Date:   02/07/10

Text:   1 Timothy 1:18-20

Title:   Fight the Good Fight

Theme: Since God has commissioned His believers, we are to fight well in the spiritual conflict.

Introduction:

  There are all kinds of battles going on. The United States is fighting against the Al-Qaeda In Iraq, the Sunnis are fighting the Shiites. In Afghanistan , the US and her allies are fighting against the Taliban. If you own a Toyota , you know the company is fighting to regain trust from its current and potential customers around the world.

  Some of us are probably thinking of today’s fight between the Saints and the Colts. We are so glad that the game won’t start at 11am, otherwise there will be another battle between the game and worship.

Well, talking about Super Bowl. Some probably will be more interested in the commercials than the game. Do you know that a 30 second commercial in Super Bowl can cost up to $3 Million? This evening Tim Tebow and his mother will appear in a commercial sponsored by Focus on the Family. There are organizations considering this as controversial and inappropriate and have asked CBS not to run this Ad. No matter how you slice it, it is a cultural battle about certain values in our society.

I am certain that some of us have found ourselves in different kinds of battles. There is the battle of the ‘bulge’ (that is, our waist line), or fighting a disease that is progressively attacking our body. Some maybe fighting just to survive in their marriage. In some families there is the ongoing battle between children’s freedom and parental supervision. We may be struggling to overcome addiction to internet pornography or games.

These are just some of the battles around us. Any kind of battle can wear us out. In our study of 1 Timothy, we saw Timothy engulfed in a battle, a spiritual battle. In this letter, Paul was urging Timothy to fight the good fight; and fight it well.

Now, let’s take a look at what this battle is all about and how Timothy is suppose to fight it.

 I •  We are to fight the good fight of faith as a soldier.

Vs. 18 is laced with military terms, “ This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.” Like a soldier, Timothy was commanded to fight and fight it well. What kind of warfare? We learn from 1Timothy 6:12, it was a battle of faith. In Timothy’s church, there were false teachers teaching false doctrines; distorting the truth. So Timothy, in this battle, was to defend the faith that was once given to the church. He was to stop the false teachers and demolish the errors. It was a fight for the Faith.

First, there is a charge, meaning an urgent command to fight. It requires immediate obedience or obligation. As a soldier, when the orders come to deployment, there is no discussion, argument or disagreement. If a unit is given 24 hours or 1 hour’s time to move out, immediate obedience is expected. Here, Timothy was given an urgent command and was to be obeyed.

Secondly, this obedience is based on a previous commission. Soldiers were commissioned before they go to the battleground. Paul mentioned that a certain event occurred in the past but no details were given. From other passages, we can conclude that the particular event include the following. There were prophecies made about Timothy’s future ministry, that he would be a powerful voice for God’s truth. There was the laying on of hands by the elders over Timothy and they prayed for him. Through this, special spiritual gifts were given to Timothy. This event had a deep impact on Timothy as if a fire was sparked within him. Because of this commission, Timothy was given the order to fight in this spiritual warfare.

At Baylor College of Medicine, at the beginning of first year, there is this ‘white coat ceremony’. The students are given their first white gown to symbolize their responsibility to care for the patients. This must be a very memorable event. One can imagine that 1 or 2 years later, when these students are discouraged by those long hours of study, they may look back to this ‘white coat ceremony’ and be motivated. This ceremony is like some kind of commissioning. Those of us in full time ministry, remember the day we were ordained, commissioned or installed into the gospel ministry. We were given the charge to shepherd God’s people with His word and Love. The elders and deacons of HCC will remember that at the beginning of each year, they were installed as leaders of this church. They were commissioned to serve God in this church.

This instruction to Timothy, is given to all the believers. God had revealed, given to His people a body of truth. This truth, Faith, has constantly been under attack. In the early church there were teachings that denied either Jesus' deity or humanity. He was not God, but just another great prophet. Or He was God but not a real human. In the Mormon religion, yes, Jesus had the divine nature, but he is not God, for he was the son of God the father and God the mother in heaven. He is our heavenly brother. Nowadays we have heard the teaching that if you live right, then God will give you all the material blessings. These teachings are wrong.

