Well, not only is it in the midst of the 12 days of Christmas, but it is also a New Year's celebration, a dawning of a new year, and it's a time for reflection. Somebody asked in one of the ABF classes, the ABF class I was in, if, you know, who had set a resolution this year, and there weren't any takers. At least nobody acknowledged that they had set a resolution. So, I don't know if you have, if you formalize that at all, but in any event, it's a time when we kind of reflect a little bit. We think about patterns and trajectories and where is my life going and you know, the Bible talks a lot about that. You know, pondering the path of your feet is the exhortation out of the Proverbs. Looking at the path and considering where the path leads. A lot of times people, they don't like where they're at, but the cold hard facts are oftentimes are We're at where we're at because we're on the path that leads us to that destination. We have to choose a new path if I want a new destination. If I want to arrive at someplace different. And this is just one of those junctures. Obviously we could do that anytime in life, right? In the course of a year, but New Year's does provide a bit of an opportunity to reflect in that way. And I want to talk a little bit, I think our text leads us to think a little bit about the theme of success. You know, what would it look like to be successful, to have a significant year, to live under God's blessing? I think we have a symbol here, in just a couple of months there will be another New Year celebrated, this one based on the lunar calendar, right? Chinese New Year. Anybody know what this symbol is? This is a symbol for happiness, but not just happiness, double happiness, right? Two of the same symbols there. It's a double happiness symbol and often times in China you might receive this with emblazoned on a little red envelope. Usually that red envelope means money. Okay, so it's a welcome sight and in banners and just plastered all over you might see this double happiness symbol, right? A wish for prosperity, a wish for blessing, a wish for a joyful year, we would just simply say, Happy New Year, right? We might have some streamers or something like that. But we have, again, an opportunity to stop and pause and think for a moment about trajectory of life and how to live a life characterized by success and significance. Paul here in this text puts to Timothy the offer of being named and commended as a good servant. Paul talks to Timothy about what success looks like and challenges him to live in such a way as to receive the commendation of God, to live a successful life. And so again, a natural opportunity for us to reflect on what that would look like. So let's look together at this text, 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 6. 1 Timothy 4, verse 6, hear the word of the Lord. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed 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. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." May God add his blessing to the reading of his word. So what would it be to be a good servant? What would it be to be a successful servant? We have to first sort of wrestle with whether this text is applicable for us. Now, all scripture is relevant, right? It's profitable. But not all scripture is written to us. We have to always put scripture through a lens of interpretation. There are certain promises that were made directly to the nation of Israel. In this case, Paul's talking to Timothy. and Timothy was a pastor. He was a young man but he had a position of authority within the church. So we have to at least stop and kind of wrestle with that. Paul's prescription for Timothy, is it a prescription for us? Can I sort of just take those same instructions and apply them to myself? While we think about that, I want to draw your attention to the metaphor that Paul uses. to address Timothy and how Paul wants Timothy to think about his relationship to the congregation, to the church. And we see here that it's a sibling relationship. This is the metaphor that Paul has in mind. He says to Timothy, if you put these things before the brothers, if you speak to your siblings about these things. Even the nature of the terminology here, if you put these things, might mean if you remind the brothers of these things, if you make them aware, if you bring their attention to these things, it's not a real heavy, authoritative, clobber them over the head, be a dictator type of word. It's just a sibling word. If you'll look out for your brothers, if you'll keep reminding them about this, you will be a good servant. And Paul will go on in Timothy, we can make a pretty good case that that's the metaphor we ought to use ourselves, in terms of how we view and interact with other people in the body of Christ, in the church. He talks about how we treat younger women as sisters, younger men as brothers. That's a template, that's a metaphor for how we would relate with one another. That's what I want you to just notice here. Timothy is not simply identified as the Pope. He's not identified as a father figure before the congregation. He is a brother. He's speaking