I love sports! I love watching sports, playing sports, and going to sporting events, but more than anything, I love watching and coaching my own kids in sports. Coaching sports gives me the opportunity to build relationships with young people and try to help teach them about discipline, commitment, teamwork, and leadership. Coaching has helped me become a better pastor because many principles of pastoring and coaching bleed into one another.

The number one thing needed in sports is not talent, but rather discipline. Kobe Bryant is arguably one of the three best basketball players in the history of professional basketball. Kobe had a killer instinct, a tenacious will to win, and an intensity that was evident in his play and interviews. Kobe did not become Kobe simply because he was good. He no doubt had God-given talent to hoop, but Kobe became Kobe because of his discipline and work ethic.

He had something called his “666 workouts.” (Probably not the best number for a Christian blog, right?!) The “666” stood for 6 hours a day, 6 times a week, 6 months a year. These workouts included everything from basketball skill training to weightlifting to running. While some guys were taking the off-season easy, Kobe was putting in work. As a coach, even at the level I am at, I can tell the difference between the kids who work at their sport and those who do not. “No pain, no gain” was the saying out of the ’80s.

Why would we think that the Christian life would be any different? The go-to verse that virtually every Christian discipline book is based on is 1 Timothy 4:7-8. Paul says there, 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.

In Jerry Bridges’s book, The Practice of Godliness, he engages with this verse and says, “The verb variously translated in different versions of the Bible as ‘exercise,’ ‘discipline,’ or ‘train’ originally referred to the training of young athletes for participation in the competitive games of the day.” In the same vein as athletic competition and the discipline required to achieve excellence, Paul tells Timothy to put forth the same effort in the Christian life to be godly.

As we work through these verses, we will begin with the topic of discipline broadly and then narrow it down to ourselves.

The first thing to introduce about discipline in the Christian life is that Spiritual Disciplines Are for Our Sanctification. It is important that we ground ourselves in doctrine before moving to practicality. The key word connecting this point to discipline is the word “godliness” in verses 7 and 8. The Greek word is eusebia. A Greek lexicon called BDAG defines eusebia as “awesome respect accorded to God.” It can be translated as devotedness, piety, or godliness. So, in essence, to be godly means that the pursuit of my life is to be what God wants me to be and to become more like Him.

This is something that is utterly impossible for someone who is not a Christian. Romans 8:7-8 tells us, “7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” This is a description of an unbeliever. Our sin and inward rebellious disposition toward God make us incapable of pleasing God in our natural state. As a non-Christian, we cannot become godly in the truest sense of the word.

The Pharisees are a perfect example of this. They were among the most religious people on the face of the planet during Jesus’s time, and Jesus regularly scolded them for their lack of an authentic relationship with God. Virtually every moment of every day was governed by religious practice. Though they were outwardly “godly and pious,” inwardly they were not pleasing God. No amount of rule-keeping or good deeds will make us right with God.

Therefore, we must be born again by God’s Spirit. In John 3:3, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” To be born again means that the Holy Spirit changes your heart and gives you spiritual life. The theological word for the Holy Spirit giving us new life is regeneration. On the basis of our regeneration, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to grow us in godliness.

The process of growing in godliness is known as sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” Then he goes on to describe how we must abstain from sexual sin for the sake of our sanctification. There are several other verses that teach us about sanctification, like 2 Peter 3:18, 1 Peter 2:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and Ephesians 1:4. As a matter of fact, any verse that gives a biblical command we are expected to obey in Scripture is a part of our sanctification.

Now, what is sanctification? Definitionally speaking, sanctification means to be set apart or to be holy. Sanctification is both positional and progressive. Positionally, once we believe in Jesus, God sets us apart as holy for Himself. 1 Corinthians 1:2 says, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people...” As you progress through the letters to the Corinthians, you will see that they did not always act holy. However, positional sanctification tells us that God has set His people apart and made them holy for Himself. Also see Ephesians 2:6.

Yet the emphasis of spiritual disciplines, and the majority of the New Testament when dealing with sanctification, is that of progressive sanctification. Peter told the churches in 2 Peter 3:18 to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is progressive sanctification. We are growing in what we know about God, and we are growing in grace, which works to make us more like Christ in our daily living.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism offers the following succinct definition of progressive sanctification: “Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness” (Q&A 34).

Now, progressive sanctification is not easy. As a matter of fact, it is more like a war than anything else. Ephesians 6 likens our daily life to fighting in a war. We are commanded to put on the whole armor of God.

Galatians 5:16-26 is a lengthy discussion of why the struggle is so significant in our battle for sanctification. It is because when we are saved, though God gives us His Holy Spirit through regeneration, He does not eradicate our old sinful nature. Therefore, our Christian life is a lifelong battle over whether we will obey God or obey our old sinful nature. Spiritual disciplines are God-given means to accomplish the end of a spiritual life pleasing to Him.

