The Good Fight
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
We find so few people who are able to declare that they have fought the good fight for the sake of the cause and not for the betterment of themselves or the recognition they will receive. Accolades for a job well done should not be the primary motivator; making a better world for others, should be. This week's Immediate Word is on 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 by Carlos Wilton. Another View is written by Barbara Jurgensen this week. There are illustrations, a worship resource, and a children's sermon included also.
The Good Fight
Carlos Wilton
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
THE WORLD
This week's epistle lesson gives us this beloved text: "As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (1 Timothy 4:6-7).
What does it mean for Christians to engage in "the good fight"? The newspapers are filled with stories of people engaged in what they regard as righteous struggles for justice, inspired by faith. There is Al Gore combating global warming (for which he's just won the Nobel Peace Prize); the Dalai Lama (an earlier Nobel laureate, now the recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal), gently but firmly pushing back against the Chinese government; the nameless Buddhist monks of Myanmar, some of them paying with their lives in the struggle for democracy. Whatever we think of their particular views, we have to admire these people of faith for their resolution, and for their courage in taking an unpopular stand. Contrasted to them are the political "talking heads" of the presidential debates, poking cautiously up from behind the lecterns. They all seem so calculated with their answers, so wary of taking any stand that could alienate a constituency.
"Fighting the good fight" -- going to the mat for our faith -- is a rich Christian tradition. While it may, at first, seem to be contradicted by some teachings of Jesus -- most notably his instruction to "turn the other cheek" -- Jesus' own life was that of a man willing to fight, and even die, for what is right. The difference is that, for him, the thing worth fighting for must always be larger than ourselves, and our self-interest. We do well to ask our people, "What, to you, is worth fighting for? What is your good fight?"
THE WORD
In dealing with any text from the Pastoral Epistles, we preachers must first determine where we stand on the vexed question of authorship. Then, we must determine how much to say about that in the sermon. Most modern Bible scholars think the First and Second Letters to Timothy were not actually written by Paul. They were written by a latter-generation follower, who put them together as a sort of dramatic monologue that captured the essence of Paul's teachings, as he saw it. It's possible -- even likely -- that Timothy himself was dead and gone by that time.
The reasons for this viewpoint are complex, and rely in part on highly technical, scholarly judgments about these letters' use of the Greek language. They also rely on a big-picture view that compares the Pastorals to the rest of the Pauline literature, revealing that the church to which they are addressed sounds much more like the second-century church than the first.
This is a tricky issue to explain from the pulpit. It requires more time than we have, in a typical sermon, to unpack the various arguments for or against Pauline authorship and to communicate them in a way that Christians without a theological education or a knowledge of Greek can understand. It may help to explain that the author wasn't trying to pull a fast one. This was a common way of communicating big ideas in the ancient world. The Greek philosopher Plato, for example, taught the essence of Socrates' teachings by constructing dialogues that were a sort of distillation of his recollections of the great teacher. No one imagines those dialogues took place exactly as Plato describes them: as though he were standing there with a tape recorder, catching every word. Why should we be troubled if the Pastoral Epistles turn out to be a similar exercise in creative communication -- an earnest attempt by a later follower to capture what Paul might have written to a leader of the second-century church, had he still been alive to do so?
The character of Paul, in this creatively constructed letter, is giving advice to his young protege. He wants Timothy to preach and teach with confidence. Verse 4:3 speaks volumes to us of the situation of this letter: "For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine..." False teachers have arisen in the church, and the author is appealing to the community's historical memory of Paul to designate him and his party as the apostle's rightful successors.
Turning to today's passage, we see how verse 6 speaks of Paul being "poured out as a libation." This has strong connotations of sacrifice: a libation is a sacrifice of wine, poured out upon an altar (Numbers 28:7). This sacrificial language is consistent with Paul's own martyr's death -- which, if the late-authorship assessment is correct, the readers of this letter already know about.
If this sacrificial libation seems symbolic of passive acquiescence in the face of persecution, then the next verse provides a different picture: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (4:7). All three of these are active verbs, coming from the worlds of the military, athletics, and religion, respectively. There is a sense, here, that -- at least in the troubled church of the Pastoral Epistles -- disciples must sometimes strenuously contend with those who promulgate false teachings.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The phrase, "I have fought the good fight," is a familiar one -- so much so, that there's something to be gained from beginning the sermon with the opening question, "Is there such a thing as a good fight?" Our nation has continued to debate that question, over the centuries, as it has sought to justify war. Ken Burns' recent World War II documentary, The War, raises it again, from the standpoint of the "Greatest Generation" veterans who are now dying in ever-increasing numbers. For some, if World War I was "the Great War," then World War II was "the Good War": liberating Auschwitz was assuredly the right thing to do. The tales some veterans are now telling, and which Burns has recorded on film, paint a more ambiguous picture. War, as he portrays it, is a vast and complicated enterprise, a struggle sometimes for good, sometimes for evil, and often for sheer survival.
