Timothy chapter 4, as we look at verses 6 through 10. We live in a dangerous world. I was in Chicago for a couple of days this last week and learned there are two kinds of pedestrians, the quick and the dead. We live in a dangerous world and those dangers include violence, crime, disease and wars. But the greatest danger in all of the world is in another category. The greatest danger in the world is the danger of false ideas. For these have the power to destroy not just the body, but the soul.
The Holy Spirit predicted that the later times would be especially intensely characterized by false ideas spun off by spiritual beings. The Holy Spirit tells us that demons will use humans as mouthpieces for their deceptive notions. These agents of the darkness will hypocritically lie, claiming things that are not so and they will do so, he says, without a pang of guilt in their conscience.
From whatever realm of society they come, be it science, entertainment, politics, education, the media, these pimps for the devil spread their false ideas so as to lead men away from the true knowledge of the living God. I believe we are living in those later times. These are perilous times. It is possible even for a child of God to become entangled in their deceptions. Not to become an apostate, I remind you, but yet to become ensnared so as to be tricked and ambushed by the devil.
The cost of that can be great. It means time, life wasted. It means others around us influenced in the wrong way. It means the possibility of being set aside as disqualified in this race of eternal life. It is not enough, however, for us to be warned about the danger, the menace that false ideas present. We must, on the other hand, be proactive. We must take certain measures to guard ourselves.
While we do indeed face dangers in a world like ours from false teachings, we can build walls of defense around us. We guard ourselves and build these walls when we take at least the three actions that are suggested by Paul as he writes to Timothy in these verses.
In pointing out these things to the brethren, he says to Timothy, 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, but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, 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. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, 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. The first wall of defense that we can build around ourselves is to nourish ourselves with a healthy spiritual diet. We see that in verses 6 and 7. You and I become what we eat.
With apologies to King David, someone has written the Dieter's Psalm. It says, My weight is my shepherd. I shall not want low-calorie foods. It maketh me to munch on potato chips and dip. It leadeth me into thirty-one flavors. It restoreth my fried foods. It leadeth me in the paths of cream puffs and bakeries. Yea, though I waddle through the valley of weight watchers, I will fear no skimmed milk, for my appetite is with me. My hostess twinkies and ding-dongs, they comfort me.
They anointeth my body with calories. My scale tippeth over. Surely chubbiness and contentment shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of Marie Callender Pies forever. We become what we eat. It goes from the lips to the hips, doesn't it? Somebody has said, don't wail on the scale if you cheat when you eat. I suppose you've heard about the new Chinese diet, have you heard about that? You can eat all you want to, you just get one chopstick.
Unlike clothing that we can put on and take off, what we put into our mouths becomes part of us. So if we eat junk food, we become unhealthy, overweight, and toxic. When we eat junk food, we are slowly poisoning ourselves. On the other hand, nutritious food builds strong bodies, resilient bodies, healthy bodies. We become what we eat. That's not only true of the physical body and the physical appetite, it's true also of the mind and the soul. Our soul food determines the state of our inner man.
Whether we are strong and vibrant inwardly, or sick and vulnerable, we need to nourish ourselves with a healthy spiritual diet. There is spiritual junk food, and Paul talks about it here. He describes it as worldly fables fit only for old women. This is a sarcastic epithet that Paul brings from the literature of that day. He is talking about the tall tales that grandmothers would often share with their grandchildren.
He is using that term to talk about the fanciful views, the opinions of false teachers. He is talking about false ideas that people are spreading, the speculations that originated in human thinking through demonic suggestions. We still have spiritual junk food today, and it is even more in abundance today than ever before like all other kinds of junk food.
Whether it be modern philosophies, or the writings of sociologists, the views of commentators on our times, authors who write about subjects that they truly are ignorant of, or entertainers who are steeped in a man-centered worldview, there is spiritual junk food on every shelf in our society. What the apostle tells us is that we must refuse spiritual nonsense, the junk food.
We are not to waste spiritual energy on useless controversies, silly ideas, meaningless debates that don't produce spiritual health in us and the advance of God's Kingdom. It is easy for us to get sucked into this whole thing of spiritual junk food. That's why he tells us that we are to be nourished constantly on the words of the faith and of Jesus Christ. These words of the faith and of sound doctrine are words of truth that we find in the Bible. He's talking here about good doctrine.