The second point of emphasis is that God Sanctifies His People by the Holy Spirit. Though our text in 1 Timothy 4:7-8 does not speak directly about the Holy Spirit, this truth is clear throughout many passages in the Bible. Just as students need a teacher and athletes need a coach, Christians need someone beyond themselves to guide, enable, and ultimately sanctify them. The Holy Spirit is the primary agent of our sanctification according to 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and 1 Peter 1:2. This is not to say that the Father and the Son are not working in us, but the sanctifying process of our lives is more directly connected to the person of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Notice how Steve L. Porter describes it in the Dictionary of Christian. He says, “Rather, formation in Christ can only be brought about by the empowering presence of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Given that the human person was originally created to flourish in union and communion with God and that this nourishing relationship was severed through the fall, it should be no surprise that the inner life of the believer is regenerated and gradually reordered as the Spirit of God makes his home within the believer. The Spirit initiates the restoration of the divine-human relationship at conversion, and the believer continues to receive the life-giving influence of the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) as he or she learns to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:16–26).”

In other words, when the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life through regeneration, He does not leave us. He stays with us and abides in us to make us more like what God originally intended us to be. He convicts us of indwelling sin (John 16:13). He lives in us to produce godly fruit (Galatians 5:16-26). He teaches us the truth (1 John 2:20, 27). He is even praying for us unbeknownst to us (Romans 8:26-27).

The Holy Spirit works in us by withering away our sinfulness and bringing new godly virtues to life. The theological terms for how the Spirit works in us are known as mortification of sin and vivification of holiness. Romans 8:12-14 is a key text that helps us understand this concept. Consider vivification and mortification like the positive and negative terminals on a car battery. Vivification is the godly virtues God’s Spirit is bringing to life in us, and mortification is the putting to death of ungodliness in us. (If you are interested in understanding more about the vivification and mortification of the Holy Spirit, this link will lead you to a sermon I preached on the topic in October of 2024: https://www.flatrun.org/sermons/sermon/2024-10-27/vivification-the-positive-side-of-sanctification.)

Therefore, without the Holy Spirit there is no sanctification. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no true growth in grace. One may wonder here, “Well, does this mean that I just need to sit back, relax, and wait for the Spirit to sanctify me since I can’t sanctify myself?” Most assuredly not!

Which leads us to the third thing we must see: God Expects Us to Discipline Ourselves. This begins with a personal commitment for the purpose of godliness. Again, in verse 7, Paul says to Timothy, “train yourself for godliness.” God is not going to do it for you. You must put in the effort.

Bridges notes that Paul does not take for granted that Timothy is progressing in godliness. I find it interesting that Timothy is not a new believer. He is a duly authorized elder, trained by Paul himself. He was a pastor, teacher, counselor, and evangelist. And Paul felt the need to say, “Train yourself for godliness!”

Again, quoting Bridges, he says, “We would much rather pray, ‘Lord make me godly,’ and expect Him to ‘pour’ some godliness into our souls in some mysterious way. God does in fact work in a mysterious way to make us godly, but he does not do this apart from fulfillment of our own personal responsibility. We are to train ourselves to be godly.” We are not to wait, sit around, and expect God to override our will to make us godly.

Again, think back to the athletic training of someone like Kobe Bryant. I do not imagine he hopped out of bed every day eager to discipline himself for basketball. But he knew that if he was going to achieve his goal of basketball excellence, he had to keep his commitment. At the end of the day, the question we need to answer is: Do we care enough about godliness to discipline ourselves?

If Paul says to discipline yourself, what are we to discipline ourselves with? As we will see over the weeks to come, we need to be faithful in taking in the Bible, praying, and participating faithfully in church. We also need to discipline ourselves toward the cultivation of godly virtues, including purity from sexual sin, control of anger, how we use our tongues, and worship, to name a few. So, discipline involves both things we should do and things we should not do.

Verse 7 also says there are some things to avoid for the sake of spiritual discipline. Paul said to avoid silly things like mythical teachings and whatnot. Sometimes we substitute theology for godliness. I have said for years that it is easier to wrestle with theology than it is to wrestle with God. We can also use service as an excuse not to pursue godliness. Service is required, as we will see soon enough in our series, but activity is no substitute for godly discipline.

Then, also, he says to prioritize your spiritual health even over your physical health and exercise. Everyone is concerned about physical health today. We count calories, check labels, and make sure we exercise. All of us need to take our health seriously! Yet Paul says here that it is of little value compared to spiritual health.

I think a good question to end on is this: Do you value your physical health or your spiritual health more? I think a look at how we invest our time will reveal what we value most. Godliness is valuable in this life and in the life to come. So, by God’s grace, let us discipline ourselves for godliness.

Soli Deo Gloria