The current debate about the role of the Blackwater security agency in Iraq may also have some applicability. Are the armed employees of that country mercenaries -- or patriots? Is their fight a good one -- or are they an example of "have gun, will travel"?
Al Gore and the Dalai Lama have been in the news recently, due to significant awards they have received: the Nobel Peace Prize in the case of Gore, and the Congressional Gold Medal in the case of the Dalai Lama (who is also a past Nobel Peace Prize recipient). Both of them have at times been engaged in a protracted, sometimes lonely struggle for what they believe is right. In Myanmar, Buddhist monks have been standing up to the brutal military junta. Hard statistics are still difficult to come by, but early indications are that many of them have died martyr's deaths. In Pakistan, Presidential hopeful Benazir Bhutto has returned to her country from exile; she and her entourage were immediately greeted by a suicide-bomber attack, from which she emerged unscathed. Politics is a dangerous business, in some places.
Clearly, the author of 2 Timothy is not talking about armed conflict, but still there is a sort of internal struggle going on in the author's heart, the details of which we cannot know. Is it a battle with temptation? Or with pride? Is it, perhaps, a battle with anger -- an attempt to stoically endure persecution, without raising a hand in revenge? Or is it simply the struggle to believe?
Good things are rarely handed to us in life without them being the product of some kind of struggle. On one level or another, striving to "fight the good fight" is an experience to which we can all relate.
The Greek words for "fight" and "fought," here, are related. They are agon and agonizomai, respectively. Interestingly, it's the same verb used elsewhere to describe Jesus' spiritual struggle on the eve of his arrest, which has come to be known as "the agony in the garden." Luke describes Jesus' agonia in graphic terms: "In his anguish (agonia) he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground" (Luke 22:44). That, too, was a good fight -- the best, in fact. It resulted in salvation for all the world.
"Souls are like athletes," wrote Thomas Merton, "that need opponents worthy of them if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers." Considering that agonizomai is sometimes used in the Pauline literature to describe athletic contests as well as warfare, Merton has caught the spirit of these early Christians.
So, what does this mean for us, in our Christian lives? On one level, it means we ought not to be surprised by experiences of agonia, when they come. The "prosperity gospel" preachers have it all wrong, as they whisper sweet nothings into their eager followers' ears about God blessing believers with health, wealth, and all good things of life. Such was not the experience of any of the apostles: Why should it be true for us?
It also means that, in the good times, we do well to get ourselves into training. No athlete ever excels on the field, on the court, or in the arena without having first spent long hours in practice. Our faith offers us a rich array of time-honored spiritual disciplines, by which we can strengthen our spiritual muscles and improve our endurance.
In the words of Catholic spiritual writer Ron Rolheiser, "We cannot walk from self-pampering to self-sacrifice, from living in fear to acting in courage, and from cringing before the unknown to taking the leap of faith, without first, like Jesus in Gethsemane, readying ourselves through a certain agonia, that is, without undergoing a painful sweat that comes from facing what will be asked of us if we continue to live the truth.... In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus dies before he dies and in that way readies himself for what awaits him."
http://www.ronrolheiser.com/columnarchive/search_detail.php?rec_id=178
It may sound like bad news to tell our people they must "die before they die" -- that they must, at times, endure a grueling fight that will tax all their energies, that demands everything they have and are. Yet, for those who have tasted something of life's struggle, this word will come as no surprise. Indeed, it may even be a comfort. It's undeniable: life is sometimes a struggle. The good news of the gospel is that it is a struggle for a purpose -- and that, at the end of the struggle, there is awaiting the elect not only the prize of eternal life, but the reward of knowing it was all worth it.
ANOTHER VIEW
Barbara Jurgensen
The last few weeks I've been noticing ads on TV for Transformers -- you know, those toys that start out looking like tanks or some other sort of heavy-duty vehicle, and then, with a few skillful twists and turns, you can turn them into a big guy who looks like he can take care of whatever needs to be taken care of.
It's neat to be able to turn stuff into other stuff. Former vice president Al Gore won the Nobel Prize recently for showing us how we need to clean up this world we live in, that we can transform it into a healthier place, not only for us but for our children and grandchildren. It's like our mom telling us we better straighten up our room before the Sanitation Department seals it off as a disaster area.
Today is Reformation Sunday, the day we celebrate what people like Luther, Zwingli, Knox, Melancthon, Calvin and others did to "clean up," to transform the church, putting it back into better working order, about five centuries ago, back in the 1500s, making the church more of what it should be, more of what the Lord God intends it to be.
We remember that the biggest reformer, the biggest cleaner-upper, the biggest transformer of all, is the Lord God who created us, and who can transform us. God has some amazing words to say about this transformation in our alternate Old Testament text for Reformation Sunday, Jeremiah 31:31-34.
