 4:1-5, Paul now instructs
Timothy in how to be, and to evaluate those suited to be, an effective minister
of the Lord in the face of demonic opposition.
 In so doing, Paul focuses mostly on the positive traits that should characterize
an excellent ministry.
 The way to defeat false doctrine is not only by denouncing and refuting it, but
also by positively teaching and living the truth.
 The primary focus of the ministry is to be positive, to build up the people of God,
because sanctification is more than avoiding error, it is being built up with truth.
 So Paul calls Timothy to be an excellent servant of Jesus Christ, and to set a
standard of virtue in faith, devotion, and conduct that others can follow.
 By so doing, people will be delivered from heresy and will be focused on the
positive truth that makes them spiritually strong.
 In 4:6-16, Paul directs Timothy to consider his responsibilities by exhibiting eleven
qualities that are to characterize the ministry of an excellent servant of Jesus
Christ.
AN EXCELLENT MINISTER WARNS HIS PEOPLE OF ERROR
1 Timothy 4:6a NASB
6a In pointing out these things to the brethren,
1 Timothy 4:6a NASB
 While the ministry is not to be dominated by a negative attitude, that does not
mean there is no place for warning.
 It is an essential element of the ministry.
 This passage is close-packed with practical advice, not only for Timothy, but for
any servant of the Church who is charged with the duty of work and
leadership.
 It tells us how to instruct others.
 The word used for laying these things before the brothers is most suggestive
(hupotithesthai).
 It does not mean to issue orders but rather to advise, to suggest.
 It is a gentle, humble, and modest word.

20.  It means that the teacher must never dogmatically and pugnaciously lay down
the law.
 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.
 Guidance given in gentleness will always be more effective than bullying
instructions laid down with force.
 Men may be led when they will refuse to be driven.
 Hupotithemi (pointing out) is a mild verb, meaning "to remind," or "to suggest."
 It could literally be translated, "to lay before."
 The verb does not have the idea of commanding people or forcing
obedience.
 Rather, it refers to gentle, humble persuasion.
 The present tense of the participle indicates Timothy was to be continually
warning his people.
 That was a recurring theme in Paul's ministry.
 In Acts 20:29-32, he warned the Ephesian elders of the errors that were to
come.
 He did not, however, give an exhaustive exposition of those errors.
 Instead, he focused on the positive aspect of building up their faith through
God's Word.
 Having that strong foundation, they would be able to handle any kind of error
when it came.
 The first thing they taught us in dental school was what is healthy.
 The way a teller is taught to recognize a counterfeit bill is by first teaching them
what the real thing looks like.
 Know the Truth and you will recognize error.
 These things are those Paul warned of in 4:1-5.
 Timothy is to warn of the danger of all features of un-biblical, demonic doctrine
purveyed by false teachers.
 The people he is to warn are the brethren, God's people.
 Believers are not to be "children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried
about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in
deceitful scheming" (Ephesians 4:14).
 He is to remind them that the way to deal with satanic false teaching is to be
strong in the Word (1 John 2:14).
1 John 2:14 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
14 I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the One Who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God’s word remains in you,

21. and you have had victory over the evil one.
1 John 2:14 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
 In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul gave the following exhortation to Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:1-5
1 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who is to
judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will
accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; 4 and
will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be
sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your
ministry. 2 Timothy 4:1-5
 A man of God must develop and preach strong convictions.
 He must continually warn his people of error as the need arises.
 He is the protector of his flock.
 So many pastors have failed to draw the line clearly between truth and error
and build their people up in the rich and sound doctrine of God's Word.
 Such weak preachers are often said to compensate by having what some call
a "pastor's heart."
 A pastor's heart, however, is not measured by how good a man is at petting
sheep, but by how well he protects them from wolves and feeds them so they
grow to be mature and strong.
AN EXCELLENT MINISTER IS AN EXPERT STUDENT OF SCRIPTURE
1 Timothy 4:6c
6c constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine
which you have been following. 1 Timothy 4:6c
 This quality is basic to excellence in ministry, but is sadly lacking in the church
today.
 "The Word of God and prayer" (v. 5) settle the matter.
 God, in His Word, has declared that all foods are clean (Gen 1:29-31; 9:3; Mark
7:14-23; 1 Cor 10:23-26; Acts 10:1); and through prayer, the Christian thanks God
and dedicates the food to His glory (1 Cor 10:31).
 The pastor must teach these things to his people, nourishing them and himself
on "healthy" (sound) doctrine; see notes on 1:10.
 A good minister will feed on the Word that he might be able to feed others.
1 Timothy 4:6c KJV
6c Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine
1 Timothy 4:6c KJV

