Fight The Good Fight

But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 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. 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, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:11–16)

What does it mean to walk out our salvation and fight the good fight of faith?

A Culture of Conflict

It's been an interesting couple of years. It used to seem that these political seasons came in cycles, but now it feels like a steady state—just politics all the time. This last week I received an absentee ballot in the mail, so we're back into it. Over the coming weeks and months it will ramp up: political signs, mailers, commercials, a constant drone. Part of me is simply tired of the political wrangling of our culture, yet it's the reality we live in.

Especially since November of 2016, when things didn't go the way a significant portion of our nation expected, we've seen a movement of resistance and a new phenomenon the political sphere calls virtue signaling—people feeling the need to be publicly outspoken about every opinion and sentiment they have. It creates a tense climate. Maybe you've sat in a family gathering, a workplace, or your kid's baseball game and watched people loudly share opinions you're not sure you agree with, but you'd never let on for fear it might not go well for you. It almost feels like a political cold war between the left and the right, and certain voices would love to move it from cold-war tension into an open fight.

Flee These Things

Then we come to a passage like 1 Timothy 6:11: "But you, O man of God, flee these things." If you are a follower of Jesus, you would be classified as a man or woman of God—that's what the Scriptures call you—so this passage has a word for you. If you're not yet a Christian, we're glad you're here, and I believe God wants to speak to you as well. But to the man or woman of God, Paul's exhortation is simple: flee. That word means to seek safety by flight; it implies something dangerous is in pursuit, so you must flee from it.

What are the things we should flee? They're identified in the previous section, verses 1 through 10. Paul lists about ten of them: pride and ignorance, disputes and arguments, envy and strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings, greed, and the love of money.

I've done a fair amount of self-examination this week, and although I know it theologically, it's a struggle to admit in reality that every single one of these things is in my nature, in spades. Take pride. As a junior higher I memorized a definition of pride and still remember it. My high school had the word pride painted in fifteen-foot letters on the gymnasium. I'm in the first graduating class of those called Millennials, all in on the self-esteem movement and participation awards. Our culture fans the flames of pride, and I find it in myself.

Then there's ignorance. I'm fine being ignorant about all kinds of things—until it becomes clear to others, and then my pride forces me to save face and insist I know what I'm talking about. That leads to disputes and arguments. Any married couples here? You ever start arguing in your pride, and halfway through you're not even sure what you're arguing about, but you won't give in? When this text speaks of those obsessed with disputes, the original language describes one who has an unhealthy craving for controversy. I'd like to think I've matured beyond that, but I've been called a grenade thrower—there's something twisted in me that likes to stir things up. I'll confess that on two occasions before his death I had to have private conversations with Pastor Chuck Smith to apologize for strife I'd stirred up.

And then greed and the love of money. Apart from the work of Jesus, I'm convinced that's exactly what my nature would be. I think it's part of God's grace that He called me into the nonprofit sector, because He knows my nature here. As a kid the one thing I liked about baseball was selling candy bars; what I loved about grade school was selling cookie dough, gift wrap, and magazine subscriptions. That endeavor fit my carnal nature perfectly.

You Will Not Flee What You Do Not See

Here is point number one: you will not flee what you do not see in yourself. When we hear a preacher speak against pride and envy and greed, we instantly think, "My cousin should hear this." It takes no special gift to identify these things in someone else. But it takes a move of God's grace, humility, and self-examination to acknowledge them in ourselves, to confess them, and to repent.

Why should we flee these things? First, to not do so is contrary to Christ's likeness. Pride, disputes, envy, strife, greed—these accord with our nature, describing us to a tee, but they do not align with the nature of Christ. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:3, if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to withdraw from such a person. Second, these things are destructive. Verse 9 says those who desire to be rich "fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition," and verse 10 says they "pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Third, fleeing them acknowledges the authority of God and the eternality of His promise—that we're living for something greater than this world. "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (6:6).

Forsaking Sin and Pursuing the New

Point number two: you will not forsake what you do not regard as sinful. We won't renounce these things or reckon them dead until we recognize them as a hindrance, as sinful in our lives. But once we do, it becomes easy to say, "I don't want that," even though we still struggle with it, because it's our very nature we're fighting.

Whenever we flee from something, we must flee to something. So Paul says, "Flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness." Point number three: every flight must become a new pursuit. This turning away and turning to—putting off and putting on—is seen throughout the New Testament. In Ephesians 4:22, Paul says put off the old man and put on the new: put off lying and speak the truth; put off theft, get a job, and give to those in need; put away corrupt communication and speak that which edifies. For every put-off there's a corresponding put-on.

The word pursue is interesting—it's not casual following but the image of a predator after its prey. So as the old nature comes after us like a predator, we turn and pursue the new, laying hold of these six things. Righteousness speaks of integrity, virtue, and purity of life—rightness before God. Godliness is reverence and piety before God and men. Faith is both steadfast confidence in God and fidelity and faithfulness to Him. Love is the Greek agape, described in 1 Corinthians 13—kind, patient, not envious, not proud, not boastful, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily provoked, not resentful. That doesn't describe us at all, but it describes Christ, and if Christ is in you, His Spirit enables you to pursue this love. Patience is persevering, steadfast dependability, something our culture doesn't value but Paul says to pursue. And finally gentleness—meekness and mildness.

