Book of 1 Timothy - Ch. 1, v. 18

All right, well, we jump right back into our study of 1st Timothy. We're still in chapter 1, but we are at the very end of that opening chapter at this point.

And just to kind of briefly resurvey what we've talked about leading up to this point, Paul begins, of course, with his opening salutation and reminding

Timothy about our hope that we have in Christ. But then he immediately jumps into what

Timothy is up against, at least one of the prime things that he's up against, that being the false teachers, the ones that are bringing in the fables, the myths, the legends, disputes over the law, all of these types of things.

And the Apostle Paul uses this as an example of one of the proper uses of the law in the

New Testament and gives his breakdown of all of that and immediately follows it up with the kind of the first lengthy section that we have in this book, which we kind of just finished up the last time we were together about three or four weeks ago, which is

Paul contrasting these false teachers with the true saving gospel and what it is founded upon, that being

God's grace, God's mercy. And he uses himself as the example to show just how potent that really is.

He goes all the way back into his sinful past as an insolent man, as a blasphemer, as someone who was persecuting the church itself, the very body of Christ.

And he says, I obtained mercy, even I obtained mercy, and was entrusted with the gospel of his grace myself.

And he talks about the fact that he was counted worthy and just how amazing all of these things are, with it flowing directly from God's mercy.

And he ends that first lengthier section in verse 17 with the doxology that we looked at the last time we were together.

Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen. So that's where we left off last time. And it brings us to a new section, but it's one that's more brief.

And that is, again, the very ending of this first chapter, where Paul is about to give a charge to the young elder

Timothy. And a very important one is that something that he wants him to remember going into the remainder of his ministry.

And so kind of with picking up right where we left off in our review, the

Apostle Paul, after completing what was most likely a pretty emotional part of this letter for him to write in the first place, going back into his past and using himself as the prime example of God's saving power.

He now turns back to the very practical business of ministry, which is where Timothy is going to be spending the rest of his life.

And not only that, not only is ministry very practical in its own right, but it is especially so when you find yourself in the situation that Timothy was in, where he is not only having to raise up and exhort the congregation that he's put over and whatever believers he has to disciple, but to also refute the gainsayers, as Paul puts it in Titus, and know how to handle all of these false teachers that he just finished talking about in the opening portions of this letter.

Very practical stuff. He's about to give Timothy some encouragement to continue the good fight while living up to the very prophecies that were about him leading up to this moment, and we'll talk more about that in just a second.

But first look at verse 18, and just the first part of verse 19 again with me. The Apostle Paul here says, this is right after that doxology in verse 17, this charge

I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them, excuse me, that thou, man, my cough is coming back now, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.

And we'll stop right there for the time being. We will go verses 18 all the way through 20 when we get there, but for the moment, stop there and let's just focus on Timothy for just a second and the fight that he has before him.

The Apostle Paul had one specific concern that he constantly came back to in many of his letters, and that was the need to finish the race well, for any

Christian to finish the race well. Again, this was perhaps one of Paul's greatest motivations in his own life, in his own ministry, especially.

He was constantly concerned with, again, this idea of finishing well, not just starting the race okay, but also finishing well, and frequently made reference to it with regard to his own fight that he was always battling.

Now, we could go to a lot of different places in the New Testament to demonstrate this, this concern that Paul had, and that he kept going back to.

You could go to Romans 7, you go to a number of passages. I want to show you all one in particular here.

If you want to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and this is one that we are all familiar with, but I want you to think about it in light of what he is telling

Timothy in our passage here. So 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and we'll start verse 24.

1 Corinthians 9 24, and it says this.

I'm just gonna go down through 27. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?

So run that ye may obtain, and every man that striveth for the mastery is tempering at all things.

Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight

I, not as one that beateth the air, 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. Now in this particular portion, in fact in 1

Corinthians in general, the KJV can be a bit much sometimes, and it's like, all right, what exactly, what exactly is being said here?

So let's read it one more time, and let me clarify a couple of phrases that he uses, because that while it sounds very lofty when you read it in the

Old English like this, it once more is is just down -to -earth and as practical as it possibly gets.

