The Christian faith is a rigorous spiritual battleground, not a comfortable playground. In this passage, Paul gives Timothy a charge, a command, like an army officer. It challenges believers to rely on the absolute sovereignty of God as they fight the good fight to preserve pure gospel doctrine and maintain personal holiness.
Transcript
We’ve been studying this book for a few weeks now. We are coming to the last part of the last verses of chapter 1. When we look back at the whole chapter, the chapter sets up the whole epistle. The main idea is really a war for the soul of the church at Ephesus. That’s the historical idea. As a result of Paul’s instruction to Timothy there, there is deep, wonderful guidance for us: How do we keep our church pure? How is the church supposed to function? All of that is what this letter is about.
In the historical situation, false teachers had entered into the congregation. They had established positions of leadership there. They promoted Jewish myths and speculative genealogies, and they had a merit-based system of the Mosaic law that displaced the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s a very serious problem that had entered into the church. Paul writes to equip Timothy to confront these teachers and to restore to the church sound doctrine.
As we’ve seen in the past few weeks, chapter 1 moves through a specific progression:
- Paul’s apostolic authority in verses 1 and 2
- The charge to correct the false teaching in verses 3 to 11
- Paul’s own testimony as the climactic proof of the grace of God over the heresy that was being taught
- A solemn charge to Timothy in verses 18 to 20
I’m going to read a little more because in this book, Paul uses a rhetorical device. He comes back to where he began and in a very thoughtful, deliberate way, he repeats the content. Not word for word, but the ideas are repeated.
Last week, when we were looking at Paul’s testimony, you remember how that ends? Because of the abundant grace of God, the natural response is for him to give praise in this wonderful doxology to the Lord. The interesting thing is, that doxology not only results from Paul’s testimony, but it frames the rest of this letter because he concludes with a similar doxology. At the beginning of this book, there’s the command to Timothy and this doxology. At the end of the book, the command to Timothy is repeated with the doxology. Everything in between, all the other instruction that we have, is sandwiched in between. Technically that’s called an inclusio. You can think of it as bookends or like a sandwich. It’s an interesting device so that we focus on what most matters as we read through this book. He puts it in this frame so that we don’t miss the main idea.
Let me read this. I’m going to begin in verse 17 with the doxology in chapter 1:
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”
Then we come to chapter 6. I’m going to begin in verse 11. Paul has just explained snares which pull people away from the faith. Very likely what he is describing there is the kind of thing that is characteristic of the false teachers who are in that church, their love for money for example. Beginning in verse 11 is the charge to Timothy:
“But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”
Let’s ask God to bless His holy word to our hearts today.
Father, we thank you for this remarkable book which guides the church, gives it instruction to know how to conduct the church before you in a way that pleases you. Father, that protects the church from error. We ask that you show us today the truths that are especially important to us, how we can glorify your name, how we can center our lives around your glory, how we can recognize our responsibilities before you as those who carry on and carry out your will in this world. And Father, in the struggle that we have in this life, the struggle that we have to live the Christian life, we pray that you guide us and give us wisdom and strength today. Thank you for the truth. Guide us into this, practically speaking, as we live our lives before you. We pray to your glory. Amen.
The Sovereignty of God
The first thing in both of these passages that I want to talk about is this doxology that begins at the beginning and the end. It’s describing to us the character of our sovereign God. The thing that is emphasized is that He is sovereign. He is the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. He has sovereign authority. In chapter 6, “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” The emphasis in both passages is that God is in charge of everything. Everything in the universe that you can possibly imagine, He is above and beyond all of it.
We’ve looked at that in our previous sermons over the past month and seen that God claims sovereignty over everything, even judgments that come about. Things that we may not consider to be from God, God claims. You remember looking at a verse from the book of Ezekiel, and one of the interesting things in those prophecies in Ezekiel and Joel was that even when the Assyrians and the Babylonians attacked Israel, that was part of God’s sovereign work. He used those as tools in His hand. God can do amazing things and He is in control far beyond what we normally credit to Him. This verse is emphasizing His sovereignty, the fact that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
That’s important in this passage in particular because of the charge that Timothy is receiving. Paul is giving Timothy a command. He calls him his son in the faith, but Paul is basically his superior officer issuing him a command. The source of that command isn’t from Paul the Apostle. It’s from the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Paul is like a general on the field, but he is representing and carrying out the order of the one who controls all the armies. As he gives him this command, it is in the name of the Lord. It is actually the sovereign Lord who is behind this.
