Four Commands to a Godly Man

Transcript

GRM 554
1/18/1998
Four Commands to a Godly Man
1 Timothy 6:11-12
Gil Rugh

Timothy is a very familiar figure to you if you have done much reading in the New Testament. He was a very close associate of the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy called 1 and 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy is the last letter we have from the Apostle Paul. Shortly then after writing that letter he was executed by the Romans. Timothy was a man significantly younger than the Apostle Paul. We know that from certain references where, for example, Paul encourages Timothy not to allow people to look down on his youthfulness, to disregard him because he is a young man. He's a man who seems to be somewhat timid. Everyone's timid when compared to the Apostle Paul, but we find Paul exhorting Timothy with such statements as “God has not given us a spirit of timidity” or cowardice. He writes to the Corinthians and says, I'm sending Timothy and I don't want him to be afraid when he comes to you. So he's sort of trying to prepare the way and remind people to treat Timothy properly, rather than trying to intimidate him.

But he's a man who had a great ministry and Paul is concerned that Timothy steps up and be all that God intends him to be. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, he gives Timothy some pointed instructions, which relate to Timothy being a man of God. He gives him a series of brief commands that he must obey so that he can be the man that God intends him to be in serving the living God. I want to focus attention on the commands that are given in verses 11 and 12 of 1 Timothy chapter 6. There's four of them. Let me mention them to you so you can make note of them however you mark your Bible. You can underline them, highlight them, circle them, but these four commands are what these verses are hung around, if you will. The first one is flee in verse 11 “But flee from these things”. The first command is flee. The second is in the middle of the verse “pursue,” some versions may have “follow,” “righteousness”. So the verb pursue, or follow. Then in verse 12, the first word “Fight”, the verb “fight”. And then a little further on in verse 12 the verb “take hold,” “take hold of eternal life”. These four commands are given to Timothy as a man of God. In verse 11 “But flee from these things, you man of God” an expression that refers to Timothy as one who was a servant of the living God. As one who was a man of God, a servant of God, these things must be true of him. He must obey these commands.


Timothy was a man who was raised in a divided home. He had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father. Timothy had been taught the Bible, the Scriptures, Old Testament scriptures, as a young person, but he did not come to experience God's salvation in his life until he was a young adult and came under the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Just turn over a page or two to 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 14, “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them” and he had been taught them by the Apostle Paul. Then note verse 15 “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.” An understatement here that it is the Scriptures that give you the understanding you must have to experience the salvation which is found by faith in Jesus Christ. So if any person, anywhere is to experience forgiveness of their sins and the new life that comes as a result of God's salvation, they must hear the truth of God's Word and believe it. The truth that they are sinners; the truth that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died to pay the penalty for sin; the truth that if they turn from their sin and place their faith in Christ alone, they will be washed clean and made new and brought into a personal relationship with the living God through faith in Christ.

Now Timothy heard the Old Testament Scriptures from his mother and from his grandmother, but he didn't experience salvation until he came under Paul's ministry. Turn back to 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 2. Paul is writing to Timothy, “my true child in the faith”, which the expression would indicate that Timothy had been born into God's family as a result of hearing the word of the gospel from the Apostle Paul. He had been spiritually born again through the Apostle Paul's ministry, so Paul calls him “my true child in the faith.” Down in verse 18 of chapter 1 “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son.”

I say that, not only to give us some appreciation of the commands that Paul is going to give to Timothy, but to encourage you as a sidelight in ministry to children and young people, that we minister the Word to children from the youngest age. That's why we have classes and people who are committed to work with the children from the young ages, right up through their becoming adults, so they can be taught the Word of God. Some of those children will believe at earlier ages. Some of them will not believe until they have grown to be adults and hear the Word from someone else, someplace else. But we ought not to lose sight of the fact that when you are building the Word of God into that life, you are creating a foundation that God may use at another time. Someone was sharing a testimony with me on the way back from the men's retreat, and they came to know Christ as an adult. But he says, you know, at a difficult time I was going through, and during that time, when someone else that he came in contact with, in another place, brought him the Word, all the Scriptures and things he had been taught came back. So Timothy had that kind of opportunity, and it's just an encouragement to you in the ministry of the Word of God to children and young people.