22.  This is how the believer is to grow in the Word of God.
 We are not to go off on tangents about diet or some other aesthetic program
as if it would commend us to God.
 Instead our diet is to be "nourished up in the words of faith and of good
doctrine.“ 4:6
 Much contemporary preaching is weak and produces weak churches
because it reflects a lack of Biblical knowledge, and a minimal commitment to
the study of Scripture.
 It tells us how to face the task of teaching.
 Timothy is told that he must feed his life on the words of faith.
 No man can give out without taking in.
 He who would teach must be continually learning.
 It is the reverse of the truth that when a man becomes a teacher he ceases to
be a learner; he must daily know Jesus Christ better before he can bring him to
others.
 For many pastors, study is an unwelcome intrusion into their schedule.
 It interrupts the routine of administrative tasks and meetings with which they
occupy themselves.
 They study only enough to make a sermon, not to feed their own hearts and
think deeply and carefully on divine truth.
 The result is impotent sermons that fall on hard hearts and have little impact.
 It is to that expert study of Scripture that Paul called Timothy.
 The translation constantly nourished reflects the present tense of the participle.
 The continual experience of being nourished on the truths of God's word is
essential.
 An excellent minister must read the Word, study it, meditate on it, and master its
contents.
 Only then can he be,
2 Timothy 2:15b
15b approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,
handling accurately the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15b
 BIBLE MATHEMATICS
◦ We are not to add to the Bible,
◦ nor to subtract from it
◦ but to rightly divide it!
 The phrase the words of the faith reflects the body of Christian truth contained
in Scripture.
 If the Word is "inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate,
equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17), a minister must know it.
 The issue is not how good a communicator a man is, or how well he knows the
culture and the current issues, or even how well he knows the particular

23. vicissitudes of his flock.
 The issue is how well he knows the Word of God, since God's revelation
perfectly assesses all issues in every time and every life and addresses them with
the divine will.
 It is through knowledge of the Word that the pastor fulfills his calling to lead his
people through spiritual growth to Christlikeness (1 Peter 2:2).
1 Peter 2:2 HCSB
2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow by it
for your salvation, 1 Peter 2:2 HCSB
 Sound doctrine is that teaching which is firmly rooted in and yielded from the
proper interpretation of Scripture, not human systems of theological or
philosophical speculations.
 Exegetical theology must be the foundation of Biblical and systematic
theology.
 An excellent minister must be knowledgeable of Biblical truth, both its depth
and breadth.
 An excellent minister must be an excellent student of Scripture.
 He cannot give out what he does not take in.
AN EXCELLENT MINISTER AVOIDS THE INFLUENCE OF UNHOLY TEACHING
1 Timothy 4:7a NASB
7a But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women.
1 Timothy 4:7a NASB
 This verse tells us what to avoid.
 Timothy is to avoid profitless tales like those which old women tell to children.
 It is easy to get lost in side-issues and to get entangled in things which are at
best embroideries.
 It is on the great central truths that a man must ever feed his mind and nourish
his faith.
 The flip side of being strong in the Word is avoiding false teaching.
 An excellent minister who is committed to the study of Scripture is
correspondingly uninterested in and unwilling to have his strength dissipated by
ungodly teaching.
 Paraiteomai (have nothing to do with) is a strong word, meaning "reject," or
"put away" (2 Tim 2:23; Titus 3:10).
 Worldly translates bebelos, a word that describes what is radically separate
from what is holy.
 It could be translated "unhallowed," and refers to anything that contradicts the
Word of God.
 Fables translates muthos, from which our English word "myth" derives.
 Such fables are the opposite of Biblical truth (cf. 2 Tim 4:4).
 Paul sarcastically describes them as fit only for old women.

