FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT 1 TIMOTHY 6:11-21
11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever. Amen.
17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
20Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.
Grace be with you.
Connections between Daniel, today and 1Timothy
1) Proclaim Jesus, the King of the World!
(i) The other religions
(ii) British values
(iii) Enforced tolerance of all lifestyles
(iv) I have an experience
Don’t water down, build Jesus up!
APPEARING (v13)= Victory Parade
2) Live like King Jesus
“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”(1Peter 2:11-12)
Daniel “… so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.” (Daniel 6:3)
- Righteousness
- Godliness
- Faith (For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…not by works” Ephesians 2:8-9)
- Love = self sacrifice
- Endurance – an army of plodding visionaries
- Gentleness
” the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
3) Don’t sell Jesus out for money.
“” the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1Timothy 6:10)
- Has money made you proud?
- Who do you truest – God or money?
- Do you use your money for good?
- S. Lewis said, “I do not believe I can settle how much you ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditures on comfort, luxuries, amusements, etc. are up to the standards common among others with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little.”
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I want to know more:
- What is Christianity? 321 The Story of God, the World and You: https://youtu.be/tKyZjvK-d2M
- Who is Jesus? Roger Carswell – available for free in the foyer.
- More on 1Timothy. The best readable commentary is “The Message of 1Timothy and Titus” by John Stott (Bible Speaks Today)
- Kevin De Young – Plodding Visionaries at www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/glory-plodding