We are to nourish our minds and our souls on the truth of the Bible. When we do that, we build walls of defense around us so that when false ideas come along we're healthy. We don't succumb to the germs, the infections, and the food poisoning that comes from false teaching and false ideas. Nourish ourselves. He says on the faith and on healthy doctrine. How nourished are you in the Bible? How much time do you spend ingesting the truth of God's Word for your soul?
Or are you reading the junk food of our day? Do you have good Christian books? Solid, doctrinal books that you work your way through. One reason that we have a bookstore in our church is to make available those kinds of books. The kinds of books that will nourish you in the faith, in what you believe, in the person of Jesus Christ, and the knowledge of God.
I was talking with one well-known Christian author at a conference this last week, and with tongue in cheek he said, I'm going to start writing fiction. It's the only thing people are buying. You look at the bestseller list of Christian books and you find that time after time it's the fiction that rises to the top. Nothing wrong with good Christian fiction, but it's not the kind of stuff that's going to nourish you in the faith.
The kind of books that teach you about the Bible, that teach you the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Timothy had already made this a matter of lifestyle. Paul tells us that he had already been following this. He understood, he practiced a robust spiritual diet. May that be said of all of us, that we are eating the kinds of things for our souls that will nourish us inwardly and protect us. Failure to provide for yourself a healthy diet will leave you without defense against spiritual dangers.
There's a second action that we can take that will build an important wall and that is we need to commit ourselves to regular spiritual discipline. Again verses 7, 8 and 9 talk about this. Don't you wish you were possible to live without discipline? Suppose that you could just go out and spend without any restraint. Didn't have to worry about the charge coming back to you. Didn't have to worry about not having enough money in the bank. No discipline in your spending.
Wouldn't that be kind of fun? Just for a day. Don't you wish that you could sit down at the table and not have to think about gaining weight? That you could eat without limit. Don't you wish that you could be active all the time and didn't have to spend at least a third of your life sleeping? Think how many hours we're unconscious in our lives. If you live to be 75 years old you've spent 25 years in bed asleep. Don't you wish you didn't have to discipline yourself? But we do.
We have to discipline ourselves in every realm if we want to live a fulfilled life and no one can be disciplined for us. We're responsible to be disciplined ourselves. So he says to us, discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness. Discipline yourself. This word is from a verb, gum-nazo, from which we get our word gym. The gym in that day was the place where young men would go and strip down and work out in order to perfect their physiques. It refers to athletic training.
He tells us that we are to enter into athletic training. Last night I was on a stair climber and looked down and saw that message again that says stop exercising if you feel faint, pain or short of breath. I felt all of those things just looking at that stupid machine. But I have to get on it anyway. We have to discipline ourselves. Paul here does not denigrate physical exercise when he says that it's not as profitable as spiritual exercise.
But he does want us to know that while we discipline our bodies and exercise our bodies and that's good, it's even better to be spiritually disciplined. Like an athlete we are to give our full effort to achieving spiritual goals in our lives. We are to lay aside any and every encumbrance of unnecessary weight and besetting sin. We are to keep our eye on the goal which is godliness he says. By that he means that we are to aim so that our lives are god centered, godliness.
That isn't the way that we're naturally brought up in the world is it? Godliness doesn't come naturally. It only comes when we discipline ourselves spiritually. So regular spiritual discipline in prayer, in meditation on the word of God, of setting right priorities in our lives. Regular spiritual discipline promises the full experience of life that is in Jesus Christ. It brings benefit now in this life as does physical exercise. But beyond that it brings the benefit of life to come.
It prepares us for heaven. Spiritual laziness is an invitation to the devil to do his work. But spiritual discipline is a wall of defense that protects us. But there's a third action that builds another wall that's important to our defense in this world of dangers. It is that we should involve ourselves in rigorous spiritual duty. Pearl Buck said, we need to restore the full meaning of that old word duty. It is the other side of rights. Thankfully our society is beginning to understand that.
That while we talk about rights, there's another side to the story. It's called responsibility. It's called duty. Paul talks about that in verse 10 when he says, for this, that is the promise of life to come, for this he says, we labor and we strive. We have to remember that the spiritual life involves duty. A mother was having a hard time getting her son to leave for school one morning. And he said to her, nobody likes me at school. The teachers don't. The kids don't.
