A Charge to a Man of God

Devotional

Day 1: Fleeing Shadows, Chasing the Fox of Righteousness

The Christian life demands both flight and pursuit. Like Timothy, believers must sprint from greed, controversy, and empty religiosity while straining toward virtues that mirror Christ. This dual motion—rejecting what drains spiritual vitality and seizing what fuels godliness—is not passive. It requires the urgency of an athlete avoiding traps while fixated on the finish line. Righteousness here means aligning every action with God’s revealed will, not moral self-improvement. The fight begins by asking: What habits, thoughts, or distractions do I need to abandon to run unhindered? [00:38]

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. (1 Timothy 6:11-12, ESV)

Reflection: What specific attitude or habit have you tolerated that God calls you to flee? What concrete step will you take this week to pursue Christ-shaped righteousness instead?

Day 2: Single-Focused as Hounds on the Scent

A hound chasing a fox doesn’t meander—it strains forward with singular intensity. So the believer pursues godliness: not dabbles in spirituality but charges toward Christlikeness with undivided passion. This demands ruthless prioritization, cutting away distractions that blur eternal aims. Like a pilot fixated on landing through a storm, the Christian life thrives on clarity of purpose. Piety here isn’t prudishness but a fiery allegiance to God’s priorities over cultural noise. The cost? Trading scattered religiosity for a life laser-focused on eternity’s weight. [04:51]

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1-2, ESV)

Reflection: Where has “cultural noise” diluted your spiritual focus? What one practice could recenter your mind on “things above” this week?

Day 3: Scripture as the Training Ground for Godliness

Righteousness grows not through vague spiritual vibes but by submitting to Scripture’s surgical precision. The Bible acts as both mirror and map—exposing hidden sins and charting the path toward Christlikeness. Like a farmer studying soil, believers must dig into God’s Word to cultivate lasting fruit. Timothy’s charge to pursue godliness hinges on daily immersion in truths that recalibrate desires. This isn’t academic study but life-or-death training, where every verse sharpens eternal instincts. [09:44]

All Scripture is breathed out by God and 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. (2 Timothy 3:16, ESV)

Reflection: Which area of your life most resists Scripture’s correction? How will you intentionally apply one specific Bible truth to that area today?

Day 4: Evening Cud-Chewing and the Art of Soul Accounting

Piety thrives on daily reckoning. Just as cows chew cud to extract nutrients, believers must “regurgitate” the day’s events under God’s gaze. This nightly audit—reviewing sins, graces, and missed opportunities—prevents spiritual amnesia. William Grimshaw’s practice of imagining his death shroud each evening jarred him from complacency. Such holy urgency transforms ordinary days into eternal investments, where even meals become chances to serve the needy. [24:05]

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things. (Philippians 4:8-9, ESV)

Reflection: What “unchewed” moment from yesterday still weighs on your conscience? How will you surrender it to Christ and realign your priorities today?

Day 5: Renewing the Covenant in the Silent Place

True godliness germinates in secret. William Grimshaw’s handwritten covenant—a private vow to live wholly for God—exposes the difference between performative religion and bone-deep allegiance. This isn’t about dramatic resolutions but daily returning to the “silent place” where heart motives are laid bare. Like a tree’s hidden roots determining its fruit, hidden faithfulness shapes public impact. The question isn’t what others see but what God finds when He sifts our secret chambers. [33:09]

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11, ESV)

Reflection: What would Christ find if He audited your private thoughts today? What one hidden commitment will you make to deepen your “root system” in Him?

Sermon Summary

Paul’s solemn charge to Timothy turns on three imperatives: flee, pursue, and fight. The contrast between what Timothy must flee and what he must pursue makes Christian maturity a very searching question: What is a person running from, and what is he running to? The Christian life cannot be a barren sequence of refusals. The call to put off sin is also a call to put on what pleases God, with the single-mindedness of hounds chasing a fox.

Righteousness describes conduct that accords with God’s will and is pleasing to him. Christ produces this fruit in those who belong to him, so righteousness is not an attempt to make oneself acceptable to God. The Word of God trains believers in righteousness, and the pursuit of righteousness reveals the wonder that God has already accepted his people in Christ.

Godliness, or piety, names a spiritual fitness that has fallen into disrepute even among Christian people. False piety is rightly abhorrent when it seeks public notice, congratulates itself, and turns religion into performance. Genuine godliness, however, is the hidden reality of a life laid bare before God. The Pharisee wants an audience; the godly man wants God.

