“Spiritually Training to Win”
Text: 1 Timithy 4:6-10
5-5-2024
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. On Confirmation Sunday, it has been my custom to focus the sermon on the Confirmands and the faith they are about to publicly confess. That’s what we’ll do today. But this message is for the rest of you too because we all need to hear the same encouragement and admonishment from God’s Word.
As some of you may know, I’m not a Hawkeyes fan. And even though I like playing backyard basketball, I never really liked to watch college games. All that changed this past season because of one person: Caitlin Clark. Like plenty of other Americans, when I heard about her spectacular skills on the court I suddenly got interested. It wasn’t just the fact that she was getting close to breaking various records. No. It was her ability to make shots that seemed impossible. And she consistently made them. She seemed so calm like it was no big deal. One other thing impressed me during my short time of observing her. She is a team player. She wasn’t a ball hog but was especially good at passing it to a teammate who was open. And her demeanor off the court impressed me too. She wasn’t arrogant or flashy. You may have a different opinion but that’s what I saw.
So, what’s that got to do with Connor or the Christian faith for that matter? Well, it’s not because Connor likes to play basketball and is pretty good at it. Actually, it’s because St. Paul uses a sporting illustration in our text from 1 Timothy 4 as he encourages and admonishes this young Pastor in his faith journey. What he says to Timothy is good, spiritual counsel for Connor as well as the rest of us.
It's hard to say which sporting event Paul has in mind. Elsewhere he uses running and boxing as an analogy for living out our faith. But here in our text he’s talking about athletes in general and what it takes to win at whatever competition they’re engaged in. He starts in verse 6 by telling Timothy to be “trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” It’s unfortunate that the translators chose the word “trained” there because the Greek word literally means to be “nourished.” But maybe that’s because any good athlete knows that what you eat and drink can affect your strength and stamina. In the spiritual application, Paul says that believers are to be nourished with healthy, good doctrine. In other words, Connor, as you go forward in your faith you need to be wary of the various teachings people will try to feed you. Some of it is contrary to God’s Word and will be poison to your soul. And some of it will be like spiritual junk food. If you consume enough of it, you’ll become spiritually weak and not in top form. Instead of all that, stick to the healthy doctrine that you’ve been taught, both in Confirmation, at church, and here at Zion-St. John school.
Next, Paul instructs Timothy to avoid “irreverent and silly myths.” He doesn’t explain what those were. But we do know of some really wacky fables about Jesus that were floating around along with some very dangerous heresies that denied His divine nature. Paul tells Timothy to not waste his valuable time on these things. In fact, they’re not even worth debating. Rather, the apostle says he should “train” for godliness. This time it’s a good translation because that Greek word is where we get the English word “gymnasium” from. And what happens at a gymnasium? That’s where athletes go to train. It may be sprinting to increase speed. Or perhaps running long distances to build up stamina and endurance. And, regardless of the sporting event, practicing over and over to refine your skill. Once, when I was trying to encourage Connor with his Confirmation work, I used Caitlin Clark as an example. I told him, “She wasn’t born with the ability to sink those impossible 3-pointers or make those amazing layups. She had to practice. She did that until it became second nature to her.” Well, that’s the same message Paul is trying to convey. We weren’t born spiritually fit and skilled. Quite the opposite. We were born spiritually dead and it’s impossible to accomplish anything in that condition. But God was gracious and brought us spiritual life in our Baptisms. He gave us the gift of faith. And now that we have it, we need to go to the spiritual gym and exercise our faith so that we can be proficient with it. Otherwise, when you stand up here to make your confession of faith, Connor, it would only be hollow words if you hadn’t “worked out” with God’s Word.
But Connor, if you think this is the end of your need to practice spiritually then you’re sadly mistaken. In our text, Paul uses a grammatical tense of the verb “train” to indicate that this must be an ongoing activity for you and all faithful believers... for the rest of your life! Do you remember when I was shooting hoops with your class on Friday? You thought I was just trying to kill 15 minutes to finish out our class time. No, I’m sneaky. I was gathering sermon material for today! Seriously, though, I didn’t sink a single basket while you hit the bucket several times. Do you know what the difference was? I don’t practice and it’s obvious. Well, the same is true for your faith. You can’t become a couch potato after today and expect to stay fit spiritually. If you do, your faith will become weak and ineffective like my basketball shooting. Instead, your faith must be exercised regularly.
How do you do that? Well, one of the main ways is to come here, to God’s gymnasium. In worship your faith will be nourished and exercised. You can do so by putting your whole heart, mind, and soul into your sincere confession of sins, listening to God’s forgiveness in the absolution, actively digesting the Word of God that is read and preached, and receiving the assurance of your salvation through the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion. Obviously, Sunday is not the only time you should exercise your faith. You can take God’s gym home with you. Read your Bible daily and pray to the Lord. And of course, practice your faith in wholesome Christian living day by day, and not as the rest of the world lives.
Another important aspect of practicing your faith is paying attention to how you practice your faith. Back at Trinity, one of my former congregations, I was passing through the sanctuary as Jean was practicing the organ. She is very skilled at it, by the way. I noticed she was playing a certain measure of the music over and over. I commented, “Practice makes perfect, Jean!” She responded, “No, Pastor. Grandma always taught me that perfect practice makes perfect playing.” She was right. And that applies to our discussion about faith. If you exercise your faith by simply coming to church and going through the motions, it’s of no value to you. It would be like throwing the ball wildly at the basket, not aiming or caring if it went in. Likewise with your faith. The way that your faith will be strengthened and your skill of employing it will be sharpened is only if you are seriously engaged. If you see it as your lifeline to holding onto your salvation then you won’t be lazy about it.
While this illustration has been useful thus far, it can only go so far in conveying the truth of the importance of maintaining our faith. In the sports setting, it ultimately is just a competition and a game. In this world, if you lose at a game it may be heartbreaking and a disappointment but in the bigger scheme of things it doesn’t really matter. When it comes to your spiritual exercise and practice it’s much more serious. It’s not a game! In fact, this is a matter of eternal life or death for your soul! Connor, don’t fool around with that. None of us should. And that should drive us back to God’s gymnasium so that our faith can be strong and active.
St. Paul reminds us that all this is worth it. Listen again to what he says in our closing verse: “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.” I guess we could paraphrase that by saying, “All the blood, sweat, and tears of our spiritual training pays off because our hope is in God who has sent His Son as our Savior and through Him has promised us the prize of heaven.”
Connor, you don’t know this but I took a picture of your t-shirt the other day. It had a quote from Michael Jordan that said, “Champions don’t become champions when they win an event, but in the hours, days, weeks, months, and years they spend preparing for it.” I’m sure he didn’t mean for it to be spiritual but we can apply it in our setting today. What makes you a winner as a Christian is not crossing the finish line into heaven. The winning is in your daily exercising and practicing of your faith. I pray you’ll do that. I pray we will ALL do that. And may God bless you as you stand before Him and make your bold and good confession of sincere faith. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!