Your Target for 2025

Introduction

Typically, I use the first Sunday of the year to introduce our new annual theme. I’m going to hold off on that until next week. Instead, I’d like to consider your spiritual focus for 2025 (read).
What are the two most common New Year’s resolutions? Go on a diet and go to the gym. This text mentions both ideas but in the spiritual realm. Verse 6 commands you to watch your spiritual diet. Make sure you “nourish” your soul on Scripture and sound doctrine. And v. 7 addresses spiritual exercise. “Discipline (The Greek verb is gumnazo. We get our word “gymnasium” from it, and it pictures exercise) yourself for the purpose of godliness.
I know you’ve been challenged many times about your spiritual diet and exercise. But we all need frequent reminders. D. A. Carson was right when he said, “People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”
That is so true! 2025 won’t accidentally be a year of victory and progress. You must set goals and build a strategy to attain them. Have you done that? Do you know where you need to go and how you will get there? I want to help you get started. I want you to work hard at godliness in 2025. If you are going to do this, you must first have the right target. Our text urges you to clearly see…

I.  Your target is godliness.

Technically, the ultimate target of this text is faithful ministry. Paul wants Timothy to be a “good servant of Christ Jesus” who effectively points others to Jesus Christ.
But the more basic target for any minister and for all Christians is godliness. Verse 7 says, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” Verse 8 says, “Godliness is profitable for all things.” So, you may have many good goals for 2025. Maybe you want to get in shape. Maybe you want to improve at work. Maybe you want to be a better spouse or parent. But your first priority must be godliness.
We use that word constantly, but you may have never thought about what exactly it is. Very simply, godliness is a God-centered life. A godly man has a mature knowledge of God that compels him to love God, worship him, and to see all of life from God’s perspective. Then you live a God-centered life in conformity to his character.
This sort of godliness is not a hobby you can simply tack onto life. No, godliness radically transforms everything. Second Peter 1:4 says that we are striving to become “partakers of the divine nature.” God wants to mold your heart into the form of his own heart so that you become something very different from what you once were.
Maybe you have big plans for 2025. You have big family events on the calendar, lots to accomplish at work, or big dreams about great it’s going to be. Don’t let anything rival godliness. Your most important priority for this year is godliness.
Or maybe you are looking at 2025 with a blank, anxious stare. You don’t know where you are going, and the year ahead feels very uncertain. You have something to do. Discipline yourself to godliness. Strive to know God, to see all of life from a God-centered perspective, and to conform all your ways to his. The most important work you must do in 2025 is to become godly. Your target is godliness.
The Value of Godliness: But why? Why should you prioritize godliness above everything else this year? Notice again what Paul says in v. 8. Maybe you made a New Year’s resolution to take better care of your body. I certainly don’t want to discourage you. The Stoics of Paul’s day believed the body is evil; therefore, they didn’t care at all about good health. Paul pushes back by saying exercise has value. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And good physical disciplines and good health can only benefit spiritual health. So, eat your vegetables, cut out sugar, go to the gym, and go to bed on time.
But understand that godliness is far more important. While the Stoics neglected their bodies, other Greeks obsessed over physical fitness. Gyms were common in Greek cities and physical education was important. And fitness and beauty are common idols in our world too. So, remember that physical fitness “is only of little profit.”
That’s because it only lasts for a short time. We know this is Paul’s point because the next line emphasizes the eternal benefits of godliness. The evidence is everywhere. Those of you who are older watch the little ones around with endless energy. You remember when that was you, but not anymore. It’s exhausting watching them. Or maybe you have watched an interview of a retired athlete who used to be in incredible condition, but now he is overweight, and he walks with a distinct limp. Despite all that training, his body still wore out. It is just a shell of what it once was.
Don’t forget that good health is temporary. There is no fountain of youth. The healthiest person on earth will still grow old and die. The same is true of every other worldly pursuit. Vacations come and go. The best fashion will be obsolete in no time. Your coolest toys will be in the scrap yard before you know it.
But in stark contrast, “Godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Think about the phrase, “for all things.” I got a new pair of work boots for Christmas, and I’m excited to wear them when I work outside. But work boots are not profitable for running a 5K or playing basketball. However, godliness is profitable and applicable “for all things.” There is never a time or place where it is not highly valuable.
Why? Godliness, “holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Godliness is valuable for your life today. Being a Christian is not easy, but it’s far better than the alternative. You can try to bubble wrap your life with every sort of worldly security, but every bubble will pop long before godliness. You can learn every strategy to be a good spouse and parent, and you can give your family every possible earthly treasure, but none of them can compare to the gift of a godly life. The best gift you can give those you love is to discipline yourself to godliness.
But godliness is especially valuable because it’s only pursuit that brings eternal value. Jesus said no moth or rust will ever damage the blessings of godliness and no thief can ever take them away. Someday, we’re going to reflect on 2025 from our eternal home. 10,000 years into eternity most of what happens this year and most of what we enjoy is going to look pretty small. But we will only begin to know the full reward of a godly life.  
So, your central target for 2025 must be godliness. It is more important than life itself. It is more important than your job, your health, your finances or even your ministry to your family and other people because you can’t impact others if you are not walking with God yourself.
Yes, those other things matter. You can’t truly be godly and neglect them. Take care of yourself, work hard a school, at home, and in the workplace, invest in your family, and fulfill your ministry with excellence. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.” But do not forget that godliness is paramount.
So, set lots of good goals for 2025. Be ambitious about them. But don’t let anything get in the way of godliness. Your first target for 2025 must be godliness. But this raises an important question. How do you get there? The Lord answers…

