FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF THE FAITH
1 Timothy 6:6-16 - October 19, 2003
1 TIMOTHY 6:6-16
6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight 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. 13In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time--God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
All of us would agree today that when we look at life, we would intend to call it a struggle. There are all kinds of struggles in this life--struggles that we face with the weather, struggles that we face with health, struggles that we face with one another--and the list goes on and on, doesn’t it? Yet, this morning the Lord reminds us that our life is even more than a struggle, isn’t it? The life that we live on this earth is a battle. As believers in the world who know the difference between right and wrong, we face daily battles. Believers battle against Satan’s snares. Believers battle against the world’s wickedness. Believers battle against our own flesh’s failings. Life IS more than a struggle, it is a battle!
So it is that as Paul wrote to Timothy, he gave Timothy the advice as he intends for every believer this morning to fight the good fight of faith. The Lord through Paul tells us how we can do that. In our second lesson(JAMES 4:7-12) we heard these words from James. He says: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded"(JAMES 4:7,8). He says to keep our minds and focus on track as we fight the good fight of the faith. He says to come near to God and God will come near to you. So this morning once again we draw near to God. We ask Him to focus our thoughts that we might submit to God, resist the devil and the devil would flee from us. So it is that with these words in the middle of our text we have our theme: Fight the Good Fight of Faith. He gives us two directions to do that:
I. Believers flee discontentment.
II. Believers pursue righteousness, godliness, ...
I. Believers flee discontentment
Remember that Paul wrote these words as he was gone on another of his missionary journeys to encourage Timothy, who now was left alone in the big metropolis of Ephesus. It was like any big metropolis full of sin, evil and wickedness. Some of that wickedness was worldliness. So it was that Timothy would face those who would be caught up in the things and the ways of the world. That is, the worldly things that society considers more important and valuable than even one’s own soul.
So we start in our text, verse 6, which are familiar words: 6But godliness with contentment is great gain. Paul says to combine godliness and contentment and that person would find great gain. They would find satisfaction in life. He goes on to tell them why: 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. Paul probably thought of Job when he was afflicted and sorely attempted by Satan. Job realized, "Naked I came into this world; naked I will leave it." He says we come into this world with nothing, and certainly we can take nothing with us. So what does that mean as Paul has these gems of Scripture written down for our edification? Our text continues but, if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Paul reminded Timothy that there would be disappointments and discouragements. There would be those who oppose the Gospel. But he could find contentment in the fact that he had food and clothing. He had more than he started with in this world when he was born.
Again to get back to that point that godliness with contentment is great gain. Especially when even the world would seem very attractive and wealth and riches would seem to be what everyone needs, what does Paul say? He says: 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. You can almost hear the despair in Paul’s voice as he says, "it plunges men into ruin and destruction,"--that seeking after money causes people to fall into a snare and a trap--leads them astray off the path of righteousness and down that broad path of destruction.
Then Paul comes up with another familiar statement: 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. As Paul writes that, we look at it and realize how true that is. The love of money, greed or covetousness is in everyone’s hearts. It is there so much so that the Lord Himself gave two specific commandments. However, the other commandments talk about it quite a bit--’Do not covet’--the Ninth and Tenth Commandments. In the Sixth Commandment--’You shall not commit adultery’ which is lust, simply coveting again. The Seventh Commandment--’Do not steal’--also tells us to not covet again. So the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Paul warned Timothy to warn believers that that sinful desire could easily and quickly lead them astray.
Paul goes on to tell them: Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. They thought they would find happiness and joy and contentment in this world and in the wealth and riches that the world offers. Yet, what happened? It says: "They have wandered again from the faith." Instead of finding joy, they found sorrow--’pierced themselves with many griefs.’ In the next verse Paul says: 11But you, man of God, flee from all this, flee from the pursuit of wealth and riches; flee from worldliness; flee from discontentment--Godliness with contentment is great gain.
As Paul says to Timothy, he reminds us today to flee from discontentment. As the years go by in the world, that becomes harder for each of us to do. We live in a world that readily feeds on discontentment--the ads, the media, the world around us makes life seem not worth living unless we have newer, bigger, better. That newer, bigger, better is just simply to be unsatisfied with what we have been provided with already. There are many, I’m sure, who would think that having food and clothing and to be content with that, is quite impossible. How can anyone be satisfied with JUST food and clothing??
