A Good Church Fight (1 Timothy 1:6-11; 18-20)
- I know that some of you saw the title of the sermon tonight, “A Good Church Fight,” and assumed that we were having a business meeting
- but no, instead we’ll be looking at 1 Timothy 1
- we’re going to focus in on verses 6 to the end of the chapter, but we’ll leave the middle part of the chapter, verses 12 to 17, until next week
- but read with me verses 18 to 20
- (1 Timothy 1:18) Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,
- (1 Timothy 1:19) holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
- (1 Timothy 1:20) Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
- military wisdom says, “Choose the mountain you’re willing to die on very carefully”
- and that’s true not just in the military, but in church life
- don’t waste your time – your life – on battles that aren’t worth the cost
- be careful what you decide to fight for
- people can get hurt; families can be divided; children turned against their parents; churches can even be split
- don’t squander something precious over a molehill; it’s not worth it
- but let me ask you: is there a place for a good church fight?
- rephrased a little differently: are there some mountains worth dying on in church life?
- are there some non-negotiable that are so essential, that when threatened, we must do battle?
- my answer is that there are some things worth fighting for in the church
- there is something called a good church fight
- what is it?
- I believe it’s the Gospel – the truth about God’s mercy and grace, his love and his patience, and the gift of eternal life for those who believe in Christ
- Paul wrote to Timothy:
- (2 Timothy 1:13) What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
- (2 Timothy 1:14) Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
- the good deposit Timothy had to guard is the Gospel – sound doctrine
- don’t you think that’s worth fighting for?
- now, let’s pause for a second
- when you hear about doctrine and theology, what do you normally here?
- perhaps the odd yawn – or somebody saying that it doesn’t really matter
- it’s become fashionable to downplay the deposit that has been entrusted to the church in favor of application
- but let’s back up a little and think about that
- John 8:44 tells us that Satan is a liar
- God is a God of truth, but Satan is active sowing falsehood and error into the church
- one of Satan’s most persistent attacks on the church has been in the area of false doctrine
- think about some of the warnings in Scripture:
- (Matthew 7:15) “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
- (2 Peter 2:1) But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
- the church has an enemy intent on destroying truth
- he is behind every false teaching that enters a church
- this is how the devil defeats the Christian – by lies
- the truth about Jesus Christ and about salvation and eternal life is worth fighting for
- that’s why Paul writes in this passage, “fight the good fight”
- I want to look at three features of a good church fight, before I give you a case study
- THE FIRST FEATURE OF A GOOD CHURCH FIGHT IS THAT IT IS A SERIOUS FIGHT
- (1 Timothy 1:18) Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,
- this could literally be translated “war the good warfare”
- this is no little skirmish
- it demands all the commitment of a dedicated soldier
- Paul says, “Don’t compromise. Don’t give up ground. When it’s a good fight, never give up. The stakes are eternal”
- this is Paul’s commission to Timothy
- last week we read verse 3:
- (1 Timothy 1:3) As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer
- the evangelist D.L Moody didn’t like his song leader Ira Sankey to use the popular gospel song, “Onward Christian Soldiers” in his campaigns
- Moody felt that the church was a poor excuse for an army
- but the church is in the middle of a serious spiritual fight
- and it is to be on guard against lies
- what kind of lies?
- lies about the core of the Christian faith
- lies that suggest that the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ wasn’t enough to save you
- lies that say that faith alone won’t do it
- that there is a code of rules you must obey
- deadly lies that pollute and dilute and twist the Christian message – which is the only hope of eternal life
- a second feature of a good church fight is found in verse 19:
- IT’S A RIGHTEOUS FIGHT
- (1 Timothy 1:19) holding on to faith and a good conscience.
- there are two ingredients that Paul mentions for a good church fight in verse 19: the first is faith, and the second is a good conscience
- in other words, this fight takes right doctrine – truth – and right motives
- but if you are battling for the truth, and you have both good doctrine and right motives, then you’re fighting a good church fight
- let’s pause here for a second
- it’s been my observation that in most church fights, one of these two has been missing
- I’ve seen plenty of church fights in which there is plenty of right doctrine, but there’s been very little of the second ingredient – a good conscience
- it’s not enough to be right – you also have to be pure
- before you go to battle on a doctrinal issue in the church, ask yourself, “Where are my motives? Am I acting out of anger, or are my motives really pure? Am I a hothead? Do I have a little too much fun going into battle?”
