Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a young church leader in Ephesus (now located just off the western coast of Turkey) called Timothy.
Timothy was leading a fledging church in the mega city Ephesus and had encountered some pretty big issues as a young leader.
Paul wrote Timothy a letter that became part of the New Testament, the book we now call 1 Timothy.
In this letter, sometimes called a pastoral epistle, Paul deals with all kinds of issues related to the life of a church.
In chapter 4 of this letter, Paul addresses the issue of a set of false religious views and practices (as a side, called Asceticism) that were creeping into the church and leading people astray from enjoying the grace-filled life of a Christian.
It’s into this context that Paul introduces a really helpful instruction to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:6-10)
This instruction holds true for us as Christians today if we want to have a meaningful relationship with Jesus.
It’s this instruction that I’d like us to look at to underpin this article.
“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly“
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
I want us to consider three things when we think about spiritual discipline and developing Godly Habits.
1. I want us to think about the relationship between grace and works.
2. I want us to look at how habits help us to mature as Christians.
3. I want us to understand that godly habits are a grace provision from God and a means to a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Building Godly Habits should be the norm for Christians
I would say (broadly speaking) that I fall into the Reformed-charismatic Evangelical camp.
Without going into detail about what each of those terms means, I just want to point out one thing about churches that fit this category. The Reformed-Charismatic Evangelical church has been strong over the years with its emphasis on the idea of grace when it comes to the gospel.
To put it simply, the emphasis has been on what saves a sinner. Not the things they do.
Not stuff → the grace of God the Father in sending His perfect Son to die in the place of sinners.
No one can save themselves. It is Jesus and His immense, overwhelming and overflowing grace that saves us through faith.
I’d give a big ol’ amen to that, to be honest. I’m sure you would, too. It’s good we’ve emphasised that over the years because it’s true and sometimes overlooked.
It’s also liberating. It frees us from thinking we have to do something to impress God. It sets us free from going through the motions and being religious. It frees us from a stand up/sit down do as you’re told, legalistic way of life.
It’s the exact opposite attitude of the New Testament figures of the Pharisees. They thought themselves pure and clean in the eyes of God precisely because of what they did. It was all about rules and regulations. It was all about the stuff you do. They were, if you like, religious showmen.
Pharisees would arrive on the scene with fanfare and draw attention to how holy and set apart they were. Jesus, frankly, thought they were a bunch of hypocrites for it. He called them whitewashed tombs. Spotless on the outside. Pristine. But, on the inside, rotting detritus.
But the concept of the pharisee has also become a bit of a bogeyman in the modern Reformed-Charismatic, Evangelical church. There’s an old saying (I think Douglas Wilson coined it) that goes, “There’s a ditch on either side of the road.”
We’ve focussed SO much on this Pharisaical, legalistic ditch that we’re in danger of falling into the ditch on the other side of the road, which theologians sometimes call Antinomianism (which literally means lawlessness).
Let me illustrate this problem by quoting an American pastor and author, John Piper.
He’s teaching about the Old Testament figure Daniel, who had built a routined and disciplined prayer life, and he’s speaking out against a fear of legalism people have when we say things like, “disciplined prayer is a good and healthy thing” he says
“The creeping legalism that I see is not Daniel’s disciplined prayer.
I do not think spiritual discipline is the trojan horse in which legalism is making its way into the church. No way hose’.
We are not in 1000 years in danger of becoming legalists through spiritual discipline in modern evangelical, meet my needs cushty christianity.“
He goes on to state that the true legalism of today is both a FEAR of spiritual discipline and a demand for soft language that doesn’t put too much pressure on fragile modern people.
We pick up the quote again a little further on…
“A list of taboos in the new legalism i’m talking about:
Thou shalt not use MUST
Thou shalt not use SHOULD
Thou shalt not use OUGHT
Thou shalt not use warnings like, “those who do such things shall not enter the kingdom
That feels a bit uncomfortable to read doesn’t it?
Christianity isn’t empty of works.
Did you know that?
Actually, Christianity is full of works (and by works, I mean things Christians should, must, ought to do regularly).
But here’s the clincher:
Works are not a means to the ends of salvation rather salvation is a means to the ends of glorifying God in our sanctification.
Let me restate that:
Doing good things, being disciplined, praying regularly, reading your bible, studying your bible, giving, spending time with your church family, serving the church, reaching out to the lost, being thankful, resting in the Lord, taking communion together, all this stuff isn’t what saves you.
You can do all these things and still not trust Jesus and therefore not be saved.
