Take Hold of the Life

What's at stake here?

I want to begin with a simple question. What's at stake here? What's at stake for you, for our sons and daughters, for one another, for our friends, and for our community? Do we even think about it?

I think of Peter in Acts 2:40 (NIV) warning the Jews by pleading with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." There's an urgency, a fanaticism, in his voice. Are we to believe that we need to be saved from something? We don't sense any danger. Everything seems normal enough. I mean here we all are. It's just another day at church.

And then there is Paul in 1 Timothy 1:1 (NIV) claiming to be an apostle, sent on behalf of Christ Jesus, "by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope." Paul believes he is on a mission from God, that God is Savior of all mankind, and that Christ Jesus is the only hope to speak of. Do we think of God this way? Do we believe that Christ Jesus is the only hope for mankind?

In 1 Timothy 1:2 (NIV) Paul announces the, "grace, mercy, and peace" that come "from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." In 1 Timothy 1:15-17 (NIV) he says, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-- of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Paul doesn't consider himself exempt here. He needed to be saved, shown mercy, and given immortality and life just as desperately as anyone else. Only God could save him.

All the world needs to be saved and to be shown mercy.

Suppose all the world needs to be saved, and needs to be shown mercy, and has no hope of eternal life apart from God. Do you realize what an extraordinary crisis we'd be in? Do you realize what would be at stake? Who takes sin seriously anymore? Who gives pause when their conscience condemns them? Who values a pure heart? Who begs for God's mercy and grace? Who believes in eternal judgment or hell anymore? It's a badge of honor to be considered a lawbreaker and rebel. It's fashionable to be considered ungodly and sinful, unholy and irreligious. It sells more records!

In 1 Timothy 1:18-19 (NIV) Paul urges Timothy to, "fight the good fight, holding on to the faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith." Shipwrecked? Is that a big deal? In the first century it sure was. There was no coast guard. There were no lifeboats or life-jackets or emergency beacons. Your ship sinks. You swim. You save yourself. Better hope that land is near. You're talking life and death.

In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Paul urges the Church as a matter of priority to offer up requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving for everyone. Yes, for kings and all those in authority, but not only for kings, and only for those in authority! Why? Why pray for everyone? What's at stake?

In 1 Timothy 2:3-7 (NIV) Paul says, "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men-- the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle-- I am telling the truth, I am not lying-- and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles."

Is it going to matter if we don't pray for all men to be saved?

If God doesn't save, if Christ doesn't mediate our situation before God, if Christ doesn't offer his life as a ransom for your sin and my sin, if we don't bear testimony to what God has done in Christ Jesus, if we don't become heralds and apostles, if we don't pray for all men to be saved, it's not going to matter, right?

1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV) says, "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." If your ship wrecks, physical training will keep you swimming longer than everyone else. But you can't swim forever! So when you begin to sink, what then will you cling to?

1 Timothy 4:9 (NIV) says, "This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe."

It matters what we believe and that we believe.

It matters what we believe and that we believe. In 1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV) Paul tells Timothy, "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."

1 Timothy 6:11-16 (NIV) says, "But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time-- God the blessed and only Ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen."

There are two words in 1 Timothy 6:12 that speak powerfully about what is at stake here. The first word is translated "fight" in our English Bible translations. But in the Greek the word is "agonizomai" which means "to agonize." We agonize about all sorts of things, but we should be agonizing most about eternal life, and not just our own!

There is a second phrase which is "to take hold". Paul says, "Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." Make it your own! Arrest it! Trap it! Seize it! Grab it! Fasten your soul to it. Suppose you were in a shipwreck, and an opportunity came to be saved. You're to seize it! Again, in 1 Timothy 6:19 (NIV) Paul says, "...take hold of the life that is truly life."

We are to take hold of the life that is truly life!

Do we agonize about eternal life? Are we taking hold, once and for all, of the life that is truly life? Have we believed on Jesus? Have we accepted him as a mediator for our sins? Do we accept his offer of grace, mercy, and peace? Will we believe on Jesus and receive eternal life?

When Peter warned and pleaded with the crowds in Acts 2:40 (NIV) by saying, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation," do you know how they responded? Acts 2:41 (NIV) says, "Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day."

There is something you should know about baptism that no one has ever told you before. Baptism is about life and death. Let me explain. The New Testament talks about baptism in life and death terms. I'll give you four quick examples.

Baptism is a matter of life and death.

Remember the story of Noah and the ark? All the world had become corrupt in God's sight, and full of violence, such that the inclination and thoughts of man's heart was only evil all the time. And God was grieved that he had made man. And so God sent a great flood over the whole earth. The water was God's judgment on man's sin. The water brought death to all the earth with one exception, Noah. Yet Noah and his family were saved through that same water. See Genesis 6.

1 Peter 3:20-22 (NIV) describes how God waited patiently for Noah to build an ark, and how, "...in it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also-- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand-- with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him."

Remember the story of the exodus? How God raised up Moses to deliver the nation of Israel from captivity? How God brought judgment and death upon Pharaoh's household and all of Egypt with the seven plagues? How the Egyptians pursued the Israelites by chariot to the banks of the Red Sea in order to slaughter them? But what did God do? He parted the sea so that the Israelites could pass through the water on dry ground, evading certain death, sparing their lives, and delivering them from slavery and captivity to the promised land!

1 Corinthians 10:2-4 (NIV) says, "They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."

What's remarkable is how the same water through which God saved the Israelites was used to bring judgment and death upon the Egyptian army. They all drowned in the Red Sea.

Remember the story of Nicodemus in the Bible? Everyone was going out, being baptized by John. So Nicodemus arranges a secret meeting with Jesus in which Jesus tells him, "...no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." See John 3:3 (NIV). Jesus' response confused Nicodemus, so he asks in John 3:4 (NIV), "How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" To which Jesus says in John 3:5 (NIV), "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit."

The imagery is unmistakable. Should the child remain in the womb, it would surely die. But at birth, a baby literally passes out of the womb, through water, into new life. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:16 (NIV), "For God so loved the world that gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Nicodemus couldn't remain undecided about Christ because it was a matter of eternal life or death.

Finally, there's Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6:3-4 (NIV) says, "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

Let me tell you why baptism matters.

When we're baptized, we acknowledge God's power to save us from this corrupt and wicked world, just as he saved Noah and his family.

When we're baptized, we acknowledge God's power to deliver us from captivity and death, just as he saved Israel in the cloud and in the sea.

When we're baptized, we lay claim on God's power to give us a new birth, by his Spirit, into Christ's eternal kingdom.

When we're baptized, we acknowledge God as Savior and King. We know that just as Jesus died, was buried, and was raised to life by the power of God, we too can live a new life!

Baptism is the appropriate way to celebrate God's saving acts from the time of Moses, to the exodus, to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, right into the present. Baptism is the way that we demonstrate we understand what is at stake, and most importantly, trust Jesus to save us.

In 1 Timothy 1:16 (NIV) Paul speaks of those who, "...would believe on Jesus and receive eternal life." I hope that today will be the day you would believe on Jesus and receive eternal life. Why not take hold of the life that is truly life?