FIGHT LIKE A CHRISTIAN

Jeannie L Horton
Life Christian University student #17122

FIGHT LIKE A CHRISTIAN

INTRODUCTION

During my mission’s trip to Chacalte, Guatemala, our team was driven 7 ½ hours from Guatemala City to Nebaj, followed by another hour to Chacalte. The road conditions were horrible: muddy with many potholes. On the way, I was concerned about seeing the many armed security guards protecting small shops, and unfortunately, many dead dogs along the highway. But as I kept watching outside our bus window, people appeared happy. They’d wave and smile, and I would do the same back at them. We saw a couple getting married. The bride and groom were grinning from ear to ear. The bridal party waved as we drove by. When we arrived in Chacalte, greeted by many children running towards our bus, they were full of smiles and eager enthusiasm. Their houses were made out of wood, with cracks to see inside, dirt floors and tin roofs. The homes didn’t have heating except for the warmth of the wood-burning stoves they used to cook with that were inside most of their homes. Families didn’t make much money. Some of the young kids were not able to go to school and worked in the fields instead to help earn money. Chacalte had a church, and many would gather a few times a week to worship. Initially, I wanted to feel sorry for them and to see how I could help them. But I saw happy faces, laughter, and families that were full of love for each other. When we talked with them through a translator, they spoke of God, their families, and the community. They didn’t have a lot to us, but they were thankful for everything that the Lord had provided them. I learned a lot from the mission’s trip. I learned about being content in all my circumstances, and about giving thanks to the Lord for all the things He has given me: a family, nice home, place to worship freely, a running car, and paved roads.

Satan is less concerned about getting us to sin, what he wants believers to do is take our eyes off of Jesus so we’ll stop worshiping Him and spreading His word to the lost. Satan wants to keep us confused with false teachings and idols. It isn’t any different today than in the days of the Apostle Paul. In those days, the church was dealing with the same issues that we now experience. Paul wanted to address the problem. In his letters to Timothy, his spiritual son, he writes to encourage him in his role as the new pastor at the church in Ephesus. In chapter 6 of 1st Timothy, Paul urges Timothy to do three things: flee, pursue, and fight. He urged Timothy to flee from false teachers, from the love of money: as well as flee from being envious, jealous, critical, and slandering one another. Instead, he was to pursue righteousness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness, and lastly, to fight the good fight of faith. As believers today, we can learn from the instructions that Paul gave to Timothy, as today’s church faces the same problems.

But as for you, O man of God, flee from these things; aim at and pursue righteousness [true goodness, moral conformity to the character of God], godliness [the fear of God], faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith [in the conflict with evil]; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and [for which] you made the good confessions [of faith] in the presence of many witnesses (1 Timothy 6:11-12 AMP).

I. FLEE

“But as for you, O man of God, flee from these things” (1 Timothy 6:11).  Paul admonished Timothy to flee from false teaching; envious, jealous, critical, and slandering one another; and the love of money. 

FALSE TEACHING   

False teaching is a threat to the church. Paul addressed the issue of false teachers: people who were confusing believers with false theology. The false teachers were preoccupied with myths and endless genealogies. Apostasy is disassociating oneself from religious beliefs. There is a warning against apostasy from the Holy Spirit in the books of Timothy and Titus. “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith: they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead" (1 Timothy 4:1). He then stated in 2 Timothy 4:3 that they will even look for teachers that will tell them what they want to hear instead of the truth of the gospel. Because of the false teachers, people were abandoning their faith, turning away from God. These people were deceived, following deceptive spirits and teachings that didn’t come from God, but Satan. As stated in 2nd Corinthians, we need to be aware of Satan’s schemes to outsmart us, that get us to turn our eyes away from God. Paul stated to Timothy that these people were arrogant and lacked understanding. The false teachers were stating that it was wrong to be married and eat certain foods. But Paul said that everything God gave us is good and we should be thankful for all things. The false teachers said that people had to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul called them liars, animals, and gluttons in Titus 1:12. As a result of the false teachings, people were in strife. They were envious, jealous, critical, and slandering one another. They were not living in the way that God intended. Paul encouraged Timothy to be aware of these false teachers, those who have turned their backs to the truth and were causing others to do the same. Paul wanted Timothy to teach the truth of the gospel, and to promote Godly living that is pure and wholesome, that points our righteous living to God. 