Yet, when we truly sit back and reflect upon that point which God wants us to remember, how true that is, isn’t it? We didn’t bring anything into this world. We can’t take anything with us. The Lord clothes us day after day. He feeds us daily. Yet, we are not too content with that day after day, are we? Having food and clothing simply seems to be not enough. We are still filled with disappointment, discontentment. The Lord says to us today to flee from discontentment, to try to put that feeling behind us. In Ecclesiastes, we are told: "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?"(ECCLESIASTES 2:24,25). Maybe you don’t think about that in your daily life, but there is joy in your life because you are a believer. There are many in this world that think that to pursue wealth and happiness and riches is the only thing they have going for them. Yet, they don’t find joy and contentment. You and I are able to sit back and realize the Lord has indeed blessed us. He has provided us with food and clothing and even more.
At times our gracious God even blesses us with those things that are newer, bigger, and better. God warns us not to be overly concerned about those things that are newer, bigger and better. We are not to be caught up into this world’s feeling; or, at least our nation’s feeling, that we can’t be happy with what we have; because it simply is NOT newer, bigger, better. We are to be content with the many blessings the Lord has given us. It is all too easy for us, also, to travel down that path that is broad and wide--striving only in this life for those things that have no meaning eternally in the end. Remember our Lord’s warning in the parable of the seed, which is planted in the shallow soil. It springs up; but then what happens? He says: "But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful"(MARK 4:19). We know when we look at our lives, from time to time, those very things have taken the Word of God and choked it and made it unfruitful in our lives. From time to time, we have worried about things in this world beyond being concerned about God’s Kingdom. From time to time, we have been very self-centered and concerned about the deceitfulness of wealth rather than what is best in God’s Kingdom.
The Lord says to us today to flee discontentment. Godliness with contentment is great grain. Our Lord says, Fight the good fight of the faith. We do this by Christian living, by letting our light shine. Listen to this from Philippians: "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe"(PHILIPPIANS 4:14,15). Today, you can ask yourselves and think about this past week or even yesterday whether you were shining like stars in the universe. Or did the world look at you and consider you as one of their own and welcome you with open arms with your grumbling and complaining and murmuring? Or did they notice in you the light of God’s glory that you are content, that you are satisfied because the Lord has given you food and clothing and even more? We are to shine like stars. The world doesn’t know any better. The world doesn’t care. You and I, because God’s light is in us, are to flee discontentment.
We have a purpose in life to fight the good fight of the faith. God says we are to run away from discontentment and when we run away from discontentment and flee this, we are going to have to run into something else. This is that we pursue righteousness.
II. Believers pursue righteousness,…
Paul starts with that list in the second half of our text. He says, 11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. How uplifting Timothy must have felt when he heard those words, especially when he heard the verse before how some have ’plunged themselves into ruin and destruction.’ He says there is a way out rather than run headlong into ruin and destruction and being discontent. Believers can flee discontentment and pursue righteousness. God puts before Timothy and puts before every believer that godliness and faith and endurance. Those were the things that Timothy was to pursue. He need not grow weary of it, because he was to remember that God had chosen him for a special purpose. He says, Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. By God’s grace Paul had called Timothy to be a believer. It’s by God’s grace that the Lord had called anybody to be a believer. Paul says to take hold of that call, and not take hold of the wealth of the world; because it is fleeing and it disappears. Take hold of the eternal life, which God has given you. Be encouraged because the God who has given this to you is the God of all creation. God gives life to everything. We sang that in our hymns--God the Maker of all things,
Then, Paul said to remind himself if he was ever discouraged, to look at Jesus. He says, Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession. We think of Jesus standing before Pilate. Pilate challenges Jesus and says, "Are you a king?" Pilate certainly didn’t want Jesus to be a king. Pilate kept asking Him. Jesus said, "You are right." Jesus was not concerned if He was politically correct. Jesus was not concerned if Pilate would take offense, but He simply spoke the truth. So Paul says to Timothy, "Don’t be too concerned what the world thinks, but speak the truth of God who is the only true God.
Paul has this doxology that he gives to describe the Lord: God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. This was the direction Timothy was to take the congregation to pursue righteousness, to follow God who was immortal, invisible, to whom belonged all might and glory forever, and who someday would return. He says, I charge you 14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time. In His own time the Lord would return. In His own time all things would be made clear. In His own time the deceitfulness of wealth, the desires of other things in this world and the riches would all disappear. The righteousness of God would be clearly seen once and for all for what it is.
