1 Timothy 6:12: Fighting the Good Fight

INTRODUCTION

In one of his last letters, St. Paul wrote these lines to encourage his young friend Timothy:

“Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).

In thinking about this verse we are to see, not the picture of a warrior slashing with his sword or shooting arrows. The word in Greek is agõnizõ, the word from which we get our word “agonize.” The picture Paul has in mind is a wrestler, struggling against his opponent in a wrestling match

Do you ever feel like your life as a Christian is like a wrestling match?

Is it hard for you to keep praying, to keep reading your Bible, to keep coming to church? Is it hard to feel that your life is blessing anyone very much?

Paul wrote, “Never flag in zeal. Be aglow with the Spirit. Serve the Lord” (Romans 12:11).

St. Paul wrote again, “Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9).

But it is easy to flag in our zeal…to grow weary in well-doing…to lose heart.

The Christian life is a struggle. It needs all the grit and determination we can muster.

We read in Acts 14 where Paul returned to cities he had visited before—Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch—strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

Sometimes when Charlotte and walk on the trail, we see the young people running by. It seems so easy for them. They run so easily, with smiles on their faces. We envy them as we trudge along.

Often when someone is young in the faith, he or she is so excited that their initial enthusiasm makes living for Jesus easy. They are like those youthful runners.

But as time goes on, it becomes harder and harder. In Isaiah 40 the prophet says something interesting. He writes,

They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

That order seems wrong. Why wouldn’t they first walk, and then run, and finally mount up with wings like eagles?

Isaiah is writing to a nation that has been languishing in captivity in Babylon for 49 years.

They have just learned that their exile is ended. They will soon return to their homeland.

They are naturally excited…full of hope…full of joy…full of enthusiasm.

They are flying high—like eagles soaring into the sky.

But, the prophet knows, there will be rough spots. Things won’t be as perfect as they suppose. They will go from flying to running—and finally, from running to just trudging along.

“Trudging along” describes much of our life for God.

I. The Christian life is a struggle. It is glorious—but it is also a struggle.

A. You have heard that the three enemies of our soul are the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The world around us, in which we live and breathe, always tends to draw us away from God. I think of how the world exalts pleasure, money, and security as most important values in life.

I think of the flesh—the inclination to take the easy way. Jesus said, “The way is easy that leads to destruction.”

I think of the devil—the tempter, who always tries to use disappointment and discouragement to make us give up on God.

Our life is a fight, a contest—a contest between the world, with its false values; and our flesh—our natural inclinations; and the tempter.

B. But our fight is a good fight. It is a good fight because it is a fight of faith. That is why the apostle says, “Fight the good fight of faith.”

The verse can be translated two ways: “Fight the good fight of faith” or “Fight the good fight of the faith.”

I will take it in both senses. We need to fight the good fight to hold onto the faith, and we need to fight the good fight to live according to the truth we believe.

We may have a struggle to hold on to our faith. We need to know what we believe and what the Bible teaches. We need to grow in our knowledge of God and his purposes in the world. Our quest for answers for our questions could lead us away from the things that are most essential—Jesus, the Savior, the Son of God, the importance of the Cross and Resurrection, the way to eternal life, and living our life for God. These are the truths or the faith we must hold onto as we “fight the good fight for the faith.”

But even harder is to live as we believe. A Christian isn’t only someone who believes the right things.

Many people, who have no desire to live for God, believe the right things. They can cheerfully recite the Creed, but its truth makes no change in their lives.

A Christian is someone who lives as she or he believes.

To live for God means to own that Jesus is my Lord, to give him first place, to trust him and obey him and seek to honor him in all I do.

To live for Jesus takes grit and determination. That’s why Paul calls it a fight—a struggle.

II. But we not only “Fight the good fight of faith,” we also “Take hold of eternal life.”

A. Imagine a wrestler in the Olympics. He struggles in his mighty effort to overcome his opponent.

He hears his coach’s voice in his ears: “Fight the good fight; lay hold of the gold.”

Paul says, “Fight the good fight; lay hold of eternal life.” Eternal life—that’s the prize.

