"Fight the Good Fight"

1 Timothy 1:18-2:7

Rev. Min J. Chung

(Sunday Worship, November 14, 1999)

"Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle-- I am telling the truth, I am not lying--and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles." 1 Timothy 1:18-2:7. NIV

  1. Introduction
  2. We are on the journey of 1 Timothy where Paul is speaking to the young minister, Timothy, who is his apprentice. Hes teaching him how to be a good minister and how to minister to a church with problems. There are false teachers in the church. The command he gives is to fight the good fight. As we look into Scripture, there are many terms that describe the Christian life. Many times the Christian life is pictured as a fight. Here Paul is thinking about Roman soldiers, fighting machines at the time. He says to fight the good fight. Its a military term. We know the church is at war. Satan is fighting us through the means of this world. There are many toys we like in the world and Satan uses those things. The fruit looks good; if you eat it youll be like God. Fruit is like the world. Satan comes through different voices, close people, but ultimately it is up to me to eat it or not. You can never blame Satan. You cant say the devil made me do it. There is no such thing on Judgment Day. God will say, "The devil stimulated it, but you did it. You took that fruit." It is my heart, my desire, my decision. We need to fight.
  3. Who am I fighting? Am I swinging in the spiritual dark? Weve been talking about heart motives, that evil desire within. Thats good. When Scripture talks about the ultimate fight (we need to think of the whole of Scripture. Not only what does this verse say, but what does all of Scripture say about this teaching?), we are either fighting to live for ourselves or for the glory of God. Thats the fight. Am I living for myself? If we dont detect things in our hearts (we dont even have to be conscious of it), well live for ourselves, for our exaltation, for our pleasure. We either live for ourselves or for the glory of God. Thats a fight. Am I living for myself or am I really living for the glory of God? The only thing that will be left after everything is done and gone, after all my days are over, is how much have I lived for the glory of God? To those who have lived for His glory, Hell say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Paul is teaching Timothy how to fight. Hes telling Timothy how to be a good pastor, how to run a good church, how to persevere until the end. He gives four commands€the first to Timothy and the last three to the church.
  4. Body
  5. Persevere
  6. Verses 18-20. "Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you mayfight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." Keep fighting, keep going, keep persevering. Even though there is opposition in the church, do not quit. Jesus Christ is with you.
  7. He says, "Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with thepropheciesonce made about you." What are these prophecies? 1 Timothy 4:14 helps us to understand: "Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you." Its talking about Timothys ordination. Pastors get commissioned and ordained. I was ordained myself. A bunch of pastors laid their hands on me and prayed for me. Thats ordination. Paul is talking about Timothys spiritual ordination by a body of elders. What probably happened was that gifts were imparted to him and many prophecies concerning his ministry were given. It was such an encouraging message. Hes talking to young, timid Timothy who is discouraged fighting even in his own church. It was probably a great encouragement to him. Remember the encouragement through prayer. Remember the prophecies once made about you. Remember those instructions and keep fighting. Fight the good fight.
  8. Verse 20 talks about a couple of people who quit fighting, who have "shipwrecked their faith." "Among them areHymenaeusandAlexander." We have no idea who these people are. They were probably leaders of the church. They taught false doctrine and fell away from the faith. So, they were probably excommunicated from the church. "WhomI have handed over to Satanto be taught not to blaspheme." Wow, thats a scary phrase. What does that mean? How can you hand a person over to Satan? Its a phrase similar to Matthew 18, which says that when someone is deliberately sinning, you are to confront them. They still deliberately sin. So you send two people together. They still deliberately sin. You send the elders. They still deliberately sin. So they are handed over to Satan, meaning they are excommunicated. Its talking about major sins in the church that influence many others. Treat them like they dont belong to the fellowship; treat them like you dont want to associate with them. In that sense,handing someone over to Satan means handing them over to the realm of Satan without church protection and fellowship.These people couldnt associate with members of the church. Church members would turn away from them. They were out of the protection and prayer of the