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8-5-2018 Weekly Message

The contemplation of the week: Psalm 95:1-11

Text: 1 Timothy 4:8-11

The title of the Word: The training of godliness to be passed through for the children of God

        Apostle Paul testifies of the very important thing that Timothy must teach and command the saints, his own spiritual son and pastor of his church. It is a word about the godly lives of the saints. Apostle Paul first advises  pastor Timothy to train himself to be godly. . Talking about the godly lives of the saints, we can compare godliness with the exercise of the body. Through the training of the body, it can bring forth  good health of the body, but the godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

          It is also possible to maintain  healthy body by passing through the process of overcoming oneself in order to exercise for training ,even though it is less beneficial  than godliness. Likewise, the training of the soul and the spirit cannot  be achieved a godlike life without passing through more suffering of self-denial and cross.

          To learn more about  godly discipline for the saints in the New Testament era, it is necessary to know the example of the Israelites who have been slaughtered in Egypt for four hundred years and then saved and passed through the wilderness for 40 years after being baptized in the Red Sea. Stephen  testified that during his sermon they were in the church in the wilderness:

” This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.   38This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: “(Acts 7: 37-38)

           At that time, the Israelites had to go through extreme godly disciplines as they marched through the wilderness toward the land of Canaan, the land of promise saved from Egypt. God had given them extreme discipline under the king  Pharaoh  to enter into the land promised to their father Abraham. Finally, when they cried out to God, God sent Moses and Aaron his servants. God made them know that he is the one who judges the world by bringing about ten plagues to save them from the hands of Pharaoh.

         Even today, God permits all kinds of suffering to those that are foreknown by him living in the world like Egypt to let them realize that this world is not the  place to live in order to save them. God also sends evangelists for them to hear the gospel and to be saved by grace through faith:

” For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. “(Romans 8: 29-30)

            That’s right!  To make the people of Israel to be the holy nation to live in a new earth promised unto their father Abraham, the LORD God  let them pass through extreme training of godliness in the wilderness for forty years. Likewise, those who are saved today and become children of God are at the same time becoming brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. Therefore, after they have been saved, they are trained to be spiritually trained, and at last they pass through many sufferings in order to conform to the image of Jesus.

           When the Israelites were finally released from Egypt, they eagerly followed Moses and passed through the Red Sea. After the LORD God swept all the Egyptian armies that were following them into the sea of the Red Sea, they glorified God with praise:

” Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

2The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. “(Exodus 15: 1-2)

            As the people of Israel were saved Sprinkling the blood of the Lamb outside the door,  we Christians are saved from sin, death and curse by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and we are baptizedl. The baptized Christians are free from the power of the devil like Pharaoh, and will give praise to God with joy.

         However, the Israelites who were saved from Egypt by the grace of God as well as Christians who are saved from the world, are still in the appearance of sinners. Through the training of the body, as we are changed to be sound body eliminating all kinds of toxics from our body, God removes all sins that are still deeply rooted in God’s people and children who are saved, through the training of godliness..

          Before the people of Israel were saved, they were the slaves of Pharaoh and served him and lived miserably. God did not lead them immediately to the promised land after they had been saved, but he  trained them for forty years, making them wander in the wilderness. Finally, only those who have gone through the training and become clean  entered the Promised Land. Likewise, those who have been saved and become the children of God cannot be sanctified without the tremendous training of godliness as the old Israelites.

         The Israelites had passed through the physical wilderness, but the children of God who have been saved pass through the spiritual wilderness. Those who came out of Egypt and entered the wilderness were now trapped in places where there was no food or water to drink. They  were  trapped. . There was only the sky where it was open. They had eaten the bread that Pharaoh had given to them, but now  they had to eat the manna, God’s bread from heaven. They  also had to drink water from the Rock. Apostle Paul testified about this Rock:

” Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

2And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

4And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. “(1 Corinthians 10: 1-4)

           That’s right! Just as they ate the bread that came down from heaven in the wilderness and drank the water from the Rock, Christians eat the word of God, the spiritual meat, and drink the Spirit, the living water that is spiritual water. Jesus said:

” As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

58This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.“(John 6: 57-58)

            Finally, Moses testified to those who had passed the  training of godliness, and prepared to  enter the promised land, Canaan  remembering  the past forty years:

” And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

3And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

4Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

5Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

6Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. “(Deuteronomy 8: 2-6)

            The people of God as well as his children cannot reach godliness without disciplining.  Apostle Paul testified about the discipline of the children of God:

 ” Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

5And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons..” (Hebrews 12: 4-8)

Amen! Hallelujah!