1 Timothy 6:11-16 - Fight the Good Fight of Faith

God’s Word: 1 Timothy 6:11-16

11 But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and about which you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who made a good confession as a witness before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep this command without spot and without fault, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will make known at the proper time—the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or is able to see. To him be honor and power forever! Amen. – EHV

Fight the good fight!  That’s what Paul says in our lesson today.  Now I have to admit, I’ve never been much of a fighter, and I struggle to understand how a fight can be good.  It usually means all efforts to resolve a conflict have failed and all that’s left is physicality.  So I’ve tried to avoid fighting, replacing it with communication in almost every aspect of life.  But in Highschool, just a few pounds and a lot of years ago, I was a wrestler.  I did most of the years of highschool in the 160 to 180 pound weight classes, which if you know anything about wrestling, is where the crazy strong guys usually go to work.

I was inexperienced as a freshman, Dad had wrestled, but I hadn’t done all the camps that were just starting to come into vogue when I was young. But I figured I had played a season of football, and if I was slamming into guys in the line and toppling running backs and the like, it couldn’t be much more difficult than that, and after all, it was only 3 two-minute rounds.  Football was like an hour. This should be easy.  I’ve never sweat so much in my life, but I figured with all that hard work we should be able to annihilate the competition. 

I’ll never forget my first match. I would later learn my opponent, a senior, had been injured the year before, and his coach brought him down to JV for the first few matches of the year to ease him back into competition form.  We walked out, the whistle blew, and he immediately stuck out his leg, leaving it wide open.  I shot confident that I had been given a gift.  As I reached out, he somersaulted over me, cradling me up tight.  Within seconds, I was on my back, looking at the lights. I fought, but it was over. I heard the slap of the mat.  I had lasted 20 whole seconds. I was humiliated. How could that happen?  What had I done?  I was not good … that match was not good, at least for me.

Why are we talking about this?  Well, because for one I believe Paul might have been thinking about wrestling.  It was an Olympic sport after all, and they are occurring at this time in history.  Not to mention that wrestling is a Biblical sport, Jacob wrestled God.  But I do believe it shows us what a good fight ultimately takes.  I guarantee you that I worked hard and tried hard in practice, but I failed that first match.  Overconfidence, lack of understanding of my opponent, inexperience, they all left me looking at lights, regardless of how hard I had tried. 

Paul tells the Ephesians, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).  It’s not freshman verses senior, but sinner verses sinful self, against satan and the demons at his disposal, against the world overrun by them, and against death and hell.  How are we supposed to go out and fight the good fight against them?  I’m guessing you have tried.  Our feeble power and strength against temptation.  How are we supposed to outmaneuver the one who brought Adam and Eve, perfect as they were, down? A world of strength against me? Death and hell, the fact that I claim the name of “sinner” means they already have all that they need.  On my own, I’m not going to last 20 seconds … I don’t even think I’ll make it to the mat.  Unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain (1 Timothy 6:4-5), the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10).  That’s the list Paul has just written down before penning flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. How’s that going? Which list honestly better describes you?  Lights … I’m on my back again … embarrassed.  Not good.  How am I supposed to fight a good fight?

Fast forward a few years.  I continued to work hard.  I won some … I lost some.  Felt a little bit like a roll of the dice every time I hit the mat.  My hard work earned me the nickname of fish among my opponents.  You can get him down, but it’s hard to keep him there.  I wasn’t going to lose in 20 seconds anymore, I’d promised myself that.  Then there was the match that made me rethink my approach.  It was a tournament. Coach walked over and told me he’d seen the guy I was up against a few times.  He always went for a throw.  We drilled a counter for about 3 minutes before the match.  I went out, the whistle blew, the guy went for it, I countered.  10 seconds that’s all it took to pin a guy who had until that point been waltzing through the tournament.  Know your opponent! It turned out that produced even bigger dividends than buckets of sweat and bulging muscles.

That’s what Paul is saying in those verses: God’s Law!  It’s not just a long list of do’s and don’t’s.  It tells us how the enemies attack us.  It spells out their strategy and gives us the counters.  Stay away from the temptations and the vices, chase after the good.  That’s how you fight a good fight in this life. But it still only gets you so far.  One slip, one mistake, and we find ourselves in the grasp of a superior opponent who embarrasses us, defeats us.  We need more.  Thankfully, God provides that too. Listen to the words of our lesson again.  This time, looking for the sure and solid win.  (reread lesson)

Did you hear it?  Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and about which you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Faith points us to the sure thing.  Faith lays hold of eternal life.  It points to the one who gives life, Who gives victory.  It points to Christ Jesus, who made a good confession as a witness before Pontius Pilate, who will appear again at the proper time — the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone has immortality, who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or is able to see. To him be honor and power forever! Amen.

It turns out, you have a champion.  One who fights for you against the foes that frighten us.  He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords, immortal, unapproachable, unseen, so indefensible for Him there is no counterattack!  All honor all power belong to Him.  And in the fullness of time, He took on flesh for you, joined the fight, walked out on the mat.  He was perfect, no slips, no mistakes.  He sent satan packing, defeated even death and hell.  That’s what the cross is all about.  His holy, precious blood was the perfect price for all the times the foes pinned me to the ground when sin had me beat before the whistle even blew.  And His resurrection, as our Risen Savior, He hands the victory to us.  So that, as Luther put it, one little Word, God’s Word, which tells of His Victory, Your Victory, and exposes the darkness of sin for all that it is, it fells the foes.  This battle isn’t about my power or my strength.  It’s not about my strategy or wisdom.  It’s a battle of faith, given and provided by God Himself, strengthened and maintained in His means of Grace.  Focus on Him, brothers and sisters, Count on Him for victory.  Or as the first of the commandments says it, You shall have no other Gods and Luther trumpeted, We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.  Fellow soldiers of the cross, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).  So, in faith, by God’s grace, Lay hold of eternal life, the victory God alone provides and with the confidence that He has already done all that is needed.  Fight! Fight the good fight of faith! Amen.