Imagine how our lives, our homes, our church, and our workplaces might be different if, by God's grace, we fled the carnality of our fallen nature and pursued the work of God in the new nature He's given us. We cannot do this in our own strength, but if Christ dwells in us by His Holy Spirit, we have the enabling power to do so. Second Corinthians 5:17 says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, all things have become new. Ephesians 4:23 says be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Five hundred years before Christ, Ezekiel prophesied (36:26) that God would take away our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, writing His law upon it. The Christian is a new creation, and that's why Paul says flee the old and pursue the new.

The Good Fight of Faith

This is not simple. Look at verse 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." Point number four: the flight from the old man and the pursuit of the new is the good fight of faith. To flee the old man and pursue the new, by the grace of God and His Spirit, is a good endeavor to commit yourself to.

But this verse holds some complexity. Romans 10 says if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. So if you've confessed Jesus as Lord, you are saved—promised an eternity with God, of which Psalm 16 says, "In His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore." Yet here Paul says "lay hold on eternal life," as if it's still something not yet in our grasp. How does that fit?

There is an already / not yet sense for the Christian. You already have the promise of eternity—it is sure, set, certain. And yet in this life many Christians live defeated and deflated, overcome by the old nature with its pride, envy, strife, and greed, never experiencing the peace, joy, victory, and blessing of eternity. They fall into the mindset, "If only Jesus would come back and rescue me from all this." But Paul says no—flee the old man, pursue the new, and in fighting this good fight you will lay hold of what is yours now. The Christian can enjoy in this life, not merely look forward to, the joy, peace, victory, and blessing of eternal life.

How? By fighting the good fight of faith, fleeing the old nature and pursuing the new. This is a God-empowered work. Philippians 2:12-13 says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." For 500 years Christians have debated the responsibility of man (Arminianism) and the sovereignty of God (Calvinism), but Scripture welds them together. Work out your own salvation—that's your responsibility—for the sovereign God is working in you. As you flee these things by His indwelling power and pursue His nature, you begin to experience the peace, joy, victory, and blessing of eternal life now.

Keep This Commandment

In verse 13 Paul says, "I urge you in the sight of God... that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing." What commandment? There are four imperatives in these verses: flee, pursue, fight, and lay hold of. Flee the old nature, pursue the new, fight this good fight of faith—it takes energy and effort by God's grace—and lay hold of that for which Christ has saved you.

Point number five: this good fight of faith is our whole concern until the end. Salvation appears in three tenses in Scripture: past—you have been saved; present—you are being saved; future—you shall be saved. How does it fit? Salvation encompasses three things. Justification: if you've trusted Jesus, His death has been credited to you and you're declared righteous. But many of you don't always feel saved, because you are being saved through sanctification, the Spirit's cleansing and transforming work conforming you to Christ's image. And one day, when corruption puts on incorruption and we see Him and are made like Him, there is glorification. If you are a Christian, you have been justified and can be certain of your future glorification—so your present focus is sanctification, working out your salvation as God works in you.

Paul says to keep this commandment "until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing." Much energy has been spent trying to figure out when that will be. Over twenty years of ministry, people often ask me when Jesus will come. My simple answer: Jesus said He didn't know—only the Father knows—so how would I? Paul answers it in verse 15: Christ "will manifest in His own time." God is working according to His own schedule. The implication is that we should stop spending so much time calculating His return and start working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

He alone is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see." God will wrap things up when He is ready. Until then, if you've trusted Jesus, you have been justified and shall be glorified—but today is the day to work out your salvation as He works in you. We must renounce what is not in line with His nature, reckon it dead, flee the fallen old nature filled with pride, envy, strife, and greed, and in its place pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.

As we do this, we will fail and fall; we won't do it perfectly. But we can be confident that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. And when we confess our failures, He is faithful and just to cleanse and forgive, and to say, "Come on, let's do it again." This is the call He's given us: fight the good fight of faith, by His grace at work in us.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You that You are gracious and that You forgive us when we fail and bring those things to You in confession and repentance. God, I pray that You would continue to work in us, to transform us more and more into the image of Your Son. Lord, help us this week to take those steps—it's a step of faith to walk these things out, to fight the good fight of faith, to lay hold of that for which You saved us, that You would shine brightly in and through our lives through Your righteousness at work in us. God, do that work.

And it may be that even as we're standing here you recognize you've been trying to do all of this without the help of God, without the forgiving grace of salvation, and that you need His saving grace at work in your life. It's a free gift given because of what Jesus did on the cross. If you'd like to confess Him today and receive His salvation, pray with me: Dear Jesus, I know I can't do it on my own. Would You come into my life, forgive me of my sin, and help me to follow You by faith and to fight this good fight. In Jesus' name, amen.