Foundations vs. Falsehoods

Foundation

Have you ever had someone in your life that you spent so much time with that you didn’t know how to act when they weren’t around? Maybe they were your foundation for all social interaction? When they’re with you, you feel safe, you know how to have conversations, you know how to live when they are around? That’s who my older sister Jennifer was to me. She was my safe person. Eventually though, she went off to college and for a little while I didn’t know how to act. I fought with my parents, I stopped making friends, I was constantly grumpy, and I was scared mine and Jennifer’s relationship was changing. Thankfully, our relationship had the firm foundation of not just being sisters, but being sisters in Christ.

When we would write letters to one another or talk on the phone it reminded me that I will always have her as my friend and that I can follow her example. In Paul’s letter to Timothy he explains to Timothy that he wanted the people in the church to be setting good examples for others to follow.

We pick up at the end of chapter 3.

“Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great:He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”

(1 Timothy 3:14-16)

These are the truths about Jesus that Christianity proclaims first and foremost, the foundation of our faith. If we do not acknowledge these as true, then we ought not to call ourselves believers and followers of Jesus. First: He came in the Flesh fully God, fully man: in John 1, it says that the Spirit of God descended on Jesus like a dove. In Matthew 3:16, at Jesus’ resurrection we are told that He was seen by angels. Luke 22:43, then He was proclaimed in the world. Acts 28:28 God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen! Then He was taken up in glory: Acts 1:9. If we believe this then we believe in Jesus, and from that “true godliness springs” aka, then we start to live good lives. But if you have heard something other than this gospel about Jesus Christ and about living a good life, then someone is lying to you.

Falsehood

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

(1 Timothy 4:1-5)

Growing up, not all the examples my siblings set for me were good. I learned from my brother that if I pretended that spankings didn’t hurt then my parents would stop spanking me. He also told me that you are always supposed to drive through a yellow light. My parents were not happy when I listened to my brother and rejected their discipline and wisdom, things got severe at times. Paul here uses some severe verbs. People abandoned their faith, like an unwanted piece of trash in my office that you never want to see again, they were being deceived like if I told you Andrew was taller than my brother-in-law Cam and you believed it, their consciences were seared to the point where they had been burned so much that they no longer felt anything good or bad, they were forbidding people to do things like if we made it a rule that you couldn’t smile all week at school or at home. Paul told Timothy that there were groups who believed in asceticism and Gnosticism and were saying they shouldn’t get married, or eat anything good; making it sound like God didn’t want them to enjoy life and telling them the physical world is all evil. They were being bad examples. So Paul gives the example of Genesis 1 when God created the physical world and called it all good and even gave man his first wife. It is only when we believe false gospels and follow the examples of the world that we doubt the goodness of God. Jesus wants what’s best for you right now, but even more than that: eternally! When we devote ourselves to anything but what is true we find good things being redefined into bad and vice versa. But Paul will tell Timothy he wants him to be devoted to good things.

Training

My sister Jenn was devoted to fitness. When we shared a room in high school we would sit on our floor every night after her dance class and my soccer practice and catch up on our day. While we talked we did a pre-bed workout. We would do 100 crunches, sometimes we added planks, pushups, squats. No matter what: we were devoted to our fitness training. We made sure to point out to each other how to do it better because we wanted to succeed. This is what Paul wanted to do with his brother Timothy,

“If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 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. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”

(1 Timothy 4:6-10)

Paul talks about spiritual nourishment from truth, usually when we think of nourishment we think physically: eating for energy and nutrition. I was told that reading your Bible is like eating: some days it’s like a peanut butter jelly sandwich, other days it’s like a feast, with steak, rolls, potatoes, desserts! No matter how you feel it fills you, you have to eat if you want to live. We care about our physical bodies, about what we eat, how much sleep we get, not getting sick, and even staying in shape. We train physically to be healthy and strong.

Here I picked 3 volunteers and had them compete in a push up contest.

Do you train? What could you have done to be stronger? You could have practiced, done push ups everyday, trained for the contest. You care about your body, so you take care of it and train it to do good. Paul says physical training is good for this life since the false teachers were lying about that too, but he goes even further and says that spiritual training is far more important because it is for this life and the life to come. Part of our spiritual training is taking what we know to be true and sharing it with others. Paul takes sharing the gospel so intently that he was like an athlete in the last lap of the race: on his last breath, laboring and striving. We train in our spiritual lives by following the examples of other believers and ultimately Jesus’ example: the one who came in the flesh with the power of the Holy Spirit, defeated death, was resurrected, and proclaimed. Godliness isn’t about trying to be good, it is about knowing and following Jesus.

Examples

“Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”

(1 Timothy 4:11-13)

In what things should believers set examples for other believers? And if you see older believers failing to do so, what should you do? You should set an example for them. Do you feel weird being told to set an example for them, even for me if you see me acting out of line? Maybe in some areas you are confident, but not all. In what way could you set an example for the people around you in speech? In how you act? What could you do? How about in purity? Not lying to one another, not comparing yourselves to others, not disobeying your parents, not having pity parties, not watching pornography. It is hard to live like this, but this is how Paul challenges us. We can’t do it on our own with pure will power. How do we do it? By being devoted to the truth! Before I could even think about setting an example for others, I had to follow the example of others. Not only did Jenn set an example for me when she worked out every night, I also saw her read her Bible. Every night. Seeing her do that and hearing her talk about the stories she was reading, the passage that was comforting her, it made me want to do it. Because of our relationship, I wanted to follow her example. But I knew I would need accountability. I needed someone who would see if I was being spiritually nourished every day. I asked my older friend I call Sims, “what if we both read the same passage of scripture every night? I’ll text you the verses once I’ve read them and you can ask me about it if I don’t text you”. I texted her everyday for over ten years, not to set an example, but because I want to be devoted to God’s Word. I want to be diligent in seeking to know God, I wanted accountability in watching my life closely. I wanted to have a strong foundation, so that when I hear falsehoods I can know that they are not truth, I wanted to train my heart, my mind, and my soul to know Jesus more. Godliness redefines our lives, not into being good people, but living lives of freedom and devotion to the truth.