Discipline for Godliness
Several
mornings a week, I climb out of bed and after an early morning
quiet time, I get my running gear on: shirt, reflective pants, shoes, headband,
Garmin watch, phone, and ear buds. Some mornings, it’s easy to gear up and head
out for that run. Some mornings are harder and require more effort. Some
mornings are cold, or hot, or I’m tired. Some days the miles require lots of
effort and other days they breeze by. But I love the quiet and stillness of the
break of day and I love the accomplishment at the end of the run. What keeps me
going out there week after week? Through pregnancies and nursing infants? Through
the chilliness of below freezing temperature? Through heat and tiredness? Discipline.
Discipline is the act of training and developing by instruction or exercise especially in self-control.[1]As
believers, we are called to train and develop our spiritual senses for the
purpose of attaining godliness, a life both in attitude and practice that
pleases the Lord. This training is far
more valuable than any physical, bodily exercise we could participate in,
because not only does it profit our present life, but our future eternal life
as well. This training in godliness
takes place in the context of knowing God and knowing His Word. The purpose of
spiritual discipline is found in 1 Timothy 4:7-8, “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.”
Immediately
we see that Paul tells Timothy that the purpose of spiritual discipline is that
of godliness. A purpose is something set
up as an object or end to be attained: an intention. As believers our end to be attained through spiritual discipline
is godliness. Godliness denotes a life
that is acceptable to Christ, indicating the proper attitude of the believer toward
Christ who has saved him. It is both an
attitude and a manner of life. It does
not come automatically but is something into which we must put effort. Our purpose in practicing spiritual
discipline is to aim to please Christ in all the faculties of our being.
Discipline,
in Paul’s day, was connected to the idea of training for the Greek games. When competitors came to the Olympic games
they had to affirm that they had trained for at least 10 months. The training required for today's Olympics are even more intensive.
Shawn
Johnson is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and
floor exercise silver medalist. At
the time of her training Shawn Johnson was only fourteen-years-old. Shawn
Johnson started taking gymnastics lessons when she was 3 years old.
"When
I was little, I just did it because I loved it," Johnson said. "When
I started getting to the higher levels, I started thinking about making the
elite. I put in more hours and learned more skills."
"Johnson
was named to the U.S. Junior National team in August 2005 and now she has her
eyes set on Olympic Gold in the Beijing Summer Games in 2008.
The
eighth-grader in West Des Moines, Iowa, attends a full day of school before
heading to the gym for four-hour workouts. Johnson spends five hours in the gym
on Saturdays and takes Sundays off.
Practice
consists of at least 30 minutes of conditioning, stretching (she usually
arrives a half an hour early for additional stretching) and endurance training,
and about 50 minutes on each event. Johnson will complete extra tricks at the
end of a routine during practice, and she runs to build endurance.
Her
strength training relies on her own body weight and exercises like push-ups,
sit-ups, squat jumps, and pull-ups. For exercises like sit-ups, she usually
does as many reps as she can of each exercise in one minute. Usually she does
about 30 pull-ups, although she revealed that she's done up to 100 at one time…
Johnson said. "It's actually really scary that the next Olympics is the
one I'm going for, but it pumps me up to want to work harder to get there." https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/real-plans/celebrity/what-it-takes-to-be-an-olympic-athlete/ Notice her statement that her desire is fueled by her focus on the goal.
This
is just one example of the intensity of the discipline required for
competition. This young woman trained
and disciplined her body to receive a perishable crown. However, Paul in 1 Corinthians
9:24-25 says, “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. 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.”
This
is the idea Paul has here when he tells Timothy to “discipline yourself for the
purpose of godliness.” As athletes who are competing to win a prize, so we are
to be disciplining ourselves in order to win a prize, knowing that what we
pursue has lasting, eternal value.
This
discipline is also to be an ongoing, continuous process that leads to a godliness and
maturity in our walk. Hebrews 5:12-14, “For though by this time you ought
to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary *
principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid
food. For everyone who partakes only of
milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But
solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained
to discern good and evil.” Our spiritual
senses must be trained, disciplined so that we may attain maturity in our walk
with the Lord and be able to discern good and evil.
Paul
continues by saying in 1 Timothy 4:7 to "discipline yourself."
This connects to our definition of discipline when we stated that it is
the exercise and use of self-control.
Discipline must be accompanied by self-control. There will be a denying of other desires and other ways to spend our time and resources. It will take self-control to choose the best way to focus our time and energy in order to maximize what the Lord has given us in order to pursue knowing and serving Him.
“Labour every year to grow in grace…let your aim be every year to be more holy, to know more, to feel more, to see more of the fullness of Christ. Rest not upon old grace: do not be content with the degree of religion where unto you have attained. Search the Scriptures more earnestly; pray more fervently; hate sin more; mortify self-will more; become more humble the nearer you draw to your end; seek more direct personal communion with the Lord Jesus.” J. C. Ryle
But,
why godliness through discipline? First, Paul gives us a contrast to the
godliness obtained through discipline. He says, “for bodily discipline is of
little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things.” Paul uses the word “for” to introduce us to
the reason he desires Timothy to discipline himself for godliness. He explains, “bodily discipline is of little
profit.” The bodily disciplines refer to
physical, bodily exercise of that of an athlete. Bodily exercise is
profitable. There are many health
benefits for our bodies when we exercise.
But when compared to practicing spiritual discipline in order to grow in
conformity to the image of Christ, the profit of bodily exercise is little.
These bodily disciplines have the opposite amount of value as godliness does. His contrast is that bodily discipline is of
small or little value, while godliness in contrast has extensive or much
profitability in that it is profitable “for all things.” Godliness is profitable for all things
because, as the verse continues, “it holds promise for the present life and
also the life to come.”
Paul
says, “godliness holds promise.” “Holds” implies a special relation or
connection. Here in 4:8, the promise is
closely connected to godliness. What is this promise we have? For the OT saints,
this word meant the promise of a Savior, Christ. For us, let’s look at several
verses that contain this word, that give us insight into this promise that is
for this present life and also for the life to come.
- Luke 24:49 "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
- Acts 2: 33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.”
- Ephesians 1: 13, "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation -having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise."
- 1 John 2:25, "This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life."
We as believers have the promise of the Holy Spirit and also the promise of eternal life.
So,
while our pursuit of godliness does not obtain the Holy Spirit or eternal life
for us, because that would be salvation by works, our pursuit of godliness
evidences the change that has already been made by God in us and we will be
walking in the Spirit and growing in Christlikeness (the present life), and our
pursuit of godliness is the product of the change of heart that inherits
eternal life (life to come). Thus our double benefit is for this present life and the life to come. A life of godliness will necessarily flow from the
regenerated heart, and Paul, in 1 Tim. 4:7-8 tells us to discipline ourselves
to pursue this godliness.
Finally,
our godliness and the pursuit of it finds its source in the knowledge of God
and the Word of God.
2 Peter 1:2, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."
Notice,
that God has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through
the true knowledge of Him. In order for
us to discipline ourselves for godliness, we must know Him, and that knowledge
must be grounded in truth.
We are called to actively pursue godliness. The way by which we pursue
godliness is through spiritual discipline.
We exercise self-control in practicing those spiritual exercises that
help us to grow in a right knowledge of God, which can be obtained through the intake of the Word of God.
[1] Mirriam-Webster.
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