Pleasing God Podcast
Pleasing God Podcast
Training for Godliness: Embracing the Spiritual Discipline of Bible Intake
Have you ever wondered what it truly means to "train for godliness"? Join us in this eye-opening episode of the Pleasing God Podcast, where we uncover the profound impact of spiritual disciplines on the Christian life. Based on Paul's advice to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, we discuss why daily, disciplined practices are essential for achieving godliness. Just like Olympic athletes undergo rigorous training, Christians must also engage in these disciplines to foster personal growth and positively influence those around them.
But training doesn't end at mere knowledge—it's about transformation. This episode emphasizes the power of consistent Bible study, not just for acquiring facts but for allowing the Holy Spirit to mold us into Christ's likeness. We explore practical ways to integrate Bible reading into our everyday lives, from listening to sermons to personal study. By immersing ourselves in God's Word, we equip ourselves for spiritual maturity, ultimately becoming better servants of Christ and glorifying God. Listen in to discover how these transformative practices can reshape your attitudes, actions, and entire life for the better.
Stock Music provided by wolfgangwoehrle, from Pond5
Hi and welcome back to the Pleasing God Podcast, a show focused on helping Christians to think biblically, engage practically and live faithfully for the glory of God. I'm your host, jonathan Soule, and on this episode and some that will follow, I want to begin talking through kind of a list that I've created and focusing on discipline, specifically focusing on spiritual discipline and how that works in the life of a Christian, what spiritual disciplines are, how we can practice them faithfully and the difference that they can make in our lives as we pursue godliness. And so over the next few weeks I want to talk through a variety of different topics and thoughts concerning spiritual disciplines and from the outset I just want to be clear one of the most influential books that I've read that's helped shape my thinking on spiritual disciplines is actually written by Don Whitney and it's called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and I just want to plug it. It's super accessible, helps you think through a variety of disciplines that are helpful and that we see in the scriptures and you would benefit greatly from reading through this book and some of that's going to kind of influence how I want to talk about these disciplines. He goes through Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling and learning. And so I'm not going to talk about all of those, but some of the real important ones, and sometimes often neglected ones that you know, whether we want to admit it or not, are realities in our lives. And so, when we think about spiritual disciplines, why are they important? Well, let's root this in the Bible.
Speaker 1:Paul, in his letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy, he's writing to him, his pupil, his apostolic delegate, who has gone to Ephesus and he's in charge of setting an example, raising up leadership, ordering the church in the way it should function. And so Paul writes to him, explains to Timothy some of the challenges that he's going to face, some of the errors that he needs to correct in Ephesus, as well as what faithful ministry looks like. And in chapter 4, verse 6, paul writes if you put these things before the brothers, this is the good teaching, the stuff that he's been instructing him up until this point. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. And, he says, have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather, train yourself for godliness or discipline yourself for godliness. 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. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, for to this end we toil and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. And so, in this paragraph, paul is explaining to Timothy what a good servant of Jesus Christ looks like.
Speaker 1:This is one who puts sound doctrine before the brothers. This is one who has been trained in the words of the faith. This is one who practices what he preaches. This is one who avoids the foolish conversations, those debated theological talks that lead to nowhere. This is the one that doesn't get into it on Facebook or Twitter or X and have these conversations that everyone sees and that no one benefits from.
Speaker 1:This is the one who does nothing with irreverent silly myths, but instead focuses on something else. What are they to focus on? What is this good servant? Focus on Training yourself or discipline yourself for godliness? And so Paul's saying don't waste your time on things that do not matter. Do not waste your time on these endless theological rabbit trails. No, let it be clear Theology matters. It is the backbone, it is of what we believe. But he's saying focus yourself on training, on discipline, for the sake of godliness, not for the sake of knowledge, not for the sake of teaching others, not for the sake of showing people how good you are or how big the words you know. No, he says for the sake of godliness. And so what is the end goal of the servant of Jesus Christ? Godliness. We sign off every episode. This is the will of God, your sanctification, your Christlikeness, your godliness. God delights in godlikeness or godliness. Paul says train yourself or discipline yourself.
