Sermon

October 10, 2004
19th Sunday after Pentecost
1 Timothy 6:6-16
Pastor Ben Berger

Fight the Good Fight of Faith

If you've ever been to a Mount Olive A-team volleyball match, you've heard the girls go onto the court with their fight song. "Do we want it? Yeah! Do we want it? Yeah! How bad? Really bad! How bad? Really bad! How are we going to get it? Attack! Attack! Attack!" Not a bad fight song…for a Christian. We are in the battle for grandest of all prizes. How badly do we want it? What are we willing to give up to get it? How hard are we willing to fight? Today the apostle Paul encourages us to Fight the Good Fight of Faith. 1) Pursue God's gifts. 2) Take hold of eternal life.

Paul begins, But you, man of God. But you, child of God. Children of God are different from the world. We fight for a different prize. The world pursues money. Almost everyone wants a good paying job. Almost everyone wants a nice house, a new car, the finest clothes and jewelry. Those desires are built into our sinful natures. Even if we've convinced ourselves that money isn't all that important, don't we still think in the back of our minds that it would make this life easier?

Paul says that you are different, child of God. Flee from all this. Forget money. Forget earthly riches. Leave it all behind. I remember a hip-hop song from my high school days entitled "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems." Paul agrees, But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction…Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs, (8-10). But you, child of God, flee from all this.

Rather, pursue and fight for God's gifts. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Faith pursues God's gifts! Righteousness: righteousness is what God demands from us; it is the state of being in a right relationship with God. That means living a perfect and holy life. Godliness: godliness is the life of worship and praise that we owe to God. Faith is trust in God; it is putting ourselves completely into his hands. These first three gifts describe our relationship with God. The next three gifts describe our relationships with others. Love flows from faith. When we put ourselves completely into God's hands, we are free from worrying about ourselves. Thus we are free to love others, to always put them first. Even if we were to show perfect love to others, sin would cause grief in our relationships. Out of love flows patience and gentleness. Even when others do not love us, we are patient and gentle with them. We continue to endure under tough circumstances. We do not think that we are being treated unfairly. We only continue to love.

Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness are gifts from God. We cannot get them on our own. We will never live the perfect life that God demands or the life of worship we owe. We will never fully trust in our God. We will never love others as we should. We will lose our patience and gentleness. Because we cannot attain these gifts on our own, God gives them to us.

God gives us righteousness and godliness through Christ. Through Christ's death God removed all of our sins. He has forgiven us for our sinful lives, our imperfect worship, our lack of faith, our failure to love, our short fuses and our harsh treatment of others. Through Christ's death God has forgiven all of our sins and restored our relationship with him. Through Christ's perfect life God has credited us with a perfect life of worship. We no longer OWE God anything. We are free to worship from a new heart. The Holy Spirit has used God's word to create faith in our hearts so that we will begin to trust God in every part of our lives. The Holy Spirit also enables us to love our neighbor, to always put others first, to be patient and gentle with them even under trial. God has given us all of his gifts.

Now that we have tasted God's gifts, we will pursue them with all of our might. We will fight the good fight of the faith. Faith fights for God's gifts. At the end of verse thirteen Paul encourages, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time. Now that we have God's gifts, we will use them to fight until the end. The evil three, the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh, will do everything in their power to take these gifts away from us. They will flaunt the gifts of this world. They will lead us on the path to ruin and destruction. Child of God, flee these things and purse God's gifts. Fight the good fight of faith. Determine right now to do whatever it takes to hold onto God's gifts until Christ returns. And remember that the almighty God is on our side. God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He has already won the war for us. When we stay connected to him through Word and Sacrament, he will give us the victory in our battles until the end as we fight the good fight of faith.

Fight the good fight of faith by pursuing God's gifts to the end so that you may take hold of eternal life.

Faith fights for the true prize. What are you willing to do to take hold of eternal life? Are you willing to flee from the earth's riches and to pursue God's gifts? What are you willing to give up to take hold of eternal life? While fighting to grasp eternal life, earthly life may be lost. Think about the Olympic athlete. What does he give up for a chance, a chance to earn gold? He spends all of his time training. He sacrifices his body to make it his slave. He eats only healthy foods. He gives up all that for a CHANCE to win METAL. We train for the CERTAINTY of receiving ETERNAL LIFE. Will we be willing to give up our time on this earth, our bodies, the goodies of the world? Absolutely! We want it! Really Bad! So we'll Attack, Attack, Attack!

We know that eternal life is a gift from God. We cannot earn it, but we can hold onto it! Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. God called you to eternal life. Even before he created the world, even before you were conceived or born, God chose you to live with him eternally. He formally called you at your baptism. God used water and his Word to wash away all of your sins. He sealed you with his Holy Spirit and gave you faith - faith that takes hold of the eternal life he promises in baptism. Every time we remember our baptisms through confession and absolution, the hand of faith strengthens its grip around eternal life. God certainly can keep his promise to give us eternal life because he is the giver of all life and he is the one who alone is immortal.

We have confessed that we believe God's promises. Most of us, like Timothy, made that confession in the presence of many witnesses. The rest of us are preparing to make that confession. At our confirmations, after completing the New Life in Christ and Basic Training courses, before a pastor, and before the congregation at new member welcome, we confess that we trust the promise God made to each of us at our baptisms - to give us eternal life. We confess that we have the faith that takes hold of eternal life. And we promise to fight the good fight of faith until Christ returns.

Jesus confirmed God's promise and our confession; he made them good. Paul charges us to fight the good fight of faith, in the sight of God…and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession. The Greek is better translated that Jesus confirmed, attested, or made good the confession. Before Pontius Pilate Jesus declared that he was indeed a king. But, Jesus said that his kingdom was not of this world; he offered life in a different world. Then, before Pontius Pilate, Jesus sacrificed himself to give us eternal life in his kingdom. When Jesus rose from the dead, he fulfilled the promise God made to give us eternal life. He made good our confession of faith that takes hold of eternal life. Eternal life is ours.

Our faith now fights to win that prize, to take hold of the life that is ours. Our faith fights to see God. Paul praises God as the one who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see (16). Because we are still sinners, because we still live in a sinful world, we cannot see God. God told Moses that no one could look at his face and not die. However, when Christ returns, he will finally remove all sin from us and the world. Sin will no longer separate us and God. At that time we will see God face to face; we will live with him in his light. Then we will join Paul to say, sing and praise God. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Do we want God's gifts and eternal life? Yeah! How bad? Really bad! How will we get it? Attack, Attack, Attack! We will fight the good fight of faith. We will flee the riches of this world and pursue God's gifts. We will take hold of the eternal life that God promised, that we confessed, and that Jesus confirmed. We will give up all things and do whatever it takes to see our God face to face and to live in his light. Indeed, to him be honor and might forever. Amen.

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