Some of us may be familiar with N.T. Wright’s writings that have become popular in recent years. He had good insight regarding practical application of the gospel message. But there is something in his writing that is rather troubling. Justification by faith is the bedrock of our Christian faith; it was the battle cry of the Reformation in the 16 th century. Yet in some of Wright’s recent writings, there appeared a new meaning for ‘justification’. Sinclair Ferguson wrote in Table Talk that Wright suggested that when one is justified by faith, it means that one is being regarded as members of His people. Justification is no longer about forgiveness and acceptance, but rather to membership in the covenant community. This is dangerous and wrong thinking. Justification by faith cannot be separated from forgiveness of sins and being considered as righteous by God. Or for those of us familiar with the theological trend in China , many seminaries are teaching and advocating Justification by love. This is wrong teaching, it distorts the truth. This is the battle of faith that we find ourselves in, and we are to fight it well. Don’t give in. How are we to fight well?

II •  We are to fight the good fight of faith as a sailor.

Vs.18 was in military terms, but in vs.19, there is a quick change of metaphor; from soldier to sailor. “.. holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith,” One is to hold on to something so that the ship will not wreck. Hold on to what? The sailor is to hold tight to the rudder, so the ship can sail safely into the harbor of rest.

When I was on that 24 foot fishing boat in Lake Michigan , I was asked to steer the boat by holding onto the helm. Sometimes, a slight movement of the helm could cause the boat to turn left or right. When the water is quiet, it is quite easy to steer. But with waves, it becomes a challenge. In order for the boat to move in a certain direction or stay put at the same spot, you cannot let go of the helm, unless there is auto pilot. Now, if we are to fight the good fight of faith; we are to hold onto two things: Faith and good conscience.

  First, let’s look at Faith. Faith is not about my faith in the future, my faith that things will turn out better, my faith that you will turn out good, or even my faith to keep me calm in the midst of turmoil. In the scripture, whenever faith is used, it has a content, an object. It is our faith in God’s holiness and faithfulness. It is our faith in Jesus Christ. Here, faith means a body of truth; like what we have in Jude 3, “…… to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” It is about a body of truth, revealed from God to men. We are to guard and hold tightly onto this. The question then becomes; do we know what we are holding onto? If we don’t know, then how can we tell the truth from the false teachings?

   It is a fact among the evangelicals in this country that we don’t know God’s word well. Many of today’s Christians do not know the 10 commandments, or just 5 of them. We do not know where to find them in the Bible. Not too many of us can recite the Lord’s prayer. To know God, means that we are to be familiar with the doctrine of God, doctrine of Christ, doctrine of salvation, doctrine of eschatology (that is about future events) and the doctrine of the church. Do you know the meaning of these 5 colors: Yellow, black, red, white and green? Sometimes some Christians will say that we want to focus on deeper spiritual life and not on doctrines. Yet, without knowing the doctrines, it is hard to know God, and consequently, even harder to develop a deep and loving relationship with Him. We need to study the Bible and know the history and narratives in it. We are to know the poetry and parables; the didactic and the apocalyptic portions.

  I remember back in the early 1970’s, I was attracted to Francis Schaeffer’s teaching. I spent many hours listening to his teaching on the book of Romans. Even to this day, I still remember how he helped me to understand the themes and divisions of this book. Not just intellectual knowledge, but also stirring my heart to love God and to follow Him. No matter who you are, how young or how old you are, you can start seriously studying one book in the Bible. It could be Romans or Hebrews. We have resources on the internet and many Chinese CD’s in our own library. And of course, in your family devotions, you can use the shorter catechism or Heidelberg Catechism with your children. These are tools to help us know God more clearly.

