Shipwrecked Faith

SHIPWRECKED FAITH

1 Tim. 1:18-20

Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, [19] holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. [20] Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

Life is a great journey on which we are in the process of going through. The Christian Life has often been compared to a “race”, a “fight”, a “warfare”, a “journey”, and more.

Tonight we’re going to look at the life journey we are on in comparison to a journey on a ship to a destination from one side to the other.

No one who has any sense goes out onto an ocean just to find their way to the middle and get lost somewhere.

There is an intent or a purpose, whether it be to go out and spend some hours fishing or boating, and to return, or to pass from one side to the other.

The basic idea though is not to go out, run out of fuel, and sit and die in the heat of the sun, or to run their ship onto the rocks thereby destroying the ship and their lives at the same time.

I would also dare say that no one in the Christian life ever sets out on their journey of faith with the intent of getting wrecked somewhere in the middle, or just before they reach the other side.

The intent is to do everything within our power with God’s power to reach the other side and safely make it to heaven.

Tonight, I want to take a look at 3 things that will help us to keep our ship afloat as we continue on this great journey from here to the other side.

But first of all, I think it is important for us to realize that Paul is writing this letter to young Timothy, who was a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The principle remains the same for all of us as Christians, but we must also realize that Timothy was not just an “on the fringe” Christian, but he was a sold out believer in Christ, and was willing at this point to give his all to follow God.

Paul used two examples of Shipwrecked Faith when he spoke of Hymenaeus and Alexander who at one time had been involved in the preaching of the Gospel, and were now tools of the enemy in leading many astray.

I don’t want my life to simply be a shipwreck to be used as an example to others of what can happen if you get your eyes off the Lord.

Paul was making sure that young Timothy knew that there were going to be times of testing and at times he would be tempted to give it all up, and take the easy road.

He was able to say to Timothy, look over there and see the shipwrecks that have already found their place of rebellion and deception, now here are some things you need to do to steer clear of the rocks.

Here were a few of the things he told Timothy to do:

I. WAR A GOOD WARFARE

Paul told him to think back on some of the prophecies that told of his future successes in God, and to build on that, or take heart even in the midst of a difficult warfare, and remember God has a design and a purpose for his life.

We know that when Timothy started out, there was a softness, and possibly a timidity that had to be dealt with before he could become very effective in ministry.

It appears from research of scripture that at the time of the ordination of Timothy he was given gifts that greatly enabled him for the work of the ministry.

1 Tim. 4:14

Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

2 Tim. 1:6

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

However, even with all of the gifts and prophecies that Timothy had received, he still had much opposition due to his youth, so his leadership was questioned quite a bit by believers and non-believers alike.

Paul urged him to “be bold” as well...

2 Tim. 1:7

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Paul gave Timothy the imagery here of fighting in a war, which probably was something that Timothy was not excited about either.