A fight worth having

Should we have conflict

Most people really don’t like conflict. Okay, there are some people out there who seem to relish in a heated argument, but maybe there is some sort of unresolved issues there.

But for the most part, we will try to do all we can to avoid conflict and for good reason - its really unpleasant.

But sometimes, despite the unpleasantness of the situation, we realise that conflict is necessary, and we know that if handled well, can actually improve a situation.

Now we tend to go through a bit of a process to decide whether we should enter into a particular conflict or not - although admittedly, this process tends to happen sub-consciously.

The process is kicked off when we perceive something as being wrong.

We then make a judgement call about how much we care about it.

We then make an assessment of how likely we are to change the situation if we tried.

And finally we try to figure out how much effort is going to be required.

Take a very simple example - you get home after doing the groceries and realise they charged you incorrectly. If it wasn’t much, you just might not bother. But even if it was a bit more, you might decide the effort to go back to the shops and present your case is just too much bother.

Or another example - your partner has a habit that really bothers you. You know that confronting the problem is going to cause conflict, so you decide - how much does it actually bother me, and is the fight worth it.

Of course, emotions can override those thought patterns.

I’ve started with the introduction because something similar happens with our Christian faith but it happens in a much more subtle way.

You see, for most of us here, at some point in our life we have made a commitment to Christ. It is at this point that we’ve accepted the gift freely offered to us and we are now acceptable before Christ.

But that wasn’t the end of the journey. Although we my be a new creation in Christ the journey continues and we can either be close or far from Jesus.

Now living in a secular world our natural tendency is to drift away from Jesus.

Unfortunately this usually happens subtly, without us realising. However every now and then we can be knocked to our senses and realise how far we have strayed.

There can be a number of ways we are knocked to our senses - maybe it’s a sermon, or a conversation. Maybe it’s a book you’ve been reading. Or quite often I find it happens as we wipe the dust off our bibles and actually read it, or take some time out to listen to God.

But however it happens, we are then left with a decision. What are we going to do about it?

You see, it is one thing to realise you have strayed, but another to figure out what you’re going to do about it.

But this is where that process I described earlier comes into play.

You first need to figure out - how much does it bother me that things are like this? The truth is, sometimes it can be very tempting to go - oh well, I’ve coped so far, maybe it doesn’t really matter.

But you also check - is there anything I can do, and how hard is it going to be?

Now, our thought process isn’t quite going to be that clear. But this is essence is what happens.

The sad thing is, all too often we see Christians that have strayed, but then as they consider what it would take to draw back closer, they either are left thinking, it’s too hard, it’s not worth it, or it’s not possible.

Before I continue, I want you to just think to yourself, how close am I walking to Jesus.

Maybe think of it as a scale between 1 and 10. 1 being a Christian by name but very little daily connection with God, and 10 being totally aware of God’s presence and fully reliant on him for every single need throughout the day.

Once you think about where you are, then think - what is stopping me moving up this scale?

Do I think it’s not worth it? Do I think it’s too hard? Or do I think it’s impossible?

I want you to keep that thought in your mind as we now move into the passage.

Context

Well, this is the last message in this current series of 1 Timothy. We’re in the last chapter, which we also looked at last week. Last week I looked at the theme of wealth and possessions and our attitude towards them.

Today however we find in the middle of this chapter a final charge to Timothy which is really fitting in the whole context of the letter.

You see, as I’ve mentioned as I’ve gone throughout this letter, we find Paul writing to the relatively young and timid Timothy who has been placed in a position of authority in the church of Ephesus with a strong warning. That strong warning is - do everything you can to hold to the truth.

Put an end to those changing the gospel. Make sure the church leaders are all suitably qualified and treat people properly.

As chapter 6 starts, this theme is restated clearly. As he says at the end of verse 2: “These are the things you are to teach and insist on.” - and then goes on to discuss those who are teaching things contrary to the gospel.

But as he gets to verse 11, there’s a slight change. You see, whereas the majority of the letter concerns how Timothy should conduct the wider affairs of the church, in verse 11 it starts to get a bit more personal.

In fact, he addresses Timothy as “man of God”.

Interestingly, if you do a search on everyone in the Bible who gets called “man of God”, you’ll find the term is mostly used in the Old Testament and is generally applied to the big characters of faith like Moses, Samuel, David and some others.