as a brother to brothers and sisters. And that's pretty applicable stuff for us, okay? He doesn't bring apostolic authority like Paul does. He is functioning as an equal. He has a different responsibility. He does have a different role within the church, right? There's room for that, but there's equality in the sense that we all stand before God as the children of God. and we can speak to one another as fellow siblings. Now, I don't know the nature of your relationship with your siblings. Perhaps it's not good. Perhaps they listen to nothing you say. And yet, there's still a sense in which you can say things and hear things from a sibling that you can't say or hear from anyone else. There's a certain freedom there, sometimes to a fault, right? It causes us maybe to say things that are harsh but there's a nature of that relationship that ought to be true within the church. So I think we're talking about some pretty transferable stuff when we think about Timothy and we think about ourselves and what would be success for Timothy, what would be success for us. So perhaps some different nuances, but I'm going to suggest to you that we've got a pretty good template here to think about how we too might be good servants. of Christ Jesus. How we can be successful in the new year. So as we unpack this, let me give you some action steps here. What it would look like to earn God's commendation. To live a good life. And by the way, here again is the word that keeps coming up. The little word, good. Right? If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant. Paul has used this repeatedly in his letter. Chapter 2, he says to men, I want men to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. And he says, I want men to pray specifically for people they don't like. For kings, and for all those in authority, for the antagonists of the church, the enemies of the church. I want you to pray for them. And the text there says, for this is good. and pleasing to God our Savior who desires all men to come. It's a beautiful thing. It's a noble thing. When people respond to poor treatment with grace and concern and compassion. This is what I want to see. He says to women, I don't want you getting all decked out in expensive clothes and fine jewelry and making your mark that way, making an impression that way. I want you to adorn yourselves with good works. There's the word again. Beautiful deeds. That's what I want you to get a reputation for. And then he goes into chapter 3 and he says, those who desire the office of an overseer, desire a noble task. There's our word. They desire a good task. An excellent task. A beautiful task. Those who would take an interest in the souls of other people. Who would lay aside their own concerns and get involved in helping someone else. Oh, this is good. This is a good task. Watched a movie McFarland. Watched McFarland coach cross-country. He's not a cross-country coach, but he ends up going to Southern California, really poor Hispanic community, and he invests in the lives of these kids and establishes a cross-country team and gets offers to go other places, but He pours himself out and to see the transformation of lives, the trajectory of those lives were altered and they tell the story at the end of the movie of what happened to all of those kids, those Hispanic kids. I'm crying, you know, I mean, this is beautiful, beautiful stuff. And this is what Paul wants to see. He wants to see this level. And so he comes here to this point in the text and again talks about what it would be to be a good servant. To be an excellent servant. To be one who lives a compelling, inspiring life. So that's the issue here before us. And again, now back to some of the action steps here that flow out of the text here. Number one, if you want to be successful in the new year, build up the church. Build up the church. Paul says, if you put these things before the brothers, before the church, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. The point here, I think, is that we need to get involved in the things that are important to God. And Christ's church is important to God. He says, if you take care of my people, if you look out for the brothers, if you warn them about these things, right? What's he talking about? Verses 1-5, false teachers? People that had begun to teach not the gospel, not the work of Christ, but had begun to teach salvation through human effort. Works righteousness. And so Paul says, if you warn the brothers, if you bring this to their attention, if you keep them focused on the gospel, if you keep my church on track, You will be a good servant. You will earn my commendation because the church is important to God. You could go to any number of passages, perhaps one of the most vivid, Matthew 18, talking about his people as little children, and he says if anyone should cause one of these little ones to stumble, if anyone should lead them astray into sin, it would be better that a millstone be tied around their neck and they be thrown into the deepest sea. That's what God thinks of people who would attack his children. If you want to live a life of significance, a life that earns