You and I look forward to that time when the Lord will come back. There are a lot of things that are going to happen in our lives before He returns. We don’t know what those things are. Whether we might consider them good or bad. We know that whatever is between now and eternity God always means it all for our good. We do know whatever happens in between now and eternity Satan is going to try to mislead us as is the world and our own sinful flesh. There will be all kinds of temptations; and to avoid them, we need to pursue righteousness, don’t we? We need to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Proverbs says, "He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor"(PROVERBS 21:21). In most of our life if not all of our life, we have been pursuing the dreams of this world. We have been pursuing wealth and riches thinking that gives us prosperity and honor and life. Yet, the Lord reminds us today that when we pursue God’s righteousness, when we are concerned about the Kingdom of God, He gives us life and honor and prosperity. And how true that is! He gives us eternal life. He gives us the honor to sit at His right hand in heaven. He gives us prosperity in the wealth of the Kingdom of God when we pursue righteousness, when we study and grow in His Word. Pursue righteousness, love, and endurance. What a list that is!
Paul found it so important that not only did he mention it here in this first letter to Timothy. He wrote another letter to Timothy reminding him the importance of pursuing righteousness. From 2 Timothy, he writes: "Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 TIMOTHY 2:22). Right at the end of that verse is the difference between you and I along with every believer in the world. You and I and every believer in the world are going to make an effort as much as we can and as often as we remind ourselves to pursue righteousness, faith and love. This happen because a believer can do that. Those who are not believers, those who are members of the unbelieving world don’t care about righteousness, peace, love, and endurance. They care only about themselves.
So it becomes all the more important for us because God has called us out of darkness. We make it our goal to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love and endurance, especially as the world around us does not pursue it. How are we to do such a great task? How are we to fight that good fight of the faith that God has given and entrusted to each one of us? We can’t do it on our own, can we? We realize that we fall short of the glory of God as we sin daily and we sin much. But we can do it because of what Christ has done for us, namely that He has given us the perfect motivation to pursue righteousness. Our Savior has shed His blood and gave up His life, so that we can live for Him here on earth and finally we can live with Him in eternity. In 1 Peter we read these words: "He (Christ) himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed"(1 PETER 2:24). Because of what Christ has done for us and has covered up our sins, we then can die to sin. In other words we can flee discontentment and live for righteousness, pursue righteousness.
Fight the good fight of faith. Paul wrote many Gospel gems here for us reminding us that godliness with contentment is great gain, that the Lord has blessed us beyond all comparison in this life. The Lord is patiently waiting to bless us in eternity. He has already given us a foretaste of our blessings in eternity by giving us forgiveness of sins by reminding us how much He has done for us. So He says in our new Christian man, we can flee discontentment. It is not easy, because the world would like to have everybody be discontent. The world would like everybody to think that there is only one thing in this life left for living and that is the desire to have everything newer, bigger and better. If we don’t have newer, bigger and better, we ought to be discontent and sad in this life. But the Lord has called us out of the darkness of this world to realize that there is more to this life than discontentment. He says we can look to Him, and we can flee discontentment and put that sinful desire behind us and go in the other direction to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love and endurance.
We heard in our lessons today(NUMBERS 11:16,24-29; MARK 9:38-50) that if we are doing that, if we are pursuing righteousness, we can’t be discontent. If we are pursuing godliness, we can’t be ungodly. If we are doing one thing, we can’t be doing the other. If we are discontent, we can’t be pursuing godliness. Today, God says to us Fight the good fight of faith. An easy way to do that is to flee discontentment and pursue godliness. In Ephesians 6 our Lord gives us our weaponry to do that. (You may want to read the rest of the chapter that describes all the equipment that we have as our armor to fight the good fight of the faith.) In verses 10 and 11: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes"(EPHESIANS 6:10,11). The Lord doesn’t want us to do this on our own to fight the good fight of faith. He gives us His mighty power, His strength. Then he says too, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. In the rest of the verses he describes that armor of God--the Word of the Lord, the sword of the Spirit, etc. We are well equipped and set apart in this world to fight the good fight of the faith. We do it by fleeing discontentment and pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love and endurance. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