The Lord says to us, in effect, "I'm going to transform you -- or rather, I can transform you, if you'll let me. I can take you in my hands, and work with you, and make some twists and turns, and help you become the person that I know you can be -- a person like my son Jesus, a person who lives in the power of my love, a person who shares that love by caring for their family and friends and with those around them who are in need."
You remember that after God freed his people from being slaves in Egypt and they were on their way to the Promised Land, God made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai, a covenant, an agreement, that we call the Ten Commandments: I am the Lord your God and you are my people. Therefore you will not kill, you will not steal, you will not commit adultery, you will not covet what belongs to others, you will not bear false witness against anyone. And you will honor your parents -- and me, and keep one day a week holy.
The covenant outlined the way they, and we, should live as God's family.
Now the Lord God says that he's going to make a new agreement with his people, a new covenant. He says that the old covenant helped them learn how to live with each other and care for each other, and that they should keep following that covenant. But the new covenant, he says, will go beyond that -- far beyond that.
The Lord God says that he will make a new covenant with them, and with us, by sending Jesus into our world. And, since none of us can do all we need to do, or be all we need to be, Jesus will be that and do that for us. He will be our Savior, our Rescuer, our Transformer, making us more like him. And he will give his life for us.
A child can take a toy Transformer into his hands and, with a series of skillful twists and turns, turn that little vehicle into a strong, mighty person who's ready to take on whatever needs to be done.
In the same way, the Lord God can take you and me into his strong hands and skillfully help us become what we can become: people who, knowing how greatly we are loved by our Lord, can live out that love to others -- people who can make a difference in this world.
Our Joel text for today (2:23-32) tells us, the Lord God will pour out his Holy Spirit upon us so that we can live as his people. The Holy Spirit will give us the power to do all that the Lord calls us to do.
Our Lord invites you and me to be people of not just the old covenant, not just people who live by the Ten Commandments, but people who also live daily in relationship with him. Our Lord invites you and me to invite him into our lives to transform us.
Invite him to take you into his strong hands and work with you until he fashions you into a strong person who, working with him, can do whatever needs to be done.
ILLUSTRATIONS
As we "fight our good fights," we remember Jesus and the way he fought the battle against sin. He was prepared to give his life, but I am certain that he would never take a life for his beliefs. As Mahatma Gandhi put it: "I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill."
* * *
The greatest of the good fights that I know are the fights for the human soul. We are the people of God, and we shine with the radiance of Christ's glory. We are created in God's image and after a while we shine from within. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross noticed this as she made her landmark studies of death and dying. The study brought her to faith as she saw humanity shine with glory. In her own words: "People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
* * *
Several years ago, two homeless men died under a bridge in a fire while they tried to keep warm in the dead of winter. I vowed to build a homeless shelter in my community. The neighbors fought me tooth and nail. They took me to court. I doubted my ability to raise the funds, but many good people rallied around me. There was a battle for the soul of the community. It was a long hard battle. It took four years. But we won. There is room in my community's heart for the homeless now. And so I say: "Fight the good fight with all your might!"
-- Paul Bresnahan
* * *
A great quote from Teddy Roosevelt:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly... who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."
* * *
From the movie, Braveheart, comes some wonderful quotes and clips about something worth fighting for:
William Wallace: I AM William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my country men, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?
Soldier: Against that? No, we will run, and we will live.
William Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!
"Every man dies, not every man really lives... We all end up dead, it's just a question of how and why"
* * *
During the Vietnam protests of the 1960, one anti-war protester walked around with a large poster that read, "Nothing is worth dying for." There are at least a few people who might disagree with that blanket statement. At the top of that list is a Savior who certainly thought you were worth dying for. For you, he was willing to fight the good fight.
* * *
A central question in fighting for a cause, particularly one that shows few signs of victory, is discovering what it is that can sustain you for the long haul. Viktor Frankl shaped his initial thoughts as a Jew in a concentration camp during WWII. There are two critical ideas that I recall from his book, "Man's Search for Meaning," that I think could be good illustrations for the topic at hand.
First, Frankl said, "Give a (person) a why and they can endure almost any how but take away the why and almost any obstacle is too great a barrier. A simple example is many people's experience in the educational system. Because they know the "why" -- that is a desired degree, they can put up with the various challenges in doing what is necessary to obtain the degree. For many a clergy, the why is that God has called them to ministry. Once they have lost touch with that call, the frustrations of ministry can easily be overwhelming. It is important to recognize the why that can sustain us through the various challenges of the battle that we fight.
* * *
Second, Frankl posited that the last and most precious freedom of humanity that no one could take away from you was the freedom to choose your response. In his circumstances, the Nazi guards could do whatever they wanted but only Frankl would decide on his response. He could be furious at them, laugh at them, feel sorry for their sick behavior, but it preserved his humanity to remember that the choice was his. When we are involved in any type of battle, when we meet the opposition, we are the ones that choose our own response and in doing so we preserve our humanity no matter what the outcome of the battle.