So look at it one more time. Let's go a little bit slower. Verse 24. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?

In other words, everyone that is in a race, if you are entered into a race, everyone's running.

It might be a relatively large group of runners even, but only one gets the prize.

So he begins with that rhetorical question, using an analogy that everyone would have been familiar with.

There's a lot of runners, but only one gets the prize, right? You know this. And then he says, look at this, so run that you may obtain.

In other words, put it in slightly more modern English here, he's saying run in such a way that you might actually win the race.

Just like the runners in a physical race, for something as vain as, you know, perhaps an

Olympic game or something like that, they're going to put a lot of work, diligence, practice, time into being the one that wins that race.

So live your life like that. If they're going to do it for the race, you might as well do it for the great race that we have before us, the one that all other meager races picture.

So he says, so run that you may obtain. Run in such a way that you might win.

And then look at verse 25 again. And every man that striveth for the mastery, and this is a little bit awkward, but what he means is, who competes in the games.

So the word mastery there is literally making reference to like an Olympic game. So every man who competes in the games is, what

Paul is literally saying, is temperate or has self -control. If you're going to enter a race in the

Olympics, you are going to be an incredibly disciplined and incredibly self -controlled person.

And if you're not, you would be an absolute embarrassment, not only to yourself, but to your country. And Paul is literally using the analogy of the

Greek Olympics here. We can know that in the language that he's using. And so you enter the games, you know, you have the

Olympics here in the 21st century. You're not only representing yourself and your you know, your stamina, your discipline, your training, but you're also representing your country.

If a man that competes in the games does so, he has self -control.

So then look what he says after that. He has self -control or he's temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

So you think about the discipline, you think about the training, you think about all of the sacrifice and the heartache and the physical pains that these guys go through, and for what?

It's for a corruptible crown. It's for something that will turn to dust eventually just as they will.

But Paul is saying here we are running our race for an incorruptible crown, something that is priceless, something that is valued far above any number of corruptible crowns that these very disciplined, very self -controlled runners over here are after.

Every man who competes in the games has self -control in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

And then Paul puts it right back on himself and he says, let me show you what i'm talking about. I therefore so run.

I run my life. I run the race of my life trying to live up in an honorable fashion in the name of the

Lord in such a way as they do over here for these corruptible vain things.

I therefore so run not as uncertainly and what he means by that is I run in such a way as it's not aimless

I have an aim I can see the finish line. I'm not just running around I'm running a very intentional race on a very intentional path

Just like the course that runners in the games would be running. I see the finish line

This isn't aimless. I see it and i'm running straight for that. Therefore. I run not uncertainly or without aim

And then he says so I fight and the the greek word here is literally box. So boxing has been around Since ancient times so paul is now using a boxing analogy here and he says so I box

But not as one that beateth the air so in other words his Just like a trained boxer has very intentional training habits and very intentional things that he is using

For his practice for preparation That is how paul Approaches ministry that is how paul approaches his christian walk in general.

He's not walking around beating the air It's a very intentional training that he's going through And then he ends with verse 27 and this is the one that is just very explicit

He says but I keep my body Or in other words, I discipline that word keep there

You you could translate it. I discipline my body or even more literally. I buffet my body

I I discipline my body. I buffet my body I bruise my body and bring it into subjection which literally means to make his body his slave

If you look at the greek term there, I make my body my slave. I bring it into subjection I have control over it just like these athletes do this is an analogy

Everyone understands everyone admires the athlete that has the amount of discipline and self -control that they have in order to raise to the to the greatest heights of of athletic

Grandeur that we we see all you know, this is As far back in human history as you can go all the way to present day

We admire these men and women that again have the kind of discipline

And self -control that it takes, uh to to get to to the highest stages of athleticism

He says that is what I do In my ministry that is what I do in my life

And the implication is you should too I keep my body under control. I keep my body discipline

I bring it into subjection. I make it my slave I have total control over it and then listen how he finishes it

Lest if he doesn't do any of that if he doesn't have the discipline if he doesn't have the self -control

That by any means when I have preached to others. I myself should be a cast away or You could translate that disqualified so we talk about Uh, you know, we look around and dad made reference to it last sunday and I have made reference to it many times in recent

Sunday school classes and that is the reality that we look around And i'm sure the internet doesn't make this any better I don't

I don't know if it's necessarily the worst it's ever been or if it's just it's so much easier to to see people

Send these days but ministers just dropping like flies across all denominations across all traditions and just one

Becoming disqualified after the other and not always a lot of them are for sexual related sins But not all of them.

