If you’re a Christian you’re already in the battle. You might be finding it difficult right now. You might feel like giving up and stopping to fight for righteousness, godliness, and those other things we need to practice and stand up for. But the Lord has put you in his army. He wants to use you. You’re either going to be a faithful soldier, or you’re going to be an unfaithful soldier. You’re either going to be a victor, or you’re going to be a failure. You can’t fight this good fight of the faith on your own, but the Lord Jesus Christ can give you the strength to be the victor. Ask him to strengthen you, and then fight on in the battle that he’s given you to fight.
Paul tells us to be on guard against the danger of wealth, and to have our priorities right. What’s the cure against putting our own selfish interests ahead of God’s? Paul says the cure is godliness with contentment. What does that mean? It means having Godlike qualities, keeping close to God and being content with godliness and what resources he blesses us with. If God gives other things that enable us to prosper, we are to praise him for that, and use our excess to bless others. But if he does not bless us with wealth, we are to be content with what we have, and are not to strive after more and more. Our main pursuit is a godly life.
There’s a great danger in wealth because it tends to get a hold of you and control you, rather than your controlling it and using it well for the good of others. Have you ever asked the question why it seems to be that as you look out across the Christian church, there are so few rich Christians? Well, it might be that it’s hard to become a Christian if you’re wealthy. Jesus said that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, likening it to a camel going through the eye of a needle. Another thing to consider is that Christians might not make the best choices if they come into a lot of money.
Now one thing about warfare is that you’ve got to know your enemy. If you think your enemy is Country A and your real enemy is Country B, you are going to be marshalling all your forces against the wrong enemy when the real enemy is going to get you from another direction. The only way to wage a successful battle is to know who your enemy is and know who your allies are. And so it’s no surprise that Paul turns his attention to that against which Timothy is to wage this warfare, and against which he’s to stand.
As we come to 1 Timothy 6, the last theme we will look at is that of Christian warfare. When we think of Christian warfare, our minds quickly go to another book written by Paul, that of Ephesians. There in chapter 6, he talks about being strong and girding ourselves with the armor that God has provided in order that we might be able to stand against the devil’s schemes. Now he writes along the same lines here to Timothy.