* * *
Sometimes our battles can have more effect on us than our opposition. Anthony de Mello, in the "Song Of The Bird" illustrates this point in his story, "The Zen Master and the Christian."
A Christian once visited a Zen master and said, "Allow me to read you some sentences from the Sermon on the Mount."
"I shall listen to them with pleasure," said the master.
The Christian read a few sentences and looked up. The master smiled and said, "Whoever said those words was truly enlightened."
This pleased the Christian. He read on. The master interrupted and said, "Those words come from a savior of mankind."
The Christian was thrilled. He continued to read to the end. The master then said, "That sermon was pronounced by someone who was radiant with divinity."
The Christian's joy knew no bounds. He left determined to return and persuade the master to become a Christian.
On the way back home he found Jesus standing by the roadside. "Lord," he said enthusiastically, "I got that man to confess that you are divine!"
Jesus smiled and said, "And what good did it do you except to inflate your Christian ego?"
It would be sad to be so obsessed with obtaining victory in a battle that we fail to notice how we have defeated what is important to us in the process.
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: This is the day
the Lord has made:
People: a day for praise and prayer;
a day for gratitude and generosity.
Leader: This is the time
God has given us:
People: a time for singing and silence;
a time for speaking and listening.
Leader: This is the life
To which God calls us:
People: a life of humility and service;
a life of faith and trust.
Prayer of the Day
Pour out your Spirit
upon us as we gather,
God of our salvation:
so your grace
might strengthen us
for service;
so your peace
might calm
our troubled souls;
so your hope
might mend
our broken hearts.
You poured out your life
that we might be filled
with the gift of salvation.
You humbled yourself
that we might be raised
to eternal life.
Take hold of our hands,
Servant of the world,
so we might cross
the finish line together.
You are in our midst,
Spirit of wholeness.
You enabled us
to cling to faith,
when hope runs
through our fingers like sand.
You open the gateways
of our hearts
morning and evening,
that we might sing
our praises with all creation.
God in Community,
Holy in One,
we pour out our hearts to you,
as we pray as Jesus taught us,
Our Father...
Call to Reconciliation
When we pray to God, do we do so with
pride in what wonderful people we are,
or with that humble hope, which recognizes
how we have not lived as God's children,
and how we need God's forgiveness and
grace in our lives. Join me as we pray
to our God, saying,
Unison Prayer of Confession
Watching God, like the Pharisee, we think
we can stick our thumbs into life, pull out a
prayer, and congratulate ourselves for being
such good Christians. Then, we remember
the harsh words we have spoken this week,
the hurt we have inflicted on someone we
loved, the lack of compassion we failed to
offer to someone who needed our help.
Forgive us, God of Grace, and deal gently
with us. May we become more like the tax
collector -- humble, penitent, acknowledging
our faulty lives to you. Then, may we
receive the mercy promised to us through
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(silence is observed)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Forgiven and healed, we open ourselves
to the grace, the peace, the hope offered
to us through our loving God. This is
the good news we have received!
People: Graced and blessed, we are able to offer
our lives for others, taking them by the
hand to reach that finish line called the
kingdom. Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Campaigning is hard work
Object: campaign stories in the newspaper and magazines
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (v. 7)
Good morning, boys and girls. Did you know that there's going to be an election soon? (let them answer) Lots of newspapers and magazines contain stories about the people who want to be elected president of the United States. These people are called "candidates." How many of you know the names of the people who want to be elected president? (let them answer)
If you want to be elected, you must work hard. What are some of the things you must do to be elected? (let them answer) You need to travel a lot, give speeches, and listen to people to find out what's important to them.
Candidates must know many things. They must know what's happening all around the country and all over the world. They need to know about businesses and schools. It's not easy trying to be elected.
Saint Paul wasn't trying to get himself elected. He was trying to spread the message about Jesus. He even had to go to prison because he was teaching about Jesus. Prison is not a fun place to be. The food isn't very good, the beds are uncomfortable, and sometimes you are chained up. People sometimes end up in prison even when they know they are right. Paul knew he was right. He was telling the truth about Jesus. He was working for Jesus like people work to be elected. He would go from place to place, meeting people and teaching them about Jesus. He would listen to people when they told him about being afraid, lonely, sad, and disappointed. Paul worked very hard and all of his hard work made him tired.
One day as he was sitting in prison and feeling very old, Paul told his friends and followers that he had "fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept his faith." It was Paul's way of saying he was satisfied with his life even though it had not been easy.