It’s really important as we go through this. It is God’s sovereignty, His control, His incredible love and grace that He’s shown to us through Christ. It is all His infinite power. That’s what holds Timothy up. That’s what’s going to hold him up in the struggle that he has in this church and in the life that he lives before the Lord. Where does that power come from? It comes from God Himself. It comes from the strength that he’s received from the redemption that he has in Jesus Christ. You have this supremacy of God, and it’s connected to this command that Timothy receives.
The Command to Fight the Good Fight
Let’s look at it again in verse 18 of chapter 1.
“This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight.”
That phrase fight the good fight is an important phrase. Timothy is given this charge to fight the good fight. What does it mean when it says “in accordance with the prophecies made concerning you”?
Commissioned for Spiritual Warfare
Most people studying this point out that this has to do with his ordination when he first was commissioned as a minister. The possibility is one of two things. Several times in the letters to Timothy, Paul mentions Timothy’s ordination, his commissioning to ministry, when people laid hands on him. When Paul himself in 2 Timothy chapter 1 laid hands on Timothy and commissioned him to the work. The prophecies were either:
- Prophecies that were made right at that point by the Apostle Paul, who was giving us the very word of God.
- Messages and prophecies that God gave to Paul which led to him claiming Timothy as his disciple and commissioning him to the work.
The content of those prophecies we don’t have, and they’re not important. The important part for Timothy and for us is that he was commissioned. He was given orders. God Himself had placed him in this position to carry out the work of God. He is like a soldier who has been entrusted to the conflict. Believe me, the church at Ephesus with the opposition they had on the outside and this internal conflict on the inside with people teaching heresies, this is warfare.
It’s not just Timothy who’s engaged in warfare. I know the battle is the Lord’s. As Jared said a few moments ago when he was introducing one of his hymns, why do we shout in praise? Because Christ has won that victory ultimately. That doesn’t mean that we’re not in a conflict. We are definitely in a conflict. The Christian life is spiritual warfare. We engage in warfare. Christian life isn’t easy. The ministry, whatever your ministry is—and everyone who is saved has a ministry—it’s not easy. This is warfare.
The Reality of the Battle
When I was in elementary school, my history teacher in sixth grade was Mrs. Wilson. I remember more about what she taught than anybody else. She commanded attention. I remember her talking about the Battle of Bull Run. How people thought that this was going to be a big party. This week in studying I came across Ryken’s commentary, he mentions the Battle of Bull Run in relation to this text. He makes a really good point.
Ministry and the Christian life, we can think of it like it’s a playground. We would be wrong because it really is a battleground. Ryken says if there’s going to be a war, men need to be ready to fight. That’s the first major battle of the American Civil War. There had been talk about war for months. Both sides had been preparing for it. The Union Army was particularly confident that this was going to be an easy victory. Union General Irvin McDowell addressed his troops the night before the battle, and his biggest fear was that the enemy wouldn’t be able to put up a good fight. That’s literally what he conveyed to his troops. The social elite in Washington thought it was going to be a big party. They got in their buggies, rode to the battlefield, and set up their picnic baskets on the hillside to watch this grand entertainment as the Union troops overwhelmed the Southern Confederacy.
It didn’t turn out that way. It was one of the bloodiest, most terrible battles in that awful war. The commanders on both sides weren’t used to anything like it. The fighting was fierce. Stonewall Jackson ended it with a Confederate bayonet charge which routed the Union Army. Three thousand men lay dying and bleeding on the ground. The Washington socialites ran for their lives. It wasn’t like they thought. They thought it was going to be easy. They were not ready to fight.
It’s easy for us to go through life expecting everything to go well for us. We’re Christians, we go to church, we do good things. We expect blessing from God. Life should be easy for us. Not this life. That’s not what God calls us to. God calls us to be soldiers in the spiritual battle that is taking place. We engage in battle not just with people in this world, but with spiritual forces beyond our comprehension. We have to recognize that this is a tough life we’re called to. We need to be ready for it like good soldiers.
You remember the song you learned when you were a child in church?
- I may never march in the infantry
- Ride in the cavalry
- Shoot the artillery
- I may never fly o’er the enemy
- But I’m in the Lord’s army! Yes, sir!
We are in the Lord’s army. We are in a spiritual conflict, just like Timothy was. Part of the conflict is that we are to fight the good fight. We’re to keep the faith.