24.  Women were not usually allowed the educational opportunity men had, so this
phrase comes from such a situation.
 That epithet was commonly used in philosophical circles as a term of disdain for
a viewpoint lacking credibility and thus appealing only to uneducated,
unsophisticated, and perhaps senile matrons.
 No intelligent man would hear it at all.
 The Ephesians would have understood Paul's use of the phrase.
 The mind is a precious thing, and God expects those in leadership to have a
pure mind, one saturated with His Word.
 There is no place for foolish, silly myths that are in reality the doctrines of
demons.
 The excellent minister maintains his conviction and his clarity of mind by
exposing himself to the Word of God not to demonic lies that assault the Bible.
 Under the guise of advanced theological education and academic erudition,
many a man's love of the truth has been destroyed, and a once clear mind has
been hopelessly muddled.
AN EXCELLENT MINISTER DISCIPLINES HIMSELF FOR GODLINESS
1 Timothy 4:7b-9
7b On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8 for
bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things,
since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 It is a
trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 1 Timothy 4:7b-9
 A Godly Minister: Practicing the Word (4:7-12)
 Just as "healthy" doctrine will promote spiritual health, so the foolish and silly
myths of false teachers will produce spiritual sickness.
 Spiritual food and spiritual exercise are a happy combination!
 It is suggested that Timothy was leaning toward asceticism, the disciplining of
the body; and that Paul is here teaching him to emphasize spiritual disciplines
and exercises more than physical.
 If some Christians would put as much energy and enthusiasm into spiritual things
as they do athletics and body-building, how much stronger they and their
churches would be!
 "Bodily exercise profits for a little time," Paul admits, "but spiritual exercise -
practicing the Word of God - is profitable for this life and the life to come" (v. 8).
 See Heb 4:14.
 The Christian, and especially the pastor, must practice the Word of God and
be known for godliness (god-likeness).
 This may mean carrying burdens and bearing suffering (v. 10), but it is worth it.
 Even young people can be examples of the faith, as Paul admonishes in v. 12:
in word, in behavior (conversation), in love, in spirit (enthusiasm), faith
(faithfulness), and purity.
 This passage tells us what to seek.

25.  Timothy is told that as an athlete trains his body, so the Christian must train his
soul.
 It is not that bodily fitness is despised.
 The Christian faith believes that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
 But there are certain things in Paul's mind.
 First, in the ancient world, especially in Greece, the gymnasia were dangerous
places.
 Every town had its gymnasium; for the Greek youth between the ages of
sixteen and eighteen, gymnastics were the main part of education.
 But the ancient world was riddled with homosexuality and the gymnasia were
notorious as hotbeds of that particular sin.
 Second, Paul is pleading for a sense of proportion. Physical training is good,
and even essential; but its use is limited.
 It develops only part of a man; and it produces only results which last for so
short a time, for the body passes away.
 Training in godliness develops the whole man in body, mind and spirit, and its
results affect not only time, but eternity as well.
 The Christian is not the athlete of the gymnasium, he is the athlete of God.
 The greatest of the Greeks well recognized this.
 Isocrates wrote:
◦ "No ascetic ought to train his body as a king ought to train his soul."
◦ "Train yourself by submitting willingly to toils, so that when they come on you
unwillingly you will be able to endure them."
 This shows us the basis of the whole matter.
 No one has ever claimed that the Christian life is an easy way; but its goal is
God.
 It is because life is lived in the presence of God and ends in His still nearer
presence, that the Christian is willing to endure as he does.
 The greatness of the goal makes the toil worth while.
—Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)
1 Timothy 4:8a
8a For bodily exercise profiteth little:
1 Timothy 4:8a
 There are those who believe that Paul is downgrading physical exercise.
 I don't understand it that way at all.
 Paul spent about three years in Ephesus where there was a great coliseum in
which the Olympic Games were held at times.
 The coliseum seated 100,000 people, and foot races were often held there.
 Paul uses the figure of the race and compares it to the Christian life and walk in
1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
 Paul knew something about exercise.
 I stood in the city of Sardis one time and observed the Roman road that was
being excavated to the east and the west of that city.