church. Is it because the church hated them? Or is it because they loved them? It was because they loved them. They did it in order that they "be taught not to blaspheme." It was out of love for these two who were outright going against Scripture. The intention was love. It was so they would go through difficulties out of the body of church, and so that they would return. They had doctrinal lifestyle without repentance. Its similar to the parable of the younger son (Luke 15). When the younger son wanted to leave home, the father doesnt hold him back, rather he gives him the money and lets him go. Why? Because he wouldnt learn any other way. He did it so that he could learn. He gave it to him out of love and then he prayed so that he would return. And the son did return. This is the same way with excommunication from the church. Through this means, many have returned. Many havent. But the intention was love. Paul is saying, "Unlike these two, persevere." Keep fighting. Fight the good fight.
  9. How do you fight? How do you remain faithful until Jesus returns? There are two things mentioned: hold on to the faith and have a good conscience. Its a good, worthwhile thing to talk about if you want to remain faithful.
  10. What doeshold on to the faithmean? Paul uses this phrase two other times in 1 Timothy. Once is in verse 1:5, where he talks about having a clear conscience, pure heart, faith. The other time he uses it is in verse 3:9. This is very interesting, because it gives more information on what kind of faith hes talking about. Verse 3:9 says, "They must keep hold of the deeptruthsof the faith with a clear conscience." So this faith is based ontruth. This truth is Scripture. Then through my relationship with God, grace comes by faith. The receiving agent for grace is called faith. Its based on Scripture, the truth. Even though false doctrines and lies are in the world, we hold on to the promises of God through His Word and through our relationship with God, the grace of God comes through faith.
  11. Also we gotta have agood conscience.Conscience is given to teach us the difference between right and wrong.Many realize that but I think it is more than that. Conscience is also givento resist our deviation from the right and wrong that we know. So conscience not only enables me to differentiate between right and wrong, but it helps me to fight, to resist. Theres something within me that clicks when Im doing wrong. The important thing is to remember the truth. Faith and the truth must be together. The right information must be given to my soul so I can have right direction. Our conscience can be affected. We need to cleanse it and feed it with the Word of God. When the truth of God, His Word, comes through faith, and we eat it, take it in our soul, our conscience is guided.
  12. Through conscience, we know that some deviation has occurred. If our soul bleeds, we see it, because our conscience is bothered. Something bothers us, something hurts. If we eat the truth of God, our conscience is activated when we deviate. If you keep sinning, your conscience will be dulled; it doesnt bother you anymore. Keep eating, cleansing, changing with the Word. Thats what it means in Deut. 6. Keep feeding the Word of God to your children. Teach them. Write the Word on your doorposts and foreheads. If you dont brainwash them with the Word of God, the world will brainwash them with its philosophy. Or better, "heartwash" them. Cleanse their conscience with the Word.
  13. Faith and conscience is very important. Deviation from faith is always associated with moral falling. Doctrinal falling might also come, but moral falling always comes with it. This is because conscience has been dulled. If you want to remain faithful to the end, you have to have faith, a relationship with God, and a good conscience, which is a warning system, a fire alarm in your soul. When Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, the wrong information, false doctrine, lies come and Satan says, "God is not good; if you eat that Hes afraid youll be like Him. So eat it." She eats the wrong information and her conscience, because theres an excuse, thinks it must be OK. When sin is justified in your conscience, you do it, you fall. So feed your conscience with the Word of God, make sure its guided by faith and truth, so that when the lie comes, you can say, "Thats a lie. God says, Ill surely die if I eat it."
  14. If you want to remain faithful, have faith and truth, and a good conscience. Always check for it. Paul is saying, "Persevere. Dont fall like those two."
  15. Pray
  16. The first command is to Timothy. Commands two through four are commands to the church. They are concerning public worship.
