April 2, 2017 FULLY ENGAGED AND ENDING WELL 1 Timothy 1:18-20 1 Timothy 1:18-20 As we all know, it is not how one runs a race that matters nearly as much as how one finishes. Eric Liddell, the famous "flying Scottsman" (as he was called) was a committed Christian and future missionary to China, but back in 1924 he would represent Great Britain at the Olympic games in Paris. The film, Chariots of Fire, is the story of Liddell and those who ran with him. But according to those who were around when Liddell ran, his running style was all wrong. Instead of leaning forward as he ran he would lean back with his head tilted way back. Yet, in spite of his style, he won the 400 meter race, setting a new world record in the process a race that he had not even planned on entering. But, again, it is not how one runs a race that matters nearly as much as how one finishes. And Liddel finished in 1 st place, and that is all that really mattered. Lee Trevino is another example of this great truth. When asked about how he learned to play gold, Trevino, who never had a professional lesson in his life, said that his uncle handed him a 2 iron, when he was a young teen, and said, "So you want to learn to play golf? Then go learn to use this club and when you have mastered it I'll let you borrow a different club." Trevino's style was always considered unconventional. Yet he went on to win six major championships and 29 PGA tour events. Many people start projects Many people have the highest of aspirations More than a few have set out to write the world's greatest novel But all too few finish. And those who finish well are even fewer. END WELL. When my older sister, Shirley, was graduating from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, our entire family drove to Chicago to witness her graduation. On the evening before the graduation, a graduation dinner was held. All graduates and family members were welcome to attend and so we were there. Dr. William Culbertson (who unknown to any of us, would be dead within a year) spoke at that banquet. His theme which I still remember was but two words: END WELL. Don't take a shortcut Don't quit before you have reached the finish line Don't give up or even let up too soon. Make it to the end, having been found FAITHFUL TO THE END. END WELL. Well here we have Paul challenging Timothy to "wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience" (verse 18). What he means by this appears to become clearer when we see how Paul picks on two different men as examples of how some have "made shipwreck of their faith." Paul is here in
effect saying, "Hey, some people have started out only to end up crashing and burning. Don't be like them. Engage in spiritual warfare and be faithful to the end. End well instead of becoming a shipwreck." That's a great combination of words that Paul uses here in 1 Timothy 1:19 "made shipwreck of their faith." In our modern world, shipwrecks still happen, but they are a relatively rare phenomenon. Most people today would feel just as safe, if not safer, boarding a ship to cross the Atlantic than to board a plane. Yet both have been shown to statistically be extremely safe. But imagine life long ago Imagine the relatively crude quality of ship building, compared to today's standards Imagine boarding a ship where no one has a sextant and no one has a means of communicating with the shore Imagine boarding a ship when there were no maps showing clearly delineated shipping lanes Imagine boarding a ship and no one on board can even GUESS at a weather prediction more than a day out. Imagine boarding a ship and there are no life jackets Imagine boarding a ship where the houses on shore were often fitted with 3 rd floor observation decks. And what were these decks called? Widow's walks, for more than a few women stood at them waiting and watching for that ship on which their husband was aboard only to never see that ship make it safely back to harbor. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer credited with the discovery of the remains of the great ship Titanic, estimates that the number of ships at the bottom of the earth's oceans at approximately ONE MILLION SHIPS. Being shipwrecked, or experiencing a shipwreck, was common back in Paul's day. He himself wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:25 that THREE TIMES he had been shipwrecked! Well, many people START out their Christian lives very well, only to later become "ship wrecked." It is what Bob Dylan was saying of his own life when he wrote that if it had not been for a very good angel like woman in his life, he was certain that he would have become just another "accident statistic." For not everyone who starts out well ends well. And so we have Paul challenging Timothy to make it to the very end, ending well. Now, let's deal with this text, somewhat line upon line.
1. Prophecies were made over Timothy to that end that he should "wage the good warfare." Now a basic principle of Biblical interpretation is that often not always, but often scripture interprets scripture. Maybe you have heard those words before: Scripture interprets scripture. What is meant by that is that if we are having trouble deciding what a text is talking about, maybe just maybe some other portion of scripture some other Bible verse will shed some light on the verse in question. And here in 1 Timothy 1 when we read about the "prophecies previously made about" Timothy, the question arises, "What prophecies? What is Paul talking about?" Well, scripture (often) interprets scripture. So look at 1 Timothy 4:11-16 Here we learn that there was a previous time in Timothy's life when the "council of elders" laid their hands on Timothy and at that time they made some prophecies over Timothy. Now, this practice of "laying on of hands" is itself also mentioned later 1 Timothy 5:22 It was a few years ago now when Burning Hearts took on its first missionary: Bethany Frazier (now named Bethany Roseman since her marriage to Erik) as a missionary to Indonesia. At the time of our "sending out" of Bethany we had Bethany come to the front, only to ask her to kneel, and then have the elders and the Missions Committee members "lay their hands" on Bethany and pray over her. This is not an unusual practice in the life of the church. Even over those who are in special need of prayer, you who are part of this church have experienced the "laying on of hands." So, be it in the sending out of a missionary, or the commissioning of a new pastor or the praying over someone in need, this laying on of hands will often take place, representing GOD'S HAND being upon the person in question. We are not to formally "lay hands" on just anyone and everyone. But when we do it we do it to signify our prayer that GOD'S HAND would be extremely EVIDENT in their life. And so somewhere in Timothy's past, the elders had come around Timothy, laid their hands on him, and prayed over him. And as they did, prophecies were made regarding Timothy's life and calling. Now, this issue of having "prophecies" or "prophetic utterances" being made over someone is much more common in some churches than in others. Not long ago I had a conversation with a pastor of a church not far from here about this very issue and I said to him at that time that I was not convinced that every prophetic utterance was truly
