As believers in Christ who have seen something of God’s economy and His interest on the earth, we are fighting the good fight for the truth by honouring God’s truth, taking the way of the truth, upholding the absoluteness of the truth, and not compromising the truth in any way. Amen!
This week we have been diving deeper into the matter of fighting the good fight and what does this entail, what does it mean, and what is this good fight that we need to fight today.
Toward the end of his life, Paul testified that he had fought the good fight, and he told Timothy, his young co-worker, to war the good warfare.
On the one hand, we war against the different teachings, and on the other hand, we positively carry out God’s economy according to the ministry of the apostles.
We all need to fight the good fight of the faith, in particular, fight for Christ as the embodiment of God and for the church as the Body of Christ.
For us to fight the good fight of the faith is for us to fight for the contents of the complete gospel according to God’s New Testament economy. Amen!
And we fight the good fight by laying hold on the eternal life, to which we were called.
The life we have received at the time of our regeneration is eternal not only in time but also in quality; we need to trust in this life, pay attention to this life, and live by this life.
The enemy in his subtlety works to bring in deviation from the faith by keeping us, the believers in Christ, from the eternal life.
May we lay hold on the eternal life in our daily living by exercising our spirit to enjoy the Lord, partake of His riches, and live by the divine life.
On the negative side, we are fighting the good fight against Satan and the kingdom of darkness.
The enemy is very active today, and we as God’s soldiers stand one with Christ, the Head, and one with the saints, the Body, to fight against the enemy.
Everything we do in our Christian life and church life involves a spiritual battle, for the enemy is not passively allowing us to do what we want to do for the Lord but rather, he seeks to defeat us at every turn.
We believers in Christ not only live a peaceful, calm, and tranquil life in our daily living, preserving our being for the Lord; we also challenge the devil.
We are God’s soldiers, and we fight in the spiritual realm to take captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ.
We put on the whole armour of God and fight the good fight to overthrow the devil’s strongholds. Amen!
We are Fighting the Good Fight for the Truth by Upholding the Absoluteness of the Truth
Fighting the good fight is fighting for the truth – we fight the good fight for the truth (1 Tim. 6:12; 1 John 1:6; 2:21; 4:6).
What is the truth?
Today it seems that people live in a “post-truth” world where truth doesn’t seem to matter but rather, each one has their own truth, and people do things according to their personal truth. Oh, Lord.
Truth is not something that is your truth or my truth; truth is the Triune God Himself with His Word (John 1:1, 14-17; 14:6, 16-17; 15:26; 16:13; 17:17; 18:37).
Truth is the Triune God; the Father is the truth, the Son is the truth (the reality), and the Spirit is the Spirit of the truth, the Spirit of reality.
![And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, Even] the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know [Him; but] you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. John 14:16-17 But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming. John 16:13](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/And-I-will-ask-the-Father-and-He-will-give-you-another-Comforter-that-He-may-be-with-you-forever-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, Even] the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know [Him; but] you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. John 14:16-17 But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming. John 16:13")
Furthermore, the word of God is truth, and we are sanctified in the truth as we remain in the Word of God.
Truth is not just doctrine; truth is God Himself embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit, as revealed in the Word of God.
The truth is God Himself and His word. In this universe there is a reality; God is reality, Christ is reality, and the Spirit is reality, and the Word of God is reality.
Outward, material things are here today but gone tomorrow; they seem to be very real, but they are not reality.
The divine truth is absolute, and we must be absolute for the truth and uphold the absoluteness of the truth (14:6; 18:37; 3 John 3-4, 8).
Any person, thing, matter, and situation will change, but our God was, is, and will be, and He never changes.
We are not, but He is. Only God is, and God and His word are truth.
We need to fight the good fight for the truth by upholding the absoluteness of the truth.
We cannot and should not sacrifice the truth and lower it to match our feelings, our situation, or our condition.
We cannot dilute the truth or lower the standard of the truth because our condition is not up to this standard.
We need to transcend ourselves, our own feelings, and our personal interests; we simply hold the truth, hold to the truth in love, and uphold the absoluteness of the truth.
We are fighting the good fight for the truth by upholding the absoluteness of the truth.
We shouldn’t say that the truth is too high and we can’t receive it because we can’t arrive to it in our experience.
We should honour God’s truth, take the way of the truth, and not compromise the truth in any way (2 Pet. 2:2).
