1Timothy 6:11-16 This pastor is standing at the door shaking hands with the people as they leave church after service. As Joe tries to pass by, the pastor grabs him by the hand and pulls him aside. “Joe,” says the pastor, “you need to join the Army of the Lord.” Joe replies, “I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor.” “How come I don’t see you in church except at Christmas and weddings?” the pastor asks. And Joe whispers back, “I’m in the secret service.” In today’s second reading, Paul gives instructions to Timothy as a soldier of the Lord. In typical military fashion he urges him to fight the good fight. Paul is not asking Timothy to wage a war against his adversaries and rivals, as one would expect. He is asking him to fight the only battle that really matters in the end. What is the good fight? Paul explains: “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). The life of faith, life lived in submission to God’s will, can sometimes be experienced as a war. It can be a daily struggle of the Spirit against the inclinations of the flesh, as Paul observes in Galatians 5:16-17: “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.” It can also be experienced as a fight against more sinister spiritual forces, as we see in Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This is the good fight that Paul urges Timothy to fight. What is the target of this fight? The target is to capture the one thing that ultimately matters in life. It is to “take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called” (1 Timothy 6:12). The one purpose for which God created us and gave us life, the one purpose for which God gave us faith and called us into His church at baptism, is so that we may attain eternal life. “For what profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and lose one’s soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Life presents us with many battles. We choose the battles to fight and those to let go. The one battle that, more than any other, is worth fighting, is the battle to attain eternal life. This is the good fight.So, how does one fight this good fight of faith? Here again, we listen to Paul’s advice to Timothy. “As for you, man of God, … pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11). Paul recommends six virtues: righteousness, godliness, and faith which have to do with our relationship with God; and love, endurance, and gentleness which have to do with our relationship with our neighbour. In other words we fight the good fight by cultivating our relationship with God and neighbour. More explicitly, Paul charges Timothy to “keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 14). By keeping the new commandment of love of God and neighbour we wage a war against the self, the world, and the devil. Paul was writing to Timothy at a time of persecution when many believers were afraid to confess their faith for fear of being killed. So Paul reminds Timothy that life itself is God’s gift (“God, who gives life to all things” verse 13) and that the Lord Jesus guarantees life after death (“It is he alone who has immortality” verse 16). He, therefore, encourages Timothy fearlessly to confess his faith just as Jesus did before Pontius Pilate, knowing that, even if it should cost him his life, the Lord Jesus will crown him with eternal life. Timothy heeded Paul’s words. Tradition has it that in the year ad 97 Timothy was preaching to pagans involved in the worship of idols when they turned on him and killed him. To conclude, I will like to ask you the same question the pastor asked the young man Joe. Are you in the Lord’s army or not? What battles are you fighting? Are you spending all your energies fighting for your stomach or do you have the fight for the soul as the number one on your list? The word of God invites us all today to fight the good fight until we take hold of eternal life. ~~~~~~~
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:11:09 +0000
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