Some of them are just really weird like gossip related stuff and and you know Lies and and things they were caught

Uh with and all of these various things and we look at and we think well, how pathetic are these guys?

You know, how weak are these guys and they are the ones of course that indulge their passions their their um

Sin habits and things like that while acting as an under shepherd for the flock for the household of god

That is a terrible thing. That is an evil thing But what is paul saying here? He's saying

Listen, just because i'm an apostle doesn't mean that I get to approach life in a careless way

It doesn't mean that I get to approach life in neutral or ever relax at any point

It's not like I have raised to such heights as an as a as a christian that I don't have to worry about the battle against sin anymore

He's saying I have to remain disciplined. I have to remain Training my body and keeping it disciplined

I have to make sure my body is always my slave and not just at the beginning but all the way to the end

I have to have self -control Lest I myself should be disqualified So if that is a concern of the apostle paul

Then it should be a concern of every person ever every christian ever certainly those in a ministerial uh position and now you take this passage that we just uh looked at And carry it over back to first timothy for a second.

So turn back to first timothy chapter one And think about what we just read In light of these

Uh exhortations, in fact actually stronger than that these commands from paul to timothy

Look at verse 18 one more time first timothy 1 18 this charge I commit unto thee son timothy according to the prophecies

Which went before on thee that thou by them mightest war a good warfare holding faith and good conscience

Now it's a much more succinct little instruction there little phrase rather the instruction is not little but the the phrase itself is succinct

Compared to what paul just demonstrated back in first corinthians, but it's all the same thing It's the same fight.

And so just as much as paul had the concern for himself to finish Well, he had that concern just as much for all of his disciples and certainly those he was about to impart that succession of leadership and so You look at other places and that's not the only one.

We don't really have time but in in first thessalonians chapter two uh, the apostle paul talks about um satan

Basically putting up like a blockade against paul and the other apostles as they were trying to go

Uh minister to certain saints in certain locations and things like that And so once more paul talks a lot about the spiritual battle that he was facing against his own flesh against satan himself he he

Uh talks about him by name in a number of places And things of that sort and so the apostle paul

He describes his trouble as an apostle As being a direct confrontation with satan himself

So often and of course, we know that he is the chief source of all spiritual warfare that the christians go through and so now

You get into this passage of timothy and we see timothy will be the one To experience this confrontation like he had never experienced before in his life

There's no doubt. He may have up to this point. He had been saved from his youth But entering ministry puts a new and much larger target on your back

And so the apostle paul is warming him up to this By giving him this command in its strongest form.

We'll look at it more closely in a minute to war a good warfare And so in order

To wage a successful campaign against the devil himself What will it take?

diligence perseverance self -control constant training You have the meager earthy analogy of the runner getting ready for the olympic games

Now amplify that 10 x 20 x 100 x and that is your spiritual race

That is the that is the race you have before you as a christian Uh with a direct confrontation with satan with your flesh and with the world and so paul understood greatly

That the send -off For a newly minted minister of the gospel like timothy Was relatively speaking or a newly appointed elder like timothy was in this case perhaps about to be appointed bishop of ephesus

Or a pastor who's about to undertake a new congregation and be its shepherd paul understood

That the send -off at that point was only the beginning That was by no means the okay.

