FDYM Reading Plan- 1 Timothy 6:11-16, post by acon

 

¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, ¹⁵ which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. 

"But you, O man of God..." Here, Paul refers to Timothy as a "man of God," meaning that he is a messenger of God; he speaks on God's behalf (by the Holy Spirit), and is therefore a representative of God. "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20)." As God's elect; we also are ambassadors for Christ; we are messengers of Christ. We get to proclaim the GLORIOUS news of the GOSPEL. 

Paul goes onto to say, "flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness."  A man of God is known by what he flees from; and what he seeks after. I pray that we would all be encouraged to keep ourselves from evil- to keep ourselves from love of money, from greed and from error. May we seek after righteousness; meaning may our actions be pleasing to God. May we run towards godliness; meaning that we would have reverence for Him; may our hearts be in a place of worship before Him. May we be faithful and loyal to the gospel; may we love as Christ loved, may we be patient and gentle to all those we encounter. I pray that our Father would enable us to do these things by being sanctified through the reading of His scripture.

Verse 12 is my favorite; drum roll please..... "FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH." I love the picture that Paul paints throughout his epistles- that this life is a warfare. What does it mean to "fight the good fight of faith"? It means we wage war against this world, against our own human nature, which is sinful and against Satan; we fight for the one who called us unto Himself. It is our own struggle towards holiness.

I keep finding myself coming back to what Kevin DeYoung says, "Sanctification is not by surrender but by divinely enabled toil.” Often times we tend to think that because we are to "depend on God" (which, we do whether we like it or not), but we tend to use that as an excuse and think that our sanctification is a passive thing- as Pastor Jeff has talked about a lot recently. But it is not- in fact it is the exact opposite. Christ calls us to "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling..." (Phil. 2:12) This does not mean that we are working it out by ourselves, but it does mean that we don't just sit back, relax on the couch and wait for God to sanctify us while we do absolutely nothing. Which is why Kevin says, "divinely enabled." 

Yes Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." Yes we are to LEAN on God for our understanding- we are to LEAN on scripture to understand how we are called to live... and we are to FIGHT HARD after what scripture calls us to do. So as we fight may we ask God to enable us!

Another reference that Paul makes about us waging war in this life is Ephesians 6 (as most of you probably recall). Paul says,^"10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

^"3You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴ No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." (2 Timothy 2:3-4) I love this. We so easily get involved with the insignificant quarrels and dramas of this life. But it is clear that scripture calls us to be fixed on Christ- and what He has done.

Going back to 1 Timothy 6, Paul goes on to admonish Timothy to "lay hold on eternal life..." Meaning "take hold of" or "get a grip" on the reality of eternal life. May we live and minister in a way that is Kingdom minded- that is for the furtherance of His Kingdom. It is the only reason why we are here. "²⁰ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Phil. 3:20) We were not placed here so that we could be looked at as successful in the eyes of the world, but so that we could be successful in the eyes of the Lord. "² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2). We are called to glorify Him- we are called to minister to the body of Christ, to make disciples, to preach the good news to believers and to non-believers. We fight for Christ together and live in that reality, because it is the only truth. 

Paul goes on to say, "to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." This is referring to God's sovereign hand over Timothy's life and his public confession of faith in Christ Jesus. "Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate..." Although Jesus knew that confessing himself as the Messiah would cost him his earthly life, He did it boldly, trusting in His Father. We should be bold as Christ was bold. I pray that someone would never look at my life and wonder if I was a follower of Jesus Christ; I pray that it is more than evident.

Moving on in 1 Timothy 6, ^"14 that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, ¹⁵ which He will manifest in His own time..." Paul is charging Timothy to preach and guard the faith; we are to do the same- until Christ returns or until He calls us home. God tells us that He will return to establish His Kingdom- and this should help fuel us enough as God's people to be faithful to our calling until He does return.

  

"Potentate ^(V15)" means "power" or "sovereign." God is sovereign- meaning nothing is outside of His control. He is "the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen" God dwells in unapproachable light... His spirit is unseen- sinful man can never see the full glory of God. 

Make two fists, put your hands up, and fight your sin- "FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH."

 ­-ACon :) ­