By: Dale Weckbacher
1 Timothy 6:11b-12
Pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the
good fight of the faith. Take hold of
the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses.
(ESV)
Young Timothy is about to embark on
the most rewarding, and most dangerous thing any person can do, preaching the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. This profession
is rewarding in that it provides an opportunity for someone to effect someone’s
life for eternity. However, this
profession is dangerous for in many parts of the world, especially in many
Muslim countries today, preaching the Gospel is illegal and carries with it the
penalty of death.
Dangerous oppression of Christians
is even spreading into countries where it is protected. In German migrant lodgings, Christians are
forced to hide their Bibles amid Muslim death threats. (1) Christians living in the United States where
they have been blessed with the freedom to openly share the Gospel without any
threat of imprisonment or death, must ask themselves if they are prepared to
remain focused on their calling to share the Gospel if they too face the threat
of imprisonment or even death for sharing the Gospel. I say this because as the main stream media,
professors, teachers, schools, and even political leaders continue to vilify
Christians, the possibility of such dangerous oppression occurring is starting
to look possible and we must now begin preparing ourselves for its
possibility.
To prepare for this possibility we
must,
1) Joyfully
serve those in authority over us (1 Timothy 6:1-2) – While each of us has an
inner yearning to be free, we also must honor those with authority over
us. However, if those in authority over
us ask us to do anything illegal, immoral, or in violation of the Word of God
we can disobey in good conscience.
However, when we as believers are disobedient on the grounds that we are
“children of God” and thus do not need to demean ourselves by submitting to
someone that is not a believer, we bring dishonor to God and His Word. As Christians at work we are to,
a.
Work diligently and not be lazy (Proverbs6:6-11, Romans 12:11) – Make it difficult for your employer to get rid of you
solely based upon your beliefs because they will be getting rid of one of their
hardest workers.
b.
Work as if we are working for the Lord (1 Peter3:15, 2 Timothy 4:2) – Earthly bosses, especially those that are not believers,
can be difficult at times. However, when
we remain diligent hard workers during these difficult times because we focus
on working for the Lord when serving our boss, we are providing a good witness
of the strength of our faith.
c.
View your job as an opportunity to serve (1Timothy 3:5) – Most of us do not work for the church or in ministry but our
jobs are the way God provides for our personal financial needs and also how God
provides money we give to the Church. (2)
2) Having
the proper motive for serving the Lord (1 Timothy 6:3-10) – One of the
downfalls of living in a country like the United States where we have the
freedom to worship as we desire is we have massive mega churches. While these mega churches serve a purpose,
those ministering in these churches are often paid well for what they do. While the Bible does teach that a workman is
worthy of compensation (1 Timothy 5:18), 1 Timothy 6:10 cautions us not to fall
in love with money. In the event
preaching the Gospel becomes illegal or if increased persecution causes some to
fall from the faith, churches may no longer be able to pay these high
salaries. My question to any pastor of a
mega church reading this who draws a lucrative salary is would you continue to
serve God as a pastor if that salary was cut or even disappeared. Sadly, I fear many good Bible teachers may
too fall from the faith if this occurs.
3) Continue
to oppose false teaching (1 Timothy 6:2-5) – As being a believer in Jesus
Christ becomes increasingly unpopular in the last days, we will most likely
witness the emergence of false teaching designed to transform Christianity into
something more palatable to the secular world.
1 Timothy 6:4 teaches us that those spreading these false teachings are
puffed up with conceit. Perhaps what
this passage is implying is that some pastors fearing loss of their position
and salary due to declining membership due to members falling from the faith
may resort to watering down the truth of scripture in order to lure them, and
their donations, back. Even though it
may cost us members if we are a pastor, or friends if we are not, we have a
responsibility to stand for truth.
In these last days prior to the
glorious return of our Lord, Satan will resort to many things designed to take
us off the focus of spreading the Gospel.
He may make things difficult at work by using a non-believing, or even a
believing boss. He may allow us to become
comfortable in our religious freedom and then pull the rug out from under us,
causing us to fall from the faith if we are not firmly grounded in the Word of
God. He may also deceive us with false
teaching designed to take us away from the truth in God’s word that saves
us.
Instead let us fight the good fight
of faith by heeding the words of 1 Timothy 6:14 which reminds us to keep the
commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ. This fight will be
difficult and seemingly impossible at times but we have the weapons necessary
to fight this fight at our disposal (Ephesians 6:10-20). The question we must each ask ourselves is
will we be willing to courageously take up these weapons and fight in the face
of serious oppression or lay them down out of fear and fall from the
faith. As for me, I join with Joshua in vowing
that me and my household will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).
1. Hale, Virginia. Christians Forced to Hide
Bibles Amid Migrant Muslim Death Threats. www.breitbart.com. [Online]
Breitbart News, August 11, 2016. [Cited: August 13, 2016.]
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/08/11/germany-christians-hide-bibles-muslim-violence/.
2. www.biblebc.com.
The Christian at Work. www.biblebc.com. [Online] Biblebc. [Cited: August
13, 2016.] http://www.biblebc.com/Studies/Discipleship/HTMLLessons/christian_at_work.htm.
No comments:
Post a Comment