Compete for the Faith

Follow Along with the Message

James Swanson defines the word “fight” in the Greek to mean “compete, fight, struggle, strive to do with intensity and effort.”

Paul is encouraging Timothy to struggle for the faith—the truth of God and the way of Jesus. We are to compete for the faith.

1. Faith is Worth    .

Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Flesh and blood fighting is thinking that we are defending and fighting other people—people we disagree with, people who mistreat us, people who belittle our faith or question our morals.

2.     Don’t Fall  .

Paul wrote in Philippians 3:12–14, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is not referring to some future life that awaits us after the future resurrection. He wants Timothy to live in the reality of his eternal life right now.