You've made it you're there. You're good to go And I got you know now we're going to go focus on some new younger guys

The personal battles that timothy would face that anyone in a similar situation would face grows hotter

As time goes on they don't go away. And so here in these verses between verses 18 through 20

And uh 20, uh Is a different matter, but it's it's part of the same topic here

Um, this is the apostle paul preparing timothy mentally for this reality the battles will grow hotter

They certainly won't cool down and so paul using a very specific method of persuasion here

Wants to grab timothy's attention so vividly That he would have the same desire that paul did back in that corinthians passage we just read

Where paul's talking about himself and he's talking about the discipline and the self -control that he so desires so that he may not be disqualified he

He wanted to finish. Well, it was one of his greatest concerns Paul is now persuading timothy using a particular method.

We'll we'll look at Just in just a second But he is doing this he's trying to persuade him why so that timothy doesn't ever

Get to the point where he's lax on this battle before him So that he is thinking about it as intently as the apostle paul always did to keep his body his own slave

So as not to become disqualified himself paul did not want timothy He didn't want that for timothy just as much as he didn't want it for himself now in order

Obviously paul is using a very physical analogy in that passage In order to keep the biological frame of a person under control

It requires that the spiritual core The spiritual core of a person is constantly getting stronger first.

You can't you can't Get there spiritually by focusing on the physical first and paul tells us as much elsewhere

He says working out's great, but compared to the to the spiritual life. I'm paraphrasing so badly, but Compared to the spiritual life.

It's nothing and he wasn't saying you shouldn't work out He wasn't saying that physical education

And things like that are a bad thing He's just saying they are meager compared to the spiritual you have to put the spiritual first and then go from there

And so in order to protect yourself from biological Uh temptations things that could affect you physically and things

Of that sort it has to start first with the spiritual core of a person getting stronger

He says just at the opening of verse 19. They're holding faith and a good conscience, so This is where it starts.

It begins with our faith. It begins with a good conscience It begins with the internal and it moves its way out which of course plays off of jesus's teaching so much and so doing this

By setting him up for success and timothy heeding the instructions from paul here by doing this

It'll actually allow timothy to do what? It's a really interesting thing to fulfill the prophecies

That were made about him in this role in verse 18 there to fulfill the prophecies that were made about timothy in his role as a minister

And so this brings us to that method of persuasion that I referenced a minute ago that paul is now using

What does paul do here to get timothy fired up? What does he do to get him to stay focused on that finish line?

That that's not aimless just like the apostle paul was talking about in corinthians What did he do that or how how did he do that?

He does it by reminding timothy of his calling And the fact that he was set apart

For this good work and therefore he shouldn't mess it up Because the source of this calling

Was far greater than timothy the man It this isn't just timothy getting to decide, you know one day i'm gonna i'm gonna be diligent

I'm gonna i'm gonna do the best job I can as a minister But the next day I don't really feel like it anymore. I want to move on to a new pursuit

Uh, you know, this is kind of old now. I want something new. I want something fresh. He doesn't get to do that He literally does not have that option and so paul is just trying to ground timothy here and simply tell him look

You were prophesied about in this position as a leader of the early church

You are going to fulfill it and I want you to think about this reality as your motivation for Staying on the straight and narrow for staying disciplined for continuing to have that self -control

But now there's there's a thing here and and that is that this isn't just a matter of passing

A single hard test This isn't a matter of okay. Once more timothy has now made it to the threshold

Of being a minister of being an elder of being a bishop a successor of paul himself Uh as a minister of the gospel, it's not a matter of reaching that threshold and saying, okay,

I did it I've crossed it I can go on and i'm repeating myself at this point. We talked about this just a moment ago

But it's important for us to keep in our view here It's not just a matter of passing a hard test and then kind of taking a sigh of relief that you've successfully completed the challenge and meandering around from that point forward

The words that paul uses here in verse 18 Uh specifically in verse 18 it kind of carries into verse 19 as well

But the words that he uses indicate something on a far larger scale than a simple

Here's one test i've passed it I can move on the scale is way larger Than a test certainly a single test

And let's look at that a little more closely here. So back in the Verse 18 at the very end of it.

He says that thou by them mightest wore a good warfare I want to look at that first.