The next time you see one of the men running for president, check to see if he looks tired. If he does, you can think of Paul and all that he had to do to bring Jesus to the people. Paul gave his life for Jesus just like Jesus gave his life for Paul and all of us. Fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. Say it with me, "Fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith." (have them repeat it several times)
I think you've got it! God will give you the strength to live your life for Jesus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 28, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
The Good Fight
Carlos Wilton
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
THE WORLD
This week's epistle lesson gives us this beloved text: "As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (1 Timothy 4:6-7).
What does it mean for Christians to engage in "the good fight"? The newspapers are filled with stories of people engaged in what they regard as righteous struggles for justice, inspired by faith. There is Al Gore combating global warming (for which he's just won the Nobel Peace Prize); the Dalai Lama (an earlier Nobel laureate, now the recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal), gently but firmly pushing back against the Chinese government; the nameless Buddhist monks of Myanmar, some of them paying with their lives in the struggle for democracy. Whatever we think of their particular views, we have to admire these people of faith for their resolution, and for their courage in taking an unpopular stand. Contrasted to them are the political "talking heads" of the presidential debates, poking cautiously up from behind the lecterns. They all seem so calculated with their answers, so wary of taking any stand that could alienate a constituency.
"Fighting the good fight" -- going to the mat for our faith -- is a rich Christian tradition. While it may, at first, seem to be contradicted by some teachings of Jesus -- most notably his instruction to "turn the other cheek" -- Jesus' own life was that of a man willing to fight, and even die, for what is right. The difference is that, for him, the thing worth fighting for must always be larger than ourselves, and our self-interest. We do well to ask our people, "What, to you, is worth fighting for? What is your good fight?"
THE WORD
In dealing with any text from the Pastoral Epistles, we preachers must first determine where we stand on the vexed question of authorship. Then, we must determine how much to say about that in the sermon. Most modern Bible scholars think the First and Second Letters to Timothy were not actually written by Paul. They were written by a latter-generation follower, who put them together as a sort of dramatic monologue that captured the essence of Paul's teachings, as he saw it. It's possible -- even likely -- that Timothy himself was dead and gone by that time.
The reasons for this viewpoint are complex, and rely in part on highly technical, scholarly judgments about these letters' use of the Greek language. They also rely on a big-picture view that compares the Pastorals to the rest of the Pauline literature, revealing that the church to which they are addressed sounds much more like the second-century church than the first.
This is a tricky issue to explain from the pulpit. It requires more time than we have, in a typical sermon, to unpack the various arguments for or against Pauline authorship and to communicate them in a way that Christians without a theological education or a knowledge of Greek can understand. It may help to explain that the author wasn't trying to pull a fast one. This was a common way of communicating big ideas in the ancient world. The Greek philosopher Plato, for example, taught the essence of Socrates' teachings by constructing dialogues that were a sort of distillation of his recollections of the great teacher. No one imagines those dialogues took place exactly as Plato describes them: as though he were standing there with a tape recorder, catching every word. Why should we be troubled if the Pastoral Epistles turn out to be a similar exercise in creative communication -- an earnest attempt by a later follower to capture what Paul might have written to a leader of the second-century church, had he still been alive to do so?
The character of Paul, in this creatively constructed letter, is giving advice to his young protege. He wants Timothy to preach and teach with confidence. Verse 4:3 speaks volumes to us of the situation of this letter: "For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine..." False teachers have arisen in the church, and the author is appealing to the community's historical memory of Paul to designate him and his party as the apostle's rightful successors.
Turning to today's passage, we see how verse 6 speaks of Paul being "poured out as a libation." This has strong connotations of sacrifice: a libation is a sacrifice of wine, poured out upon an altar (Numbers 28:7). This sacrificial language is consistent with Paul's own martyr's death -- which, if the late-authorship assessment is correct, the readers of this letter already know about.
If this sacrificial libation seems symbolic of passive acquiescence in the face of persecution, then the next verse provides a different picture: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (4:7). All three of these are active verbs, coming from the worlds of the military, athletics, and religion, respectively. There is a sense, here, that -- at least in the troubled church of the Pastoral Epistles -- disciples must sometimes strenuously contend with those who promulgate false teachings.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The phrase, "I have fought the good fight," is a familiar one -- so much so, that there's something to be gained from beginning the sermon with the opening question, "Is there such a thing as a good fight?" Our nation has continued to debate that question, over the centuries, as it has sought to justify war. Ken Burns' recent World War II documentary, The War, raises it again, from the standpoint of the "Greatest Generation" veterans who are now dying in ever-increasing numbers. For some, if World War I was "the Great War," then World War II was "the Good War": liberating Auschwitz was assuredly the right thing to do. The tales some veterans are now telling, and which Burns has recorded on film, paint a more ambiguous picture. War, as he portrays it, is a vast and complicated enterprise, a struggle sometimes for good, sometimes for evil, and often for sheer survival.