26.  Paul walked that road nineteen hundred years ago, preaching the Gospel of
Christ.
 He didn't travel in a bus or in an automobile.
 He didn't ride a horse or even a donkey.
 Paul walked there, and it took a rugged individual to cover the ground that he
covered throughout the Roman Empire.
 He may not have done much jogging, but he did a great deal of walking.
 Paul's emphasis on godliness rather than on physical exercise is because the
Ephesians were a people given over to games and athletics.
 We are also that kind of a nation.
 Many of our cities have coliseums where great spectacles are conducted, and
many believers put more emphasis on athletics than they do on the things of
God.
 There are church officers who spend more time during the summer in the ball
park than they spend in prayer meetings.
 Paul is not saying bodily exercise is wrong.
 He is saying, "Let's hold things in correct perspective."
 "But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is,
and of that which is to come."
 Bodily exercise will help you only in this life, because when you get a new body
it won't make any difference whether you've exercised this one or not.
 "But godliness is profitable unto all things."
 Those who argue that a Christian can fall into sin and can always come back
to God on easy terms are right.
 But, my friend, a godly life pays off not only down here, it will pay off in eternity.
 The Prodigal Son lost a great deal by going to the far country, and any
Christian who lives a careless life rather than a godly life will find that even in
eternity he will pay for it.
 Are you as anxious about godliness as you are about physical exercise, about
athletic events?
 The physical ends at the end of this life, but godliness is carried over into the
next.
 There is no effective spiritual ministry apart from personal godliness, since
ministry is the overflow of a godly life.
 J. Oswald Sanders wrote,
◦ "Spiritual ends can be achieved only by spiritual men who employ spiritual
methods" (Spiritual Leadership, 40).
 Spurgeon described in the following words the minister who, lacking godliness
in his own life, would seek to lead others to it:
◦ “A graceless pastor is a blind man elected to a professorship of optics,
philosophising upon light and vision, discoursing upon and distinguishing to
others the nice shades and delicate blendings of the prismatic colours, while
he himself is absolutely in the dark! He is a dumb man elevated to the chair
of music; a deaf man fluent upon symphonies and harmonies! He is a mole
professing to educate eagles; a limpet elected to preside over angels.”
(Lectures to My Students, first series, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980, 4)

27.  Discipline is from gumnazo, from which our English words "gymnasium" and
"gymnastics" derive.
 It means "to train," or "to exercise."
 The word speaks of the rigorous, strenuous, self-sacrificing training an athlete
undergoes.
 Every Greek city had its gymnasium, and Ephesus was no exception.
 Youths customarily spent much of their time from ages sixteen to eighteen in
physical training.
 That was vital, since life in those days involved much physical activity.
 There was a great emphasis on physical training and the glory of winning
athletic events.
 By using gumnazo, Paul plays off that cultural phenomenon and applies it to
the spiritual realm.
 As Greek culture emphasized dedicated training of the body, Paul urged
Timothy to discipline himself for the purpose of godliness.
 The present tense of the verb indicates that was to be Timothy's constant
pursuit.
 Timothy was to train his inner man for godliness.
 Eusebeia (godliness) expresses the reality of reverence, piety, and true spiritual
virtue.
 Godliness is a right attitude and response toward the true Creator God; a
preoccupation from the heart with holy and sacred realities.
 It is respect for what is due to God, and is thus the highest of all virtues.
 In 1 Timothy 6:3 it is said to be at the heart of truth.
False Doctrine and Human Greed
1 Timothy 6:2b-12
2b Teach and encourage these things. 3 If anyone teaches other doctrine and
does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the
teaching that promotes godliness, 4 he is conceited, understanding nothing,
but has a sick interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come
envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant disagreement among
people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that
godliness is a way to material gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is a great
gain.
7 For we brought nothing into the world,
and we can take nothing out.
8 But if we have food and clothing,
we will be content with these.
9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish
and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the
love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have
wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