We'll go back to the prophecy thing in just a second because it's interesting But mightest war that's when paul says that thou mightest war

That's all one greek word and it comes from the greek word strataeo Which is where we get our word strategy from And basically what it means literally the greek term literally means to strategically lead a military expedition now what's interesting about it is he's going to use another greek term in a second, which is from the same root

But he's emphasizing two different things by using two different words and the first word he uses here he's emphasizing the the campaign

But or he's talking about the campaign, but the thing he's emphasizing is timothy's leadership within the campaign

And of course that's not by accident timothy was doing just that he was entering into a leadership position so in other words

The the word that paul uses here is he's telling timothy you are to lead soldiers into war

And like I said, the scale is much larger than a simple test. This is warfare Not even a single battle, but a war comprised of many battles an expedition a military campaign

Thou mightest war that's what he's talking about there leading a military

Campaign and then what does he say that thou mightest war a good? Warfare the word good there is the greek term for noble so he wants timothy to Go into this war a noble man and to conduct himself in a noble manner

It means noble or or admirable so to conduct himself admirably in the eyes of god

But certainly in the eyes of his fellow men as well those that he is leading and so You're going to lead a military campaign, but you need to do so in noble fashion

And he finishes it the full sentence is thou mightest war a good warfare in that last word warfare

There is a slightly different greek term strata Which makes more specific it emphasizes the campaign itself.

So the first strata. Oh, he's emphasizing the leadership within the campaign And then strata at the very end of it here.

He's emphasizing just the campaign itself So you're going to go in there and lead a noble effort against the enemy a large scale military campaign and so What is it that you think paul is emphasizing in his choice of words here?

Why? Is he using this analogy? Why is he being this explicit?

With timothy is it just that he's trying to you know, kind of shake him up a little bit

Or is there more of a literal sense here? What do you think dad? I saw you raise your hand Well, what that last word seems to be he's telling me it's a long drawn out affair it's not something

You know, you've got to be prepared for a long drawn out affair you may not get a lot of rest from it you may not

You know What do they call it the military where you can get to have a couple days some leave?

Yeah And so you got to really be prepared

That's exactly right He's using this explicit analogy in this very specific wording here

To put that picture in timothy's mind early so that he doesn't get burned out because if you go into a war campaign a military campaign with the idea that we're going to just knock him dead in the first battle and be done with this thing

And then that doesn't happen you get so uh so utterly

Burned out and and the morale goes to zero and all of these things that you're useless at that point for the remaining battles at hand

But if you go into an understanding, this is a strategic campaign with a military war comprised of many individual battles

And you have to remain diligent. You have to remain self -controlled to fight each and every one of those to reach your desired goal

Which is heaven itself If you know that going into it, then you will have the fortitude to take those battles one by one rather than The burnout that would otherwise come and that has come by the way

For a great many people and we could look at some of those in the scriptures themselves. Yeah, robert So one of the things not only just heaven itself.

I would say that there are certain victories on earth that we get the trophies They're going to lay crowns and trophies

At jesus's feet, oh, of course Collect a bountiful amount of them to one would be great two is great

But but collect as many of them as possible Because they're going to him

Like like be as much of the victorious person to collect a big amount

All the crowns Is Let's go back to that original

Analogy, we started with the first corinthians. No you not that they which run a race all run But one gets the prize

And then he used and then after that he says so run that way so that you may obtain it

Run in such a way that you might win and you may not have been in here yet robert when we looked at that But run your christian walk in such a way that you might actually win something

You know don't think about it. It's just like well, we're all going to heaven. It'll be kind of you know, just uh,

Well, no, you know don't picture it it's just this bliss that we all enter equally um, if that were true, then you wouldn't have some of the amazing, um,

Some of the amazing proclamations made about the apostles and not just the apostles But some elders and not just some elders, but those that were beheaded

There are some that run the way the race better than others And so run your race in such a way that you might actually win something.

Yeah, dad I like robert's Point because I know you agree with it because right that trainway

We spent 20 years trying to convince christians. I think we did convince the ones that were listening that It seems christian pastors always looking at your rewards or all this

Oh sure So it was but also they had the

You know the birthright. They also had the spiritual It was both Right, so we run the race

And I was thinking about While robert was talking okay, he's talking about like Do here?