The current debate about the role of the Blackwater security agency in Iraq may also have some applicability. Are the armed employees of that country mercenaries -- or patriots? Is their fight a good one -- or are they an example of "have gun, will travel"?
Al Gore and the Dalai Lama have been in the news recently, due to significant awards they have received: the Nobel Peace Prize in the case of Gore, and the Congressional Gold Medal in the case of the Dalai Lama (who is also a past Nobel Peace Prize recipient). Both of them have at times been engaged in a protracted, sometimes lonely struggle for what they believe is right. In Myanmar, Buddhist monks have been standing up to the brutal military junta. Hard statistics are still difficult to come by, but early indications are that many of them have died martyr's deaths. In Pakistan, Presidential hopeful Benazir Bhutto has returned to her country from exile; she and her entourage were immediately greeted by a suicide-bomber attack, from which she emerged unscathed. Politics is a dangerous business, in some places.
Clearly, the author of 2 Timothy is not talking about armed conflict, but still there is a sort of internal struggle going on in the author's heart, the details of which we cannot know. Is it a battle with temptation? Or with pride? Is it, perhaps, a battle with anger -- an attempt to stoically endure persecution, without raising a hand in revenge? Or is it simply the struggle to believe?
Good things are rarely handed to us in life without them being the product of some kind of struggle. On one level or another, striving to "fight the good fight" is an experience to which we can all relate.
The Greek words for "fight" and "fought," here, are related. They are agon and agonizomai, respectively. Interestingly, it's the same verb used elsewhere to describe Jesus' spiritual struggle on the eve of his arrest, which has come to be known as "the agony in the garden." Luke describes Jesus' agonia in graphic terms: "In his anguish (agonia) he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground" (Luke 22:44). That, too, was a good fight -- the best, in fact. It resulted in salvation for all the world.
"Souls are like athletes," wrote Thomas Merton, "that need opponents worthy of them if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers." Considering that agonizomai is sometimes used in the Pauline literature to describe athletic contests as well as warfare, Merton has caught the spirit of these early Christians.
So, what does this mean for us, in our Christian lives? On one level, it means we ought not to be surprised by experiences of agonia, when they come. The "prosperity gospel" preachers have it all wrong, as they whisper sweet nothings into their eager followers' ears about God blessing believers with health, wealth, and all good things of life. Such was not the experience of any of the apostles: Why should it be true for us?
It also means that, in the good times, we do well to get ourselves into training. No athlete ever excels on the field, on the court, or in the arena without having first spent long hours in practice. Our faith offers us a rich array of time-honored spiritual disciplines, by which we can strengthen our spiritual muscles and improve our endurance.
In the words of Catholic spiritual writer Ron Rolheiser, "We cannot walk from self-pampering to self-sacrifice, from living in fear to acting in courage, and from cringing before the unknown to taking the leap of faith, without first, like Jesus in Gethsemane, readying ourselves through a certain agonia, that is, without undergoing a painful sweat that comes from facing what will be asked of us if we continue to live the truth.... In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus dies before he dies and in that way readies himself for what awaits him."
http://www.ronrolheiser.com/columnarchive/search_detail.php?rec_id=178
It may sound like bad news to tell our people they must "die before they die" -- that they must, at times, endure a grueling fight that will tax all their energies, that demands everything they have and are. Yet, for those who have tasted something of life's struggle, this word will come as no surprise. Indeed, it may even be a comfort. It's undeniable: life is sometimes a struggle. The good news of the gospel is that it is a struggle for a purpose -- and that, at the end of the struggle, there is awaiting the elect not only the prize of eternal life, but the reward of knowing it was all worth it.
ANOTHER VIEW
Barbara Jurgensen
The last few weeks I've been noticing ads on TV for Transformers -- you know, those toys that start out looking like tanks or some other sort of heavy-duty vehicle, and then, with a few skillful twists and turns, you can turn them into a big guy who looks like he can take care of whatever needs to be taken care of.
It's neat to be able to turn stuff into other stuff. Former vice president Al Gore won the Nobel Prize recently for showing us how we need to clean up this world we live in, that we can transform it into a healthier place, not only for us but for our children and grandchildren. It's like our mom telling us we better straighten up our room before the Sanitation Department seals it off as a disaster area.
Today is Reformation Sunday, the day we celebrate what people like Luther, Zwingli, Knox, Melancthon, Calvin and others did to "clean up," to transform the church, putting it back into better working order, about five centuries ago, back in the 1500s, making the church more of what it should be, more of what the Lord God intends it to be.
We remember that the biggest reformer, the biggest cleaner-upper, the biggest transformer of all, is the Lord God who created us, and who can transform us. God has some amazing words to say about this transformation in our alternate Old Testament text for Reformation Sunday, Jeremiah 31:31-34.