God's commendation, then look out for his children. Look out for his church. Build up the people of God. Now this could take place in a number of formal ways. It could be engaging in a ministry. maybe a teaching ministry, maybe a service ministry, in some way putting your oar in the water, and not just benefiting from the ministries of the church, but seeking to minister to others, to strengthen others. That would be a great way. We talk about finances, talk about the new year, and people a little unsettled about giving envelopes and such things. Some of you are committed to giving. You're asking for envelopes. Okay, where are the envelopes? I need my envelopes. I want to stay consistent. I want to stay on track. Some of you are not real concerned about envelopes. Okay? Just a fact. Some of you aren't really keeping away. Some of you aren't giving. It's not been a part of your practice or your discipline. But what a great way to build up the church. To help advance the cause of the gospel around the world in support of our missionaries and national partners like Ishak, Ahmed in India. What's taking place there? That's a way to build up the church. Maybe it's membership, taking another step of commitment. We recognize that it takes time for people. People have their own set of backgrounds and context. Some people are coming out of a real woundedness in a church experience. We live in sort of a skeptical culture where people need to really observe and it takes longer for people to sort of put down roots in that way but for some of you it's time. It's time that you stop dating the church and you commit and you lock arms and you value the church as much as God does. So if you want to be successful, if you want to earn the commendation of God, build up the church. Get involved in the things that are important to God. And the church is what God is using to advance his gospel in the world. He's very concerned about the church. Of course, it could happen in a number of informal ways as well. It might mean Interrupting a conversation with a friend to confront them. To say, you know, I'm not really comfortable with the direction of this conversation. And I'm going to encourage you, I'm going to challenge you to go talk to this person that you're so angry with. And make it right. Or maybe encouragement. Speaking a timely word of encouragement. I had emailed this week with somebody from our congregation who is not having the greatest holiday season for a variety of factors. And I was checking to see how he's doing and he ticked off three or four people in the church that had contacted him in the last week and a half. Somebody invited him out for breakfast. Somebody just called the check-in. Somebody brought a meal. You know, so many simple ways in which the church can be built up and we can minister to one another. So build up the church. Number two, you want to live a successful life, you want to earn the commendation of God, you want to live well, be consistently nourished by the scriptures. Be consistently nourished by the scriptures. This is not a separate action item. These are all connected, as in a chain. So he says, I want you to speak to the brothers, challenge them regarding false teaching, keep the gospel in the forefront. How are you going to do that? You're going to do that by being grounded and rooted in the scriptures yourself. If you're going to have something to say, You're going to have to have a source of information. Part of the problem is we don't have anything to say. And I've had those times sitting at the dining room table, dinner hour, usually when we talk as a family and read scripture. And I've had those times where I've got nothing. Say it to my shame. Maybe you've been studying all day for teaching or something, but my soul is empty. And I've got nothing to say. And that's an indictment. If we're going to have anything to say, we have got to be nourished by the Word of God. That's the imagery here. It doesn't come through so much in most of the English translations, but nourish is a great rendering of this Word. If you go a day without food, you're gonna feel it. Some of you, you go an hour without food, you're shaky, right? We've got some teenagers in our house, so you'd think that, you know, just total tragedy, you know, if dinner is delayed. Well, the same thing holds true in the spiritual realm, in the realm of the soul. If you are not continually nourished by the Word of God, then you are malnourished, spiritually speaking. Grammar of the word here is a present, it's an ongoing thing. Timothy was a smart guy, young guy, but he had undoubtedly memorized a lot of scripture passages, he knew the general flow of the scriptures, and yet even he was having to consistently be nourished day after day in the scriptures, rehearsing the truths of the gospel, if he was going to have an effective ministry, if he was really going to help to build up the church. We have a tree in our yard that's probably 35 feet tall, it's a pine tree, I don't know what variety, but in the recent winds, a week, ten days ago, it started to list There just happened to be another tree next to it, so it kind of did