Untitled Sermon (73)

Sermon

Intro-Rocky three

: One of my favorite series of movies by far is the Rocky movies….and one of my favorites is the one when Rocky fight clobber lane…Mr. T……Mr. T who is this guy from no where, challenges Rocky…..and has been training hard, going crazy….while Rocky is letting his guard down…Theres a scene of him training in this fancy….building….and mik is just ticked off the whole time..because Rocky is just coasting…stopping taking photos…barley hitting the back…..The fight comes and he is just cursing in laughing…..well bell goes off…..and Rocky gets smashed…….See I thought of that as we close out 1 Timothy because in todays passage the central point…Paul is telling Timothy is to Fight the good fight of the faith….which the phrase in greek is suggest voluntary athletic agony….such as a grueling race..or a boxing match……So Paul has shown how to mange the household of God (chruch) by,, correcting false teaching, centrality of prayer, the role of women, the offices in the church elder and deacon, how to care for the needy, how to behave with others in the church…but now he is going to close out and say…Timothy..don’t grow weary and let your guard down…in guarding, fighting for the gospel….

- The Christians walk is a fight (Rom 8:13, Eph 6:11, 1 Peter 2:11, 2 Tim 4:7)

…But the beauty of Rocky 3…is Apollo creed comes…and reminds Rock of the fight…lifts him up…..and stars train him again…See…

While the christian walk is a fight..its also full of peace. because we have the victory on our side…

Main Question: How do we fight the good fight of faith?

I. We fight the good fight by fleeing and pursing (11-16)

Ex: Verse 11..But as for you, o man of God, FLEE the things….what are the these things? Looking back all the things that the False teachers were pursing, dissensions, slander, the love of money-greed,…the sinful desire of the flesh flee…Well wait Rem I thought…in fight someone who flees….chicken….but ILL: If I met a three hundred-pound football player in the street who wants to demolish me, hand-to-hand combat is not going to be my best strategy…..See if I ignore him..not a big deal I’m smashed fleeing in the strategy…APP: .

-See in our walk with Christ we have to know when to flee as Joseph did (Gen 39:12).

…Jospeh did Gen 39:12….potrifiers wife was trying to suduce him…He RAN out fo there…..See don’t give sin room at your table…..don’t invite it over for dinner..NO kill it…war….some might need to flee a relationship, flee your hobby, flee that app on your phone, flee a certain drink or location,,,IDK.

-John Owen, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

… one of the strategies in the fight is run from it…the moment it enters or around……But their is more than running away from sin….

-The Christian life isn’t just fleeing but pursing

…that’s why Paul says Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love steadfastness, gentleness…righteousness…denotes your right conduct before other humans..godliness, is duty given to god christliness, faith..means more depends on God love-Spirit birth affections toward others….steadfastness means I won’t quit even under opposition..gentlness…kindness toward difficult people….don’t just aim at avoiding sin…but replacing it with a greater affection..the things that stir you heart for God! ..In Ther Ancient greek myth the odyssey where UlyssesCC is going home and he knows he is going to pass the rocky shells there in the mediterian were the sirens (weird mermaids with enchantling beautiful voices as they sing…they drive sailors bonkers with desire and the sailors long to hear more come close enough to hear the sirens, and jump out of the ship and swim to their death..because of such desire. UlyssesC wants to hear what the sirens are like but I don’t want to jump to my death…so he has his men tie him to the mass and he has all his men put wax in their ears so they don’t hear the sirens…so they row by them and UlyssesC is screaming for them to un-tie HIM and they don’t do it…and he makes it safely through….thats one to fight sin….When Jason..went by the sirens he explode a different Strategy…he brought along the worlds most famous harpest…he said as we approach the sirens I want to hear them but I want you to start strumming and Jason new this harp playing was the most enchanting beautiful noise in the world and that it would prevent him from desiring to jump off the ship so that’s what he did and the harp played and heard the beautiful song of the sirens but he was enchanted by something even more lovely!….thats what Paul is saying…look at Christ…be enchanted by his glory…pursue a greater affection..HOW…LOOK AT HIM…verse because verse 12….he says take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…..meaning…Timothy God has called you…the reason your a believer is God has effectual called you…..and you responded….take hold of that life NOW….yes eternity is coming but live NOW victories in Christ..APP:…saying the same thing to believers today…If God has called you he will keep you…13-17 adds to the idea of pursuing….He says…just as Christ admitted before Pontus Pilate made the good confession…..that he is King…that He is Lord….despite knowing what that was going to do to him…Timothy keep the commandment (the gospel…the faith …unstained….and why….because the Lord is coming again…….and that’s when Paul break into a doxology in 15-17….See again the Christian life is not just avoiding sin BUT beholding God…..which as Paul starts talking about Jesus leads to worship!…verse 15…only sovereign…rules the universe….king of king and lord of Lord…the only one who truly reigns….who alone has immortality….Imortal…can’t die worn’t die…dwells in unapproachable light…..so holy..one can’t stand in his presence without Christ…eternally transient….and worthy worthy of all honor an praise…..App: How are you doing about pursing this God?…Listen I think so many times we get so discouraged in the Christina life…because we make it all fleeing…and all we are stuck with is looking at our sin…we make it about us….Stop..your going to blow….we grow by looking at the bigger God….in your Bible reading ask what this say about God…worship him…and fleeing will happen!

