Finding the Better “Yes”

One of the most helpful pieces of advice that I’ve received from my in-laws over the years has been related to making difficult decisions. They’ve told my wife and I on a number of occasions: “It’s easier to say ‘no’ when you know what the ‘yes’ is.” It’s easier to say ‘no’ to something good, when you have better things to say ‘yes’ to.

How do you say no to a really appealing opportunity? How do you say no to a pay raise? Because you know you’re saying yes to more time with family, to a better work-life balance. How do you say “no” to constant snacking for the afternoon? Because you know you’re saying yes to a better appetite for a steak dinner that evening.

It’s easier to say “no” to something, when the “yes” is to something better. Now not all decisions are clear. In making a decision you might have 3 factors weighing on one side, and 2 factors against it on the other side, and you have to decide how to weigh each factor.

But in the Christian life, we’re constantly faced with different temptations, that are hard to say “no” to. Paul just laid out for Timothy some of these temptations. He’s been focusing on forms of discontentment: Argumentativeness, Pursuing godliness for gain, Love of money.

And on top of this, faithfulness involves some things we’d rather say “no” to – denying ourselves pleasurable things, suffering, life-long struggles against illicit desires that don’t seem to go away. So we need the reminder of what the “yes” is. What the truly better things are.

Paul supplies Timothy and us with the “yes” – with the better things in v11-16. As Christians we have better pursuits, better motivations, and best of all: a blessed and boundless God. Those are our three points this evening. 1. Better Pursuits    2. Better Motivations    3. Best of all, Blessed and Boundless God

1. Better Pursuits

Paul turns from discussing different temptations of discontentment – pursuing godliness for gain, love of money, and calls Timothy to better things.

And he uses some of the strongest language he has used so far in this letter. “But You, O Man of God, flee from these things!” (1 Tim 6:11). Paul wants Timothy to realize how dangerous these things are. He doesn’t just say “flee!” He doesn’t say, “You, flee!” He doesn’t just say “You, man of God, flee” but “You, O Man of God, Flee!” Paul is direct: you flee. He reminds him of who he is: a man of God”. And he’s urgent: O man of God. God’s minister, along with all God’s people, are called to flee discontentment and the love of money in the strongest terms.

So Paul calls Timothy: Flee! But it’s not just to flee. If it’s just “flee” then maybe by doing what hermits did, going into desert and living in utter seclusion we can beat this. No, instead, Paul gives Timothy Positive action. Positive pursuits. And these two things, “flee” and “pursue” are linked in Greek. There isn’t a sentence break like in the ESV. It’s Flee these things and pursue…

He mentions 6 virtues: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Why these 6? Possibly put them in pairs – first pair of virtues are particularly with respect to a relationship with God, 2^nd are base virtues of Christians, with 3^rd pair geared especially to his role in ministry, to persevere and be gentle with those under his care, and even gentle in his correction of false teachers (2 Tim 2:25).

It’s also fair to say that these 6 virtues are opposite to the description of those characterized by discontentment. If righteousness is “observable uprightness” as one commentator put it, these false teachers exhibit observable unrighteousness in their quarrels and constant friction. They clearly teach against what accords with godliness (v3) and only pursue g.ness for gain (v5). They don’t follow Xn teaching and so don’t have true faith, they sow dissension instead of love among others. Their personal interactions are again not characterized by gentleness. And though some of these people might have started running as Christians, they’ve let their cravings get the better of them and so they are decidedly not steadfast.

So given all that, it’s clear that Paul has reason to list these things as what we should pursue. I think we can all see “these are better things to pursue.” Even if you’re not a Christian, most of these things are probably things you’d say are better personal characteristics than those in verses 3-10.

And as Christians, we recognize that these characteristics flow from the character of God. We are pursuing conformity to God when we pursue these things. He is loving, gentle, steadfast, and righteous. We trust him and conform to him in godliness. This is the character of Christ. What better thing to pursue that to make your life exhibit these things. Than to spread more of the aroma of Christ around this world. These kinds of pursuits objectively make you and the world a better place.

So if you’re serious about living for God, take these two commands and use them to diagnose yourself.

1. Are you fleeing sin? Does your action exhibit a heart that trembles to sin against your God? That would rather be slain than put the things of this world before God?
2. And are you pursuing these 6 things? These are helpful characteristics for any of us to use as diagnosis questions when we’re pursuing something or suspect we might be governed by sinful motivations.

