1 Timothy Chapter 1 is “The church and its message.” Chapters 2 and 3 are “The church and its members.” Chapter 4 is “The church and its minister.” Chapter 5 is “The church and its ministry to itself.” And Chapter 6 is “The church and its ministry to the world.”

1 Timothy Chapter 6 Verse 11 – 12a

•I love these final marching orders of Paul to Timothy. And not just Timothy but to any man or woman of God. We can break this down into very simple terms that will certainly guide our lives away from verse 10, piercing ourselves through with many many sorrows. And yet sorrows continue. Why? Listen, sorrows will continue because so many hear the Word, agree with the Word, and yet like a foolish child refuse to heed the Word.

•The simplicity is this. I read this as flee, follow and fight. Flee from the love of selfish gain…the focus and primary target being self…hate this! That tendency to seek and scream for the things of the flesh and things of self…flee that at its momentary onset lest you fall in love with it…the love of it is the root of all evil…

•Follow, your Bible may say pursue, righteousness. That which in the midst of the problem…glorifies God. Follow godliness. Eusebeia in the Greek meaning reverence, respect and piety towards God. Pursue faith, love, patience and gentleness. This is how you fight the good fight of faith. So simple. Flee, follow, fight…and fight isn’t stand alone (you can’t just jump to fight)…it is the result of follow and flee. We gotta get this lest we fight the wrong fight…in which everyone loses.

•Now quickly, two ways to look at this list of things to follow from Paul. Firstly, we can look at it from the 30,000 foot view. Righteous, godly, faithful, loving, patient and meek (or gentle), that’s a fairly tall order isn’t it? Well it’s easy for one Man. Natural you could say. Who is that Man? Jesus. One approach, and certainly a correct approach to applying this verse in your own life is to drop everything for the sake of seeking Jesus.

•In terms of life, in terms of with him, in terms of with her, in terms of with whatever…these things will manifest like fruit on a tree if you are planted and rooted in Christ. Now, 30 foot level…for that more hard core disciple who roots hard into the Bed Rock of Christ and yet has found such power, has found such peace, has found such zoe life (life abundant in the spirit) that you just want more..turn this list backwards and discover a pattern.

•We want to jump to faithfulness, godliness, righteousness…but let me ask you O man of God…are you meek? Are you gentle? For the disciple, start there. Because you can be all of these other things and if you lack humility, gentleness and meekness (really all the same thing) then all of it is tainted and none of it honors the cross of the King. Start with gentleness. Then be ever mindful of patience. Control yourself…let the Spirit guide you, lead you and have it His way. You’ll like the outcome…

•With gentleness powered on and patience engaged, now you will love like the Lord…agape love…love that loves to love…love that loves to glorify the Father…oh boy, now you’re scratching on faith…finally…and as you fold that into your moment, day, walk DNA…godliness and righteousness flow...O a man of God is among us…a woman of God is among us…someone who is different than the world, different then mortal man…and now you fight like Neo…the Word of God flowing through you stops the fiery darts of the enemy mid-air…

1 Timothy Chapter 6 Verses 12 – 14

•You know, this thing, Christianity, following Jesus…it has to be a fight…if your walk, your faith, your religion isn’t a fight then I would step up your determination. Doing things God’s way, against the current of self and the current of culture, if we’re serious about it…isn’t easy and so Paul says to Timothy, and I like how Guzik puts it, have a soldier’s determination…and how do you know you’re fighting the right fight…the outcome is that you lay hold of eternal “lots.” (Like eternal things…Big Lots but only not…HA!) That word for life is not breathe in, breathe out life but rather zoe life…life and life abundant…

•And then Paul says, this is so cool, Timothy, Christian, your job is to soldier forward in faith and leave the results, leave the fruit, up to God…He says that it is God that gives life but this is yet another word, it’s not Zoe its Zoopoieo which also isn’t breathe in breathe out but rather means quickens unto spiritual power and vigor! I love this! I mean, maybe this is just me, but obedience I can do…passion and delight I cannot…and so the doctrinal truth that is awesome and reassuring and freeing is that as you swim against the tide and row against the wind in this life, fighting the good fight of faith, God delivers the “goods!”

•Just trust Him! Believe Him! It’s simple but just because it is simple doesn’t mean that it is easy and that certainly doesn’t mean that it will come naturally. Therefore we are to fight for it, fight forward and not just call Jesus King but believe that He is King. Which was the confession that Jesus witnessed to Pilate…Pilate asked Him, “Are you a King…?”

1 Timothy Chapter 6 Verses 15 – 16

•One quick thing here, Potentate, in the Greek that is the word dynastes…It means Prince, King or royal line. Used 3 times in the Bible…(points to the Holy Trinity)…and makes me realize that Jesus alone, He is the only Son of God. The only King and Priest that there ever was and you and I being sons and daughters and kings and priests (Revelation 1) are not because we now are anything but rather Jesus has shared Himself with us…(He alone has immortality) and now we are in Him…Timothy, in light of the truth, center your life around Him…that’s what Paul is saying here…

1 Timothy Chapter 6 Verses 17 – 19

•This is great! Paul says, “Command those who are rich not to be rich…” HA! Not at all but rather for them to make sure their hope and trust is not in what man values but what God values and in that, truly, all can be rich! And Paul says, “storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come.” Such a cool thought and a mysterious truth, that what you do here in earth, how you fight this good fight, how you soldier forward…somehow is your setup for all of eternity…

1 Timothy Chapter 6 Verses 20 – 21

•Final thought as Paul closes this letter to his son in the faith. Guard the Word of God…where? In your heart. Profane, idle babblings, contradictions…reset that broken limb (that’s what that word “avoiding” means). Why? Because turning away from the Word of God is how Satan defeats the church and how the world recaptures a life…It’s just that simple. If we as a church, as a group of pastors here, if we will hold to the Word, we will never stray. Swing and miss is what that “strayed” word means…Man unity will just be so so easy…

•Same goes for the church…same goes for the home…same goes for the streets. If we all agree together to believe God then we will be as we ought to be…all together, in Christ.