Fight The Good Fight of Faith

Mention the Men’s Bible Study at John and Marci Meckley’s house tomorrow evening at 7:00. (Please pre-read the book of Ephesians and be ready to discuss.)

If you do not read, or forget to read the scripture passage ahead of time, please do no let that hinder you from attending the Bible studies, as the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God do not depend on our own abilities and merit, in order for He and His Word to accomplish everything according to His perfect will.

In other words, as the blessed and Holy Word of God is being discussed, it will permeate and work on each heart individually, even if that person has not a clue about what is found written in that particular passage of scripture. God’s Word is alive and active and it does not return to Him void, but rather, it accomplishes everything that He wills.

So, please attend if you possible can, because in doing so, it accomplishes two things:

It is getting you engaged in and feeding upon the Word of God, which is absolutely imperative for every believer.

And it’s developing a stong and unified network of men in Christ, who are gaining a spiritual hunger for the Word of God and its teaching and also who are sharpening one another for battle!

LET US PRAY!

If you have your Bibles this morning, would you please turn with me to the epistle of I Timothy 6:11-15, 17-18, 20-21,

“11 But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.

12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

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,

14 that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”—

21 which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”

I want you to pay close attention to what Paul said to Timothy in several places found within this passage. Look at verses 11, 12, 14, and 17,18 and 20 and at a few key phrases that Paul makes to Timothy.

Verse 11, “flee from these things; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.” Verse 12, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called”. Verse 14, “keep the commandment without stain or reproach”. Verse 17, “Instruct those who are rich”. Vese 18, “Instruct them to do good.” And then verse 20, “guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”.

When you read these words that Paul was making to Timothy, would you say that these were passive recommendations to Timothy?

In other words, were these things that Paul was recommending that Timothy think about trying to accomplish in his role as a follower of the Christ and as leader in the body of Christ?

Was Paul exhorting Timothy with words of soft and tender encouragement here?

No.........these words that Paul gave to Timothy, were a call to action!

These were not passive, “feel good” words meant to tickle the ear and make someone feel “OK” about complacency!

When you see words like, “FLEE, PURSUE, FIGHT, TAKE, KEEP, INSTRUCT, GUARD and AVOID”, as Paul uses in these verses, these are verbs; that is, they are action words.

These statements that Paul is making to Timothy are a declarative; they are a call to action, a spiritual call to arms!

Paul reminds his spiritual son Timothy in verse 12, that he (Timothy) had made a public confession of his faith in front of many people, many witnesses and in reminding Timothy of this, Paul then charges (that is, he ORDERS) Timothy to “keep the commandment unstained (spotless, morally pure) and free from reproach!

And Paul continues using this rhetoric into his second letter to Timothy, where Paul instructs Timothy of being a “good soldier” in his service to Yeshua!

He closes out these letters by again charging Timothy with a call to action in saying, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

And in reading these epistles, these letters to Timothy and seeing the nature of the bold words that are used, can we ascertain that these commands were given for Timothy alone, or does the same understanding of these action letters apply to us as well?

Well, let me pause here with something that I shared with everyone this past Wednesday evening about a text message that I received this past week from a young lady. She reached out to me to ask a very relavent and timely question. In her message, she mentioned that she was confused because it seemed as thought the church, (as a whole) was split on the new presidential situation. She said that she sees one side of the church that says we are to pray for the president and vice president who go into office and yet there is another side who says that they don’t and will not acknowledge him as president do to election fraud and that they are blasting other Christians who say that Biden has now become the president of the United States and that they will not support or be a part of this. I guess the implication is that these people are not going to pray for Biden and Harris, because they say that they didn’t win.

Here is what I responded with in my message back to this young lady and what I am going to say to everyone here this morning, as well as I stated Wednesday evening. I have been saying throughout the past months leading up to January 20, that whoever went into the office on that day, Inauguration Day, would be who I would begin to pray for. My prayer leading up to that date was that if anything was done in darkness dealing with the elections, let it be brought into light and justice prevail.

Jo Biden has entered into the office of president of the United States and was sworn in on the 20th of January, along with Kamala Harris as the Vice President. As such, I will honor my word to both the Lord and to others, and I have begun to pray for the new president and Vice President, along with everyone else who is serving in our national government, as these positions stand “right now”!

That being said, I am praying in accordance with how I feel lead to pray, as well as continually asking that God’s will in this matter be done and in His timing, as His ways are not our ways and His timing doesn't work according to the time frame that we want it to!

