Introduction
As we look at the gospel of Mark, we see that version of the great commission saying, “preach the gospel to every creature.”
Each of the Gospel writers include a version of the great commission that is unique to them because I am sure that Jesus communicated the Great Commission in more than one way and at more than one time.
Each Gospel writer heard and remembered in the way that was most applicable to their purpose.
Mark just wanted to communicate basic good news to Greek readers.
His gospel actually starts and ends with the idea of the gospel.
Now, why am I bringing up Mark when Paul is our subject and Timothy is our text?
Because Mark gives us a very important instruction and we see that Paul had done all in His power to fulfill it.
Describing the Biblical Text
Our text this morning is a text that describes Paul’s feeling as he believes he is nearing the end of His ministry and yes, his life.
Yet, he remains constant in his commitment to the Gospel and the Lord of the gospel.
He is continuing to instruct Timothy and he wants to see more apostles and evangelists in order to continue to equip them in the gospel that when he dies they will be ready.
Narrate the Contextual application
When we are facing the end of our lives, what will we be saying and doing to continue our work for the gospel of Jesus.
Paul had a life on which he could look back and know thqat he did all he could do to communicate Christ faithfully.
That needs to be what we consider as well.
What will we look back and say?
Will we say we have fought the good fight or will we simply be content to look back on a life that accomplished very little for the Lord?
We all know who Alexander Graham Bell is don’t we? We all know Thomas Edison and Marie curie.
Yet who is Charles Hancock? Who is Tom Rush?
We may not know these men for any great scientific contributions to man however, these men have led a number of people to Christ.
Their names won’t be recorded in any history book but they will be the instrument used to validate some of the names written in the Lambs book of life.
Life Application (thesis)
If we are going to one day say we have fought the good fight and kept the faith then our lives will have to be faithfully lived for Jesus.
We must be committed to use our lives for Christ.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
The commitment to use our lives for Christ will be defined by the two other commitments that we see in this passage today.
We must be committed to use our time for Christ.
Just how important is our time and the way we use it?
[Video clip here]
Every moment counts doesn’t it
Think of it like this.
Our lives are about 35 minutes shorter now than they were when we came in here this morning.
The real question is then, “Were the last 35 minutes of my life useful in the kingdom of God?”
I would like to think they were since you were here but what the 35 minutes that started yesterday at 3:22 in the afternoon.
Or the 35 minutes that began at 7:15 last Thursday night?
Paul is looking back over his life.
In the present, he is declaring that his time for departure has come.
He is declaring that his future in Christ is secure as he will receive a crown of righteousness which will be awarded to all who have loved Jesus’ appearing.
But he is also declaring his past as he writes that he has fought the good fight, finished his course and kept the faith.
The idea of a course finished is that it was completed successfully in that a race or a designated path was completed.
I want us to consider our lives like a race.
We see that imagery used elsewhere in the New Testament such as Philippians 3 and Hebrews 12.
There are several ways we can approach a race.
We can race to win
IOW we can run it like we have to finish in first place.
We can run the race to finish
This means that we are content to merely cross the finijnsh line with no regard to place or time.
Or, we can run the race with no finish in mind.
We will simply run until we stop with no goal to finish.
If we are going to use every moment that we can for the Lord, we have to eye the finish.
We don’t have to necessarily look for the win because we don’t know how long some things we do for the Lord will take but we must always be pushing for the prize at the finish line.
Swimming is a very interesting sport because in the turn, the swimmer is allowed to do almost anything. Between the time they touch the wall and then push off from the wall they can stop, adjust their goggles, stretch, chat with the coaches and timers, and pull their swim cap down tight. Then they can take off swimming again. Now most swimmers don’t do that because the object in swimming is to drop time or to swim faster this race than in the last race.
Why would we stop and waist our time when we have a world to reach for Jesus?
We need to finish our course.
We need to keep the faith.
The ide of keeping is to stand our watch.
It is to serve the prescribed time that God has assigned us to serve.
My Dad used to have a saying about the way they worked when he was a child.
He would say they worked from can see to can’t see.
IOW it was from sun up to Sundown.
Our watch or shift begins when we receive Christ.
It ends when we see Christ.
For Paul to say he has kept the faith, it means that he remained faithful to the end of the shift
He committed to use His time for Christ in that he finished his race and he kept his watch of faith.
The words of Paul in Ephesians 5 say this “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
The second commitment we see this morning is this.
We must be committed to use our strength for Christ.
Think about that.
What else do we really have to give?
Time and strength equal about everything we have.
It is Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12 is to fight the good fight.
Here, Paul is saying that the good fight had been fought.
The word fight in this verse is the word from which we get our word agony.
It might be rendered here in this passage as struggle.
You really have to wonder why Paul considered his walk of faith a struggle or a fight.
I think it is because it is so easy and so tempting to simply stop and to say I’ve had enough.
Look down at verse 14 for just a minute.
Paul struggled with the accusations of Alexander the coppersmith and it even led Paul receive Physical harm.
But He knew that the Lord would deal with Alexander in kind with the way he treated Paul.
Now notice the next thing we see in this passage is that Paul stood without support in his defense.
There were no other followers of Jesus there to help or support Paul.
He was rescued from the Lion’s mouth.
But all this was as it happened because of verse 17.
God gave Paul the strength that he needed to accomplish what he had been called to do.
For Paul, that is preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.
We are believers today because of Paul’s ministry which led to the spread of Christianity through all of Europe.
But Paul struggled.
He fought
He strove.
What are doing to make sure we are fulfilling all that God has called us to do?
Are we giving all our strength to Him in our service?
Are we giving all we are to accomplish the calling of the great commission?
You remember the great Commandment is to love the Lord God with our hearts, minds, souls, and all of our strength.
That means that our whole being is poured into the love of God all of who we are is to be serving Him.
We are to hold nothing back.
All of the Christian life is a fight; it is a struggle.
But, in the strength and in the provision of God it is an easy yoke or burden to bear.
Essentially, He bears it for us and bears us up under it.
This is how we can commit our lives for Christ’s service
It is how we can let our time be redeemed for the Lord and how we can serve Him with the strength he has given us.
There will come a day when we will be looking back on our lives and hopefully we will say the same things that Paul is saying here.
I have fought the good fight, finished the course and kept the faith.
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