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.” (1 Timothy 6:12 (ESV)
The following message is by Dr. John Piper. He preached this sermon September 9, 1984. He entitled it Camaraderie in the Fight of Faith. This is the second and final installment.
Why Does the Apostle Paul Call It a Good Fight?
Let me suggest five reasons why the fight of faith is a good fight and not a bad one.
- Because the Enemy Is Evil
First, it is a good fight because the enemy is evil. The enemy is unbelief and the Satanic forces behind it and the sins which come from it. When you set yourself to combat the forces that try to get you to trust in yourself instead of God, you oppose a very evil enemy. Therefore, it is a good fight.
2. Because We Are Not Left to Our Own Strength
Second, it is a good fight because we are not left to our own strength to fight. If we were, as Martin Luther says, “All our striving would be losing.” Philippians 2:12 says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” That’s the same as saying, “Fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life.” But the next verse says, “For God is at work in you both to will and to do his good pleasure.” In other words, when a child of God fights the fight of faith, God is really the one who is behind that struggle giving the will and the power to defeat the enemy of unbelief. We are not left to ourselves to sustain faith. God fights for us and in us. Therefore, the fight of faith is a good fight.
3. Because It’s a Struggle to Let a Burden Be Carried for Us
Third, it is a good fight because it is not a struggle to carry a burden, but a struggle to let a burden be carried for us. The life of faith is not a burdened life! It is an unburdened life! The fight of faith is the struggle to trust God with the burdens of life. It’s a fight for freedom from worry. It’s a fight for hope, and peace, and joy which are all threatened by unbelief and doubt about God’s promises. And since freedom and hope and peace and joy are good, the fight to preserve them is a good fight.
4. Because It Involves Self-Humbling Not Self-Exaltation
Fourth, the fight of faith is good because, unlike most fights, it does not involve self-exaltation but self-humbling. Most fighting is not good because it is a proud attempt to prove our own strength at someone else’s expense. But the fight of faith is just the opposite. It’s a way of saying that we are weak and desperately need the mercy of God. By nature, we do not like to admit our helplessness. We do not like to say, “Apart from Christ I can do nothing” (John 15:5). But the very essence of faith is the admission of our sinful helplessness and the looking away from ourselves to God for mercy. This kind of humility is good. Therefore, the fight of faith is a good fight.
5. Because by It God Is Greatly Glorified
Fifth, the fight of faith is good because by it God is greatly glorified. When we devote ourselves to self-abasement with the purpose of casting all our hope on God, he is exalted in the world. Trusting in ourselves gets us glory. Trusting in the power of God gets him glory. And nothing in all the world is as good as the glory of God. Therefore, the fight of faith is a good fight.
In sum, then, the fight to maintain faith and lay hold on eternal life is a good fight because the enemy is evil; the strength to fight is given by God; the faith we pursue is not a burden but an unburdening; the fight involves self-humbling not self-exaltation; and God is glorified as we learn to trust him with all our cares and hopes.
How Do We Engage in This Fight Successfully?
Here we could talk for hours about the proper use of the Word of God in personal devotion and in preaching and teaching, remembering that, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
We could talk about prayer and the constant cry of the true saint, “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
We could talk about the very ordinary disciplines of eating and sleeping and exercising which have far more effect on the perseverance of our faith than many realize.
Fighting the Fight Together Is Necessary Not Optional
But instead, we want to close by focusing on the foundation of the 20:20 Vision. The 20:20 Vision is a network of home cell-groups at Bethlehem. Pastor Steve will be saying more about the details in just a few moments. What I want you to see is that the foundation of this movement at Bethlehem is the doctrine that ALL CHRISTIANS MUST LAY HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE BY FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH, and the truth that we must fight this fight together and not just in the privacy of our own lives.
Camaraderie in the fight of faith is not an optional fringe benefit of being a Christian. It is one of the God-ordained, essential ways of fighting the fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life.
Two passages in Hebrews make this very clear. Hebrews 3:12–13 says:
Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.
According to this text fighting the good fight of faith means doing whatever God tells us to do to guard ourselves against an unbelieving heart and against becoming hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So, the way that this text tells us to fight the fight faith is by exhorting one another.
“Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (verse 13). This is what I mean by camaraderie in the fight of faith. The perseverance of my faith under God depends on the regular exhortations of Steve Roy and Tom Steller and Dean Palermo and Char Ransom. These are my comrades in the good fight of faith. Our fellowship in the Word together is not optional to me. Without the encouragement of this group of comrades, the faith I need to lead and serve Bethlehem would not survive.
The other text in Hebrews is 10:23–25.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
According to this text the fight of faith is the struggle to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering and keep on loving each other. And the way this text tells us to do this is not to neglect to meet together to stir each other up. The Christian life of faith and love cannot be lived successfully in isolation. God intends for us to gather in groups small enough to exhort each other and stir each other up. All the exhorting and all the stirring is not supposed to come from the pastor. The phrase “each other” means every believer can and should encourage and exhort and admonish and rebuke others in a small group of comrades. And all the more as we see the Last Day drawing near!
So, the answer to our final question is plain. How do we go about engaging in the fight of faith successfully? We must rediscover the age-old gift of camaraderie in the fight of faith. We must commit ourselves to some group of believers small enough to know each other’s needs and to exhort each other in the fight of faith. If you haven’t done this already, I urge you with all my heart not to rest until you have made this commitment.
And when you discover camaraderie in the fight of faith, you’ll experience another reason why Paul called it a good fight. Very few things in this life are sweeter than like-minded camaraderie in the greatest cause in the world.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here.
Soli deo Gloria!
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