1 Timothy 4-7-10

Recently I saw a book for sale on the Internet called “99+1 good reasons not to exercise”. With it, the item’s description: “The ideal gift to remove all guilt from those who are not jogging addicts.” Of course, this is in the 2nd degree, in a humorous tone. We all know very well that sport and physical activity in general are necessary for the proper development and maintenance of our bodies, that it's good for us. We can find all the reasons in the world for not exercising (“I don't have the time”, “it's too cold outside”, “it's raining”, “And sometimes some of these excuses can be really legitimate, and sometimes... a little less so...

But despite the multitude of “false good reasons” we can find for not exercising, this doesn't change the fact that sport is good for our health, and our bodies need it. We all know that regular physical activity is good for us, but very often - when it comes to actually doing it - we have to fight against a whole host of reasons for not doing it. I'm certainly not going to judge anyone on this point, I've had a racing bike in Paris since 2021, and since then, it's been carefully stored on my balcony and hasn’t moved.

If the so-called good reasons for not exercising are numerous, the so-called good reasons for not seeking God and not committing to God are even more so, and can take various forms: they can be false teachings that look biblical but turn people away from Jesus Christ, they can be philosophical precepts such as “life is short, so make the most of it”, they can be relativism, the idea that “each person has his or her own truth, that there is no single truth”, etc.

But despite all this, the greatest need of human beings remains God Himself. We'll look at this today with today's message: “3 great reasons to practice being committed to God”.

I – To commit to God is to commit to truth

A few words of context are necessary to fully understand the purpose of the passage:

Timothy is a young pastor just starting out in the ministry, and Paul is his spiritual mentor. Paul asks him to restore order to the church in Ephesus, notably by refuting the false teachings circulating and instead to present the truth of the Gospel, both in his words, deeds and conduct.

In chapters 2 and 3 in particular, Paul explains how we should behave in the Church - how the truth of the Gospel should transform us as Christians, and how elders and deacons should exemplify this. He concludes by recalling the reason and source of this transformation: JESUS CHRIST Himself (ch.3 v.16).

However (beginning of ch.4), Paul explains that not everyone believes and follows this truth, but that some stray into false teachings and totally useless rules, and Timothy must refute these false teachings circulating in the Ephesian church.

Then comes verse 7: “But reject profane and old wives’ fables and exercise yourself toward godliness. (version: NKJV).” For example, the word “godliness”, a central term in this text, is translated as “piety” in the ESV translation and is to be understood in this sense: GODLINESS>> COMMITMENT TO GOD. The mention of “old wives fables*” is surprising and seems to refer to a context specific to Ephesus. The ESV translation is “irrelevant and silly myths”.

Finally, Paul says, “Reject irreverent, silly myths and exercise or train yourself towards”. Paul uses the Greek verb “gumnazo” (gymnastics) to present commitment to God as an exercise that Christians must perform on a daily basis. He develops this idea further.

Paul first tells them to “reject irreverent, silly myths that are contrary to the faith” and then “train yourselves instead to commit to God, doing this as a daily discipline.”

In my opinion, the relationship between these 2 orders is quite simple: the lies around us are so numerous, that we must continually practice committing ourselves to God, to the truth, so as not to let these lies distract us.

The exercise of committing or clinging to God stems from what we believe. So we must be sure to filter our thoughts to always believe the pure truth of the Gospel. Believing this Gospel truth has the consequence that we will allow ourselves to be shaped by it in order to cling to God and love Him more and more: love Him with all our heart, soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).

This is the only command given in this passage: to reject lies and instead practice commitment to God. The rest of the passage serves to explain why we need to do this.

3 great reasons to train ourselves to commit to God: the 1st great reason is that committing to God means committing to the truth. We'll now see in part 2 that to committing to God is to commit to life.

II – To commit to God is to commit to life

Then comes the famous verse 8, which is the favorite verse of Christians who do not like sport: “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. (NKJV). / 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 (ESV) ”. Contrary to a fairly widespread interpretation, Paul is not contrasting physical exercise with commitment to God.

