The Good Warfare - The Household of God - Part 5
The Good Warfare
1 Timothy 1:18-20
Immanuel – 9/7/25
I’ve entitled this sermon, “The Good Warfare.” Of course, I’m getting that phrase from verse 18. “The Good Warfare.” But war is hell – so says those who have fought. Your opponent’s entire objective is to kill you and your friends. Death is ever present, and yours could be any moment, instantaneous or agonizing. The dead and dying litter the battleground. Fathers and mothers have their sons taken from them, lost to some foreign and obscure piece of earth which thundered with hatred and violence. So many of the sons who come home bear unseen scars for the rest of their lives.
I know war is hell through stories and images. Many in this room know it from experience. But Paul writes about something completely different, an almost unearthly idea: warfare that is good.
And this isn’t just a one-off illustration for Paul; he returns to it again and again.
· Ephesians 6:10-18, Paul talks about putting on the armor of God.
· In 2 Timothy 2:3, Paul instructs Timothy to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ.
· In a variety of places, he refers to his coworkers as “fellow soldiers” (Philippians 2:25, Philemon 1:2).
· In Galatians 6:17, Paul compares his scars of persecution to the branding of Roman soldiers.
And there are many more examples.
But perhaps one of the most significant is in 2 Timothy, Paul’s final letter written shortly before he is executed in Rome. And towards the end of 2 Timothy, as some of the last words we have from Paul, he writes,
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
-2 Timothy 4:7
Even at the end, Paul considered life to be like war, and he a hardened soldier within it. Soon he would die at the hands of his enemies. Paul lived, fought, and died within the good warfare. So when he calls Timothy to wage the good warfare, in verse 18, he’s summoning Timothy into something he is already engaged in – unlike worldly generals who send young men into a battle they will never see.
So what is this good warfare, and how does one fight within it? What makes this warfare good, and unlike the hell of human wars?
The Spirit will instruct us, just as he instructed Timothy through Paul. And listen: the idea of warfare, and being a soldier, might seem unbecoming to you – too violent, too chauvinistic, too militant. But Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, directs Jesus’ disciples back to this idea time and again. So no matter how delicate our disposition, or sensitive our spirit, God wants us to see ourselves engaged in war. Young or old, male or female, courageous or fearful, there’s something we all need to understand about this good warfare.
For the good warfare is a battle between the kingdom of Christ and the worldly kingdom governed by Satan.
Read vs 18-19a
The Warhorses
This charge I entrust to you. It could also be translated, “This command I set before you.” It’s hard to see in the English, but it would have been obvious to the original Greek readers, especially if they were educated in the Jewish texts. Paul is using the same language as when Moses delivered God’s law to Israel.
Here’s one example. This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel.
-Deuteronomy 4:44
By using extremely similar language (again, obvious in the Greek), Paul is placing the solemnity of ceremony on Timothy, and refuting the heretics in Ephesus who think themselves experts in the law (verse 7). And this makes sense, since Paul has used the word charge, already two times prior: once to rightly appropriate God’s law, once to content with the false teachers.
Read vs 3b
Read vs 5
The charge to Timothy is thus two-fold: (1) content for the faith and (2) proclaim the gospel to produce faith and love. Everything Paul has written in chapter 1 supports these two charges.
This charge Paul has entrusted to Timothy is incredibly weighty, very difficult. As one commentator writes, there is a “major intent for Paul’s writing: to fortify Timothy as he executes a game plan that will require all the resources he can muster.”1
And right after placing such a weighty charge upon Timothy – for the second time – Paul calls him, my child. Back in verse 2, Paul called Timothy my true child in the faith. Paul deeply loves Timothy. To the Philippian church, he wrote,
For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
-Philippians 2:20-22
This man who considers himself a hardened soldier in a great unfolding cosmic war, is not afraid to express his affection for Timothy. “Remember, I love you as if you were my very own son. I am for you. Timothy, my child.”
The work in Ephesus is hard and solemn, he will make enemies, there will be many dark days. Every son is strengthened by the love of their father. Every soldier is emboldened by the affection of their hero. The great Apostle to the Gentiles’ love will most certainly bolster Timothy for the difficult work ahead.
And as Timothy’s spiritual father, Paul recalls a formative moment in his young disciple’s life, a prophetic moment he does not want Timothy to forget. Later in this letter Paul elaborates:
Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. -1 Timothy 4:14
Since the New Testament never records this exact moment, we can only speculate about it. But it seems that early on in Timothy’s Christian life, perhaps even before he left his hometown (Lystra and Iconium), the Elders of the church’s recognized God had given Timothy a special gifting. In some sort of official moment, they gathered around Timothy, all laying their hands on him, and prophesied about God’s calling upon his life.