But come to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Paul was concerned that Timothy be everything God wants him to be and thus fulfill his ministry, function as the man of God that he is, serving the living God. So four commands indicate the responsibility that Timothy will have to carry out in some of these areas. The first command is the command to flee from these things, you man of God. Present imperative is the form of the verb. Imperative is a command. Present tense is something that is to be the consistent characteristic of his life. So we could translate it: be continually fleeing from these things. This is to be a characteristic of life. We're familiar with the Greek word here. The Greek word is “fuge”, and we get the English word fugitive from this word. A fugitive is someone who is fleeing from something, and so here, Timothy is to be a fugitive. He's commanded to be fleeing from certain things. And immediately we are reminded, someone who would be a faithful servant of God must have certain things that they are avoiding at all cost. And that's the idea is fleeing. Have nothing to do with these things. Run away from them.

Before we look at the immediate context, back up to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Now remember Paul is writing to Timothy as a man who has come to understand and believe in the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ. He's not telling Timothy how he can be forgiven his sins, how he can be saved. He's telling Timothy how he is to live now as one who has been born into God's family, one who is now serving the living God. He is to flee certain things, and in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 18, the Apostle Paul gives a command to the Corinthian believers “flee immorality”. One who belongs to the living God has a life devoted to serving Him, must avoid immorality at all costs, must run from immorality.

We think of Joseph in the Old Testament fleeing from Potiphar's wife, running from the occasion and the opportunity. Flee immorality as a servant of God. Turn over a couple of pages to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 14. See that same command given, same verb to flee, in verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 10. “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” All that is associated in false worship have nothing to do with it. This is a command that we as believers need to give some careful consideration to in our day. Corinthians were somewhat drawn to involvement in the acceptable worship of Corinth. And Paul said, false worship is worship of demons in verse 20. He says, I don't want you to become involved in fellowshipping with demons in worship. So “flee from immorality.” “Flee from idolatry”, that kind of worship where there is activity that is not true to the Word of God.

Come over to Timothy and come to the second letter of Timothy chapter 2, verse 22. The Apostle Paul tells Timothy in his last letter “Now flee from youthful lusts.” Lusts that are characterized by youth, that are corrupting, attractive, but ruinous to a life of serving the living God.


Now come back to 1 Timothy 6. What is the context of what Timothy is to flee from? In 1 Timothy 6 “flee from these things.” What are the “these things” he has been talking about? Well, look at verse 9. “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many a pang.” One who would be a servant of the living God, who would be faithful to God, must flee from covetousness, from the desires to be rich.

Let's face it. We live in a world where possessions are important and people value you in the world by what you have. kind of house you live in, the kind of car you drive. People will go into great debt often to put on the appearance of having. We are impacted by that as believers, it works its way into our life. I sometimes refer to the years of my ministry. Believers will say, oh, I am pursuing this because I believe when I am successful in making money, that will enable me to do this for the Lord. What my concern has to be is to be faithful. To devote my life to being faithful to Him. If He gives me much, I will have established the pattern of being faithful with much, and if He gives me little, I will have established the same pattern of being faithful with what He gives me. So if we are going to be men of God, servants of God, we have to beware of entanglements with the things of this life, and particularly the attractiveness of riches.

In this context as well, beginning with verse 3 of chapter 6, he warns, if anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ and with a doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, and so on. It is those false teachers who are bringing in a corrupt influence who also bring in an attractiveness with not only corrupt doctrine, but an emphasis on material possessions. The health and wealth preaching of the day would be an example of it. I was reading of one of these men who has fallen in immorality and has been exposed on the news programs and the news magazines recently. They estimate his empire is still worth a hundred million dollars, after repeated accounts of immorality and so on. Appalling, but somehow it goes together, the corruption. A servant of God must flee from false teachers, false doctrine, and desire for material possessions. There will be a narrowness, if you will, about one who is going to be godly because there are certain relationships this person has to forego with those who are teaching doctrine that is not true to the Word of God, other activities related there. So, a man of God is noted by what he avoids and what he is not involved with.