We are God’s servants, always standing on the side of the truth and not being afraid to fight for the truth.
Martin Luther was such a one; he stood on the side of the truth and was not threatened by the strong power of Catholicism.
He would not compromise the truth, for he saw the truth in God’s word.
We need to honour God’s truth even if outside everything is against the truth.
The truth is always absolute.
We may not be absolute, our condition may not be that good, and our situation may lack, but the truth is absolute.
![For I rejoiced greatly at the brothers' coming and testifying to your [steadfastness in the] truth, even as you walk in truth. I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth...We therefore ought to support such ones that we may become fellow workers in the truth. 3 John 3-4, 8](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/For-I-rejoiced-greatly-at-the-brothers-coming-and-testifying-to-your-steadfastness-in-the-truth-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "For I rejoiced greatly at the brothers' coming and testifying to your [steadfastness in the] truth, even as you walk in truth. I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth...We therefore ought to support such ones that we may become fellow workers in the truth. 3 John 3-4, 8")
We should not think that we can speak the truth only if we experience the truth, but if we don’t experience it and live it, we should not speak it.
Rather, we should sacrifice ourselves and speak the truth.
We should not make exceptions just because we have a special relationship with someone or because our condition does not match the truth.
Throughout history, there have been so many leading ones in the church who have lowered the truth to please some around them or to match their situation.
We cannot forfeit the absoluteness of the truth just because someone is our relative or because our condition is low.
If we want to please God in our work for Him, we need to be absolute for the truth.
We fight the good fight by fighting for the truth and being absolute for the truth.
No truth in the Bible should be entangled with our condition.
We shouldn’t feel that, because we did not experience a particular truth, we cannot speak it.
Rather, we need to realize that truth in itself is absolute, and we need to speak the truth and uphold the absoluteness of the truth.
If we uphold the absoluteness of the truth, it will eventually uplift our situation and condition, and we will advance with the Lord.
May we learn to honour God’s truth, take the way of the truth, and not compromise the truth in any way as we are fighting for the truth.
Lord Jesus, we want to fight the good fight of the faith by fighting for the truth. Hallelujah, truth is the Triune God with His word. Amen, Lord, we come to Your word to be infused with the truth, know the truth, be filled with the truth, and uphold the absoluteness of the truth. Grant us to see the absoluteness of the truth. We do not stand with our condition and we do not look at our situation; we simply want to speak the truth according to God’s eternal economy! Amen, Lord, we honor God’s truth. We uphold the absoluteness of the truth. We take the way of the truth. We do not want to compromise the truth in any way. We want to fight for the truth by upholding the absoluteness of the truth. May the truth uplift our condition and bring us fully in line with God’s eternal economy. Hallelujah for the truth, which is not a doctrine but the Triune God Himself with His word!
Being Constituted with the Truth and being Absolute for the Present Truth and the Highest Truth and the Subjective Truths
How do we fight the good fight of the faith by fighting for the truth?
It is not by going out there in the world and fighting with others based on what the Bible tells us.
The Lord Jesus didn’t come to debate the truth with the Gentiles or with the Jews; He Himself is the truth, He took the way of the truth, He lived out truth, and He came into us as the Spirit of truth.
The One who lives in us is the Spirit of reality who is daily guiding us into the reality of what God in Christ is to us and has done for us.
We need to have the truth wrought into us and constituted into our being (1 John 1:8; 2:4; 2 John 1-2; 3 John 3-4).
The fight for the truth doesn’t depend on how much we can write or speak; rather, it depends on how much of the truth is wrought and constituted into our being so that we may stand here as persons filled with truth.
The truth of God needs to be in us; the truthfulness of God needs to become our truthfulness.
To fight the good fight by fighting for the truth we need to get into the truth, pursue the truth, and allow the truth to be wrought into our being.
For the consummation of the divine economy, we need to be absolute for the present truth and the highest truth and the subjective truths (see 2 Pet. 1:12; Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; 12:4-5; John 8:32; 14:6).
The truth is the Triune God and His word; however, throughout the ages, this truth was lost, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and wrongly taught and applied.
So there is the recovery of the truth, which is progressing and progressive, level by level, until we reach the high peak of the divine truth.
The highest peak of the divine revelation in the Bible is that God became man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.
We may feel that this is too high, but this is the high peak of the truth.