Speaker 1:When we think about training, training has to do with constant practice. Think about an athlete who is training. Just recently, the Olympics had come and gone. You see the world's greatest athletes coming on the grandest stage of them all and competing for that one prize, that gold medal, and they have spent their lives training for that moment, training for that opportunity to run in that race or play in that game. You see that they've disciplined themselves. No one's running the 100 meters by just rolling out of bed and saying one day I'm just going to do this without constant training. And what are they doing? They're practicing their craft. They're becoming the best at what they do. All of their life is centered around that thing in which they've set their mind to their. Diet has to do with their sport, their sleep, their conditioning, and so they train day in and day out. Maybe they have a rest day, but even a rest day is not an off day. It is a recovery day.
Speaker 1:And this idea of training has to do with a constant focus, a mindfulness, a remembrance of this is what I am working towards. There's a goal in mind. As Christians, heeding the words of Paul to Timothy, we are to train ourselves with a goal in mind, a daily discipline. And what is that goal? He says it godliness. The end of spiritual disciplines is for the purpose of godliness, and godliness is of value in every way. That's what Paul says. Bodily training is of some value. He doesn't deny that. But godliness not only brings blessing into our lives, it blesses all the people around us. It holds promise for this life, but also the life to come. Our goal is godliness. Our goal is Christlikeness. Okay, so if that's our goal and we're called to train or have discipline ourselves, what are the necessary components to do so. Well, that's what I read to you in Donald Whitney's book.
Speaker 1:Here I want to focus the remainder of this episode on the Word of God, bible intake, or taking in God's Word, because, again, it is vital that we feast upon the Word of God. I think this is something that many of us can relate to. Have you ever gone? Maybe a couple days you've been in the busyness of life, maybe summer's just pulling you in all different directions and you've missed some Bible reading. You've missed some days in the Word. You've missed that time of either devotion, intentional prayer, your Bible time. Two, three, four days go by and you find yourself feeling a little famished, find yourself a little more irritable, quicker, frustrated. Sooner the impatience that is in you starts to manifest out of you. I've experienced that and it's challenging.
Speaker 1:You start to realize, hey, this daily discipline, or this discipline of being saturated or being immersed in the word of God, or making that a part of my habits, healthy habits of my life, is good for me. You know, it's kind of one of those things. You don't realize that you miss it until it's gone, or it's gone through a period of time, gone through a period of time, and so again if you're at all like me and there's been times where I've gone a couple of days without being in the word, prayer being pretty inconsistent, and it starts to show in my life, I start to feel it even in my spirit, that it feels quenched, it feels drained, parched, and I need that refreshment, I need that revitalization that comes through being in the Word and prayer. And so I think one of the most vital disciplines, spiritual disciplines, training ourselves for godliness, is the steady and consistent intake of the Word of God. Now that comes through various forms. You know it doesn't necessarily Bible intake does not necessarily mean daily pietism, quiet time where you must do this every day and you miss a day, you're under the bondage of legalism and you know God is upset with you.
Speaker 1:We have to recognize and remember that before the printing press Christians did not have Bibles, and remember that before the printing press Christians did not have Bibles. So how did they have the daily intake of reading the Word of God? They didn't. And so the last 500 or 600 or so years, yes, we've had printed Bibles, but if we're going to make something to be kind of law and it only came into existence through relatively modern technology let's be careful here only came into existence through relatively modern technology. Let's be careful here. And let's only command what the scriptures command and let's not forbid what the scriptures don't forbid.
Speaker 1:Now, when I say that, because we have printed Bibles, because we have opportunity, because I think this is a graced gift from God for his church, we should make use of that and we should make use of Bible intake. But I think this comes through a few different modes, and with the continual growth in technology it begins to expand, and so we have different ways in which we can do Bible intake. But I would say the first and foremost, the tried and true manner of Bible intake is hearing the Word of God. We understand that Paul says in Romans, chapter 10, that faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ, and so people can hear before they can read. It's important to understand and realize that we can take in God's word through hearing God's word. That's the means in which the spirit uses the word of God and brings about saving faith in those who hear. And so I think it's important again to recognize Bible intake comes through hearing God's word, but it's not limited to that. Bible intake comes through hearing God's word, but it's not limited to that. We hear God's word, we can hear God's word preached. We should certainly be sitting under the preaching of God's word on a regular basis, a regular rhythm. God has ordained the means of preaching in his church, for his church, for the growth of his people, and so preaching is a fundamental means in which we grow in the faith. So, hearing God's word through the preaching, hearing God's word through it being read, that Paul tells Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of scripture, to stand up in the congregation of the people, read God's word.
