|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Bible
Search |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| Total 23articles, Now page is 1 / 2pages |
|
1 Timothy 4:7,8
??Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.??
When we live Christian life, many times we despair because of our weakness. Even though we repent our immoral life and laziness again and again, our decisions don??t last long. We make new year??s resolutions. However it lasts even less than 1 month. Then we depair and listen Satan??s voice. ??Why do you make resolution? Take it easy. Enjoy. God is gracious.?? That sounds good. What??s the problem? In today??s passage, Paul teaches us that we can not be valuable person without good training.
There are different types of training; physical training, educational training, professional skill training and spiritual training. Physical training makes us healthy and strong. Good educational and professional skill training make a person valuable in his community and guarantee good position. When I entered the Allergy/Immunology fellowship at Northwestern, there was high competition. Allergy/Immunology is one of the most competitive subspecialties in internal medicine. There were only 4 fellowship positions available in the entire state of Illinois. NW program is one of the best programs in the country. There were 2 positions available at NW. More than 80 internal medicine resident graduates applied the program and 20 of them were chosen for interview. 20 people were divided into 4 groups and NW interviewed each group on every Tuesday for 4 wks. I was in the first group. Among the five, 3 of them were from NW medicine program and one from Johns Hopkins medicine program. I was the only foreign medical graduate and from an unimpressive program which was the Univ of Tenn medicine program. However, the NW program offered me a position at the end of the interview on the same day. It was exceptional and extraordinary. They didn??t even interview other 15 candidates yet. The division chief said that the exceptional offer was probably for the first time in their division history. It was because they didn??t want to lose me. Why did this happen? It was because they saw my exceptional professional skill training. I received 5 yrs of ENT resident training in Korea which is relevant to Allergy/immunolgy training, 5 yrs of postdoctoral training in allergy research at UCLA, and 3 yrs internal medicine resident training. I realized that God made me valuable to other people through these training although I didn??t originally intend to do.
However, this value from professional training is limited and temporary. Spiritual training makes people truly valuable because it transforms entire person valuable and the value last not only in the present life but also the life to come. Do you want to be truly valuable person not only to people but also in God??s eyes? Then, let??s listen carefully to what Paul teaches us in today??s passage.
Look at verse 7a. ??Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales;??
The Gnostics in the church deceived the believers that knowing the myths and old wives tales is essential for salvation. They said that there are three categories of people. First, those who are belonged to physical level. Second, those who are belonged to soul. Third, those who are belonged to spirit. First category is unbeliever, second category is believers. Third category is the Gnostics who have spiritual knowledge. So they made endless talking about the godless myths and fables, and deceived the believers.
Paul says, ????Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; Rather train yourself to be godly.?? There is no spiritual benefit in these godless talking. This mysticism makes people confused and distracted from the truth of the gospel. So Paul encourages Timothy not to argue with these kinds of people, Rather train himself to be godly. Here, train means exercise. KJV says, ??exercise yourself rather unto godly.?? It means ??Exercise yourself until your become godly.?? In Greek age, there were many stadiums. In Athens, there was the Olympic game. In Corinth, there was Ismus game. Becoming a champion in these games was a great honor. So many athletes received harsh and rigorous training to become a champion. Paul was familiar with these games. Therefore, he urges Timothy to train himself to be godly just as the athletes receive rigorous training.
What is godliness then? One biblical dictionary defines that Godliness is the reverent awareness of God's sovereignty over every aspect of life, and the attendant determination to honor him in all one's conduct. Godliness depends on knowing God's revealed truth. Paul said in Titus 1:1. ??Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness?? Even he said sorrow is good when it is godly. In 2 Cor 7:10, he said ??Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.??
What kind of person is godly man? The godly person is committed to obeying God in the world: John 9:31 says ??We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.?? Godliness is making our thought and mind holy by the word of truth. Godliness is molding our personality and life holy. That is imitating Christ??s image as God??s children.
Why do we study the Bible? It??s not for adding our Bible knowledge. It??s for becoming godly person. Why do we suffer to write testimony every week? Why do we spend precious time for eating daily bread? It??s for establishing our personality godly by the word of God. Why do we struggle to wake up early in the morning to pray? It??s for cleansing and purifying ourselves godly before God. This godliness can not be given without training based on the word of God. When the Israelites got out of Egypt, their position was totally changed from slavery people to free and holy people. However, their inner person was exactly same as slavery status in Egypt.