28. Fight the Good Fight
11 But you, man of God, run from these things,
and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, endurance, and gentleness.
12 Fight the good fight for the faith;
take hold of eternal life
that you were called to
and have made a good confession about
in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:2b-12
 2 Peter 1:3 says that godliness comes from Christ, while 1 Timothy 6:11 balances
that by teaching that believers must pursue it.
 According to Acts 3:12 it brings power, while 2 Timothy 3:12 indicates it brings
trouble.
 1 Timothy 6:5-6 says that it brings eternal blessings.
 Godliness is the heart and soul of Christian character, and the aim of Christian
living (1 Timothy 2:2; 2 Peter 3:11).
 Spiritual self-discipline is the key to godly living.
 Paul wrote,
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives
the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 And everyone who
competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to
receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such
a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I
buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to
others, I myself should be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
 In 2 Corinthians 7:1 he exhorted us to "cleanse ourselves from all defilement of
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
 Paul commanded Timothy,
2 Timothy 2:3-5
3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in
active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may
please the One Who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes as
an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the
rules. 2 Timothy 2:3-5
 Here Paul likens spiritual discipline to that required of a soldier and an athlete.
 Such discipline is necessary for victory in war, or in the games.
 The lack of spiritual discipline is the primary reason so many spiritual leaders fall
into sin.

29.  They fail to spend time cultivating the means of grace, in the Word, in prayer,
and in self-sacrificial service.
 An excellent minister is to pursue godliness, not success (cf. 1 Timothy 1:5; 2:8;
3:2, 10; 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:1, 21-22).
 He will one day hear from the Lord,
Matthew 25:21a
21a Well done, good and faithful slave
Matthew 25:21a
 In Paul's day, as in our own, there was a great emphasis on bodily discipline.
 While helpful, such discipline is only of little profit.
 Paul is showing that it is limited both in extent and duration.
 Bodily discipline affects only the physical body during this earthly life.
 On the other hand, godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for
the present life and also for the life to come.
 Unlike bodily discipline, godliness is profitable for the soul as well as the body.
 Its positive effects are also not limited to this life, because it holds promise for
the present life and also for the life to come.
 Cultivating godliness will bring benefits in the present life (cf. Prov 3:7-8), but it
will primarily bring blessedness for all eternity.
 So axiomatic is the truth of verse 8 that Paul calls it a trustworthy statement
deserving full acceptance.
1 Timothy 4:9
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
1 Timothy 4:9
 Paul is emphasizing the point he has just made.
 In other words, he says, "Here's something you can count on."
 You could count on it in the first century in Ephesus, and you can count on it in
Jackson, Mississippi in the twenty first century.
 And we can count on it in the twenty-first century, if we make it that far.
 As noted in chapter 3 of this volume, a trustworthy statement is a self-evident,
obvious statement.
 It is something so patently clear that everyone acknowledges it.
 This affirmation refers back to verse 8, not ahead to the comment in verse 10.
 It is axiomatic that believers are to be disciplining themselves for godliness
because of its eternal value.
 Godliness, not fame, popularity, or reputation, is the pursuit of the excellent
minister, who must be an example of spiritual virtue to his flock.
 He must apply all the means of grace as he endeavors to be able to say, as did
Paul,
1 Corinthians 11:1
11 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ 1 Corinthians 11:1