Second command in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 11 “you man of God, flee from these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness,” and so on. He'll give a list of six virtues or qualities that the man of God is to pursue. You know, we not only have the negative. The negative is flee from this, but there is the positive. Follow after this. Don't do this, but do this. So, a servant of God is not only noted by what he does not do and what he is not involved with and who he does not associate with, but is also characterized in a very strong way by the pursuit of his life, what he is seeking after. Again, a present imperative. These are ongoing characteristics of the life of a servant of God. There's a pattern of life of avoiding certain things, fleeing from them; as a pattern of life, of earnestly following after, of pursuing other things.

Let's just walk through the six virtues or qualities that are mentioned here. It says, “pursue righteousness”. Now he's talking to one who has experienced God's salvation. I keep emphasizing that, but people get confused and think that they are going to become acceptable to God by doing something, when God wants to give them His salvation as a free gift. He wants us to be born into His family through faith in His Son, and then as members of His family, we are to function in a certain way. So, a believer is to “pursue righteousness”. Turn back to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. We become righteous when we believe in Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 3, verse 22, he speaks of the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. So God provides His righteousness for everyone who will believe in His Son; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We all stand on the same ground. We're all sinners so God offers to us His righteousness on the same terms. You must believe in My Son Jesus Christ. Look down to verse 28 of Romans 3 while you're there. “We maintain that a man is justified,” the word justified means to declare righteous, a man is declared righteous “by faith apart from works of the Law”. Verse 5 of Romans 4 “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.” So, you come into initial righteousness, you become a righteous person by recognizing you are a sinner, turning from your sin, believing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for you.

Now as one who has been declared righteous in Christ, you are to have a life pursuing righteousness. The idea here is behavior that is right before God. That's what we're talking about here in this righteousness. “Pursue righteousness”, follow after righteousness, behavior that is right in the sight of God.

Turn over to 1 John chapter 3. The order is important. There are certain things that a baby does because they have been born into the human race. Now you cannot turn that around. With our technology today we can make some remarkable artificial babies that perform some interesting functions that I don't know why you would want to make a baby perform, but they'll do everything. They cry, they wet, they move. Amazing. But they are not genuine because they have not been born into the human race. They have been created as an imitation. Now we're talking about being born into God's family, not being an imitation. As a result of being born into God's family, you partake of God's character. He makes you new from the inside out. When He makes you new on the inside, then that will express itself in the way you live.

In 1 John chapter 3, verse 7 “Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He” God “is righteous.” Since God is your heavenly Father, you're born into God's family, you partake of God's character, righteousness, so that will be evident in the way you live. You will do what is right in the sight of God.

Verse 8 “The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.” Jesus said the same thing to the most religious people of His day in John's gospel, chapter 8. He said to these religious leaders, “you are of your father, the devil, and you always want to do” what he wants done. You manifest his character. So here, God's children manifest His character, righteousness, and have that desire. That does not mean they are perfect but it does mean that the pursuit of our life as God's people is to be to display the beauty of His character in all that we do.

We are called to live righteously in the midst of an unrighteous world. That's amazing. God transforms me from the inside. Remember Jeremiah said, “the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things”. What I need is to be changed in my heart, in my inner man, and when that happens, then it will evidence itself. I must then have as the goal and pursuit of my life to see the beauty of God's character, His righteousness, characterize me in all that I do.

Come back to 1 Timothy chapter 6. So a servant of God, a man of God, must be in the pursuit of righteousness in his life, doing what is right in the sight of God. Number 2, pursue “godliness”; and this would overlap with righteousness. Godliness is that which is in agreement with God's character, God-likeness. Now I am not God, but I am a child of God and His nature has been produced in me as a result of faith in Christ and being born into God's family. So, it, first of all, is an attitude of reverence and respect for God, an awe of God and who He is, and then a desire to manifest His character in my behavior. The “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians chapter 5, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,” and so on. The character of God being seen in and through me.