Prophecies made about Timothy are almost certainly not about foretelling Timothy’s future. Rather, they represent God’s promise and assurance over Timothy. The Elders are simply providing witness and affirmation about the gift God has given, and the calling Christ has placed upon Timothy. God has done it. The Elders affirm it. Timothy is encouraged by it all.
Back when he was called Saul, Paul had a very similar experience.
While [the church in Antioch was] worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. -Acts 13:2-3
Before I came to Immanuel, Lancaster Evangelical Free Church in Pennsylvania was my home church. After some years of serving, the Elders of LEFC recognized a gift in me. They spent years discipling me, equipping me, giving me opportunities to exercise my gifts. They affirmed that God had a calling on my life and encouraged me all along the way.
During the service on my final Sunday, the Elders of LEFC brought me on stage, laid their hands on me, and prayed over me. Then, in the presence of all, they commissioned me into the service for which God had called me, they had prepared me, and I was pursuing.
As I look back on that moment, and all that preceded it, it is deeply affirming. A whole council of Elders, and many others, were so convinced of God’s calling on my life, that they were willing to invest significant time into me. I’ll tell you, if ever I doubt my calling, I am greatly strengthened when I remember the gift God gave to me through LEFC!
In a similar way, Timothy will need to remember when his Elders prophesied over him because few things will make a pastor doubt his calling like the subversive work of enemies embedded within his church.
I want you to follow the logic. Paul is entrusting a charge to Timothy. The prophecies made about Timothy accord with Paul’s charge. In other words, the same divine calling undergirds Paul’s charge and the prophetic commissioning. Therefore, remembering the prophetic commissioning will only help sustain Timothy in the work in Ephesus. Paul knows how important it is for Timothy to remember!
The solemn charge, remembering Paul’s love for him, remembering the prophetic commissioning; these three will become like the warhorses driving Timothy’s chariot into battle. In his hand he will wield the weapons of faith and a good conscience. But these will not be weapons of death, but weapons of love.
We should again be reminded of verse 5.
Read vs 5
The Weapons
In the good warfare, faith and a good conscience are Timothy’s weapons. Again, not resulting in death, but in love. Let’s look at how this works.
First, definitions: As I said three weeks ago, faith is the activity of believing, and we believe something because we are convinced it is true. The conscience is like a tool used by your heart, helping you to both discern and feel what is right and wrong.
Faith believes the gospel. Faith believes sinners are forgiven by the blood of Christ, even a sinner like me. Faith believes God has placed his immense love and grace upon us, that our souls now swim in spiritual blessings. Faith believes the resurrected Jesus is our greatest treasure. Faith believes that we shall not die, but we shall live. Faith believes the victory is won!
If the conscience discerns what is right and wrong, a good conscience is assured it is right. But it is not self-assurance, which would be pride, and a marker of a corrupted conscience. A good conscience is clear, because Christ washes us with his word and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. A good conscience is confident, knowing that following Christ is the true path, where God will keep our feet from stumbling. A good conscience is free of all guilt, free from condemnation, free to receive favor from God. A good conscience is internalized freedom, propelling a courageous life!
With weapons like these, who can be defeated? Indeed, in resurrected glory, Christ has already secured the victory. But with faith and a good conscience, we bring that victory into the present moment. When enemies spread their lies, we believe what Christ says about us and trust that love will bring justice. When false teachings and deceptions infect, we proclaim the truth of the gospel, on which all faith is based. And if they threaten our lives, “What can man do to me, my life is forever held in the hands of God!”
Faith and a good conscience make you unshakable, courageous, fearless. Faith and a good conscience provide a vigorous motivation, like the fuel of a roaring furnace, to see the name of Jesus be hallowed, his kingdom come, his will being done!
Read vs 19b-20
The Enemies
In this good warfare there are casualties, and these make shipwreck of their faith. This is a strange warfare indeed, for the bodies littering the battlefield have not been slain by some foe – though the enemy has levied many attacks. Rather, they lie ruined because they have brought disaster upon themselves. They have rejected the faith and have thrust aside a good conscience preferring darker things.
Don’t miss this, Paul is talking about people in the church; people who, at one point, looked like they embraced the faith. But now they were rejecting the gospel of grace. Rejection is willful, intentional, knowing. And when they willfully reject the faith, they also reject a good conscience.