The superintendent wants me to transfer. The bus drivers hate me. The school board wants me to drop out. And the custodians have it in for me. I don't want to go. She said, you have to go. You're healthy. You have a lot to learn. You've got something to offer others. You're a leader besides you're 49 years old and you're the principal. Life has its duties. Life has its responsibilities, whether we feel like it or not. And often we don't.
Paul is saying here that we enter into struggling with opponents as in an arena. That is the word here for laboring and striving. He's talking about one who enters into the arena there to do battle. He is talking about the powers of darkness. And they're spinning off of these false ideas to lead men away from God. He says that we are in the arena. We are striving with them. Then dare we be less than strict and tough on ourselves when it comes to this responsibility.
Paul is not working for salvation here, but he is working for godliness. Salvation is by grace. It is a gift. But my friend, godliness takes responsibility. Godliness takes being rigorous in our duty for Jesus Christ. Someone has written, I cannot work my soul to save, for that my Lord has done, but I will work like any slave for love of God's dear Son. We see the apostle Paul here giving it all that he had. He was holding nothing back.
He was giving everything to the duty, the responsibility that he had in this world. And you and I need to do the same thing. I agree with Pearl Buck. We need to restore the full meaning of that old word, duty. The faith of believers does not rest upon the sinking sands of changing societal values, upon the shifting, faddish notions about life that are present in our world. Our faith rests upon something that is fixed and certain. That is the living God Himself. This living God is our Savior.
The apostle Paul says that He is the Savior of all men. Now, don't misunderstand him. He's not saying that all men are someday going to be saved by the Savior. He's not teaching universalism here. But he is saying that He, Jesus Christ, the living God, is the only Savior there is for all men. He's it. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. He is the Savior of all men. And he goes on to say, in a special sense, He is the Savior of those who believe.
That's because there's a relationship there between believers and the Savior. Do you have that relationship with Him? He is your Savior whether you have trusted Him or not. He's the only Savior you can ever have. And is He rather your Savior in this special sense that you have placed your faith in Him?
If you have, and if you're living in obedience to His Lordship in your life, then we invite you to come to the Lord's table with us and to remember the sacrifice that makes it possible for us to have eternal life. The shedding of His blood, the offering up of His body on the cross of Calvary where He paid for our sins. You see, our faith rests upon what these elements represent. That is, the finished work of Jesus Christ.
But though our faith rests solidly, what the apostle is warning us about here is the danger that we face in this world, and the awful possibility of having believed on Jesus Christ but then being disqualified in serving Him. Because we succumb to one of the tricks of the devil in getting us to think incorrectly, to adopt some false notion. To guard against that, we must nourish ourselves with a healthy spiritual diet. We must commit ourselves to regular spiritual discipline.
We must involve ourselves in rigorous spiritual duty. If we dare to attempt to live undernourished, undisciplined, uninvolved, the result will be disaster. We will be easy targets for the devil's infantry. That's why these walls of defense must be put in place in your life and in mine. When we do put them in place, then like Timothy, we will be good servants of Jesus Christ. The water spider is an amazing little creature.
Some people call it the frog man of the spider world because this spider lives in rivers and in streams. It lives in an alien place that doesn't seem to be appropriate for it. How does it live underwater? The answer is that it spins a tough, basket-like web of silk. It builds for itself a sort of diving bell. And then it anchors that diving bell underwater on a plant or some other object.
Having done that, it goes to the surface and it captures a bubble of air which it pulls down and injects into that diving bell. And then it enters itself so that it has the atmosphere that it needs in that place that's dangerous for its life. It's amazing, isn't it, how evolution has done that over the centuries? God has designed His creation in such a fabulous way. He has designed for us, too, a protection in this alien world. Spiritual protection.
Let's put it in place so that we're not tricked by the devil. So that we don't fall along the way into false teaching. Let's pray together right now. Father, I pray that all of us will put in place the defense system that You have made available for us. May we guard ourselves against the danger of false teaching, false ideas. To some degree, every one of us has already incorporated false thinking, a false worldview. We look at life.
We look at You. We look at ourselves from false positions with false notions. What we really need, Lord, is for all that falsehood to be exposed so that we can cast it out and get our thinking right. God, if there are some of us here trying to live without the defenses being in place, I pray that today we'll begin putting up the walls.
If they've been in place before and we've let them fall down, may we today rebuild them so that we might live in this world, this alien world, and be kept secure from the dangers of the enemy. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.