Taking Hold of Eternal Life

This time last year, my wife Tess won the Mum's race at our children's sports day. And she wouldn't mind me saying: we were all rather surprised. Because she's not an athlete – but up against these other sporty Mums in their lycra and trainers, she just shook off her flip flops and left them standing. I asked myself what made the difference from her more average finish the previous year and the only answer I could think of was that for the first time there was a prize – a cheap, plastic statuette of a ladies champion runner, which the children have shown off like priceless treasure to all our guests since.

And the question the Bible is going to ask us tonight is: what prize are we aiming at in life? So would you turn in the Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Tonight brings us to the end of a series in this book of the Bible. So let me remind you one last time that it was written by the apostle Paul to his assistant Timothy; and Paul was telling Timothy to confront the misbehaving leaders of the church where he was, in Ephesus. And last week we saw how Paul described those misbehaving leaders in 1 Timothy 6.3-5:

If anyone teaches a different doctrine [which these misbehaving leaders were] and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people…

So to put it bluntly, these misbehaving leaders wanted a following: they were teaching something different from the Bible and trying to get people into their group, following them. That was just what Paul had warned the leaders of this church about in Acts 20.30: "…from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them." So, whereas the prize for anyone involved in Bible ministry should be seeing people come to follow Jesus, they wanted the prize of people following them. The other prize they wanted was money. Look on to verse 10, where we left off last week:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith…

Whereas the motivation for anyone involved in Bible ministry should be the spiritual good of others, their motivation was what they'd be paid for the next preaching engagement. So, like many in church leadership today, outwardly they were in it for Jesus, but inwardly they were in it for other prizes. This showed that, as verse 10 says, they'd "wandered away from" faith in Jesus, because if you believe that what Jesus offers is real – life in relationship with him now, and life in heaven with him when you die – then you won't want lesser prizes. But God knows we don't believe that as we should, so he inspired this part of the Bible to help us. So before we get into it, let me lead us in prayer:

Father God,Please use this part of your Word to deepen our convictions about heaven, so that those convictions may shape our life on earth.For Jesus' sake.Amen

So let's read on into this week's passage, verse 11. Where Paul says to Timothy:

But as for you…

In other words, 'in contrast to these people who've switched prizes, here's what I want you to do…' And the first thing Paul wants Timothy and us to do is:

1. Keep Your Focus on the Prize of Heaven (v11-16)

Look at verses 11-12:

But as for you, O man of God, flee [i.e. run away from] these things [these false prizes]. Pursue [i.e. run after] righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. [Literally, that says 'agonise the good agony', and if that's your definition of going for a run, the Bible agrees – because it was the word used back then for the struggle of war, or of a boxing match or, again, of a running race – which is the picture Paul has in mind here.] Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…

And that's the same idea as in Philippians 3.12-14 where Paul says:

…I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own… forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul has one picture in mind here: it's that if you're trusting in Jesus and following him, then you're a runner in a long-distance race to heaven, and the crucial thing is to keep your focus on the prize of heaven. Now let me say something about that word 'prize'. It's one of the Bible's own words about heaven, but we need to understand what it does and doesn't mean. What it doesn't mean is that we earn God's acceptance now, and a place with him in heaven when we die. In the finals of Euro 2016, one team will get the prize – and it will be by earning it. But there's no idea of earning it in the Bible's picture of heaven as a prize. Because God's acceptance now, and a place with him in heaven when we die, are not earned but given to us. And that's the point of the middle of verse 12, where Paul says:

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…

So, 'eternal life' is life in relationship with Jesus now, and life in heaven with him when you die, and Paul's saying: if that's what you have tonight, it's because you were 'called' to it through hearing the gospel. And in the gospel, Jesus' call to us is this; he says, 'Turn to me and: 1) I will forgive and accept you through my death on the cross, 2) I will come into your life by my Spirit, and 3) I'll begin to work in you and won't give up on you until I bring you to be with me in heaven.'

So, in the Bible's picture of heaven as a prize, there's no idea of earning it. The idea is of something quite literally out of this world that you've been promised and that you value and treasure above all else. And Paul is saying: if we really do prize above all else Jesus and the promise of being with him in heaven, then we won't switch our focus to lesser prizes – like money or power over people, in the case of the misbehaving leaders at Ephesus; or like status, or career ambitions, or whatever other ambitions you're tempted to idolise; or like self-indulgence and pleasure-seeking that lies outside God's will.

