1 Timothy 4:6–10 - Therefore I Will Hope in Him

You probably know the feeling of watching your phone battery die. At 80 percent, you barely think about it. At 40 percent, you begin to notice. At 10 percent, you start making decisions around it. You might dim the screen or close apps. You may start looking for an outlet, especially if you need your phone for directions, or communication, or payment. Without thinking about it, your confidence rises and falls with that little battery icon.

That's a small example of a very real problem for each of us. We depend heavily on many things that are only temporary – things that serve a purpose and help us, but can’t sustain us.

The phone battery is a small picture of what happens in our hearts every week. Our hope attaches to things like money, health, plans, productivity, approval, family stability, political outcomes, church circumstances, and personal discipline. If they look strong, we feel secure. If they look weak, we feel anxious or frustrated. And if they fail, we feel shaken.

So my question for you isn't simply, Did you believe in God this week? My question is: What pulled your hope away from the living God this past week? Where was your trust drawn not to your Savior, but to something temporary?

When a person is dead in sins, he or she can't help but hope in worldly, temporal things. And even after Christ frees us from sin’s reign over us, temporary hope in the things of this world still pulls at us. But Christ doesn’t just tell us to “hope better.” He does much more. He anchors our hope in the living God, whose power never dwindles or dies.

So we should set our hope on God our Savior. Notice the outline. What does it look like to set our hope on God our Savior? Let’s look together.

Paul tells Timothy to “put these things before” the members of the Ephesian church. A faithful pastor leads primarily through his preaching and teaching. From the pulpit he proclaims Christ, with sound instruction and shepherding. Through the sermons he delivers and the worship services that he plans and leads, a minister of Word and sacrament continually leads God’s people to Christ their hope.

Only by doing so can a pastor be called “a good servant of Christ Jesus.”  We’ve seen this word translated “servant” before. This is “diakonos.” In chapter 3, we translate it “deacon.” But here, that translation would be wrong based on the context. Timothy was not ordained to the office of deacon, but he was a diakonos or servant of Christ, like how Paul refers to Phoebe in Romans 16 and to himself and Apollos in 1 Corinthians 3.

Preaching, teaching, and shepherding are acts of pastoral service. The pastor is a servant of God’s people. A good pastor is concerned with their care. He prays and labors and keeps watch so that the sheep of Christ might not just attend and give and serve, but that they may have Christ Himself as their wisdom in all things.

For a minister to serve effectively in this way, he must be, as Paul says in verse 6, “trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine. The Greek word translated “train” here is different from the words translated in a similar way in verses 7 and 8. This word means “educated.” You might say “brought up” or “nourished.” It has the sense of being taught, raised up, developed over time.

A pastor cannot be trained by a crash course. It will be his responsibility to state and explain the apostolic teaching. That is the significance of these two important phrases. “Words of the faith,” literally the logos or message that we trust – the message of redemption in and through Christ Jesus. We see elsewhere in Scripture that Christ Himself is the logos. The gospel is not just a message about Christ – Christ Himself is the message. He is the good news. Timothy was taught Christ that he might then teach Christ.

You’ve heard “read the Bible.” That’s good. But let’s go one step further now. Read the Bible, that you may learn Christ.

Timothy was also trained “in the words…of the good doctrine” that he “followed.” This is “wise instruction” to which Timothy had faithfully conformed himself. He was taught to be transformed by Christ, with Christ, through the means Christ appointed for his spiritual transformation. Through Word, sacrament, and prayer, Timothy’s own hope in God was cultivated. There is the message, there is the teaching. All of it culminates in Christ the Lord.

How relieving is it to know that not only has Christ secured our hope in God, but that He maintains that security even as our attention drifts to things of this world? Sinners like us can know God and have unalterable peace with Him! The way has been revealed through Christ and His life-giving instruction.

Do we really “feed on Christ?” Spiritually, yes, we do. Christ said He is the bread of life. The psalmist wrote, “How sweet are your words to my taste.” And Christ quoted Moses, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Hope set on God our Savior feeds on Christ Himself through His life-giving instruction. When you’re hungry, you eat. Christ strengthens your hope in God as you feed on Him through His appointed means. Expect Him to transform you within as you do so!

Now, along the lines of what Christ uses for our transformation, Paul discusses what Christ does not use. He says, “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.” These were speculations and legends about biblical figures that had no credibility. Speculation perhaps about angels or Satan. In some cases, these included superstitious beliefs.

Timothy was to avoid these and teach the church to do the same. Why? Because they distract from Christ and the truth. The appeal was new information. We love a secret uncovered. These myths gave the appearance of spiritual knowledge – but they achieved nothing. Paul says instead “train yourself for godliness.” This “training” is literally “exercise.” This is strength training. It’s spiritual fitness.

Physical fitness is a major industry in the U.S. As of 2024, the fitness industry accounted for over $22 billion of economic activity and created almost 433,000 direct jobs in the U.S. People care about physical exercise in this country!

Obviously, some methods or means for getting fit work better than others. Some proposed methods probably don’t accomplish much at all. The same is true for spiritual exercise. There’s a lot out there: spiritual-looking distractions that produce talk, speculation, and self-reliance rather than faith in Christ and true godliness.