But, when you trust in Jesus, when the Holy Spirit works in you, these things necessarily flow out of it.
I can’t look at someone and say if they are saved or not, it’s the grace of God that saves but, if I look at someone who is not engaging in all the above things regularly, I’ve got good grounds to doubt they are a believing Christian.
Again:
We are NOT saved by the things we do.
Rather, salvation is a means by which God sanctifies us.
To an extent, we are sanctified through the things we do, the habits of grace we develop.
Habits of Grace then are a natural and necessary byproduct of our salvation.
Developing these habits and building STRONG spiritual discipline in our life will not set us right with God.
Nope.
It never has been the case and it never will be the case.
Instead:
Because of what Jesus has done, because of the great lengths Jesus has gone to to welcome us in as His children.
Because Jesus draws us into a precious, everlasting relationship with himself.
We must respond in obedience to Him, it’s simply a no-brainer.
What does the Christian life look like?
Well one thing it certainly DOES look like is a person developing and growing in their Habits of Grace.
“Habits” – something we DO
“Of Grace” – in response to the IMMENSE things Jesus has done.
Quoting John piper is great to make this point but, it’s biblical too. Let me establish that the Christian life IS about doing things from the scriptures:
1 Timothy 4:7-10
Luke 13:22-24
Luke 9:22-23
Phillipians 2:12-13
Godly Habits are also how we grow as Christians
The New Testament is full of language that suggests – a journey from immaturity to maturity is what happens in the Christian life.
What does that maturity look like then?
Well, to put it simply, Christian maturity is looking more like Jesus and less like ourselves.
It’s transforming from our old, sinful, dead selves into our renewed, spirit-filled, Jesus loved selves.
Notice what Paul says about godliness to Timothy in the passage I began with.
“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“.
We’re not striving to look more like Jesus so that, when we get to heaven we can be rewarded, although we truly will be.
We’re also doing it because of the value it offers us here and now. We are being TRANSFORMED now if we are developing in our godly habits.
Why is this transformation and growth important?
Well, Jesus modelled it, that’s one good reason. Jesus prayed, read his bible, worshipped and so on and so forth. We read about it time and time again in the bible:
Luke 5:16 – Jesus prayed
Luke 4:15-17 – Jesus read the scriptures
Matthew 26:30 – Jesus worshipped
It’s also a good reason to practice these things in order to stay connected to Jesus.
Jesus said he is the true vine and we are to abide in him. That’s not passive, it’s active.
Do you need more reasons why it’s important to form Godly habits?
Well, I’ll give you one more for free:
Building Godly habits into our lives helps to increase our faith.
As we get better acquainted with Jesus through worship, prayer, bible reading and study, communion etc we’ll notice Jesus more frequently in our lives and our faith will grow exponentially.
Godly habits are a gift and provision from God and help us to love Him more.
These disciplines or habits I’ve referred to are channels through which God’s grace can flow in our lives.
As you know, grace is when God gives us more than we deserve. God is, as a familiar saying goes in my church circles, “lavish” with his grace.
He pours it out on us in abundance.
God’s grace flows to us through bible reading and study. In developing this habit, we learn more and more about God and fall more and more in love with him.
God’s grace flows to us through worship and communion. And in worshipping him as a habit of grace we get closer and closer to Him
God’s grace flows to us when we pray. And in building the habit of prayer we hear from Him more
To quote from Adrian Birks’ blog:
“It is then as we practice the habits (what used to be called ‘spiritual disciplines’) of prayer, worship, Bible reading & so on, that we receive God’s grace & are changed.
Hence, ‘habits of grace’.
What’s the application for us right now as we come to the end of this article? How should we respond?
Well, Paul exhorts Timothy to have nothing to do with old wive’s tales and godless myths.
There are many habits we can develop in the Christian life that may look like we’re being Godly but are actually a distraction or done in the wrong spirit.
Are you living to please God from a place of love and gratitude or, do you think that pleasing God is how you get his attention and earn salvation?
Are you training yourself to be Godly?
Anyone can enter a marathon. Only those who have trained, those who have practiced and practiced can do it well.
How’s your relationship with Jesus? Do you love the scriptures like he does? Do you pour over them with devotion and a thirst to study?
Where’s your heart at when you worship? Is it a form of therapy for you where you come to feel better or is it an opportunity to praise God for who He is and to glorify Him?
How’s your prayer life? Are you constant in prayer as Paul was or is it lacking?
Let these be challenges to stir you.
Not into guilt but into a desire to fall more in love with Jesus, to grow closer to Jesus and to enjoy Jesus’ grace more and more as you are transformed.