  17. Verses 1-4 say, "Pray." Not only persevere but pray. Notice it says, "First of all." Its not a matter of chronology. Hes not saying that when we go to church, the first thing we should do is pray, though thats a good principle. Ratherits a matter of priority. First and foremost, the people of God are to pray. Isnt that why when Jesus cleanses the temple and rebukes all the people who were selling in the temple, He says, "My house shall be a house of " The Word? No. House of fellowship? No. House of evangelism? No. Those are all important. But He says, my house shall be a house ofprayer. First of all, pray. Prayer, the worship of God, ought to be first and foremost, then reaching out, evangelism, fellowship come after. Prayer first. Then what flows out is the release of power into loving others in the church and evangelism in the world. First of all we gotta pray. He talks about prayer in four ways: requests, prayer, intercession, thanksgiving.
  18. Requests
  19. It meansa profound sense of personal need. Dependence, trust, heart.
  20. Prayer
  21. This is a general word for prayer. The first word (requests) is many times used in relationships with others, but this word is always used before God. It carries a sense of worship and reverence.
  22. Intercession
  23. Its used here and another time in 1 Timothy 4:5. It meansto fall in with someone. So what is intercession? You fall in with them. You are deeply involved with that persons struggle. Do you intercede for people or do you babble some words in front of them? Are you involved in their lives? Are their pains your pains?
  24. Thanksgiving
  25. Spirit of gratitude. It must be the climate of prayer. You begin and end with it. Sprinkle your prayers with it. Say thank you often in your prayers. Especially end with it. Thank you, Lord!
  26. All those prayer names are to be made for everyone. "Everyone" includes three kinds of people.
  27. "Specific names"
  28. Everyone we know. Pray for everyone. Dont you just feel like praying, "Lord, be with them all. Love them all. Bless them all. Bless CFC." Its because Im busy and I have so many people to pray for. Im busier than you, you know. I got a lot to do. There is no excuse like that in Scripture!!! We need to pray for specific names! No sweeping generalities in our prayer! The shepherd knows his sheep by name. As much as is humanly possible, be specific. Theres something about it when we pray like that; we grow to love them. We feel their pain. We sympathize and empathize. We get under their skin. We learn how to pray.
  29. "Kings and all those in authority"
  30. Notice that on Sundays, people always pray for the government and the world. Some people complain and say, I dont want to pray for our government. Its so bad. Well, think about the government in Pauls day. A few years later, Paul will be killed by the emperor of Rome, Nero. He still prays for him. Dont complain about our government. Nero was a lot worse than any government we have.
  31. It gives a couple of reasons why we should pray for kings and authorities. Look at verse 2, "for kings and all those in authority,that we may live peaceful and quiet livesin all godliness and holiness." We should pray for themfor our faith. That is good and it pleases God who wants all men to be saved. Pray not only for ourselves, but also for all the people who do not have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Why do we pray for kings and authorities? Because if the government is evil and persecutes Christians, itll hinder people from coming to know the Lord, especially weak ones in the faith. What a day to preach this text as we pray for the persecuted church! We need to pray for kings and the government, for the best climate for the gospel to spread. We need to pray for countries in the world. Of course, the gospel will spread no matter what. Sure, through the blood of martyrs, the gospel will spread. But it happens through prayer. Thats what Paul is saying, pray. Many times in the history of Christianity, God takes unbelieving kings and amply spreads the gospel while they reign.
  32. "People who are not saved"
  33. Pray for them. Pray for the government, for a good climate for the gospel. Pray for those who are not saved. Pray that we will reach the world and for the ones who dont know the gospel. You might say, "Pastor Min, Im so busy praying for myself, for my exam tomorrow. I gotta pray for all this? Do I have to pray for all that in five minutes of public prayer?" Yes, thats what the church of Jesus Christ ought to do. Why is that so unnatural for us? Paul is saying, "Enlarge your heart!" Come on!!! Take your eyes off yourself sometimes!!! Enlarge your heart until it reaches the world!!! I really like Wesley DeuwelsTouch the World Through Prayer. If you want to enlarge your heart, thats an excellent book. You dont have to travel the world. UseOperation Worldand read information about those countries. Touch the world through prayer. Buy a world map. Theres a gigantic map in our office. Looking at that, I often pray for the countries Ive been to. I travel the world in my prayers. Its so good. I learned that from George Verwer, who is head of Operation Mobilization. Hes crazy about reaching the world. When he speaks, he wears a world jacket, world pants, world underwear. Then after he speaks, he brings out a gigantic world beach ball and walks around on the stage getting people to pray for the world.