House Rules: Week 17, 1 Timothy 6:11-16

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Now let's get started.

My name is Tommy.

I'm one of the pastors here, and today we're going to continue our sermon series.

It's called House Rules.

We live by a different set of rules, we're supposed to, than what the world does.

We've been walking through a little letter called First Timothy.

Today we're going to be in chapter 6.

So if you got a Bible, go ahead and open it up, find it on your device.

We're going to be in 1 Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

As we get started this morning, I want to ask you a question.

Has anybody here been to Disney?

All right, most of the people.

Some of them live over at Disney down here.

How about uh Universal?

Anybody been to Universal?

Okay.

Some?

Anybody here ever been to Heritage USA?

Heritage USA.

We got one.

We got one.

Has anybody ever heard of Heritage USA?

You ever heard of it?

Let me show you a picture here.

This is Heritage USA.

At one time, it was the third most visited theme park in our nation.

Third.

Most of you have never even heard of it.

Well, it was started in 1978, and as you can see, it went away in 1989.

It was a great theme park.

It was created by a TV evangelist.

Anyone ever heard the name Jim and Tammy Faye Baker?

Somebody heard that name.

So growing up, if you watch the PTL, the Praise the Lord channels, stuff like the 700 Club, and they would preach and do a lot of good things.

Well, Jim and Tammy Faye Baker also built Heritage USA.

Their desire was that for Christian families, you can go and avoid the bad stuff, maybe at Disney or Universal, and it would be a place where you could go and you could see gospel shows and have fun with other believers.

Well, they got the bright idea to make a lot of money.

They started selling what they called lifetime memberships.

You could buy a lifetime membership for a certain price, and you could go every year on your week or whatever the days you bought were, it was free for you to go.

They sold 25,000.

That was their goal.

They want to sell 25,000 lifetime memberships.

The trouble was, when it came out in the news, they actually sold more than 25,000.

Do you know how many they sold?

Of course you don't.

Nobody knows the story but me.

Because I read it.

They sold 159,000.

They made millions and millions of dollars on this scandal.

Now, just a couple of weeks ago, this guy died, Jim Baker.

That's why it came back to my mind.

I saw it on the news.

And they pocketed millions of dollars.

It came out that he'd had an affair.

It wasn't a good ending for Jim Baker and his wife, Tammy Faye.

Now, here's a ministry that did touch probably millions of people.

Thousands of people could have come know Christ because of their ministry.

But they, when they went away and they're remembered, it's not for what they did for the Lord, it's the trouble they caused and people not to trust the gospel or not to trust TV evangelists.

They've got this big black eye, if you will, on their legacy.

Now, why do I tell you that story?

Because in today's passage, Paul is talking to this young man named Timothy, who is a preacher, leading a group of people like a church, and he's challenging them, listen, don't get caught up in the junk.

If you chase, if you pursue the wrong thing, you can end up actually hindering the gospel to people instead of helping the gospel.

So if you got your Bible, look at 1 Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

I want to read these verses as we get started this morning.

So as I think about Jim Baker, and I'm not picking on Jim Baker, you know, it's just somebody who made some mistakes.

We've all made mistakes.

Some mistakes are bigger than others.

He actually had to go to court, got sentenced to 45 years in prison.

He spent about five years of that in prison and lived his life out, trying to do the best that he can.

But the truth is that all of us at any time can slip and fall.

Now, maybe you won't make national news, but if you're in the right position, maybe you will make the local news, right?

Here's what we're trying to avoid.

We're trying to avoid falling into temptation and destroying our witness and our testimony.

This is exactly what Paul is writing to Timothy in this passage.

He's like, listen to this in verse 11.

But you, man of God, I love that.

He's just been talking about all this stuff to avoid.

Then he says, Hey, forget the world.

I'm talking to you.

But you, Timothy, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness.

I want you to pursue faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

Timothy, fight the good fight of the faith.

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Listen, Timothy, I'm telling you this.