Back up to 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7 “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women, old wives' tales. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Discipline yourself for godliness. Sometimes driving to church on Sunday morning, I'll see joggers running down the road. I think, they are giving attention to disciplining this physical body, to get it into shape, so to speak. But I say, I wonder if they are doing anything for their spiritual life. No matter what their physical condition, in a hundred years, we're going to be in the same state as far as the physical body is concerned, we're going to be dead, unless Christ comes. That's the point here “bodily discipline” he's not saying you shouldn't do bodily exercise, physical discipline, but you ought to recognize, that's of limited value. It only relates to this life. Then no matter what a physical specimen you were, no matter if you looked like me or a weakling, it won't matter. But godliness, you discipline yourself for godliness. That's valuable in this life. That's valuable in the life to come.

Now he does bring up a point here we need to grab onto as believers. Godliness takes discipline. That's hard. Now spiritually I have to do that. You had to make the effort to roll out of bed this morning. You could think, oh look, I could sleep in this morning. I could read my Bible this afternoon at halftime. I don't have to go to church. Besides people go to church, they get all dressed up and they're just doing it for appearance. I'll stay in my pajamas, and I won't be impressing anyone. I can think of all kinds of reasons, but what, you discipline yourself, why? Because I need that. If I'm going to grow I do that. I go to Bible study on Tuesday night, why? It's good for me to be in the fellowship with other believers, to be taught the Word, to have opportunity to be involved in their life, and them in my life. It takes discipline. So we need to be disciplining ourselves for godliness. There's just no shortcut. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, I discipline my body, literally, I beat my body black and blue and bring it into subjection lest after I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. It takes severe discipline. My body doesn't feel like it. I tell my body what we're going to do, to grow and develop in godliness.

Come back to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Righteousness, godliness, faith. You're saved by faith. Paul said in Romans chapter 1, verse 16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Then he goes on in verse 17 to say that we live “from faith to faith.” “The just shall live by faith.” We were born into God's family by faith, but that's not the end of my faith. Now I continue to live trusting God day by day. So when he says to pursue after faith, I am to be learning and have a desire to be trusting God in every area of my life. I want to believe what He has said in His Word and build my life upon it. I want to be a man of faith.

How often, if you've been a believer long, you've experienced people like this. You see them trusting the Lord with a settledness and a confidence and a tranquility. You say, boy, I haven't met someone who had faith like that. Well, that's what we're to be pursuing here. I want to trust the Lord more and more in every situation of my life.

Turn over a few pages to the book of Hebrews chapter 11. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, we're told “without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” So you cannot please God without faith. You cannot experience God's salvation without believing in His Son Jesus Christ. You cannot experience God's salvation without believing what He says about you as a sinner is true. But that's not the end of it. Hebrews chapter 11 is about the life of faith of various individuals of the Old Testament and how in difficult and trying situations they put their confidence and trust in God, believing the promises of God even when it cost them dearly in the physical realm. So if we are to please God, we must be men and women of faith. A faith that begins by trusting in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ but then we must be a people who are learning and committed to trusting God in the daily situations of life. Pursue faith, learning to trust God in all areas of life.

Come back to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Pursue love, the fourth quality mentioned here, perhaps the most familiar one. It's the one that everybody wants to latch onto today. And when they want to talk about God, they always want to tell you God is a God of love, as though that's all that God was or is. So if you talk to them about sin, about condemnation, about hell, they say, no, my God is a God of love. Well, it's a distorted view. God is a God of love. But God is also a God of righteousness, a God of holiness, a God of mercy, a God of judgment. So I want to have a clear picture of who God really is.

You know, I may know one of the members of the state patrol. I say, he's a very kind and thoughtful person, and he stops me doing 110 on the way to Omaha. He says, I'm going to give you a ticket, Gil. I say, I thought you were a kind, thoughtful person. Well, does that mean he's not a kind, thoughtful person, because he gives me a ticket for doing 110? But that's the way people are of God. Oh, God would never send anyone to hell, He's a God of love. Yes, He is. But I also have to realize, I am a sinner, and the penalty for sin is death, but His love is so great He provided salvation for me. Oh, but I'm not willing to have His salvation. But He still shouldn't be righteous. He still shouldn't be holy. He still shouldn't judge me. So, I want to have a true perspective and picture of who God is. I don't want to minimize His love in any way. The greatest demonstration of love that was ever given by God was having His own Son step down from glory to come to earth so He could be crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for my sin. That's the great demonstration of love, that He loved us and had His Son die for us.