The Lord says to us, in effect, "I'm going to transform you -- or rather, I can transform you, if you'll let me. I can take you in my hands, and work with you, and make some twists and turns, and help you become the person that I know you can be -- a person like my son Jesus, a person who lives in the power of my love, a person who shares that love by caring for their family and friends and with those around them who are in need."
You remember that after God freed his people from being slaves in Egypt and they were on their way to the Promised Land, God made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai, a covenant, an agreement, that we call the Ten Commandments: I am the Lord your God and you are my people. Therefore you will not kill, you will not steal, you will not commit adultery, you will not covet what belongs to others, you will not bear false witness against anyone. And you will honor your parents -- and me, and keep one day a week holy.
The covenant outlined the way they, and we, should live as God's family.
Now the Lord God says that he's going to make a new agreement with his people, a new covenant. He says that the old covenant helped them learn how to live with each other and care for each other, and that they should keep following that covenant. But the new covenant, he says, will go beyond that -- far beyond that.
The Lord God says that he will make a new covenant with them, and with us, by sending Jesus into our world. And, since none of us can do all we need to do, or be all we need to be, Jesus will be that and do that for us. He will be our Savior, our Rescuer, our Transformer, making us more like him. And he will give his life for us.
A child can take a toy Transformer into his hands and, with a series of skillful twists and turns, turn that little vehicle into a strong, mighty person who's ready to take on whatever needs to be done.
In the same way, the Lord God can take you and me into his strong hands and skillfully help us become what we can become: people who, knowing how greatly we are loved by our Lord, can live out that love to others -- people who can make a difference in this world.
Our Joel text for today (2:23-32) tells us, the Lord God will pour out his Holy Spirit upon us so that we can live as his people. The Holy Spirit will give us the power to do all that the Lord calls us to do.
Our Lord invites you and me to be people of not just the old covenant, not just people who live by the Ten Commandments, but people who also live daily in relationship with him. Our Lord invites you and me to invite him into our lives to transform us.
Invite him to take you into his strong hands and work with you until he fashions you into a strong person who, working with him, can do whatever needs to be done.
ILLUSTRATIONS
As we "fight our good fights," we remember Jesus and the way he fought the battle against sin. He was prepared to give his life, but I am certain that he would never take a life for his beliefs. As Mahatma Gandhi put it: "I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill."
* * *
The greatest of the good fights that I know are the fights for the human soul. We are the people of God, and we shine with the radiance of Christ's glory. We are created in God's image and after a while we shine from within. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross noticed this as she made her landmark studies of death and dying. The study brought her to faith as she saw humanity shine with glory. In her own words: "People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
* * *
Several years ago, two homeless men died under a bridge in a fire while they tried to keep warm in the dead of winter. I vowed to build a homeless shelter in my community. The neighbors fought me tooth and nail. They took me to court. I doubted my ability to raise the funds, but many good people rallied around me. There was a battle for the soul of the community. It was a long hard battle. It took four years. But we won. There is room in my community's heart for the homeless now. And so I say: "Fight the good fight with all your might!"
-- Paul Bresnahan
* * *
A great quote from Teddy Roosevelt:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly... who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."
* * *
From the movie, Braveheart, comes some wonderful quotes and clips about something worth fighting for:
William Wallace: I AM William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my country men, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?
Soldier: Against that? No, we will run, and we will live.
William Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!
"Every man dies, not every man really lives... We all end up dead, it's just a question of how and why"
* * *
During the Vietnam protests of the 1960, one anti-war protester walked around with a large poster that read, "Nothing is worth dying for." There are at least a few people who might disagree with that blanket statement. At the top of that list is a Savior who certainly thought you were worth dying for. For you, he was willing to fight the good fight.
* * *
A central question in fighting for a cause, particularly one that shows few signs of victory, is discovering what it is that can sustain you for the long haul. Viktor Frankl shaped his initial thoughts as a Jew in a concentration camp during WWII. There are two critical ideas that I recall from his book, "Man's Search for Meaning," that I think could be good illustrations for the topic at hand.
First, Frankl said, "Give a (person) a why and they can endure almost any how but take away the why and almost any obstacle is too great a barrier. A simple example is many people's experience in the educational system. Because they know the "why" -- that is a desired degree, they can put up with the various challenges in doing what is necessary to obtain the degree. For many a clergy, the why is that God has called them to ministry. Once they have lost touch with that call, the frustrations of ministry can easily be overwhelming. It is important to recognize the why that can sustain us through the various challenges of the battle that we fight.
* * *
Second, Frankl posited that the last and most precious freedom of humanity that no one could take away from you was the freedom to choose your response. In his circumstances, the Nazi guards could do whatever they wanted but only Frankl would decide on his response. He could be furious at them, laugh at them, feel sorry for their sick behavior, but it preserved his humanity to remember that the choice was his. When we are involved in any type of battle, when we meet the opposition, we are the ones that choose our own response and in doing so we preserve our humanity no matter what the outcome of the battle.
