Fight the Good Fight

Fight the Good Fight

I Timothy 1:18, 19

Intro

Place ourselves at the feet of Paul and eves drop on a conversation he is having with Timothy.
Timothy the young pastor has the difficult job of putting in order the churches of Ephesus.
Timothy had been converted earlier in his life under the teaching ministry of Paul.
Now he had come to full maturity in the faith and so Paul had placed him as the pastor to the Ephesians.
Let’s look to our text
This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, ¹⁹holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith

#1 Fight the good fight

Vs. 18 Also good fight. Let’s begin examining this passage.
Why does Paul suggest the term good? Is there a kind of fight that is not a good fight or a good warfare?
What kind of warfare do we usually end up fighting that we shouldn’t be waging?
II Timothy 2:22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness
James 4:7 Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Do you realize we tend to confuse these two verses? Many if not most of us have heard these verses before, whether we know the reference or not we have some familiarity with them.
And how do we use them most often? What often times happens is we commingle these verses in an un-Biblical way.
We create our own verse that reads something like this “Resist youthful lusts” or “Resist temptation and it will flee from you.”
The Bible tells us to flee temptation but resist the devil and instead we try to resist the temptation.
This is not the good fight, this is not the good warfare Paul is speaking of.
What happens most often when you find yourself in a tempting situation and you don’t remove yourself but instead stay and battle the temptation?
9 times out of 10 you succumb to the temptation. Again this is why Paul states to fight the good fight, not all fights are good.
What else do we need to know to wage the good warfare?
For one we need the right weapons.

Ill.

Our commander and chief and his secretary of defense continue to take a lot of heat from the press and also from ordinary citizens like you and me over an issue that is at the forefront of many people’s minds.
Were we adequately equipped to enter into this phase of the war in Iraq?
Regardless of how you feel about the war or whether you believe we should be there or not is whole separate issue but were we properly equipped is the question of the hour.
Why does this matter how we were equipped? Would it have mattered if we had entered into this war with the same technology we used to win the War of Independence or what we used in the ware of 1812 or the Civil War?
Of course it would have. The nature of warfare has changed over time. In fact some things about modern warfare have changed drastically in the last 30 years.
The Soviets were not successful in the defeating the Afghan people yet within my lifetime the US did have success there.
What changed during that time, for one our weapons improved but the Afghan’s still had the old weapons they used previously.
This applies to spiritual warfare as well. If Don Rumsfeld is going to take heat over whether he was prepared to fight this type of war you need to be taking personal inventory of your own life and asking are you ready to wage spiritual war.
So just like soldiers are briefed on their mission and trained in the use of their weapons I am going to quickly brief you on your mission. It will be between you and the Holy Spirit to familiarize yourself with your weapons. Here we go, briefing has begun.
Turn to II Corinthians 2:3 and following:
³For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Our warfare takes place in the battle ground of the mind. What do we do battle over? We battle over thoughts. Why thoughts?
Because thoughts give birth to actions. If we get in control of our thought life we have far less trouble getting our actions under control.
So with what weapons do we wage war in our mind doing battle of our thoughts in order to make them obedient to Christ?
Ephesians 6:10 and following spell it out. You may know it as the Armor of God.
For example you have the “Belt of Truth” this merely kept a soldiers garments out of his way so his mobility was unhindered to fight.
The “Breastplate of Righteousness” was protective gear to protect vital organs, “Gospel of Peace” as shoes, a soldiers shoes helped him with traction again they didn’t engage the enemy directly.
“Shield of Faith” was a small shield and not truly a useful offensive weapon. Neither was the “Helmet of Salvation”
“Sword of the Spirit” Ah this sounds offensive, a sword right?
Well this was a short sword and again was used with the shield for close hand to hand combat. It wasn’t a long range offensive weapon but it was a short range offensive weapon.
And so the list of weapons ends…to the casual observer but look to Ephesians 6:18 and you will find the 7^th item in the list:
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Ah, the long range weapon, “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions.”
The weapons to fight the battles in the mind over the thought life lie right here in Ephesians 6:17, 18.
The Sword which is the Word of God and Prayer.
Are you doing battle on a daily basis in your mind? Is your thought life getting you into trouble or nearly getting you there and it is only a short time until you are in deep trouble?
You are in close; you need the Sword of the Spirit. You need to be as Ephesians 5 says washed with the water of the Word.
Have you been previously tempted with something but by God’s grace have overcome that area. Remember 1 Corinthians 10:12:
Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Long range temptation, this isn’t imminent danger that is close at hand this is taking heed. This is being honest with yourself about your own weaknesses. This is prayer, praying in advance,
This is also backing your fellow brothers and sisters up with prayer when they are the ones in the midst of the close hand to hand combat.
Fight the right fight, with the right weapons – fight the good fight.