30. AN EXCELLENT MINISTER IS COMMITTED TO HARD WORK
1 Timothy 4:10
10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the
living God, Who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
1 Timothy 4:10
1 Timothy 4:10a KJV
10a For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach,
1 Timothy 4:10a KJV
 If you stand for Jesus Christ today it will cost you something. There is no question
about that.
 What Scripture does say is that He is the Savior of all men.
 Whoever you are, He's your Savior and He's the only Savior.
1 Timothy 4:10d
10d Specially of those that believe.
1 Timothy 4:10d
 He is the Savior of all men, but you can turn Him down if you want to.
 Let me illustrate this for you.
 They say that a plane leaves the Los Angeles International Airport every minute,
and I could get on any one of them (if I had the courage!).
 All I need to do is get a ticket and get on the plane.
 It's a plane for everybody, you see, but not everybody will take it.
 Christ is the Savior of all men, but only those who believe will be saved (see
John 3:16; 1 John 2:2).
 The ministry of excellence is not only a heavenly pursuit demanding divine
power, but also an earthly task, demanding hard work.
 As already noted, for this connects verse 10 with verse 8.
 The goal of laboring and striving is godliness, with its eternal implications.
 Kopiao (labor) means "to work to the point of weariness and exhaustion."
 Agonizomai (strive) is the source of our English word "agony."
 It means "to engage in a struggle."
 In 2 Corinthians 5:9-11, Paul gives two reasons such hard work is necessary:
believers will appear before the judgment seat of Christ (v. 10), and unbelievers
will face God's eternal judgment (v. 11; Colossians 1:28-29).
 The knowledge of this demand for diligent labor spurs the excellent minister on
to serious efforts.
 No wonder Henry Martyn, the missionary to India, exclaimed, "Now let me burn
out for God."
 Because of his diligent, hard work as a missionary to the American Indians,
David Brainerd was dead before he reached thirty.
 Ministers of God are engaged in an eternal work, with the destiny of men's souls
at stake.

31.  The urgency of that work drives them on, through weariness, loneliness, and
struggle.
 J. Oswald Sanders wrote,
◦ "If he is unwilling to pay the price of fatigue for his leadership, it will always
be mediocre. . . . True leadership always exacts a heavy toll on the whole
man, and the more effective the leadership is, the higher the price to be
paid" (Spiritual Leadership, 175, 169).
 Paul affirmed to the Galatians that through the cross of Christ
Galatians 6:14b NASB
14b the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world
Galatians 6:14b NASB
 To the Corinthians he wrote,
1 Corinthians 9:16-17, 26-27
16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under
compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 17 For if I do this
voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship
entrusted to me. . . . 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box
in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I buffet my body and make it my
slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be
disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:16-17,26-27
1 Timothy 4:10
10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the
living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
Object1
1 Timothy 4:10
 These passages speak of Paul's commitment to hard work and privation, a
commitment evidenced by his suffering recorded in 2 Cor 11.
 An excellent minister lives with hope and is not motivated by instant
gratification or immediate fulfillment.
 He has fixed his hope on the living God.
 The perfect tense of the verb indicates something done in the past with
continuing results in the present.
 He constantly labors in the light of eternity.
 As he was saved in hope (Rom 8:24), so he lives and ministers in that hope.
 His concerns do not relate to the temporal world or earthly fulfillment, but to the
realm of eternity and the invisible kingdom.
 The phrase the living God is used frequently in the Old Testament in contrast
with dead idols (1 Sam 17:26; 2 Kings 19:4, 16; Ps 42:2; 84:2).
 Excellent ministers do not serve dead idols for earthly rewards, but the eternally
living and true God for results and rewards that will only be known in Heaven.
 In what sense God is the Savior of all men, especially of believers has been
much disputed.