Keeping the Faith and a Good Conscience
Here are Timothy’s marching orders in 1 Timothy 1:18. What is the command? Fight the good fight. Keep the faith and a good conscience. In chapter 6, Paul charges him to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does it mean that he is to fight the good fight? There are two sides to it.
The External Struggle: Preserving the Gospel
One part is the external struggle, the fight to preserve the truth of the gospel.
“Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses… who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.”
There are people on the outside who want to destroy the church at Ephesus. There are those on the inside of the church that he has to do battle with. He’s got to correct the false doctrine for the very health of the church, or the church will be lost. He has to maintain the truth of the word of God, to hold to the doctrine that is being taught and guarantee that the doctrinal truth is being taught accurately in the church.
It’s so easy to compromise the gospel. It’s an easy thing to compromise the truth of God’s word. We need to make sure we don’t compromise the word of God, or let the word of God be compromised in the church. The gospel itself is under attack. We need to make sure that we preserve it. Paul in Acts 20 said, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” He didn’t shrink from teaching the complete truth. Why does he say he didn’t shrink from it? Because there’s a temptation to shrink from it! If there were no struggle in that, he wouldn’t say it that way.
He’s charging Timothy not to shrink from teaching the whole counsel of God. It’s an easy thing for a preacher to shrink from teaching the whole purpose of God. Lots of preachers teach good things, but it’s not complete. Because when you teach some truths in the Bible, there’s resistance. There are things that people do not want to hear in lots of churches. If you preach it, it sounds like error to their ear because they’ve never heard it before. It’s a difficult thing to stay true to the faith, to fight the good fight, to hold to the truth. The truth of the doctrine in this church is precious. The life and future of this church is preserving the truth of God’s word. That’s the external battle.
The Internal Struggle: Personal Holiness
Then there’s the internal part of the battle. That is the battle for personal holiness and personally keeping faith. Keep faith and a good conscience. What does it mean to keep the faith? Keeping the faith means the faith is what you believe.
Keeping a good conscience means that when we are living our life, and we violate something that we know God has commanded us not to do, what happens? As a Christian, your conscience is stirred. Your conscience becomes a moral compass for how you live your life. It’s an easy thing in those situations to deny your conscience. The Holy Spirit has convicted you, and it’s easy to say, “Well, I’m just going to let it go this time. It’s a small thing. It doesn’t matter.” Where does that lead us? If you practice hardening your conscience, Paul gives a warning.
“Keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”
How did these people go off on their faith? There was a time when Hymenaeus and Alexander knew truth. What they did with it, they moved away from the truth. They hardened their conscience against the truth of the word of God. It might not have been a big thing. It can come as a drift. As you drift, your rudder, what is guiding your life, is no longer the truth of God’s word. You run adrift, and in this case, they suffer shipwreck.
Their faith is shipwrecked. It’s a warning to Timothy and to us that we not harden our conscience. Does that mean that Hymenaeus and Alexander are lost forever? He turns them over to Satan. What does that mean? The point of handing them over to Satan means setting them apart from the protection of the church, so that they’re vulnerable to the wiles of the devil. They’re not under the protective grace of the church anymore. For a reason! So that they will be taught not to blaspheme. Their sin was severe enough that Paul had to do this action for the protection of the church. The hope is that they will learn not to blaspheme. That they will repent. That they will return to the Lord. God can save people in a shipwreck. Paul knew that. He was in a shipwreck and survived. Not everyone who goes through a shipwreck is lost. But it’s a severe warning to us.
Paul commands Timothy in chapter 6:
“But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.”
Every time he mentions godliness, it’s a discipline. It’s like an exercise. It’s something that we need to practice. It’s how we gain spiritual strength in being obedient to the word of God and listening to what God has taught us. The book begins with this, it ends with this. What is the purpose of this book? So that we can learn how to operate a church the way God wants us to. Let me pray for us.
Father, we thank you for the truth of this word. I know Lord that your word is powerful and it can overcome anything that could be detrimental to our paying attention. We know that you are sovereign over all things. We recognize that this serious warning and challenge and commissioning we’ve been given is from your hand. We follow the command as Timothy did. We are to shepherd God’s people as Timothy did. We are to live the Christian life as you commissioned him to live. We are to do this in faith and service to you as our Commander in Chief, our Lord who deserves it all. Not because it merits anything before you, but because the victory has been won by Jesus Christ on the cross. As those purchased by His blood, we want to live pleasing to you. We know by the power of your Spirit we will do that. Help us in these ways we pray, to the glory of our Savior the Lord Jesus. Amen.