one of these numbers, you know. And you look down at the base, you can see about six inches in which the roots had come up out of the ground on the one side. And we did the manly thing, you know, we hooked up the rope and my 15 passenger van, you know, real tough guy vehicle. And we pulled that tree, you know, back up straight, I don't know if it'll I don't know if it'll survive or not. I guess we'll find out in the spring. We staked it. But what struck me was how few roots there were on this tree. It's a wonder it stood that long. The roots are right up out of the ground and there's like nothing there outside of five feet and very shallow. And what a picture there of of the need for rootedness, the need to have deep roots where we are gaining nourishment. The psalmist uses this very imagery in Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night. Here it is. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." Do you hear the language of success? We talk about this theme, we talk about what it would be for Timothy to be a good servant, to earn the commendation of God. It means being nourished by the Scriptures. And I think one of our problems Ancients, particularly in the Reformation period, would have identified the means of grace. God's given us certain means by which His grace is conveyed, the Scriptures. He's given us the opportunity to approach Him in prayer. He's given us the Church. He's given us His Spirit. And when I ignore those things, I shouldn't be surprised when I struggle, when I lack joy, when I lack peace, when my life is off kilter, You need to utilize the means of grace. What is your plan to be nourished by the Word of God? I've got a plan right now that brings me through the Bible each year. It's a portion out of the historical books, the books of history, it's a portion out of the books of poetry, a portion out of the Gospels, and a portion out of Paul's letters, the epistles. What's your plan? If you've never read through the Bible in a year, I don't necessarily suggest you start. Maybe start with the Gospels. It's very manageable. You can read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the course of a year. And you can get a little print-off so you can check it off and keep on track and hold yourself accountable. Better yet, tell somebody else you're doing that so they can talk to you about it. Commit yourself that you're going to share what you read. But what's your plan to be nourished by the Word of God? Number three, don't waste your time with the godless and the worthless. Don't waste your time with the godless and the worthless. It says in verse seven, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths. It strikes me here that that Paul isn't a little stronger here. He kind of says, hey, hands off, don't get involved in these things. It would be more like Paul to say, hey, hammer these things, you've got to contend for the gospel, you've got to oppose these things. But I think when you unpack these words, these things are not necessarily evil, they're worthless. They're nothing, they're not worth your time. Irreverence would be, we might translate it as profane. We might even in our context translate it as secular. Just devoid of any God orientation. And then silly myths or some translations say old wives tales. It's not a sexist statement that Paul's making. He's talking, even this idea of senility is in this, you know, of women who are old and their mind isn't working quite right and they're saying all sorts of things and have all sorts of weird ideas. We shouldn't be giving attention to those things, okay? They're not profitable. They're not useful. As my grandma would say, stop frittering your life away with things that don't matter. Frittering was one of her words. And this is what Paul is saying. Don't avoid these things. Don't give time and attention to these things. If I hear one more person talk about blood moons, Maybe I'm just running in the wrong circles, but some of these people who are into eschatology and future events, they have a lot to say about the blood moons and all the significant things that have happened when you get these double, the blood moons and in history and this is the unfolding of the apocalypse. I don't have time for that. It's silliness. I don't know what Ellen on daytime television has that would really be important for me to hear. Hopefully you're not getting your counsel from Ellen. It might not necessarily be bad. I'm not saying it's evil. She is a godless woman. She doesn't acknowledge God. She doesn't observe His word. I shouldn't be giving attention to that. I don't have time for that. Okay? You want music. What's on, maybe for our students today, what's on your playlist? What are you listening to? You might initially respond to, you know, I don't, my parents monitor that, or I don't have anything that has, you know, sexual innuendo or profanity or those kinds of things. But is it profitable? Is it of any benefit? Or would it fall into this category of just silliness? Just a waste of time? Frittering? So build up the church. In order to do that, you need to be nourished by the Word of God so that you have something