Fight the Good Fight by Keeping God’s Economy and Rejecting the Different Teachings

2 Tim. 4:7 reveals that a proper Christian life involves fighting the good fight, running and finishing the course, and keeping the faith; we believers fight the good fight of the faith by fighting against any deviations from the faith, any different teachings that distract us from God’s economy, which is in faith. Amen!

This week we come to a new morning revival book, based on the 2024 International Chinese-speaking Conference.

The general topic is, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing in Order to Receive the Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness. Amen!

The subject for this first week of five is, Fighting the Good Fight.

We want to again be open to the Lord for His fresh speaking to us; day by day we want to be under His speaking so that He may infuse us with His heart’s desire, His burden, and His up-to-date move.

The books of 1 and 2 Timothy were written by the apostle Paul before his martyrdom; the second epistle to Timothy was his last word before he was martyred.

It was written at a time when the church had become degraded when many believers had left and forsaken the apostles’ teaching.

They were influenced by various philosophies and different teachings. it was under such circumstances that the apostle Paul spoke this word, which might be considered as a word of warning and also as a word of encouragement.

As we live in the last days of this age, in the darkest age when the church is in decline, we need to heed the word of warning in the epistles of Paul, and we need to know how to stand steadfastly and be faithful to the end.

Paul testified that he fought the good fight, he kept the faith, and he finished the course.

He was assured that there was laid up for him the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, would recompense him on that day.

And not only him but also those who have loved His appearing.

Here we see three main matters: fighting the good fight, finishing the course, and keeping the faith.

On one hand, we want to fight the good fight, and on the other hand, we want to run the race to finish the course, even to keep the faith.

If we have such a threefold experience, we will be in a condition of loving the Lord and loving His appearing.

Under such a condition, we await a result, which is the Lord’s reward, the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense us on that day.

We should not assume that, since we’re believers in Christ, we will receive that crown.

Rather, as we live in the age of the degradation of the church, we need to follow the Lord to carry out His eternal economy by fighting the good fight, running the race with endurance, and fulfilling our commission to keep the faith.

A Proper Christian Life Involves Fighting the Good Fight, Running and Finishing the Course, and Keeping the Faith

As revealed in 2 Tim. 4:7, a summation of Paul’s experience and conclusion of his work, a proper Christian life is threefold.

A proper Christian life involves fighting the good fight, running and finishing the course, and keeping the faith.

All these are involved and are related to God’s economy, which is in faith.

They are related to God’s dispensing, His economy.

First, we see that we need to fight the good fight.

There are many fights happening today, and there are many wars being fought, but only one is the good fight.

We need to fight the good fight of the faith.

We should not fight for our interests or for the interests of others, neither should we merely fight for the truth or for the church; we should fight the good fight of the faith.

We need to open to the Lord concerning this and ask Him to enlighten us so that we may see what is the good fight of the faith so that we may not fight in vain.

We don’t want to come before the Lord on that day and be told that our fight was not the good fight of the faith.

We want to stand for God’s economy so that His eternal economy may be fulfilled and the glorious Lord would have a glorious expression on the earth.

This fight is indeed a good fight.

Also, we need to run and finish the course that God gave us, the Christian race He has set before us. On the one hand, we fight; on the other hand, we run the race with endurance.

Our Christian life is a race, a race set before us by the Lord, and we need to keep running by looking away unto Jesus.

He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith, and we look away unto Him as we run the Christian race (Heb. 12:1; 1 Cor. 9:24, 26; Phil. 3:14; 2 Tim. 4:7; Gal. 2:2; 5:7).

Finally, we need to keep the faith. The faith was given to us, we have it, and we need to keep it.

We have seen that entering the good land of Canaan involved warfare and taking the good land involves warfare.

God wants His beloved Son, the all-inclusive Christ, to be everything to us.

He has prepared Him, and the all-inclusive Christ went through a process to become the life-giving, compound, all-inclusive, bountiful, even sevenfold intensified Spirit to supply us bountifully for us to be normal Christians, overcomers in Christ, for the fulfilment of God’s purpose that He may gain the church as the temple of God and the city of God.