from the Lord. This pastor quickly let me know that he agreed with me. Nevertheless it was clear that the church where he pastors is committed to continuing to keep up the practice. And for that I applaud him. For his greatest desire was and is to be "Biblical" and without question the notion of making prophecies or prophetic statements or prophetic utterances over people IS a VERY BIBLICAL PRACTICE. Sometimes, as this pastor was agreeing to, these prophecies are little more than wishful statements, or words of encouragement, or maybe even examples of one person trying to project upon another what they wish for themselves. But just because there can be MISUSE of something Biblical does not mean there should then be NO USE of what the Bible prescribes. (This should serve as a challenge to us at Burning Hearts to consider what we are doing (or not doing) in making prophetic statements over people.) Well, I would suggest to you that the evangelical wing of Christianity is far too WEAK (maybe NEGLIGENT is a better word) in making prophetic statements over its own. For by them and through them people can receive spiritual giftings for their lives. And that is EXACTLY what happened to Timothy. 2.Paul's hope and challenge to Timothy was that he would fully engage in this "GOOD WARFARE" The good warfare was, of course, the warfare against our enemy, the devil. Sometimes there is warfare for the life of a church At other times there is warfare for our own souls And at other times there may be warfare for our marriage or for the spiritual life of our children. But isn't interesting that Paul's challenge to Timothy is for him to be fully engaged in this war? For who likes war? I don't even like arguments. When family members disagree with me, I would prefer to simply walk away. I'm not interested in having sparring contests with people. I don't want to argue; I don't want to fight. I would be very happy to never hear a voice raised in our house. And as for yelling, I don't like it at all. We have neighbors who have kids who scream. They scream when they're upset; they scream when they're happy. They just scream all the time. Why the parents put up with it I don't understand. But they're not my kids and the parents haven't ever asked me for my opinion. But I don't like it.
But Paul WANTED TIMOTHY TO BE ENGAGED IN WARFARE. In Jude verse 2, Jude says (as a wish for his readers), "May mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you." I like that! Those are NICE words. But "WAGE THE GOOD WARFARE!" I don't like that, because, like most of you, I don't like conflict. But we are never going to see VICTORY over our enemy if we are unwilling to FIGHT AGAINST HIM. Hiding our heads in the sand will not win the war And running into another room so as to get away from a potential conflict will not resolve the conflict. Brothers and sisters, the only way to WIN the battle is to PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD AND GO OUT AND FIGHT. So if something evil has taken over your life, then FIGHT against it so as to win your life back. And if something clearly WRONG has taken over your marriage then it is high time to FIGHT against it. And if an injustice is evident in your sphere of influence then FIGHT to bring that injustice to an end. And, elders, if you believe the church yes, Burning Hearts Community Church is being opposed, or is being hurt, or is being misdirected, then you must engage in this GOOD WARFARE and FIGHT to make certain that wrong is squelched and right is lifted up! 3. Hymenaeus and Alexander are examples of those who made "shipwreck of their faith." Let's consider these two men Hymenaeus: 2 Timothy 2:17-18 His problem was that he "swerved from the truth." Now his swerving was pretty severe: suggesting that the resurrection an event that the scriptures tie in with the return of Christ had already happened. I don't think any of us would call that a MINOR theological infraction. It was pretty major. We might even say that Hymenaeus didn't just swerve. He swerved, crashed and burned! Alexander: 2 Timothy 4:14-15 Alexander "strongly opposed" Paul's message and in so doing did Paul "much harm." Boy, what a reputation to have for the rest of eternity! To be Alexander and to think, "Wow! Did you know my name is actually in the
Bible! I'm mentioned in the Bible!" Oh, really where? "In 2 Timothy 4. It says of me that I did Paul much harm and that everyone should watch out for me." Yeah what a reputation to carry for the rest of eternity! It's not much better than Judas Iscariot's reputation. Paul mentions these two by NAME (if Paul lived today, he would likely run the risk of being sued for libel) for he wanted Timothy to understand that when you do well people will mention you by name and when you crash and burn they'll also mention you by name. What will people say about YOU (by name) once you're dead and gone? Do you ever think about that? What is your legacy? For Hymenaeus and Alexander, the legacy wasn't very good, was it? 4. (Lastly this morning) Paul says that he handed both of these men "over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme." This "handing" someone "over to Satan" is mentioned elsewhere in Paul's writngs (again, scripture interprets scripture) 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 Here the problem the sin issue was pretty clear: a sexual sin of such an extreme sort that even the unbelieving world thought it immoral. And how should the church deal with the problem? AGRESSIVELY, that's how. By turning the sinful man "over to Satan" Now much has been written on this. And the bottom line of all that writing is that NO ONE KNOWS exactly what Paul meant by these words. As an elder put it to me many years ago, "Just HOW does one turn someone over to Satan?" We don't know. The best we can figure out is that we, the church, in effect say to someone who is on a very wrong track: "Look, you have two options: repent of your sins and your sinful ways and stay with us OR know that we will cast you away from us away from this assembly away from the embrace of our Lord Jesus and this body. Your choice is simple: to live for Christ or to be turned over to Christ's enemy, Satan. So if you refuse to repent, we're going to turn you over to Satan. Let HIM act as your Lord, and see how much you really like it." The hope is, of course, that after a short time in the devil's den, if the person in question truly DOES have the spirit of Christ within them, they will feel TERRIBLE and will soon cry out to return to Christ's fold and family. That is always the hope: that those who have turned away from the Lord will repent and return. And now we come to a place associated with returning: an invitation to the Lord's table