Keep On Keeping On

Context:

As we get close to the end of Paul’s first letter to Timothy, Paul has turned back to two of his dominant themes one final time. He once again has focused on the false teachers who have been plaguing the church in Ephesus as well as Timothy’s role in dealing with them on his behalf. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus because the church had lost its ministry focus; the false teachers had so distorted the church’s focus that the church was in danger of losing its gospel mission completely. This was as serious of an issue as the church could face. It isn’t surprising that Paul left his young protégé to deal with it.

Preview:

In the verses that we are considering this evening, Paul has some personal words for Timothy. Once again, I would like to remind us, though, that Paul fully anticipated that this letter would be read to the entire church. That means that these words were not solely for Timothy. Furthermore, God certainly intended that this letter be preserved as part of the inspired words of Scripture. That means that these words have application to our lives as well, even though we are nearly 2,000 years removed from the false teachers in Ephesus. We still need the encouragement, instruction, and correction that are offered by this letter in 21st century America.

As you can see, I have titled this sermon, “Keep On Keeping On.” The idea communicated by this expression is one of persistence, perseverance in an endeavor even in the face of discouragement and opposition. Tonight, as we look at verses 11–16 of chapter 6, I want us to ask three questions of our text oriented to that phrase. First, “What must we keep on doing?” Second, “How long must we keep on doing what we do?” And third, “Why must we keep on doing what we do?” As we discover the answer to those three questions in the text, we will build our main idea for this evening.

Transition from introduction to body:

Let’s begin by reading our verses before we start asking questions of them this evening….<read 1 Tim 6:11–16>.

The first question that we want to ask of these verses is…

BODY:

I. What must we keep on doing?

Our NASB glosses over it a bit by spreading the words “but” and “you” out in the translation, but the original has these words as the first words of the sentence. Paul decisively contrasts Timothy with the men just addressed in the previous couple of verses. I think the ESV captures the punch of the original when it translates the beginning of verse 11 as “But as for you, O man of God.” Paul wants Timothy to see hear clearly that he is to be different from the people just mentioned.

Timothy is called, a “man of God.” That name is rich in OT meaning where it was used to refer to some of God’s most choice servants like Moses, as well as many of the prophets. It means a man who belongs to God and who represents God. It is a great name to have applied to oneself, certainly a significantly different name than Paul would give the false teachers. In 2 Tim 3:17, thought, it is a name that Paul gives to every believer. There he says that “All Scripture is inspired by God (verse 16) … so that (verse 17) the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” All of us, if we belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ can rightly be called the “man”…or “woman” to update the terms to modern usage”… we are “the men or women of God.” We belong to God and we represent God.

Now, it has been a couple of weeks since we looked at the previous verses. I don’t expect you to remember who Paul had just discussed. If you have your Bibles open, though, you can see that in verses 9 and 10 Paul has just referenced the false teachers who wanted to get rich. He had reminded Timothy…and, by extension, the church in Ephesus…that those who focused on accumulating wealth were prone to wandering from the faith, filling their lives with griefs, and ultimately falling into ruin.

By contrast, Timothy is to do something different than those men; he is to maintain the faith and avoid the sins that had captured the false teachers. He is to remain useful to God by remaining focused in his life and continuing to serve the church of God effectively.

Application

I am going to assume that we want something similar. I assume that the reason that we are here with Bibles in our laps listening to this sermon is because we want to be useful to God. Our desire is to be part of a ministry focused on what it should be focused on. I don’t think that we are here this evening because we are hoping to somehow become rich through what we learn here tonight.

Transition:

So, if that is the case, if our desires are like Timothy’s desire, what must we keep on doing? Verses 11 and 12 contain four imperatives, commands that exhort Timothy as to how he must keep on keeping on in order to remain engaged in the struggle for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The first imperative tells us that…

A. We must flee

We must flee. Flee what? “These things.” So, what are “these things.” Well, I have already suggested the answer by noting what was in the previous verses. We are to flee things that lead to spiritual ruin and many griefs, the various sorts of evils that come from the love of money.

One thing to note is that the form of the verb that Paul uses for “flee” indicates an ongoing action. We are to “continually flee” all the kinds of evils that grab hold of people focused on the pleasures of this world that can be accessed with money.

“Flee” is a good translation of Paul’s command. The word means to move quickly so as to escape a danger or a trap.

Illustration

As I mentioned last week, I was recently deer hunting. The deer that I saw picture this idea well. If they heard any sound that was out of the ordinary, they would immediately bound away at full speed. They knew how to “flee” from danger.

Do we? The love of money is a danger to continually flee.

Transition:

We must flee; that is the first command in verse 11. Second,…

B. We must pursue

“Pursue” is the opposite of flee but more than that, it gives direction to our flight. We are not to simply flee evils in a haphazard manner; we are to positively move in an opposite direction with purpose.

Illustration

Going back to deer hunting; I grew up hunting in pretty open country. The deer would hide is small places like tree lines that edged grain fields. We would position a couple people at one end of the tree line, then drive around to the other end and start walking the line. The deer would flee the walkers but would run right into the hunters posted up waiting for them.