II. We fight the good fight by generous enteral giving (17-19)

EX So in verse 17-19…he goes back to talking about money so I am going to be brief…Vs 17 As for the rich…he is addressing the rich now..if you have wealth how do I fight the good fight of faith…his answer is starlight forward and simple…verse 17…don’t be haughty….arrogant…again riches has a way of making you think…..I have arrived…I’m better….then he says again don’t set your hopes on riches…remember its a false security…but the text says but on God….who riches proved us with everything to enjoy.C.S. Lewis…compared the blessing of material things/ money to a ray of sunshine….the ray is great, warm…God designed beauty, art, sport, food, things he want you to enjoy it…..But the ray is coming from a greater source……the Sun which is God …It’s never suppose to stop with the ray but lead back to sun…..so the

-One big practical advice Paul gives in fighting for the faith with wealth is give it away.

.verse 18…they are to do good, to be reich in good works, to be generous and ready to share…thus storing up treasure fo themselves as a good foundation for the future..so that they may take hold of that which is truly life…love that…Jesus say…For whoever would save his life will lose it….hold it in..fastest way…to be miserable…the most unhappy people in the world are the who think only of themsvs…. but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.ILL::By the second century, Tertullian was able to boast that Christians spent more on the poor in the street than the pagans spent at the temple. The result was the rapid, worldwide expansion of the gospel…….APP::

-Questions: Are you finding identity in money? How and to whom can you give more to grow the Kingdom?

practical it might mean for your family to start helping out another family in need this Thanksgiving/Christmas, or sponsoring a child, giving money to support the spread of the gospel...

…Church Our aim wouldn’t be a building…before generosity..supporting missions…Pray

III. We fight the good fight by guarding the deposit by sharing the deposit (20-21)

EX: Paul ends with a bang…O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is false called knowledge. For by professing it some have swerved from the faith…Paul just summarizes one last time…Timothy….and church…the greatest threat the the health of the church is never prosperity, persecution…it’s always been a threat to take away from the true teaching of Scripture and who Christ is….so he says Timothy…

guard the deposit…which simply means property entrusted to another…

-God has given the Church His good deposit which is the Gospel.

the life and death and resurrection…and

-We guard the good deposit by protecting it from error, but by passing it on.

….We spread……and where does the strength come from….how he ends…Grace be with you….and note…..the you in the greek is plural…Paul has a little country in him…ya’ll…..

-We guard the gospel together

..we spread the gospel together…It takes all of us…How could you help at grace to use your gift more for fighting the fight of faith…and guarding the gospel?..Have ministry idea? …Con:: Main word to end on is GRACE….I love how all Rocky movie ends….he wins…Love it…round nine…Rocky is screaming at mr. T say your not so bad come one…clubber lane is done…..Rocky could have never have been there in his own strength…needed Apollo….Listen COLL 1:28-29 I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me…..See while we fight..our strength comes from knowing we need the one who flees when we didn’t, pursed God when we didn’t, the one who came at the right time…took death, sin, hell, on the cross….died…and the enemy thought he won…..but it was just in doing that in rising agin…that Jesus rains victories and is coming again…So if you feel so knocked down by the world…and you don’t know Christ…the answer today is not do these things..But come to the one who has won the fight over you sin…pain…struggle the God who can pick you up no matter how bad its’ been and make you new..and for those walking with him..keep fight, guiding the deposit..it’s his grace in you…

C.S. Lewis: “We are in enemy occupied territory that is what the world is Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.

…May we be a Church…that keeps fighting, guarding…and pushing back the kingdom darkness…by proclaiming HIs kingdom here…He is our only source of strength in the fight….and He is the only strength we need