Rather, he makes an analogy, explaining why we should train ourselves to become ever more commitment to God using the example of sport, which began in verse 7 with the Greek verb “gumnazo”, and is taken up again in verse 8 with the word “gumnasia” for “physical exercise”. Paul deliberately and intentionally uses the lexical field of sport to refer to the work of committing to God every day of our lives. What does this mean?

Sport characterizes human life. Regular and persevering physical activity is beneficial: it characterizes a healthy lifestyle and helps maintain a certain level of physical health. In Greco-Roman culture (as in our own), sport was seen as a means of becoming better, of surpassing oneself, of growing, of disciplining the body… Many Greco-Roman cities, such as Ephesus, had gymnasiums where citizens could go there and train, and which were used to train young people through physical activity. In France, for example, we have the Ministry of Youth and Sports (it seems to me that the wording has changed with the context of the Olympic Games, but you get the idea). Using the image of sport was very relevant for the Ephesians and for Timothy, whose father was Greek. They weren't necessarily great sportsmen, but the image of sport spoke to them.

Paul says that sport is useful for few things, but commitment to God is useful for everything, because it has the promise of the present life and of that which is to come.

In fact, commitment to God characterizes true life. Practicing commitment to God is difficult because everything in this world and in our own flesh pushes us to detach ourselves from God. Commitment to God literally means swimming against the current, all the time. And Paul is honest with us: it's hard, it's intense... But it's proof that we're alive. And here is a very important point :

Nobody exercises IN ORDER TO be alive... it's BECAUSE we're alive that we can exercise. A dead person, by definition, cannot engage in any physical activity. Similarly, commitment to God is only possible for those who are spiritually alive, who have been born again. It's BECAUSE we're saved and alive in Jesus Christ that we can and do practice committing ourselves to Him, whatever the price, it's always worth it. It's not our human efforts that can save us; on the contrary, the exercise of godliness is a consequence of salvation. We are saved in Jesus Christ, we are a new creation, and just as physical exercise - though beneficial - characterizes our human - earthly - life, so the exercise of attachment to God characterizes our new life, true life, now and forever.

Verse 9: This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance (NKJV). / The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance (ESV).

3 great reasons to train ourselves to commit to God: commitment to God is commitment to the truth, commitment to God is commitment to life... and finally: commitment to God produces results. We’ll get into this point after a break- let us now sing.

III – Commitment to God produces results

Piety or godliness has the promise of the present life and the life to come.

Paul continues his development in verse 10: “For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe (NKJV).”. Other translations say “For to this end we toil and strive” (ESV).

Hope in God means hard work and struggle. This is because hope in God rivals all the false hopes of this world: there's a fight, a struggle. This struggle takes place first and foremost in our minds, but also within our lives, in our relationships with our peers. Our colleagues at work, our friends, sometimes our government, sometimes even our own family, sometimes life's circumstances : not only do they not encourage us to persevere in our commitment to God, they can even seek to turn us away from it (this is one of the reasons why Paul in chapter 2 encourages us to pray for our authorities so that we can freely live out our commitment to God). We're all in that kind of situation where we say to ourselves “if I could put my faith aside at least now, it would save me this or that difficulty”.

Let's keep in mind that God, in choosing to save us, has enabled us to persevere to the end.

Commitment to God nourishes our hope: we see in verses 1 to 5 a vicious circle: those who follow false teachings, which lead them to practice stupid and useless rules that cause them to go further and further astray. In opposition to this, a virtuous circle in verses 7 to 10: those who put their hope in God (v.10), and this hope leads them to work for what is of eternal value, and this work makes them grow in hope and the promise of eternal life. On the one hand, a vicious circle that leads some astray into lies; on the other, a virtuous circle that allows others to grow in truth. Commitment to God produces results.