Ask, “Am I pursuing righteousness? If I do this, make this purchase, am I furthering the cause of my own and others godliness? Does this exhibit faith, love. Am I fostering gentleness in my interactions with others? Am I being consistent in my faith, steadfast? Or am I flakey.

It’s good to have a list like this. Because you can ask, “Am I following Jesus in the way I make this decision?” and it’s very easy to make the abstract qualification of “Jesus-likeness” fit my own motivations. (make images of God) But if we are shown the character of Christ trotted out like this, it’s harder to deceive ourselves.

We have better pursuits: we pursue the character of Christ.

2. Better Motivations

Not only are we given better things to pursue, but we’re given motivations that are good enough to keep with these pursuits. We need strong motivations as Christians. The harder something is, the greater motivation you need to see it through. People train for 4 years straight because they’re motivated by the hope of even getting to compete in the Olympics; what gets a mom through pregnancy and childbirth? the joy of having a child.

Paul gives commands to Timothy in verses 12-15 that indicate that being a Christian over the long haul, and being a Christian minister esp. is hard. He calls Timothy to fight the good fight. Christian life is a fight you have to fight. It’s a struggle. It’s warfare.

Then he calls Timothy to take hold of eternal life, a metaphor of grasping a prize you win as a result of an athletic competition or a fight. The prize is incredible: eternal life. But the struggle is incredible to: it’s life-long. You only fully take hold of eternal life after this life.

And for the difficulty and the life-long nature of the fight of the Christian life, there are two motivations that Paul brings up in verses 12-14: the confession of Christ and the coming of Christ.

First: The confession of Christ

Paul links Timothy’s confession to the confession of Christ. You see verse 12 he calls Timothy to “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses”. Likely this has in view Timothy’s ordination, and the explicit or implicit confession he made to follow Christ and hold to his word. It also could refer to a baptismal confession, but I think given the context of 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, Paul seems to keep pointing Timothy back to his ordination to give him courage for perseverance in ministry.

So he points him back to the confession he made. And then Paul charges Timothy to keep the commandment (v13-14), meaning the faith, the body of Christian teaching. And he charges him in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ – this actually is another motivation: God’s very presence. He is always with us. God the Father, Jesus Christ, are always with us. So keep his commandment. Keep his word.

But when he talks about Jesus, he specifically brings up this about Jesus: “in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession” (v13).

Paul points Timothy to the contrasting example of Jesus being faithful under suffering. “Timothy, when you were baptized, or when you were ordained, you confessed that you would follow Jesus, and keep his word before a supportive group of witnesses cheering you on. But now you’re in a church, under pressure, with factions and false teachers, and in a culture that will persecute you for claiming Jesus as your Lord, and you’re wondering if it really is worth it to alienate people by keeping God’s word so closely. Should you really outspokenly claim Jesus as King of your life?

Jesus, in front of an immoral and indifferent governor, and a hostile crowd, made the good confession: ‘my kingdom is not of this world.’ Jesus made the confession. There is nothing you have to bear that Jesus didn’t already bear. Whatever you have to do or suffer in acknowledging that Jesus is Lord of your life, Jesus did it already. Even to death, Jesus made the good confession.”

Any situation we have when we’re wondering if following Jesus is worth it, where we question whether maintaining our confession that Jesus is our Lord and greatest treasure is worth the risk or damage it might cause us or our relationships—Jesus made the good confession. He suffered for you. He suffered in obedience to his father, and in love for you. Maintaining your confession of faith in him, it’s worth it. And you also aren’t alone in doing it. You are going with Christ, and his fellowship is nearer when you suffer for his name. Christ’s faithfulness in suffering motivates us for the difficulty of our Christian life. The fight, the striving, the steadfastness.

Second: The coming of Christ

Charge: v14 keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ

Commandment: probably either his charge as a pastor of ministering the gospel, or Xn teaching framed from ethical perspective. Keep unstained and free from reproach. Usually its people who are to be kept in this way. But I think the idea is that pastors, and we all have a part in this, to keep God’s word clean and free from reproach. Handle with care. Don’t intermix error. Which includes error from your own life.

Do this until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Til the 2^nd coming of Christ. As I said, eternal life is something we have now, but we ultimately lay hold of after death (or at his coming). What motivates you for a lifetime of service? Is it this?

Notice Paul also adds that God determines when Christ will come: “Which God will display at the proper time.”

