Wednesday – January 13, 2016
Praise the Lord for He is so good! It is time for our Wednesday, hump day, God’s Word. We will continue our study of Spiritual Warfare and we will pick up with our text from last Friday.
1 Timothy 6:9-13 (KJV)
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 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.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 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.
13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
It seems that the Apostle Paul linked the Church at Colossae with the Church at Laodicea.
Colossians 2:1 (KJV)
1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
I also had noted that Laodicea was one of the Churches that Jesus addressed in His address to the seven Churches in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 3:14-22). It seemed logical that what Jesus had to say to Laodicea was likely applicable to Colossae. Our text above, Colossians 2:1, tells us that Paul is engaged in the same spiritual battle for Laodicea as Colossae. In the passage from 1 Timothy our primary verse is the following.
1 Timothy 6:12 (KJV)
12 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.
We can see from the verse that we will have to fight and that it is a faith fight, and it is how we maintain a grasp on eternal life. Faith simply means to believe the Word of God without exception and without wavering. Other words for faith can include: being persuaded, give credence, have conviction, reliance upon, assurance of, and belief in. The enemy will come with the intent of corrupting what we believe about God, our faith in God, the Word of God. Isn’t that exactly what happened to Adam in the Garden of Eden?
I now want to draw your attention to the words professed and profession in 1 Timothy 6:12, they are the same word which is transliterated to English from the Greek as, homologia (Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary). Homologia means to say the same words. Homo meaning same, and logia meaning words. The same words as who? Our Father, Jesus, for that is the example Paul gives immediately.
1 Timothy 6:13 (KJV)
13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
The word ‘confession’ in verse thirteen is the same as the words professed and profession in verse twelve, homologia. When Jesus stood before Pilate He continued to say what the Father said and He is our example. No matter who we are standing before we are to say what the Word says. Remember what we learned from Jeremiah 1:8, our God will deliver us, right here in the land of the living not in the sweet by and by or by way of death. Spiritual warfare is going to center upon our faith in God. The enemy will generally not come with a full frontal assault, it will be very subtle at first and then if we are not vigilant and diligent like the frog we will awaken in a pan of boiling water and wonder how we got there. Now let’s dissect our text and see some of the things the enemy will use to take us off our faith.
1 Timothy 6:9 (KJV)
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
Notice in the preceding verse that it says “they that will be rich” so the Apostle Paul is not talking about those who are now rich but those who are on their way to becoming rich. God wants us to have copious physical possessions but how we get them makes all the difference. Do we do it Gods way or do we do it the world’s way which is just another way of saying the devils way. And yes, the word ‘rich’ in the following verse does indeed mean earthly physical possessions not spiritual wealth here and in Heaven.
Proverbs 10:22 (KJV)
22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
The Blessing is the Holy Spirit therefore the word ‘it’ in “it maketh rich” should be ‘He” just as it is in the next phrase “and he addeth no sorrow with it.” In our text 1 Timothy 6:9 we find that the devil temps and ensnares those who will become rich by lust. Lust is a preoccupying longing for something or perhaps even someone. It is something that we ourselves set our heart on which is not God directed, and it becomes consuming in our efforts and thought life. This goal pushes out the thoughts and the will of God in our life. God knows exactly what will satisfy us in this physical realm as well as the spiritual and we need to consult Him about all the things of our lives. God wants us to have stuff and use it for His glory, showing His goodness to His children. The things we want should never be the focus of our work, our focus is the building of the Kingdom of God. Also we should have plenty of time to enjoy things of the earth.
By Pastor David R. Wood
