August 23, 2026
Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL
James Jackson, Pastor
[Refresh Series Slide]
Good morning. Please open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4.
We are in the third week of a series we are calling “Refresh,” where we have been looking at the process God uses to make us be more like Jesus.
This is what the church calls “sanctification.”
Now, I’ve always been a visual thinker, which means in addition to thinking through what I want a particular teaching series to focus on, I also spend a lot of time thinking through how it’s going to look. I knew, for example, that our last series on the minor prophets used a lot of earth tones, and ominous looking thunderheads and all that, so visually I wanted this one to look a little brighter. So I’ve had a lot of fun with changing the color of the wall each week, making sure that the painter’s bandana in her back pocket matched the one in her hair, and coordinating them with the color of the wall.
And so we’ve used this motif of redecorating to talk about
• Our mind in Christ
• The heart that is focused on God
• And today, I want to talk about habits of sanctification. Those things we put into practice that help us grow in Christlikeness.
And I realized this week that with this whole redecorating vibe that maybe I’ve left some of you guys behind.
You know who you are.
You’re a little less “home and garden” and more “guns and ammo.” Less Joanna Gaines, more Chuck Norris. So for you guys, I thought I’d switch things up this morning [quonset hut slide]
Now, before anybody gets too excited, this is the only time you’re going to see this slide. We’ll be back to paint chips and shiplap in just a minute.
But here’s the thing: this image may actually be closer to what Paul has in mind in 1 Timothy 4 than our regular one is. Because when Paul talks about growing in godliness, he doesn’t describe something passive. He talks about training. He talks about hard work. He talks about discipline and persistence.
And if there’s one thing I want you to take home from this teaching this morning, it’s this:
We are formed by the habits we practice.
So let’s hear what Paul has to say to Timothy. We’re going to begin in verse 6 and read through verse 16. If you are physically able, please stand to honor the reading of God’s Word.
Read 1 Timothy 4:6-16
[pray]
So, there is the assumption that a servant of Christ Jesus is going to
1. Put in the work.
In verse 6, Paul says that a good servant of Christ will be trained in the words of the faith and good doctrine. The opposite of faith and good doctrine is irreverent and silly myths. Earlier, in 1 Timothy 1:3-4, Paul had talked about false teaching that promoted speculation over stewardship. In other words, it might be interesting to research everything you can about the Nephilim, but is it training you for godliness?
The word he uses in verse 7 is gymnaze. It’s where we get our word “gymnasium.” And just as putting in time at the gym pays off for your physical body, Paul says training for godliness “is of value in every way.”
Paul isn’t putting down physical exercise. He’s making an argument from the lesser to the greater. We understand that if you want to get stronger physically, you have to train. You have to put in the work.
You don’t get stronger because you’re a member at the Y.
You can even be a regular attender at the Y. You can go to the Y two or three times a month and watch people work out.
But does watching people work out make you stronger?
No. It makes you creepy.
So friends, if we understand that about a gym membership, why do we lose sight of it when it comes to church membership? When did we start believing that simply showing up for church was all it took to grow stronger in our faith?
Look at the language Paul uses in verse 10: “For to this end we toil and strive.”
Train. Toil. Strive.
Those aren’t passive words. Sanctification is the work of God, but that doesn’t mean we don’t participate in it. Dallas Willard, one of the leading modern voices in spiritual formation, put it this way:
Grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.
And notice the goal. Paul doesn’t say, “Train yourself to read the Bible every day.” He doesn’t say, “Train yourself to pray for thirty minutes.” He doesn’t say, “Train yourself to memorize Scripture.”
He says, “Train yourself for godliness.”
That’s important, because spiritual disciplines aren’t the goal. Godliness is the goal.
Reading the Bible is training. Prayer is training. Worship is training. Generosity is training. Serving other people is training. Gathering regularly with other believers is training. These are practices God uses to form us into people who increasingly look like Jesus.
But we can get very good at doing spiritual things without necessarily becoming more godly.
You can read the Bible every morning and still be mean to your spouse. You can go to church every Sunday and still gossip about everybody on Monday. You can give ten percent of everything you make and still spend the other ninety percent completely obsessed with yourself.
So the question isn’t simply, “Am I practicing spiritual disciplines?”
The question is, “What are those disciplines forming in me?”
Because remember our Big Idea: We are formed by the habits we practice.
And understand, we’re practicing things all the time. Every time I respond to anxiety with worry, I’m practicing worry. Every time I respond to anger by unloading on somebody, I’m practicing anger. But every time I respond to anxiety with prayer, I’m practicing trust. Every time I choose forgiveness instead of retaliation, I’m practicing grace. The things we repeatedly practice are forming the people we are becoming.
