FIGHT FOR FAITH FOR LIFE

Introduction

We desire for you to be a LIFE-LONG Follower of Jesus Christ.

Faith in Christ is a commitment FOR LIFE

Paul says that he kept the faith, that he fought the good fight and he finished the race. What does Paul mean by he has kept the faith? (Give time for some answers) Did he mean faith in himself? In his abilities? No, it is faith in Christ Jesus. And when you have faith in somebody, it means that you take them at their word, you count on them to live up to what they say, you have confidence in their promises. When Paul said “I have kept the faith,” he meant, “I have kept on taking Christ at his word, I have kept on counting on what he said, I have kept on trusting his counsel, I have kept on having confidence in his promises.”

We have to keep on trusting Jesus at His word FOR LIFE.

This means that faith in Jesus is most fully explained as faith in his word. Of course, this will include confidence that through his death he purchased the forgiveness of our sins, because he said, “The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Saving faith is a joining of ourselves to Christ as the one who is completely trustworthy, the one who has infinite integrity and infinite power and who will do all that he said.

Sprinkle of Application: Do you believe fully that Christ doesn’t lie? Do you live your life like it?

Faith is hard FOR LIFE

Now, Paul uses this illustration of a race and a fight…those things are not easy to do! (Illustration of a race I ran in middle school 4x400 with no prior practice). The first thing that we can say is that keeping the faith is hard. There must be some sort of stress and strain and discomfort involved. Boxers get hit in the face, runners push themselves to the limit of tolerance, and both train for long hours. That means, keeping the faith must involve some sort of stress and discomfort like this. It must be hard. Jesus would say this: “The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

And you’re probably thinking… “but Cody, this past Sunday we JUST talked about the fact that Jesus said in Matthew 11 ‘Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is EASY and my burden is LIGHT.”

So, if you yoke up with Jesus, it is easy. How can it be easy AND hard? The answer is that the thing required by God is easy, but the opposite condition of the human heart makes it hard. I mean, what could be easier than faith? What could be easier than to STOP trying to work your wya to heaven and simply REST in the FREE grace of God and the power of Jesus Christ? What could be easier than trusting God to make us secure and happy? However, that all assumes that our hearts are willing. But they are not.

It is not always easy to trust the word of Christ because there remains in us that old tendency to trust ourselves, to lean on our own understanding, and to seek our own glory. That is the first thing implied in the pictures of the fight and the race: keeping the faith, keeping on taking Christ at his word and trusting his promises is hard as long as our old self-reliant nature rears its ugly head.

Until the Spirit of God blows all unbelief out of our hearts, there remains a tendency in all of us to overcome the obstacles to our happiness by ourselves. How many of you guys have a hard time asking for help? You want to do it on your own? You want to figure it out on your own?

As long as that tendency remains, faith will be a struggle. The easiest thing in the world is impossible for people who want to get glory for themselves by doing something hard.

The phrase: “I believe, but help my unbelief”

***The understanding of the process of sanctification.***

Endure FOR LIFE.

The second thing that is implied in this text pointing us towards a life-long faith is in the image of a race that we must endure to the end in faith, or we won’t gain the crown. You can run a 5k, but if you don’t cross the finish line, you don’t get the crown. This is taught in many places in the NT. In Matt. 10:22, and 24:13 Jesus warns that his disciples will be threatened by persecution and says, “But he who endures to the end will be saved.” It’s written in Revelation 2:7, 10, and 11, 3:5. Hebrews 3:13-14 and 6:11-12. Paul says it too in Colossians 1:21-23

Colossians 1:21–23 “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.”

DON’T GIVE UP.

You have enemies FOR LIFE

The image of a fight show that you have opponents who would defeat us and we have to resist them. Who are the enemies that we fight? There are two main enemies of our faith in Christ. Our own proud and sinful nature and Satan. These two try to pervert all God’s good creation into idols by encouraging us to trust more in man and things than in God.

Paul writes about our conflict with the Devil: Ephesians 6:12–13 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

Satan and all his demons have one main target…our confidence in God.

Our other enemy, our old nature or our flesh as Paul calls it, he says to “kill it”. Whenever it shows its ugly head, chop it off with the sword of the Spirit. Romans 8:13 says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

We have two great weapons to resist and win against the enemies of self and Satan: The Spirit of God and the Word of God. And these always fight together, for the Spirit uses the Word to do his mighty work. The fight of faith is fought with the Word of God. The strong in faith is the one who has a promise of God ready to counter every satanic suggestion that life would be better if we stopped trusting Christ.

Land the Plane

We want to see you follow Jesus FOR LIFE. Long after you graduate out of the student ministry. Our goal in our ministry isn’t to see you be on fire for God through your teen years and fall off in the future. We want you to be following Jesus and making disciples long after we are dead and gone. We want you to fight the good fight of faith FOR LIFE. And in that life of faith there are these things I call stake in the ground moments.

Abraham and his decision to trust God and live by faith.

Joseph and his decision to trust God through terrible circumstances.

Moses accepting his call from God to lead the Israelites.

David and his decision to face Goliath in faith.

Daniel and his decision not to compromise his beliefs in a place that told him to do the contrary.

The disciples and their decision to go and preach the gospel even though it meant probable death.

Paul’s demascus road moment where he trusted Christ.

In the life of faith, there are stake in the ground moments. Maybe you need to make one tonight. The word of God calls us to respond in faith every time we open it whether that’s to hear a sermon, or we are studying it in a group with friends, or if we are reading it alone in our own private time with God. And right now it’s demanding a response:

So, where would you say that you are at?

You’re not in the race

You haven’t even joined the goof fight because you’ve never put your trust in Christ as your savior and Lord.

You’re beaten down and given up

You have trusted in Christ but you’re currently not even fighting your flesh or Satan because you’ve just been submitting to your sinful desires and actions. You’ve become hopeless that you’ll ever see victory over your sin so you’ve just given up right now.

You’re fighting the good fight.

You’re in a place right now that you’re fighting your sin and temptations from your flesh and Satan, you’re trusting Christ and His Word, and you’re becoming strengthened in your faith by the Holy Spirit that you’re listening to and allowing to guide your life.