The ordering of time, money, talents, and appetites bears directly on this pursuit. The Lord’s Day, public worship, quiet reflection, prayerful meditation, hospitality to the poor, and evening self-examination are not mechanisms for earning merit. These disciplines may become externalism, but their abuse does not excuse their neglect. A person who hears the Word and immediately unleashes the birds to snatch it away receives little profit from it.

The old patterns of piety expose a modern restlessness that leaves little room to chew the cud on God’s truth. The question is not whether a person can reproduce seventeenth-century patterns in every detail, but whether life has been arranged to prevent the godliness God commands. The hidden papers, private habits, financial statements, and secret prayers of a life will eventually say what public religious interest cannot say.

Paul calls Timothy away from squabbling, controversy, and the love of gain, and toward a distinctive life. Godliness must not become fake austerity, Phariseeism, or man-made rules. Godliness must be a genuine, core, heart-changing commitment to doing the right thing and seeking to be godly.

Key Takeaways

1. Fleeing sin requires pursuing holiness
The Christian life cannot survive on negation alone. Sin leaves a vacancy that must be filled by righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. The refusal of evil becomes fruitful only as Christ directs the heart toward a clear and better objective. [03:20]
2. Righteousness grows through Christ’s life
Righteousness is not a Christmas tree ornament attached to an otherwise unchanged life. Christ’s life within the believer produces buds on the branches. Scripture trains that living tree in conduct which accords with God’s will, not so that God may accept it, but because God has accepted it in Christ. [07:33]
3. Godliness is hidden before God
Genuine piety refuses the public forum as a profile for displaying personal affections. God sees prayer, generosity, repentance, and obedience in secret, where no human applause can corrupt them. The decisive issue is not the impression made on observers, but what is actually going on between the heart and God. [12:55]
4. Meditate before the birds steal seed
The Word requires more than a thimble-full hearing that spills in the parking lot. Prayerful reflection receives the truth, turns it over, and asks God to make it direction for life and consolation for the soul. Distraction can become a self-inflicted theft when a person snatches spiritual food away from his own heart. [23:50]
5. Godliness must become distinctive
Church attendance and religious interest do not, by themselves, make a people distinctive. The pursuit of godliness reaches into convictions, appetites, spending, Sabbath patterns, and care for needy people. Such distinctiveness must not be a fake austerity, but the costly and quiet fruit of a heart submitted to God. [31:24]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:12] - Paul’s Charge to Timothy
[02:34] - Flee What Corrupts Ministry
[03:20] - From Fleeing to Pursuing
[06:27] - Pursue Righteousness and Godliness
[07:19] - The Fruit of Righteousness in Christ
[10:57] - Recovering Genuine Piety
[16:43] - Receiving the Word with Reverence
[20:24] - Chewing the Cud on God’s Word
[25:06] - Piety and Care for the Poor
[26:41] - Ending Each Day Before God
[30:07] - Convictions That Cost Something
[33:09] - Grimshaw’s Solemn Dedication
[36:36] - Pursue Godliness with Single Focus
[37:02] - Prayer for Genuine Heart Change

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

1 Timothy 6:11-12
“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” [00:35]

Colossians 3:1-2, 5, 12
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” [03:36]

Matthew 6:1, 5-6
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” [12:55]

Observation questions

In 1 Timothy 6:11–12, what three main commands does Paul give Timothy, and what six qualities is Timothy told to pursue?
What kinds of attitudes and behaviors does Timothy need to flee in the surrounding context, including those connected with money and controversy? [02:43]
In Colossians 3, what is the connection between putting off sinful patterns and putting on Christlike qualities? [03:36]
In Matthew 6:1, 5–6, what contrast does Jesus make between practicing religion for people to see and seeking God in secret? [12:55]

Interpretation questions

Why is fleeing sin alone not enough for Christian maturity? What tends to fill the empty space if a person stops a sinful habit without actively pursuing righteousness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness? [04:12]
Paul calls believers to pursue righteousness, yet righteousness is described as fruit that comes through Christ. How does this protect a believer from trying to earn God’s acceptance through better behavior? [07:06]
What makes genuine godliness different from Phariseeism or religious performance? How might the desire for approval quietly shape prayer, giving, serving, or speech? [13:00]
Why might a person hear God’s Word regularly and still receive little lasting benefit from it? What does it mean to make the Word one’s own through reflection and prayer? [23:50]

