1 Timothy 6:11-21- Fight the good fight

         1 Timothy 6:11-21

                                                                               “Fight the good fight”

On the 3rd October, 1993, US Special forces went on a snatch and grab mission in the capital city of Somali, Mogadishu.

Their mission was to capture two lieutenants of the Somali militia army which had the  warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid as it’s general.

This Somali militia group were responsible for the killing of UN peace keeping workers in Somali- they ruled with terror.

The plan by the US special forces, was to fly three helicopters into the city of Mogadishu, surround the house where the lieutenants where based, lower the soldiers down from the helicopters by rope, capture the men and take them to the army trucks which would have met them at the gates of the mansion.

There were 19 aircraft, 12 vehicles and 160 troops involved in this snatch and grab. Mission. It was all supposed to be completed in 10 minutes.

As history tells us- this operation didn’t go to plan.

The army vehicles didn’t get to the gates of the mansion in time, as they were met by blockades on the way, put up by the Somali militia. One helicopter landed at the wrong house, one soldier fell from his rope and had to be rescued, and two helicopters were shot down by land missiles from the Somali militia- hence why the whole incident became known as Black Hawk down.

When the rest of the soldiers went to rescue their troops,  who were trapped in the mansion and on the streets, an 18 hour intense fight broke out, where 18 people ended up dead, American soldiers, Somali militia and sadly some, Somali civilians.

In the aftermath that followed for the next couple of decades, America pulled out their troops from Somali and chaos reigned on the streets of Somali.

Also after an investigation of the “black hawk down” event, it was clear that during the battle many errors were committed by the American soldiers themselves. Some of the soldiers panicked and failed to follow the rules of engagement. When the street fight broke out, it was hard to distinguish between the civilians and the militia- confusion reigned. In their panic and confusion, laws of engagement went out of the window- and perhaps- understandably so.

Friends, as we come to the end of this first letter that the apostle Paul wrote to his son in the Lord Timothy, it is clear that Paul wanted to leave Timothy and also us with some  rules of engagement as we fight this fight of faith.

Because friends, let us be clear, when we put our trust Jesus as our Lord and saviour, as Jesus graciously saves us and brings us into his family, we start the fight for our very lives, our very souls.

When Jesus gives us eternal life, it isn’t all butterflies and walking in the lilies…..far from it, we engage in battle.

As we accept that Jesus Christ came to save sinners like us, we begin a battle that a non-believer doesn’t fight, we fight against our sinful nature, we fight the good fight, we fight to hold onto the faith that Jesus gave us in Him.

And unlike those American troops that day in Mogadishu who were confused who their enemy was, we know who are fight is against.

We fight against the devil- the father of lies, who came to destroy and steal, steal our Joy

We fight against the world, - that is the riches of this world which because of our sin can draw us way from God, or anything from this world which opposes God,

And finally, we fight our own sinful nature. It is that constant battle we have, which Adam and Eve first encountered in the garden of Eden, that battle to follow God’s voice, and not to follow our own.

And so brothers and sisters, if you are feeling the struggle of living the Christian life, let me encourage you today, and let you know you are on the narrow road to eternal life, because as a follower of Jesus, this side of glory, we are constantly in a battle.

If you are not in a battle today, then perhaps you are on the wide road to destruction.

But as you are in the battle, I want you not to worry, as Jesus constantly told his disciples, not to worry, we don’t have to worry as we fight the good fight, because the battle is already won.

Brothers and sisters, unlike the American troops that day in Mogadishu who didn’t know the outcome, they didn’t know if they would live or die, they didn’t know if they would capture the two lieutenants…….but we do know, we know that the victory has already been won.

We know that at the cross, Jesus defeated Satan, we know at the cross, Jesus paid for all our sins, so they no longer condemn us, and we know that at the cross, Jesus is reconciling all things to himself, we know at the cross Jesus won the victory over eternal death, and the devil and so now we are just awaiting the victory parade when Jesus returns again to this earth.

And so now, we live in this time between the first and second coming of Jesus, where we live in this “now, but not yet” period. It is a period where Jesus has now already defeated Satan at the cross, but has not yet sent him to eternal punishment. It is a period when Jesus has already paid for all of our sins, but we do not yet live in that state of sinless perfection.

In 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul alludes to this now but not yet period.

Look at verse 12 with me:

Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Notice, Paul told Timothy and also us to take hold of eternal life now, to which we were called. Timothy, like all believers are given eternal life when they first come to faith in Jesus. In 1 Timothy 1:16, Paul told us that he received mercy, that is salvation, that it eternal life, when Jesus gave him trust and faith in Him. Ephesians 2:5 tells us that the believer has already been made alive with Christ, and yet, Paul tells Timothy and also us, that we are still responsible for taking hold of this gift of eternal life that God has given us.  We need to hand onto to eternal life, hang on to Jesus who has already given himself to us.

And to be responsible for fighting the good fight of faith, is to know and live by the rules of engagement that God gives us.

The first rule that God gives us to fight the devil, the flesh or this world, is to know when to run.

