9. Take Hold of Eternal Life
There is an aggressive nature about the Christian life. As we have studied the Scriptures and have been taught by God, it is abundantly clear that we will never become men or women of God by passively waiting for spiritual growth to happen. God calls us to pursue Him.
This portion of Scripture was never intended for the multitudes who flock to churches on Sunday mornings only to return to their lives in the world after they have paid their religious dues. God issues this call to those who would respond wholeheartedly to God, to those who would follow determinedly after Him and relentlessly pursue all that God is and all that we can become in Him.
But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11-12)
FULLNESS IN CHRIST
We are given a powerful, full, and beautiful picture of who Jesus is in Paul’s letter to the Colossian believers:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15)
Jesus is God incarnate, made visible for us and poured out in a receivable form. He is God’s highly exalted, reigning Son, and the source of all that exists:
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16)
Christ is the source of all things in this world and in God’s Kingdom. Every invisible thing comes from Him, and all power and authority flow from His throne. The Lord Jesus is not only the means by which all things exist, He is also the recipient of all things. Everything was brought into existence for the sake of His glory.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17)
The Son of God is the cohesiveness in the universe. His Person is the glue that holds all things together. He keeps the planets in their orbits, He holds nations in His power, He binds His people together in love, and He maintains wholeness in our hearts and minds by His Holy Spirit. Jesus’ sovereign reign is the power that sustains kingdoms, and He also holds the hearts of His people in His hand:
And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (Colossians 1:18)
Jesus is Lord of His church, He is the source of a new creation and the first among many to rise from the dead. God fulfilled all of this in His Son in order that Christ might reign preeminent:
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19-20)
Jesus is the embodiment of God, the fullness of God in the form of man. Because all of God’s fullness abides in Him, Christ became God’s means of reconciling all things to Himself. Physical things and spiritual things, those that are temporal and those that are eternal, have been reconciled to God through Christ. Wholeness and redemption have flowed from the throne of God to all of His creation because of the peace brought through Jesus’ blood shed at Calvary.
Paul tells us that it was the Father’s pleasure to have all of His fullness live in His Son. He comes back to this truth in his second chapter:
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:9-10)
All of God’s fullness dwells in Christ, and we have been filled in Him! As we read the exalted view of the Lord Jesus that Paul has presented in Colossians 1, we stand in awe and reverence before Him. Our hearts magnify Him, and we worship. We also read that Jesus’ fullness has become our own, and we are overwhelmed in God’s presence.
Fullness is what we have been seeking all of our lives! In our emptiness and our helplessness, we had abandoned any hope of ever being full persons. We had strived for a sense of substance within ourselves through education, discipline, the pursuit of pleasures, and the possession of things, yet we always remained empty. We had almost resigned ourselves to the meaninglessness of our existence when God brought us to Christ and lavishly poured out His life on us. Before, we were filled with ourselves and consumed by our sin. Now we are filled up with deity, and we are being transformed continually into the image of Christ.
When we are given fullness in Christ, God stimulates our passions and our desires so that our hunger to know Him grows and grows. We begin to cry out, “I want to know Christ,” as Paul did in his letter to the Philippians. All of our passions become purified in one desire, and that is for God to possess all that we are and for us to know all that He is. The pursuit of God becomes our one desire.
In every generation God has raised up men and women and filled them with the desire to know Him. He has faithfully called out from this world those who would be uniquely His. The testimony of His grace has been preserved by those willing to be a channel for the life of God into this world. Are you a person like that?
Perhaps in the deepest corners of your heart you have harbored a desire to be a man or woman of God but have felt that a spiritual life like that was far out of your reach. Other people may be able to live like that, but not you. You lack the discipline, your knowledge of the Scriptures is too limited, and you fail too easily—you are just a weak person.
Today God is speaking to your heart. Take hold of Him, grasp Him tightly, walk closely with Him wherever He leads, come to Him each day with a responsive heart, and live obediently before Him. As you share His life and as God shares your life, you will become in Him all that He has designed you to be.
THE SOLDIER, THE ATHLETE, AND THE FARMER
The apostle Paul referred to Timothy as his “son in the faith.” We find in his letters to Timothy the same encouragement that God would give to us:
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:1-2)
Be strong! That is Paul’s exhortation to this young man. But we say, “Strength has to be developed. It takes time.” That is true, and God will take us through a process in His sovereign timing to develop that strength within us. However, the encouragement here is to be strong in the grace that Christ supplies. His grace is the source of our strength.