to say. Get involved in what God is doing. And train your mind, equip your mind with his truth. And avoid things that don't matter. They might not necessarily be bad or evil, but prioritize. And then finally, train yourself for godliness. Train yourself for godliness. Get your priorities straight. Here he says, verse 7, I have nothing to do with irreverence, silly myths. Rather, train yourself for godliness. Alexander McLaren, 18th century Scottish preacher. Great stuff. I've got a quote of his here. Active godliness is the meaning of the word. Religion embodied in deeds, emotions and sentiments. and creeds put into fact. In other words, godliness is the practical application of my faith. It's how my faith finds expression in my life. And we ought to be pursuing godliness. It ought to be a priority for us. By the way, if you want to impact other people, if you want to make a difference, if you want to live a life of significance, your behavior matters. You might be able to recite all the books of the Bible frontwards and backwards and know a litany of Bible verses. Maybe you're very quick, God's given you a quick intellect, but your behavior, your conduct matters. Integrity is one of the linchpins of influencing other people. You've got to have your life together. We're all in process of being sanctified. Okay, not one of us is perfect. We need to be making strides, we need to be serious, taking active steps towards godliness. Hopefully you're in a context of friendship, maybe a life group, where you've got people that are pushing you, where you're being honest about where your sins are at, and people are pushing you towards godliness. You've got to have a plan. What is your plan? Paul uses athletic terminology here. certainly would have conjured certain notions in the minds of these early believers. And he acknowledges the connections there, the metaphors. He says, verse 8, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way. So you see him moving up the scale here? They have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. These things are worthless. And even physical training, bodily training, it's okay, it has benefit. But let's keep it in perspective to godliness and what it is to train my soul. So he keeps calling them to a higher standard. On the last three or four years, I've put on about ten extra pounds. Went a long time after high school at kind of a consistent weight. And would it help me to lose those 10 extra pounds? It would. My back, sometimes you see my back, I got a little, got some muscle issues there sometimes. And I'm sure my back would appreciate it, right? I've got a torn meniscus. flares up every once in a while. Would my knee appreciate it? Yes. It would be a good thing. I think we can all agree. No amens, but I think it would be a good thing if I lost those 10 pounds. But let's keep it in perspective. Am I giving enough attention? Am I concerned about areas of sinful propensities in my life? Developing godly character? as I am about other things. I mean, this fitness thing is big, right? I took David, one of our Chinese students. He's my trainer. He's my conscience. He's always working out, right? So he doesn't drive, so I'm taking him to the gym. Every time I drive by that door, I feel guilty, but I keep driving. I drop David off. And so here we go, New Year's Day, right? We're dropping him off at the gym. He spends his two hours. He comes out and he says, it was so busy. He said it was China upstairs. You know, pointing to the upstairs area where all the machines were. He said it was China up there. Everybody's thinking about this, right? The new YMCA just opened. It was jammed the other day when I drove by. Everybody's got a Fitbit, right? We think about these things. We may not always be successful. We might have goals that go on reach, resolutions that aren't fulfilled, but we think about these things and we do, you know, tend to take some steps, you know, whether that's eating habits or exercise or whatever. Oftentimes we try to have a plan. What is our plan for godliness? What are the steps that you are taking to grow and develop godly character? McLaren had another quote that caught my attention here. The self-denial and persistence and concentration which are freely spent upon excellent and athletic pursuits might well put to shame the way in which Christians go about the task of doing their religion. This is the 18th century. I'm wondering how big of a problem travel soccer was, you know, in the 18th century, right? And yet even then, McLaren could see that, he was concerned about that. Boy, we are in a culture where, again, it doesn't have to be athletics, that happens to be the metaphor Paul unpacks, but it could be music, it could be academics, it could be anything, it could be a hobby, The amount of time we give to these other pursuits, and where do we prioritize godliness? This is a foundational issue. Again, if each of these are built one upon the other, so we ought to get involved in what God is doing. We ought to build up the church, right? It's a recipe for success, to earn God's commendation. In order to do that, I have to give myself to the Word