To fight the good fight of Faith, begins with knowing and holding onto the faith, the truth, the doctrines God has entrusted to us. Now, the second thing we are to hold onto is:

Secondly, Good conscience. To Paul, a good conscience is the base of his ministry. In this passage, he wrote that without a good conscience, you will have a shipwreck. Even if you have all the right doctrines, but without a good conscience, you won’t be able to fight this battle. So, what is conscience? It is beyond the scope of this sermon to give a full treatment of conscience. I’ll just highlight one aspect of conscience.

Conscience is that still small voice telling us what is right or wrong, telling us to be obedient to God’s law. When you take that test in the classroom, you come across a question you don’t understand. You want to move the chair a little so you can see the paper in front of you. Then you feel a tug within you saying this is not right. This is your conscience speaking to you. Sometimes you listen to it and there are times you are so desperate that you went ahead and copied someone else’ answer. Even though you got a good grade on the test, you feel bad. Or when you see someone attractive and start to fantasize in your mind certain inappropriate behavior with that person. There is a voice saying, stop, don’t go there. Sometimes you listen, other times you won’t. if we keep rejecting the voice of our conscience, then we become callous towards God’s law. This will eventually shipwreck our faith in God.

If we are to fight the good fight, to uphold and protect the truth that was once given to the church, we need to listen to our conscience. Just knowing the truth, the correct doctrines, does not mean obedience. It is a command that we have to follow our conscience to obey the truth, the doctrine. Knowing the truth is an objective act. To listen to our conscience is a subjective act. If we reject our conscience, it would damage our relationship with God.

III •  We are to fight the good fight of faith as a healer.

In vs.20 we find another metaphor, “ among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” In any battles, there will be casualties. The same with spiritual warfare. There were 2 individuals, Hymenaeus and Alexander, who rejected their consciences, resulting in wandering away from the gospel. What did Paul do? He handed them over to Satan so that they may learn not to blaspheme. It was the same words Paul used in 1 Corinthians. “To hand over to Satan” is often meant they were asked to leave the church, or simply excommunication. This is the most severe form of church discipline. They were removed from God’s care and protection and thus under the power of Satan. What is the purpose? That when they suffered from such a separation from church, they would experience pain and resulting in their repentance and restoration. It appears to be stern and harsh. Yet, in closer look, it is grace in action. This is the proper work of the church. When people sinned or left the gospel, we are to function as a healer, to restore them to God. And sometimes this bringing back process may begin with separating the person from the church. Church discipline is never meant to be a punishment, but to restore a person’s relationship with God and with the church.

It’s so much easier said than done in today’s church. When there is open sin among us, even before the church can talk about love and discipline, the person who has openly sinned would leave the church. Sometimes I wonder if it is because they may not have personally experienced or treasured the love and truth in this community. And so, leaving the church is really no big deal for them. Because they will not miss the loving community of the church. Thus this makes church discipline difficult to carry out.

Conclusion:

  Whether you like it or not, we are in a spiritual battle. Sometimes, it is called a battle of the minds. It is a battle between the secular worldview, secular culture and the biblical worldview. When Focus on the Family wants to air a commercial in today’s Super Bowl game, it is labeled by the media as controversial. This evening’s commercial is being questioned whether the American audience is ready for such serious content. I don’t think any company would spend 3 million dollars on a 30 second ad and not want to convey a serious message. Well, I can go on and on, and sure you can add to it. But what I am saying is that this is a spiritual war we are in.

  Whether we like it or not, we are in a spiritual warfare. Likewise, whether we like it or not, we are given the urgent order to fight well. How so? To hold onto Truth and a clear conscience. We need to know the truth and be obedient to it. This is how the reformers in the 16th century fought the battle of faith. Martin Luther was asked to recant his writings on Justification by faith. After praying and struggling, he appeared before the king and uttered those famous words, “ Here I stand . I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” Luther fought the good fight, he followed his conscience and obeyed God. He knew the truth and he obeyed with a good conscience.