Scripture
11But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:11-12
Observation
This is not a suggestion. This is a command. “Fight the good fight.” If there’s a “good fight” in life then that automatically means there’s a bad fight that can also be chosen. How do we know if the fight we are fighting is the good one or the bad one? The rest of this command gives us the answer. We are fighting for “the true faith”. When it’s about true faith and not our momentary feelings we are holding on to Jesus and letting go of everything else. So, what are we are holding on to? If we are holding “tightly to the eternal life to which God has called” us to then our life will be a positive force for change “before many witnesses.” If we are holding tightly to our right to be right, our need to be heard, petitioning for our pet theology, pounding someone with our personal point of view, trading grace for the false security of our religious traditions then many witnesses will see that too. Who will they see? Not Jesus. They will see red-faced Christians who have forgotten they have not been anointed to argue but to serve. Timothy was pastoring a church in Ephesus that was divided. They had all picked fights with each other and their witness to the those around them had been tarnished. It’s why Paul points out earlier in chapter 6 that some Christians just like to pick fights, “Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.” (1 Tim 6:4). Now, more than ever, when we are living in a country divided, The Church must be united, fighting the fight of faith, rather than fighting each other. We must remember we, believers in Christ, are to be a preview of heaven, a glimpse of eternity while living in the temporal.
Application
I saw how powerful it can be when we pick the right fight this past Saturday during “We Pray San Diego.” Following the leadership of Pastor Miles McPherson, The Church showed up to fight on our knees from 9-10 on Saturday, June 21st.
*7,201 people praying on streets
*8,601 praying online
*11 locations across San Diego
*9 Mayors
*148 Pastors united
*135 churches coming as one “before many witnesses”.
This is what happens when we stop fighting each other and we bring the fight to our true enemy. “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12). Jesus confirms that the fight of faith is fought best in prayer when he commands, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt. 5:44). During the prayer hour, my family and I were praying according to specific prayer points as we stood in front of San Marcos High. We had just been instructed to pray for our enemies and I explained to my younger boys how to do this. Just then a guy drove by and flipped off everyone praying with his middle finger. Our younger boys didn’t know what to do with that response. I knelt down and looked them in the eyes and said, “I’m so glad we saw him because now we get to pray for him. Something happened in his life where just the sight of Christians praying makes his blood boil. He just needs to meet Jesus. Let’s pray that he can’t this out of his head until He truly finds Jesus. I'm not sure how he was wounded that he would find healing.” So, right there, my boys and I fought the good fight of faith holding tightly to the eternal life as we prayed for his eternal soul to be redeemed. Now that’s how to pick a fight!
Pray
Lord, I pray for that man again this morning. I pray that everywhere he goes today he would see reflections of You until He comes to know You personally. Battle lines have been drawn, people are lobbing verbal bombs at each other from their safe corners of social media. I pray that we would stand as one as Your Church united in spirit and truth. We need to pick the right fight or we will wear ourselves out on the wrong ones. I pray that we would stop fighting each other, stop fighting those You died for, and start fighting for each other in prayer. I pray that we would be one even as You and The Father are one so the world would know You were sent for them! (Jn. 17:21).
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity,”
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