But to this young, timid man, he also gets the title as well.

And so we find Paul giving advice for how Timothy should live his own personal life.

Now, I’m going to come back to verse 11 because this is where I want to explore our main application for this message, but for just now, I want to show that Paul was encouraging Timothy to essentially draw closer to God.

In verse 12 Paul brings in a different angle to again encourage Timothy to draw close to God. This time a similar idea that I used in my introduction, that is a fight.

He tells us to fight the good fight of the faith.

Now various scholars have argued what they think Paul had in mind when he talks about fighting. Some suggest he’s thinking about a military sort of context. Others more of an athletic context, in which case they further debate whether the athletic context is more of a wrestling style match, or a race.

Each idea can carry slightly different nuances to the idea, but perhaps it doesn’t really matter. You see, the idea that comes from fighting, and I suggest this applies to whatever image of ‘fight’ you have - is that it involves a struggle.

And as verse 12 continues Paul uses the language of ‘taking hold’ which helps us understand this idea of fighting for our faith.

In verse 11, Paul’s advice comes from two directions, firstly from the negative side, followed by a positive take.

It’s an interesting concept because we often think of our eternal life as something we’ve got. You’re either saved or your not, and if you are saved then you get to spend eternity with God, and if not, you don’t.

From the negative side, the advice is to flee from the evil. Actually, it says “flee from all this”, with the “this” coming from the previous passage which talked

Clearly Timothy would fit into the category of someone who is saved, so what is there to take a hold of?

So first we need to flee, but

Well, I want to suggest that this is actually what I was talking about before. That is drawing close to God.

We may be saved, but you can either be close to God or far.

And so even with Timothy, who is called a ‘man of God’, we get this encouragement - take hold of it.

As you cling to God and the gift of eternal life that he has given us, we will know the blessing that comes with it. Not necessarily a material blessing, nor will it necessarily be a blessing of good health or anything like that. But being close to God is the greatest blessing we can ever have.

Because even in the midst of the greatest hardship, having the love and comfort of the creator of the universe, and knowing that he is there right beside us, guiding and protecting us, is the greatest blessing we can ever know.

So, wherever you are on your journey with God, this encouragement to Timothy also applies to you - fight the good fight of the faith and take hold of the eternal life that you received when you made your good confession.

But I want to suggest that this involves a choice.

I like any choice, you need to decide whether it is worth it.

Is the blessing of being close to God worth the struggle involved in moving through thee sin filled world that we live in.

Though God is holding us firmly, while ever we live in this world we face the many temptations and pressures that can so easily knock us away from God.

Are you prepared to push through this and into the arms of God?

Well, I want to offer for you verses 13 to 16 to give you motivation to say that it is worth it.

So let’s go through it...

In verse 13, Paul first points us to God who he reminds us is the source of all life, not just for us as humans but to everything.

You see, whether you acknowledge it or not, God gives life. Now who would you want to be near: the giver of life? Or those who take life away?

But verse 13 also reminds us that we also have the second person of the Trinity.

It’s a slightly different description of Jesus than you might expect, highlighting the good confession that Jesus made before Pontius Pilate. I suggest the best way to understand this reference is to the fact that Jesus acknowledged his kingship before the ruler of the land. In fact he talks of his kingdom being beyond this world and that the authority of Pilate is only on the basis of what God gave. Indeed, this Jesus we serve is not just another king, but as Paul reminds us in verse 15, is the king of kings and lord of lords.

Drawing close to God is worth it because, firstly, he is the giver of life, but secondly, he has authority over everything of this world.

As we then go into verse 14, we are again reminded of our great charge to keep the commands, but then Paul reminds us of the great promise that Jesus is coming again.

This is one of the greatest promises that we can ever have. Jesus is coming back!

Now what I love about the way Paul has described it in this passage, he alludes to this beautiful promise in a way that even though it doesn’t tell us much, makes us want it.

You see, as soon as he mentioned this “appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ” he then quickly adds - “which God will bring about in his own time”.

You know, sometimes I think we can want to try and fully understand what the return of Christ will be like, and there can be benefits in studying God’s word to understand it better, but I sometimes feel that leaving it as this tantalising mystery can almost be more of a motivation for us.