Speaker 1:The Bible itself testifies to the effectiveness of the word. Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12,. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It is said of the Bible. It is the only book that, as you read it, it reads you. And again, in Paul's next letter, his last letter that he writes to Timothy, he reminds him of the effectiveness of the word. All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. The Word of God, the Bible, is holistic in the formation of God's people. That's why, to train ourselves for godliness, we must be intaking the Word of God in the various forms that we can, hearing God's Word. But we can go beyond just hearing God's Word to the privilege of being able to read God's word. But we can go beyond just hearing God's word to the privilege of being able to read God's word.
Speaker 1:For most of you listening, I think it's safe to assume you live in a country where the Bible is not illegal, where having and owning a Bible is a privilege. It is a right that you have as a citizen of the country that you live in, and so, in God's kind providence and his common grace to humanity, in many locations across this globe we have access. We have access to many Bibles. A lot of us probably have multiple Bibles in our own home. By virtue of that, we have access to not just hear God's word but to read it ourselves, and we can't overestimate the value of reading God's word.
Speaker 1:I think it was John Piper who said if you want to hear God speak, just read your Bible out loud, Because as we read our Bibles, it is God speaking to us. I think another person I can't remember who, but they said prayer is us speaking to God, and reading God's word is God speaking to us, and I think that's just a great way to think about the two. As we pray, we pray to God and as we read God's word, it's as though God speaks back to us or God speaks to us through his word, and that is very true. Just again, some of the scripture passages I just mentioned. The word is profitable. The word is God breathed. It's expired, it has come out of the mouth of God. God's word is living and active. It's not a dead book. We hear God's word, we get to read God's word, and I think something that's important to understand and note is that the more we read God's word, the more immersed we are in God's word, the better we can understand God's word.
Speaker 1:A concise guide to understanding and applying the Bible, because I wanted to create something that was accessible for Christians, to kind of get a big picture of the Bible and not be intimidated by the various, the vastness or the thickness of their Bible. You get somewhere in the middle of Isaiah, you're somewhere in the middle of Numbers and you're kind of like I don't know what's going on. There's all this information and you can lose sight of the big picture, and so the resource was to just try to make Bible intake more palatable, more accessible and more understandable for the people of God so that they don't get lost in the pages of Scripture and they know what's going on. They know that and understand at least. There's the big story, the meta narrative of the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent and how that story is traced all the way through. You can see that through the Christ connections, how all of scripture is one unified story, and so reading God's word helps us to understand God's word. And, like I said, there's many resources, a ton of resources. We have an embarrassment of riches right now in the Christian world for helping to understand and apply God's word. Tons of companions, my book on the books of scripture short, little commentaries. You can access a lot of stuff just online through various resources that are out there, and a lot of trusted resources as well, and so I would just encourage you to think about some of those things.
Speaker 1:But reading God's word, this is a healthy discipline. It's one of those you know, sometimes if you're committed to working out or exercising, you wake up one day and you're thinking I'm not feeling it, I didn't sleep well, it's going to be a rough day, maybe it's raining outside and all you want to do is pull the covers back over your head and just lay in bed as you hear the rain hit the roof and it feels so nice. But you know that you can't do that. You can't just disappear. So you get up and you say I've committed to this discipline, I'm going to work out, it's what's my lifting day, or it's strength training day, or whatever it is. You get in the car and you drive off to the gym and you do it anyways. And if you can relate to that feeling, think about what it felt like when you were walking out of the gym that day.
