Sermon Tone Analysis

Greeting & Announcements

Josh Dickson will be preaching February 26th, 2023, during the Sunday AM Service; he will also be teaching Discipleship Groups on March 8th, 2023.

Pastor Daniel and Natalie will be out of town February 24-25 and March 8-11.

In addition, Pastor Daniel will be out of town February-28-March 1 until the evening service.

In case of emergency, please contact a deacon.

Pastor Jordan Alturas of The Fellowship Church (State College, PA) will be preaching March 12th, 2023, during the Sunday AM Service.

Giving Reminder

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Preaching of God’s Word (1 Tim 6:11-21)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to 1 Timothy 6:11-21.

As we wrap up the letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, he’s taking the last eleven verses to get in a few last minute exhortations, instructions, and commands.

It is in these last eleven verses that Paul speaks directly to Timothy and encourages him to do certain things, which of course, still has application for us today as well.

This evening, we’re looking at three last points being made by Paul to Timothy and we can sum it up like this: (1) Timothy needs to Fight the Good Fight (11-16), (2) he needs to Encourage Humility and Good Works (17-19) and (3) he needs to Guard the Gospel (20-21).

Likewise, we need to fight the good fight, we need to be humble and do good works, and we need to guard the Gospel.

Prayer for Illumination

Fight the Good Fight (11-16)

Our text starts by connecting this text with the text we worked through last week.

Paul tells Timothy to flee these things and to pursue something else.

Of course, our first question has to be, what sort of things is he to flee from?

And to answer this, we really have to take a look at the previous ten verses in which Timothy is told of the character of someone who teaches false teaching within the church.

That they are puffed up with conceit and lacks understanding.

That he has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for fighting about words.

Who seek to utilize Christianity as a means of gain.

Not only is Paul concerned about the character of those who teach false things, he also reminds Timothy of the need of godliness with contentment because the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and it is the love of money that has caused some to wander away from the faith.

These are the sorts of things that Paul tells Timothy that he is to flee from before telling him to instead pursue something completely different.

What is he to pursue?

He is to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.

Let’s look at each idea or attribute individually:

When speaking of righteousness, Paul is speaking about right living as a result of being made righteous by Jesus Christ.

When speaking of godliness, he’s speaking of the Christlikeness that we are to pursue as new creatures in Christ.

The idea of faith is a trust in the Lord.

Love in this context is the αγεπη that God has for us and that He commands us to have for others.

Steadfastness or in our modern vernacular, endurance, really just speaks of a person’s ability to stand firm despite difficulties in life.

And of course gentleness refers to the opposite of being harsh or rash.

It’s to be temperate.

Each attribute has a meaning that’s really rooted in the fruits of the Spirit—or in other words, as Timothy seeks Jesus and the Holy Spirit works within Him, and as Timothy pursues being like this (i.e., righteous, godly, faithful, loving, steadfast, and gentle), the Spirit works within him to produce these attributes.

To pursue these attributes is a tall order but it is to be pursued if Timothy is to live his life well.

Paul is right to immediately tell Timothy to fight the good fight of faith almost within the same breath.

This idea of fighting the good fight comes from a militaristic mindset and what this tells us is that Paul’s exhortation to Timothy is that of warfare, struggle, and great effort.

Or put differently, though in our modern world people within the Western church seem to think that Christianity is a spectator sport, the reality is that it isn’t.

We’re not all fans sitting in the stands watching a select few people play the game; we’re all to be fighting the good fight.

Paul then ends v. 12 by exhorting Timothy to “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Or in other words the exhortation that Paul gives to Timothy is essentially what I frequently remind you all of—Paul’s exhortation is to keep an eternal mindset or to keep your eyes on eternity.

To “take hold” literally means that he already has eternal life, which is reflected in the fact that Paul says that Timothy was called to this eternal life, but he needs to keep his focus on eternal life.

Because of his confession in the presence of many witness—or in other words because of the fact that he believes and that he’s confessed belief to many people.

In sum, what Paul exhorts Timothy to do is to flee from sinful appetites like the love of money and pursue the fruits of the Spirit.

He encourages Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, which he’ll do if he keeps his eyes focused in on eternity as a result of his confession of faith.

Vv. 13-15 then gives another exhortation or charge to Timothy in which Paul emphasizes this idea of keeping a commandment unstained and free from reproach.

But as he’s giving this exhortation, he spends v. 13 not giving the exhortation but giving the basis for the exhortation.

This basis is based on the very presence of God—who Paul describes as the one who gives life.

And it’s based on Jesus who proclaimed the Gospel in His very death before Pontius Pilate and those who crucified Him.

Or in other words, this exhortation is built on God, it’s built on who God is and what Jesus had accomplished on the cross.

And the exhortation is simple, we see it in v. 14, that Timothy needs “to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the king of kings and Lord of lords.

Or put differently, Timothy is to protect what Paul calls the commandment unstained and free until Jesus returns.

The question is, “what exactly is this commandment?”