In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who, while testifying before Pontius Pilate, made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time, God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to him alone, right?

Who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.

To him be honor and might forever.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Father, just in the short time we're going to spend together this morning in your word, I pray that we reminded that we live by a different set of rules.

And God, one way that we can honor you is just simply make good choices, flee what is evil, fight the good fight, and God follow you at all costs.

And that's my prayer this morning.

God that will just take time to listen, and God speak to me and help me to be like Timothy, this young pastor who's trying to make a difference in people's life.

Help each of us make a difference in this world that you placed us in.

We love you, Father.

We thank you.

For which your name we pray.

And everybody said.

Alright, real quick.

Three points this morning, we're done.

Alright, first service got a little early.

They didn't argue.

Here we go.

Three points.

Number one, you can go ahead and take notes.

If you're a note taker, write it down and you're done.

You can put it away if you want.

First one says, flee what is evil.

Say that with me.

Flee what is evil.

That's not bad.

Now, it may be harder to do, but it's easy to say.

Let's try the second one here.

It says, fight for what is good.

Say it with me.

Fight for what is good.

That makes sense.

That sounds honorable.

That sounds kind of fun, right?

Fight what is good.

The last one he reminds us is to follow him at all costs.

Say that with me.

Follow him at all costs.

Now that one may be a little tougher.

Depends on what you're asking me to pay here, right?

What's it going to cost me to do this?

I get it.

Alright, those are the three things I want to discuss from this chapter this morning.

Let's start with the first one.

Flee.

What is evil?

Not the bug.

Talk about running.

Some of us are faster than others.

Some of us take a while to get going, but we should all be running away from things that are evil.

The Greek word here, flee, it's the word fuego.

It means to escape or to avoid.

You can describe something like physically escaping danger or shunning something evil.

It's get away.

It's what are you waiting on?

Go.

Not to wait for a gun or a whistle, just take off, run.

What are you waiting on?

Flee.

What is evil?

In Scripture, we see this word, flee, used several times.

1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 18.

1 Corinthians 6:18

That word flee is right there.

It says flee sexual immorality.

Now, Thursday night I got to teach our college crew.

We talked about this passage.

We talked about the two verses after this to say that your body doesn't even belong to you.

You know that?

Says you've been bought with a price.

So therefore I don't get to say what happens to this body.

He does.

And if it's anything evil, I know it's evil.

I see it's evil.

I smell the evil.

I should flee.

I should run.

First Corinthians chapter 10, same word, flee.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

He says, flee idolatry.

If it ain't the true God, if it ain't from his word, and it's something people are chasing, get away from it.

What are you waiting on?

Just run away.

You don't have to stay.

Your friends can stay, but you don't have to.

You can flee idolatry.

2 Timothy chapter 2 tells this young Timothy again, yo Timothy, listen, flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

Perhaps the most famous word flee that you probably know, we find in Genesis 39.

That's the story of young Joe.

Remember Joseph?

The coat of many colors.

Remember that guy?

He's put basically second in command of this guy's house.

He's in charge of everything.

His money, his servants, everything.

But here comes this guy's wife, and she's tempting him to do something that he knows wrong.

What does Joseph do?

What's he do?

He flees.

He literally runs streaking down the road.

I would rather be running half-necked down the road to stay and be involved with what could take place here.

He flees.

Pretty simple idea.

If there's something evil, wrong, I know it's wrong, I should flee from it.

What is Paul telling Timothy he should flee from?

Well, earlier in this chapter, we've talked about these things.

He said, verse 3, you should flee false teaching.

Just don't listen to it.

Why stay?

Switch churches, switch groups.

If you're involved with something and they're not teaching the word of God, flee.

What are you waiting on?

Verse 4 and 5.

He reminds us to flee using godliness for financial gain.

Hey, you miss using your position?

Get a taste of that power.

Sell a few extra memberships.

Hey man, I deserve it, right?

He says, just flee.

What are you doing?

Flee the desire to get rich.

Flee the love of money.

He tells us to flee pride, pointless disputes, and greed.