There is direction for ministry here also. God’s vision is for spiritual generations rather than for a few people here and there who might prove responsive. Look for faithful men, Paul tells Timothy, and entrust to them the things I taught you. They will then be able to pass on these same truths to those whom God will bring to them.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. (2 Timothy 2:3-4)
For a life that is “strong in Christ Jesus” and a ministry that is fruitful, Paul encourages Timothy to look at the example of a soldier. Following after God involves suffering hardship, we must make no mistake about it. The way a soldier lives is a pattern for a godly person to follow. He lives for only one purpose: to please the officer he is serving. In order to fulfill that purpose, the soldier does not allow himself to become entangled in the affairs of everyday life. A soldier lives an unencumbered life so that he is free to fulfill his duty when called upon. Paul exhorts Timothy to live that way, always free to respond to the Lord in obedience, in order that he might be pleasing to Him.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. (2 Timothy 2:5)
When an athlete competes in a race, he knows he must follow the guidelines laid down for him if he desires to win. He cannot make up his own rules along the way. He cannot flaunt the rules that others are committed to following. Discipline is essential here, remaining within the guidelines given, and the central pursuit of the runner’s life becomes reaching out for the prize at the finish line.
When God calls us to run the race of life and ministry, He lays down the guidelines. That is what we have studied here, as Paul has pictured for us what a man or woman of God is like. He also describes the prize. Our race will end at God’s throne, where the crown of righteousness is in His hand and the words Well done, good and faithful servant, are on His lips. The ultimate goal of our lives is to be present when the glory of God is fully revealed before men and angels. However, God not only gives us the rules for running and describes the prize for winning, He also continually calls us to Himself as we run, heals us by His love when we fall, and empowers us by His own life in the course of the race!
It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. (2 Timothy 2:6)
The one who cultivates the ground and sows the seed also shares in the fruit, Paul tells Timothy. He is the first one to receive his share of the crop that is produced as a result of his labor. Again, the clear exhortation here is to work hard! We must be clear: The Christian life is filled with difficulty. It will take all the strength that God supplies. Yet God’s promise is that we will share in the fruit. As we walk with God, the fruit of His life will be evident within us. Our attitudes toward ourselves, toward God, and toward the people around us will begin to change. The qualities of God’s own heart will begin to be seen in us. New responses will mark our day-to-day experience. We will see others come to know God as a result of His life in us. We are joint heirs with Christ in God’s eternal Kingdom; we will share in the fruitfulness of the harvest. God is honest about the difficulties of this walk, but the hope of fruit is also there in abundance.
Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:7)
Paul ends this section with a strong exhortation: “Listen to what I say, Timothy, and God will give you understanding.” That warning is true for us as well. We may not understand all of the implications of this life of faith, but if we come to the Lord and listen intently, if we come with responsive hearts, He will reveal to us all we need to know to become all that we need to be in Him.
RESTING FROM ALL OUR WORKS
When we looked at Jesus’ ministry and His relationship with His Father, we learned that the Christian life is an aggressive life. It is aggressive in its response, not in its initiative. Jesus did what His Father told Him to do. He spoke the words that God had given Him to speak. Nothing that we see or hear in Jesus began with Him; it all began in the heart of His Father. Jesus is our model for an aggressively responsive life.
We find clear teaching concerning this lifestyle in Hebrews 4. The writer calls us to enter into God’s “Sabbath rest.” He tells us that the children of Israel failed to enter His rest because of their unbelief. When He called them to enter the Promised Land, fear gripped their hearts, and they rebelled against God. All of them except Joshua and Caleb died in the wilderness. The message of truth did not bear fruit in them, God says, because it was not combined with faith. The writer continues:
For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:3)
When we believe in God, we enter His rest! After God created the world in six days, He rested from His work. His work of creation, that is His old creation, is finished. He is “resting” from that work even as He sustains His creation by His power. Now God is at work in His new creation. Our creative God is still bringing forth new things, but not things that will be burned away at the end of time. He is calling into existence things that will never pass away.