* * *
Sometimes our battles can have more effect on us than our opposition. Anthony de Mello, in the "Song Of The Bird" illustrates this point in his story, "The Zen Master and the Christian."
A Christian once visited a Zen master and said, "Allow me to read you some sentences from the Sermon on the Mount."
"I shall listen to them with pleasure," said the master.
The Christian read a few sentences and looked up. The master smiled and said, "Whoever said those words was truly enlightened."
This pleased the Christian. He read on. The master interrupted and said, "Those words come from a savior of mankind."
The Christian was thrilled. He continued to read to the end. The master then said, "That sermon was pronounced by someone who was radiant with divinity."
The Christian's joy knew no bounds. He left determined to return and persuade the master to become a Christian.
On the way back home he found Jesus standing by the roadside. "Lord," he said enthusiastically, "I got that man to confess that you are divine!"
Jesus smiled and said, "And what good did it do you except to inflate your Christian ego?"
It would be sad to be so obsessed with obtaining victory in a battle that we fail to notice how we have defeated what is important to us in the process.
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: This is the day
the Lord has made:
People: a day for praise and prayer;
a day for gratitude and generosity.
Leader: This is the time
God has given us:
People: a time for singing and silence;
a time for speaking and listening.
Leader: This is the life
To which God calls us:
People: a life of humility and service;
a life of faith and trust.
Prayer of the Day
Pour out your Spirit
upon us as we gather,
God of our salvation:
so your grace
might strengthen us
for service;
so your peace
might calm
our troubled souls;
so your hope
might mend
our broken hearts.
You poured out your life
that we might be filled
with the gift of salvation.
You humbled yourself
that we might be raised
to eternal life.
Take hold of our hands,
Servant of the world,
so we might cross
the finish line together.
You are in our midst,
Spirit of wholeness.
You enabled us
to cling to faith,
when hope runs
through our fingers like sand.
You open the gateways
of our hearts
morning and evening,
that we might sing
our praises with all creation.
God in Community,
Holy in One,
we pour out our hearts to you,
as we pray as Jesus taught us,
Our Father...
Call to Reconciliation
When we pray to God, do we do so with
pride in what wonderful people we are,
or with that humble hope, which recognizes
how we have not lived as God's children,
and how we need God's forgiveness and
grace in our lives. Join me as we pray
to our God, saying,
Unison Prayer of Confession
Watching God, like the Pharisee, we think
we can stick our thumbs into life, pull out a
prayer, and congratulate ourselves for being
such good Christians. Then, we remember
the harsh words we have spoken this week,
the hurt we have inflicted on someone we
loved, the lack of compassion we failed to
offer to someone who needed our help.
Forgive us, God of Grace, and deal gently
with us. May we become more like the tax
collector -- humble, penitent, acknowledging
our faulty lives to you. Then, may we
receive the mercy promised to us through
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(silence is observed)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Forgiven and healed, we open ourselves
to the grace, the peace, the hope offered
to us through our loving God. This is
the good news we have received!
People: Graced and blessed, we are able to offer
our lives for others, taking them by the
hand to reach that finish line called the
kingdom. Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Campaigning is hard work
Object: campaign stories in the newspaper and magazines
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (v. 7)
Good morning, boys and girls. Did you know that there's going to be an election soon? (let them answer) Lots of newspapers and magazines contain stories about the people who want to be elected president of the United States. These people are called "candidates." How many of you know the names of the people who want to be elected president? (let them answer)
If you want to be elected, you must work hard. What are some of the things you must do to be elected? (let them answer) You need to travel a lot, give speeches, and listen to people to find out what's important to them.
Candidates must know many things. They must know what's happening all around the country and all over the world. They need to know about businesses and schools. It's not easy trying to be elected.
Saint Paul wasn't trying to get himself elected. He was trying to spread the message about Jesus. He even had to go to prison because he was teaching about Jesus. Prison is not a fun place to be. The food isn't very good, the beds are uncomfortable, and sometimes you are chained up. People sometimes end up in prison even when they know they are right. Paul knew he was right. He was telling the truth about Jesus. He was working for Jesus like people work to be elected. He would go from place to place, meeting people and teaching them about Jesus. He would listen to people when they told him about being afraid, lonely, sad, and disappointed. Paul worked very hard and all of his hard work made him tired.
One day as he was sitting in prison and feeling very old, Paul told his friends and followers that he had "fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept his faith." It was Paul's way of saying he was satisfied with his life even though it had not been easy.
The next time you see one of the men running for president, check to see if he looks tired. If he does, you can think of Paul and all that he had to do to bring Jesus to the people. Paul gave his life for Jesus just like Jesus gave his life for Paul and all of us. Fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. Say it with me, "Fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith." (have them repeat it several times)
I think you've got it! God will give you the strength to live your life for Jesus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 28, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