Let me suggest two answers:

The first is a generic understanding of everything that Paul had told Timothy to do throughout this letter—or in other words, Paul is exhorting Timothy to protect everything that Paul has told Timothy concerning the need to root out false teachers, the need to teach and preach the Gospel, and the interpersonal relationship concerns that Paul just expressed in the previous section.

The second is a more specific statement concerning what Paul is about to say at the very end of the letter in v. 20, “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.”

Or in other words, guard the Gospel, guard the truth, protect the Word of God.

What Paul starts with as he starts the end of the letter is an exhortation to do something that we ought to do as well and it’s in that command to fight the good fight—to keep enduring, to keep pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.

Likewise, you need to fight the good fight—to keep enduring, to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.

Now, wedged between this exhortation for Timothy to fight the good fight and to protect the Gospel is three verses concerning Timothy’s need to encourage humility and good works within the church—and honestly, it sounds out of place, like it doesn’t belong but let me encourage you to think of it in light of the context of 1 Timothy.

Look at vv. 17-19.

Encourage Humility and Good Works (17-19)

Remember, that one of the issues regarding the church in Ephesus had to do with the economic discord between the obscenely rich and the poor—this was actually a regular problem for multiple churches.

Ephesus, because it was a trade city, much like every trade city in the Ancient Near East, had some very wealthy people.

Of course, anytime someone has vasts amounts of wealth, it’s a temptation for them to be prideful and boastful—they can easily think that their success was a result of their own hard work.

And, of course, they begin to place their hope, their comfort, and their trust in their wealth rather than God.

But the reality is, as Paul clarifies here, that true riches come from God through Jesus, not by our own power and not by the wealth and riches that we can earn for ourselves.

So, Paul encourages Timothy to teach the wealth within the church “to be generous and ready to share” so that they store up treasure for themselves for the future.

Again, it sounds almost like it’s a complete change of thought but remember the context and remember that these are some final thoughts and commands from Paul to Timothy.

And the idea is simple—instead of allowing people to have their hope and their trust in something other than God, Timothy is to push them to trust in the Lord regardless of the riches they have, which will result in good work.

Likewise, you need to trust in the Lord and you need to do good work.

Now, think of this like you’re on the phone with someone and there are just a few more things that you’re trying to say so you try to squeeze them in the final few minutes—that’s precisely what Paul is doing before he ends this letter by bringing it back to the main idea of protecting what has been given to Timothy.

Look at vv. 20-21.

Guard the Gospel (20-21)

As Paul concludes this letter, he ends with what is possibly the most important command that he gives to Timothy in 1 Timothy.

He tells Timothy to protect all that has been entrusted to him:

Again, possibly referring to all that Paul had written in this letter but probably also referring to the Gospel itself—Timothy needs to protect the Gospel at all costs.

Now, that might cause you to ask, “why exactly does Timothy need to protect the Gospel?

And the reasoning for it is simple, it’s what v. 20 and v. 21 continue with, “Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge,’ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.”

Why does Timothy have to protect the Gospel and protect the truth at all costs?

The reasoning is actually rather simple:

Because some people will utilize the Gospel and really Christianity as a means for gain—they will twist the truth and they will lie to manipulate and harm people.

They will do whatever they can to trick people and the easiest way for them to do that is to take the truth, develop controversies and profess that there are contradictions when there really aren’t any contradictions.

They will cause arguments, divisions, and dissension within the church and they’ll do it if the Gospel isn’t emphasized, the truth is preached, and the whole counsel of God isn’t taught regularly, effectively, and accurately.

And those that subvert the truth by doing this, swerve or leave the faith.

Now that idea of protecting what has been entrusted to him, meaning the Gospel and the truth is a high calling that every pastor ought to take seriously; but it’s really a statement that every believer ought to take seriously.

What do I mean by that?

While you aren’t responsible for the false teaching being taught by something, eventually you, as a believer need to use discernment and you need to be reading and studying Scripture enough to be able to tell when you’re being taught false teachings.

Or in other words, you won’t be held accountable for being taught false things but you will be held accountable for never double checking what you’re being taught and you’ll be held accountable for not doing something once you realized that something was wrong and you will be held accountable if you choose to watch the false teaching happen and not do anything about it.

Just like Timothy, you need to protect the Gospel, you need to guard the truth—and that starts by rejecting false teaching and stopping false teachers.

Now, in the last few minutes, let me help you with some specific application as we wrap everything up:

Application

First, you need to fight the good fight—to keep enduring, to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness (11-19)

When I first started getting interested in doing doctoral work, I spoke with a professor friend of mine about how difficult it would be to get my doctorate—he said something that fits this idea of fighting the good fight.

He told me that most people make the false assertion that someone with a PhD is highly intelligent—in some cases that’s true, but the reality is that all a doctorate proves is that the individual can focus intently on one subject (like theology) for a rather long period of time, and he can plug along, and he can endure.

Or in other words, doctoral studies doesn’t prove intelligence as much as it proves a willingness to keep fighting and to keep working and to keep trying.

The Christian life is very similar—I think we tend to idolize great Christians that we know (whether that’s CS Lewis, CH Spurgeon, or our grandmother) and we forget what actually made them great Christians.