October 30, 1974, was a pivotal day in boxing history. George Foreman, at the time the undisputed Heavyweight Champion, reigned supreme. “The previous year he had astonished the sports world with his terrifying demolition of Joe Frazier, knocking Frazier to the canvas six times in less than two rounds, and instantly putting the fear of God into all other heavyweight contenders.”[1] Foreman was overwhelming and unstoppable, a destructive force of immense power.

Now-famous boxing promoter Don King had set up a match between Foreman and Muhammad Ali, to take place in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The purse for the winner was $5 million, an enormous sum in that era. King didn’t have the money needed, and was not welcome by any venues to stage the fight in the United States. He instead persuaded Zaire’s dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, to host the bout in his country, receiving financial input from Mobutu along with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. It was dubbed “The Rumble in the Jungle”. It was also “arguably the greatest sporting event of the twentieth century.”[2] Some 60,000 were in attendance in person, 50 million watched by pay-per-view in movie theaters, and an estimated one billion television viewers gathered around the world. It still ranks among the most-watched broadcasts of all time (the Apollo 11 moon landing only drew 600 million viewers).[3]

In 1967, then-champion Ali was stripped of his title and suspended from boxing for 3½ years for his refusal to comply with the draft and enter the U.S. Army. Ali regained his boxing license in 1970. In a 1971 bout dubbed the “Fight of the Century”, Ali was defeated by champion Joe Frazier in a unanimous decision, leaving him fighting other contenders for years in an attempt at a new title shot. Meanwhile, the heavily muscled Foreman, who had big shoulders and small forearms, had quickly risen from a gold-medal victory at the 1968 Olympics to the top ranks of the heavyweight division. At 25, the younger and stronger Foreman seemed an overwhelming favorite against the well-worn 32-year-old Ali.[4]

The result is widely regarded as one of the best fights of all time. “The Greatest” marched out and completely outclassed Foreman, reducing him in the last rounds to a bumbling amateur whose punches reached in vain for Ali’s head. Ali was able to absorb Foreman’s blows, which eventually tired out the champ to the point he succumbed to exhaustion. Ali also used excellent defense, superior hand-speed, clinches, feints, perfectly timed counter-punches, and just about every trick in the book to neutralize Foreman’s advantages. The eight-round fight was a master-class in both strength and technique, ending in a series of blows from Ali at just the right moment. Foreman collapsed and failed to beat the count. Muhammad Ali, to the astonishment of everyone, had regained the title stripped from him for his refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam War. It was a night unlike any other in boxing history and undoubtedly the greatest fight of Ali’s storied career. It went down as a good fight.

As Paul closes his second letter to Timothy, he thinks back over his time in ministry. He ponders his teaching and struggles and travels for the cause of Christ, and declares, “I have fought the good fight…” (2 Timothy 4:7). What is the good fight? Paul used analogies about fighting, boxing, training in several of his letters. The Greek word he uses here, agonizomai, translated “fought,” means literally “to contend with adversaries” or “to struggle with great difficulty.” This word is used in the context of competing in athletic games or engaging in military battle.[5] Paul’s reference doesn’t lead us to believe he led a successful, comfortable, upwardly-mobile life. No, when he thinks back on his years, the first thing he communicates is “this has really been a fight.”

Consider the fight that Paul fought. He details his struggles in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28: “I [have endured] countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.[6] Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” Paul’s example reminds us that his fight and our fight are not just figurative, but literal. When Paul says he fought, he meant it!

Must we fight the fight that Paul fought? Do we need to face the evils in our world and push back, endure persecution, suffer hardship as a result of our faith, and must we persevere against spiritual foes? When we die, we will go to heaven, so why struggle against the continued fall of earth into deeper and deeper sin? As the kids’ movie song advised, why not just let it go?

As Christ-centered leaders we cannot simply sit in the grandstand while subordinates take the blows, or “just say no” without engaging directly in calling out disobedience to God, and advocating for God’s clear and good commands. There indeed is a fight before us. Make no mistake, the fight Paul talked about has not degraded into a civil discussion among enlightened people who happen to disagree. Today the life of the Christ-follower in our culture is a fight.