We gain rewards and then what you said Heaven, well, it is in heaven when we get to throw it at his feet

So it ties everything together as one reality rather than two different so many people think well

I'll have eternal life when I get to heaven. Well, you're living it now It started when he got born again and it goes out the other end for eternity.

You're living it now and I like the way you both you guys Well, there will be a day when all of this does literally converge

Because heaven essentially is where the glory of god is And when jesus comes for the second time, where does he bring heaven?

He brings it to earth And uh, and of course earth itself will be redeemed someday. And so yeah, there's there's certainly no, uh,

You know, there's often that false dichotomy of spiritual and physical that you're talking about Which is functionally a gnostic thing, even though people don't realize it and that's to be avoided no doubt

But yes, uh, you have again you have the ultimate finish line finishing Well, and that is what seeing jesus's face for the first time in heaven

Well done my good and faithful servant that sort of thing. And so going back to the original question dad got it exactly, right?

Paul is obviously using a very explicit analogy here this military this militaristic large -scale campaign

To represent something And that something is timothy's personal christian walk

But also in light of his calling as well. So all of us have our own campaigns. Uh There's this obviously we're all marching together.

We're all part of one army, but we're we're also individual soldiers as well Well for timothy here.

He was one of the leaders Of this military campaign and so he had a you know, a very particular role in all of this and so Paul is using this analogy to represent something

And in using this particular analogy what he's doing is he is pressing upon timothy's mind

That performing well in a single battle to dad's point isn't going to cut it

He has to be ready for the whole campaign the entire thing Not just the first or even the second third battles, but all of them.

It's going to be long It's going to be arduous And it is life and death that we're talking about here

Now warfare and i'll have to end with this thought probably because we're running low on time but warfare in general

Is one of the great testaments to the fall of man The fact that war exists

It's a testament to sin entering the world and because war

Is the direct result of sin the large majority of wars throughout human history?

have been fought on Unjustifiable terms. I think we would all agree with that You know, there are there are corrupt leaders that will wage war against each other and will send innocent

Men young men to fight those wars on their behalf for the consolidation of power or whatever it may be

The large majority of wars throughout human history have been on unjustifiable terms

And in ways that were far from noble or as far from noble as you could get

What is paul telling timothy to do fight a noble war? He's he's saying fight a just war and as christians

Thinking biblically about war can sometimes be a complicated thing because not all patriotic wars

Are necessarily biblical wars? And I said I use the term patriotic because we know that it can be very easy in the moment in the heat

Of the battles raging wherever they may be for us to get behind it, you know, vietnam is a great example of that Uh our involvement in a number of wars where in hindsight, it's like what were we doing?

but in the moment, there's kind of a You know patriotic camaraderie about it.

Of course the the actual men boots on the ground are patriots, they are warriors they are heroes and all these types of things, but were the were the the initial

Reasons justifiable that's where it gets really interesting sometimes when you start using the biblical grid

To analyze all of the various wars throughout human history But even though and this is important Even though all wars without exception all wars are a result of sin

There are in fact occasions for a just war Does that make sense? If sin hadn't entered the cosmos there would never be war there would never be rebellion

And if it had been for satan's iniquity that was found in him, there wouldn't have even been a great war in heaven So it's because of iniquity.

It is because of sin that war is ever uh Ever a thing And so all wars without exception are a result of sin

But there are occasions where there is in fact a just war And that is true in the physical realm

But I use that just as the springboard to say that it is most true in the spiritual realm so when paul

You know what paul is talking about here Is noble warfare defined? Defined We have to fight the war against satan against the flesh against the world because of sin

If it weren't for sin, we wouldn't have to fight any of these battles But because of sin we have to But it is as noble as a warfare

Can possibly get its necessity? The necessity of that warfare is a result of the fall

But its necessary end is one of the most god -glorifying realities in existence.

