Sermon - St. Timothy 2021 - 1 Timothy 6:11-16

 Today in the life of the church we remember the pastor, bishop, confessor, and martyr, St. Timothy. Timothy was born in Lystra to parents of mixed ethnicities and religions. His father was a Greek gentile and his mother Eunice was a Jew converted to Christianity. God be praised for Eunice who taught the faith to her son in spite of her husband’s unbelief.

While St. Paul was in Lystra, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he met Timothy and took him under his tutelage to train him up to be a pastor in Christ’s church. Thus the letters bearing Timothy’s name were written by St. Paul to St. Timothy as instruction and encouragement to a young pastor. These letters largely focus on the responsibilities given to pastors, which is primarily to be engaged in the public reading of scripture and teaching. To this day, men preparing to be pastors still study the epistles to Timothy, and are thus primarily engaged in the public reading of scripture and teaching the faith.

According to tradition, Timothy went to Rome before St. Paul was executed for a final farewell. He would go on to become the Bishop of Ephesus and during his life spend some time imprisoned for confessing the faith. In the year 97, at about 80 years old, he was martyred for condemning pagan practices and preaching the Gospel.

Indeed, St. Timothy took to heart the words of his mentor, St. Paul, to “Fight the good fight of the faith.” He took hold of the eternal life and made the good confession even when it cost him his life. Like St. Timothy, every Christian is charged to fight the good fight of the faith. Truly, even now, the Christian is engaged in battle.

I know, as Lutherans we’re trained to think of the Christian life as something passive. In many respects, that is true. God is active in creating and sustaining us; we’re passive in being created and sustained by Him. God is active in Christ Jesus to redeem us; we are passive in being redeemed. God is active in the Holy Spirit to work faith in us; we are passive in receiving faith as a gift.

With that said, there is one aspect in which we are active: namely, our response to God’s work in us must be active. We’re not just a lump on a log, we’re no longer just dead in our trespasses, but according to God’s great mercy, He’s caused us to be reborn to a living and active hope in Christ Jesus! By God’s grace, we’re not dead, we’re alive! By Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, our death has been vanquished and we now live! With the weight of our sins forgiven and lifted from us, we now have the fervor, the vigor, the zeal of a calf in spring leaping from the stall! We’re alive, such that we can fight the good fight of the faith.

What does this battle look like then? What kind of a fight is this and how are we fighting? I suppose the first step we need to take is to realize that there is a battle. We all need to become conspiracy theorists! By that, I mean we all need to realize that Satan is conspiring against us, and in such a way that we don’t even recognize his assaults.

Perhaps my sermon on marriage and the family from a week ago is illustrative in this regard. Satan slowly, methodically, and corrosively corrupts marriage so that over the course of a few generations we begin to believe that Satan’s lies were our ideas and are good ideas. Like with Adam and Eve, he’s sneaky, he disguises himself like a simple garden snake, or an angel of light. He doesn’t look like a bad guy, and with smoke and mirrors he makes God look like the bad guy. He tricks us into rationalizing away God’s clear Word and relying on what feels good to us. 

There’s the point: the battle doesn’t look like a battle. The enemy doesn’t look like a bad guy. In fact, the enemy looks like your friend who makes you feel really, really, good about yourself. Meanwhile he’s stealing your family, robbing you blind, has got you digging your own grave, and is waiting for you to finish with a knife behind his back. That’s the kind of battle we’re fighting! 

He’s got us all duped so that no one believes the guy with courage who stands up and says “hey, that guy isn’t our friend, he’s lying to us, and all this stuff we’re doing that we think is good is actually just part of his evil plot to send us to hell.” Because Satan’s got us duped to believe there isn’t a battle, hardly anyone believes the guy who stands up and says the emperor has no clothes. They call him a nut and a conspiracy theorist.

So how do we fight in this kind of a battle? What hope do we even have? We actually have every reason to hope. I may have said hardly anyone believes the guy with courage, but I didn’t say no one believes him. Truth be told, lots of people believe that guy with courage, just maybe not all right away or at the same time.

God’s given us a glimpse at the end of the story; we know that we win in the end. “After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.’” St. Paul encouraged Timothy, knowing that he would be discouraged, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” Eternal life! That’s my hope! I already know how this ends, and so do you! I’m going to heaven and I will be numbered among that great numberless multitude clothed in robes washed white in Jesus’ blood. That’s how the battle ends, so I have hope today while I’m in the thick of the battle. I pray that you also may have that same hope.

So, now that you know there is a battle, and how the battle ends, we need to figure out how to fight. Paul tells Timothy two things, first he tells him to flee: “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things.” The first thing he teaches Timothy is to run away. This maybe seems a bit counterintuitive to fighting, but in every battle you need to know when to turn around and run away so that you can live to fight another day and actually win.

So what is it that we’re instructed to flee from? From the context immediately preceding there are two things from which to flee: First, false doctrine, and second, the love of money and riches. The first is an obvious issue in this battle, since this battle consists largely of our faith and the things that we have faith in. If we lose the content of our faith, the very thing that we’re fighting for, then the battle is indeed lost. The love of money is also an issue in this battle, because our hope rests in our eternal reward, not merely in temporal riches. Thus, if we just find our heart’s content in temporary treasures, we lose sight of the true treasure and we simply stop fighting for the faith.

Therefore, flee from false doctrine and the love of money and riches. Satan has those traps laid out to ensnare you, and if you see them, run away! But you don’t typically win a battle just by running away, you also need to know when to run the other direction. Paul says, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.” These virtues are the tools of the Christian trade by which we might go on the offense against Satan and win the battle.

These virtues are fruits of the Spirit, they’re the fruits of faith! As the apostle Paul says elsewhere: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” The way we fight against Satan and go on the offense is simply to be a Christian. 

Pursue righteousness, live in a manner befitting of one redeemed by Jesus. Pursue godliness, be a pious Christian who prays and reads the scriptures daily. Pursue faith, be one who believes in Jesus and His promise of forgiveness by His blood. Pursue love, care for others with generosity which reflects God’s generosity. Pursue steadfastness, root yourself in God’s Word and endure every tribulation. Pursue gentleness, treat others with the same forgiveness and charity with God treats you.

Above all, like St. Paul to Timothy, I charge you who have made the good confession of faith at your baptism, to “keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Hold onto Christ’s Word and His commandments, especially during the battle. Confess Him before your family, your friends, and all the world knowing that He is your light and your life. Fight the good fight of the faith, my friends, and have hope in the eternal life to which you have been called.