If something is still going to manifest and be brought out into the light dealing with all of this election process and changes are still going to be made, then praise God and thank you God. But if things stay as they are now and President Biden remains in office, does this mean that God was wrong, or that His will was derailed?

Absolutely not, mankind does not move and alter God’s perfect and sovereign will. God and His will and His ways are perfect and they will happen perfectly in His time frame, even when we don’t see the final outcome and the big picture, God knows the start to the finish. And our job is to keep going before Him in prayer and seeking His will and following His Word for our lives. And yes, we keep walking in FAITH and belief and not by sight. Regardless of what we think, or how it appears to us in the natural, God is still and always will be on the throne and I believe and know that God and His will for this country are still going to happen perfectly!

And His Word says in Romans 13:1-2, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.”

Now, here is where I begin to pick back up from my original statements about Paul and His charges to Timothy. I will continue to pray for the governing authorities in place over me and over my country and to follow their rulings, to the best of my ability, as I don’t do it for them, but rather, I do everything as if for God and for His glory. As this what the Bible instructs me to do in Colossians 3:17, 22-23, where Paul instructs us in saying, “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

However, if there ever comes a time that these governing authorities in which I abide by, ever make rules and laws that would require me to go against the laws and commands of God and according to His Word, then I will breakaway from such governing authorities, as I will never put man’s authority on earth above that of God’s, nor could I ever!

We find this same scenario in Acts 4:19, where Peter and John are being told by the religious leaders of their community to stop proclaiming about Jesus, to which Peter and John said, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?”

And then in Acts 5, we find the same situation, where Peter and John are again brought before the Sanhedrin (the governing body of the Jewish people) and they are told to stop teaching about Yeshua, to which Peter said, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

If and when the time arises in this nation that the teaching of God’s Word (in its entirety), becomes banned and forbidden by the governing authorities, because it goes against their agenda, then that is where I will say the same thing as the apostles, “I must obey God rather than human authority.”

This falls in line with what Paul was saying to Timothy in II Timothy 3 where he warns that in these last days difficult times would arise and that people would become ungodly in so many ways and with an intensity!

And he warned that evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (This ties back in with my message last week and that you and I need to know the Word, so as to not become deceived by false teachings and ungodly rulers.)

And in the face of this happening and when these things arise, Paul again gives the command of, “ You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, regardless of what is going on in the “world” around us, you and I are to continue doing exactly what God’s Word calls and commands us to do!

And like the young ladie’s message to me this past week and of the issue of the division in the church, there are way too many people in the body of Christ now, who are spending their time in pointless arguments, naysaying and gossiping and stirring up strife at many different levels!

It’s OK to have differing opinions and thoughts on political matters. But you are not to spend your time in pointless arguments and causing strife because others differ with you and your thoughts and opinions!

And to this, God’s word calls you and I to have nothing to do with these foolish, ignorant controversies, that only serve to breed quarrels!

It says this in II Timothy 2:23 and goes on to specifically tell us to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace; not to be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, and correcting our opponents with gentleness.

And if we follow these guidelines, then Paul says that God may perhaps change those people’s hearts who are causing all of the strife and division and they will thus learn the TRUTH. Then they will come to their senses and escape the devil’s trap, because up to that point, they have been held captive by the devil and doing his bidding, instead of knowing God’s Word!

Look, it’s not easy doing what we are called to do as Christians. There are factions and divisions all around us daily, as the enemy is constantly trying to get a stronghold in our hearts and in our minds. No matter where you turn and which direction you look, you are going to find strife, bitterness and animosity.

These things are the enemy’s playground. He thrives in the midst of all of the bitterness and division. And unfortunately there are many professing Christians who live and seem to thrive themselves, on all of the adversity and animosity.

But that is not “what” we are and that is not “who” we are as light bearers for the Christ! When Jesus declared what seasoning we were to be known as in the world, He said that we are to be the “salt” of the earth; not the bitter and not the sour. Salt is a seasoning that enhances and stands on its own when added to food. When you add something that is bitter or sour, you need to add something else to make it palatable, otherwise it is not edible!

In our walk as Christians, it’s Jesus only and nothing else! We neither add to, nor take away from Him and His gospel message to a broken and hurting world! We are salt that enhances and preserves and we are light, that helps to guide and direct. That’s what Jesus called you and I as His followers, “salt and light”!

And in this life we live, we are going to encounter much strife and adversity, that’s a given. When someone gives you grief............you take it and move on. We do not retaliate by giving grief for grief, bitterness for bitterness.

