Sermon Tone Analysis

“This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.

By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

[1]

The Faith is always but one generation from extinction.

Should one generation fail to reach succeeding generations, the Faith will cease to exist.

This is assuredly borne out in regional situations.

At one time, the Faith had permeated North Africa, which became known for vigorous evangelism and the growth of Christian intellectualism.

The Faith was vibrant in the Roman provinces of Numidia and Africa.

Carthage was home to Tertullian and to Augustine, who had moved from Hippo in Numidia to that great city.

Carthage became a centre of Christian thought and a primary centre for Christian ideals.

Auxum, an area that is identified today with Ethiopia, was at one time more Christian than was Greece.

Where is the Faith in Tunisia, Algeria and Libya today?

What influence has Ethiopia on the Faith today?

Antioch was the principal city of Syria in the earliest days of the Faith.

From this city, Ignatius ministered and influenced the course of the Faith in the early days of Christianity.

Similarly, historians of the Faith will recall that Clement of Alexandria ministered in Egypt.

Where are the churches dedicated to the Faith of the Master in Syria and Egypt today?

Of course, the Bible makes it quite plain that Galatia was evangelised by the Apostle Paul, as was the City of Ephesus and the towns lying within the sphere of influence of that city.

The first council of Nicaea was in Bithynia, located within modern Turkey.

Polycarp, a disciple of John the beloved disciple, served the Faithful in Smyrna, situated in modern day Turkey.

Constantinople became a centre for Christianity in the centuries following the apostolic era.

Where is the Faith of Christ the Lord today, in the nation we know as Turkey?

The great cathedrals of Italy, France, Spain and Germany testify to the influence of the Faith in those European lands.

Great churches found in Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and the Czech Republic testify to the influence of the giants of the Reformation in those lands.

In more recent days, one need but recall the vigorous missionary advance propelled by giants from within the British Empire.

George Whitfield, John and Charles Wesley, Hudson Taylor, Charles Spurgeon, Mary Slessor, George Mueller, Henry Martyn and William Carey are Christian luminaries reminding mankind of the bright glow of the Faith that once characterised the British Isles.

Today, a few embers glow dimly in that nation while Islam seems prepared to displace the Faith of Christ the Lord as central to British life.

The history of the Faith is a story of advance and retreat.

The Faith is the recounting of a cyclic tale.

Someone has said of the history of the Faith: “The first generation is holy; the second generation is religious; and the third generation is godless.”

There is more truth to this perception than we might like to acknowledge.

When a movement within the Faith, or even when a church, is first raised up, it is imbued with ideals that call those about to return to the foundations of the Faith, to hold the Word as precious as did the first disciples of our Lord.

Rejected by religious leaders and adherents identified with the establishment, the saints that fight those initial battles are inured to hardship.

These hardy souls stand firm against the mundane and mindless recitation of meaningless liturgies that pass for worship, longing instead to be in the presence of the True and Living God.

They will not compromise with evil because they are convinced that God is holy and that He is worthy of their best service.

As this first generation passes off the scene, another generation assumes leadership; and though this newer generation superficially espouses the tenets embraced by the founders of the movement, ardor has been replaced by formality.

The liturgy becomes ossified, knowledge of the Holy One fades into a dim memory and people begin to go to church rather than being the church.

Services become predictable, the routine becomes comfortable and change is seen as a threat.

Adherents seek respectability within the communities in which they live; rather than shining light into darkened places, they seek to confirm complacent adherents in their lethargy.

A final generation that maintains the outward symbols of religious practise will arise, but there will be nothing righteous about them.

Long years past, these pretenders ceased seeking what pleases God.

They will attempt to update their practise in a futile effort to attract people of this dying world to donate money to keep the church or movement alive, but the steadily dwindling congregation composed of aged members will testify to the fact that the Living God has already written “Ichabod” over the doors of the congregation.

Though God may raise up some valiant soul determined to reinvigorate past devotion to the His will, the absence of churches dedicated to His service in the regions previously mentioned demonstrate that we dare not presume against Him.

God is sovereign; He does whatever He pleases.

The state of the Faith in our own nation is in serious decline.

Despite numerous churches, the devotion of the populace does not indicate that the professed people of God are making much of an impact.

What is required is nothing less than revival.

Whether God revives His people or permits them to fall into quiescence lies within the imponderables of the divine will.

Regardless of what He may do, we are responsible to “wage the good warfare.”

*THE CALL TO CONFLICT* — “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.”

