Do the Hard Work First.
1 Timothy 6:11-12TPT
After living more than 60 years, I know that any claim that offers an effortless way to develop a lean, well conditioned body is a hoax.
So is any sermon title that promises an easy way to become like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In 1Timothy 6 Paul is addressing those with wrong desires and motives.
1 Timothy 6:11-12NKJV “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
1 Timothy 6:11-12TPT “Timothy, you are God’s man, so run from all these errors. Instead, chase after true holiness, justice, faithfulness, love, hope, and tender humility. 12 So fight with faith for the winner’s prize! Lay your hands upon eternal life, to which you were called and about which you made the good confession before the multitude of witnesses!”
In one large picture, here’s what we’re talking about this morning. -Run from sin, but chase after godliness. -Those who win get the prize!
Verse 12a, Lay your hands upon eternal life...
Arthur Brennan Manning, tells of an alcoholic who asked his minister to pray over him to be delivered from his drinking problem. This man thought this would be a quick and easy way to overcome his addiction.
Recognizing his motive in asking for prayer, the minister replied, “I’ve got a better idea. Go to Alcoholics Anonymous.” he counseled the man to follow the program diligently and read his Bible daily. In other words, the minister concluded, “do the hard work.”
Do the hard work- that’s what Paul was saying to Timothy when he told him how he should order his life, so he could teach believers how they should live.
Notice the action verbs. Pursue righteousness, Pursue godliness, Pursue faith, Pursue love, Pursue endurance, and Pursue gentleness.
Lets look at these words that we are called to pursue, with there biblical meaning.
1. Pursue Righteousness, when we’re told to pursue righteousness, we are called to pursue Jesus!
The apostle Paul pleads with the church to tell men and women to come God. And then we see in, 2 Corinthians 5:21TPT “For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.”
Listen Church, righteousness comes because of our union with Jesus. only Jesus can make you righteous.
2 Corinthians 2:15-16NLT “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?”
Listen Church, Jesus makes us righteous. Truly, if someone desires to boost they can boost only of being a fragrance!
2 Corinthians 2:16b...And who is adequate for such a task as this?”
Will you be a fragrance of Jesus Christ?
Again, Pursue righteousness. As the apostle Paul spoke about the kingdom of God, he said these words in, Romans 14:17AMP for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking [what one likes], but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
God’s Kingdom is righteousness! P.H
Again pursue righteousness; Pursue pure holiness- pursue Jesus!
2. Pursue godliness.
1 Timothy 6:6NLT “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.”
How do I pursue godliness? Do the right thing every time! Practice fruitful living. PH
Galatians 5:22-23NIV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Again, Pursue godliness.
-Do godly things.
-Make godly decision.
-Think godly thoughts.
-Speak godly words, words that build up!
3. Pursue faith.
In 1 Corinthians 12, one of the spiritual gifts we are called to pursue is faith. -Faith is a muscle, use it and it grows! P.H
Do you want to become rich? Here’s good news, God’s word promises riches to every believer.
Here are some examples of the riches that can be ours as believers in Jesus Christ:
* An understanding of God the father and the son, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Colossians 2.2–3.
* Christ, the hope of glory, living in us, Colossians 1.27.
* Bodily strength in our inner-man, Through his spirit, Ephesians 3.16.
* Having all our needs met by God, Philippians 419.
* The wisdom and knowledge of God, Romans 11.33.
* Redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sin, which comes from God‘s, grace, Ephesians, 1.7.
Yes, God’s word promises us great riches and treasures that we cannot even attempt to purchase with any amount of money.
-It is these riches that we must seek, enjoy, and use to glorify their source – our heavenly father.
4. Pursue love.
1 Corinthians 14:1ESV Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
1 Corinthians 13:13ESV So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Again, Pursue love. Love is
Slow to suspect- quick to trust. Slow to reprimand -- quick to forbear.
Slow to belittle- quick to appreciate. Slow to condemn -- quick to justify.
Slow to offend- quick to defend. Slow to demand -- quick to give.
Slow to provoke- quick to conciliate. Slow to hinder -- quick to help.
Slow to resent- quick to forgive.
-Here’s love! John 8:1-11NLT Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you? 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
Again, Do the Hard Work First. -Pursue love!
In John 8:8, Jesus stooped down and begin writing in the sand.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers:
Written on the sand, the earth. In implied contrast with the name graven on the rock for ever such as the 10 commandments. Jesus wrote on the dust or sand. The Eastern habit of writing on the ground (of which John 8:6 supplies one memorable instance, and which was the common practice in Jewish schools).
Who were the woman’s accuser? -The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, John 8, Vs 3.
Again Many modern day teachers believe that Jesus wrote Jeremiah 17:13, in the sand.
Jeremiah 17:13NIV Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame.?Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.
Again, Jesus taught to, pursue love.
5. Pursue hope.
“The difference between faith and hope.
For the believer, hope is what you know, and faith is what you do with what you know.” P.H
A man with theory is always at the mercy of a man with experience. -Hope comes with experience.
One of the ministers at my dads funeral said a sentence that we should always hold onto. He said, “Presently we hope in grief.”
If you have Jesus you have hope! P.H
A group of students visited a psychiatric institution to observe a variety of mental illnesses. One of the individuals was a tragic case. He was referred to as “No hope Carter.”
He was a victim of a venereal disease and was going through its final stages when the brain is affected. Before he began losing his mind, his doctors told him that there was no known cure for him. He begged for a ray of hope but was told the disease would run its course and then end in his death.
Gradually his brain deteriorated and he became more and more despondent. Two weeks before his death he paced in his small room. He was in mental agony and his eyes stared blankly. Over and over he muttered two words, “No hope! No hope!”
Again, If you have Jesus you have hope! -Pursue hope.
6. Pursue humility.
This I know, if you become a worshipper, you will become humble.
Isaiah 6:1-8NLT It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!? The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. (Humility) I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” 8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
So what is humility, and what makes humble people different? Humility is the absence of self in all we think, do or say. “You know when you encounter humility because you are irresistibly drawn to and awestruck by its presence.” P.H
People with the quality of humility are interested in everyone else. In conversations, they want to know about you. They are not looking for ways you can be a blessing to them, they are looking for ways they can bless you.
Humility is the very opposite of pride and arrogance. In a disagreement, pride is concerned with who is right, humility is concerned with what is right. Pride and arrogance are all about self, they are always looking down at everyone else. Humility looks up.
Once more, Pursue humility.
7. Lay your hands upon eternal life.
1 Timothy 6:12NIV 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.
Benediction. -Have you laid your hands on eternal life?
