No reservations, no retreat, no regret

1 Timothy 4:6-8

Introduction:

If you were to die today, what would you want written on your headstone? Walk through a cemetery yielded these inscriptions…

Weep not Papa & Mama for me for I am waiting in Heaven for them

GENEVA SMITH, Mar. 1905-Sept. 1955\JOHN H. SMITH, Dec. 1898-May 1982, How blest they are, from their labors rest

MARION ALICE JACKSON, Oct. 6, 1913-____\FLOYD LAWRENCE JACKSON, SR., Sept. 10, 1907-May 29, 1987, In Loving Memory

WILLIE R. BROWN, June 2, 1885-May 30, 1968, Each duty done he rests in peace

MARCUS JOY, husband of M. B. JOY, Born May 25, 1848, Died Aug. 23, 1908, Age 60 Years, A Loving husband & father, a faithful friend lie buried here

BOB WILLIAMS, May 27, 1887-May 18, 1940, Gone but not forgotten

JACK LANCASTER, 1855-1915, He is gone from our home but not from our heart

MOST HUMEROUS

In 1971 Lillie became a LPN and worked twenty five + years at DMC. She is now retired and active in genealogy research.

*************

Owen Moore

Gone away
Owin' more
Than he could pay.

*************

John Starkwether

Here is where friend Starkwether lies
Nobody laughs, nobody cries
Where he goes, how he fares
Nobody knows, nobody cares

*************

Here beneath rest the ashes of a man

who was in habit of always postponing everything till the day after.

However, at last he improved and really died jan 31 1972

*************

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
EVERETT EDWARD ELLIOTT
OF THE HEROIC CREW
S.S. "TITANIC" DIED ON DUTY
APRIL 15, 1912
AGE 24 YEARS

EACH MAN STOOD AT HIS POST WHILE ALL THE WEAKER ONES
WENT BY, AND SHOWED ONCE MORE TO ALL THE WORLD
HOW ENGLISHMEN SHOULD DIE.

*************

Elizabeth Rich

Eufaula, Alabama

36-33-01-24-17
Honey you dont know what you did for me,
always playing the lottery.
The numbers you picked came in to play,
two days after you passed away.
For this, a huge monument I do erect,
for now I get a yearly check.
How I wish you were alive,
for now we are worth 8.5

MOST COMMON—“Born”, “Died”

· If you were to die today, what would you want written on your headstone?

The basic needs of every human being are:

To be loved…
To be free…
To leave a legacy…

Paul was concerned about his legacy as well…
In 1 Timothy 4, he tells us how to sum up his life—how he wants to be remembered!

2 Timothy 4:6-8 NASB95

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

The passage, especially verse 7, has images of the Olympic games.

At Ephesus an annual contest was held in honor of Diana. Paul makes a direct reference to the exhibitions that took place in 1 Cor. 15:32. His epistles are filled with allusions to the Greek contests, borrowed from the Olympian games. These contests, were divided into two classes, the pancratium, consisting of boxing and wrestling, and the pentathlon, consisting of leaping, running, hurling the spear and wrestling. The competitors, 1 Cor. 9:25; 2 Tim. 2:5, required a long and severe course of previous training, 1 Tim. 4:8, during which a particular diet was enforced. 1 Cor. 9:25, 27.

The preparation for the contests extended over a period of ten months. The last few months were conducted under the supervision of appointed officers. The contests took place in the presence of a vast multitude of spectators. The games were opened by the proclamation of a herald, 1 Cor. 9:27, whose office it was to give out the name and country of each candidate, and especially to announce the name of the victor before the assembled multitude. The judge was selected for his spotless integrity, 2 Tim. 4:8; his office was to decide any disputes, Col. 3:15, and to give the prize, 1 Cor. 9:24; Phil. 3:14, consisting of a crown, 2 Tim. 2:5; 4:8, of leaves of wild olive at the Olympic games, and of pine, and in one period ivy. Paul refers most often to the contests of boxing and running—they may have been his favorite sports, and they are the background for verse 7…

Verse 7

—“I have fought the good fight”—He had no reservations about the way he lived life…

§ His early life was marred by the murder and imprisonment of Christians—yet Paul saw that tragedy is often used by God to bring us to awareness of our need for Christ.

— “I have finished the course”—there was no retreat from the course he set out on

§ He had a mission and he completed it!

§ What life mission have you tried to accomplish?

§ What legacy are you leaving?

—“I have kept the faith”—There were no regrets.

§ Can you say you have no regrets?

§ Can you say we have kept the faith?

Potential for all…

2 Timothy 4:8

“…in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

What legacy will you leave? What will be written on your headstone?

After giving it some thought—I would believe I would want:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;”

No reservations. No retreat. No regret