of God, to be nourished by the Word of God. I have to have something to say. And if I'm gonna be oriented towards truth, I need to get rid of things that don't matter. I need to get the chaff out of my life, right? And I need to deal with my lifestyle. I need to deal with the issues of my soul. Paul's gonna go on later in this chapter and say to Timothy, watch your life and doctrine closely. Isn't that interesting? Watch your doctrine. No, watch your life and doctrine closely. If you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Timothy's life was of foundational importance for his influence. Now he closes here, we've just got a couple minutes left. He closes here by really pressing the issue of motivation and worldview. Verses 8 through 10. How did I state it here, Q? Let's go to this next slide. Godliness has value in all things. It is beneficial now and in eternity. So, the issue here is what do I value? What is important to me? What do I see to be valuable. Sometimes our value system is a little out of whack, isn't it? We sold our house this last year, moved. One of the more stressful things in my life. But anyways, we sold the house. We had it listed by ourself for a little while and then it wasn't happening and so school this summer was winding down and we knew, okay, this is our prime time. So we went ahead and listed it with a realtor and it sold. But before we did that, we got an appraisal and kind of had that early in the process. but we knew the market was really strong so we had kind of inflated our asking price and we put it out there on the make me move site for a while on Zillow and just kind of testing the waters a little bit. So when it's all said and done we're a little disappointed. Thought we'd get more for the house. And then I went back and looked at the appraisal. Guess what? We got what it was appraised for. We got what it was worth. Not what I thought it should be worth, we got what it was actually worth. Shocker, I know. But here's the true value assessment. You might think that your hobby or your pursuit is the most important thing. Let me tell you, it's not. Godliness is the most valuable thing you could pursue. It might not be intuitive, it might not bring you in a bigger paycheck this week, but it is the most important pursuit that you could ever undertake. Not only for eternity, which is what we think about, right? Yeah, I know it's best when Jesus returns. Paul's pretty clear. Not only for the life to come, but it also has benefit for this life. because life works best when we live it in line with God's guidelines and parameters. Paul feels the need to sort of reinforce it. He says in verse 9, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. What saying? The saying that godliness is of value in every way, right? I don't think his people were buying it. I'll tell you what, sometimes I'm not buying it, if I'm honest. I think that there's other things that would be better, that would be more profitable, that would be a better use of my time. And so Paul reinforces it. This saying is trustworthy and you need to get it. You need to get a hold of it. You need to put aside your own value judgments and simply recognize that what God says is true, that His way is best. Paul dwells on this. This is a core issue. If we're ever going to pursue godliness and live a life of success and significance, we've got to think right. And Paul then goes into A little shift here in verse 10, for to this end we toil and strive. Change of pronoun. It's not just Timothy anymore. Paul enters into it with Timothy and the congregation and says, we toil and we strive and we work hard and we engage in ministry and we love people when it's difficult and when they don't want to be loved. But we do this because we know that it's best and that it's of eternal consequence He says we do this because we have our hopes set on the living God who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. We do this because we serve a great God who's doing great things. And we get to be a part of it. And that's when we find true fulfillment and joy in helping to be His vessels, His conduits, His servants, in carrying out His great purposes. Remember what David said in the Psalms? I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to live in the luxurious tents of the wicked. Because David understood that to be hooked onto God's wagon, to be a part of what he was doing, even as a servant, would be far more significant than being famous or being wealthy or having an extravagant lifestyle. So Paul outlines here a great great pattern for success. For how to live under the blessing and commendation of God. Build up the church. Get involved in what God is doing. Value the things that God values. Be consistently nourished by the scriptures so that you have something to say. Don't waste your time with the godless and the worthless. Stop frittering, as my grandma would say. and train yourself for godliness. Give attention, not just to your doctrine, but to your life. And underneath all of it, recognize and agree with God's value system. That godliness is of greater benefit than anything else that you could pursue.