1 Timothy 4:6-10

 (1) Contend

v.6 By pointing out such things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus,

What are "such things" from the contend? 

....the warnings of 4:1–5...Paul wanted Timothy to warn the Ephesians against an enforced celibacy and asceticism.

(2) The manner to be a good servant of Christ Jesus

v.6b having nourished yourself on the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.4:7a But reject those myths fit only for the godless and gullible, 

a. nourished-(BDAG) primarily ‘bring up, rear’, then train in something

Grammatically, the things that can nourish or bring up Timothy to be a good servant are the words of faith and (words) of good teaching. This is the positive side. 

b. Negatively Timothy was commanded to reject the myths.

fit only for the godless and gullible-(BDAG) foolish tales, such as are told by elderly women

In other words, Paul wanted Timothy to focus on getting ready by feeding himself with good teaching and not to waste time on things that are worthless.

(NAC) Paul did not want Timothy even to occupy his time with answering such profane chatter. Some false teaching is best ignored rather than discussed.

(3) Repeated words:

train yourself v.7, physical exercise v.8a, we word hard and struggle v.10

Getting nourished with good teaching is not passive, but active, just like physical exercise v.8. Paul himself was like that, too. He worked hard and struggled. 

Reflection: In what manner can you be a good servant?  Do we need to feed ourselves more with good teachings? Or we need to evaluate the things we spend time with, are they just like the foolish tales? Can they bring us closer to God or just worthless? Finally, do we work hard and struggle in pursuing good teaching? Or we only comfortably received the words without paying the time and effort to study, memorize, or understand the truth?

Audrey