1 Timothy 6:11-16 says,...
Today's verses are 1 Timothy 6:11-16, which read,
v.11, 12 - But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Paul gives Timothy another "but" statement. It is to be compared with someone who has a love and longing for money and possessions rather than a love and longing for more of God. The Christian is instructed to flee, run in the other direction, from these things. On his bucket list is righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
This is not an easy way to live. It actually is a fight to go against your sinful nature and hold on to the confession that you made to Christ in the face of Satan who is trying to tear that confession down. It is a fight but it is possible because God made a way through His Son. You also have the family of God to be accountable to and rest within who know you and of your confession of faith. The church is not an ornament of brick and mortar on the corner but a body of Christ who are witnesses of your confession and continued transformation to be like Christ. God calls us to a stand but He also doesn't leave us with nothing to steady us through the storms of life.
v.13-16 - I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time--He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
You hear Paul coming to the end of this letter for his language is getting stronger and more urgent. His instruction to Timothy is to stand and if he needed another encouragement to stand it would be that Jesus Himself did in the face of Pontius Pilate and gave His very life. "Be like Christ" would be the words of Paul to Timothy. We keep the commandment, the Word of God, until He, Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, returns again at the proper time. God has a time and it is the proper time just as if was for His first coming to come again and we are to be faithful through to that time.
The description of God here is so sovereign that He is called that with a capital "S." He is King and He is Lord. Paul is pointing to God as the only God. He is saying that God is the only one who can hold that title. The God of the Bible, the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God who will send Him back at the proper time deserves all our honor. He is sovereign and has eternal, forever, dominion. To top off all that about God, Paul says a hearty "amen."
We need to watch ourselves to paint God or Jesus Christ as less than how they are described in the Bible. You sense that Paul is even struggling to give due credit with the words he has been given to describe God in His fullest sense. He truly is "awesome" and only He is "awesome" and therefore when we speak and sing of God may what pours out of us that is trying to explain this Someone awesome God is beyond the words we are even speaking and singing. We are attempting but it still comes up short of the totality of our God. Let's pray.
"Thank You Lord that Paul gives us these descriptions of You within the Scriptures. Help us to stand for those things that matter to You. Change our bucket lists to reflect what is given to us in the Scriptures. Thank You for Your church, full of brothers and sisters in Christ, that witness of our confession and stand with us in times of trial in front of our Pontius Pilates. May we again attempt to give You the glory due to who You are. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.11, 12 - But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Paul gives Timothy another "but" statement. It is to be compared with someone who has a love and longing for money and possessions rather than a love and longing for more of God. The Christian is instructed to flee, run in the other direction, from these things. On his bucket list is righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
This is not an easy way to live. It actually is a fight to go against your sinful nature and hold on to the confession that you made to Christ in the face of Satan who is trying to tear that confession down. It is a fight but it is possible because God made a way through His Son. You also have the family of God to be accountable to and rest within who know you and of your confession of faith. The church is not an ornament of brick and mortar on the corner but a body of Christ who are witnesses of your confession and continued transformation to be like Christ. God calls us to a stand but He also doesn't leave us with nothing to steady us through the storms of life.
v.13-16 - I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time--He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
You hear Paul coming to the end of this letter for his language is getting stronger and more urgent. His instruction to Timothy is to stand and if he needed another encouragement to stand it would be that Jesus Himself did in the face of Pontius Pilate and gave His very life. "Be like Christ" would be the words of Paul to Timothy. We keep the commandment, the Word of God, until He, Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, returns again at the proper time. God has a time and it is the proper time just as if was for His first coming to come again and we are to be faithful through to that time.
The description of God here is so sovereign that He is called that with a capital "S." He is King and He is Lord. Paul is pointing to God as the only God. He is saying that God is the only one who can hold that title. The God of the Bible, the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God who will send Him back at the proper time deserves all our honor. He is sovereign and has eternal, forever, dominion. To top off all that about God, Paul says a hearty "amen."
We need to watch ourselves to paint God or Jesus Christ as less than how they are described in the Bible. You sense that Paul is even struggling to give due credit with the words he has been given to describe God in His fullest sense. He truly is "awesome" and only He is "awesome" and therefore when we speak and sing of God may what pours out of us that is trying to explain this Someone awesome God is beyond the words we are even speaking and singing. We are attempting but it still comes up short of the totality of our God. Let's pray.
"Thank You Lord that Paul gives us these descriptions of You within the Scriptures. Help us to stand for those things that matter to You. Change our bucket lists to reflect what is given to us in the Scriptures. Thank You for Your church, full of brothers and sisters in Christ, that witness of our confession and stand with us in times of trial in front of our Pontius Pilates. May we again attempt to give You the glory due to who You are. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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