#2 Keep the Faith

Vs. 19 Holding on to faith and a good conscience…
Have you ever known someone who after professing faith in Christ and starting strong quickly fell away? Many of us have; Paul admonishes Timothy about such things.
Now this seems odd; the great missionary Paul writes to the senior pastor of the church at Ephesus to tell him to hold on to the faith. Why?
Discouragement if you allow it to can cause even the strongest to fall away from the faith. Paul didn’t want that for Timothy.
He didn’t want it for the Galatian’s either. Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
Keeping the faith is a real problem. Paul isn’t talking pie in the sky theories here, this happened then and it happens now.
Remember Christ’s words in Revelation 2:4
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
By the way to which Church did Christ utter these words? It was to the church at Ephesus, the same church Timothy pastored.
The very thing Paul warned Timothy about the church as a whole fell into.
Where are you at on keeping the faith? Have the issues of life pressed in around you so tightly you feel like you would like to let go of God?
Has your love of this world gripped you so tightly it is pulling you from God?
If either of these describe you Paul says clearly, hold on to faith; don’t be like the Galatians and turn away so quickly to chase other gospels, don’t be like the Ephesians who were told by Christ that they left their first love, hold on to faith.

#3 Keep a Clear Conscience

What causes us to loose our first love and not hold our faith?
Paul addresses it right here in the same sentence when he says “Holding faith and a good conscience…”
What does it mean to have a good conscience, a clear conscience? How can a clear conscience be described?
A clear conscience is knowing that you have made right every wrong you ever done to God or man that was within your power to do. That bears repeating.
But why is this notion of a clear conscience so important?
Let’s look at that quickly. 1 Samuel 12 verse 1 and following. This recalls for us the Prophet Samuel’s farewell address to the nation of Israel as God appointed leader of the chosen people.
The people have requested a king and Samuel has anointed Saul to be king.
In his farewell address he says these words to the people:
"Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you. ²And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. ³Here I am; testify against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me^[a] and I will restore it to you." ⁴They said, "You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand."
Ladies and gentleman that is a clear conscience, when you call a nation together, you gather them in one place and say who has a legitimate complaint against me today; let me know and I will make it right. Just imagine with me if our president did that today.
Reason 1 to have a clear conscience, it is the example from history of God’s choice leaders.
Reason 2: Psalm 66:18
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened
You want your prayers heard by God? You can’t avoid confession of sin and expect God to bend his ear to you.
What does Psalm 66 mean when it says if I cherish or if I regard iniquity in my heart?
Confession is agreeing with God that what you did was wrong. Not just a little wrong but severely wrong, wrong enough to place Jesus Christ on a Roman cross to bear the punishment for that sin.
Repentance is when after we have agreed with God we turn, literally 180 degrees, we make a U-turn and come back the opposite way from that sin.
To regard or cherish an iniquity is to say, “Oh, that little sin, it wasn’t so bad. I know of…” Whoops, right there you are making excuses for your sin and you have just begun to regard iniquity.
Or worse yet, to say, “Well, I know it is sin but it just feels right to keep doing it so I do.”
Want an effective prayer life, you can’t cherish iniquity, you must have a clear conscience.
Reason 3: If you hide your sin you won’t prosper.
Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Reason 4: All will come to light someday
Luke 12:3 Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
Reason 5: You can’t worship
Matthew 5:23, 24 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Reason 6: God will discipline the unrepentant heart
Hebrews 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.
Is that enough, do you get the point about a clear conscience?
So what is the mode to gaining a clear conscience?
I John 1:9 Those of you with children that are in 1^st through 5^th grade; your children are studying this same verse right now. You have a chance to model this before them.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The mode is very simple, confess and repent. Agree with God that what you did was sinful and wrong and turn from your evil ways.
Practical steps for clearing your conscience.
1) Ask God to show you anyone you have wronged,
2) Commit to God, in advance, that anything he reveals to you, you will make it right,
3) make a list of people you need to go to,
4) contact these people as soon as possible, don’t delay when you it is in your power to do it now,
5) go in person whenever possible, use a phone otherwise, avoid letters
6) If you cannot locate a person, commit to God that he causes you to cross their path you will deal with it if/when you meet them.
7) If both parties are at fault do not bring this up. Don’t help them confess, you only need to confess your sin. They will when God prompts them to.