Now here we have experienced that love. Now we are to pursue love, and the word for love here, the Greek word is the “agape” love. This particular love is self-sacrificing, self-giving love. It is a love that does what is best and right for the other person, regardless of what that person does. This is not a love that is mutual in its emphasis. This is a love that acts for the good of someone else regardless of what they do. This is not natural. It is one of the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians chapter 5. God produces His love in the lives of His children to enable us to demonstrate His self-sacrificing love in our serving one another and other people.

Well, one passage. I'll limit it to one, 1 John 4. While you're turning to 1 John, remember the most familiar verse in the Bible, John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That's the love here. God's self-sacrificing love, to have His Son die for you and me so that we would not have to perish. So if you will believe in Him, you will not perish, but you will have eternal life. In 1 John chapter 4, verse 7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” So for this kind of love to truly be produced in a life, you must be born of God because it is His love; it is not natural human love.

That's why there is a breakdown in human relationships. We love one another on the basis of the pleasure we're getting out of the relationship. Oh, we're deeply in love. Six months later you find out they're not together anymore. What they really meant is I'm getting a lot of satisfaction and pleasure out of the relationship. We're talking about a love here that is not dependent on anything coming back, God produces that. Because I think if I give you something, I deserve something in return. Maybe I give more than you give back, but if I keep giving and you never respond, forget it, buddy. That's on the human level. That's why the world wants to emphasize self-esteem and self-love because I think I should love me.

He satisfied the demands of righteousness by paying the penalty for us. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. We who have experienced the overwhelming love of God that knows no depth or breadth, must demonstrate that love in our relationship to one another. With this as a standard as John sets it, it means many, many, many people in professing Christian churches are not truly born again. They are even there for selfish reasons, not there primarily because of the truth of God that is taught. Not there primarily because of the opportunity to mature and grow together in worship and service. They're there because of extraneous reasons. They have programs that we enjoy; it's a social activity; and on it goes. We need to be careful. We delude and deceive ourselves. True godly people, servants of God, are on the pursuit of biblical love in serving one another.

Come back to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Man of God, pursue perseverance. Perseverance as a Greek word is a compound word meaning to live or remain and under. “Hupomone”, “hupo” is under, “mone” is to live or remain. You're living under pressure so you persevere. You have endurance. One of the marks of a servant of God is faithfulness to God under trials and difficulties. Trials and difficulties do two things. They reveal character and they produce character. Pressure reveals me. Often been in a situation with someone you had high regard for. A certain pressure situation came up and they flew off the handle and did something. You didn't know what to say, you were dumbfounded. Pressure revealed character. But for the child of God pressure develops character. So he's talking about that here. The child of God perseveres and pursues perseverance. I want to learn to be faithful under trial and pressure.

Turn over to Hebrews, a few pages toward the back of your New Testament, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 36. Paul warns these Christians or professing Christians. Jews who profess to have trusted Christ, but are now under intense pressure and difficulty, the kind of pressure where they have lost their homes, they have lost their jobs, they have lost their possessions. So this is not just somebody said something unkind or started a rumor about them. This is really intense pressure. Paul says, or the writer to Hebrews says, verse 36 “you have need of endurance.”

Verse 35 he said “don't throw away your confidence,” you can't go back. They're thinking maybe I'll go back to Judaism. I'm going to take the pressure off. But like someone who's saved out of a Roman Catholic background or you fill in the blank, there's so much pressure from family and friends and job, you say, I'm gonna go back. I can't live with it. Well, as a believer, you need to be pursuing endurance.

And verse 39 “We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” The perseverance of the saints is a mark of a true believer. And those who abandon Christianity because of the pressures of life manifest the fact they never truly were born again. They are like the shallow ground hearers in Jesus' account. When sowed the seed, and it fell on shallow ground, and oh it springs up immediately, a person says this is what I want, yes, this is it, this is for me. Then the sun comes up, the persecution, the trials come, they wither and fall away. They had no root. They weren't genuine. So that's the warning of Hebrews. There have been some bailed out.