For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” (Hebrews 4:4-5)
There is still an opportunity today for us to enter God’s Sabbath rest. The Israelites could not enter because truth was not united by faith in their hearts. God is once again calling people to enter a promised land characterized by “rest.” We enter that rest as the words that God speaks are united by faith in our hearts through the Holy Spirit and as we respond in obedience. The only time that God has given us to respond to Him is now, as He is speaking to us:
Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:6-7)
Because the children of Israel did not walk in obedience to the Lord, they did not enter the rest He had provided. We are living in a day in which God is calling men and women once again to enter His rest. We enter by resting from all of our own works, as God did from His work in His first creation.
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:8-10)
We tend to equate rest with passivity or inactivity. That is not what God is teaching us here. Jesus modeled a life that was filled with the dynamic, fruitful work of the Father. God accomplished His will and spoke His words through Christ. Jesus walked responsively to God in this process. His life was aggressively responsive.
The writer calls us to look at God’s model as we consider our walk before Him. He worked for six days on His old creation. He is now “resting” from that work. Surely our God is not resting because He was tired from those six days of creation. He is resting from that work because it is completed. When we enter His rest, we follow His pattern. We rest from all of our own works.
We lay down all of the things that originated in us rather than in the heart of God. Every work of our flesh, our confidence in ourselves, our hope in our own abilities, are rejected. We no longer work to please God; we obey Him now because we have been accepted by Him and are already approved by Him. We love Him because He first loved us. We have ceased from our works and are seeking the work of the eternal God in us and through us. Like the Lord Jesus, we respond aggressively in His strength to all that God sets before us, and we follow after Him with determination for the sake of His glory.
There is no formula that we can follow to transform us into men and women of God. There is no method that will result in our maturity. The Scriptures do not offer us “ten steps to a successful Christian life.” As Paul taught the church at Corinth so long ago, there remains only one hope for us today if we are to be what God is calling us to be. That hope lies in the response of Christ’s life in us. We rest from our works and seek God’s work in us and through us:
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)
When I visited the Philippines for the first time some years ago, I met a beautiful woman named Daisey. Daisey had become a Christian through the excellent church-planting ministry of Jerry and Barbara Osbron, with whom I was serving while I was there. With her warm and gracious spirit, Daisey reached out to me in those days, and her wonderful gift of hospitality provided warm times of fellowship for me. I greatly enjoyed her friendship.
As I was getting to know Daisey, she began to tell me of her desire to serve the Lord. She wanted to grow in her knowledge of Him, and she wanted to be used by Him in the lives of people. Her husband was not a believer, and she felt confined in her marriage. She did not feel that she was free to develop her ministry and give herself to people. She felt trapped. During the days that I was teaching in the area, Daisey kept coming to me and telling me all the reasons she should leave her husband. She felt that she would be much freer to serve the Lord if she was single. I kept encouraging her to stay with her husband, although it did not make sense to her that God would ask her to do that. She was not happy in her marriage, and in her mind she would be freer to serve the Lord if she were released from that relationship.
About a year and a half later, I had the opportunity to return to the Philippines. Once again God used Daisey to minister to me and to encourage me with her spirit of warmth and hospitality. Our friendship deepened even further. Daisey told me that the Lord had led her to stay with her husband, to be faithful to him, and to wait and see what God would do. She felt that this was a real victory in her heart and was excited about these steps of obedience.
Less than a year later I learned that Daisey had died in an earthquake. My heart was broken as I received the phone call in the middle of the night from some dear friends in the Philippines. The loss of this beautiful woman was a great tragedy for all of us who loved her, and especially for the church where she served with such joy.
As I was praying for my brothers and sisters in the Philippines that next day, asking God to glorify Himself in this situation, I realized that what Daisey thought was the process was really the goal in the eyes of God. She had greatly desired to be used of the Lord; there was so much that she wanted to do. In Daisey’s mind, her faithfulness to her marriage commitment was part of a process that would lead to many ministry opportunities. In God’s eyes, her faithfulness was the goal that He had desired all the time. He wanted her to rest in Him and trust Him about how He would use her.
We often become confused about God’s purpose in our life experiences. We want to get through the circumstances “winning the victories,” enduring through difficult situations so that we can get on to what God is preparing for us. But what we see as a process that will result in expanded ministry, greater fruitfulness, or more results, is so often the goal that God has planned. We tend to be goal oriented, but God is concerned about the process. We are anxious to get to where we are going, but God is concerned about the people we are along the way. This is the goal in His eyes.
