A CRUCIAL MESSAGE TO THE MAN OF GOD

1 Tim. 6:10-12

Morning Meditation 3/9/2014

Verse 10-12 says “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses..”

There are four things in this passage that stand out as either a warning or an exhortation to the man of God. One of the most complimentary titles that a preacher can have is the term Paul uses here, i.e., “But thou, O man of God.” That gives him something to live up to. What is a man of God? First, he is a saved man. Second, he is a man who is controlled by God, i.e., the Lordship of Christ. Third, he is a man chosen of God to represent Him in the ministry of the Word. There are a lot of preachers that you would have to put you tongue in your cheek if you called them men of God. Which proves that a man of God is not one by declaration. He is one in dedication, commitment and obedience. We usually give that title to one who faithfully declares the Word of God in the Spirit of Christ and walks his message out in his own shoe leather. Let’s look at the four things that Paul tells Timothy here.

FIRST, HE TELLS HIM WHAT TO FLEE

The word “flee” translates “pheugo” and means, “to flee away, seek safety by flight, to be saved by flight, to escape safely out of danger.” It is a present active imperative verb. This means that the man of God needs to continually flee away, to seek safety by flight, and to escape out of the danger of these things. Paul addresses himself by inspiration of God in the continuous present. The imperative mood is a command expressing urgency. Someone has said, “Salvation is a return to the authority of the throne.” Timothy had returned to the authority of the throne in two ways. First, in salvation. He had submitted to the authoritative call to repentance and had been directed to faith in Christ. Second, he had submitted to God’s authority in his call to the ministry. The man of God to be right with God must be under the direct authority of God’s Word.

The words “these things” identify what to flee from. “These things” takes us back to the things mentioned in this chapter up to this point. The “thing” that stands out more than any of the rest is “the love of money.” Paul says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” The words “love of money” is the translation of one word, “philarguria.” The root word from which this word comes is made up of two words. One of the words means “fondness” and the other is the word for “silver.” It speaks of an addictive fondness for money that is described in the Bible as covetousness. Paul says in Colossians 3:5, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” In other words Paul says one must deal with his attitude toward money. He uses the strong word “idolatry” to explain the seriousness of covetousness. Covetousness can be more than a greed for money. The Covetous literally means, “a lust for more.” But a lover of money does have a lust for more. So it is idolatry. A man can’t be a man of God and at the same time be an idolater.

It is very difficult to avoid this attitude in an affluent society. It is as natural as snow at the north pole for the preacher to want his family to have as much as all the other folks he pastors. And I have never seen a church that took good care of their pastor that God didn’t bless. But the man of God must not be a person who is a lover of money. There is a difference between having money and loving it. Our trust must be in the Lord and not money. Paul says, “flee these things.”

SECOND, HE TELLS HIM WHAT TO FOLLOW AFTER

The word “righteousness” translates “dioko” and means, “to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing.” It is a present active imperative verb. The present tense is continuous action in the present. It means, “continually run swiftly to obtain righteousness.” The imperative mood is a command expressing urgency. Note the following about righteousness:

1.There is a righteousness which is a sin. It is called self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is law righteousness. Paul brings this out in Phil. 3:9: “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Note Paul’s words “mine own righteousness” and the explanation, “which is of the law.” This is clearly self-righteousness which is said in Isaiah 64:6 to be filthy rags. This is what man will offer God in the judgment for his salvation if he offers his own goodness as the ground of his acceptance.

2.There is the imputed righteousness of Christ. This is brought out in Rom. 4:5: “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Romans 4:13 says, “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith..” It is called here the righteousness of faith. God imputes the righteousness of Christ to the account of the one who has faith in the Lord Jesus.

3.There is the imparted righteousness of Christ. The imparted righteousness of Christ is seen in the life of the believer who is filled with the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is seen in his life: Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Someone has said that this describes a man who is fleshing out the life of Christ. What was meant is that the fruit of the Spirit is the manifestation of Christ in our lives in shoe leather.

Paul says, “follow after righteousness” and the righteousness he speaks of here is Christ’s righteousness reproduced in and through us by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Then Paul says, “follow after godliness, faith, love patience, meekness.” Let me just briefly comment. Godliness is speaking of reverence and respect. Faith is the God given capacity to believe His promises. A man of faith is going to be constantly manifesting the power of God in his ministry because faith goes into the unseen world of God and brings out things to use in His service. Love is the mark of the Christian life. Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Patience is also a characteristic of Jesus that is worked out in the life of the obedient believer. Paul says, “follow after patience.” If we are going to help people we need to be patient with them. They can come out at times with some real off-of-the-wall stuff. If we get exasperated with them and cut them down, it may be the last time we get the opportunity to help.. Meekness is a person who has been tamed. It is close in meaning to humility but not the same. It is Peter turning the other cheek! To illustrate in the dog-world, it is obedience training.

THIRD, HE TELLS HIM WHAT TO FIGHT

Paul says to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith.” The word “fight” translates “agonizomai” and means, “to enter a contest, to contend in the gymnastic games, to contend with adversaries, fight.” The verb is a present middle imperative. The present tense suggests that this fight is on-going. It is the middle voice. The middle voice is where the subject acts in its own behalf and participates in the result of the action. This is a fight one cannot lose if he will be faithful. You will benefit from the result. It is in the imperative mood. This is a command expressing urgency. It is imperative that we are involved in this fight. It is called the “good fight” and this is contrasted to a bad fight. A bad fright would be a fight over something where the other cheek should be turned. A bad fight is a fight for one’s rights. Our rights are not even the issue.

Faith is a constant fight. It is fight with ourselves. Faith is never easy for the natural man. We want to walk by sight. So we have to go against natural desires and step out on the water like Peter did. We have to walk against contradicting circumstances. When you make a decision and circumstances don’t line up right, it is easy to just back away and say this must not be the will of God. But it is the nature of faith to defy circumstances if we know the will of God. When the ten lepers were healed by the Lord, He told them to “go shew yourselves unto the priests (Luke 17:14). When He told them to do it, they still had leprosy. They had to start their journey by faith alone when their body said nothing has happened. The Scripture says, “And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.” Amen. Faith is a fight to maintain a walk with God so that we are consciously living in two worlds at the same time.

FOURTH, HE TOLD HIM WHAT TO LAY HOLD OF

Paul says, “lay hold on eternal life.” The words “lay hold” translate “epilambanomai” and mean, “to lay hold of, take possession of.” I believe this is equivalent to “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16), and “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). A carnal Christian is not living out the life he has in Christ.. Paul is saying that we need to get a hold on the eternal life we have now and learn to function while we are on earth in His Spiritual kingdom.. It is living the heavenly life on earth. Amen.

Paul told the man of God what to flee, what to follow, what to fight, and what to lay hold of.”

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White