That’s training.
That’s putting in the work.
And Paul says this kind of training has value far beyond what physical training can accomplish. Bodily training has value for this life. But godliness, he says, “holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”
What God is forming in you isn’t just making you a slightly better person right now. God is forming you for eternity.
That’s why Paul says in verse 10:
“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.”
Now, that last phrase raises an obvious question. What does Paul mean when he calls God “the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe”? Is Paul teaching universal salvation?
No. Paul consistently teaches that salvation is received through faith in Christ. So while Jesus is the Savior of all in that He died for all. The gift of salvation is available for all people. But only those who believe have experience Him as Savior.
So Paul’s point in verse 10 is to give us the reason for all this toil and striving: “because we have our hope set on the living God.”
Our effort isn’t where our hope is.
We train. We toil. We strive. We put in the work.
But our hope is in the living God.
That’s the balance. I train as though my growth matters, because it does. I trust God as though my growth depends upon Him, because it does.
Spiritual discipline without grace becomes legalism. But grace without discipleship becomes what Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously called cheap grace—grace that wants forgiveness without following Jesus, salvation without discipleship, grace without transformation.
God doesn’t say, “Work hard enough and maybe I’ll save you.”
God saves us by grace—and then says, “Now let’s get to work.”
2. Track Your Progress
Now look at verse 15:
“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”
Before we get into that, though, we need to take a quick side quest.
Paul keeps using this phrase “these things.” We actually started reading in verse 6 this morning because that’s the first time it shows up:
“If you put these things before the brothers…”
Then verse 11:
“Command and teach these things.”
And now verse 15:
“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them…”
And I’m reading that thinking, “Hey, Paul—what things?”
Because wouldn’t it be nice if Paul had just given us a list? Read your Bible every day. Pray. Go to church. Fast twice a month. Give. Serve. Check, check, check.
But he doesn’t.
“These things” seems to encompass the whole life Paul has been describing: sound doctrine instead of foolish speculation;(verse 7) training for godliness; setting an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (verse 12) ; devoting yourself to the public reading of scripture, preaching, developing your spiritual gifts. (verse 14)
In other words, Paul isn’t giving Timothy a habit tracker. He’s describing a whole life oriented toward godliness.
So maybe the better question isn’t, “What five spiritual disciplines do I need to check off my list?” Maybe the better question is, “What kind of person is God forming me to become, and what do I need to practice in order to become that person?”
Okay. Side quest over.
Now look again at what Paul says: “Practice these things, immerse yourself in them.”
I got excited when I first read “immerse yourself in them,” because I was expecting to find baptizo, the Greek word for baptism. And since we had a baptism this morning, I was ready to go to town on that.
But that’s not the word Paul uses. The phrase translated “immerse yourself in them” is literally something like “be in these things.”
Live in them. Give yourself to them. Make them such a consistent part of your life that they begin to become part of who you are.
Practice these things until they are no longer just things you do, but things you are.
And Paul says when that happens, there ought to be evidence:
“so that all may see your progress.”
Now, wait a minute. Didn’t Jesus tell us in Matthew 6 not to practice our righteousness in order to be seen by other people?
Absolutely.
So which is it? Don’t let people see, or let everybody see?
I think the difference is between motive and result. People seeing your progress is the result of practicing spiritual disciplines, not the motive.
Suppose somebody at your office goes on a diet, and every morning they come in with an announcement: “Everybody, I lost another half pound! Yesterday was a little setback, but I think that’s water weight. Let me tell you what I ate yesterday! Let me show you my step count! Let me tell you how long I spent at the gym.”
I would buy a dozen Krispy Kremes and put them in his cubicle just to shut him up.
Don’t be that guy.
But suppose he never says a word about it. He changes the way he eats. He starts exercising. He sticks with it. And six months later somebody says, “Whoa! Have you lost weight? What are you doing?”
That’s completely different.
He wasn’t trying to get noticed. The results became noticeable.
That’s what Paul is talking about. Nobody needs you to announce that you had a forty-five-minute quiet time this morning. Nobody needs to know how many consecutive days you’ve completed your Bible-reading plan.
Nobody needs to see the workout. But eventually they ought to see the results.
And Paul actually gives us some places to look for those results in verse 12. He tells Timothy to set an example “in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
So how’s your speech? Is the way you talk changing? Do you gossip less? Are you slower to say something in anger that you’re going to regret?
How about your conduct? Are the people around you seeing a difference in the way you live?
How about love? Are you harder to offend than you used to be? Are you quicker to forgive?
How about faith? When something goes wrong, are you more likely to pray before you panic? Are you learning to trust God with things you can’t control?
How about purity? Are you learning to say no to the desires and temptations that used to control you?
