Original: July 15, 2007
18 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. 1 Timothy 1:18-19
Have you every hiked, hunted or explored the desert? Years ago I was on my way to speak at a summer camp in Colorado and decided to mountain bike Moab, Utah’s world famous Slick Rock Trail. From what I recall this is a sixteen mile loop that never touches dirt riding the entire time on rock! When I hit the trail head at seven in the morning it was already over 100 degrees, by eight I was out of water, by 8:30 I bonked (A total loss of energy, dehydrations, and cramping in my leg muscles) and had to have a fellow biker and EMT (Thank you Jesus) help me get out of there in one piece. It was a humbling experience of where ignorance will get you in the desert!
Survival in the desert is like this.
We hunger, but the food is scarce. We thirst, but the water is no where to be found. We are isolated, but every oasis is a charlatan. We experience fear, but the saving grace seems to have vanished.
This passage creates conflict with thoughts of weakness, failure, and cowardice. Many desert experiences a man chooses to walk are his doing not God’s, which leads to another question. Does God put a man in the desert or does he choose to walk such a path?
The obvious answer is both of these are true. Sometimes God leads a man to desert places (Matthew 4:1-11). Sometimes a man chooses the desert for himself (James 1:13).
Paul encourages his protégé, Timothy to “fight the good fight.”
Have you ever noticed that not every fight is a good fight? Many fights are actually quite bad. I remember watching a fight as a young boy as two friends fought for what seemed like forever. They fought on the baseball field. They fought in the dugout. The fought in the parking lot and eventually fought inside of the snack shack! What started out as a high tension drama, turned into a situation comedy as a bunch of ten-year -olds laughed and made fun of their pathetic attempt to fight!
The fight for our faith is not a school yard fight. It is a good fight. It is worth fighting for. Faith is not only worth fighting for, but worth fighting for those around us. The stakes are high. Forever is the payment!
Yes, this is a good fight.
Verse 19 reveals two specific things we fight for and the first of these is obviously in “keeping faith” (19). Faith is not stagnant. It is dynamic. Faith is in a constant state of motion either toward our God or away from him. Faith is not neutral. The propensity of it is to diminish over time. Faith never stands still. Faith wants to run back to the world, but it must have the door of assertiveness slammed in its face.
Faith is not some passive form of mental ascent but an active movement of the heart.
Secondly, we “fight the good fight” by not only “keeping faith” but keeping a “good conscience”. In other words an assertive and active (moving forward) faith not only says “yes” to the great things of God but “no” to the good things that may not be from God (Jeremiah 15:19, 1 Corinthians 10:13).
Keeping a good conscience is synonymous to defeating temptation in our lives. Giving in to temptation leads to sin, sin leads to shame, shame leads to a depraved conscience, ultimately the desert.
Keeping a good conscience is synonymous to defeating temptation in our lives. Giving in to temptation leads to sin, sin leads to shame, shame leads to a depraved conscience, ultimately the desert.
