Letters to Timothy – Good Practical Advice:
Be Disciplined
by Rev. Eric Huffman
May 22, 2016
1 Timothy 4:7-16
Today’s scripture comes from Paul’s first letter to Timothy.
Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness, 8for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. 10For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
11These are the things you must insist on and teach. 12Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching. 14Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. 15Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. 16Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
We’re continuing our series on the Book of Timothy, 1st Timothy in Paul’s letters to Timothy and in the common every day common sense wisdom that Paul imparts on Timothy. Paul is an older guy by this point. He’s reaching the end of his life. Timothy is a young guy who is starting out in his ministry, and this is just everyday common sense that Paul gives Timothy. And you all have been talking about that for several weeks now. We’re going to continue that today.
I think it’s a little bit like Proverbs for New Testament readers. That’s kind of how I read 1 Timothy especially. Today’s passage is no different. When they wanted to study extraordinary businesses that had done extraordinary things, the authors Jim Collins and Morten Hansen wrote a book called Great by Choice. In this book they set out to answer the question: What makes those companies that thrive in uncertain and volatile times, what makes those companies great? What makes them different from all the other companies that struggle or go under during the same times under the same circumstances? Certainly it’s not blind luck or coincidence. It doesn’t just happen. There is something intentional. For what they were looking for was something called 10X companies. They studied over 20,000 companies over several years, and they were looking for 10X companies which are companies that started out in the very beginning with a lot of vulnerability. They started out in very volatile times maybe in a volatile industry, a lot of ups and downs, but something about their company’s culture helped them to thrive when others did not. Out of the 20,000+ companies that they studied, only seven qualified as 10X companies, meaning they performed 10 times better than the industry standard.
One of those companies was Southwest Airlines. You would agree with me that while it’s not a pleasant experience it’s a less-unpleasant one usually. That’s not exactly a vote of confidence but Southwest has done fairly well for themselves. So well, in fact, that had you bought $10,000 worth of Southwest stock in 1972 and cashed it in in 2002 your $10,000 would have become $12M dollars. That’s how well Southwest did, and the question was how. What sets Southwest apart from all the other airlines that struggled during that same timespan? All of Southwest major competitors filed bankruptcy. Some of them several times during that same timespan. What makes Southwest different? What made 10X companies different? And so Collins identified three characteristics, and the first one was the most important. He said these characteristics were shared among all seven 10X companies. And it was what he called fanatic discipline. That is defined as the consistency of action, the consistency of action driven by self-control impervious to the elements. And the illustration that they used in the book Great by Choice is the illustration whereby you imagine, if you will, you are about to set off by foot on a journey from San Diego to Maine, but you have a strategy. It looks like it’s impossible, but you have a plan. Your plan is to go twenty miles a day, twenty miles a day no matter what, even if the weather is terrible and you feel terrible even if the elements are bad, the deck is stacked against you and you want to take a day off you grit it out by the sheer force of your own self will. You just gut it out, and you go the twenty miles.
On the other hand, even when conditions are perfect and the weather ideal, and you have new shoes on, and you feel great, and you could in theory go thirty miles or forty miles that day through the force of your own self-restraint you choose to just go the twenty miles you planned to go and not a mile further. You stick to your strategy in a fanatically disciplined way. Collins and Hansen call this the twenty mile march. The twenty mile march is a two-sided challenge to companies that want to be great and individuals that want to be great in uncertain times.
First of all there’s the challenge of going your twenty miles when times are hard, sticking it out, having the guts to do that and everybody gets that part of it. But the second side of that coin, the second challenge is that when things are going great, when your competitors are spending like crazy, when the market is out of control, and your competitors are going forty miles, sixty miles a day being a flash in the pan, and the Houston Chronicle is writing articles about how great your competitors are and you choose to just go your twenty miles a day. You don’t need the attention, you have a plan. You have a strategy and you’re disciplined about it. So these guys in the book said that’s what set these 10X guys apart.
Other companies were successful in spurts, but the companies that were successful over long periods of time in a sustained way where the ones that took their twenty mile march no matter what. They were self-controlled in their culture.
Paul write to Timothy about this very thing, self-control, self-restraint. He tries to show the young man how to be faithful in an unfaithful world, how in the world to follow Jesus in a world that seems to have gone crazy. That’s what Paul is telling Timothy. And it should resonate with us, should it not? How many of you in the last twenty-four hours have felt like the world is going crazy? Does anybody watch the news here, anyone? It’s hard not to feel like our world’s going crazy, like it’s spinning out of control. It’s snowballing, and there’s no turning back from this crazy cycle that we are in now. It feels overwhelming. If you look at the headlines lately, you know exactly what I mean. The world is losing its mind.