We are not to flee in that fashion. We are to know where safety lies. We are to “pursue” what provides safety and security for our duties. The idea of the verb “pursue is a continual single-minded focus.

So, what lies in the direction that we are to pursue? Some familiar things, the kinds of things listed for a pastor or a deacon, the things that go with a mature Christian: “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.

Application

Once more we are reminded that these things do not just happen, we can’t just sit on our couch for several months flipping through TV channels and then get up one day to the surprising discovery that we are now have “righteousness, godliness, faith. Love, perseverance and gentleness.” We must actively pursue these things. Set goals; develop plans, take actions to execute our plans, and so forth if we want to acquire these characteristics of spiritual maturity in our lives. We have to do things like give up Wednesday evenings with the TV to come to Bible study, set our alarms for Thursday morning prayer time at 7 a.m., choose a daily Bible reading plan, and so forth. We must pursue.

Transition:

We must pursue. That is command number 2. Number 3,…

C. We must contend

I believe that most of our English Bibles translate the third imperative as “fight,” giving the verb a warfare metaphor, at least to most of our English-speaking ears. The metaphor that Paul is using is most likely an athletic one, though; one from the Olympic-style Games. The phrase has the idea of continuing the struggle in the contest in which one is engaged. In this case, Paul specifically says that it is a “good” struggle because it is the struggle of faith. In fact, in the original he writes, “the faith,” referring specifically to the struggle for the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ.

Illustration

When my son wanted to compete in a wrestling tournament when he was in high school, he had to enter the meet as a competitor. He was weighed in and was officially entered in the competition. As a competitor, when his name was called, he went to the mat to face off against his competitor. When the referee dropped his hand, the struggle began, and it didn’t stop until the match was over.

Well, when we accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, we entered in the contest for pure doctrine. In this case, we joined a struggle that was already in progress. Our job is to recognize that reality and add our effort to the struggle. We must contend.

Transition:

We must contend. That is the third imperative given in our verses. Number 4,…

D. We must hang on

Paul tells Timothy to “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. How can we hold on to something that is conceptual? We have eternal life, but our life progresses day by day; we can’t grab really grab our future life in our hands. Probably the easiest way to think of this command is that Paul is extending the metaphor of the contest to tell us to focus on the prize.

Illustration

The reason my son wrestled in a meet was so that he could win; he did it for a trophy.

We are to realize that the reason that we continue our struggle for the faith is because we are looking to win, if you will, eternal life. A couple of weeks ago we considered our triumphant God on Sunday morning; God has already triumphed because Jesus has already conquered sin and death. We are to keep our focus on that truth when the struggle gets tough. We are to focus on the prize before us—eternal life—when the struggle gets tough. We are to focus on the fact that our great God called us for this struggle when the struggle gets tough. We must hang to the idea of our eternal prize on when the struggle gets tough.

Timothy began his struggle, Paul says, with his confession before “many witnesses. It is hard to say exactly what Paul meant by that since we know little of Timothy’s life, but we should realize that we too have already begun the struggle. We have professed our faith in Christ, others know of our profession of faith, and they are watching us when things get tough. We must hang on.

Transition:

Keep on keeping on. What must we keep on doing? We must flee, we must pursue, we must contend, and we must hang on. These are the four commands found in verses 11 and 12.

I mentioned at the beginning that tonight we would build a main idea as we went along. We can summarize what we have seen in the first two verses as: We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord. Circumstances may very well become difficult. The struggle is real. Distractions are surrounding us. False teachers are tempting us. Weariness is pulling at us. Discouragement is beating on us. Still, We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord.

What must we keep on doing? That is the first question that we asked of our text. What must we keep on doing? We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord.

Moving to our second question:

II. How long must we keep on doing what we do?

When something is hard, it is natural to ask how long we must keep at it? How long must we keep on faithfully serving the Lord is a question that we might start to ask when our circumstances are tough. Paul seems to anticipate in verses 13 and 14 that Timothy too might ask such as question, at least in his inner-most thoughts, so Paul provides a preemptive answer.

What I want you do notice, though, before thinking about the answer is the form of the expression in which Paul gives it to Timothy; look at verse 13, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate,”

“I charge you….” Whatever the answer is, Paul is giving it to Timothy as solemn charge, something that is being communicated with great care. Not only is it being communicated with great care by Paul to Timothy, Paul reminds Timothy that there are very important witnesses watching the communication of the charge—God and Christ Jesus.

Illustration

This is a bit like how, when I was a kid, a neighbor might ask me to take on a job. If it was really important that I get it done correctly, though, it is likely that he would ask me in the presence of one of my parents. Without saying anything, he would know that the fact that my parent was watching me agree to doing what was asked would guarantee that I would get it done because I would not want to disappoint them…plus they might add extra consequences if I failed because I got distracted. He knew that my parents were concerned with teaching me to follow through on my commitments.

Well, both God the Father, the Author of life itself, and Christ Jesus, the One who remained faithful all the way to the cross for our benefit, are witnesses to the charge given to press on in faithful service.