Believers need to know God’s word well so that false teachers will not deceive us. Study His word: know it and abide in it, as well as His goodness and love. Worship Him in thanksgiving, attend church fellowshipping with other believers, instructing, and encouraging others about the truth of God’s word. 

LOVE OF MONEY

The Bible never says that having wealth is a sin. The Lord wants to bless us financially so that we can generously bless others with the money He gives us. However, the Bible is clear; we are not to have any idols. In Mathew, Jesus taught that we are not to serve two masters, for if we do, we’ll hate the one but love the other. God should always be first place in our lives, and we are not to place our desire to obtain money over our relationship with God. Paul warned Timothy about the love of money as other Christian believers have wandered from their faith. “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:10). Living a life without Christ brings sorrow. Some people try and fill the void of not knowing Christ by desiring to obtain more wealth. But this kind of life doesn’t lead to contentment. Our true contentment can only come from knowing Christ. Even believers are guilty of putting money before God. We are not to live this way. We are to desire a relationship with Christ and the things of God. Paul stated that people who long to be rich are trapped by foolish desires that plunge them into destruction. He urged Timothy to instruct the rich to set their hope in God, who is the true provider, to be rich in good works and generous in their giving.

Paul encouraged Timothy to choose to live in contentment as he has done in his own life. Paul was imprisoned several times, and in some of the worse conditions. He knew how to not only live in abundance but without the basic needs of food and adequate shelter. Paul stated that godliness with contentment is wealth: He found contentment in his relationship with Christ. He was clear that we came into this world with nothing, and we will leave with nothing. Because of this, we should choose to be content and thankful to God in all circumstances, just as he was. We are to trust in God alone, not on earthly things that can easily perish. But, pursue godliness: a relationship with Christ that reflects His character and who He is. 

Practice being thankful for the things that God has given you. Be thankful in all things, even the things that we tend to take for granted, like running water, a home that we can call our own, and the freedom to worship God without fear of persecution. Remember that the money that we do have is His anyway, and we should be thankful for that. Learn to be content and grateful in your current situation. If God wants to bless you with more, He will. 

II. PURSUE

Pursue means to go after something or seek to attain or accomplish, it is an action word. “aim at and pursue righteousness [true goodness, moral conformity to the character of God], godliness [the fear of God], faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11 AMP). We are not to live like the world: going after fleshly worldly desires nor love the things of this world, but we are to pursue the things of God: righteousness, godliness, steadfastness, faith, gentleness, and love.  

1. RIGHTEOUSNESS

1 Timothy 6:11 says that we are to pursue righteousness. We are all under the bondage of sin. We cannot earn righteousness on our own. Trying to earn righteousness ourselves is like filthy rags in the eyes of God. “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). When we are self-righteousness, we are trusting in ourselves rather than God. Paul addressed the problem in the book of Galatians. The people were listening to false teachers, and they thought they had to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul stated the false teachers should be accursed, because if people had to be circumcised in order to be saved, then Christ died needlessly.

We needed the sinless life of Jesus and His willingness to die for us on the cross in order to achieve our right standing with God. Righteousness is God’s gift to us that we received when He sent His only Son to die for our sins on the cross. Jesus’ atoning sacrifice gave us our right standing with God once again.

He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life (Titus 3:5-7).

We received the gift of righteousness at our salvation. As a gift, we can do nothing to earn it other than having faith in the Lord Jesus and that He died on the cross for us. We receive the gift of righteousness by faith through the cleansing of our spirits. We are to pursue righteous living and the character of God as we were created after the likeness of God. We are to turn away from our sinful natures, and put on our new natures in our spirit. We cannot produce righteousness ourselves; we don’t have to work to earn it. Christ has robed us in His righteousness. We can trust in the Holy Spirit to mold us into Christ’s image, making us righteous.
2. GODLINESS

1 Timothy 6:11 says that we are to pursue godliness, which means taking on the character of God by abiding in Him continuously through His Spirit and obeying His statutes and commandments.