Sometimes we have to just flee, sometimes we have to get out of there.

Look at verse 11 with me:

But as for you man of God, flee these things……

In this particular case, Paul was urging Timothy to flee from the trappings of earthly riches. Paul has just warned Timothy in verse 10 that some brothers and sisters have lost their fight of faith because they had craved the riches of this world more than Jesus.  They had been trapped by the riches of this world- they didn’t fee.

We know there are other things that the believer needs to flee from, like sexual temptation. Like when Joseph ran away from Potiphar’s wife. Joseph saw the danger of sexual sin and he ran- he didn’t slowly walk way, but he ran- he fled.

Friends, there are times, when we just have to run- run, make a clean break. Those sinful desires will slowly creep in and take us away from our faith, we need to just run at times. We have to do what may seem dramatic to others, but pleasing in the eyes of God.

Billy Graham had a policy of never meeting a woman on his own. Whenever he was picked up from an airport, he always made sure it was a male driver. Billy Graham, this man of God, knew his weaknesses and so he set up boundaries accordingly. He was focused on fighting the good fight of faith and as a result millions came to know Jesus as their Lord and saviour.

However, brothers and sisters, when we flee one temptation, as we guard ourselves from sinning, let us be careful not to run straight to another sin.

We don’t want to run from one emotional crutch to another.

It is important that as we flee sin, we run towards God.

Look at verse 11 again with me.

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness.

Paul told Timothy and us, that as we run from sin, let us run toward righteousness- that is not only living right before God, but living right with the people around us.

Let us run toward godliness, which is Jesus himself, which means we live a life of repentance and belief.

Let us run towards faith- that is faith and trust in God- not in ourselves.

Let us run toward love, let us do all things out of love, not selfish ambition.

Let us run toward steadfastness, let us be that person that others can rely on.

Let us run towards gentleness, let us not treat people harshly, but with gentleness.

In 2 Timothy 2:25, Paul tells Timothy to correct his opponents with gentleness.

Gentleness in today’s world can be considered as a weakness- and yet the truth is- there is real strength in gentleness.

You may win an argument with your harsh words but you will never win the person.

You may just win the argument and the person with your gentleness. I think the best Christian witness for the church today, is to show the world how we can disagree with one another well.

It appears to me, that the world just doesn’t know how to disagree well. It appears that the world is becoming more polarised and people in general just can’t disagree well. Arguments become harsh, personal and nasty. The church can be examples of how we can be gentle in disagreement.

And so brothers and sisters, not only do we run away from Sin and run towards godliness in the good fight of faith, but we hold on to and guard the tachings of the gospel.

This is how we fight the good fight- we hold the line of truth.

Look at 1 Timothy 6:20 with me:

O Timothy guard the deposit entrusted to you

Friends, the good fight of faith you fight is to hold on to the truth of the gospel. The truth which Jesus taught, the truth which was passed onto his apostles, the truth which has been handed down to us over the last 2,000 years.

The good fight of faith, is to reject making up your own faith, adding things or taking away things from the truth of the gospel.

Our rules of engagement is to preserve the gospel, we are called not to make our own gospel, but just to preserve the gospel, because as Paul tells us in Romans 1:16, the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then for us, the gentiles.

This means we don’t have to try and be creative and reinvent the gospel to make it more palatable to people’s mouths, we don’t have to dress the gospel up in a certain way, no we preserve what we have been given and we present the gospel just as it is.

The gospel message, the good news of Jesus is quite simple, and perhaps some people like to over complicate the gospel because they just can’t accept it. Just like in the first century, some people create irreverent babble and contradictions because they cannot accept the simple message of the gospel.

And what is the simple message of the gospel that we are to guard?

Well, Paul told us in 1 Timothy 1:15,

He said this: here is a trustworthy saying and worthy of full acceptance:

Jesus Christ came to save sinners

This is heart of the mission that Jesus came on.

He came to save sinners.

This means the first truth we are to guard, is that we are all sinners, we all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. We are totally depraved. We are incapable of saving ourselves from our sins. Our sins have condemned us to eternal death.

If we don’t accept that truth that we are sinners, then we cannot accept that Jesus came to save us.

The second truth we must guard is that Jesus saved us by becoming one of us and dying in our place. Jesus took the punishment for all our sins on the cross. He was our perfect sacrifice, Him and only him, since he is the only one who was and is fully God and fully man.

The third truth we must guard is that Jesus completed that rescue mission, when he rose physically from the dead. As Romans 1:4 tells us, when Jesus rose from the dead, he proved he really was the son of God. Friends we worship God, the God of the universe, who showed Himself in history, lived as a real man, died as a real man and rose back to life as a real man.

The fourth truth we must hold onto, is that it is only through Jesus and Jesus alone that we have eternal life.

Friends, this world throws all sorts of grenades at us.

And it is often the grenades we can’t see which are the most deadly.

Let me encourage you, to keep fighting the good fight. Keep holding onto Jesus-

He is the way, He is the truth, He is the life.

Let us pray.