Latest / The Daily Word / June 22 – Training for Godliness
Transcript
- Cory Barnes: Well hello, it's Pastor Jenny here. We are in First Timothy chapter four on June 22nd, 2026. And love reading through Timothy. Perhaps it's because I'm a leader in the church, and so anytime I'm reading Timothy, especially as I like to consider myself a young leader, don't we all like to consider ourselves young? ⁓ ⁓ but yes, I do think I'm certainly a young leader in the church. And while there are those younger before me, I always love reading through Timothy and it and receiving from Paul, ⁓ and reading how Paul is encouraging Timothy as a young pastor, leader, shepherd in the church. But even if you don't find yourself being a pastor shepherd, such as myself, this scripture and text certainly applies, and we know that because if it didn't apply to All of us in some way, ⁓ if it wasn't useful for all of us in some way. God wouldn't have put it in his word. ⁓ so I want to share with you today out of First Timothy chapter four ⁓ a couple of scriptures. I'm gonna share with you verses seven through eight, and then I'm gonna jump down to verse sixteen. But the whole passage, it's of course a great passage. ⁓ verse seven starts with this though. ⁓ Paul tells Timothy, well, let me start with verse six, give you a little more context. It says, if you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. So he's talking about some teachings that he had shared before that. So be sure to read verses one through five. ⁓ but this is where I really want to pick up. Being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Key word there, training. Being trained. This is where I wanted to really highlight in verse seven. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. In this passage ⁓ from verse eight, ⁓ it cross references Hebrews five fourteen, which I want to share with you. ⁓ or really I'm sorry, verse seven cross references Hebrews 5 14, which you might be familiar with. It says this, but solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment, how do they get that? Trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. We are trained in so many areas of life. I mean Think about it. From the time we're young, most go to preschool and then you go to kindergarten all the way through high school. Many go on these days to get some sort of ⁓ degree, ⁓ whether it's an associate's bachelor's, maybe you get a certification for what you're doing. ⁓ but even if you don't ⁓ have a a an official certification or certificate, most people are gonna have some type of continuing education. Because even to just get a job. There's train on the job training and things that have to be done to learn what to do next. ⁓ and of course, Paul's writing here to Timothy and he he compares bodily training, so exercise, ⁓ making sure that your body is well taken care of. While he's not diminishing that, he says that is there is value in that. So everyone please note taking care of your body, there's importance to that. But he says this. We have to make sure we are training ourselves for godliness. I love verse seven because it says have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths. Rather, train yourself for godliness. People were getting so caught up in other ways of thinking. ⁓ you know, you have to remember the times they were living in where there's so many ⁓ you know, other littly gods, so many types of religions to follow. There was all of this sw whirling around. And so when he says, don't get caught up with these ⁓ silly myths, that we can look at that and think, Yeah, can't believe they were doing that. But we do the same thing today. There's so many things we get caught up in, it just maybe looks a little different. Maybe we get caught up with science and technology and so many other things that we're what are we focusing our attention on? Instead of training ourselves up for godliness. And there's no condemnation in this, but again, have you caught yourself? I don't have time to pray because I don't have time to spend time in God's word because I don't have time to spend time with God because I don't have time to go to church because fill in the blank. Training requires time, requires investment. No different than going to the gym. requires that training and that investment. Training ⁓ in godliness, train yours rather train yourself for godliness, it is a thing. It has to be done. ⁓ it doesn't we don't just suddenly like become fit in our physical body and we don't suddenly just become mature believers in Christ. ⁓ it is a process. And if you want to be able to grow, you have to invest and do the things that require training. Now wanted to jump down because I told you I had another verse that stuck out to me today, and that is verse 16. And so this really is gonna lean in to all of us, but specifically for those of us that are leaders in the church. We're serving, we have those under us that we are caring for and shepherding. And so again, you don't have to just be a you don't have to be a pastor with a position. You could be one of our ⁓ kids L Kids team leaders, one of our youth volunteers, maybe you're a worship team member. If you have anyone under you that you're shepherding and caring for, I want you to listen closely to this verse. ⁓ but maybe you're a mom at home, a dad, a ⁓ grandparent, you know, a guardian of children, maybe you're a teacher, you're if you have anyone under your care in any capacity, I would say this verse applies to you. Verse 16 says this, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save. Both yourself and your hearers. It's the last scripture of what Tim or Paul shares with Timothy. And he's telling, he's reminding Timothy, Hey, Timothy, you can't just walk, you can't just teach things to people. You can't just tell them, Do what I say, not as I do. You have to you have to be doing the things that you're teaching. And in order to do the things that you're teaching, you have to make sure you're keeping a close eye on yourself and that you're looking at yourself. so as we're training, so I want to encourage I was encouraged in two things today, and I want to encourage you. As we are training ourselves up in godliness, which what does that mean? That means ⁓ it does mean knowing training ourselves up in godliness means becoming more like Christ. How do we become more like someone? We spend time with them. How do we spend time with God? Well, He's given us first and foremost, He's given us His Word. To understand his character, to understand who he is. So the there's a starting place. That's why we encourage for you to spend time growing in God's word, hearing God's word. Because we have to understand the character of Christ to put on the character of Christ. ⁓ but we also have to grow in our knowledge of Christ. ⁓ so that is why we, of course, we come together in our corporate worship on Sundays, getting involved in a small group, being around other believers where we can not only discuss but grow in our knowledge and revelation of God's words. We have ⁓ at Lake Shore, we have discipleship classes that are really going to help you grow in your knowledge and understanding of God's word because while reading it individually is so important and so vital as you're growing and learning, ⁓ there's another level of these things that can, it can and should and are supposed to be revealed to us Through the gifts of those he has called to be teachers. And we have some phenomenal teachers that God has gifted us at our church, beginning with Pastor Gill, our senior leader. And so as God has gifted and graced our church with these things, we can come under that shepherding and that care. but maturing, growing, being trained in ways of godliness, it's important. And then as we're doing that, being reminded that we have to keep an eye on ourselves though, no matter where we're at, if we're at in the early days of our faith or if we're far along in maturity, always, always we must keep an eye on ourselves because that's how we can continue to grow and mature in this thing. We're never gonna reach a pinnacle of maturity. We never actually reach the, hey, you get the certificate of ⁓ you you can go no further in your education. There's always a growing in our education and followers of Jesus and being disciples. There's always more to learn, even on the same subjects. God continues, it's like peeling back an onion. Layer after layer, it we we grow from faith to faith. And so I l love being in relationship with Jesus. I love being in relationship with others, but God's because God is continually growing me in that. But in all of that, if I take my eyes off of myself in the sense of I'm not looking to say, Lord, show in me, reveal in me if there's any areas I've you know, tried to hide from you. Anything that's hidden in my heart, keep keep myself we have to keep ourselves humble before Him. ⁓ or we deceive ourselves and we actually ⁓ become less mature, I'll say. So that's all we have. That's we're out of time for today. But I hope ⁓ you're encouraged in some way. we would love to hear and know what God's speaking to you. So ⁓ we love it when we get text ⁓ or when you share. I hope you're finding people to share what God's speaking to you through the reading ⁓ because what God's saying matters and you matter. So let me pray for you. Lord, we love you. We thank you for your word. We thank you that you've called us together here in community. Thank you, Lord. ⁓ for reminding us that being trained up in godliness, it does matter. It is important that there are ways to do it. Holy Spirit, would you ⁓ quicken and show us any areas in which we need to invest more time as we are to be trained up so that we can mature and grow in the ways to be able to discern between good and evil, between that which is maybe even e growing in wisdom and good and better. But Lord, we do live in the end times where deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons are very real. And your word tells us that in the last days, even in this chapter in Timothy, people will be led astray from the faith by these doctrines of demons. And we must grow in maturity and in our faith so that we do not become part of that falling away. Lord, when we can discern your truth and your word, ⁓ We don't have to worry about that, Lord. We can be confident that our salvation is in you and that we can discern good from evil. So, Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for carving the path and the way that your word is a lamp unto our feet. And so as we go into our day, help us to see all that you have for us. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.