We have had people in, the almost thirty years of my ministry in this church, that I would grieve over today. When they heard the message of Christ, they responded, they were so excited, they wanted everybody to know, but the pressure built and it revealed that they had not genuinely been born again. They bailed out. That doesn't mean they stop being religious. They may have gone back to their old religion or went to one that was neutral, because you see, the truth of God has an edge. The preaching of the gospel, 1 Corinthians 1 says, is “offensive to those who are perishing.” People want to go to church and be told nice things. If you are sharing the truth and living the truth, you will need to be persevering.

James chapter 1, verse 2 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,” and I'm still working on it. This is a hard verse. Trials come into your life. Thank you, Lord. You are a gracious and loving God to bring this into my life so I could grow and mature. My first reaction is usually Lord, what are you doing? I've tried to be faithful. It doesn't do any good. You know, “count it all joy.” Why? “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” How am I going to learn to live under trials if I never have any trials? “Let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” See what he's saying? Trials and pressure produce endurance, which develops character, which brings me to maturity.

Isn't that the way we raise our kids? Or should? As they get older, what? They have to learn to handle certain difficulties and trials, and as easy as a parent, what, we want to intervene. We don't want them to have to suffer. We don't want them to experience the pain. But sometimes we have to hold back, why? We want them to learn to live through it so they'll be ready to handle a little more pressure so someday they'll be ready to live as adults and not bail out every time difficulty presents itself. That's the way it is spiritually. God is maturing us and developing us. In verse 12 of James 1 “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he'll receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” So, we as believers have a perspective on the trials and difficulties and hardships of this life. God is shaping me because this life is not an end in itself for me. This life is a developing-ground, a maturing-ground for future glory.

Come back to 1 Timothy chapter 6. The sixth quality here that we're to be pursuing is “gentleness”, a word that would be related to words like kindness, meekness. A person who is gentle, not wimpy. That's interesting to me that the last quality he mentions here in this list is “gentleness”. The next command he will give will be to fight. So being gentle doesn't mean here's a person who never has any conflicts. That's a wimp. A gentle person is the character of Christ, who has the meekness and the kindness, but also drives out the money-changers in the temple with a whip. He says to the religious leaders of His day, you're open, stinking, smelling graves. It doesn't mean your life is never offensive because the truth is offensive. But in our character we must be gentle, understanding, caring, meek people. We bring in arrogance, even to the proclamation of truth, it becomes ugly and abrasive. I can't take the edge off of the truth, but I can take the edge off of my life, if you will, in my handling of things. That's one of the fruit of the Spirit. It doesn't come naturally, Galatians 5:23. It's something God produces in the life as we submit to Him so in our pursuit we are longing for God's character to be produced in us. We have to move on.

The first command is to flee. Second command is to follow, or pursue. Third command is to “fight”, another present imperative. A believer is to be characterized as one who is in an ongoing struggle and battle. We have to just summarize these last couple of things. The word - we get the English word agonize from this word - the word is “agonizomai”. Agonize. We are to agonize the good agony, literally, fight the good fight. Fight the good fight of faith. The word denotes an intense struggle, conflict. When we fight the good fight of faith we are fighting against everything that is contrary to the Word of God. We are fighting for the truth.

Jude wrote to his listeners and said that he wanted to exhort them to “contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Why? People have crept in, even among believers, who are trying to corrupt the truth, adulterate the truth. Paul said, we are not like the hucksters, who adulterate the Word of God, mix it with other things, to make it more salable, in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, which is the thing in the church today, to market the church, to make it more salable so we adulterate the Word of God. We are hucksters with the Word. We won't go to 2 Corinthians 2, but Paul's picture there is graphic. Like a people who would adulterate their product to deceive people to get them to buy it. People are doing that with the Word of God. You can go to their church, but they won't preach about sin, but they claim to be Bible-believing Christians. They won't preach about hell. Well, this is a different kind of service, and we adulterate the truth and we mix it with men's ideas to make it more palatable to people. No, we are to be in the fight for the faith.