We need to reach this high peak; we should not say that it is too high, not very practical, and not applicable in our daily life.
This truth is very helpful in our life, for in all the daily things God wants to work Christ into us so that He becomes us and we become Him.
We need to humble ourselves before the Lord and ask Him not to allow us to stay in the beginning of the truth but be uplifted, broadened and brought on with the Lord.
We should be absolute for the present truth, the highest truth, and the subjective truths.
The subjective truths in the Bible are very much practical and related to us in our daily situation.
We can eat and drink the Lord Jesus, for He is our food and drink – He is the bread of life, the living bread, and the bread of God, even the bread that came down out of heaven for us to eat and be satisfied (John 6).
We can breathe the Lord in by calling on His name, and we can partake of His riches by turning our heart to Him and believing into Him (Rom. 10:9-13).
![Therefore I will be ready always to remind you concerning these things, even though you know [them] and have been established in the present truth. 2 Pet. 1:12 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. John 8:32 But if I delay, [I write] that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. 1 Tim. 3:15](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Therefore-I-will-be-ready-always-to-remind-you-concerning-these-things-even-though-you-know-them-and-have-been-established-in-the-present-truth-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Therefore I will be ready always to remind you concerning these things, even though you know [them] and have been established in the present truth. 2 Pet. 1:12 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. John 8:32 But if I delay, [I write] that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. 1 Tim. 3:15")
We need to fight for the truth by knowing the truth, being constituted with the truth, and experiencing the truth.
We must learn and teach and preach things that are higher than where we are.
We should not be limited by ourselves; though we may not be up to that standard, we should still teach and speak these things.
For the consummation of the divine economy, we should be absolute for the way of the divine truth (2 Pet. 2:2).
May we continue on the way of the truth until the Lord returns.
We are on the way of the truth, and for the consummation of the divine economy, we want to be absolute for the way of the divine truth.
The churches should bear the responsibility to clarify our teachings in order to fight for the truth, care for the Lord’s recovery, and take care of our testimony (1 Tim. 3:15; 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7).
The church is the pillar and base of the truth, upholding the truth and bearing the truth, even showing forth the truth in God’s word to all men.
We fight the battle not in and by ourselves but in the Body and as the Body.
We stand one with the saints in the Body and fight the battle by fighting for the truth and being absolute for the truth.
Lord Jesus, we want to have the truth wrought into us and constituted into our being. We come to You in Your word not only to enjoy You but also to have the divine truth wrought into us. Constitute us with Yourself as truth. May the divine truth become our constitution and our experience. Amen, Lord, we want to know the present truth, arrive at the highest truth, and experience the subjective truths. Save us from lowering the truth to match our condition. Save us from remaining in the beginning of the truth. We want to advance with You and be uplifted in our knowledge of the truth and experience of the truth. We want to preach and teach things that are higher than we are so that we may be uplifted to the standard of the truth in our experience. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we all be absolute for the way of the divine truth. Keep us on the way of the truth, walking in truth, living in truth, speaking the truth, and having God’s truthfulness wrought into us to become our truthfulness!
Read this article in the Romanian language also – citiți acest articol și în limba română via următorul link, Să luptăm lupta bună pentru adevăr: să cunoaștem, onorăm, susținem și vorbim adevărul.
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 John (msgs. 9-11, 17, 32, 39-40) 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:
– Knowing the Truth, Being Absolute for the Truth and for Upholding the Absoluteness of the Truth, and Testifying to the Truth in the Present Age of the World, a portion via, The Church in Regina.
– Our Attitude toward Other Christians and Their Work, Part 1: Maintaining the Oneness with Fellow Believers, via, Shepherding words.
– The Pillar of the Truth, unto New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Opening Word – Knowing the Truth, Being Absolute for the Truth and for Upholding the Absoluteness of the Truth, and Testifying to the Truth in the Present Age of the World,via, Church in New York City.
– The Bible Shows Us God Is Triune, article via, Bibles for America blog.
– The divine truth is absolute, and we must be absolute for the truth and uphold the absoluteness of the truth; to be absolute for the truth… via, Unsearchable Riches.
– Holding to Truth in Love—What it Means and How to Practice It, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Message Four – Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing, a message via, Heavenly Foods.
– Upholding the Absoluteness of the Truth and Being Absolute for the Present Truth, outline via, Church in Phoenix.
– Paul, the pattern, a portion via, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Chapter 19, by Witness Lee.