It’s almost like that longing for Christmas Day or a birthday that a child has - longing to want to know what they’re getting for their presents. In some ways it is the mystery which makes it so special.

So I want to suggest this as the third motivation for wanting to draw close to God - because we know that we are drawing close to the day when Christ will return.

Finally I want to add the second half of verse 15 and 16 as another motivation for us.

Here we find what we might call a doxology. Paul offers a number of titles for God, some of which we’ve already looked at, namely the king of kings and lord of lords - but then it is in verse 16 describes him in quite mysterious ways.

He describes him first as being alone as immortal, but then goes on to describe him as living in unapproachable light whom no one has seen or can see.

Now it is really hard to understand God - in fact I believe we can’t fully comprehend him. And in many ways, I believe this description in verse 16 essentially shows just how unknowable he is.

It is “unapproachable” light, and we can’t see him.

Yet this is the mysterious part - despite him being unknowable, God has revealed himself to us.

Now can I suggest that right in the middle of this mystery we find this final motivation.

As we draw closer to God we begin to know the unknowable. There is no quick way about this. There is no quick manual you can read that suddenly you’ll understand - rather it is just about being close to God.

It might sound like a strange motivation, but I believe trying to understand this immortal being living in unapproachable light to whom all honour and might is tied for ever and ever is perhaps the most amazing thing ever.

So from these verse I suggest these four motivations to want to draw close to God:

Firstly,

Firstly, we are drawing close to the giver of all life.

Secondly, we are drawing close to the one who is above all authorites.

Thirdly, we are drawing close to Jesus who is coming again.

And fourthly, we can begin to understand the mysterious.

Now at the end of the day, I know that me listing a few good reasons isn’t going to be enough. This is only going to work if you really own these reasons for yourself. And your only going to start owning these reasons as you start to draw close to God.

It’s almost a catch 22 - but can I suggest its a journey worth getting on because as you begin to draw close to God, you then realise how worth it is to draw even closer.

How to draw closer

But this brings me back to verse 11. You see, once we decide the fight is worth it, we then need to know how to fight the good fight.

I believe that verse 11 points us in the right direction to do just this. Essentially there are two parts to this. It’s got both a negative and a positive command.

Flee

Firstly there is a

Firstly from the negative perspective, Paul warns Timothy to flee from what is bad. Actually, he says to “flee from all this”, with the “this” being the negative things listed in the preceding passage. In fact, immediately preceding this verse is the passage talking about the pitfalls of money which we looked at last week.

But I think the command to flee is more than just fleeing from the love of money, but also includes fleeing from anything that is going to draw us away from God.

If we want to draw close to God than we can’t maintain a presence around the things that will draw us away.

Think about your own life. What are the things that draw you away from God? Is it technology? Is it certain people in your life? Are there unhelpful programs on TV which tempt you to become more worldly?

The best way to fight it is to actually flee.

Pursue righteousness

But this negative command is followed by a positive command. You see, we don’t just flee into some sort of nothingness - rather God has shown us how to live, and so while fleeing from that which takes us away from God, we instead pursue that which draws us close to God, namely righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

You see, we can sometimes think about drawing close to God in some sort of theoretical abstract sense, but drawing close to God isn’t just about praying and reading your bible more (as important as that is), but there is a strong ethical element to it.

In other words, as we become more like God in his character, we become closer to him. It’s a fallacy to think that somehow we can be close to God but not live like him.

This is of course not always easy. As we discussed last week when I looked at wealth, we have this great trap in a little thing called money. And when we allow this to take over it makes it hard to live righteously. We want to put our faith and hope in things of the world - but this is what drives us away.

Instead, we need to make a conscious decision to live the way God wants us to.

This is the fight we need to have. It’s not a fight against another person or group, but a fight against the things that take us away from God.

Conclusion

If you want to draw close to God it is not something that just happens by itself. As Paul encourages Timothy, you need to take hold of the eternal life to which you have been called.

You need to fight the good fight of the faith because it’s worth it. It’s worth it because in this fight you find the giver of all life. You find the king of kings and lord of lords who is coming again, and who is unravelling the mystery of who he is.

The greatest thing you can ever know is to be in the loving arms of God. He loves you more than you can ever know and when you are near him, you will truly know what it is to be blessed.

Let’s pray...