Strategy for the Christian Soldier
Pastor David L. Brown,
Ph.D.
Sermon Delivered 11/16/03
Text: 1 Timothy 6:11-12 "But thou, O man of
God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the
good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also
called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."
If you are a Christian, you are at war. However, the
war is not a physical war, like the war we are fighting in Iraq. Rather,
it is a spiritual war, a spiritual struggle between good and evil. There
are three primary fronts in the war. We are in a struggle with…
When I speak of the world in this context, I am
referring to the evil world system of beliefs, philosophies and practices
that will not acknowledge the Lord God of Heaven and Earth.
Colossians 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil [take you
captive] you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of
men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." The
Greek word translated rudiments is
stoiceion stoicheion (stoy-khi’-on
4747) which means "things in a row" or the fundamental principles or
causes perhaps of things like the universe, man, sin, etc. What Paul is
referring to is that there were Christians who were abandoning biblical
truth and going back to false, man made explanations. This verse is clear.
One of our enemies is the world. James 4:4 puts it
this way -- "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God."
We are also in a struggle with…
The flesh, in this context, is the fallen, sinful
nature of man. Galatians 5:17 shows us that they are in a war
for control of a man’s soul. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the
other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Paul further says,
Romans 8:8 "So then they that are in [controlled by] the flesh
cannot please God."
The Apostle Paul was concerned about loosing the
struggle with flesh. He said to the Corinthians, "But I keep under my
body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any
means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
1 Corinthians 9:27. The Greek word that underlies the phrase
keep under is the word
upwpiazw hupopiazo (hoop-o-pee-ad’-zo; 5299)
which means to beat black and blue, to smite so as to cause bruises.
The phrase bring it into subjection is the
metaphor of the victor leading the vanquished as captive and slave.
The Greek word translated castaway is
adokimov
adokimos (ad-ok’-ee-mos; 96). Six time the King James translators
translated the word reprobate, one time rejected and one
time castaway. The Greek Lexicon says the word means not standing
the test, not approved or unfit.
Dr. John Gill says, this is not referring to the
apostles natural body, but rather "the body of sin, the corruption of
nature, and of that being laid under some restraints; of the mortifying
the deeds of the body through the Spirit, of crucifying the affections
with the lusts, of putting off the old man with his deeds, as concerning
the former conversation, and of making no provision for the flesh, to
fulfil the lusts thereof." I don’t know about you, but I am constantly at
war with my flesh! We need to be brutal with our old nature.
Our final struggle is with…
1 Peter 5:8-9
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith,
knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that
are in the world."
Focus
Now that we know our enemies, we need a strategy for
dealing with them! Our text gives us that strategy in three words –
Flee, Follow, and Fight.
In war, there is a time to charge and a time to
retreat. When is it time to retreat? We are to flee fornication, idolatry
and youthful lusts according to what Paul says in other places. Here, Paul
writes,
1 Timothy 6:11
"But thou, O man of God, flee these
things;" But, what are the things that Paul is referring
to? The first is the desire to be rich and the second is the
love of money.
Turn to verses 9-10. "But they that will be rich
fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the
love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows."
1 Timothy 6:9-10
I want to point out that this passage is not addressed
to those who are rich, but those "that will be rich" or aspire to be rich.
Those driven by the love of money will take unreasonable chances and do
questionable or illegal things in an effort to get rich. They are also
susceptible to believing lies. Here is what I mean. Several years back I
went to a luncheon where a man who alleged to be a Christian business man
told us a tale about how we could double our money within a year’s time.
As I recall, there was someone there to give a testimonial of how this
plan had worked for him. It just sounded too good to be true. And do you
know what? It was too good to be true! Many Christians and Christian
organizations lost a bundle. Indeed they "pierced themselves through with
many sorrows."
Now, there is another aspect that we should consider.
There are some that think being financially successful is evidence of
God’s blessing and approval. We read this in
1Timothy 6:5
"supposing that gain is godliness..." Paul’s advice is "…from such
withdraw thyself."
The believer should run the opposite way from those
whose primary goal in life is to be rich and who are driven by the love of
money.
Let’s move on to the second strategy…
"…follow after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, meekness."
The Greek word translated follow is
diwkw dioko (dee-o’-ko;
1377), which means to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to
run after. The question is, what are we to run after?
First, is righteousness. This is a translation of the Greek word
dikaiosunh dikaiosune (dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay;
1343). The general meaning is to live a life pleasing to God.
Specifically the word means integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness,
correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting. We are to pursue righteousness.
Second, we are
to run swiftly after godliness. This is the Greek word
eusebeia
eusebeia (yoo-seb’-i-ah; 2150), which means piety toward God. The
problem is we do not use the word piety any more. Piety in
principle, is a combination of veneration or reverence of the Lord God and
love of his character.
Third, we come
to the word faith. This is a translation of the Greek word (pistiv
pistis pis’-tis; 4102). Faith is the assent of the mind or
understanding to the truth of what God has revealed. Fith is simple belief
of the Scriptures, of the being and perfections of God, and of the
existence, character and doctrines of Christ, founded on the testimony of
the sacred writers. We are to pursue faith.
Fourth, is love. This is a translation of the Greek word
agaph agape (ag-ah’-pay;
26). This kind of love can be defined as compassion, or
good will directed toward others. It is the desire to do what is best for
someone, not necessarily what they want. God had this kind of love for
lost man. This is John 3:16 love. Men wanted Christ to bring back
the glory years of Israel. They wanted a King who would feed the sick,
raise the dead, calm the storms and throw off the yoke of Rome. However,
God did NOT give them what they wanted, but rather what they needed.
Christ died for our sins and raised for our justification (Romans 5:8;
4:25). That’s agape love. We are to pursue love.
Fifth, we come
to patience. This is the Greek word
upomonh hupomone (hoop-om-on-ay’;
5281). The word means a patient enduring; perseverance. It describes a
man, or woman who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his
loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. We
are to pursue patience.
Finally, meekness. Meekness is a translation of the Greek word
praothv praotes (prah-ot’-ace;
4236), which carries with it the idea of humility. Humility is
lowliness of mind, a modest estimate of one's own worth. It is a deep
sense of one's own unworthiness in the sight of God, and submission to
God’s will.
We have looked at flee, follow and now we
come to fight.
"Fight the good fight of faith…"
The word fight is a translation of the
Greek word agwnizomai
agonizomai (ag-o-nid’-zom-ahee; 75) from where we get our word
agonize. The word means to contend in a contest with an adversary. The
Christian life is warfare. We are to fight our enemies (the world, flesh &
the devil) and to fight the good fight for the Christian faith (1 Timothy
6:12; Jude 1:3). This is a lifelong battle that every Christian must
fight!
Summary
I have said it before and I say it once again. The
Christian life is a battlefield folks not a recreation room. It’s a fight
and not a game! If we will be successful we must flee sin, follow
righteousness and fight the good fight of faith.
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