At the end of his life, 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7, Paul says: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. He doesn't say to Timothy, look, my life has been one endless battle. I hope you'll learn and do better. What is he saying to Timothy? Timothy, I hope you'll pattern your life after me. I am glad for the agony of my life. He's grieved that one like Demas in 2 Timothy 4:10, having loved this present world, has deserted me. What a tragedy. Here's a man who labored and ministered with the Apostle Paul. The allurement of the world was too great. The cost of the fight for the faith was too much and he deserted. And he is immortalized in the Word of God, but we remember him because he was a deserter in the battle. The Christian life is a battle. All who will live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. That's in 2 Timothy 3:12.

You can't get around it. We think we've come to a good balance. People like me. I'm accepted. People don't say negative things about me. What's wrong with your life? Are you a Christian? I mean, I don't want to go around and make enemies, but that's not the life Christ had. After three years, they couldn't stand Him. Why do want to crucify Me, a Man who's told you the truth? If they've hated Me, they'll hate you, He told His followers. I want to be honest. I think, boy, I, I must be doing something right. Woe to you when all men speak well of you. That's what they did of false prophets. Terrible compromise that is made to be liked and accepted by the world. And the church has gone to such an extent in that that the compromise there isolates you even more if you are committed to the fight for the faith.

The last command back in 1 Timothy 6 is to “take hold of eternal life.” And I'm not one who gives outlines or alliterates, but I couldn't miss it on this, my chance. Flee, follow, fight, fasten. You might write it down. It's probably the last of the alliteration you'll get from me. Take hold of - another command - and not a present tense here. It's an aorist, means that it's something you do, you take hold of eternal life. You're to have a firm grip on the life that God has given us and promised us in Christ. We have been given eternal life. We have been also promised eternal life. I have eternal life, but I have not entered into the fulness of my experience of it, so I am to lay hold of it, in that I am to grasp onto the life that I have been promised that will ultimately be realized in its fulness in His presence. And so everything I do is shaped by the eternity that He has promised me.

Same thing we studied in Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things which are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep seeking the things which are above. That's the same thing as lay hold on eternal life. You set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. It's so easy to get focused here. You know, was the Apostle Paul a success or not? Well, humanly speaking, no. What did he accomplish? You know, half the time he's in jail some place, writing letters to a struggling church that wants to continually drift off the track. But he was faithful. We are so driven to measure faithfulness by external standards. Easy for me as a pastor. I am successful. Why? My church is bigger than some other churches. What's that got to do with anything? Am I faithful? I think of men who are being more faithful than me as they serve with a handful of people. That's the measure. I thank God for His grace in giving us many people. And that is a blessing and an encouragement. But God forbid that we should adjust our faithfulness to be many.

“Lay hold of eternal life.” Live in light of eternity. That's the anchor for our life. The greatest losses here are put into perspective by the future hope of eternity. I want to come to the end of life and be able to say with the Apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished the course. In the future there is laid up a crown of righteousness for me. And not for me only, but it's a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to all who love His appearing.”

We want to be men of God, servants of God. We must flee, follow, fight, fasten, lay hold of the eternal life. Is that the characteristic of your life? Let me ask you. Are you a member of God's family? Don't go out and say, yeah, I'm going do it. I'm going to apply myself. I'm going to be different. Well, first of all, you have to ask yourself, have I ever been born into God's family? Have I experienced what it means to be clean and pure and forgiven before God? Have I ever understood that I am a sinner, lost and separated from God, and in love He has provided a Savior? I've turned from my sin and I'm trusting Him alone and He has graciously made me a new person. And your life will change, but it will be changed because He has made you new on the inside. You won't be what you were. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things just pass away. New things have come.

Let's pray together. Thank You, God, for the wonder of salvation. Thank You for Your love for us. Thank You for the truth, in that yet while we were sinners, Christ died for us. And Lord, as we thank You for that salvation, may it be the passion of our life, that the fulness of that salvation be experienced and realized in the way that we live all that You might be honored and glorified with the lives that we have to serve You until Christ comes, in whose name we pray. Amen.