So God trained them for forty years in the desert to make them godly people, a kingdom of priests and holy nation. The most important training was daily bread training. Exodus 16:4 ??Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.?? God wanted them to be godly people who follow God??s will and instructions instead of following the world. Deuteronomy 8:2,3 also say, ??Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.?? So God trained them with this divine training for 40 years until they were ready to enter the Promised Land.
What kind of benefit can we get through this training? Let??s read verse 8 again.
??For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.??
Physical training is of some value. If you work out every day, you can have better body shape and become strong and healthy. However, godliness has value for all things. If you live godly life, you will be healthier than before. If you have godly character, you are all the time peaceful and joyful, much less stress. Then your immune system will become much stronger than before and maintain healthy life. One famous sociologist performed a research about life span and church life. Those who go to church regularly live longer than those who don??t go to church. Those who go to church regularly and read the Bible regularly live longer than those who go to church but not read the Bible regularly. Also godly man is responsible, faithful and honest so that they receive honor by others. Godly man can be successful in school study because he can concentrate on studying instead of wasting time for entertaining sinful and negative thought or enjoying immoral life. Godly man can be successful in working place too. Joseph and Daniel in the Bible are good example. Furthermore, the benefit of godliness is not only for the present time but also for the life to come. This is more important value. All benefit for the present time is temporary. When we become godly, we will receive a great welcome and glorious inheritance in the Kingdom of God. However when we don??t receive spiritual training, we can not live godly life. Then we become fearful for God??s judgment and receive only shameful salvation. Hebrew 10:26,27 say ??If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.?? So we have to train ourselves to be godly in present age waiting for the blessed hope in the Kingdom of God.
We are saved not by our human righteousness or effort but only by God??s grace. It??s same when the Israelites were saved from the bondage of Pharaoh. However after we are saved, we should train ourselves to be godly people. Then people will recognize us as children of God. This is the way to be victorious in the present life and be glorious in the life to come. The word ??disciple?? comes from discipline. We are all disciples of Jesus. The origin of the word, ??Christian?? in the bible is in Acts 11:26. ??and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.?? Only when we become good disciples and receive godly training, we can be called ??Christian?? which means ??Christ-like?? person.
When I started my senior year in Medical school, my bible teacher suggested me to do common life for spiritual training. I was living in my sister??s house. She was 10 yrs older than me and she sacrificially took care of me like my mother. It was very comfortable and convenient for me to live with my sister because she cooked, did laundry and everything for me without any payment. It was challenging for me to start common life in critical time as a senior medical student. But I made decision to obey and started common life with two other brothers. Then It became easier for me to wake up 6 O??clock every am and have personal time of prayer and eat daily bread every morning. My shepherd further challenged me to pioneer a new campus (Gwangwoon University) which was about 30 min distant from my medical school. It was challenging for me as a senior medical student but I obeyed and started going to fishing and having campus prayer meeting and GBS with 3 other pioneering coworkers. Then God blessed me in every area of my life through this spiritual training. My GPA was the best during my entire medical school period and could graduate with one of the top GPA in my class. The Gwangwoon UBF was later fully pioneered and became a separate chapter with about 80 Sunday worship attendants. This victorious experience with spiritual training made me confident about the value of spiritual training and established the foundation of my shepherd life after the graduation of medical school.
In conclusion, we can not be godly or truly valuable without spiritual training. We can not grow as true Christians without divine discipline. I pray that we may take a lesson from Paul??s message today, so that we may willingly receive spiritual training based on the word of God. This training can be eating Daily bread or memorizing the bible verses just as Kyle is struggling to memorize the book of Romans. I believe that writing testimonies and sharing it in our Friday meeting every week is a wonderful way to receive spiritual training. It is challenging due to our busy school life but it is one of the best ways to apply the word of God in our practical life and obey his commands by making decisions based on the word of truth. Common life together with other Christian brothers or sisters during campus life just like I did would be another way to receive spiritual discipline. I pray that our NW students may grow godly and strong through the spiritual training in this year, so that they may experience a great victory in school studies and also in our spiritual life and become valuable witnesses of Jesus Christ.
- Message by Dr. David Cho at the Friday Meeting (2/16/2008) |
|
| |
