1 Timothy 6:11 – Love, Broken In
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love… 1 Timothy 6:11, New King James Version
I enjoyed James Clavell's novel Shogun, but it's not where I expect to find a theology of progressive sanctification. Nevertheless, as its protagonist reflects on being a Westerner who has been rescued and incorporated into Japanese society, he extols with biblical cadence and a beautifully unpretentious landing, "The Lord God hath placed my feet onto the path, and rendered me a little useful."
I think Paul foresees this for Pastor Timothy, and for us as he continues to spool out what comes down to us as 1 Timothy 6:11. If I'm right that the Holy Spirit enunciates this list with care rather than caprice, and I don't see anything controversial in the possibility, there is narrative as well as an enumeration of checkpoints available to the disciple. Paul, as we have been seeing, soberly warns Timothy away from the twin hazards of Ephesus, spiritual pride and material security.
He guides preemptively that as Timothy flees these that the alternative is to pursue righteousness, right qualities even Ephesus can appreciate, but beyond that to pursue godliness, that is, I believe, to see the contrast between the speck of our good and the vastness, the wholly other quality of of God's good.
Struck by the difference and the distance, the enemy will, I suspect, marshal his most efficient efforts by pushing us to the extreme in the right direction we are already going. He will often push us from the good way of humility to the extreme of despondency.
The Holy Spirit's next work, then, in Paul's list is that of faith, Spurgeon's stooping virtue by which we are able to come with Scripture, resist the enemy who would rejoice over our flaws and slow progress. The eyes of faith see that when we are tried by Earth's conditions inhospitable to Christ-likeness, we will come forth as gold.
Shall we, then, but faith's work on the shelf and cast sidelong, wistful glances at it as we come inert, wait out our time on this planet? May not be so! For, in 1 Timothy 6:11 Paul sees the Spirit's next work in the heart fleeing pride's traps and finding beloved recourse in Christ as that of love.
With Shogun's hero, we rejoice that, yes, by grace, our feet have been placed onto the path, and not in the ditches that could have so easily been our destiny. Our feet have been placed on God's path, and we find ourselves rendered a little useful. We find ourselves, in Mother Teresa's phrase, able to do small things with great love.
Catching the refrain by which God has rescued us and continues to rescue us from a life after unworthy goals, we, with Psalm 100:2, actively serve the Lord with gladness. We come before His Presence with singing, and we may well catch some of our fellow humans up in the fervor of our tune. This engagement especially likely as we begin to equate with Tim Keller in Every Good Endeavor that our work is our worship, that we are all in as we serve the Lord by serving the work in which He has placed us.
John Dickson concurs, finding, "A humble person is marked by a willingness to hold power in service to others." He differentiates, admonishing, humility is more about how we treat others and how we think about ourselves." In the nexus between the two, though, reflecting upon the story through which God has brought us, the lures from which He has rescued us does, in spiritual health, metastasize in subtle and yet revolutionary act of love.
Each of them, in fact, reinforces how we ought to think about ourselves in the biblical framework. Each gift of our service or of the proceeds we get from it which is used to show love to another person, each of these transactions is a dollar vote rendered forcibly to One Who is better than materialism. Each time we use wisdom which could, in Ephesus fashion, raise us up in the eyes of others and enhance our control of them, to instead lighten their load and point them toward Christ, our sanctification progresses, as does that of the little community He has placed around us.
I enjoyed James Clavell's novel Shogun, but it's not where I expect to find a theology of progressive sanctification. Nevertheless, as its protagonist reflects on being a Westerner who has been rescued and incorporated into Japanese society, he extols with biblical cadence and a beautifully unpretentious landing, "The Lord God hath placed my feet onto the path, and rendered me a little useful."
I think Paul foresees this for Pastor Timothy, and for us as he continues to spool out what comes down to us as 1 Timothy 6:11. If I'm right that the Holy Spirit enunciates this list with care rather than caprice, and I don't see anything controversial in the possibility, there is narrative as well as an enumeration of checkpoints available to the disciple. Paul, as we have been seeing, soberly warns Timothy away from the twin hazards of Ephesus, spiritual pride and material security.
He guides preemptively that as Timothy flees these that the alternative is to pursue righteousness, right qualities even Ephesus can appreciate, but beyond that to pursue godliness, that is, I believe, to see the contrast between the speck of our good and the vastness, the wholly other quality of of God's good.
Struck by the difference and the distance, the enemy will, I suspect, marshal his most efficient efforts by pushing us to the extreme in the right direction we are already going. He will often push us from the good way of humility to the extreme of despondency.
The Holy Spirit's next work, then, in Paul's list is that of faith, Spurgeon's stooping virtue by which we are able to come with Scripture, resist the enemy who would rejoice over our flaws and slow progress. The eyes of faith see that when we are tried by Earth's conditions inhospitable to Christ-likeness, we will come forth as gold.
Shall we, then, but faith's work on the shelf and cast sidelong, wistful glances at it as we come inert, wait out our time on this planet? May not be so! For, in 1 Timothy 6:11 Paul sees the Spirit's next work in the heart fleeing pride's traps and finding beloved recourse in Christ as that of love.
With Shogun's hero, we rejoice that, yes, by grace, our feet have been placed onto the path, and not in the ditches that could have so easily been our destiny. Our feet have been placed on God's path, and we find ourselves rendered a little useful. We find ourselves, in Mother Teresa's phrase, able to do small things with great love.
Catching the refrain by which God has rescued us and continues to rescue us from a life after unworthy goals, we, with Psalm 100:2, actively serve the Lord with gladness. We come before His Presence with singing, and we may well catch some of our fellow humans up in the fervor of our tune. This engagement especially likely as we begin to equate with Tim Keller in Every Good Endeavor that our work is our worship, that we are all in as we serve the Lord by serving the work in which He has placed us.
John Dickson concurs, finding, "A humble person is marked by a willingness to hold power in service to others." He differentiates, admonishing, humility is more about how we treat others and how we think about ourselves." In the nexus between the two, though, reflecting upon the story through which God has brought us, the lures from which He has rescued us does, in spiritual health, metastasize in subtle and yet revolutionary act of love.
Each of them, in fact, reinforces how we ought to think about ourselves in the biblical framework. Each gift of our service or of the proceeds we get from it which is used to show love to another person, each of these transactions is a dollar vote rendered forcibly to One Who is better than materialism. Each time we use wisdom which could, in Ephesus fashion, raise us up in the eyes of others and enhance our control of them, to instead lighten their load and point them toward Christ, our sanctification progresses, as does that of the little community He has placed around us.
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