Paul has been focused on the rise of false prophets; and in our text he names a couple of these individuals.

This places Paul squarely within the camp of “Fighting Fundamentalists.”

Many years ago I chaired a community based Victims Assistance Association in a city of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

Three Christians representing some larger religious organisations and three non-Christians comprised the board of that association.

Interestingly, the non-Christians acted more christianly than did the Christians in many instances.

On one occasion, one of the professed Christians, the wife of the Executive Director of a Baptist denomination, remonstrated with me because she was quite pragmatic in promoting the idea that we should host a casino night to raise money for the victim assistance association.

The issue had already been presented and voted down, three non-Christians voting against the idea and three professing Christians voting for the idea.

My vote was the tie breaker ensuring that the idea died.

Now, this woman was upset because I had argued against generating funding through gambling.

Thinking that perhaps she was simply untaught, I commented that as a Fundamental Baptist, I could not violate the teachings of the Word, victimising victims in order to fund victim services.

She was aghast at my stance.

“Oh,” she exclaimed, “that is just wrong to call yourself a ‘Fundamentalist.’

I would never call myself such a dreadful name.”

I acknowledge that the term “fundamentalism” has received a bad rap in recent days.

Muslim fundamentalists, to say nothing of Hindu fundamentalists and Mormon fundamentalists have ensured that in the popular mind the term “fundamentalist” is associated with violence and with weird extremes.

However, historically in Christian life, fundamentalists were people committed to the Word of God as authoritative for faith and practise.

To Christians conversant with the term as first employed, fundamentalism was associated with refusal to compromise with the world and with a determination to love the lost as Christ had loved them.

You need but recall the charge that Paul delivered to Timothy.

He is not telling Timothy that conflict may come—Timothy was already engaged in conflict!

“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions” [1 TIMOTHY 1:3-7].

False teachers were already infiltrating the churches, and the elder of the congregation in Ephesus was receiving a charge to fight.

However, he would be required to engage in spiritual combat without permitting himself or his charges to grow bitter or to resort to the techniques of this fallen world.

That charge yet remains for the elder who will please God.

Many years ago, a liberal scholar wrote, “It is a mistake, often made by educated persons who happen to have but little knowledge of historical theology, to suppose that Fundamentalism is a new and strange form of thought.

It is nothing of the kind: it is the partial and uneducated survival of a theology which was once universally held by all Christians.

How many were there, for instance, in Christian churches in the eighteenth century who doubted the infallible inspiration of all Scripture?

A few, perhaps, but very few.

No, the Fundamentalist may be wrong.

I think that he is.

But it is we who have departed from the tradition, not he, and I am sorry for the fate of anyone who tries to argue with a Fundamentalist on the basis of authority.

The Bible and the corpus theologicum of the Church is [sic] on the Fundamentalist side.”

[2]

Whenever one aligns himself or herself with the Word of God, that individual stands with the Apostles and with Christ Himself.

In the early part of the previous century, because many churches in various denominations were departing from the Faith, individuals were raised up from within those several denominations that opposed the rush to embrace that which was opposed to God and to His Word.

These valiant men were convinced that if they would please Christ there could be no accommodation with evil and they would not compromise for the sake of denominational loyalty; therefore, they were called “Fighting Fundamentalists.”

While we must not permit ourselves to be bitter or combative merely for the sake of being combative, when we hold fundamental truths as presented in the Word, we will discover that we, like those men, are in a battle.

Candidly, if you are not a “Fighting Fundamentalist,” you are not a Fundamentalist.

Jude has urged believers “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” [JUDE 3].

The translation presented in many Bibles tends to be insipid.

Some recent translations have attempted to capture the ardent urgency of Jude’s words.

“Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common.

I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish” [JUDE 3].

[3]

“Dear friends, I had intended to write to you about the salvation we share.

But something has come up.

It demands that I write to you and encourage you to continue your fight for the Christian faith that was entrusted to God’s holy people once for all time” [JUDE 3].

[4]

Whenever one stands firm on biblical truth, fellow Christians will often label that one as a “Fighting Fundamentalist.”

Though we must stand firm in the Faith, we dare not permit ourselves to be embittered.

Nevertheless, there would be no battle if professed Christians—and especially if religious leaders—remained true to the Word.

The Christian who stands firmly on revealed truth can anticipate opposition, especially from the religious people of this darkened world.

Undoubtedly, many who oppose us will call themselves by the Name of Christ the Lord!