But in order for us to possess and enjoy this all-inclusive Christ, we need to fight the battle; we need to fight the good fight of the faith.

Many Christians think that to be a Christian is to have our sins forgiven, believe in Jesus, preach the gospel for many others to be saved, and wait to go to heaven.

But the Bible shows us something more concerning the Christian life.

We have received Christ for a purpose, which is to participate in the divine fight, the divine warfare, so that we may gain the all-inclusive Christ.

Fighting is the first thing we should do, and fighting is for us to enjoy Christ and participate in His unsearchable riches.

On one hand, we run the race with endurance and we keep the faith; on the other hand, we fight the good fight of the faith, for we want to take possession of the all-inclusive Christ and we stand against any differing teachings.

Lord Jesus, thank You for saving us with Your divine life not only to redeem us but even more to bring us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are now fighting the good fight of the faith, we are running the race with endurance to finish our course, and we are keeping the faith! Amen, Lord, we want to enter into this fight today, fighting the good fight of the faith. We are not here lying passively and waiting for Christ to come and bring us to heaven; we are fighting to enter into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. Hallelujah, Christ has been allotted to us to be our portion, and we need to fight to enter into the experience and enjoyment of Christ. Amen, Lord, we want to run the race with endurance by looking away unto Jesus so that we may finish the course and receive the crown. We want to keep the faith which was given to all the saints, keeping the word of God, the economy of God, which was given to us!

Fight the Good Fight by Keeping God’s Economy and Rejecting the Different Teachings

2 Tim. 4:7 speaks first of fighting the good fight; we need to know what is the good fight and we need to fight this good fight.

1 Tim. 1:18 says, This charge I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you might war the good warfare.

To fight the good fight is to war the good warfare. On the positive side, this charge concerns the economy of God, and on the negative side, it concerns the different teachings.

Positively, we need to keep, enjoy, and remain in the economy of God, His divine dispensing.

Negatively, we need to fight against different teachings and stand against them, even put them aside and reject them.

We believers in Christ fight the good fight by receiving the apostle’s charge; this is not an ordinary, general charge, but it implies a commandment, that we may fight the good fight, that is, war the good warfare.

The apostle Paul, according to His God-given authority, charged his young co-worker, Timothy, to war the good warfare.

We may think that we love peace, we don’t want to fight, we want everyone to be in peace, and harmony is what we prefer.

But God’s economy requires our fighting, because God has an enemy in this universe, and this enemy needs to be defeated.

Whether we like it or not, the Lord charges us to fight the good fight by keeping God’s economy and rejecting the different teachings.

We see this in 1 Tim. 1:3-4, where we are told that Paul exhorted Timothy to remain in Ephesus to charge certain ones not to teach different teachings but rather, to remain in and teach only God’s economy, which is in faith.

Different teachings are teachings that differ from God’s economy; they include myths, unending genealogies, and all kinds of things that, instead of strengthening the saints in the faith, produce questioning.

It is a very serious word that we should not teach different teachings.

Anything that is not in line with God’s economy should be put aside and not taught.

Anything that is not in the central lane of God’s economy should not be taught.

As the Lord’s recovery is spreading and we are increasing in number, many young people are being raised up.

The young generation needs to be very clear about what God’s economy is.

God’s economy is His eternal plan to dispense Himself in Christ through the Spirit into us to be our life and life supply so that we may be built up together to be His Body built up to express Him in the universe.

God’s economy is His household law, the plan He made to distribute all the riches of what He is into His household, which is us, the church.

God has a household management, a household administration, a household government; He has a dispensation, a plan, or an economy for administering all the riches of what He is to all those who are in His household.

God’s economy in faith is His household economy, His household administration; His economy is to dispense Himself in Christ into us, His chosen people, so that He may have a house to express Himself, and this house is the church, the Body of Christ (1 Tim. 3:15).