In some ways God did not do what Daisey had expected or hoped for, but God accomplished all of His will in her life. There was nothing left undone. So it will be with you and me as we learn to rest in God, to seek Him and the work He will do in us and through us.
CHILDREN, FATHERS, AND YOUNG MEN
The heart of the apostle John was so filled with love for those to whom he was writing, and he desired to encourage them and bring them hope for their lives and their ministries. We find this encouragement in his first letter:
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:12-14)
John is picturing growth for us in these verses, and he is using age levels to teach us what we must learn. The characteristic of the relationship that a child has with God is that his sins are forgiven. There is not much growth, maturity, or even understanding beyond that. A child believes in Jesus and trusts Him for salvation. By the nature of a child’s heart and because of the limited time that the child has lived, this relationship is somewhat superficial, although genuine in its life. However, the basic, simple faith that is beautiful in the heart of a child is not so beautiful if it is at the same level many years later.
John also wrote to fathers, who “have known Him who is from the beginning.” From John’s Gospel we know that he is talking about Christ. You know Him, John says. The state of this relationship is described not only in terms of sins forgiven but also in terms of having reached a place of maturity in knowing God. We are called beyond a superficial, childlike response to a relationship with God marked by depth, intimacy, and maturity.
Young men are those characterized by their strength. The Word of God dwells in them richly, and they are victorious in their battle with the evil one. For the first time in John’s teaching, we see some outward effects of an inward relationship. Sins being forgiven and knowing God are experiences of the heart. Spiritual power, the ministry of God’s Word, and aggressive warfare that overcomes Satan are outward expressions of what God has done in our hearts. This is the fruit of having our sins forgiven and knowing God.
God is calling us beyond the experiences of children. He is moving us to a depth of relationship with Him where we know His mind and His heart and we share His life fully and intimately. It is the desire of God’s heart to bring us to the place where the power of His life flows through us, where we are vessels for the ministry of His creative Word, and where we share in His victory over the enemy of our faith. Let us take hold of God and pursue Him with all that is within us in order that He might be glorified in our lives.
WALK ON THE LAND
We see a picture of this aggressively responsive life in Joshua’s leadership of God’s people into the Promised Land. God spoke to Joshua with clear instructions concerning the possession of the land:
Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. (Joshua 1:2-3)
God told Joshua how vast the Promised Land would be, and then called him to a walk characterized by strength and courage:
Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. (Joshua 1:6-7)
Not only did God set apart Joshua for a life of obedience, but He also called Joshua to focus his heart on His Word. Meditating on the Scriptures and responding to the Word of God would result in a life and ministry that was fruitful. Who has not hungered for success? Prosperity as God measures it flows out of a heart that desires His Word and obeys what it says:
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)
Once again, God called Joshua to be strong and courageous and promised that man of God His very own presence. It is God’s presence that deals with the terror and the discouragement of real life situations:
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)
Again and again we hear God tell Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.” Like Joshua, we can find courage in the strength that God supplies. God also promised Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you.” God had already given the land to His people, but they had to walk on it to possess it.
There is an aggressive, possessive sense to the Christian life. We walk boldly in God’s strength to take possession of what He has set before us. We hold tenaciously to what He entrusts to us.
It would challenge each of our hearts to look out at the land that God has set before us. It may be filled with the enemies that we talked about earlier—the world, the flesh, and the devil. There may be giants in the land, obstacles far too great for us to challenge in our fleshly resources. But there are also great ministry opportunities. There are people who need to hear the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are those who need to be encouraged and those who hunger to be fed. Some are in need of healing, and others are in need of justice. Some have never been loved with God’s selfless love that elevates others and seeks to make them great. God’s people need to be led and counseled. Our neighborhoods are in need of volunteers who will show God’s mercy to hurting people in painful situations.
God opens our eyes to see the opportunities in the land He has set before us, and then He calls us to walk boldly, aggressively, and possessively on that land. He gives us kingdoms in this world that we must invade with His love and His justice, His righteousness and His great compassion. Through us He causes the world to see His holiness and to hear the truths of His eternal attributes. His Kingdom is advanced and established as we “walk on the land” in bold obedience.
