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1 Timothy 3:14-4:11 "Worship Well"
Paul hoped to come to Timothy in Ephesus soon, but wrote,
“if I am delayed , I write so that you may know how your ought
to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the
living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1Tim3:14-15)
Is Paul talking about a building? Actually at this time the church mostly
met at someone’s house or in times of persecution in secret hiding
places. We see Paul preaching in the streets, the marketplaces, even
prison but never in what we would call a church building. The house
of God he is talking about is really the household of God, made up of
all the people who have been adopted into His family through Jesus Christ
His Son. When those who are a part of this family gather together they
are the church. Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and
the life.” (John 14:6) The church is the “pillar and ground”
of the truth. Our job is to lift up the truth of Jesus Christ so all
the world can see. Jesus also said, “I am the light of the world.”
We are a light stand, lifting up Jesus. Tokyo Horizon Chapel has met
in a carport and Yoyogi and Shinjuku Gyoen parks, the beautiful chapel
at the Westin and the new sanctuary in Machida, rented classrooms and
a green tea storeroom. But whereever the family of God comes together
to lift up Jesus we are the church.
Paul goes on to write about how great a mystery it is that we can worship
God. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness.”
This word “godliness” means to “worship well”.
As we lift up Jesus Christ with our praise we are experiencing this
mystery firsthand. I think that Paul here broke into praise himself,
because the next words are actually the words of a song. “God
was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in
glory.” Paul told Timothy to “exercise yourself toward godliness.”
He wanted him to have a worship workout. Just as you spend time working
a muscle to give it strength, we need to spend time worshiping God to
strengthen our faith. I believe that “worshiping well” means
that worship is starting to permeate your entire life. Everything you
say and do is constantly lifting up Jesus and shining His light to the
world.
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by thoses who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5)
There are those who want to heap up lots of rules and
disciplines in order to get control over the flesh. But can you see
the error in this kind of thinking? When I first became a Christian
I tried very hard to be holy. I never smoked or touched alcohol or drugs.
I never listened to any music that was not Christian. I fasted every
Thursday so as get control over my flesh. And all of these things were
good. The problem is that none of them worked. None of these rules or
disciplines could keep me from sin. I was constantly fighting this war
with the flesh. If I won a battle I would feel like I was on a spiritual
high. But if I lost a battle I felt a terrible spiritual low. If you
are fighting that war against the flesh, listen to this. “For
we do not wrestle with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers,
against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) You see
I was fighting the wrong enemy. Instead of wrestling with myself I have
a more important duty to be lifting up Jesus higher so that His light
can shine against the darkness of this world.
When I was in the 5th grade I had to be on the basketball team. This
was totally ridiculous because I was the smallest boy in school, wore
thick glasses and couldn’t see to shoot straight. But the rule
was that every boy played so in I went. I will never forget the only
time I ever scored in a game. I had stolen the ball from the other side,
dribbled in under the basket, took my shot and incredibly, it went in.
I was elated. I had this huge smile on my face. Until, I realized that
noone else was smiling, they were all just staring. The only points
I ever made in a game, were for the other side! I had shot the ball
into the wrong basket! In your spiritual life, just like basketball,
it is important to aim for the right target. It doesn’t matter
how pretty your shot is if it scores points against you. When I wrestled
with the flesh, no matter how successful I was, I was still focussed
on the flesh. Paul concedes that there is some benefit in exercising
the body, “it profits a little.” But the worship workout
is “profitable for all things, having promise of the life that
now is and of that which is to come. You see God wants to prepare us
for eternity. What is the point of spending all of our time down here
trying to subdue the flesh when in heaven we won’t have flesh
at all. Instead, the real work of eternity is worship, and so God would
have us exercising, practicing how to “worship well”.
So how do we do this? How do we exercise toward godliness, worshiping
well. Let’s start with the negative example and move to the positive.
Paul warns that some will depart from the faith in verse 1. When you
are piling on rule after rule to try to protect yourself from sin, how
is faith involved? It isn’t. We know that we are saved by faith
in Jesus Christ but then work away battling with sin. Do you want to
hear something that is really great? “His divine power has given
us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge
of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to
us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that
is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:3-4) Jesus has given to us
freely all the things we need for life and godliness. All true godliness,
comes by faith. Faith that has as its focus Jesus Christ and what He
has done for us. If you are fighting the war with sin and win the battle
you will be justifiably proud of your accomplishment. But then your
banner would not be Christ, instead of lifting Him up, you would be
lifting yourself up. You cannot worship well unless you are focussed
on Jesus.
Peter says that Jesus gives us all things pertaining to life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him. This is the positive example of how to
exercise toward godliness. Paul has just finished telling us that our
job as the church is to lift up the truth of Jesus Christ. All real
worship is in Spirit and in truth. If we are singing the hymns but don't
believe a word, then we are not worshiping. Instead we sing out what
we believe, like Paul did, "God was manifested in the flesh, "
Worshiping well is when we then let these truths sink in and shape our
lives. We praise God that He loved us so much to send Jesus to us as
a man with the same bodies that we have. And as we praise God for it,
this truth becomes part of us and we live our life by it. We see that
if God could reveal Himself in flesh, then the flesh is not all bad,
and perhaps God could reveal Himself in our flesh too.
If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the dood doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wive’s fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 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. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. 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. These things command and teach. (1 Timothy 4:6-11)
Worship well. Put your trust in the living God, your Savior who has given all things that pertain to life and godliness to you. Don't allow yourself to fight the losing battle with sin, because Jesus has already won the war. Focus in on Jesus and what He has done for you. Exercise yourself toward godliness, a worship workout, rehearsing the truth of who God is and what He has done for you and then letting it ripple out into every part of your life. Worship well, lifting up Jesus Christ to shine in the midst of this dark world.
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