Outline: Fight the Good Fight of Faith (1 Tim. 6:11-16):
- The command to fight (vv.11-12)
- The motivation to fight (vv.13-16)
Summary: God has called us into a fight, a life-long fight of faith. By God's grace we have been called through the gospel and the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must take hold of the eternal life that first took hold of us. We made a public confession of our faith and now we are called to continue in our confession by fighting the fight of faith. Like a boxing match, the fight of faith will include strategies of both defense ("flee") and offense ("pursue"). We are commanded to engage in such a fight. And our motivation for heeding the command comes from the fact that the fight takes place in the presence of God the Father and God the Son. Both God's intimate presence with us and Jesus' example of making and continuing in His confession are meant to motivate us to fight hard until the bell rings at Jesus' return.
Main Point: We must persevere in the faith by engaging in a disciplined fight to trust God and keep His word until Jesus returns.
Discussion Questions:
- How should Jesus' good confession made before Pontius Pilate (v.13; cf. John 18:28-19:16) motivate us to continue and persevere in our good confession (v.12)?
- The fight of faith is like a boxing match that includes the need for both defense ("flee") and offense ("pursue"). From v.12 and your own experience, how might a christian "fly like a butterfly" and "sting like a bee" in his fight of faith?
- How should the majestic description of God in this passage (esp. vv.15-16) motivate us to engage in a disciplined fight to trust God and keep his word?
- How long must we engage in the fight of faith?
- Do I live like I understand that the normal Christian life is a fight to trust God and keep His word until Jesus' returns? In other words, do I expect my life to be a fight?
- How am I currently fighting the good fight? What situations in my life are calling for greater defense and what situations are calling for greater offense?
- Praise God for calling us though the gospel and the powerful working of the Holy Spirit
- Praise Jesus for making and persevering in His good confession even in the face of the cross
- Praise God for His intimate presence with us as we fight to persevere in the faith
- Ask God to help us discipline ourselves to "fly like a butterfly" as we flee sin and temptation
- Ask God to help us discipline ourselves to "sting like a bee" as we pursue righteousness
- Ask God to encourage and empower someone you know who is struggling in the fight of faith