TAKE HOLD OF GOD
C. S. Lewis’s wonderful book Perelandra teaches us about taking hold of God. God has brought Ransom, the hero of the book, to the planet Venus. As Ransom arrives, he finds that the civilization on Venus is at the same place as the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve had sinned. The temptation, however, is just beginning.
Ransom is sitting on the sidelines, watching and listening as the tempter approaches the woman. He brings to her all of the same things that Satan brought to Eve. “Perhaps God is withholding from you something that will help you grow. God might be pleased if you develop some independence. You can be gods yourselves.” Even though the woman has not sinned, her mind is becoming polluted by the things the enemy is offering. Then Ransom hears a voice speaking in his heart: This can’t go on.
On and on the temptation goes. Even though the woman has not sinned, she is being worn down by the continued onslaughts of the enemy. Again Ransom hears that voice, This can’t go on. It is then that he realizes that God has brought him to that place to do battle with the evil one. He wages war with the enemy, and a great victory is won.1
Many of God’s people today are sitting on the sidelines while they watch the battle taking place on the field before them. God has called them to fight and to participate in the victory that He has won in His Son at Calvary’s cross. Yet so many of those who are watching are on the sidelines because they are not sure they will ever become men of God or spiritual women. Other people might be strong enough to wage war, but for them the Christian life is filled with inconsistencies, weakness, failure, lack of faith, and struggles with sin. Some say that they might know the Scriptures well enough, or have enough faith, or be mature enough, but they are not ready yet. There are times when they sense that God is using them or times when they experience growth, but most of their experiences are a series of circular battles that are never won.
Satan’s intention is to destroy us. He cannot do that because “greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). In the eyes of our enemy, however, consuming our hearts, our strength, and our resources in these circular battles where we see ourselves through our past, our weaknesses, and our failures, is almost as effective. He has removed us from the battle and consumed our strength with the continual vacillation of our hearts and minds.
Now is the time to see ourselves through the eyes of God and to take hold of Him. We must affirm who He has called us to be and walk as men and women of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Satan may tell us that we will never be what God has called us to be. One of his most powerful attacks against us, however, occurs when He convinces us that someday we may become men and women of God. God tells us that we are men and women of God. We must boldly take hold of God in all that He is calling us to be in His Son and walk confidently in the strength that He supplies.
GROUP STUDY GUIDE AND PERSONAL APPLICATION
1. When we read 1 Timothy 6:11-12, the apostle Paul is calling Timothy, and us, to an aggressive pursuit of God. Would you say that characterizes your experience? Why or why not?
2. In light of this study, what needs to change in your life in order for you to pursue God with all that is in you?
3. As you read Paul’s statement that we “have been given fullness in Christ,” how do you respond? Is that how you have seen yourself?
4. When you read Paul’s teaching about “the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer,” with which person do you identify the most? Why?
5. Have you “rested from all your works”? What does this mean to you?
6. In what areas of your life have you tended to place your confidence in yourself and your own resources rather than in God? How has God taught you to live differently?
7. When the apostle John talks about “children, fathers, and young men,” as which one do you see yourself? Why?
8. Do you see yourself listening to the lies of the enemy about you rather than to the truth of how God sees you? Where have you been vulnerable to taking your view of yourself from your past, your feelings, or your failures?
9. What do you think is the biggest obstacle in your heart that keeps you from “taking hold of eternal life”?
REFLECTIONS, COMMITMENTS, AND PRAYER
We have focused on the passions of our hearts in this study. As you have been reading and interacting, you have been examining your own passions and pursuits. The areas where we are vulnerable to temptation and where our attitudes are less than God would have them be, the places where we have settled in and loved this world have become clearer to us. But clearer, too, have become our Father’s love and mercy, His view of us, and His eternal commitment to conform us to the image of His glorious Son! I encourage you to conclude your study, whether it is a personal or group study, with a time of worship and thanksgiving before the Lord. Commit yourself to His process for your life, whatever the cost; ask Him to give you an ever increasing hunger for Him and His glory and a passion-filled desire to know Him. May God fulfill every hope within your heart to be a man or a woman of God and then put His glory on display in your life!
1 C.S. Lewis, Perelandra, (New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. 1944).