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). Physical training is of great benefit; exercising and eating right will keep our bodies healthy. But we have to keep putting in the effort. We can’t just go out for a run, eat several pieces of cheesecake, not get enough rest, and expect to feel good. We need to exercise several times a week, choose healthy foods, with perhaps an occasional treat, and get enough rest.

Unfortunately, injuries do happen to endurance athletes, and we have to stop running to rest the injury. It doesn’t take long to lose our endurance and for our muscles to begin to lose shape. If an athlete is not careful, they can start to gain weight because it’s hard to put into action the need to stop eating as much as one was during peak training, our flesh doesn’t want to. We can be the best athlete in the world, but all the fame cannot be taken with us when we go to heaven. I know what it’s like to be cheered on after a great athletic performance; it’s like being put on a pedestal, it’s encouraging, but the praise doesn’t last long. I’ll have to keep working: doing one event after another to keep the thrill of applause from others. God doesn’t want his followers to live this way. He wants us to look to Him, who is our biggest fan, our constant source of praise and joy. He is the one that provides. Abiding in God has lasting value. When I’m in heaven, it isn’t going to matter how many medals I earned from the running events that I participated in. What matters more is how many people I brought with me.

“and put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation]” (Ephesians 4:24 AMP). We are to pursue His character and the things of God which are lasting and can be taken with us to heaven. When I put on His nature: choosing the things of God instead of the things of the world, when I worship Him in spirit and truth, I am expressing my gratitude for the gift of salvation. Worshiping Him in spirit means that my worship to Him is from my heart. I’m truly focused on Him, not on the things of this world or what I have to do later in the day. And, I’m thankful for His gift of salvation and His goodness. When I worship Him in truth, this means that I focus on who God truly is, and the relationship that I have with Him.

3. STEADFASTNESS

To be steadfast means to be firm and unwavering. The Bible lists several things believers are to be steadfast in. We’ll look at what it means to remain steadfast in our faith, and against the devil. 

STEADFAST IN OUR FAITH

We are to be steadfast in our faith. God wanted a family to love. We are God’s children, and when we know who we are in Christ, we will want to do the good works that He set before us. He wanted us; we are chosen. God has adopted us. He chose us before the foundations of the world. Just knowing this gives me full faith that God truly wants the best for me; I feel completely confident in His love. We will have perfect peace when we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord: continuously abiding in and trusting in Him. When we abide in Christ, we have a relationship with Him. We want to actively spend time with Him through reading His word, praising, and worshipping Him with thanksgiving. When we keep our eyes focused on God and trust in Him, we will have God’s perfect peace. But, when we let our minds shift and begin to worry about our problems or future, we lose our peace. 

STEADFAST AGAINST THE DEVIL

Satan is compared to a roaring lion, looking for someone to destroy, and we are to remain alert. He is looking for someone weak in faith. Satan desires to get us to take our eyes off of Jesus and to keep us in a place of bondage and sin. But we have the powerful tool of prayer. Speak God’s word, using the authority that we have been given to stand up to the devil. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, not on the discouraging lies of Satan. When we submit to God and resist the devil, Satan has to flee. 

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The following characteristics of God that we are to pursue are faith, love, and gentleness. These three characteristics are a part of the fruits of the Holy Spirit: 9 attributes a believer has when living in accord with the Spirit.

4. FAITH

Faith is a gift from God, and we’ve all been given a measure of faith. We need faith to be followers of Christ. It forms the whole basis of our Christian walk. Through faith, we are saved, sanctified, made righteous, justified, our prayers are answered, we are healed, and we obtain God’s grace. Without faith, we can’t have a relationship with God and cannot please Him. We obtain faith by hearing the good news about Christ. When we actively study the word of God, have faith in what we are reading, and abide in His word, we activate and increase our faith in God.