Speaker 1:No regrets, you never regret it. You never regret and say, man, I should have slept in, I shouldn't have gone and done that discipline, that training. It's the same thing with reading god's word, disciplining yourself for bible intake. You spend some time, quiet time, uninterrupt time, maybe your cup of coffee, maybe it's in the evening, if that's what works for you. But you read through the scriptures you might not understand everything you read, but you still commit yourself to that discipline and praying the scripture as you read it. We'll talk about that in a later episode. But when you're done, you don't look and say, man, I could have spent my time on much more valuable things than reading, listening and hearing from God and his word. You don't regret it. So let me encourage you with that Read. And if reading is not a discipline of your life, start small five minutes. Maybe five minutes turns into 10. Who knows? But start small and just start that habit of opening God's word, spending a few moments, few minutes a day reading God's word. Again, you are training yourself for godliness From reading God's word.
Speaker 1:One final way that I would say is important for Bible intake is studying God's word, and this takes it to the next kind of level. You do this individually. I would actually say that it's probably better to do this in community. A lot of individual studies sometimes end up in wrong conclusions, but it is important to not be an isolated Bible reader but a community Bible studier, because in reading God's word and studying God's word in community, it's it helps to hear what other people are gleaning and some insights that they might receive or thinking about as you're reading through a passage and you start to hear other perspectives, or you might have come to a certain conclusion about something that was stated and you're listening to someone else articulate and you start to realize, okay, maybe I was a little off on this, or that confirms something that I was thinking as well, and there's something uniting about studying God's word with God's people together. I cannot emphasize this enough. I have grown leaps and bounds in my own spiritual journey, my own spiritual understanding, not by simply studying in isolation, which I certainly do, just by nature of being a pastor and preaching it's a part of my work. But one of the great joys that I get is to open Bibles with my brothers and sisters and open Bibles open hearts, open minds to together receive God's word, and I've been blessed by it. I've been encouraged and I've been challenged in my own thinking because of it. And so spiritual discipline for godliness.
Speaker 1:Study the Bible in community. How do I study the Bible? There's a ton of resources available that can help you walk through. The inductive method is probably the tried and true method of Bible study. This is where you observe the text. Whether you have a passage, you know a couple verses, a paragraph. This is where you're looking through and you're just observing what is being stated. Who, what, where, when, why, how. Those are questions you ask about a specific text. What, where, when, why, how? Those are questions you ask about a specific text. Look at repeated words, look at phrases. What are some references? If you have a Bible that does cross references, you can look at parallel passages and start to navigate through your Bible that way Observe, ask questions, ask tons of questions about a passage.
Speaker 1:These are things that I'm seeing.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying this is what it means to me. No, we're not doing that. We're just observing what's being stated and through careful observation we begin to seek to interpret the passage. What is the meaning in the passage? The meaning is not what I say it is. It isn't what it means to me. Meaning is not what I say it is. It isn't what it means to me. Authorial intent it's what the author intended the meaning of the passage to be. He controls meaning. It's not reader's response. Our job is to discover, not determine, the meaning. It's already in there. So, through observation, through cross-reference, through sometimes other resources that might help us in Bible dictionaries, certain commentaries, any type of background information, further information on phrases, those are helpful.
Speaker 1:But we seek to discover the meaning of a text through observation. We interpret that. What did it mean to the original audience? What does it mean to them? How can I then take that meaning and apply it in my contemporary setting? Because all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable. And so, as I seek to study, interpret this text, I then apply it. So observe, read, observe, interpret, apply.
Speaker 1:Because if the Bible is just information and it doesn't lead to transformation, we're not studying it correctly, because the end of our discipline, as Paul said, is for godliness. So, as we study the Bible, the goal is not simply I'm good at exegesis, I'm good at understanding these things. No, it's that, by God's spirit, this truth is being applied to my life and I am being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Feasting on God's word will help us grow in godliness as we are beholding Christ, as we are beholding God in his word. Our prayer is God, transform me into this likeness less of my sinfulness and more of godliness in me, and so that, through reading, our attitudes are changed, our actions are changed and ultimately, our lives reflect Jesus. That's our goal and in doing so, this is one discipline on how we can be good servants of Jesus Christ in these days for God's glory.
Speaker 1:I want to thank you for listening to the Pleasing God podcast. If you have any questions, I would love to hear from you. You can reach out at questions at pleasinggodpodcastorg. And remember 1 Thessalonians 4.3,. This is the will of God, our sanctification.
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