B. When we speak of “eternal life” we think of Heaven—of life with Jesus and the angels and the saints in Glory. But Jesus wants us to remember that we are already embarked on eternal life. Eternal life is a present possession. The Bible says, “Whoever has the Son has eternal life.” (1 John 5:12).

Each of us who belongs to God has two kinds of life—physical life, that will end soon, and eternal life, that will never end.

And God means us to enjoy even now some of the blessings of eternal life. Eternal life is—

…to know Christ and to enjoy his companionship,

…to feel his power and love in our lives,

…to enjoy the privilege of partnering with him in his work in our world,

…and to know that we are destined for glory.

To take hold of eternal life is to keep our destiny clearly in sight all the time. Whatever we do, we ask ourselves, “What is its value in eternity?

We live only one day at a time, but every day we live, we are living for eternity.

When we pass up a chance to express our faith with concrete action, we are sowing weeds for eternity. And whenever we do a kind, loving, costly, generous action, we are sowing a crop to be reaped in eternity.

This is what Jesus calls “laying up treasure in heaven.”

The smallest action done for Jesus lasts forever—whether anyone on earth remembers it or not.

C. In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul writes about two kinds of builders. Both are Christians. Both are building on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Some are building with perishable materials: wood, hay, and stubble.

And some are building with permanent materials: gold, silver, precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:10-14).

Those who are building with perishable materials will see their life’s work go up in smoke. They will suffer loss. But those who are building with permanent materials will have a reward. This is what Jesus meant when he said that as we spend our resources for him, we are laying up treasure in heaven.

D. Here are some ways we can “take hold of eternal life.”

I take hold of eternal life when I open my Bible and pray that God will speak to me from its pages.

I take hold of eternal life when I keep myself in an attitude of prayer, when I pray when I go to bed and when I wake up. I thank God for his blessings, pray for people in need and for grace for myself.

I take hold of eternal life when I do what God wants me to do when it would be easier to just take it easy in front of the TV.

I take hold of eternal life when I go to church or Bible study.

I take hold of eternal life when I go out of my way to encourage someone who is downhearted, when I do a favor for someone or give a gift that costs me something. It could be the gift of sympathy or of a listening ear.

CONCLUSION

Some think it’s tiresome to talk so much about heaven. I talk about heaven because heaven is so important.

As the verse goes:

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past.

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

People say of earnest Christians: “They are so heavenly-minded, they are of no earthly good.”

I’ve never met one of these people who are so heavenly-minded they are of no earthly good. But many are so earthly minded that their lives achieve little of eternal value.

It is good to think often about our heavenly home.

It helps us live a meaningful life on earth—a life that will count for eternity.

Sometimes, let your imagination take you to your heavenly home.

Imagine yourself in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem.

Imagine how it will be when Jesus welcomes you into his arms, and you meet your dear ones and God’s people from all ages.

Imagine yourself sitting with your friends on the grass, under the Tree of Life, beside the River of the Water of Life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and from the Lamb.

Look forward to the time when Jesus wipes away all your tears, and death will be no more…no more mourning or crying or pain any more for the former things have passed away.

And we’ll have no more sin. The sins and faults and bad habits we struggled against all our lives will be gone, washed away by the blood of the Lamb.

And you will be so vigorous in your new resurrected body that you will dance and play and skip and jump like a deer. (That’s what it says in the Bible: “Then the lame man will leap like a deer.”)

Imagine the reunion with your dear ones who have gone before, and all the new friends you will meet.

We will visit with the most interesting people who ever lived—Mary and Martha and Jeremiah and Paul and many others. You will hear their stories and they will listen to yours.

Think about singing in the heavenly choir with the angels.

I know that those images about the golden streets, clear as glass, and the harps and the walls of precious gems and the gates made of huge pearls are picture language to describe the indescribable. But the reality will be even more glorious.

When your mind dwells on these things, then you are really laying hold of eternal life. You are enjoying some of the blessings of Heaven here and now.

Prayer:

Dear Father, grant that when you call us away from here, our leave-taking will not be a painful separation but a glorious union with you.

Help us—each one of us—by faith, to “lay hold of the eternal life to which we have been called and to which we’ve witnessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”