32.  Some, wanting to eliminate the Scriptural teaching of an eternal hell, argue
that Paul here teaches universalism, that all men will be saved.
 That view violates the basic hermeneutical principle known as analogia
Scriptura.
 According to that principle, the Bible never contradicts itself.
 It will never teach something in one passage that violates what it teaches
elsewhere.
 The Bible clearly teaches that those who reject God will be sentenced to hell
(Rev 20:11-15).
 Matt 25:41 and 46 state that the duration of that punishment will be eternal.
 2 Thess 1:8-9 says that those who do not know God and refuse to obey the
Gospel will suffer eternal punishment away from God's presence.
 Jesus repeatedly spoke of the danger of hell (Matt 8:12; 13:41-42,49-50; 22:13;
24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28).
 He solemnly warned those who rejected Him that they would die in their sins
(John 8:24).
 Universalism is undeniably contrary to Scripture, since the same words in the
original that describe hell as eternal also describe God and heaven as eternal.
 A second view might be dubbed the potential/actual view.
 According to this view, Christ is potentially the savior of all men, but actually
only of those who believe.
 It is true that Christ's death was powerful enough to have redeemed the whole
human race and to satisfy the justice of God and remove the barrier between
God and all men.
 Therefore, all can be called to salvation and justly damned if they refuse that
call.
 By means of Christ's death, God made provision for the sins of the world.
 That such is not the teaching of this verse, however, is revealed by the use of
the adverb malista (especially), which must mean that all men will enjoy to
some extent the same kind of salvation as believers enjoy.
 The adverb is not adversative or contrastive, it cannot be saying that all men
are saved in one sense, but believers in another.
 The difference is one of degree, not kind.
 It seems best to understand this verse to be teaching that God is really the
Savior of all men, who actually does save them — but only in the temporal
sense, while believers He saves in the eternal sense.
 In both cases, He is their Savior and there is a saving that He does on their
behalf.
 In this life, all men experience to some degree the protecting, delivering,
sustaining power of God.
 Believers will experience that to the fullest degree for time and for all eternity.
 The word Savior is not always in Scripture limited to salvation from sin.
 In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, soter (Savior) is
sometimes used in the lesser sense of "deliverer" (cf. Judg 3:9; 6:14; 2 Sam 3:18; 2
Kings
 Words in the same word group occasionally have that sense in the New

33. Testament as well ( Luke 1:71; Acts 7:25; 27:34; Phil 1:19; Heb 11:7).
 A related word, sozo ("to save") is used in the Gospels to refer to physical
healing (Matt 9:21-22; Mark 5:23; Luke 8:36,50; John 11:12; cf. Acts 4:9).
 God is the Savior of all men in that He withholds the death and judgment all
sinners should receive because of sin (Ezek 18:4,32; Rom 6:23).
 The reality that God delivers men from instant damnation and does "good and
[gives them] rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying [their] hearts with
food and gladness" (Acts 14:17) shows He is the Savior of all.
 He graciously gives "to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25), and
"causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous
and the unrighteous" (Matt 5:45).
 He gives common grace to all men.
 Unbelievers experience God's goodness and mercy in that they are not
instantly killed for their sin.
 Nor does He give them constant pain and permanent deprivation.
 They experience His temporal blessings in this life.
 That principle is illustrated in Isaiah 63:8-10:
Isaiah 63:8-10
8 For He said, "Surely, they are My people,
Sons who will not deal falsely."
So He became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,
And the angel of His presence saved them;
In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them,
And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.
10 But they rebelled
And grieved His Holy Spirit;
Therefore, He turned Himself to become their enemy,
He fought against them.”
Isaiah 63:8-10
 Verse 8 says God became Israel's Savior.
 He brought the nation out of Egypt, and cared for them.
 He provided food, water, and deliverance from their enemies.
 That He was not the Savior in a spiritual sense of every Israelite is clear from
verse 10, which says He became their enemy and fought against them.
 That passage is analogous to Paul's thought in 1 Timothy 4:10.
 God is the Savior of all men in the temporal sense, and especially of believers in
the spiritual sense that they are delivered from sin's penalty forever!
 So the excellent minister has no trouble working hard proclaiming the saving
glory and work of God in Christ, knowing he serves the living God, Who is by
nature the Savior both in time and for eternity.
 That eternal aspect of God's saving was what motivated Paul to endure what
he suffered in the course of his Gospel ministry.
 The excellent minister's labor must not be done in the power of the flesh, but of