You know what the most popular, most clicked on news story has been over the last twelve months? With all the important things going on the world the most popular news story – New York City rat carries pizza down the stairs. What’s wrong with us? Why is that the most popular news story? You know what the most popular news story is in the last six months? Leading presidential candidate claims to have normal sized hands. What in the world is going on? What is happening? There is one story that wasn’t super popular globally but was extremely popular in Houston. It was a trending story in Houston in our social media circles, which means Houstonians were clicking on this story at a much higher rate than other people were. And that was the story of the woman who stabbed her boyfriend, because he finished the last of the salsa. Now I can only imagine that Houstonians clicked on that story thinking that must have happened in Houston and that is a Houston thing. No it happened in Ohio to everyone’s surprise.
What in the world is going on? When Paul told Timothy to avoid profane myths and old wives’ tales. I’m sure Timothy had his share of temptations, but I have trouble believing Timothy had trouble facing anything like what we face today because our whole culture feeds on profane myths and old wives’ tales. That’s all that sells in our culture, profane myths and old wives’ tales, and we buy it up. Think about it. When was the last time you were tempted to buy in to a profane myth? It’s not as serious as it sounds.
Profane just means worldly or secular. Myths are just the stories people in the same culture tell each other to have shared experiences and solidarity. What profane myths have you been tempted to believe? When it says sixty miles an hour, it means seventy miles an hour. That’s a profane myth. Here’s another one. When there’s a soccer league available, your kid must play in it, even if he’s on two other teams already and even if the games are on Sunday mornings. Your church will understand. No we won’t. That’s a profane myth. You can miss out on a league once in a while, parents. What about this one? Wrinkles, stretch marks, crow’s feet, muffin tops, all marks of the devil, and they must be dealt with immediately. Profane myth. Profane myths and old wives’ tales. Old wives’ tales in our culture I think are what happens when the media and scientific community conspire against us to make money. And they inundate us with contradictory reports and studies that simultaneously comfort and terrify us.
You’ve seen the stories. There’s one that trended on-line recently. It was a study by the national sleep foundation, and women were posting it on Facebook tagging their husbands. It was a study titled Women Need More Sleep Than Men and wives were saying “See, this is why you get up with the kids and not me, because science says you should.” That worked until men did their own on-line research and found a study out of Finland. Finland scientists said in a report that men need more sleep than women. Why, because science says so. Both science, completely different messages. And it doesn’t stop with sleep does it? You’ve probably heard that drinking coffee everyday will prolong your life while giving you cancer. Women you’ve heard that eating dark chocolate while pregnant will lead to a much healthier pregnancy while also giving your babies diverticulitis and diabetes. You’ve probably heard that drinking a glass of red wine every day is the best thing you can do for your heart. That’s why you do it. It’s also apparently the leading cause of heart disease in America, because science says so.
All the contradictory stories they come our way, they flood our inbox, our social media streams, our news networks, and we can’t help ourselves. We consume it all. It wastes our time. And it overwhelms us with unnecessary information that we worry about. Just try one day giving your kids eggs for breakfast that aren’t from organic, free range, cage free, grain fed chickens. Someone’s going to make you feel like an abusive parent, because that’s the world we live in. And I don’t know when we’re going to wake up and realize we’re being trolled by the media whose currency is our fear.
I don’t know when we’re going to wake up and realize we don’t care if we’re really informed. They get paid by the click and we are the ones who click. And I wish I could stand here and blame the evil media. I can’t. I guess they’re doing their job. I just know we are the ones that click. And I can’t blame anyone but us. We are the ones who watch fearmongering cable news networks, and I mean all of them, not just one, whichever one you’re thinking. So are your politics. We’re the ones who watch.
We are the ones who crave the next sensationalist story about that opportunistic, evil, maniacal, crazy person that wants to be our next president, and her opponent, Donald Trump. As you write your emails as your response to this sermon I’d like you to address them to tpace at…. Can we all agree they are both egomaniacs? Amen. Alright. We’re on the same page.
All of it is a recipe for crazy making, and it’s making us crazy, and we’re wasting our time and losing our attention and losing our center. Profane myths and old wives’ tales will always leave you feeling like you will never be safe enough, never be good enough, never be successful enough, never be young enough, never be attractive enough, never be rich enough. And you will always run on that hamster wheel pursuing an unattainable goal, whatever that is, that something more they say you need but you don’t have.
That’s the trap of profane myths and old wives’ tales. What we end up doing is caving to our impulses, whatever impulse there is at the moment. The moment you’re in that makes you feel better about yourself, and that gives you a little bit of a leg up, a better social standing. You cave to the impulse.
