How To Know Something Is Worth Fighting For

Last week, in the message, Is It Time To Flee?, we discussed how the Bible gives precise instructions on when we are to FIGHT and when we are to FLEE.

But you, O man of God, FLEE these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. FIGHT the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. - 1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NKJV)

Sometimes there is a need to get involved in a fight on behalf of our faith, but we can not enter that battle haphazardly or casually -- we must move forward with intentionality. And a significant part of choosing to fight spiritual battles with intentionality is choosing to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:10 NKJV)

No one can put on the armor of God for you; it’s something you must do yourself.

Memorize the armor elements and pray through their placement in your life daily, the helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, loins girded with Truth, the sword of the Spirit, and feet Shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. God has called and commissioned you to fight the GOOD FIGHT of faith, and you must be equipped for battle, “Fight the GOOD FIGHT of faith…” (1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV)

There are two kinds of spiritual fights that exist, one is the good fight, and one is the bad fight. Let’s examine examples of the differences between the two.

BAD FIGHT vs. GOOD FIGHT

PERSONAL RECOGNITION vs. GOD’S GLORY

PERSONAL OPINION vs. GOD’S TRUTH

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE vs. GOD’S PLAN

PERSONAL PREFERENCE vs. GOD’S PRESENCE

PROVE A POINT vs. BLESS OTHERS

TEAR DOWN vs. BUILD-UP

HURT OTHERS vs. HELPS OTHERS

POLITICAL IDEOLOGY vs. SOUND DOCTRINE

We best sum this up by saying that a GOOD FIGHT happens when we fight for others, not against them.

• Hell’s PLOT: We fight each other.

• God’s PLAN: We fight for each other.

It is not God’s plan for us to be fighting each other; we are to be fighting for each other! Why? Because we do not wrestle against FLESH and BLOOD, we wrestle against powers and principalities! Yes, you may be dealing with a personality, but that personality is hosting spiritual darkness. Never lose sight of that truth. It will help you to keep the fight from becoming personal.

When the enemy uses people to come against us, hard conversations become unavoidable. But, unfortunately, those conversations can often feel like a fight. So, how do you have the necessary discussions and maintain a good fight, not a bad fight?

When HARD CONVERSATIONS must take place, follow this strategy:

1. CONVERSE PRIVATELY FIRST

Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. - Matthew 18:15 (NKJV)

2. SPEAK TRUTH IN LOVE

...no longer be children… carried about with every wind of doctrine...but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in Christ-

-Ephesians 4:14-15 (NKJV)

3. FILL YOUR SPEECH WITH GRACE

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. -Colossians 4:6 (NKJV)

4. OFFER BLESSING, NOT CURSING

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…” If your enemy is...thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” -Romans 12:12, 20 (NKJV)

At the best you can do, there will still be moments when you recognize a SPIRITUAL fight is becoming increasingly PERSONAL. I borrow Paul’s recommendations for suggesting your next step, “Now I urge you, brethren, NOTE those who cause divisions and offenses...and AVOID them. (Romans 16:17 NKJV)

The takeaway of that verse is that sometimes, when dealing with challenging personalities, we have to take good notes (if you’ve ever been through a legal battle, you know what I’m talking about!), and on occasions, altogether avoid them.

Another way of saying it is that sometimes we have to understand that there will be personality conflicts with people. However, we can still love and bless them while simultaneously setting healthy boundaries, so that offense and bitterness do not take root within our hearts.

It’s essential to align our battle strategies with God’s instructions because the result will be something we can celebrate, “I want you to be wise in what is GOOD… And the God of peace will CRUSH Satan under your feet shortly.” (Romans 16:17-18 NKJV)

Give God praise! This approach is how you will win! It’s amazing what happens when you stop trying to fight your way -- the bad fight -- and fight God’s way -- the good fight!

“Fight the GOOD FIGHT of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called…” (1 Timothy 6:12). In this letter, Paul is telling Timothy to fight the GOOD FIGHT. Years later, Paul writes another letter stating, “I have fought the GOOD FIGHT, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7 NKJV)

• I HAVE FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT. I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH!

Don’t you want that proclamation to be your testimony?

Your kids are worth fighting for... your family is worth fighting for... your calling is worth fighting for… God’s church and God’s truth -- sound doctrine is worth fighting for... Don’t stop fighting! Fight the GOOD FIGHT, it won’t come cheap, and you may have to sacrifice your pride, personal recognition, and even personal preference at times. But, I challenge you to realize that there is no more remarkable testimony than to say, “I have kept the faith, I have fought the GOOD FIGHT, God CRUSHED the enemy under my feet!

You can view the message in its entirety at this link: https://youtu.be/smWkQi0Gu9o

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES

Has Competition Limited Our Ability to Be Unified?

From a very young age, we’re taught to compete. As children, we battle with our siblings for attention, and we compete with our peers to win games. As we grow older, the stakes become even higher, instead of attention and games, we now compete for jobs, recognition, and influence. This competition isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it fuels us, makes us perform better.

But has competition gone too far?

Is it possible that our culture of competition is making us counter-productive? There’s a delicate balance between healthy and unhealthy competition. Healthy competition leads to increased productivity, but unhealthy competition leads to self-isolation and decreased efficiency.

Looking back in history, we would’ve missed out on countless advancements if the competition was as big then as it is today. Take the pyramids; for example, it took years and tens of thousands of men working together to build them. If they had that mindset, it might have looked more like tens of thousands of men, each trying to build the best pyramid by themselves in the shortest amount of time. If this were the case, not only would we not have the pyramids today, they would have killed themselves trying to build them. There is no doubt we are robbing the future of humanity of significant technological advancements. Not to mention killing ourselves, just because we refuse to be united in the name of competition.

So, what can we do about it?

We have to start with what we can control ourselves. We can’t help that some people refuse to work together. But we can control the way we work with others, and the attitude we have when doing so. If we could change our attitude of competition to an attitude of service, we’d turn the world upside down!

No man has ever had an impact on the world the way Jesus did, and part of that is because of his willingness to serve. He said it himself in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” For Jesus, nothing was a competition. His focus was on serving others because he knew by doing that, he’d bring unity. Great unity begins with a spirit of humility and a willingness to serve.

This idea is brought to light in an even greater way in Philippians 2 when Paul shows us how unity under Christ should look. He explains that we must behave in a counter-cultural way if we want to experience unity. In Philippians 2:3-4, he says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your interests but each of you to the interests of the others”. This type of attitude is the opposite of our human nature. We want people to serve us and look out for our best interests, but when everyone has that mindset, we create a lonely world.

To obtain unity, we must act counter to our culture. Instead of embracing competition, we need to embrace service. Paul progressively outlines this truth. First, it starts with not seeking your selfish gain; then, it moves to see others as more valuable than yourself. And finally, it ends by concerning yourself with other people's gain, not your own.

Think about the unity that would arise if everyone was concerned about helping and serving other people. We’re a long way from making that a reality, but we could get one step closer each day. Start small, start little unselfish habits, and mold that into an altruistic lifestyle.

Choose to serve even when it costs you something, be an example of selfless living. When you do these things, a unity will form around you, and you will be able to accomplish so much more than you could have alone. Our spirit of competition has limited our ability to have unity, which has limited our efficiency.

It’s time to move away from the world’s view, if you want to be more productive, spend less time on yourself, and more time on others.