Commitment to God bears witness to the Gospel: in the context of this letter, Timothy must embody the Gospel for the lost. The salvation of the lost is an important theme in Paul’s letter to Timothy (several verses testify to this, and a mention appears in v. 10: to be understood in the sense that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation for all men whatever they may be, and therefore only those who place their faith in Jesus Christ are saved). For Timothy, as for us, our commitment to God will enable us to bear witness to these people. The message of the Gospel is communicated not just by words, but by a whole life: by deeds, by conduct, by behavior.

I have a group of non-Christian friends that I've known since the beginning of high school (10 years already). When they found out I was a Christian, there were a lot of questions and discussions about faith for the first 6 months since my conversion. As soon as they had the answers to their questions, we had fewer and fewer discussions on the topic and they continued observing my life: so the witness I had with them, first of all verbally, was also extended through the way I lived my life (it was of course a very imperfect testimony, constantly being perfected, and this is also why Paul encourages us to practice godliness, because even beyond our imperfections and shortcomings, it produces results).

This is all the more true with the people with whom we live daily, in our families, in our marriage, but also with our colleagues at work, for example. Our attachment to God has a powerful impact on the people around us.

TO CONCLUDE

Finally, Paul says to Timothy in verse 11 “Command and teach these things (ESV)”, which shows that this principle applies not only to Timothy, but also to all the Ephesian Christians, as well as to us.

The 3 great reasons to train oneself to commit to God:

• To commit to God is to commit to the truth.

• To commit to God is to commit to life

• Committing yourself to God produces results

Practice godliness / practice cleaving to God: this means persevering in faith, persevering in obedience to God. This spiritual training is necessary on a daily basis, because our carnal nature and the devil and the world are at work every day to turn us away from it, prescribing hundreds of “so-called good reasons” not to do it.

For the Ephesians, as for us, “old wives’ fables” are lies to be rejected. I'll give you some examples of the main “false good reasons” for not clinging to God that I've had to face throughout my Christian life and still face today:

• Lie number 1: “Life is short and goes by very quickly, so make the most of it.” In other words, use every moment of your earthly life for pleasure, to treat yourself. It's a piece of advice we hear a lot these days. It originated in Greek philosophy (Epicureanism) and was promulgated by people who did not believe in the existence of an afterlife, and who thought that everything depended on this earthly life. This is in total opposition to the hope of the Gospel and to what the apostle Paul tells us. If you struggle with this lie, remember that commitment to God has the promise of life now and life to come.

• Lie number 2: “The world is hard and mean, so you too must be tough, otherwise you'll get stepped on.” A piece of advice I heard a lot as a child, and which I also heard later in my professional life. In other words, “conform to the world to be like it”, another “false good reason” not to commit myself to God. Practicing godliness is precisely to practice conforming to God's will, and not to our carnal will or the will of the world.

• Lie number 3: “Where there's a will, there's a way.” If I have faith in myself and I'm determined and organized and never give up, nothing is impossible for me. What I need is to believe in myself and my abilities.” In other words, the solution is not in God but in you and your abilities, this lie tells us that I can be Almighty God all by myself - here's another “so-called good reason” not to cling to God, another lie. Practising godliness is precisely practising putting God's will before our own, and handing over every one of our projects and plans to Him.

The list goes on and on! I haven't even mentioned all the false beliefs around materialism, money, sexuality... If I don't work daily to cling to God and the truth, THESE lies will gain ground in my mind and little by little guide my words, my choices, my actions, my decisions... they will impact my relationships with those around me, and above all, my relationship with God.

Christians, churches and Christian organizations have sometimes completely turned away from the faith because they have allowed lies to creep in at the expense of the truth - and the letter to Timothy gives us several warnings on this subject. The battle is always in what we believe.

Let's reject the lies and train ourselves daily to commit to God, The Only One who is the exclusive Truth, The Only One who is the guarantor of Life (the present life, and the life to come), The Only One who can truly transform us to make us truly better and truly happy.