Ill.

Let me relate to you how failure to clear your conscience hampers your relationship with God. But this time I will tell stories on myself.
At one point in my life I had three “big” sins in my life. Sins that I had confessed to God because let’s face it, God seems less personal that someone we meet face to face. Second God promises to forgive, you can’t always be assured of the other person’s response.
So I had three big sins in my life and I was convined that I could have a relationship with God even with these three big ones still looming out there.
To make a long story short, when I finally reached a place where I was willing to address the the big sins in my life God began revealing to me other things I needed to address in my life besides just the three.
To the best of my recollection when I got done confessing all the stuff that God had brought to my attention, once I dealt with the three I had been hiding for approximately 10 years , God brought over 60 other items to my attention that needed to be dealt with.
Bottom line: When we have un-confessed, unresolved sin in our lives we hamper God’s ability to communicate with us and through us.

#4 Don’t become shipwrecked

Vs. 19 by reject this, some have made shipwreck of their faith

Ill.

I got to go on a really neat hiking, camping, canoeing-type trip about 5-6 years ago. It was in the boundary waters between Canada and Minnesota.
The way it works is you canoe or kayak upstream until you come to some rapids. Then you beach your canoe/kayak and then portage it, or carry it over head.
Now you have to remember that since you are going to be in the wilderness for the next three days everything you take is in a backpack in your vessel so every time you get out to portage your kayak you place all of your supplies on your back and your kayak gets place over your head and away you walk around the rapids.
The problem is the mosquitoes. To say they were thick is an understatement. They bite like alligators and they come at you 500 at a time. But they really didn’t bite you when you were out on the water, only when you were on shore so the obvious goal was to move quickly and avoid spending long periods of time on shore.
So this one time I have just finished hiking around this certain rapid with my gear and kayak and have placed it back in the water with my gear and now I am ready to go.
And I did what I always did, I placed one foot in the middle of the kayak and I pushed off from shore standing in the kayak balancing on one foot. Unfortunately even thought I done this several times without issue this time the bottom of my kayak caught a large rock this time that cause the v-shaped hull to go up on one side and then very, very quickly tip to the right and dump me very quickly into some quite cold spring fed water that was about 5 feet deep in September with an outside air temperature of around 55 degrees.
In a very small sense I was shipwrecked.
Here is the point. I was doing what I had done lots of times without issue. Yet this time I was shipwrecked.
In our Christian lives sometimes we believe if we just keep doing what we have always done we will never suffer shipwreck.
That isn’t what Paul just told Timothy is it. He told him to be hold on to the faith and to hold a good conscience.
Sometimes the repetitive can get us into trouble too.
In my case in the boundary waters the only solution was to start all over again. I had to swim back to shore with my kayak, and start all over again but this time be sure to navigate around the submerged and hidden obstacle.
Would it have done me any good to stand there in 5 feet of cold water and sulk about the rock? It was the rock’s fault after all maybe I should have waited for it to seek my forgiveness? I could stand there and get bitter.
While it sounds stupid to wait for a rock to ask how many of us have suffered spiritual shipwreck and have waited for someone else to come to us and admit they were wrong and while we waited we let bitterness take hold of our lives, bingo shipwrecked.
My solution was to start again. In the Christian life 1 John 1:9 is all about the do-over. Confession and repentance is saying, if I had it all to do over I would do it this way, (not because of the punishment or the shame but because it is right) and then from that point on doing it right.

Conclusion

Lastly, lest you think this is just for pastors and doesn’t apply to the laity, read on. Chapter two is all about what is fitting for saints, chapter three overseers and deacons.
This applies across the board.
This is also circular. You can’t hold the faith if you lack a clear conscience because sin always give birth to more sin. If you lack a clear conscience you will continue to slip further and further from the truth.
How can you possibly wage good warfare if you are slipping away and aren’t even engaged in the real battle?
Fight the right fight, with the right weapons – fight the good fight, hold the faith, hold on to a clear conscience, don’t sweep it under a rug, confess and repent. Avoid the shipwreck.