The Bible says that we are to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who persecute and harm us.

I Peter 3:9 says, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”

We are to be Yeshua to the world and show His love!

In the midst of all of the hate and malicious behavior that He encountered, He never retaliated, BUT, whenever heresy and false teachings and deceit arose, He addressed it.

Jesus was as tender and loving as a lamb, wherever He went, but He was also as fierce as a lion when He needed to be!

That is how we are to operate in this world of deception and hate and jealousy and bitternes.

We show the love and compassion of Christ to everyone, everywhere, all of the time.

BUT, that does not mean that we are to be weak and timid when it comes to standing up for God and His Word!!

That is what Paul was saying to Timothy; that he was to be ready at ALL TIMES, to defend and fight for the gospel message.

As he charged him in the passage we read earlier, where he told Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith”!

We are not called to fight this world, but we are called fight a spiritual fight against the god of this world!

We are to be strong when we need to be as Christians and stand up against evil tyranny and against anything and anyone that opposes the TRUTH of the gospel message. We are to defend the faith. And in defending something or someone, you must engage, as this is not a “passive/weak” mandate!

The discipline known as Christian Apologetics, comes from the Greek word, “apologia” (to defend oneself), as seen in I Peter 3:15, which says,

1 Peter 3:15 ESV

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

And to some, the act of “defending” our faith and the gospel message, is too radical and we are never supposed to show any signs of aggression. I like the way that one preacher said it. He said that some people do not like the fact that we sometimes radically engage in defending the faith and that we do not always come across as passive and cordial. He likened it to what he called the “11th commandment”.

He said that the “11 commandment”, is, “Thou shalt be nice!” And upon this commandment, people tend to overlook the other 10 commandments before it!

People that have adopted this mindset in our society today, are more worried about “being nice” to others and trying to appease them and their thoughts and opinions, than they are of defending the gospel message, even when standing face to face with the enemy!

Have you forgotten the Yeshua from John 2, who took the time to make a whip of cords and went into temple courts and turned over the money changers’ tables and drove out the evil and greedy people from the God’s house at that time?!

That is radical and not passive! That is not worried about being NICE, when confronting the enemy and dismantling what he is trying to build!

There is a reason that Paul told Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith”.

To “fight” is an action word that refers to struggling with, having conflict with and opposition of.

To fight against means to take action, to move and not sit idle.

In the book of Ephesians 6:10-12, Paul says this, “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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.”

Paul uses militant terms here to describe the spiritual warring that we MUST engage in.

The word for “wrestle” used in this passage, means to engage in intense struggle, involving physical or nonphysical force against strong opposition—‘to struggle, to fight!

Does that sound passive and worried about always “being nice” to you?

Don’t get me wrong people, we are to love unconditionally and show the love of Yeshua to everyone.

But.................walking in “love” demands walking in the “truth” and walking in the “truth” means that you will have to defend and fight against the “father of lies” to defend that truth!

And always worrying about being “nice” in the face of the devil is not an option!

That is why Paul used the analogy of putting on the whole armor of God. He was describing a Roman soldier and of his getting suited up and ready for war.

And as a Roman soldier, the center piece of his armor, was the belt which anchored everything in place for the fight!

Well, the as a defender of the faith, as a soldier for the gospel message, the center piece for your armor is the belt of “truth”. The “truth” of the gospel message is what anchors everything about you, as you fight the good fight of faith!

You and I must tighten the “belt of truth” about our waists and engage in this fight!

This means that we must surround our hearts and minds with the Word of God, because God’s word is truth, according to Jesus, Himself in John 17:17!

Let me close with this, Paul, in his using the analogy of war, to describe our walk as a Christian, said this in II Corinthians 10:3-6, “3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.”

We must stay close to God and in His Word at all times, because if not, the enemy will deceive us and before we know it, we will engaging in war with each other and quarreling and fighting with one another over petty, worldly issues.

And while we are fighting with one another, there are millions each day, who are just outside our doors, that are going to die and spend an eternity in the lake of fire!

Yes, we must engage and fight as Paul was writing and telling Timothy.

But it is “fighting the good fight of faith” that we are called to engage in, not the fighting in the flesh that the devil wants us focused on!

CLOSE WITH THE ACCOUNT FROM ROBERT MORRISS, ABOUT THE CAR SALESMAN WHO HAD BEEN HURT FROM THE PREACHER!