Look at the battles of faith that we face today. We face more moral and ethical challenges than ever before in our lifetimes: mass shootings, an explosion of violent crime in our cities, racial hatred and division, social injustice, government overreach, fraud and corruption, class warfare, sexual immorality, human trafficking, gay rights, gender identity, divorce and the breakdown of the nuclear family, abortion, parent abandonment and foster care abuse, child abuse, economic hardship and poverty, illegal immigration, criminals and sex offenders in the clergy, incivility, online bullying and cancel culture. To describe it in a sentence, we can surely identify with God’s thoughts on His creation in Genesis 6:5, “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”

Your fight might not be in the middle of the culture wars. Perhaps you need to fight for your marriage. You and your spouse have drifted apart for whatever reason and you need to take up the cause of rebuilding that most important relationship. Or your fight is for a wayward child. You don’t have the influence as a father that you once had, and you need to begin the hard work of repairing that bond so that you can help your child make better choices. Maybe your fight is for an employee or coworker who is going off the rails and needs a godly influence. Perhaps your fight is a personal sin or habit that is breaking your heart and mind—like alcohol or drug addiction, or pornography—and you need to make a change before you are destroyed.

When Paul says, “I have fought the good fight”, he’s not just reminiscing at the end of his life. This entire letter is filled with instruction to his protégé Timothy. He is telling his successor, now you continue to fight this good fight. And this instruction is equally applicable to us today. We are to fight the good fight. Notice too, that he refers to the fight as good. Paul looked at all he endured and tells us, this fight is worth it. It honors God. The struggle, pain, persecution and suffering we may endure is good because it is in the name of Jesus, and for the cause of Christ and to advance His Kingdom. How then do we fight this good fight?

Make sure you are equipped for the fight. The Apostle Paul’s “good fight” analogies are found elsewhere in his letters. In Ephesians 6:13-17 he describes how to be equipped for the fight: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

These tools for the fight: truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation, the word of God—these are our weapons today for the good fight. The list itself shows how we must be committed to maturing in Christ so that we are able to fight the good fight. He describes the word of God, the Bible, as “the sword of the Spirit”. A sword is an offensive weapon. Knowing and living by the Bible’s teachings enables us to prosecute the battle before us.

Notice too that the shield—defense—is our faith in Christ. In being equipped for the good fight, Paul draws these word pictures as a reminder that fighting the good fight is absolutely dependent on a deep, growing, trusting relationship with Jesus. A person absent of prayer, time in the Word, and service to others has set the good fight aside.

Don’t quit when the fight gets hard. What made the Foreman-Ali fight great? Even more than 50 years later, the “Rumble in the Jungle” is still amazing to watch. Ali used every tool at his disposal to win the fight with Foreman. The bout is still considered a master class in boxing technique, stamina and strategy to this day. In that ring, Ali was the underdog. “What I remember most about the fight was, I went out and hit Muhammad with the hardest shot to the body I ever delivered to any opponent,” Foreman later told biographer Thomas Hauser. “Anybody else in the world would have crumbled. Muhammad cringed; I could see it hurt. And then he looked at me. He had that look in his eyes, like he was saying ‘I’m not going to let you hurt me.’”[7] The fight was great because the underdog never gave up.

When we fight our good fight, we should go in knowing that it will be tough, but it is worth it. Never give up! Use the tools God gives us and trust Jesus to help us through. How do you know you are fighting the good fight? Are you taking punches at home, at work? Does it feel like you’re getting a little bloody in managing relationships, finances, service, family, career? The good fight is going to be filled with punches from the left and right—sometimes unexpected. If the blows are coming, sometimes you just have to remind yourself that you are in a spiritual battle each and every day.

How Paul’s fight ended. The end of Paul’s life in ministry is detailed in the final verses of the book of Acts. It doesn’t recount that Paul retired at 67 to take his full Social Security benefit, then took up golf, went to the beach with his family and occasionally went on a cruise. Instead, “For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” (Acts 28:30-31). Paul continued to fight the fight until his last days, with boldness.

And that example is also one to follow. When should we stop fighting? We should continue with every minute of time we have. Perhaps that’s why heaven is referred to as “God’s rest” (Hebrews 4:1-11). That will be the time we can finally take the gloves off and hear “well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). May we also be able to look back on our lives as Paul did and say of our effort on behalf of Christ, “I have fought the good fight.”

The Good Fight

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