the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 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. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 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.
11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
A godly man is not a man who has merely cleaned up his life, but a man who has been captured and animated by the gospel — and the gospel is the greatest thing in the cosmos. The gospel is a person, and His name is Jesus Christ.
The Question Every Man Is Asking
A question resonates in every man's mind, whether he ever says it out loud or not. It is not "How do I make more money?" It is not "How do I get ahead?" It is not even "How do I keep my family together?" The question is this: How do I become a godly man?
Every man has some picture in his head of what that might look like. Maybe it is a grandfather who prayed at the table. Maybe it is a pastor. Maybe it is a man in this church whose life you quietly admire. And alongside that picture, most of us carry a private list — a list of things we think we need to do, or stop doing, to get there. Read your Bible more. Pray more. Be more patient. Get your temper under control. Stop looking at what you shouldn't be looking at.
Now, none of those things are bad. But here is the problem. If we think godliness is the total of our efforts to improve our behavior, then godliness becomes a ladder, and every man is somewhere on it, and none of us is at the top. And the man at the bottom of the ladder looks up at the man near the top and thinks, I could never be him. And the man near the top looks down and quietly thinks, If they knew me, they wouldn't be impressed.
That is not godliness. That is performance. And performance will either make you proud, or it will crush you — but it will never make you godly.
So let me say the thing I want you to remember from reading this, and then let's spend the rest of our time unpacking it:
A godly man is a “gospeled” man. And the gospel - good news of Jesus Christ - is yet profoundly the greatest thing in the cosmos.
1. Godliness Is Not Achieved; It Is Received
Look at how Paul talks to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 4:6, Paul writes, "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."
Notice the order. Paul does not say, "Timothy, if you train hard enough, you will become a good servant." He says Timothy is already a servant of Christ Jesus and has already been trained in the words of the faith. The training Paul describes is not Timothy climbing toward God. Instead, it is Timothy being shaped by what he has already received.
This is the whole difference between religion and the gospel. Every other system in the world, every other approach to manhood, says: do this, and you will become that. The gospel says: this has been done for you, and now you live in the reality of what you already are.
Paul goes on in verse 10 and says something remarkable: "For to this end we toil and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." Paul toils. Paul strives. Paul works harder than anyone. But his hope is not in his work, trying to save himself by earning God’s favor. His hope is set on the sovereign, grace-giving God alone who saves. The labor flows from his God-given salvation; he does not earn or merit it.
Here is why this matters so much for us as men. If godliness is something you achieve, then your standing before God rises and falls with your performance this week. You had a good week — you read your Bible every morning, you were patient with your kids, you didn't lose your temper in traffic. You feel close to God. You had a bad week — you snapped at your wife, you wasted hours you'll never get back, you gave in to the thing you swore you were done with. You feel far from God. And so your whole spiritual life becomes a roller coaster, and you are exhausted.
But if godliness is something you receive, then your standing before God is anchored entirely outside of you —to Jesus Christ and what He has done for you. Having good days or good weeks doesn’t make God love you more. Your bad days or weeks don't make Him love you less. And that is what finally frees a man actually to grow, because he is no longer growing to earn anything. He is growing because he has been given everything.
A godly man is a “gospeled” man. You cannot become godly by trying harder. You become godly when the Good News captures you and animates you, making you truly alive.
2. The Gospel Is the Greatest Thing in the Cosmos
Now let me press on this, because I don't want you to hear "the gospel" as a word you already know and therefore stop listening. The good news of Jesus Christ is not one item on a list of Christian things. It is not the entry-level lesson you graduate past on your way to deeper things. It is the greatest thing in the cosmos.
Think about what the gospel actually claims. It claims that the God who spoke the universe into existence — who hung the stars and set the oceans in their place — looked at a race of rebels – who are guilty of cosmic treason against the thrice-holy God - who had turned their backs on Him. And yet instead of wiping us out, He came for us. The eternal Son stepped into time and space (that He created) and took on human flesh. He lived the life we were supposed to live but didn't. He died the death we deserved to die. He rose from the grave, defeating sin and death and hell, and He did it all so that men like you and me — idolaters - men with tempers, and lusts and pride and fear — could be forgiven, adopted, and made new.
That is not a small thing. That is the hinge on which all of history turns. That is the greatest news that has ever been announced in the history of the world, and it is greater than anything else in the universe, because everything else in the universe will one day pass away — and this will not. Your career will end. Your house will be sold. Your body will wear out. The gospel will still be standing.
