11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. 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. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ESV.

 

It has become customary for me to greet the brethren with the phrase “Hello, Man of God.” It’s an endearing phrase used often in the Old Testament to address a male servant who, in many cases, represented God as a spokesman.  Moses is called a “Man of God” in Deuteronomy 33:1, so are, to cite a few, an unnamed prophet in 1 Samuel 2:27, Shemaiah in 1 Kings 12:22, and Elijah in 2 Kings 1:9. If you have been addressed in such a fashion, have you ever taken the time to contemplate the meaning off such an address and its implications? Yes, as “Men of God,” we are responsible for upholding a strong spiritual image that honors God, our church, and family.

 

In today’s text, Paul is writing to his spiritual son in the Lord, Timothy, to explain to him how to identify the spiritual marks of a true “Man of God.” In essence, he says that “The marks of a true man of God are evidenced in his Christian walk.” What are these marks that identify a true “Man of God?” Paul identifies four marks that characterize a true “Man of God.”

 

 

In the New Testament, the Bible speaks to three major things that the Man of God should flee from: sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18), idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14) and youthful lust (2 Timothy 2:22). Paul reminds his readers that their bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that they are to safeguard themselves from sexual sins. If a believer engages in sexual immorality, he or she would be subjecting Christ to the illicit activity since He indwells all believers (Romans 8:9). Christian men must follow the example of Joseph, the beloved son of Jacob, who had to deal with the seductive ploys of his master’s wife, Mrs. Potiphar.  Joseph fled (Genesis 39:11-15). Sometimes survival may mean that one must run for his life. You see, my brothers in Christ, there is no harm in running. I am reminded of the Hollywood movie, The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford.  Ford played Dr. Richard Kimble, who was accused of murdering his wife. To clear his name or save his life by proving his innocence, Dr. Richard Kimble had to run from his pursuer, the great U.S. marshal, Sam Gerald, who was played by Tommy L. Jones. All through the movie Dr. Kimble ran from Sam Gerald, and while he was running he attempted to find his wife’s killer, a one-armed man with a prosthetic arm. Kimble eventually proved his innocence. It’s the same for us, brethren; we must flee those things which come to hinder our spiritual growth in God. Paul now moves his concern from what a man should flee from to what he should pursue.

 

 

A Man of God should continually pursue a life of holiness. If he stops his pursuit of holiness, then what is chasing him will catch him—sin. He will miss his goal of holiness. Cain, the brother of Abel, experienced this tragedy during his life. Cain became jealous of his brother’s accepted offering that he presented to God. The Scripture records how the Spirit of God warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door and its desire was to overtake him, but he must rule over it (Genesis 4:7). Cain failed, and he succumbed to sin’s desire for him by murdering his brother Abel. Cain’s pursuit of holiness with God vanished in an instant as he took his eyes of God and placed them on a man, his brother Abel.

 

As Men of God, we must pursue holiness with a mindset like that of the apostle Paul when he spoke of self-discipline for the Christian race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). He ran to win; therefore, he disciplined his natural body and its appetites to the obedience of Christ. We must safeguard our hearts from the things of the world that would hinder us from reaching our goal of holy living. Holy living is a lifestyle that is set apart from moral and physical corruption that would hinder one’s uninterrupted fellowship with God. I liken this idea to garden maintenance. If one doesn’t consistently monitor and remove weeds that spring up in his garden, it will be overrun by the undesired weeds that would eventually choke out the desired plant life. Therefore, constant vigilance must be maintained. Thus far, Paul has discussed what a Man of God should flee from and pursue; now he turns his attention to what a Man of God should fight for.

 

 

Paul uses the Greek word ἀϒωνἱζου (agonizomai; ag-o-nid-nom-ahee) has two nuances: (1) two contend in an athletic game, or (2) to contend in a military campaign. The Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest provides us some good insight into the use of the word:

 

(6:12) In the exhortation to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith,” we have a reference to the Greek athletic games. Paul was educated so far as his Greek training was concerned, at the University of Tarsus, at that time the foremost Greek university in the world, outstripping, according to Strabo, the University of Athens, in its zeal for learning. The great apostle shows a first-hand acquaintance with Greek athletics in his writings, where he frequently uses them as illustrations of spiritual truth, for instance, I Corinthians 9:24–27 and Philippians 3:12. All the churches Paul founded were composed of Greeks. Here he was writing to Timothy, whose father was a Greek. One of the chief activities of Roman life was the Greek games, held all over the empire. It was part of the atmosphere the Romans breathed. When Rome conquered Greece in a military sense, Greece conquered Rome in a cultural one. The word “fight” is agōnizomai (ἀγωνιζομαι). Its cognate noun was used in pagan Greece to refer to the place of a contest, the lists, race course, the assembly at the national games, a struggle, battle. The verb means, “to contend in the athletic games for the prize, to fight.” When we find that the gloves of the Greek boxer were fur lined on the inside, but made on the outside of ox-hide with lead and iron sewed into it, and that the loser in a wrestling match had his eyes gouged out, we come to some appreciation of what a Greek athletic contest consisted of. Thus, the word “fight” (agōnizomai (ἀγωνιζομαι)) had a very definite meaning for Timothy. The verb is present tense, imperative mode, commanding a continuous action. It showed Timothy the necessity for the continuous nature of the Christian’s warfare against evil, and of his desperate effort to live a life pleasing to God. The second use of the word “fight” is agōn (ἀγων), the cognate noun of the verb. Expositors translates, “Engage in the contest.” The word “good” is not agathos (ἀγαθος), referring to intrinsic goodness, but kalos (καλος), speaking of goodness as seen from the outside by a spectator. Paul, writing to Timothy just before his martyrdom, says, “The desperate, straining, agonizing contest, marked by its beauty of technique, I, like a wrestler, have fought to a finish, and at present am resting in its victory” (II Tim. 4:7). The phrase, “marked by its beauty of technique,” refers to the beautiful display of his art which the Greek athlete presents to the thousands in the stadium, and in Paul’s sentence, to the beautiful technique inspired by the Holy Spirit, which he used in gaining victory over sin and in the living of a life pleasing to God. Paul therefore exhorts Timothy, “Be constantly engaging in the contest marked by its beauty of technique.”

The word "faith" is preceded by the definite article in the Greek text, “the faith.” It is not “faith” in general as exercised by the Christian, to which reference is made here, but to the Faith as consisting of a body of doctrine with its corresponding ethical responsibilities, namely, Christianity and the Christian life. “Lay hold of” is epilambanō (ἐπιλαμβανω), “to seize upon, take possession of.” Thayer, in defining the word, says, “i.e., to struggle to obtain eternal life.” Thus, the act of fighting the good fight is the same act as seen in the words, “lay hold of.” The verb is in the aorist imperative, referring to a single act rather than a process. It refers to the habitual act of fighting the good fight, but takes no note of the process, rather emphasizing the result. Grammarians call it the culminative aorist, viewing the action from its existing results. Now, when Paul exhorts Timothy to lay hold of eternal life, he does not imply that he does not possess it. Timothy was saved, and possessed eternal life as a gift of God. What Paul was desirous of was that Timothy experience more of what this eternal life is in his life. The definite article appears before “life,” marking it out as a particular life which the Scriptures say God gives the believer. The word “profession” is homologeō (ὁμολογεω), made up of legō (λεγω), “to say,” and homos (ὁμος), “the same,” hence, “to say the same thing as another says,” thus, “to agree with what someone else says.” Here it is used of Timothy’s statement of his agreement with the doctrines of Christianity at the occasion of his baptism. “In the early Church, the baptism of a person was a matter in which the Church generally took an interest and a part. The rule in The Didache was, “Before baptism let him that baptizeth and him that is baptized fast, and any others also who are able” (Expositors). This explains the many witnesses who testified to Timothy’s statement of faith in the doctrines of the Church, and his acceptance of them.

 

In closing, I was blessed recently to be a part of two wonderful, celebrated events:  the promotion ceremony of Major Lewis Johnson, Tallahassee Police Department, and the commencement ceremony of Sister Sharisse Turner, who received the degree of  Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from the Center for Biblical Studies in Tallahassee. It was a very proud moment for me as a spiritual father watching his children advance in career and biblical knowledge. Since we are celebrating Father’s Day, a fitting illustration came to me to end this sermon on the “Man of God.” I would like to close with this observation concerning Major Lewis Johnson. When I saw him at the promotion ceremony, he was dressed in his service dress blue police uniform. He had his gun holster on that held his service revolver, handcuffs, mace, etc.; the thought came to me that if I were to see him in public in his uniform, I would know that he is a Tallahassee Police Officer. Therefore, the same should be true of a “Man of God.” Since he is identified by what he flees from, pursues after, fights for, and what he is faithful to, when people see you, my brother, do they see a “Man of God?”