As an example of the last of those, I still remember a guy I was at uni with. I'll change the names and call him John. John came from a non-Christian background, but he started coming along to church and began to profess faith in Jesus. A year later, he started going out with a non-Christian girl, they got sexually involved, and he dropped out of Christian things. When one of us gently tried to talk to him about it, he just said, 'Look, Sarah is my god now.' Was that a good switch of prizes? A switch of a relationship with Jesus now, and then life with him in heaven – for an earthly relationship, which probably broke up shortly after? Listen to C.S. Lewis writing about heaven:

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards [i.e. prize] promised in the Gospels, it would seem that the Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. We are like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." (The Weight Of Glory)

And we do need, as C.S. Lewis says, to imagine heaven – to think about how it's real, and what it's like – and not out of our own heads, but out of the Bible. The Bible says we can know it's real because of the resurrection of Jesus, which really happened in history. He really rose and appeared to eye-witnesses. And then he really went somewhere in a different dimension, and that somewhere is heaven. As for what it's like, you could sum up the Bible by saying it'll be the presence of God and the absence of evil. So we'll finally be in the presence of God, and able to see Jesus – so that we'll be unable to doubt him anymore, and so unable to distrust him anymore, and so unable to disobey him anymore, so finally we'll love him as we should and be the people we were meant to be.

The other side of that coin is that there will be the complete absence of evil – of sin and suffering and death. So just imagine it. There'll be no locks, no keys, no worries when you've lost your wallet. There will be no hospitals; no doctors, dentists, nurses, physios (no practising ones, I should say – to reassure any here). There will be no banks or insurance companies or law firms or emergency services or armed forces or police (so there go half our careers – so much work in this world is managing the effects of the Fall, isn't it?) There will be no broken homes, no broken relationships, no loneliness, no partings, no funerals. So now look back to verse 11. That's why Paul says:

But as for you, O man of God, flee these [lesser prizes]

Because why would you settle for 'making mud pies in a slum' when you could be on 'holiday at the sea', as C.S.Lewis put it? Instead, read on. Paul says:

Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

These aren't things specially called for from Christian leaders – they're what any Christian should be running after. So I think what Paul is saying to Timothy there is, 'Remember: you're a Christian first, and only a Christian leader second.' He's saying: the most important thing about you (Timothy or anyone here) is not whatever ministry you may have in church – or in your family – but your relationship with Jesus. So pursue that above all. And pursuing that above all is actually the best thing you can do for your ministry. The best thing you can do for your Home Group or children or whoever you have spiritual influence over is to model what it looks like to be running after Jesus, keeping your focus on the prize of heaven – so they can 'tuck in to your slipstream' and the join the race with you. And, look at verse 12, there's a fight in doing that – which like I said is the word they used for the struggle of the long-distance run. So I'd rather it was translated,

Struggle the good struggle of the faith.

And it is a struggle to feed your own faith through the Bible and prayer; and to keep opening the Bible and praying with your children; and to keep sharing the gospel with new people; and to keep our church united and outward-looking; and, as we know right now, to finance the church as we make sacrificial steps for growth. That is why verse 13 says: keep focused on the finishing line and the prize beyond:

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…

In other words, take in what the Bible says about heaven, and bank on it, treat it as real – because it is real. Let it motivate you. Let it compensate you for the costs of following Jesus, and the disappointments and difficulties of this life. And let it clarify your outlook on life. I've recommended before the booklet, 'On My Way To Heaven' (published by 10Publishing, www.10ofthose.com). It was written by Mark Ashton, who I knew, as he was dying of cancer. And he wrote this:

Once you have been told you are going to die, the months that follow are a very good time spiritually. The news is a spiritual tonic. 'The long habit of living indisposes us for dying,' wrote Sir Thomas Browne, and for me as a Christian that had certainly become true. In many ways, I was more ready to die… as a 20-year old, the day after my conversion, than… 40 years later.But the warning I have received has changed that. I can now see that much of what I strived for and much of what I have allowed to fill my life… has been of dubious value. I am not now going to achieve anything more of significance, and I realise how little that matters. And as I start to clear up my effects, I recognise how I have allowed them to clutter my life, and how little I have actually needed them.

Now none of us knows how long we've got, and we all need that kind of clarity throughout life. But Mark was saying that those of us who know that time is short can gain an unusual clarity – that's both a blessing to you and to others around you. That was certainly true of Mark. Let's look on to verses 13-14, where Paul says to Timothy:

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, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ…

I think 'the commandment' means everything that Paul has told him to do throughout this letter, and his key command was to contend for the truth of the gospel and confront these misbehaving leaders. That wasn't going to be easy, or something Timothy would have asked for – but that's what living for Jesus is often like, and that's why Paul reminds us again of who and what ultimately, eternally matters:

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, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ…

On the one hand, he tells Timothy to look back – to when Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, knowing that his confession of the truth about himself would get him crucified. That's to remind us that when Jesus asks us to contend for the truth of the gospel in ways that are difficult, he's not asking us to go anywhere he hasn't already been. And then on the other hand, Paul tells Timothy to look forward, end of verse 14, to:

the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ

In other words, to his second coming – to wrap up time and space, to judge everyone who's ever lived, and to bring believers into the full and final experience of his kingdom. And that's to remind us that when we're tempted to compromise the truth of the gospel, or go silent about it, we need to ask ourselves: whose approval, whose acceptance do we really prize? Other peoples', now? Or Jesus', at his second coming – which as verses 15-16 go on to say:

…[God] will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.