II.  Your method is discipline by grace.

Let’s talk first about…
Grace: Our text doesn’t talk about grace, but the NT teaches that it is an essential complement to discipline. Without grace, human discipline only produces defeat or arrogant, self-righteous Pharisaism. But grace inspires a far better discipline and true godliness.
Titus 2:11–12 say, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age.” Notice that true godliness begins with grace. Grace is what saves. You can’t be godly unless you are born again. But grace isn’t done when you get saved. It inspires and teaches you to be disciplined, to deny “ungodliness and worldly desires.” It gives you the will to say no and clarity to see where there’s a problem. And when you are disciplined by grace, you progressively become sensible, righteous, and godly.
So, I’m going to talk a lot about discipline here in a minute, but I first want to emphasize that your disciplines must be disciplines of grace. Don’t read your Bible as an end in itself. Read your Bible to hear from God and so the Spirit will work through the Word. Don’t pray so that you can merely meet a standard of good Christianity; pray so that you can draw near to God and near to his grace.
Don’t come to church and participate in ministry so you can cross it off your checklist; come to church to hear from God, to benefit from the spiritual gifts of your brothers, and to use your gifts to serve others. Don’t even obey God’s commands as an end in itself; do it because you want to walk in step with the Spirit and know his power.
I can’t emphasize too strongly how crucial it is that you see grace and discipline, not as two opposing roads to godliness but as essential partners. Jerry Bridges compares them to the wings of a plane. Planes crash when they lose a wing. So will you if you only pursue grace or discipline or if you buzz off half of either wing.
So, walk in the grace in the God this year. We’ll see in a few weeks that Jesus commands you in Joh 15 to “Abide in the vine,” meaning himself. Love the Lord, live in his presence, worship him, listen to him, pray to him, and wait on him. Your plain will crash without grace. But our text urges you to also recognize that your plane will crash without discipline.
Discipline: The center of our text is the command in v. 7b. The word translated discipline in v. 7 and again in v. 8 is gumnasia. We get our word gymnasium from it, and that’s what Paul has in mind. Gyms were very common in Greek culture, and physical education was a big part of training the youth. These people understood physical discipline, physical training.
And Paul uses the analogy of athletic training many times because it is a helpful picture of how you must pursue godliness. You must train for godliness with the discipline of an athlete. I’d like to highlight several important requirements for obeying this command. First, it takes…
Hard Work. Katie Ledecky is one of the greatest Olympians of our time. I love to watch her swim because she doesn’t just win; she routinely blows out the best athletes in the world. They’re not even on the screen by the time she finishes.
Six days a week, she wakes up at 4:00 a.m. and eats a lite breakfast before swimming 6,000-6,500 yards. Then later in the afternoon she swims an additional 7,000-8,000 yards. That means that she swims between 78,000 and 87,000 yards or roughly 15 miles per week. As well, 3 days a week she does additional weightlifting, and other physical training. And she carefully manages everything she eats. Swimming is not a hobby. She works hard!
You need to live the Christian life the same way. If your living the Christian life like it is a hobby you are disobeying our text, and you will never be godly. Godliness requires commitment and hard work. Don’t be lazy this year. Don’t take days off. Work hard at every facet of godliness. 2nd, v. 7 demands…
Self-Denial: Intense exercise can be miserable. Your chest feels like it’s going to explode. Your muscles ache, then they burn, and then they become numb. Sometimes your head pounds, you get dizzy or even nauseous. Your body is screaming, “Stop!” Lots of people do. That’s why people keep resolve to go to the gym year after year. It’s hard. Discipline demands denying your body what it wants.
And self-denial is also essential to godliness. Galatians 5:17 says, “For the flesh sets its desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another.” Your heart is full of evil desires that you must deny to be godly.
If you want to be godly, you can’t live your life like an animal doing whatever comes instinctually. You must get out of bed when you don’t feel like it. Read a good book when you want to watch TV. Come to church when you want to relax at home. Bite your tongue when you want to criticize. Self-denial is essential to godliness. 3rd, v. 7 demands…
Strategizing. High-end athletes always have a plan to reach their goals. They don’t train aimlessly. Training in godliness also requires a strategy.
So, work hard at godliness in 2025, but work smarter, not just harder. Think about where you need to go and what is the best route to get there. Make a plan to nourish your soul on truth, prayer, and godly fellowship. Identify areas where sin is prevailing, and you need to change. Then build a strategy to conquer that sin habit. How do you need to stop feeding the flesh. What small steps can you take to reach the higher goal?