34. the Spirit.
 Paul strikes that balance in Colossians 1:28-29:
Colossians 1:28-29
And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with
all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this
purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works
within me. Colossians 1:28-29
 Hard work in the ministry must be energized by God's power at work in the
minister.
 Vine describes it as:
◦ "piety characterized by a God-ward attitude that does that which is well-
pleasing to Him“.
 Godliness is also described as:
◦ “character and conduct determined by the principles of the love of God
and the fear of God in the heart”.
 Godliness could be summarized as:
◦ pious conduct done with a desire to please God.
 Godliness is the reverent awareness of God's sovereignty over every aspect of
life, and the determination to honor Him in all one's conduct.
 "Godliness" and "holiness" denote one reality (the terms are joined in 1 Tim 2:2 ;
and in 2 Peter 3:11 ).
 Godliness depends on knowing God's revealed truth. Paul speaks of "the
knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness" ( Titus 1:1 ), and of "godly sorrow
that leads to salvation" ( 2 Cor 7:10 ). Peter declares that God's "divine power
has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge
of Him" ( 2 Peter 1:3 ). God imparts knowledge of Himself by revealing His Son.
 The godly person is committed to obeying God in the world: "We know that
God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will"
( John 9:31 ). The shape of obedience is clarified by the terms to which
"godliness" is joined. "But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, endurance and gentleness" ( 1 Tim 6:11 ). "Make every effort to add
to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-
control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and
to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love" ( 2 Peter 1:5-
7 )qualities which, in turn, deepen one's "knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ"
( 1:8 ). Christ, moreover, furnishes power for the godly life: "Why do you stare at
us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" asks Peter
( Acts 3:12 ). Without divine power, godliness becomes an empty form ( 2 Tim
3:5 ).
 Godliness in both respects (knowledge of God and holiness of life) is
jeopardized by the propagation of falsehood: "If anyone teaches false

35. doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ
and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an
unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy,
strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of
corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness
is a means to financial gain" ( 1 Tim 6:3-5 ). Accordingly, "the wrath of God is
being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of
men who suppress the truth by their wickedness" ( Rom 1:18 ).
 Godliness is costly: "everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted" ( 2 Tim 3:12 ). Hope of eternal life enables them to endure. "The
Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for
the day of judgment" ( 2 Peter 2:9 ; 3:11-12 ). "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" ( 1 Tim 4:7-8 ). Grace
teaches us "to say No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-
controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the
blessed hope the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ"
( Titus 2:12-13 ). Seeing this life in light of the next encourages "godliness with
contentment" ( 1 Tim 6:6-7 ).
 J. Knox Chamblin
 Bibliography. W. Barclay, New Testament Words, pp. 106-16; J. Bridges, The
Practice of Godliness; W. Foerster, TDNT, 7:168-96; W. Mundle and W. Gnther,
NIDNTT, 2:90-95.
 Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Edited by Walter A. Elwell
Copyright © 1996 by Walter A. Elwell. Published by Baker Books, a division of
Baker Book House Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan USA.
 god·ly [god-lee] Show IPA
adjective, god·li·er, god·li·est.
1. conforming to the laws and wishes of God; devout; pious.
2. coming from God; divine.
Origin: before 1000; Middle English; Old English godlīc. See God, -ly
 Related forms
god·li·ness, noun
 Synonyms
1. religious, saintly, holy, righteous, good.
 Antonyms
1. wicked, impious.

36. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB
1 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will
be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to
parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips,
without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness,
although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB
 That should elicit from our hearts a reverence for him.
 What are the marks of these false teachers?
 For one thing, they preach one thing but practice another.
 They are such hypocrites that they even "brand" their own consciences by their
willful disobedience to God's Word!
 They read the Word but explain it away through their self-serving lies.
 They teach a false piety - namely, asceticism, that is, abstaining from marriage
and certain foods.
 There are some so-called "Christian" groups that have never studied Col 2 to
discover that bodily disciplines do not automatically advance spiritual life.
1 Timothy 4:8 NIV 1984
8 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. 1
Timothy 4:8 NIV 1984
 Godliness is more than Christian character:
◦ It is Christian character that springs from a devotion to God.
 But it is also true that devotion to God always results in godly character.
 The essential elements of devotion must express themselves in a life that is
pleasing to God.
 Godliness is more than Christian character:
◦ It is Christian character that springs from a devotion to God.
 But it is also true that devotion to God is always