– The Ministry’s Leadership Role in the Warfare, via, A Faithful Word.
– Being Constituted With the Truth for the Spread of the Lord’s Testimony, via, Living to Him. - Hymns on this topic:
– We limit not the truth of God / To our poor reach of mind, / By notions of our day and sect, / Crude, partial and confined. / Now let a new and better hope / Within our hearts be stirred: / The Lord hath yet more light and truth / To break forth from His Word. (Hymns #817 stanza 1)
– Fight the battle in the Body, / Never fight it on your own; / With the Body to the Head joined, / Fight the battle on the throne. / Fight the battle in the Body! / By the virtue of the Head; / Standing firmly with the Body, / Into vict’ry you’ll be led. (Hymns #885 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Oh, healthful teaching, wholesome words: / The truth of godliness! / Oh, good deposit, common faith, / And life of holiness! / Lord, make us now those faithful men / Who pass on what we’ve heard; / Make us examples of the saints / In spirit, faith, and word. (Hymns #1285 stanzas 5-6)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 57, p. 133
Life-study of 1 John, second edition., p. 79, by Witness Lee
We are fighting the good fight for the truth, which is the Triune God and the word of God conveying the reality of what God is into us.
We must uphold the absoluteness of the truth, no matter our feelings or relationships, and we must be constituted with the truth.
We cannot lower the standard of the truth to match our condition or situation.
Dear brother, the truth is the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit – and the word of God, the divine revelation.
Such truth needs to be wrought in and constituted into us in order to be real to us.
It also needs to be what we speak and experience, regardless of our own condition and in whatever environment we are in.
We must be absolute for the truth and not adjust it to fit ourselves, or another person, even a relative. We must be sanctified in the truth. O Lord!
We must fight for the truth, and speak such truth in the church although we ourselves may not yet have the experience.
praise the Lord for the truth! Which is the Triune God Himself.
Also, for the word of God that conveys all the real divine realities concerning God and Christ into the believers.
This makes them the church of the living God, which is the (supporting) pillar and (upholding) base of the truth!
Amen!
We are the church as the house of God and we are the pillar and base of the Truth!
Hallelujah!
Truth is the triune God. Truth is also the Word of God as the divine revelation. The Word is the explanation of the Triune God. Therefore, reality is God the Father, the Son, God the Spirit, and also the divine Word. This truth is absolute, never changed or not preached conditionally.
The basic requirement for being a servant of the Lord is, therefore, to not sacrifice the truth. God’s servants need to preach and announce the Bible, the Word Of God. On the other hand, we cannot be a servant of God if we cannot preach beyond what we can practice.
This is because the truth is absolute.
Praise the Lord that Jesus Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit, the Triune God with His Word is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow!
We have to fight for the truth, care for the Lord’s recovery, and take care of our testimony.
For this, we must be absolute for the truth and not sacrifice the truth in any way.
Our feelings and inner condition vary from day to day, but the truth is always the truth.
Our God needs people on Earth who have a desire to uphold the absoluteness of the truth.
Failure to be absolute for the truth among God’s servants is one of the major causes of the delay in Christ’s coming back.
We must realise that it’s not our experience that qualifies us to speak the truth.
We speak the truth because the truth is absolute and unchanging.
There is a basic requirement for being a servant of the Lord which is to not sacrifice the truth.
Every worker of the Lord must uphold the absoluteness of the truth. We cannot be a servant of God if we cannot preach beyond what we can practice.
Even the church as the pillar and base of the truth should bear the responsibility to clarify our teachings in order to fight for the truth, care for the Lord’s recovery, and take care of our testimony. Amen.
Praise the Lord!😃🙌🙋🏼
06/22/24 Fighting the Good Fight (Week 1, Day 6)
In order for us to live a proper Christian church life, even in the decline of the church, we need to fight the good fight, not only:
a.) by teaching and preaching only concerning God’s economy,
b) against the different teachings,
c.) against the deviation from the faith,
d.) by laying hold of the eternal life, and
e.) against Satan and his kingdom of darkness,
but also:
f.) by upholding the absoluteness of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:4 says, “(God) Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” Ephesian 4:15 also says, “But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ,” According to these verses, God desires for us, not only to be saved, but also must come to the full knowledge of the truth. Not only so, we must also hold on to the truth, no matter what the situations are in order for us to accomplish God goal – the fulfillment of His economy by our growing up into Christ, as the Head of the Body, the church.