In the case of Hymenaeus and Alexander, they were rejecting the gospel of grace for speculations and vain discussions – which Paul identified earlier in the chapter. And they dismissed a good conscience, transformed by the grace of Christ, for legalism and behavior control.
Paul names both Hymenaeus and Alexander again in 2 Timothy. He says Alexander did him great harm and was strongly opposed to him (2 Timothy 4:14). Of Hymenaeus Paul says his talk spreads like gangrene, and he was teaching the resurrection of the dead already happened (2 Timothy 2:17).
Hymenaeus and Alexander were leaders in the church. Perhaps they were once well intentioned. But they somehow twisted into arrogant heretics, fully responsible for the wreckage they had made of their faith. Anyone who followed them would likewise wreck themselves upon the same heretical shoals.
Anyone who prefers to speculate over obscure biblical points rather than live obediently to the gospel; anyone who wants to discuss topics that make themselves look like an expert rather than self-sacrificial love; these are headed towards shipwreck.
And in this collision, it becomes resoundingly clear why this is a good warfare. The gospel is indestructible. The tenants of Christianity – Christ’s incarnation, divinity, resurrection, and kingship – these are inexterminable. The enemies of the gospel might rage against them, but it all backfires, to their own destruction. The gospel is undamaged; its attackers are destroyed. Jesus commands the victory!
And as we saw last week, part of Jesus’ victory is in saving sinners. Fully aware of this great gospel truth, Paul desires Hymenaeus and Alexander to be saved. Paul has handed them over to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Meaning, he has handed them over to Satan in order that they would repent, come into right standing with God, and be saved.
There’s so much in that sentence.
In countless places Paul teaches that the church is the temple of God. In chapter 3, he will call the church the household of God. Meaning, God dwells within the church, he dwells with us. Therefore, God does not dwell outside of the church. Outside of the church is the dwelling of Satan, which Paul calls “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) – meaning the false god this world worships.
To hand these unrepentant men over to Satan is to expel them from the church (excommunication) where they will be slaves to the “god of this world” – Satan. This follows the same pattern of church discipline given by Jesus and discussed by Paul elsewhere.
In a kingdom run by a slave master, Satan will bend your back with guilt, whip you with lies, and shackle you with temptation. Once you feel the severity of his oppression, perhaps then you will turn and remember the blessed church and the gentle and lowly Christ who dwells there, seeking to save sinners.
How amazing! God uses Satan to bring sinners to repentance, though Satan greatly desires to destroy us! Does God not have the victory? His gospel is indestructible. He uses his greatest foe to accomplish his purposes. Brothers and sisters, this is a good warfare because the war is already won! We are just spreading that victory into this moment, and to the places of the earth that have not yet heard.
These verses we have considered today, how strengthening they must have been for Timothy to first read! If he remembered Paul’s charge, Paul’s love, and the prophetic commissioning; if he recognized his foes had already been disastrously shipwrecked; if he saw Satan is just an instrument in the hands of his God; then would not his faith appropriate Christ’s victory – already won – and his clear conscience launch him into courageous kingdom advancement!
Even in the face of great difficulty, what had Timothy to fear? God was for him, who could be against him?
Earlier in the sermon I asked: what is this good warfare, and how does one fight within it? What makes this warfare good, and unlike the hell of human wars?
The good warfare is a battle to advance the kingdom of God, and we wage our war not against flesh and blood, but against the lies, oppressions, and poisonous influences of Satan.
The warfare is good because Satan is already defeated, an instrument in the hands of the resurrected Christ.
The warfare is good because as we advance false teachings are destroyed, sinners are saved, and the dead are raised from death to life.
And the weapons of our warfare are not those that destroy, but those that lead to freedom and victory and life – the weapons of faith and a good conscious.
Brothers and sisters, fellow soldiers, we are at war. Our enemy eagerly provides every help, and would fill our heads with lies and distractions, that we might shipwreck our faith.
Remember the commission Jesus has given you to go, and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). Remember Christ’s great love for you, that he has made you his own, and he is always with you. Remember that all the promises of God are yes for you, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Remember your foe is defeated. Remember your God is sovereign.
Remember. And today, firmly holding to this faith, having been given a good conscience, wage the good warfare. And through humble soldiers like us, may Jesus’ name be hallowed. May his kingdom come. May his will be done.
With all the urgency and discipline and desperation of battle, wage the good warfare!
1Yarbrough, R. (2018). The Letters to Timothy and Titus. Pg 131. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