Paul is saying, God knows exactly how long your service will last, how long your suffering will last, how long the suffering of his entire people across history will last. God will bring out the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ at the proper time. The right time. But that’s quite the motivation. The return of Christ. It’s something that should make us want to constantly make ourselves ready for. Something that should spur us to keep going. Out of a sense of responsibility AND excitement.

Waiting for the return of Christ isn’t supposed to fuel dread. like waiting for a final, end of year test. Dread of wondering if you’ll do well enough to pass. It’s a waiting that combines responsibility with excitement. Like preparing for a Wedding, or for a child. Or for a vacation.  Someone who looks up everything there is to do there: makes a list of what they want to do most. Places they want to visit. Learning about the country or city. Just learning all there is to know, preparing as much as possible. And there’s some preparation that is just responsibility – hotels, flights, etc. But some of it is sheer excitement.

That’s what waiting for Jesus is like. It should make you want to know more about him, “What’s he like? I can’t wait to see him. I want to know all about him. This is what he likes? I should spend my time waiting doing that. And I’ve gotta be ready.

You see, there’s no room for discontentment when you have your eye on this. When Christ’s presence, his suffering, his coming, motivate you, those things take up our vision.

And when X takes up your vision, your eyes are set on the best thing we have in fighting the good fight:

3. Our Blessed and Boundless God

Really, as Paul focuses on X’s coming, he focuses on nature of God himself. You notice, he slides from hoping in the coming of Christ, to praising God. And it’s as if as Paul contemplates Christ’s coming, he thinks about all that that coming will mean for him. Seeing Christ. Seeing the one whom his soul loves.

Which draws him to contemplate God, and praise God. Because when Christ comes, we get to have God, be with God, gaze upon God. He focuses on basically four attributes of God. And we’ll see, these attributes speak into this specific issue he’s addressing, of persevering in Christian life through difficulty, especially against temptations to discontentment and the love of money. He focuses on God’s

• Blessedness
• Sovereignty
• Singularity
• Inaccessibility

God is blessed.

He is happy. He is infinitely overflowing with joy in himself. Think of how this meets us in our struggle against discontentment. For God, the enjoyment his own perfections results in a state of perfect divine contentment. Our God is not a needy God. Because he has himself. There is all fullness in God. And so now as we commune with our God, and as we look forward to life in glory with God, we know, he supplies all we could ever want with himself. He is the source of all blessing. In his presence all discontentment vanishes.

God is sovereign.

He is in control. He is the “only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” All our struggles, all persecutions, all the raging of the nations – it’s all in his hand. He’s king. He reigns. As we struggle, and wait, and shout “how long?” we must add “O Lord.” How Long, O Lord?” We submit to his rule of our circumstances. And we give him honor. “To him be honor and eternal dominion.” He is a blessed Sovereign, so he dispenses blessing as he sees fit. As he sees fit for our good.

God is singular.

Paul says he is “the blessed and only Sovereign” and he “alone has immortality”. There is no one like God. Are there other sovereigns? Yes. There are legitimate earthly lords and kings and leaders. And there are even other immortal beings. But all sovereigns on earth receive their sovereignty from him. And all angels and men receive immortality from him. He’s the source. There is one God. He is utterly unique. He’s not a bigger version of ourselves—He’s not even a version of us that’s a million times better or billion times better—He’s infinitely unlike us. He is alone blessed. He is alone immortal and sovereign. So we must submit and humble ourselves before him.

And God is inaccessible.

This is maybe a surprising thing to focus on. He “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.” He is so unlike us that we are not able to reach him. Jesus said, “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son… and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” We only have access to God through the Son. And when Christ appears, that is what we have access to: the inaccessible God! That’s the majesty of our God: He dwells in unapproachable light. But that’s also the wonder of our future hope: we will get to see him. To enter that light through Christ.

He’s worth it. He is worth losing the world for; He is worth the daily grind of waking up and dying to yourself morning after morning; He is worth submitting your sinful desires to; He is worth it!

We have a better pursuit instead of the things of this world: we get to pursue the character of Christ in our life. We have better motivations in the long-term struggle of the Christian life: Christ suffered and persevered to the end, and he is coming again. And our very God whom we serve and praise and hope for is a God who in his very being meets all our questions, can fill every need, and will one day be fully and finally our own.

Christ offers us better things. He offers us himself. Take hold of him, trust him, enjoy him. He alone can satisfy all the hungers this world can offer.