- you have to hold on to both faith and a good conscience if you’re going to go to battle for God
- and there’s a third feature of a good church fight found in verses 19 and 20
- IT’S A PERILOUS FIGHT – A DANGEROUS ONE
- (1 Timothy 1:19) Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.
- (1 Timothy 1:20) Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
- let me go through 1 Timothy 1 and quickly list the false teachers and what they were teaching
- verse 4 says that they were teaching myths and endless genealogies
- it’s likely that they were coming up with legendary interpretations of the Old Testament, centering on the pedigrees of the patriarchs
- verse 4 also states that they were argumentative – they promoted controversies rather than God’s work
- verse 6 says that they had wandered away and had turned to meaningless talk
- verse 7 says that they claimed to be “teachers of the law,” without knowing what the law was about
- in verses 8 to 11, Paul reminds the people of the purpose of the law
- the law doesn’t exist for the Christian, who is righteous before God
- no, the law exists to point out the sins of the unrighteous
- in other words, these people seem to have been using the law in a legalistic way against believers in Jesus Christ
- verse 19 says that their errors were s hipwrecking the faith of some
- it was a serious enough error that it was causing severe damage
- so much so that in verse 20, Paul says he’s going to two of them over to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme
- in other words, he’s going to expel them from the church with the hope that this church discipline will snap them out of their error
- we’ll discover other characteristics of their errors later in the book, but their teaching was a perilous one
- it held real danger for their own souls, and for the church
- Spurgeon defined the work of the preacher like this: “To know truth as it should be known, to love it as it should be loved, and then to proclaim it in the right spirit, and in its proper proportions.”
- he said to his students, “To be effective preachers you must be sound theologians.”
- he warned that “those who do away with Christian doctrine are, whether they are aware of it or not, the worst enemies of Christian living . . . [because] the coals of orthodoxy are necessary to the fire of piety.”
- Two years before he died he said,
- Some excellent brethren seem to think more of the life than of the truth; for when I warn them that the enemy has poisoned the children’s bread, they answer “Dear brother, we are sorry to hear it; and, to counteract the evil, we will open the window, and give the children fresh air.” Yes, open the window, and give them fresh air, by all means . . . . But, at the same time, this ought you to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Arrest the poisoners, and open the windows, too. While men go on preaching false doctrine, you may talk as much as you will about deepening their spiritual life, but you will fail in it.
- friends, we’re in a perilous fight for people – to keep them from spiritual shipwreck
- what’s the alternative to fighting the good fight?
- only one thing: thrusting away from faith and a good conscience
- let’s apply this lesson to us today
- first application: realize that we’re in a war
- don’t be surprised when Satan attacks
- Satan is cunning and the father of all lies
- of course he’s going to attack!
- of course there are going to be false teachers!
- what did you expect?
- Jesus prophesied it…yet we seem almost surprised when his prophecies come true!
- we need to understand that we are in a battle, and that the stakes are eternal
- we need to fight the good fight ourselves
- second application: become a theologian
- resist the trend towards pragmatism
- defend the truth
- get to know the truth
- resist the modern teaching that it doesn’t matter what you believe; that doctrine isn’t crucial; that all that matters is application
- there are serious dangers lurking if we don’t become students of God’s Word, who can discern error
- Paul wrote:
- (2 Timothy 2:15) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
- (2 Timothy 2:16) Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
- Paul said to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:
- (Acts 20:29) I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
- (Acts 20:30) Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
- (Acts 20:31) So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
- third application: be willing to die for some things
- don’t be a pacifist when it comes to God’s truth
- hold on at all costs to the truth that God’s grace is for unworthy sinners; salvation is in Jesus Christ alone; that there is forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life
- be willing to fight, and if necessary, to die for it