So, with such a significant framework for the “how long” question, what is the answer? Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Until the Lord appears. Until Christ returns. That’s how long. It doesn’t matter how hard things get. It doesn’t matter how long it seems from our perspective. It doesn’t matter how many other people defect and wander from the faith. All that matters is that Timothy keeps pressing on until Christ returns. In fact, he is to press on without stain or reproach; without, in other words, deviating from his faithful actions, from the “what” that we just discussed.

Application

Of course, the Lord did not return during Timothy’s lifetime so Paul’s charge to Timothy meant that he was to keep on with his faithful actions for the remainder of his life. We too do not know if the Lord will return during our lifetime or not. Sure, nearly 2,000 years have past since Paul gave this charge to Timothy. But that means that it is 2,000 years closer to the day that the Lord will appear. How much longer will it be? We do not know when He is coming, but we do know that this charge remains in affect; we are to keep on faithfully serving the Lord. We also know that the same witnesses who were observing Timothy’s execution of the charge are watching us—God who gives life to all and Christ Jesus who testified before Pontius Pilate. They are watching us. Are we serving without stain? Are we serving without reproach? That is the expectation since Christ has not returned as of tonight.

Transition:

How long must we keep on doing what we do? Until the Lord appears. That is the answer to the “How long” question. Until the Lord appears, or in order to add the thought to the main idea we are building we might say, as long as we are here. We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord as long as we are here since we are here until either our death or the Lord returns. We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord as long as we are here.

Let’s ask one final question of our text this evening, the question, “Why?”

III. Why must we keep on doing what we do.?

The final two verses of our text give us the answer to this question. Paul states that God the Father will cause Christ to appear “at the proper time. In other words, the second coming of Christ is part of God’s sovereign plan. God is sovereign. He rules over His creation. He controls all of history. According to Gal 4:4, Christ’s first coming was at the time of God’s choosing and so too, Paul realizes, will His second coming be at the time of God’s sovereign choosing.

This thought about God’s sovereignty, though, triggers a series of thoughts about God for Paul—God is “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.” Wow! What thoughts! God is transcendent in His holy majesty. Every authority, every ruler, is ultimately under God’s rule. He is an awesome God.

Because God is so awesome, Paul recognizes that every action that he and Timothy take should be to God’s “honor and eternal dominion.” Those final words of verse 16, “To Him be honor and eternal dominion, Amen” turn these final verses into a brief doxology—a praise to the glory of God.

This is a pattern that Paul frequently reflects in his letters. When he thinks about the sovereignty, the awesomeness of God, he is moved to respond in praise to the glory of God. But of course, since God is always sovereign, praising His glory should always be the goal of all of our actions.

Why must we keep on doing what we do? Because God is glorified when we do. We keep on keeping on so that God receives the glory that He deserves because of who He is.

Illustration

Those of us who are parents have probably all had the experience of having our young child say something loudly in public that embarrasses us: something like “Why does that lady have such funny clothes?” We are embarrassed because the question is impolite and reflects in some fashion on us as the parent. We are dishonored by the child’s actions.

Well, we should be driven by a desire that our lives only reflect honor to God. The reason that we keep on with the things we are to keep on with until the Lord returns is because these things honor God.

Furthermore, we should want to the entire world to recognize the eternal dominion of God. God is the Ruler of every person, both now and forever. We are to keep on with all of our efforts so that we are communicating through our actions, both visible and verbal, that God is the ultimate Ruler. He governs our lives and we worship Him for it.

Do you see that little word “amen” that ends verse 16? I think we often gloss over that word when we come to it in the Bible because it is so familiar to us. We close every prayer with it out of habit. We don’t necessarily stop and think about the meaning of it. But the word means “truly” or “certainly.” It is an affirmation of agreement with what has just been said. By putting that as the final word here, Paul is drawing Timothy, the Ephesian church who listens to this letter, and now us as readers, into responding to his thoughts. As we read that word we are being drawn into responding that we too affirm that, “to Him—to God—be honor and eternal dominion.”

Why must we keep on doing what we do? In order to glorify God. That is the final idea that we can add to our main idea this evening. We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord as long as we are here in order to glorify God.

Transition from body to conclusion:

We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord as long as we are here in order to glorify God.

CONCLUSION

Paul is drawing this letter to a close, but he certainly has not finished challenging us; he has challenged us to keep on keeping on. We have asked: what are we to keep on doing, how long are we too keep on doing it, and why are we to keep on from our verses tonight. The answers that they have given us lead to the main idea that We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord as long as we are here in order to glorify God.

Application

So, let me ask you, are you keeping on? Are you faithfully serving the Lord? You are still here. That means that you are still responsible to glorify God. So, are you faithfully serving? Let’s be honest with ourselves as individuals and as a church. We have gone nearly a year without anyone being baptized. We have ministries struggling for workers. We have people in our midst hurting and lonely. We have relationships with neighbors that have waned. Sure, we have had an extremely unusual year with the COVID pandemic. But have we continued to faithfully serve our Lord throughout it? Have we responded in a manner that gives God glory? If our response matches that of the unsaved world around us, then we have a problem; we are not faithfully serving the Lord.

We must keep on faithfully serving the Lord as long as we are here in order to glorify God.