Fight the good fight of faith

1 Timothy 6 from the daily reading in the One year Bible

All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. ² Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles.

³ If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, ⁴ he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, ⁵ and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. ⁶ But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. ⁷ For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. ⁸ If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

¹¹ But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. ¹² 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. ¹³ 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, ¹⁴ that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ 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, ¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. ¹⁸ Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

²⁰ O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— ²¹ which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. 

Grace be with you.

There is a lot of wisdom in today’s text. It is focused not so much on doctrine, but rather on the application of faith to life, not on what or why we believe, but rather on how we should live because we believe. In the first paragraph it says:  All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved.     Previously when Paul spoke of slavery I said it was important to recognize that in doing that it wasn’t that the Bible was condoning slavery, it is simply that the focus of our faith is that it should change us, not our culture. The culture is changed not through the indoctrination of religious regulations, but rather through the application of religious principles in and through the lives of believers. Since slavery is no longer prevalent in our culture, we can and should apply these same principles to our work relationships and our work ethic. How many people complain today that they are looked down on, ostracized and even persecuted in their work place because they are Christian, yet they do not consider that their own conduct is a poor reflection on the name of God?  As employees are we most concerned about giving our employer our best every day, or is our focus more on what they should do and provide for us? Culture and society focuses on employee rights. Our faith should cause us to focus on our responsibilities, putting the needs of others before ourselves.

The second paragraph begins:  If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth…   The focus here is on following and advocating the sound words of Christ and conforming to the godliness and righteousness we are called to live by as opposed to some who raise controversial questions and disputes about words, trying to twist the simple meaning and application of scripture, causing disputes and strife. Many people like to debate for the sake of debate. They challenge simply because they enjoy constant friction. The result though is often that they are deprived of the truth. The second part of the paragraph says:   If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.      The concept of money and riches is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented in the Bible. It is our culture and our society which divides people into the categories of those who have and those who have not. It is our society which pits the rich against the poor and the poor against the rich, not the Bible and certainly not faith in Christ. Contrary to what many try to say, the Bible does not say that money or wealth is evil. Some of the wealthiest people of their times were God’s chosen leaders of His people. Job, Abraham, David and Solomon to name just a few were wealthy beyond measure. It is not money or wealth which the Bible says is evil, but rather:  The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.   The love of money is not limited to those who have a lot of it. Those who are poor, without money can also: by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Envy is one of the roots of evil caused by the love of money. It is one of the most destructive forces in the life of a believer. Thou shall not covet is one of the Ten Commandments. It is the love of money, the desire for riches, wanting as much or more than others which is the root of all sorts of evil. Again the Bible and our faith do not divide people by the financial or social standing. In truth the Bible only separates people as believers and unbelievers, those who are saved and those who still need to be saved. It is our culture and society, speaking the lies of the devil, which tries to separate people, dividing them against each other according to wealth, ethnicity, social standing or any number of other things.  

Flee from these things, you man (woman or child) 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.  Grace be with you.  Amen.