How To Avoid Money Love | 1 Timothy 6:3-10 | Pastor Bob Erbig

Well, that video raises a really important question.

Does money make us more happy and secure?

Now, I'm sure if I were to poll the audience, I imagine a large percentage of you would give a resounding yes.

Yes, when my bank account is full, I am happier and my anxiety is low.

When I have more money, my problems go away.

Or do they just create different problems?

Because, you know, more money, more problems.

Does this simply reveal where we are placing our trust?

Those are some pretty crucial questions because money, or rather the love of money, is at the heart of our passage today in 1 Timothy 6, 3-10.

I invite you to join me there where Paul very famously writes this in verse 10.

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

Now, over the centuries, this verse has been misunderstood and misapplied.

Does this verse say that money itself is evil?

No.

Money is a part of the world economy, and of course, it's not simply about money.

Rather, it's about the stuff that money can get us, like maybe an early retirement.

Did you know in the financial world, there is a growing movement known as FIRE?

Have you heard of the FIRE movement?

It stands for Financial Independence Retire Early.

Financial Independence Retire Early.

FIRE is a movement of people devoted to a program of extreme savings and investment that aims to allow them to retire far earlier than traditional budgets and retirement plans would permit.

In other words, this movement is filled with people who want to have enough money in their investments that they can live off the growth at an early age.

Now, some of you out there are saying, is that even possible?

I'm not sure I'm ever going to have enough money to retire.

And yet, indeed, there are some people who achieve this goal.

But the sacrifice needed is enormous.

In fact, most save and invest up to 75% of their annual income.

That is commitment.

Now, the movement has gained enough traction where there's actually several different varieties.

First, there is the fat-fire group of people, and those are the high-income earners.

They have nine to five jobs.

They want to save enough to maintain their current standard of living.

Then there's the lean-fire.

These are the people devoted to a minimalist lifestyle where somehow they live on less than$25,000 a year.

And then finally, there's the barista fire, which maybe should be known as Starbucks fire.

These are the people that want to quit their 9-to-5 job and live off a combination of savings and part-time jobs like Starbucks.

Now, maybe you haven't heard of the fire movement before today, but perhaps it sounds attractive.

I mean, how many of you out there would love to retire early if you're still working?

Yeah, quite a few of you probably would raise your hands.

But it begs the question, are you willing to sacrifice to save that much money?

And what would you do if you didn't work?

Some young people have the goal of achieving fire in their 30s, quite a long way ahead of, they have a long life ahead of them.

Now, what I want you to also notice, and what I notice, is that when it comes to money, I usually ask this question later in the process.

What does God want me to do with my money?

What does God want me to do with my money?

Because we like to invite Jesus into many areas of our lives, but when it comes to our money, we don't like to give Jesus that multi-factor authentication.

And yet, ironically, this passage and the fire movement have a principle in common.

And it's this, sacrifice now and enjoy life later.

Sacrifice now, enjoy life later.

The only difference is this.

The Christian hope points to enjoyment in eternity, which allows us to sacrifice more now.

Now, some of you also are saying out there, here Pastor Bob goes again talking about money, which, by the way, I don't know who makes the preaching schedule around here, but I seem to get all the money passages.

Pastor Dave, you are next up for the next one.

Maybe the Lord is speaking to my own heart.

Or maybe he's speaking to our church.

We are in a series called Blueprints where we've been examining the principles of a healthy church and we've seen throughout the course of 1 Timothy that the church should be grounded in the gospel.

We've looked at the requirements for godly leadership.

We've seen how we should care for the poor and the widows.

But do you know what many of those principles require?

Money.

Funding.

And yet many don't like to talk about this topic, but ministry requires money.

Now, I need to make an explicit point as we begin.

Again, money is not evil.

Money is not evil.

And some of us out there have the ability to make a lot of money.

That's part of our skill set.

You are gifted in that area.

But the point that Paul is making in this passage is really about how we handle and relate to the money that we make.

Because a church can become unhealthy when people don't give to support the work of the ministry.

Or people can use their wealth to leverage influence rather than develop a servant's heart.

God wants generous, humble people in his church.

And at the same time, I know many churches that don't handle money well, and that gets them into trouble.

Other churches develop problems because they're obsessed with money.

Now here at NBC, as you've heard us say throughout this series, we take how we handle money very seriously.

We want to do that well.

We also want to be a generous church.

And as an example, we give nearly 20% of our budget out the doors to missions and outreach efforts.

You heard from one of our missionaries today.

So your giving helps to support those lives that are being transformed at TCNJ in Princeton.

That's a mark of a healthy church.

There must be a balance between ministry and money.

Now, I hope, however, that reading a verse like 1 Timothy 6.10 causes you to see that our relationship with our money is deeply spiritual.

After all, what does it mean when Paul says the love of money is a root of evil?

That's some pretty harsh language from Paul.

You might say, well, are people in this fire movement, are they evil?

Are you evil because you want to ascend in your career and make a higher income?

Am I evil because I buy unnecessary coffee at the local coffee shop on a regular basis?

Purchase a nicer car, buy a bigger home, take a lavish vacation.

Is that evil?

Not necessarily.

But the reality is that all of us have a certain number of resources to live in this world and invest in the kingdom of God.

And if you're a growing Christian, you have probably wrestled with this pointed question.

How much is too much?

How much is too much?

Or put another way, how much should I keep?

And how much is God calling me to give away?

Does money or the things money affords me have a controlling position in my heart?