When Paul writes to Timothy he says we’re better than that. Guys, brothers and sisters, friends, we’re better than that. We’re Methodists. Why are you laughing? We’re Methodists. I know in recent days Methodists have gotten the reputation of being a kind of wishy-washy, catch-all denomination. You know, if you’re Southern Baptist and you married a Catholic you just go be a Methodist. They’ll take anyone.
I know the story. When he was on the daily show John Stewart said, “Being Methodist is easy.” He said, “It’s like the University of Phoenix of religions.” He said, “Send fifty dollars, and click I ‘agree’ and you’re saved.” With all due respect to John Stewart, who we all miss terribly, I’m sure.
Becoming Methodist might be easy because our doors are always open wide. Praise God for that. But being Methodist should never be easy. At least not being a good Methodist should not be easy. When you choose to be a Methodist you choose the narrow road. You may not have known that when you chose, I’m going to tell you. I hate to have baited and switched you, when you chose to be a Methodist you chose the hard path.
Did you know the name Methodist was originally an insult? Did you know it was a phrase of derision? Given those young evangelicals gathered on the Oxford University campus in the 1700’s by the other students and said: “What’s wrong with those guys? Why are those college students getting up before the sun, going to pray, getting on their knees, studying the word of God together? Why do college students live below their means?” Can you imagine, parents of college students, college students who live below their means so that they could give it away and serve the poor? And all the other college students looked at those people and said: “You guys, this is college. You need to take it down a notch, have some fun, live a little, don’t be such Methodists.”
It was an insult that was couched in truth. Much like when we call two year-olds terrible,, Presbyterians, the frozen chosen, when we call that school in College Station a cult. It’s an insult based in truth.
It was an insult, and it stuck because John and Charles Wesley embraced it. They said if we’re going to be known as something, why not be known for the dogged, determined, disciplined way that we put Jesus at the center of our lives? Why not be known for the daily discipline that we employ to follow Jesus? John Wesley said: “When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious. When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes trustworthy. When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes prosperous.” I don’t want you to hear me or Wesley say, “Prosperity is the goal of Christianity” or “the goal of Methodism.” Because it’s not.
I’m just telling you it’s kind of what tends to happen when you follow Jesus in a disciplined, determined way. It’s kind of what tends to happen when you choose every day to get up before the sun, before you make your first pot of coffee you get on your knees, and you seek the face and the will of God. You give your life over to Jesus before the day begins. It’s kind of what happens when you spend your first waking moments, maybe with that cup of coffee, deep in the word, reading the Bible before your family even wakes up. It’s what happens when you pour your life and your energy tending to your family. It’s what happens when you sit down before the day begins, and you make a list of things you’re going to accomplish today, and you sit down in that disciplined way and make a list of all the people you are going to bless today and how you are going to bless them. Then you go out the front door of your house and you don’t do it. And hours later and you get back home and you’re done sharing God with the world, done serving your church, done blessing your city, done pouring your heart and your life into your kids and family, and you’re done calling your friends to check up on them and making sure they’re okay, and you’re done checking in with your wife or husband and asking how they’re doing, and you’re done loving Jesus and loving his people. After all of that you don’t have the energy to reach for the remote and turn on those cable news shows. You don’t even care what the president did today. You don’t care who the next president will be. All that matters to you is loving Jesus and the people he puts in front of you. And that takes every ounce of energy that you’ve got. Because there’s work to be done. And at the end of the day you’re bone-tired. Kiss your wife goodnight. Pray with your kids. Your head hits the pillow, and you go straight to sleep, because you go to bed tired.
Friends, Christians go to bed tired. Methodists go to bed tired. And then we get up the next day before the sun rises, and we do the exact same thing, and the day after that, and the day after that, even when it’s hard, even when you have a head cold and you don’t feel like it, even when nobody else you know is doing it, so why should I? Even when, if I may say, even when you’re retired, retired brothers and sisters, if I can call you that, it’s awkward. I love ya. Most of you get this already. I’ve been to the Woodshop across the street. The Bible says quite a bit about retirement. You know what the Bible calls retirement? Heaven. And when you get there you can sleep in, you can stay in your pajamas all day, and nobody cares. You can go on cruises all you want, to your hearts delight.
As long as you’re here, there’s work to be done. No matter whether you’re a high level executive, stay-at-home parent, a student, or whether you’re retired, there’s work to be done in the Kingdom of God, and we are the ones who work. Paul writes to Timothy and says: “Train yourself in Godliness.” This is serious business. It’s no joke. Have you ever trained for something? It wasn’t easy, no way. Training is always hard. Training is always a sacrifice because training means practicing even when you don’t feel like it over a long period of time.