First one's really simple.

I like to view it as a fire, right?

Here's the fire.

It's flaming, it's hot, it's burning, throw wood in there, it gets bigger.

This is why I know if this is bad, I don't want to even be near it.

Why am I even close to the fire?

Because I could get burned.

But you know what?

If I go over here and I flee, the fire stays there.

I'm a lot safer and less tempted if I'm not by the fire.

So what are you waiting on?

Paul tells Timothy, flee anything that is evil.

Just get away from it.

Sounds simple.

Maybe it's tougher to do.

We'll find out at the end here.

The second one, he tells us to fight for what is good.

Fight for what is good.

Now I'm not a fighter like a fist fighter.

You know, I mean, I don't know, somebody maybe I could take you.

I don't know.

We're not gonna find out, nothing like that.

But I know with words, I love to fight.

Yes.

Uh kids call that rage bait.

Have you ever heard that?

Rage bait.

If you don't know what it is, just ask somebody young, they'll tell you.

Rage baiting is like you're poking the beast, you want to start a fire, you want to start a fight, you use your words, you're just annoying, is basically what you are.

Well, yes, at times in my life, I like to rage bait.

I don't mind poking a little fight with words.

One time, though, it did not go well for me, and I'll just be honest with you.

Years ago, early in our marriage, my wife and I, we only had three kids at the time.

Only three.

We just had three long way to go to get to our seven.

And we were living in Tennessee, and we had this little bitty house, and my wife, you know, she was able to stay home at work from that time, and she kept the kids, was raising our kids, we're doing our thing.

And I go to church and I work hard at church, and it's hard work, planning games and events of this hard work sometimes, right?

And I come home and I don't expect much.

All I really expect is the house to be clean.

Did I just say that out loud?

I did, didn't I?

I mean, is that too much to ask, fellas?

Only got three kids.

You know when I'm coming home.

Why can't the house be clean?

We've been having this talk for a while.

Here we go.

I come home, open the door.

Not bad.

Not bad.

I walk upstairs to the kitchen, see the dining room table.

On the table, guys, there's a box.

There's a box of Cheerios on the table.

I don't mind if the box is out.

What I mind is there's some Cheerios still on the table.

And there's a bowl of Cheerios, and I look under the table, and there's some Cheerios.

I look in the living room, there's some more Cheerios.

I walk down the hallway, haven't seen anybody yet.

I'm just noticing there's Cheerios everywhere.

Like, what is going on here?

So I grab the box of Cheerios.

I walk around the house, start in the kitchen, and I just dump a bunch, kitchen floor.

I go to the table, put some more in the table, I go to the living room, all over the living room, just kind of leave little piles of Cheerios.

I start making my way down the hallway.

And I leave some more down the hallway, and I finally get to the first bedroom, and there they are in the bedroom, trying to take a nap.

My wife's laying in the bed with three kids there, snuggled up, four or three, age one, little bitty guys, right?

I walk in the bedroom and I put a big old pile right there in the bedroom.

My wife looks at me and says, What are you doing?

And I said, Baby, I'm just trying to fit in.

Let me give you two truths that I've learned in my life.

Truth number one, I am lucky to be alive.

Truth number two, I can have a messy house sometimes and have a wife and kids.

Or I can have a clean house and live by myself.

I chose option A, okay.

Now listen, sometimes we fight over stupid stuff.

By the way, I've come a long way.

I've been trained very well since then, okay?

We have a marriage class starting this Wednesday night if you want to join us and hear all our dirty laundry.

I've come a long way, but I have learned this.

Some things aren't worth the fight.

It's just not worth it.

It's just stupid, our selfishness, our ignorance.

It's just not worth the fight.

But in this life, there are some things worth fighting to the death for.

There are some things it's worth laying down your life and having a good old fight.

What does Paul tell Timothy we should fight for?

He says this the Greek verb for fight, agony, Zomai, it's this word that we use as agony.