5. GENTLENESS

To be gentle means to be kind, tender, or mild-mannered. The world thinks to be gentle means to be weak. Jesus was our greatest example of someone gentle in character. He certainly wasn’t weak; He was God. Jesus had so much power when He came to the earth. But He stripped Himself of it all to take on the form of a servant, and when He died on the cross for our sins, He could have saved Himself, He could have come down, but He chose to die so that we could have right standing with God: This is not weakness, this is strength. Pursue this character of Christ: gentleness. Choose to be kind, tender, and mild-mannered. For when we are humble and feel weak, God will lift us up and make us strong. 

6. LOVE

“Three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). God is love, and ending with love under the things we are to pursue ties everything up. When we know the full extent of God’s love for us, not just head knowledge, but we feel His love deep in our spirit, we can’t help but want to pour out His love onto others. It says in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians that if we don’t have love, then all of the gifts that we received from the Spirit would be completely useless. If we generously give to the poor but do not love, our gifts are useless. God loved us so much that He sent His only son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we could have right standing with Him again. We have been given the gift of His loving Spirit who dwells in us, and because of this, God asks us to love others: it should be our focus.

III. FIGHT

“Fight the good fight of faith [in the conflict with evil]; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and [for which] you made the good confessions [of faith] in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim 6:12 AMP).

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH

Satan is called the prince of this world. He is the father of lies, and his intent is to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to keep people in bondage and away from knowing Christ. Both believers and non-Christians have a struggle within themselves. Satan’s lies through strongholds: they are lies which blind people’s minds, they are contrary to God’s word. But they are nothing but lies, and we don’t have to struggle. Jesus has already won the battle; He purchased our freedom on the cross through His death and resurrection. Because of Jesus, we don’t have to battle against Satan. The victory is already ours. All we need to do is enforce His victory. We can step out in faith and use the authority that we have in Christ against Satan by speaking God’s word to Satan: He has to flee. Satan is utterly powerless against God’s word, so speak out in faith. 

TAKE HOLD OF THE ETERNAL LIFE TO WHICH YOU WERE CALLED 

We have been given eternal life through God’s grace, it is a gift, and we can do nothing to earn it. “But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:15). He knew us even when we were in our mother’s womb. He chose, and He called us. He revealed to us the wonderful news of His one and only Son: not to keep the good news to ourselves, but go and make disciples of the nation’s so that they too can share in the eternal life that we have been given. But eternal life is more than just spending all of eternity with Him once we die. It is more than that. It starts now in our relationship with Him and the intimacy that we have with the Holy Spirit. As a Christian having a personal relationship with Him, I can’t imagine not being in close fellowship with Him. I want to be relational with Him, open and honest. I desire to speak to Him at all times. 

AND [FOR WHICH] YOU MADE THE GOOD CONFESSIONS [OF FAITH] IN THE PRESENCE OF MANY WITNESS

When we confess Christ, we are confessing that we believe in Him and His gift of salvation. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved" (Romans 10:9). When we confess that we know Christ, we are acknowledging that we believe that He is the Son of God, that He is God manifest in the flesh, and that He died to atone for our sins so that we can have right standing with our Father. We should make this confession before witnesses for a few reasons. When we do, Jesus acknowledges that He knows us before God; we’ll have accountability as a new Christian, and so, others can see God’s light shining through us. We are witnesses for Christ and called to be His disciples. Our confession of faith should show in our lives by having an intimate relationship with Him. We will want to study His word, obey His commandments, and live a lifestyle that is pleasing to Him, reflecting who Jesus is. 

CONCLUSION

Timothy was Paul’s spiritual son. As Timothy was in his new role as pastor at the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote him letters of encouragement. Paul urged Timothy to flee from the love of money and false teaching: To pursue righteousness, godliness, steadfastness, faith, gentleness, and love. Lastly, Paul urged him to fight the good fight of faith, holding on to the eternal life that he was called to. Because God is so gracious, He is worthy of all our highest praise. Paul recognized this when he wrote, “All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17). As believers today, we can learn from the instructions that Paul gave to Timothy. We, too, should flee, pursue, and fight. Our greatest tool is our faith in God, His word, and His Spirit, which abides in us.  Live knowing that our eternal King has chosen you. Live righteously, abiding in Him and His will for your life.