So keep your focus on the prize of heaven.

2. Use Your Money In The Light Of Heaven (v17-19)

Just look back to chapter 6, verse 9 – where, with the misbehaving leaders in mind, Paul says:

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare…

But Paul knew that some of the believers in Ephesus were wealthy – and, that, as Timothy read this letter to the church, they'd be asking, 'But what if you're already rich?' So back to chapter 6, verse 17, and Paul has a parting shot for them, verses 17-19:

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Now I take it that almost everyone here, if not everyone, qualifies as 'rich'. The latest figures are that 13% of the world's population live on £1.30 a day or less. Whereas we're all – or almost all – at the other end of the spectrum. So what does the Lord say to us? Well, verse 17:

charge them not to be haughty [i.e, self-important]

Because it's so easy to think that if I'm richer than someone else (like the cleaner at work), then I'm more important than them. And then we're told not…

to set [our] hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God

So 'hope' is the Bible word for the certainty of heaven for those trusting in Jesus. But Paul says the danger is that we set our hopes instead on riches within this life. That's certainly what our culture encourages, because by and large it believes that this life is all there is. So the great hope in our culture is to earn enough to retire and experience a bit of man-made heaven before we die. So I remember a pension advert with a picture of this white-haired couple on the dream holiday. And the caption was 'Heaven on Earth'. But verse 17 tells us not…

to set [our] hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God

Because how certain is your pension pot – or that you'll live to enjoy it? Instead, verse 17, we're to set our hopes…

on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

That's a reminder that our money isn't actually ours, because it was provided by God, which means I'm not to see it as mine to spend just on me. And did you notice that verse 17 doesn't say my salary is for me richly to enjoy. There's that crucial word 'us': it says he richly provides us with everything to enjoy. So a Christain should be saying, 'What I have is for us' – which in 1 Timothy means first of all for the family of God, for supporting the ministry of the gospel, and helping needy Christian brothers and sisters here and world-wide. But it would also apply beyond that to anyone in need. And once we've learned that our money is God's money to use as he pleases, we can then hear verse 18:

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share

So that's God re-definition of what it means to be rich. It's not having money in the bank – you can have £50,000 tucked away and be destitute, spiritually. No, in God's eyes being rich isn't about whether we have money. It's about how we use it. After we've met our own needs and the needs of our dependents, it's about doing good, being generous and ready to share. And verse 19 says that when rich Christians do that, they are…

thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

And as we saw earlier, that doesn't mean that we earn God's acceptance and a place in heaven – in this case, by giving money. No, heaven is promised to us and will be given to us. The point here is to use our money in the light of heaven. The point is to think ahead to when, if we're believers, by God's grace we're there in heaven – and to ask ourselves, 'How should I use my money now in ways that are going to have eternal consequences?'

So, for example, we've just had to spend a lot on the flat we own and rent out. It was necessary – but won't have big eternal consequences, whereas the money Tess and I gave to re-do St Joseph's, or that we give to the ongoing ministry here, will enable things of eternal consequence. So I trust people will come up to us in heaven and say, 'Thanks for giving to St Joseph's – I came to faith there.' Whereas I don't think our tenant will ever come up to us in heaven and say, 'I just wanted to thank you again for that new shower you put in.' Because heaven will have eclipsed that new shower. So, use your money in the light of heaven, says Paul. And a short and excellent book on that is – 'The Treasure Principle' by Randy Alcorn.

Keep your focus on the prize of heaven; use your money in the light of heaven; and finally in 1 Timothy Paul says:

3. Guard the Gospel as the Key to Heaven (v20-21)

Just look down for an injury-time word on verses 20-21:

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you [and 'the deposit' is the gospel]. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge", for by professing it some have swerved from the faith [which is a final warning against being distracted from the gospel by the teaching and influence of the misbehaving leaders]. Grace be with you.

So, from start to finish, 1 Timothy is about the core purpose of the local church, which is: to get the gospel more widely out to unbelievers so that they can come to faith; and to get the gospel more deeply in to those who are already believers, so that they grow up to follow Christ in every area of their lives and to be a witness for him. That means (using Paul's words in verse 20) that we must 'guard' the gospel – guard it from being changed or watered-down in the way we communicate it, whatever the pressures to do so from the culture or from other Christians who've already wandered from it. And we must also 'avoid' (verse 20) things that would distract us from the gospel: in our life as a church, we must keep the gospel the main thing.

Because if life in relationship with Jesus now and life in heaven with him when we die is the prize, then the key to people receiving that prize is the gospel. And that's what God has entrgeusted us with.