Application questions

What is one specific pattern, temptation, or influence from which you need to flee at present? What godly pursuit could replace it rather than leaving an empty space behind? [03:20]
Consider the use of your time, money, abilities, and appetites. Is there an area where the present structure of your life makes the pursuit of godliness harder? What small change could make room for prayer, Scripture, rest, or service? [15:23]
When you pray, give, serve, or speak about spiritual things, where do you notice a temptation to be seen or praised? What would it look like to do one act of devotion quietly before God this week? [13:17]
What usually happens in the first hour after hearing God’s Word—whether in gathered worship, personal reading, or this group? What distractions most quickly “steal the seed,” and how could you build in a few minutes to reflect and pray? [20:32]
Who might need practical care, encouragement, hospitality, or material help from you or from this group? How could pursuing godliness move outward into tangible love for that person? [25:26]
Would an evening habit of briefly reviewing the day before God be helpful for you? What might you thank God for, confess, or seek to make right with someone before the day ends? [27:40]
What convictions or practices might make your faith visibly distinctive without becoming man-made rules or a way of congratulating yourself? How can you keep the focus on a heart changed by grace? [38:06]

Sermon Clips

“This was just between he and God. And the real issue, loved ones, is what is going on between you and God and me and God. People will observe, approximate, decide, criticize, whatever else it is. But the real issue is in the silent place where our hearts are laid bare before God.” [00:34:43]

“And it is not that in our pursuit we seek to make ourselves acceptable to God. It is in our pursuit that we reveal the wonder of the fact that God in Christ has accepted us.” [00:10:08]

“Timothy's ministry is a call to say no. It is a call to say no, but it is a call to say yes. And uh the the life which simply learns to say no without at the same time learning to say yes will be barren and bereft of the purposes of God.” [00:04:12]

“Do you understand what we're dismissing? We're dismissing what Paul says to Timothy we are to pursue. We can't dismiss what we are to pursue without impoverishing ourselves, reducing our impact in the surrounding culture. And one of the reasons that we have such little impact is because we have distanced ourselves from the very things that will make us distinctive.” [00:11:46]

“But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” [00:00:38]

“And what he is reminding these people of is that the life of Christ as it pulsates through the believer will evidence itself in a number of ways. So we are actually being called to pursue what it is that God by his spirit is determined to produce.” [00:07:42]

“Church doesn't make us distinctive in itself. Religious interest doesn't even make us distinctive. a concern for spiritual things only puts us on a par with millions of people all across this nation. It's going to have to be something else. And it is.” [00:12:09]

“Okay, I understand. I haven't been pursuing righteousness. I want to pursue righteousness. What should I do? Read your Bible. What should I do? Study the word. What should I do? Sit under the instruction of God's word. The righteous judge has a crown of righteousness laid up for those who pursue righteousness.” [00:09:48]

“And you remember we said last time that our Christian maturity can in large measure be determined by asking ourselves, what am I running from and what am I running to? Because the Bible constantly brings to us that polarization.” [00:03:20]

“Now like all Christian virtues, this is brought about by the transforming work of Christ. Paul is not calling these individuals here to try and muster up in their own strength a certain kind of lifestyle. The Christian life is not like a Christmas tree with ornaments attached that can be easily uh disengaged.” [00:07:06]

“As thou returnest home, or when thou art entered into thy house, meditate a little while upon those things which thou hast heard. And as the clean beasts which chew the cud, so must thou bring again to thy remembrance that which thou hast heard in the church.” [00:20:32]

“There seems to be a direct correlation between the ordering of a life in terms of the use and abuse of time, money, talent, and appetite. There's a correlation between the way in which we use those resources that God has given us and the experience of a pursuit of godliness or otherwise.” [00:15:23]

“You gentlemen who are involved in business know that it is absolutely essential that within the framework of your corporation, you understand and those who work with you understand that you are committed to clearly understood objectives and the Christian life has clearly understood objectives. We're not simply wandering aimlessly in the track of Jesus of Nazareth.” [00:05:13]

“It is a solemn sobering thing to stand between almighty God and the people of God knowing that you will give an account for every word you have spoken. And when the people of God understand that that is what is taking in the preaching of the word then it becomes a whole different business.” [00:19:55]

“Diosune is the word that is used for righteousness here. And when you find it referred to people in the New Testament, it virtually always conveys the idea of conduct that is in accord with God's will and is pleasing to him.” [00:06:35]

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A Charge to a Man of God — Part Two