It means to contend, it means to struggle, it means to strive earnestly as an athlete competing in a contest.

Now, I would say that if you watch football, you probably saw this happen yesterday.

Anybody see a good fight yesterday?

Anyone happy with the outcome of the good fight?

Maybe not, but I'll tell you this when players go to play, if we're looking and we see a good fight, they're playing their best, they're playing hard, they're fighting on the field, that's all we can ask.

This picture of an athlete fighting, it says, I'm giving everything I have because this cause is worth it.

It's the picture of a determined effort against opposition.

A couple of examples from scripture, we see this word, 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

It's like an athlete who competes in the games.

I'm just giving it everything I have.

May not be the strongest, I'm not the fastest, not the smartest, but I'm gonna fight with everything that I have.

Second Timothy chapter 4, verse 7.

2 Timothy 4:7

Paul is later gonna use the same word fight here.

He's gonna say, I have fought the good fight.

I did it.

About to die, this end of my life.

Man, isn't that a great prayer for us to look forward to?

Lord, my last breath, look back and say, you know what I did?

I fought.

When it was time for me to fight, I stood up, got in the ring, put my gloves on, and I went to war, and I fought the best I could.

Well, what are we supposed to be fighting for?

Well, in this passage, he tells us.

He says, fight for what is good.

Fighting to pursue righteousness.

That's worth fighting for.

To encourage people to be holy, to be godly, to strive to be righteousness.

How about keeping the faith?

That's worth fighting for.

I want my family to keep the faith.

That's worth fighting for.

How about showing love to others?

Yeah, we need to love others because Christ loves them as well.

We need to fight for those things.

We need to fight to be steadfast, to be gentle.

We need to take hold of the eternal life which you were called to.

There's some things in this life that are just stupid to pick a fight.

I mean, Cheerios, who cares, right?

I mean, I was just kind of picking a fight anyway.

Didn't win, by the way.

But man, if it's worth honoring the name of Christ, it's worth fighting for.

It's worth your energy and your time to get in the ring and to fight for what is good and for what is holy.

The third one here says to follow him at all cost.

Now, what does that mean?

What are you asking me to give up?

Do I gotta give up my comforts?

Do I gotta give up some money?

What are we talking about?

What do you mean follow him at all cost?

How much does it gonna cost at the end of the day here?

This is what Paul tells him.

And in this passage, you read these statements.

He says, Listen, I want you to follow him at all costs.

I want you because I charge you in the presence of God to do these things.

Keep his commandment, be true to him.

Follow him at all costs.

Because he is the sovereign, he is the king of kings, he is the Lord of Lords, and to him be the honor and glory forever.

Amen.

Follow him at all costs.

It will be worth it in the end.

I heard a story about a guy who was telling a story how people were taking a trip.

And on this trip, everybody got on a big old boat.

And on this big old boat, they were gonna go from one piece of land across the ocean to another piece of land.

They're going down, having a good old time, and then I don't know where this guy gets on the boat, comes up, and says, Hey, this is a giant bag of money.

Big old bag.

I mean, more money than I ever see in my life.

It's a lot of bags, right?

There's a lot of money in the bag.

And he takes the bag, he throws it off this big old ship, and it lands down there in the water in the ocean.

Then he has more bags.

He starts throwing bags off the boat like nobody's business.

Well, the people start to think, whew, that's more money than I'll ever see in my life.

I could probably get out there and get it, maybe still get back on the boat.

So what do they start doing?

They start jumping off the boat.

They're jumping into the ocean.

The boat is still moving.

The money's down there.

It may not last forever, right?

It's gonna sink eventually.

And they start jumping off the boat, grabbing the bags of money, thinking this is gonna change my family.

Tree, this much money.

That's a lot of wealth.

Well, another guy, we didn't even know was on the boat.

He has a big old rope.

He comes to the edge and he says, Well, hang on there, don't let him hit anybody here.

Watch out there, Burgess family.

Come right down the middle there.

Yes.

There we go.

He throws that lifeline, that rope, off the boat into the water.