What then is truth? The Greek word “aletheia” means truth or reality (versus vanity), verity, veracity, genuineness, sincerity. Everything that is contrary to the truth is a lie, false, and vanity. Truth is John’s highly individual terminology, and it is one of the profound words in the New Testament. This word denotes all the realities of the divine economy as the content of the divine revelation, contained, conveyed, and disclosed by the Holy Word, which is the central line of the divine revelation in the Bible.
This includes;
Every worker of the Lord must uphold the absoluteness of the truth. Below are some points on how we can uphold the absoluteness of the truth:
a.) We must not sacrifice the truth because of people, things, or personal feelings.
b.) The many ordinances and commandments in the Bible are from God, therefore, we must preach and announce them.
c.) Although, we have not practice or experience certain truths, we still need to speak and preach them because truths are absolute facts in the Bible.
d.) Because truth is truth, we need to transcend our own feelings and our personal interest in our speaking.
e.) We must not lower the standard of the truth to our own spouse, children, relatives, or friends, but strictly impose the high standard of the truth on other people.
f.) We must follow the truth, not man.
g.) Truth in the Bible must not be entangled with our situation.
It is not a small thing to be absolute to the truth. We can not be indifferent about this. If we are loose in this, we will be loose in everything. In order to uphold the truth, we have to set aside ourselves completely. If we do not have such a heart and habit for the truth, we will have problems sooner or later.
Satan’s way is confusion, division, and destruction; God’s way is truth, oneness, and building up. When we are ignorant of the truth and cannot uphold the truth, we are easily tossed by the waves of different teachings (Eph 4:14), causing confusion and division among the saints and among the churches. But if we come to the full knowledge of the truth and uphold it, the there will be oneness and building up among us and the churches (Eph 4:13-16).
If we can take the truth as the unique standard and if we have the courage to say that since the Lord has done such and such a thing, we admit that we are wrong, new light will come, and a new way will be opened to us.
David said: ALL MEN speak falsehood (Psalm 12:2).
Only TRUTH is absolute in Himself.
When he spoke this word,
He was not considering Himself.
David considered Himself nonexistent
MR..wk 1D6..
We are here to follow the truth, not man, and we are here to maintain the absoluteness of the truth. (CWWN, vol. 52, The Character of the Lord’s Worker “.pp.151-153.).💘📚🖊️💍✨
The beauty of every turmoil.
Indeed ..the Lord’s workers and co-workers like Paul is a great test to us..
God desires all men to be saved and to come to the FULL knowledge of the TRUTH.
1 Timothy 2:3-4.
TRUTH is just the PERSON of CHRIST.
Praise and Thank You Lord for everything.
How we need more of Your Yourself.
As Truth and Reality.
Have Mercy Lord..more and more.
1 Tim. 3:15
But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.
–
2 Tim. 4:7
I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith.
—
HWMRW1D6
“𝘍𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘍𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵”
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://youtu.be/uYw0dPIGw_M
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v5355r9-fight-the-good-fight-by-fighting-for-the-truth.html
Amen. Lord Jesus fill us with yourself as the reality, we want to know the truth.
In Acts 18 Apollos appeared on the scene. He was “powerful in the Scriptures” (v. 24b). We have to realize that the Scriptures here refer to the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament
Apollos was powerful in expounding the Old Testament, but he was not in Paul’s vision
At that time Aquila, Priscilla, and Timothy joined Paul’s mini- stry one after another. No doubt they were in Paul’s vision. They were walking with Paul and working together with him.
Paul worked throughout the Gentile world, but he never stayed in one place for as long as three years except in Ephesus. Acts 20:31 clearly shows that Paul stayed in Ephesus for three years.
His preach- ing affected the entire region of Asia, of which Ephesus was the center. Paul was teaching there, and his teaching affected all those who were in Asia, but at the same time in Ephesus a negative seed was sown, and Apollos was the one who sowed it.
This is one of the reasons that Paul had to work and minister in Ephesus for three years…
The seed that Apollos sowed in Ephesus became the factor for the decline of the church….with the departure from the apostles teaching came the teaching of Balaam, the teaching the Nicolaitans and the teachings of Jezebel
30 years later the first church that was addressed was the church of Ephesus…the reason it lost its first love was because it left the apostles teaching.