And what is that? the victory over sin So the fact that we as believers as individual soldiers, but also as the collective church militant

Fighting against the devil fighting against the world um, we have to fight that particular war as a necessity because of the fall but Despite that the necessary end of all of it

The ultimate end of all of it will be god getting all of the glory because his people will have conquered sin the great the great enemy and so For timothy in this context and and this will be again the last thought here

I want to wrap this up. We'll have to pick it up here next week as well, but I want a little bit of closure

For timothy in this context and i've already mentioned this paul is strengthening him for the fight ahead

By reminding him of his immediate responsibilities His calling yes, but what does that entail responsibilities?

it entails Uh responsibilities that follow or that come from the particular calling

And so what does paul say at the beginning of verse 18? He says this charge

I commit I commit unto thee son timothy And so this is a command in the strongest form when you look at the greek term for charge there

This is a this is a military command. So he's still using the military jargon here and it is if Timothy who is about to be a leader is receiving instruction or a command from higher up officers higher ranking officers

That being paul saying you don't have an option. You don't get to decide how you feel. You don't get to let your emotions

Rule the day at any particular point This is what you have been called to by the captain of our salvation and you do not get to question it and you don't get to Decide on any given day to kind of put the weapons down and kick back and relax a little bit

It's a command in the strongest form. It's something that is non -negotiable and it's fat It's in fact something that isn't to be discussed at all.

That is the connotation of the greek word That's how it would be in in physical warfare with your commanding officers and those that are receiving the instruction

It's it's a a no -brainer It goes without saying but we have to remind ourselves.

This is also how it works in the warfare Against satan when we get instructions from the captain of our faith.

We have to take it seriously. They're non -negotiable So in other words, this is timothy's duty to carry out and this is something that's completely lost

In the 21st century west the sense of duty the sense of responsibility This is timothy being charged to fulfill

That which he has been made responsible for Every person is made responsible for something.

So this isn't unique to timothy Every single individual person is made responsible for something.

It may look different But they've got it now whether they live up to it or not is a completely different question

And paul here being the kind of bearer of of a high office himself He's telling timothy that this isn't optional.

He can't fail his people. He can't fail his church He can't fail his calling.

This is your duty and on that basis. I give you this command so this principle or will end there, but i'll just to give you a a

A slight preview of next week. We're going to look at some words of jesus in the gospel of luke where jesus

Talks about this principle of duty toward god We'll talk more about it next week because we're out of time but um again, paul is building upon arguments that jesus himself made and the arguments that jesus made were essentially based upon just Nature natural law the scriptures themselves all of it

And so paul is is taking all that and he's compounding it into his argument in his command to timothy here

And we'll go from there next week so Uh, does anyone have any final thoughts really quick in our last 60 seconds or so?

Yeah Absolutely It's easy for us to understand when it comes to the physical warfare when we're sending our men

To fight the battles to protect our liberty and our heritage and all of these things we understand that call of duty in that context

But that is that's simply the type That's that's the picture or the example of the greater reality

Which is the call of duty for the christian to live in an honorable way toward god and to have that duty toward god

Regardless of what the call the individual calling is for that particular Soldier if you want to use the analogy a little further there

All righty guys Well, let's close in prayer and then we'll move on to the next service heavenly father

Thank you so much for this wonderful day for bringing us together and giving us an opportunity to Open up the pages of scripture once more together and Allowing them to shed light on all of these amazing truths embedded in your universe embedded in Your creation and in the way that we can live so that we can finish the race.

Well so that we have all of the Uh inspiration that we could possibly ask for to keep our eyes on the site to not run aimlessly

Or to box in the air, but to have intention behind everything that we're doing and to remain self to remain self -controlled uh discipline

Trained up and ready for the next battle that comes that may very well be tougher than the one before it but if we remain with our eyes on you and Understanding that you lived your life in a way that was to be exemplary for all of us as well to set the model

To know that we can in fact do this and in your case for the joy that was set before you

That we will experience that Ourselves someday and so we ask for these things just like paul had to remind timothy of these things to strengthen us

And to prepare us for each and everything On the horizon we ask that you please be with us

In the following service and for our fellowship time bless all of it as we're together today And we ask all these things in your name.