The apostle Paul was centred on this economy in his ministry (Col. 1:25; 1 Cor. 8:17), but God’s enemy used the different teachings of the dissenting ones to distract His people from this economy.

As we are living the church life and learning to function in the church, we need to remain in and keep God’s economy, and also we need to reject and stay away from different teachings.

God’s economy is in opposition to different teachings. God’s economy is in faith, but the different teachings are based on the principle of the law and are centred on the law (1 Tim. 1:7-10).

God’s economy does not just require us to be good men or spiritual men, even to be overcoming people who do many works for God.

God’s economy is simply to work Himself into us, to mingle Himself with us, and mingle us with Himself, so that He may gain the church, the Body of Christ.

We are not here to have a better conduct or a better family life; we are here to give heed to God’s economy and have God wrought into us so that we may become His corporate expression.

We need to fight against the deviation from the faith, that is, fight the good fight of the faith (1 Tim. 6:12).

Different teachings may sound interesting, may be logical, and may even be scriptural, for they quote many things in the Bible, but they cause us to deviate from the central line of God’s economy.

So we need to fight the good fight of the faith and not let any different teachings distract us from God’s economy.

If we give heed to different teachings, we will thrust away faith and a good conscience, and we may become shipwrecked regarding the faith (1 Tim. 1:11, 19).

God’s economy is in faith; His dispensing into us is by faith. We need to remain in the organic union with the Lord, our faith, and receive and enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into us by means of His economy.

It is by faith, not by works of law, that we are born of God to be His sons, partaking of His life and nature to express Him.

It is by faith, not by law, that we’re put into Christ to become members of His Body, sharing all that He is for His expression. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, we want to fight the good fight of the faith by keeping God’s economy and rejecting any different teachings. Hallelujah for God’s economy, which is faith! Amen, Lord, we open to Your divine dispensing today. We open to Your household administration to dispense Yourself in Christ as the Spirit into us to make us the same as You are and to build us up with the saints to be the church, the Body of Christ! Hallelujah, God is continually dispensing Himself into us, His people, to make us the Body of Christ, the corporate expression of God on earth! Amen, Lord, keep us open to Your divine dispensing today. We want to reject, repudiate, and stay away from any different teachings, which produce questionings, rather than God’s economy, which is in faith. We want to remain in the realm of faith, for is by faith that we are born of God to be His Sons, and it is by faith that we are members of the Body of Christ to corporately express Him! Hallelujah, we can fight the good fight of the faith by remaining in the realm of God’s economy, teaching only God’s economy, and rejecting any different teachings!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Timothy, msg. 1, by Witness Lee (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing in Order to Receive the Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness (2023 ICSC), week 1, Fighting the Good Fight.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – A soldier, a contender, a husbandman, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Chapter 15, by Witness Lee.
  – Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing, a sharing by brother Ron K.
  – New Jerusalem in God’s New Testament Economy, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The oneness of the faith, a portion from, Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, Chapter 14, by Witness Lee.
  – A Revolutionary Concept about the Bible, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith. – a portion via, Living to Him.
  – What is God’s Economy in the Bible? Article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Two different theological teachings of recent times, a portion from, The All-Inclusiveness and Unlimitedness of Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – Receiving All Believers but Not Different Teachings, article via, Shepherding Words.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Fight the good fight with all thy might! / Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right; / Lay hold on life, and it shall be / Thy joy and crown eternally. / Run the straight race through God’s good grace, / Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face; / Life with its way before us lies, / Christ is the path, and Christ the prize. (Hymns #872 stanzas 1-2)
  – I have fought the good fight; / I have finished the course; / I have fought the good fight; / I have kept the faith. / Henceforth there is laid up for me / The crown of righteousness, / Which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, / Will recompense me in that day, / And not only me / But also all those who have loved His appearing. (Scripture song)
  – God’s intention in this universe is with humanity, / So the Lord became the Spirit just with man to mingled be. / We rejoice that we can all partake of His economy. / Yes, mingling is the way. (Hymns #1199 stanza 1)