“Pursuit of Life”

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:11-21

Humanity, at least in America, has historically been conditioned by society to dream big. But more recently, our “big dreams” of life have become a bit tainted, in that we want to receive big, but few are willing to work big to obtain it. One of the central songs from the Broadway musical “Man of La Mancha”, “The Impossible Dream”, speaks of giving your all to gain that which is impossible to achieve, and when we give our all, it won’t be so impossible. People of today have forgotten what that song is all about, but in the first letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, that is exactly what he is telling him – to never stop striving and living for all that God desires to give him, even when he becomes discouraged, even when he comes under attack by evil, and especially when he begins to doubt that the Lord’s reward will ever come.

But perseverance in this world, when it goes against all earthly wisdom, is difficult, at best, and nearly impossible at times.

Read 1 Timothy 6:11-16

In the previous few verses (1 Timothy 6:3-11), Paul tells Timothy of the traps that earth sets for the faithful – he calls them “false doctrine”, and encourages him to be content with the simple and necessary things of life – food, clothing, righteous living, and contentment. Our life’s focus on anything else, such as riches, prestige, and power, is foolish and harmful to our faith.

As our text for today opens, Paul tells his young friend to flee from these things, and to strive for the better ways of righteousness, godliness, and so on. The world’s attitude is that these things are foolishness, that a gentle spirit and a humble heart will gain you nothing! But the Lord would have us know that his way is eternal, while earth’s way is temporary and brings with it a false sense of hope and peace.

“Fight the good fight of the faith.” Faith is a contest for eternal life, and it is, without a doubt, a struggle – a GREAT struggle! It takes energy, it takes discipline, it requires a significant portion of dogged determination. And what comes of that faithful and intense focus? Paul reminds Timothy of both his public confession, presumably his public acceptance of the truth of Christ, as well as the confession that Jesus made before Pilate. (John 18:33-37) When Pilate acknowledges that Jesus is a king, but from a different kingdom, the Lord replies that this is the very reason for which he was born – that he came to proclaim the truth of God, and that anyone who desires that truth will listen to him. And this is what Timothy claims for his own life.

Then Paul makes his own confession of faith – that Jesus is the blessed and only true Ruler, that he is King of kings, Lord of lords, that he is living and forever alive, that he and he alone is the indescribable, inaccessible, and indisputable glory of heaven and earth. Living in these truths of Christ is to be our life’s goal until the day that the Lord returns and makes all things true.

Does faithfulness to the truth of God really consist of such a horrendous battle in our lives? Do we really need to be constantly on the alert to challenges against what God says is true? Paul believed that living a life in faith is a major contest for us, a contest that could be lost any time we lose our focus on Christ. And if there is any doubt that this can happen, remember Peter when his faith led him to leave the safety of the boat and take a few steps on the waters of that stormy lake. (Matthew 14:22-33) As long as Peter kept his focus on Jesus, his faith sustained him on the waves. But as soon as his eyes strayed to the storm tossed waves, he quickly began to sink.

Remember the hymn?
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.”
This isn’t just a commandment – it is also a promise. And we have to remember that the converse is also true – when we turn our eyes upon the things of earth, our vision of Jesus will “grow strangely dim” in the darkness of sin and death.

Read 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Notice that Paul offers nothing of condemnation against wealth! In verse 10 of this chapter, Paul cautions that “money is the root of all kinds of evil”, not that it is evil in and of itself. Wealth brings with it a false sense of personal security and power and authority, when in reality, these riches hold no supremacy of their own, and can be lost just as quickly as can life itself. Jesus warned against our seeing wealth as our personal “treasure”, as it can corrode and be stolen as quickly as it first appeared. (Matthew 6:19-21)

But Paul takes a slightly different tact regarding riches – he says that we are to use it to help others and to do good in the world. But even at that, it is so easy to begin to lose focus on what we are supposed to be doing, and to start letting our focus turn to how wonderful and benevolent we are! If the Lord blesses us with some gift, it must never be seen as a sign of our righteous nature, but rather as an opportunity to reach out to the people of earth, and to share that gift with others.

Once again, Jesus is our example. In Philippians 2:5-11, we read that Jesus emptied himself of every ounce of glory and power so that he could become a servant to the people of earth. Interestingly, power and authority and prestige and glory bring nothing of any consequence to any of us here and now. It only builds up our ego, our pride, and 1 John 2:15-17 warns us that “For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” And nothing of permanence exists here, either.

Read 1 Timothy 6:20-21

Be careful, Timothy – the world is out to get you! And that is a pretty good warning for us, too. Human knowledge is nothing more than personal opinion when it comes to the truth of God. Those who try to put the God’s word into the context of today will do nothing but pervert the truth that Jesus sacrificed so much to give us. I must admit that some of scripture is difficult to understand, but instead of rewriting the passages to reflect the understanding of modern society, we would be much better off to study the culture and perspective of that day, and to let that concept guide our thoughts.

By faith in Jesus Christ, we are offered the greatest gift of all time – the promise of glory and eternal life in his presence. But when he told us that this faith requires obedience to all that he stood for and taught (Matthew 28:18-20), that is when many folks begin to turn away. It wasn’t that his teachings were so difficult to follow – it was just that they were different than everything we had ever understood as “right”, and we choose – choose! -not to change. Oh sure, those alluring temptations still flood our soul; we are still attracted to the temporary neon and glitter of earth; we are still told, and sometimes we actually believe, that it’s OK to have some worldly fun now and then; we still try to justify what we do with the thought that we were created with “weak flesh”, so why fight it; we still fall for the lie that God is irrelevant today; and we “turn our eyes” away from Jesus.

But the hope of Christ is that when we come to our senses and confess that we have taken the wrong path, we can still be welcomed back into his grace.

But we must willingly confess that Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, and that his way is supreme. We must confess that he is alive and eternal, and that we are only temporal without him. We must confess that he is Redeemer and Savior for the world, and that we have no chance on our own.
Our pursuit of life must begin with the Lord Jesus, and when it does, the journey will also be completed in him. And there is no other way.