Get input. Ask your parents or your spouse where you can grow and let them help you get there. I’d love to help as would plenty of other people in this church. Don’t wander aimlessly this year. Know where you want to go, and how you will get there. 4th, v. 7 demands…
Habits of Holiness: When I coached basketball, we did certain drills every day because we wanted the boys to perform certain skills instinctively without having to think about them. It made the game became simpler, and it helped them continue playing the right way even under pressure.
In the same way, if you have to think about every act of obedience, your Christian life will be very hard. But the more you habituate godliness, the easier it will be. For example, some of you wrestle every Sunday with whether or not you will go to church. Then you wrestle with convincing your family. Asking the question makes getting here harder, and it affects your mood once you are here.
If Sunday night is optional, you will never make it. It will always be easier to stay on the coach, or there will always be something else to do. But if it’s a habit, getting here will be much easier, and you will enjoy it much more.
This principle is true across the board. You need good devotional habits. You need to train yourself to respond with grace when people frustrate you. You need to build healthy habits into your marriage and family. Just put your offering in your budget and don’t make it a battle.
Godliness is hard enough. Some of you are making it much harder because you don’t have good habits. Build routines that simplify godliness. In sum, v. 7 is crucial to 2025. In the power of God’s grace, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” Finally, notice in v. 6 the most important means of grace God has given the believer and our most important discipline.
Nourished on Truth (v. 6): Think about the fact that Timothy didn’t have a complete Bible. He probably only had access to some Scripture and a few other materials that contained doctrinal teaching. But you are holding the complete Bible in your hands. Most of us have several Bibles, and I have hundreds of books about the Bible. We can listen to the Bible, or we can download thousands and thousands of good sermons from the Internet. We have incredible access to truth.
Take advantage this year and “nourish” your soul. The Greek verb is a general term for training or teaching, but just about every translation uses nourish, because it vividly pictures what Paul has in mind. God is urging you to feed your souls on the Bible and to make the Bible the loudest, most dominant and constant voice in your ear.
Many of you have a good Bible reading routine already going. Keep it up. Make sure it doesn’t spiral into a mere discipline. Feed your soul on God’s Word every day. Others in here spend hours watching T.V. or playing video games. You sleep insanely late. You stare at hour phone constantly. But you rarely open your Bible. The best way you can discipline yourself to godliness this year is to make a commitment this morning that all that will stop in 2025. You will make time to study the Bible, and you will do it until it becomes a habit.
But notice that Paul pushes Timothy to feed his soul on more than Scripture. The “words of the faith” is primarily Scripture, especially the gospel. But he also adds “sound doctrine.” That’s fascinating because many Christians believe doctrine is deadly to devotion. Their ultimate goal in Bible study is to have an emotional experience of God, to feel something.
Affection is essential, but all true affection begins with sound doctrine. Think of it this way. Suppose you visit an online dating site and fall in love with someone only to find out he or she used a fake photo. You were in love, but it wasn’t with anything real.
Similarly, you must know God truly if you are to truly love him and be truly like him. And sound doctrine rightly used only feeds godly affection. Again, if I want to mature my marriage, I must know Heidi fully and precisely. The more I know her, the better I can appreciate her and adore her.
Maybe you pray a lot and read the Bible a lot, but everything is at a very simple level. You read the Bible looking for nothing more than a daily nugget. Your prayers are basic and thoughtless. Resolve to go deeper this year. Pick up a study Bible or a commentary to take your Bible study deeper. Read some theology at night instead of watching TV. Do a study to refine your thinking on God’s character, the gospel, and the church. Then be sure to use it as a springboard to application and worship. I’d love to point you to some good resources to help you get started.
We often say, “You are what you eat.” It’s even more true for your soul than your body. Don’t spend 2025 eating junk. Nourish your soul on truth.

Conclusion

Psalm 34:8 says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” Joy and all the goodness of God are in reach if you will allow yourself to be disciplined by grace for the purpose of godliness. But it won’t happen accidentally. Take some time this afternoon or very soon for some reflection. Ask, “Where have I grown lazy? Where have I drifted? Where are you at and where does your Christian life need to go?” Then build a strategy to get there. Don’t try to come up with something new. God’s grace and his basic disciplines are all you need. By God’s grace, work hard at godliness in 2025.