But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come…Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.Paul plainly said, "Godliness is profitable" (v. 8). If anything is profitable, it pays off. Companies making financial reports to their stockholders list profits and losses.
(1 Tim. 4:7-8,15)
Thank God there is profit from serving God. Living for God is not detrimental to a successful life. It is "profitable unto ALL things."
I think the Spirit of God knew there would be those who would say, "Well, yes, it will pay off in the next life. We may not have much to show in this life. Here we wander like a beggar through the heat and the cold, but when it's all over, and we land on the other side, it will be different. There's a great day coming - after a while - when we've left this vale of tears and sorrow. There's a great day coming...."
Well, thank God, there is. But Paul said, "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is!" The life that "now is" is where "I is" right now in this present world. The life that "now is" is where "you is" right now!
Living in the Now
"Having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." Having - having - having. That's present tense.
There is a life that now is, and there is a life that is to come. I'm more concerned about the life that now is than I am about the life that is to come, because the life where I "now is" is the one I'm living now.
If you listen to some people, you get the impression that all the promise we have is in the next life, primarily. According to them, "You can get saved in this life, all right, but after you're saved, that's about it. You've had it! You're left to the mercy of the devil. You're left to the mercy of the world. You can't expect anything much here."
But that's not what Paul is saying to Timothy, a young minister! He said, "Yes, godliness has a promise of the life that is to come, but godliness is profitable unto all things." Not just to the spirit, but to the soul, the body, the material - all things.
There are many things that godliness insures. Divine protection is just one of them.
God Protects Us
Godliness insures protection.
If you have property or anything of value, you protect it. I was at my son's house and saw his dog, King, was chewing on a shoe. I said, "Hey! He's got one of your shoes!"
"Oh, he's not hurting anything," Ken said. "That's an old shoe we threw away."
Ken wasn't protecting that shoe because it didn't amount to anything. But we belong to God! We amount to something! He protects us!
I like the account of the woman with the issue of blood who touched Jesus, and He said "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole." Mark's account goes into more detail and I usually preach from it. But I like something especially about Luke's account.
As Luke records the story, he writes that when Jesus stopped the procession toward Jairus' house He said, "Somebody touched Me…" Until she touched Jesus that woman was a nobody. But when she touched Jesus, that's when she became a somebody!
Jesus didn't say, "Nobody touched Me." He said, "Somebody touched Me!"
According to the Book of Leviticus, this poor woman with the issue of blood was in the same category as a leper. She was unclean. A leper had to segregate himself from other people. If somebody got close to him, he had to cry out, "Unclean! Unclean! Unclean! I'm unclean!" He was a nobody.
But, bless God, Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me." He transformed that woman from a nobody to a somebody. I want you to know, you're a somebody. Somebody asked me, "What? Do you mean Brother So-and-so is a somebody?"
Yes. I mean he's a child of God. I mean he's a son of God. I mean he's a joint-heir with Jesus Christ; he's an equal heir. I mean he's in the family of God. That's a somebody!
Jesus tells us we are somebody. We are the Body of Christ. The Bible tells us that.
Writing to the Ephesians, Paul uses husbands and wives as an illustration of Christ and the Church: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it" (Eph. 5:25).
He went on to say, "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (vv. 28-30).
No man has ever yet hated his own body: that has to do with husband and wife, and it is beautiful. But there's a further thought here, my friends, that I want to get over to you: we are the Body of Christ. We are His Body.
A man's wife is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. And as Paul points out, we are bone of Christ's bone and flesh of His flesh!
Paul said that men were to cherish and love their wives. Then he said, "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (v. 32). We are precious to Jesus.
What I'm pointing out to you is that if you have valuable property, you're going to protect it. You're not going to leave it out for the dogs to chew on.
And godliness is profitable unto ALL things.
Godliness guarantees or insures protection, for godliness is profitable unto all things. Read the ninety-first Psalm and learn about the protection that is yours. Praise God - thank you, Jesus!
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications