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1 Timothy 6:11-16 - Living For Our Returning King · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in First Timothy
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  chapter 6 and verse #11 hopefully going through verse 16
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  for today. And we are nearing the end of
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  the book. Paul has been writing through
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  for Timothy, who he had left at the church at Ephesus, so that
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  Timothy could put back into order some of the things that
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  were out of whack in the church. False teaching, bad teachers,
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  those that were greedy, just a whole mess of problems.
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  And Paul has been encouraging Timothy in his walk with the
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  Lord and helping to like equip other believers who are faithful
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  in their walks. And Paul here does not say like
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  Timothy, everything rests and relies on you.
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  But in one sense, he, he kind of says Timothy, so much of what
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  will make the impact for this church is who you invest into.
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  And so he's talked all the way through about teaching men and
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  women, about prayer, about them learning and living out the word
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  of God. He's talked to him about who he
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  puts into church leadership as an overseer, as an elder or as a
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  Deacon. He's talked about like church
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  finances and those that would be, if you will, employed as
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  widows for the service of like praying and being about the
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  Lord's work. And so as he's been talking
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  through all of this letter, there could almost be a
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  heaviness at the end of it to go, man, this seems like so
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  much. And though I'm called not to do
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  it all myself, but to invest in these other people who will
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  themselves do the work of the ministry.
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  Timothy could feel very burdened down.
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  And as we saw last episode in the preceding verses, there
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  would be false teachers, ones that would reject Timothy's
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  teaching, even though it was coming from the Holy Spirit and
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  from Paul, the the first starter and planter of this church at
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  Ephesus. And there would be these
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  teachers that were greedy, that were simply trying to make a
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  buck off of the Ephesian believers.
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  And so Paul says, don't be like these guys.
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  But now in verse #11 he says this.
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  But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue
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  righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.
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  Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to
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  which you were called, and about which you have made a good
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  confession, in the presence of many witnesses, in the presence
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  of God who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a
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  good confession before Pontius Pilate.
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  I charge you to keep this command without fault or failure
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  until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  God will bring this about in His own time.
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  He is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and
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  the Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in
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  unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.
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  To him be honor and eternal power.
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  Amen. So here Paul outlines for
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  Timothy. I've given you these
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  instructions and I'm giving you some of these final instructions
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  in view of who Jesus is, like in view of your King, your
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  sovereign, the one that is Abel and the one who has earned the
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  right to call the shots in your life.
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  This is who you need to be doing all of this for.
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  And though none of you, and though I am not called to pastor
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  the church at Ephesus, this same overarching life's goal and
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  mission to accomplish the will of God in view of who our Savior
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  is, that goes for us as well. So let's look first at verse #11
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  He says, but you, man of God, flee from these things and
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  pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and
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  gentleness. So here he anchors Timothy's
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  identity. Not in Hey, Timothy, you are the
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  person from kind of a a mixed family of those that were, you
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  know, had a Greek father, Hebrew mother, like Jewish mother and
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  had multiple religious backgrounds even in his life.
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  And on his mom's side, he had a legacy of faith in the God of
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  the Old Testament and in the Old Testament scriptures.
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  On his dad's side, he did not have that, but his identity was
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  not here's what your background is or here's who your parents
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  were. He says you are a man of God and
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  what a joy that this is not just a title that is given here to a
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  pastor, though hopefully I am a man of God.
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  This is for every man, woman, boy and girl.
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  We are children of God and I want to encourage you that that
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  is your ultimate identity before the Lord.
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  Though there will be people that do not agree with you though.
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  Though there will be people that are against you as you try and
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  live your life for King Jesus even as people were against
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  Jesus as He lived his life on this earth.
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  I want you to know that you have been named and claimed by God
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  and you belong to Him. Your life has meaning and
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  purpose because it is not reliant on the whims of others.
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  Instead, you find your purpose in the Lord who bought you with
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  his own death. So he says you are a man of God.
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  And so he says, flee from these things, flee from greed, flee
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  from being contentious and slanderous and full of envy and
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  and fighting and being suspicious of other people
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  constantly disagreeing. He says that is not who you are.
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  That goes for you and me as well.
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  Flee from these things. And then he gives a list.
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  It's pretty similar to the list that he gives in Galatians 5 to
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  the churches of Galatia about the fruit of the Spirit.
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  He says here's what you need to pursue.
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  You need to pursue righteousness.
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  That is right living, like living in a way that is clearly
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  good before God and before man. It's right living with God and
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  man. Righteousness, pursue
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  righteousness, godliness that you would have God's
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  characteristics coming out of you.
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  He says faith that Timothy would have belief, consistency and
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  obedience in the way that he interacted with God and with
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  others. He says righteousness,
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  godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.
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  Endurance would be Timothy. When you encounter these people
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  that don't want to listen to you, keep on going.
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  When you have people that leave the church, keep on going.
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  When you have elders that have walked away from the faith or
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  that they have sinned and that you as a church body have had to
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  excommunicate this person, he says whatever, as I've given you
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  these instructions in this letter, as you go through the
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  hard times, you're going to need to keep on going, keep on
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  enduring. And for you and me today we are
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  going to encounter hard times in our lives and God would tell us
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  have endurance, keep on going. I think of what we read together
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  many, many months ago now in James One, let endurance, let
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  patients have it's perfect work so that as a result of being
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  patient time and time again in during past hardships, we will
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  find that God has made us mature and complete and in need of
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  nothing. So he says that Timothy needs to
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  have endurance and he needs to have gentleness.
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  This is something we looked at in our study Tabernacle tidbits
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  through Second Timothy and chapter 2.
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  Paul fleshes out this idea a little bit more for Timothy, but
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  in essence, it's people will be stupid, people will be
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  argumentative, people will be slanderous, but the way that you
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  need to treat these people is not OK.
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  I'm going to bring the hammer down.
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  He goes, Deal gently with them. Because it might be that as a
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  result of the fruit of the Spirit, one of which is
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  gentleness, as that flows out of you towards them, they might
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  recognize their folly that they go, I'm angry all the time.
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  I'm always using my words in the wrong way, but this pastor,
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  this, you know, applying it to our situation, this godly
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  person, they're not treating me like I'm treating them.
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  They're not treating me like I'm treating others.
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  They are kind towards me. They're not bringing the hammer
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  down. They are dealing gently, kindly
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  with me even in my brokenness and my fallenness.
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  Maybe I'm in the wrong and they are in the right.
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  And so here, that's the end of verse #11 that Paul gives
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  Timothy. These are the things you need to
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  pursue in your life. Are those the characteristics
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  that you are pursuing in your life?
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  Living right by God and man, having faith and, and
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  consistency and obedience towards the Lord.
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  Are you loving God and others? Are you having endurance
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  throughout hardships in your life?
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  And are you dealing gently with people that you would be tempted
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  to bring the hammer down on? Instead of pursuing sin, pursue
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  these things. Verse #12 he says, fight the
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  good fight of the faith. Take hold of eternal life to
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  which you were called, and about which you have made a good
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  confession in the presence of many witnesses at the beginning
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  of verse #12 he says fight the good fight of faith.
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  There are people that will want to argue about stupid stuff.
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  There will be people that want to fight and quarrel over 1000
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  different things, he says. But what is most important is
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  our faith, the gospel of Jesus Christ, our relationship with
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  the Lord and our love for other people when it comes to that
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  fight, that fight. I could waste my time fighting a
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  lot of battles, but I want to spend my life fighting for the
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  souls of mankind, fighting for people to experience a good
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  relationship with God through listening to His voice and
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  listening to His Word. That's what I want to give my
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  life to. I want to encourage you.
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  What are you fighting with others about?
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  Are you fighting for their souls or are you just fighting them?
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  There may be times when we need to be at odds with someone else
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  because they refuse to listen to the Lord or they refuse to obey.
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  As a pastor, there even been times that I've had to interact
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  with that times when brothers or sisters in the Lord were at
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  odds, times when people just were not following the Lord or
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  being faithful in areas of service.
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  That I am hoping that each time along the way I've had a
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  gentleness and a care and an endurance to say, hey, this
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  isn't right. You shouldn't be doing that.
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  You shouldn't be fighting with this person.
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  What does the Lord want you to do here?
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  And and hopefully I've been fighting that good fight.
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  I want to encourage you. You can fight worthy worthwhile
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  fights. It's the fight of faith.
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  It's not the the fight for your own like rights or yourself
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  importance though there may be times that we need to pursue
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  some of those things in a godly way.
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  Most of the time our fights are just about us, our desires, what
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  we want in life. Instead, let's fight the good
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  fight of the faith. He says take hold of eternal
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  life to which you were called. He says Timothy eternal life is
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  awaiting you like grab it. Live that if you will live that
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  Sermon on the Mount life. Live that fruit of the Spirit
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  life now and claim, name it, live in it.
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  Don't get bogged down by this temporary life that will fade
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  away. Instead, recognize eternity is
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  coming. And so I'm going to Live Today
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  in light of eternity. He says you were called to
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  eternal life by Jesus and he says in about which you have
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  made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
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  Timothy, you have told other people about eternal life, about
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  the gospel. I want to encourage you to live
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  in that reality that is coming and and we can even behave as
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  though it is here even now. Verse #13 it says in the
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  presence of God who gives life to all and of Christ Jesus who
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  gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate.
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  I charge you to keep this command without fault or failure
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  until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  He says, Timothy, keep on holding on.
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  Don't give up. Don't give up your confession of
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  faith in Jesus. Jesus stood before Pontius
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  Pilate and gave the answer of who he was.
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  I want you, Timothy, to stand before the people in Ephesus and
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  boldly declare who Jesus is. I want to encourage you at the
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  other end of this Tabernacle Talk episode.
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  I want you to give a good confession of faith in who Jesus
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  is and what he's accomplished there in your home, with your
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  family, at your job, among your friends.
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  Like Jesus stood before a ruler of the earthly world, one that
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  had the authority either to forgive him or to deliver him to
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  be killed. And Jesus, for the sake of your
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  soul, and my soul for the sake of dying for our sins, He gave
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  the honest answer of who he was. Will you, before other people
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  who will not kill you, will you give the answer of who Jesus is?
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  And Paul says, listen, God and Jesus are watching.
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  And so follow these words well. Realize that when it feels like
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  you're alone or when it feels like you are outnumbered or you
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  are looked down on as a result of your faith.
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  Realize you do have witnesses and it is your God that has
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  called you for a mission and a purpose today, wherever he has
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  you in your life and you can be faithful to him in his sight.
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  Verse #15 the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  He says God will bring this about in his own time.
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  He so that if you remember back in Mark 13.
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  Jesus says yes, he's on as he was on earth.
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  He did not know the day or the hour when God the Father would
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  send him to bring back his church.
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  And so Paul here echoes this says God will bring this about
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  the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ in his own time.
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  I think it's also noteworthy as far as the eminence of Jesus
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  return that in verse #14 Paul says, I charge you to keep this
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  command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord
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  Jesus Christ. That Paul did not say, okay,
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  Jesus will come after this, that or the other.
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  Paul was not waiting for any events in order for Jesus to
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  come back. He thought Jesus can come back
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  at any time. It will be when God the Father
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  says it's going to happen. But he believed Timothy, you
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  need to do this until Jesus shows up.
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  He doesn't say keep it throughout your life.
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  He says, I want you to obey this charge to proclaim the gospel
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  and to live godly and to teach others in this way until Jesus
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  returns. So I think that ought to
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  influence the way that we think about Jesus's return, that we
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  should never say, OK, well, Jesus will come back after we've
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  put the world back in order. Or Jesus will come after 34 red
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  cows get sacrificed at a third temple.
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  Like that's not what the Bible says that we should be waiting
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  for with Jesus's return. We should always be expecting
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  that Jesus could return at any moment.
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  Verse #15 As we end today says God is the blessed and only
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  sovereign. He's the only one that is really
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  in control. He calls him the King of kings
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  and the Lord of Lords. This is these are titles that
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  are often given to Jesus in the New Testament.
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  The only time it's used in the Old Testament is when the King
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  Nebuchadnezzar, when he recognizes that he has been like
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  proud and sinful before the only real God, he calls him the God
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  of gods, the King of kings, and the Lord of Lords.
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  And so here Paul brings up this phrase that Nebuchadnezzar, the
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  greatest earthly king of his generation.
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  He brings that phrase to Timothy's mind as Timothy knew
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  the Old Testament scriptures. And so he reminds him that the
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  true King of kings and Lord of Lords, the only one that should
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  be ultimately obeyed or feared, was not Ephesian rulers or even
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  Caesar. Instead, God was the one to be
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  followed. And he says, who alone, God
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  alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light.
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  God is amazing and incredible, he says, whom no one has seen or
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  can see. To him be honor and eternal
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  power. Amen.
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  He says, Timothy, you don't need to fear the false teachers.
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  You don't need to fear the Ephesian rulers.
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  What you need, need to fear is God himself, and God is the one
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  that lives within you in the person of the Holy Spirit and
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  will bring about these godly characteristics.
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  So keep on holding on, fight the good fight of faith.
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  Hang on till Jesus comes because he is a worthy God.
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  He is God to be honored. He is a God who is worthy of all
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  eternal power. And because he is the one that
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  loves us, that died for us, he, he is the one that we should
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  live for. I got to tell you guys, I, I am
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  encouraged through this portion of scripture.
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  I'm looking forward to seeing Jesus return and I want to be
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  faithful until he comes. I don't want to be ashamed of
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  the one that stood on trial and was killed for me.
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  So as I'm quote, UN quote on trial in my interactions with
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  people that don't know Jesus, I want to be faithful to proclaim
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  the gospel, to confess Jesus as my Lord and my Savior because he
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  stood in front of others for me. I hope that would be an
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  encouragement to you today. God bless.