Frankly, you can spend your whole life around the gospel and never be gripped, saturated, and transformed by it. It's possible to know the words, to know the songs, to speak Christianese, to know the right answers — and still have a heart that has never actually been amazed, ravaged by the grace and love of God. You can be near the gospel without being radically transformed by it.
Paul says in verse 15, "Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress." The word there is about being in it — soaked in it, saturated by it. Not skimming it and not visiting it on Sunday. Immersed.
So let me ask you plainly: When was the last time the gospel actually moved you? Not informed you. Not reminded you. Moved you — so that you sat there and thought, I cannot believe that is true, and I cannot believe it is true for me. If it has been a long time, that doesn't mean you have matured past the gospel. It is a sign that you have drifted from it.
3. You Cannot Be Godly Without Knowing, Understanding, and Appreciating the Gospel
Here is the heart of it. A man cannot be godly unless he knows the gospel, understands the gospel, and appreciates the gospel — and the gospel is Jesus Christ – His person and His work.
Not a concept. Not a formula. Not a set of propositions you could recite on a test. Jesus Christ Himself. The gospel is not information about a person; it is a person. To know the gospel is to know Him.
You must know it. Not vaguely, not secondhand. You need to know what actually happened. You need to know who Jesus is, what He did, why He had to do it, and what it means for you. A man who cannot explain the gospel to his own children does not yet know it well enough.
You must understand it. Knowing facts is not the same as understanding them. Understanding means you see why it had to be this way — that a holy God cannot simply wave sin away, and that a holy God cannot simply ignore it, and that therefore the cross was not an overreaction but the only way. Understanding means you grasp that you were not a good man who needed a little help; you were a dead man who needed to be made alive by someone else’s righteousness and resurrection. Nothing but Jesus’ blood and righteousness!
And you must appreciate it. This is where so many of us fall short. We know it. We can explain it. But we are not thankful for it. We are not amazed by it. We treat the greatest news in the cosmos the way we treat a fire extinguisher. We’re glad it's there, hope we never need it, never think about it. And that is precisely why we are not godly. Godliness is not a personality trait; it is the overflow of a heart stunned by grace, a heart of stone turned into a heart of flesh.
Listen to what Paul says in verse 16: "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." The man who watches his life and the teaching — that is the man who is being shaped. And notice: it is the teaching that saves. The doctrine. The gospel. Not the man's willpower.
What This Looks Like on Monday
So what do you do with this? Let me give you three concrete things.
First, stop trying to be godly and start being “gospeled.” That is not a call to passivity. It calls you to reorder your life around the good news. Every morning this week, before you check your phone or look at your email, read one passage of Scripture that tells you who God is and what He has done. Not for information. For worship. Let the gospel hit you before the world does.
Second, preach the gospel to yourself, as you read Scripture aloud. When you sin this week — and you will — do not run from God. Run to Him. Say it plainly: Lord, I did that. I loved the sin more than You. I confess I sinned against. It was wrong. And You died for it. Thank You. The man who learns to do that stops pretending and starts growing.
Third, let the gospel shape how you lead at home. Your wife and children don't need a man who has it all together. They need a man who knows he doesn't, and who knows where to go to receive the grace he needs. Let them hear you repent. Let them hear you give thanks. Let them see that the greatest thing in your life is not your job, your truck, or your reputation — it is Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: The Greatest Thing in the Cosmos
Men, a godly man is a “gospeled” man. There is no other kind.
You cannot manufacture godliness by discipline. You cannot grit your teeth into it. You cannot fake your way into it. You become godly the same way you became a Christian in the first place — by being captured and animated, again and again, by the good news that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom you are the foremost.
And that news — that news is the greatest thing in the cosmos. It is greater than the stars. It is greater than every kingdom that has ever risen and fallen. It is greater than your best day and stronger than your worst. It will outlast the sun. This good news – this gospel – radiates in a bad news world – and it has a name – Jesus Christ!
So do not spend your life chasing lesser things when better things, a better world, a better future await you!. Do not spend your years trying to be a good man by your own strength, signaling virtues, pleasing others. Know the gospel. Understand the gospel. Appreciate the gospel. Immerse yourself in it until it saturates everything you are and all your aspirations and affections.
And then watch what God does with a man who has been “gospeled.”
by Dave Brown, WACMM Director and Pastor-at-Large
No comments:
Post a Comment