So, for example, self-made spirituality is widespread. Things like "manifesting," speaking your reality into existence, or using faith as a technique to get the life you want. There's a great deal of Christianized superstition (treating phrases, numbers, dreams, coincidences, or impressions as secret messages from God apart from Scripture). Also, many people are distracted by an end-times obsession, with charts, date-setting, and prophecy speculation that produce fear and curiosity more than holiness and faithfulness.

Additionally, conspiracy-driven Christianity has a strong appeal, interpreting the world mainly through hidden plots rather than Scripture, providence, sin, grace, and Christ’s reign. We see therapeutic self-salvation, making Christianity mainly about self-acceptance, self-fulfillment, or emotional wellness rather than repentance, faith, and godliness. And we’re offered moralistic life hacks, with religious-sounding advice about habits, success, and potential, but little dependence on Christ.

People can be enamored by speculative spiritual warfare. Overconfident claims are made about demons, angels, territorial spirits, or generational spirits, going beyond Scripture. Legalistic holiness systems pop up as well, with man-made rules treated as marks of superior godliness.

We learned last week about anti-creation teaching. These false teachings treat marriage, food, the body, or ordinary created gifts as spiritually inferior in themselves. And today we continually hear about hidden-meaning Bible systems (Bible codes, numerology, or private interpretive keys that claim to uncover the real meaning of Scripture).

And last but not least, with the rise of social media, there’s a deluge of influencer-driven spirituality. People rely on the charisma, personality, or novelty of an online personality more than the ordinary means of grace administered in the local church.

But we need the right kind of spiritual exercise for true godliness. What is this "godliness?" This is the same word Paul used back 1 Timothy 3, in the passage we proclaimed earlier. But Paul uses the word differently here. Here we learn that the Christ who revealed the righteousness of God and who makes us righteous positionally before God is the same Christ who now actively conforms us to that righteousness. He works through our spiritual training (or exercise).

And Paul compares physical vs. spiritual exercise for development and strength. Look at verse [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.” This is a case for the greater value of spiritual fitness.

It’s notable here that exercise for the body is beneficial. Have you heard this old saying? “Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.” Physical exercise is profitable. But spiritual exercise through which we lay hold of Christ is more profitable.

Why? Well, your body will remain on earth when you die; your soul will be with Christ. The body will decay; the soul will live on with the Lord in glory. And on the new earth, when Christ returns, your decayed body will be made new. Apparently this comparison of bodily and spiritual fitness was a common saying. Notice he adds, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.”

Isn’t God so kind, so loving and gracious, to tell us that if we have wasted time and energy on what does not produce true godliness, to do it no longer? Instead, by grace we can exercise our souls to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Again, with His Word, sacraments, and prayer, in community and fellowship with His people, we can experience the shifting of our hope from the temporary to the eternal.

In love, God invites us and enables you today to identify the “empty calories” in your spiritual diet, to recognize the useless exercises that have no spiritual value, and to join the spiritual fitness program of Christ!

Do you believe that Christ can do this? That expectation within you is hope. Hope set on God our Savior turns from what is empty to what leads to true godliness. The past is the past. Begin again today. Christ with His grace trains us to keep starting again, though many things hinder.

Look at verse [10]. Paul says, “For to this end we toil and strive.” For the godliness formed in us by Christ, all believers must “toil”. Effort must be put forward: we must use the means and put sin to death. And all believers must “strive” though “struggle” might better capture the meaning here. Difficulties must be endured. Sufferings must be experienced. But hope is produced.

This hope is in view Romans 5. Paul writes, “since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame." This hope is a confident expectation that all God promised He will fulfill.

We endure sufferings and put forth intentional effort for spiritual growth, “because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people.” We do this because we trust that Christ has dealt with our sin and guilt, He has overcome them, He has made us righteous in the sight of God, He has applied His saving work to our souls, and He will finish what He began in us. Therefore, we can and we will withstand whatever comes our way.

And it’s not just one race of people or socio-economic class. It’s not just one tribe or nation or language. God is the Savior of “all people, especially of those who believe.” Like “all” back in chapter 2, this means “all kinds” of people. It’s not universalism. It’s the promise of God to Abraham, that people from every nation will be blessed,

“Especially of those who believe.” God shows common grace to all people. The sun shines on the righteous and wicked. Rain falls on the just and the unjust. But He shows His special, saving grace to those He saves in Christ.

Let this soothe your soul today, that though your walk with Christ may seem at times like one step forward and two steps back, with Christ you can only move forward. Valleys and deserts seem like useless wandering, but God is with you and working.

Feed on Christ, turn from what is empty, do this by faith, and He will strengthen your hope. He will cause you to set your hope on Him, and He will keep you going, because hope set on God our Savior trusts that our effort and struggle for godliness are not in vain.

Picture a child whose parents leave him a great inheritance. He doesn’t have all of it in his hands yet. He still has to pay bills, and carry burdens, enduring hard days. But if the inheritance is certain, then the present hardship isn’t the whole story. He can endure in the present because what belongs to him is secure.

The OT prophet Jeremiah recognized this. In the ruins of Jerusalem, surrounded by grief and loss, he longed for the fulfillment of the promises of God, and he wrote, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

God revealed to Jeremiah that the greatest “portion” – the best allotment or inheritance to receive – is God Himself. To have God. To have God in the world. Jeremiah looked forward to what we look back on: we can have God because God came to us. We have God, because we have Christ.

Don’t you want God in your life? Then receive and rest in Christ. He offers Himself and His life to you today. This table testifies to that offer and to His promise and power to strengthen your hope.

Let’s bow in prayer.