You think John Wesley wrote the Methodist movement overnight? It took him sixty years to plant the Methodist movement of doing the same thing every day. The great John Ortberg who is a leadership guru writes tons of books. He talks about the difference between trying and training. He says anyone can try, but not everyone has the willpower to train. I can try to go and conduct the choir like Sid Davis does. Ever want to be a conductor? Remember when you were a kid and you’d conduct the imaginary orchestra, and you thought all it meant was doing your arms like this? I can try this. Do you think the choir would do very well with me? How do you think Rob on the organ would like me as the conductor? Do you think Sid is trying to conduct? No. Sid Davis, Dr. Davis has trained to conduct. He’s given his life to this craft. Do you have any idea how many days, how many hours, how much blood, sweat and tears has gone into this craft of Dr. Davis’ so that every Sunday morning our worship experience is transcended and our souls are lifted? How entitled are we to sit here worshipping with our hearts full of God’s love because of this music and think, “Aw Dr. Davis is trying.” No! He’s trained. And he’s trained for years to do what he does.
Our task as Christians is to get as good as being like Jesus and Dr. Davis has become at conducting a choir. Lord know it’s doesn’t happen for just anyone, not even Jesus. Jesus trained. Have you thought about that? Jesus trained. He was 12 years old, and the gospel tells us that Jesus at the age of 12 sat at the feet of the masters. He sat at the feet of the scholars learning the word of God, learning the ways of the world. He grew in wisdom from a young age. Young people, do not wait until graduation to start your training. Do not wait for your career to start your training in Jesus. Start now. Grow in wisdom. Jesus needed to. We all need to train.
Jesus grew up and said to his disciples in Matthew 21, he said to be on your guard at all times, to guard yourself against the impulse, the impulse to self-indulge, the impulse of drunkenness and the impulse of worrying too much. He said those things are a trap. And then it says every day Jesus was teaching in the Temple. At night he went to sleep at the Mount of Olives. He went to bed tired, because he worked all day. And in the morning, early in the morning, all the people got up to listen to him in the temple. Why? Because they knew where to find him. Because Jesus was steady in an unsteady world. Jesus was consistent in an inconsistent world. He was doggedly determined to share his message with the world around him, so he did the same thing every day.
The Christian life is about training. That, friends, that is why we do what we do. That’s why many of us get up before the sun, get up before our family, to have a moment to pray and humble ourselves before God.
I was talking to somebody in the lobby before this service, and they said every morning they get up and name all their kids and all their grandkids and ask God to bless them. Do you have any idea what an impact that can have? Maybe not overnight but over many years’ time. That’s why we do what we do. That’s why we gather on Sunday mornings and get all dressed up and come to worship, and we see our neighbors firing up the grill, we see our neighbors watching the game, we see our neighbors for brunch and watching Meet the Press or whatever. And part of us thinks aww if only. No we are in training, and that’s why we worship and serve our city of Houston. That’s why we go to places like Guatemala with ZOE. That’s why we let strangers swab our cheeks to see if we can be on the donor registry to give ourselves away. That’s why we work so hard at our jobs to make the money we make, so we can write checks that change world. That’s why you’re doing that, right? We are in training. So we go to bed tired, because nothing matters more to us than the whole world knowing about Jesus. And the best way for the world to know about Jesus is for those who bear his name to be trained and raised up to be more like him.
Paul told Timothy it’s a struggle. He said we toil and struggle, because we have our hopes set on a living God who is the savior of all people.
Friends, don’t just try to be Christians. Train to be Christians. Twenty miles. Twenty miles a day. Twenty miles of prayer. Even when you get on your knees and you don’t feel that same warmth in your heart you used to feel when you pray. Even when you get on your knees and you don’t hear that voice you used to hear when you pray, tough it out and go twenty miles every day. On the other hand when everything seems easy to you and the world is just opening up right in front of you and you think you can do everything for everyone, be all things for all people. Sure I can lead that committee, sure I can lead that soccer team. No more. Twenty miles. Twenty miles today. Twenty miles tomorrow and the next day and the next.
I’ve got bad news and good news. The bad news is the world has gone crazy. The good news is God’s not finished with it yet. Our culture feeds on the profane and old wives’ tales, but Jesus is the bread of life. His gospel is the living water. So you can stop wishing for the world to be different, and you can start training to be the difference. And in everything we do every day be diligent, be disciplined, be steady in an unsteady world. I’m not sure anything matters more. For our hope is set on the living God who is the savior of all people. Praise be to God. Amen.