People, let go of the bag.

Grab the rope, I'll pull you back to safety.

If you can believe this, not everybody did.

Some of them couldn't let go of the bag.

They couldn't swim.

They could see the rope.

They thought for a second, eh, maybe, but I can't let go of this.

And they wouldn't let go, and many of them drowned.

They died.

But some of them came to their senses, said, forget the bag, it's going to drown me.

It's going to take me down.

And they let go and they grabbed a rope and they started pulling them back to shore one by one.

As we think about life, I know this is maybe silly for some of you, but this is a good picture of what people are doing today.

Right?

Many people have lived on this planet and they have pursued other things.

And those things they thought were so important that they couldn't let go of the bag.

And they're going to drown, they're going to die, and they're going to miss out on grabbing the rope, being pulled to safety.

They're just going to die in the ocean, and that's it.

Now the boat is heading somewhere.

We sang about it in our songs earlier today, right?

That revelation song, man, we are going somewhere.

There is a destination in this life.

And there's a point when we die that we realize we get to go to heaven, people.

We're going to reach the promised land, the other side.

That's the good news of Jesus.

When I say what's it going to cost you to follow him at all costs, it's whatever you're holding on to that keeps you from Jesus.

It may be your comforts of your life and this church thing, this Jesus thing.

I just can't change the way I live to do that.

It might inconvenient me.

You need to know the truth.

Anybody that can hear my voice, if you hang on to what this world has to offer, and you think that's more important than knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you're going to die in your own sin and you're not going to get to be with God in eternity.

So here's the truth, church.

What does it cost me to follow Jesus?

Paul tells Timothy, it's going to cost you everything.

It's going to cost you anything this world has to offer.

It does not get Compare to what our God, what Jesus is offering to us.

Let's just make sure we explain it here.

So we are all sinners.

You're a sinner.

Nobody told you that today.

Let me be the first.

You're a sinner.

I'm a sinner.

We've all sinned.

This sin thing that we've done against a holy and perfect God keeps us.

There's this great chasm between here and there.

It keeps me from going to heaven.

I can't get there.

I don't deserve it.

I can't earn it.

There's nothing I can do to help myself to get there.

The truth is, God has already thrown the lifeline.

When he sent his son Jesus to this earth to die on that cross, Jesus was without sin.

That's why we called him that spotless Lamb of God.

He was sinless.

And when he died, he actually took the punishment that you and I deserve on him.

And he says, now you can be saved.

You can just let go of what this world says is important or what you think is important.

You grab that rope, that's all you got to do is say yes, and Jesus says, I will pull you and make you my child.

And now, if we are a child of God, then we're on this boat, we're going to heaven.

We ought to live like that is true.

We should do these kind of things.

Let me ask you these three questions now.

So let's go.

What are my action steps?

Then what am I going to do when I leave here today?

Well, let me ask the question.

The first one, flee what is evil.

What is it that I should be fleeing from?

Maybe not everybody, but most of us probably have some kind of fire sitting over here and it's burning it, and we're toying with the idea.

Oh, it's kind of fun.

Nobody sees me.

I'm entertaining it when I should be escaping it.

Listen, man, if you know it's wrong, what you waiting on?

Just take off running.

Who cares if it costs you a little humiliation?

I would rather be away from the fire than to stay here and be burned and be taken down in these waters.

But I don't have to do that.

I can flee from what is evil.

So is there anything in your life, something right now that you're dealing with?

It's on your screen, it's on your phone, it's a relationship, it's your comfort zone.

What is it that God is telling you to flee from?

What are you waiting on?

Just flee.

I know it's hard.

He'll give you the strength to do it.

He says, flee what is evil.

Question number two fight.

Man, I hope you don't fight over Cheerios.

I hope you fight over things that matter.

What cause or purpose does God put in your life that you need to stand up and fight for?

Listen, fight like Christ has already won the victory because he has.

The battle's won, but we're still down here.