Those are signs of progress.
Because if the only evidence that your quiet time is working is that you’re getting really good at having a quiet time, something is wrong.
The goal isn’t to become good at spiritual disciplines.
The goal is godliness.
And here’s one more thing: sometimes other people are better at seeing our progress than we are.
There was a season of my life when I was really into running, and one of the reasons I was more disciplined then was that I was part of a training group. When you’re running by yourself, it’s easy to negotiate with yourself. It’s cold. I’m tired. My knee feels funny. I’ll run tomorrow.
But it’s harder to do that when you know people are waiting for you. And those people knew what I was training for. They could encourage me when I was making progress and push me when I wasn’t putting in the work.
We need people like that spiritually.
Proverbs says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
Every Christian needs a band of brothers—or sisters—who are as committed to our progress as we are. Not people who police us. People who know us. People who can ask hard questions, encourage us when we’re struggling, challenge us when we’re coasting, and sometimes say, “You know what? I’ve seen God changing you in this area.”
So here’s a question worth asking:
Who in your life knows what you’re training for?
Who knows where you want to grow? Who has permission to tell you the truth? Who knows you well enough to recognize progress—and loves you enough to point out where you still need to grow?
Paul doesn’t say, “Practice these things so that everybody can see that you’ve arrived.”
He says:
“so that all may see your progress.”
That’s an important word.
God isn’t asking whether you’ve arrived. None of us has.
The question is: Are you growing?
3. Persist in the Pursuit
Finally, Paul tells Timothy to persist in the pursuit.
Look at verse 16:
“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
You know what’s frustrating about working out?
Yeah, I don’t either.
But for those of you who work out, the frustrating thing is that you don’t see immediate results.
Imagine going to the gym for forty-five minutes, working out, then walking over to the mirror and saying, “Well, that’s disappointing. I look exactly like I did forty-five minutes ago.”
Of course you do.
You don’t get stronger from one workout. You get stronger because you work out today, and then you do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next week, and the next month.
And spiritual formation works the same way.
You may read your Bible tomorrow morning and not feel any different when you close it. You may spend time in prayer and not have some overwhelming spiritual experience. You may forgive somebody and discover Tuesday morning that you’re still angry with them.
Keep going.
That’s Paul’s word to Timothy: Persist in this.
Because the habits that form us are not usually dramatic. They’re ordinary acts of faithfulness repeated over time.
Now, we need to spend some time on something Paul says in verse 16:
“for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Wait, what? Save yourself?
Didn’t we just say we’re saved by grace and not by works? Is Paul now saying Timothy can save himself if he works hard enough at being godly?
No.
Remember what Paul said six verses earlier: “We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior.”
God is the Savior. Timothy isn’t.
Salvation is something God has done, something God is doing, and something God will ultimately bring to completion. And one of the marks of genuine faith is that it perseveres.
We don’t persevere in order to earn salvation. We persevere because God’s saving grace is at work in us.
And what about “your hearers?” Timothy obviously couldn’t save them either. But God used Timothy’s faithful life and faithful teaching as a means of bringing other people to faith.
That’s why Paul begins verse 16:
“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.”
Another translation reads, Watch your life and doctrine closely. I like that it says YOUR. It doesn’t say “watch your pastors life and doctrine.” Or, pay attention to the theology in the books you read.
You should do that, by the way. That’s practicing discernment. But that’s a sermon for another day. Here, the focus is on you.
YOUR life matters.
YOUR doctrine matters.
And YOUR perseverance matters—not just to you, but to the people who are watching and listening to you.
When I was training for marathons, I had no illusion that I was going to win the marathon. Kenyans win marathons. English majors don’t.
But I loved the idea that the only person I was competing against was who I was yesterday. That’s why I persisted.
I didn’t suddenly develop discipline at mile 18. I developed leg cramps.
And when I hit the wall, I fell back on my training. On my conditioning (or lack thereof!)
That was when the habits I had developed in months of training mattered so much.
Friends, build healthier spiritual habits now. Not at mile 18 of the marathon.
You don’t wait until the diagnosis comes to learn how to trust God.
You don’t wait until your marriage is in crisis to practice forgiveness.
You don’t wait until temptation hits you at your weakest moment to begin learning self-control.
You don’t wait until grief knocks the breath out of you to learn how to pray.
You don’t wait until everything around you is falling apart to begin hiding God’s Word in your heart.
You train now.
Because the habits you practice when life is ordinary are forming the person who will show up when life isn’t.
That’s why Paul says:
Train yourself.
Practice these things.
Immerse yourself in them.
Let people see your progress.
Persist in the pursuit.
Not because you’re trying to earn God’s grace.
But because we are formed by the habits we practice.
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