We're still on the rings, and there's still some things God is asking us to do to stand up for the cause of Christ, and it's worth fighting for.

So what is it that God is calling you to stand up and fight for in your family?

To fight for you at work, even as part of our church.

Stand up and fight.

Fight for what is good.

Third question I want to ask you is just to follow him at all cost.

Do I live like I'm going to heaven?

His eternal glory outweighs any earthly sacrifice.

Man, when I see people hanging on to a bag that they think is joy and happiness, I want them to understand that bag is going to kill you and destroy you.

That worldly stuff that you think is so important is taking you down.

Just let go of it.

Come to know Christ.

And not only do we win victory, but man, the rewards he wants to give us is so much more than this world has to offer us.

This world doesn't compare to what Christ has waiting for us in heaven.

This little bitty earthly life that we live that quick, nothing compares to when we get to heaven and be with Christ.

Our eyes are open and we go, wow, what was I thinking that this little stuff would make me happy for a day or for a year or for half my life?

It's nothing.

Right?

It's rags compared to the riches that God has waiting for us.

So as we close today, I just want to challenge you to think about in your personal life what is it that you need to flee from?

Please do it.

If you need help, get help.

You don't have to do it alone.

There's a lot of people in this room who can say, hey, we'll help you.

Just flee from it.

What is it that you need to be fighting for?

What cause or purpose should you be standing up and duking it out and swinging against the opposition?

God, this is worth fighting for my life.

I want to stand up and fight.

And then finally, if you're not a believer, I just want you to think about this.

There's no greater calling in life than to give up everything you think is important and to follow Jesus Christ.

That's it.

That's why we are here, people, is to tell that to other people.

To throw the lifeline, bring people to know Christ, and tell them, you know what?

Follow him at all costs.

It's worth it in the end.

Let's pray together.

Father, I thank you for just the few minutes we've had this morning.

We're walking through this book of 1 Timothy.

We've got one week left.

Next week we wrap up this book.

But God, as we walk through this letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, I pray that we are challenged the way Paul challenged Timothy to be different.

We live by a different set of house rules.

Guys, we are called to be your children.

Give us the strength to flee what is evil.

Man, just wake us up in our stupidity.

What are we doing?

Just run away.

Get away.

If we need help, reach out.

But God, please help us to flee the things that are going to drag us down and possibly take our life.

Father, for many of us, we have a cause, we have a purpose, and there's things we're fighting for right now.

And I pray that you remind us it is worth fighting for those things that are good and right and holy and righteous.

We need to pursue those things in our life.

We need to stand up and we need to go swinging and fight like you're asking Timothy to do.

Stand up and fight for these people you're leading.

It's worth it.

Help us to do that.

Father, most importantly, I think about this idea of follow him at all cost.

And Lord, if there's somebody here who hadn't made that decision, today's the day.

Today's the day.

They say yes, grab that rope, let go of whatever they think is important, and say, God, you are worth more than anything this world has to offer.

Man, speaking of blessings, this song, I think about the way you have blessed us.

Lord, the blessings you have waiting for us when we get to the other side.

Father, help us to be faithful during this time that we call life.

And why we're walking here for these what seems of just a few years of blink of an eye, it's just a mist calling your word.

But why we're here, help us to take as many people as we can, bring them to the cross.

Amen.

Here it is.

Take Jesus.

There's nothing better in life.

It's worth to follow Jesus at all costs.

Father, thank you for our church.

Thank you for our time.

Help us out to worship.

Lord, if there's anyone here that needs to connect with somebody, when we get done, right up there on that foyer, there's people waiting to talk.

Whatever's on their heart, they want to know Christ, just to be prayed with, we'll do that today before they leave this campus.

We love you, we honor you, we worship you.

For your name we pray.

Everybody said.

Thanks for joining us on the Celebration Baptist Church podcast.

We hope today's conversation helped you take another step in your faithful journey.

For more resources, upcoming events, and to join us live, visit iCelebration.org.

Until next time, keep connecting with God, connecting with others, and living on mission.