Do I trust my money more than Jesus' provision?

And then, of course, you have passages in the Old Testament where Like this one in Proverbs chapter 30, verses 8 and 9, where King Solomon writes, first, help me never to tell a lie.

Proverbs 30:8

Second, give me neither poverty nor riches.

Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.

For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, who is the Lord?

And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name.

Now, these two verses capture the tension of money and God's kingdom beautifully.

Give me neither poverty nor riches.

Why?

He says, because if I'm too poor to live, I may be tempted to steal for life's necessities.

But if I am too rich, I may be tempted to think I don't need God because I'm good on my own.

Lord, help me to trust you to meet my needs.

Help me to be generous, but don't make me so rich that I forget who blessed me with that wealth.

Wealth.

See, that concept causes a tension.

What does it look like?

Well, in 1 Timothy 6, 3-10, Paul is going to disciple us toward a proper relationship with money and wealth.

And while people in that fire movement want to sacrifice to retire early, God is looking for a different kind of fire in our lives.

Fire for his kingdom.

Money is a necessity in life, yes, but sacrifice now...

and you will enjoy eternity later.

So how do we avoid the love of money?

How do we avoid the love of money?

Well, Paul outlines the problem, and then he offers a solution.

And so I'm going to make it simple today.

We got two main points, and they're simply this.

The problem, we have obsession with worldly cravings.

And then number two, we got a solution.

We focus on eternal contentment.

We got cravings, And then if we follow his teaching, we can avoid the love of money and invest more in God's kingdom.

So let's pray and then we'll look at God's word today.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your goodness and your grace and your mercy and your love.

And thank you for the way that you provide for us, Lord.

Help us to see that today.

Speak to our hearts as we wrestle with this very practical topic in all of our lives.

And may we lift our eyes up to you and say you are the good God who blesses us with so many things.

We trust you and we give this time to you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So first, the problem.

Obsession with worldly cravings.

So a craving is a vehement, urgent, and consuming desire.

A vehement, urgent, and consuming desire.

That if you crave something, you just have to have it.

For example, I've not been here the last two Sundays because I took a trip to Colorado with my oldest daughter.

And while we were there, I discovered that the famed West Coast franchise In-N-Out Burger has now opened shop in Denver.

And if you've never had these burgers, they are succulent.

They are worthy of a craving.

In fact, we were texting my wife multiple times and she became very jealous.

By the end of our trip, we developed a craving, a desire for this worldly delight.

But now obsession with worldly cravings can very much take our eyes off Jesus.

And that's what Paul starts to communicate in 1 Timothy 6, 3 to 5.

And then he returns to the topic of the false teachers at Ephesus who And applies the principle to them.

So he says this in verse 3.

He says, Now notice in verses 3 to 5, he is calling back to the opening of the letter.

If you go back to chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, Paul charges Timothy to guard against people who teach a different doctrine.

And then when he says, if anyone teaches, he clearly has the false teachers at Ephesus in mind since he's been referencing them throughout the letter.

And after he addressed the teachers...

He defines the false doctrine itself, anything that goes against the teaching of Jesus Christ and the truth of his gospel.

That is not sound teaching.

Now that word sound that you see there is actually a medical term.

It refers both to the type of instruction as well as the effect it has on the lives of the listeners.

And as you can see, when people ingest unsound teaching, they become conceited and understand nothing.

In other words, their spiritual lives are unhealthy.

And that's why at NBC we take, again, very seriously the sound teaching of the Word of God.

Because in the age of the Internet and social media and YouTube, there are plenty of dietary options out there for you.

That if you want to hear Bible teaching, you can listen to Pastor Dave or myself on a Sunday morning, and then in the evening go and ingest a popular YouTuber for dinner.

But if that YouTuber is not feeding you a wholesome meal, you should get indigestion from the teaching.

So beware, because bad teaching can make you conceited and seriously impact your relationship.

It's good teaching that challenges our worldly cravings.

And that's what Paul addresses next in verse 4.

He says, Depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.

Imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

Now, what is the fruit here of unsound teaching?

It is this unhealthy craving for controversy.

It can also be translated an unhealthy interest in disputes.

Now, do you know anybody like this?

Are you somebody like this?

So I want to pause and ask why this is.

Why does bad teaching produce unhealthy controversy?

I would argue that the person is sick.

They are ill.

How many sick people have you met in your church life?

Perhaps you've been wounded by Christians craving unhealthy controversy and I'm sorry if you have.

Maybe you've attended a public church meeting where members of a church said nasty words to each other and quarreled.

Maybe you've raised legitimate concerns to someone and they minimized you for their own gain.

In our modern world, these unhealthy controversies play out on social media sites.

I mean, have you seen the way people argue on social media?

It's amazing what people will say when they are not face-to-face with someone.

Do you have an unhealthy craving for controversy?

Because it can destroy a church.

Now, that does not mean that there are not legitimate concerns and questions to raise about There are, but they should be done in a respectful way with a desire to build up the body of Christ.

In fact, if you'll remember back in chapter one, verse five, Paul outlines the aim of the gospel.

He writes this, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

So in chapter 1, he was directly confronting the cancer spreading from these false teachers.

Paul did not want it to metastasize to the rest of the body because if it did, what would happen?

Well, if you look back at verses 4 and 5, we see what would happen.

It would produce envy.

See, when new trendy teaching arises, people can become envious.

They are not part of the in-crowd.

The false teaching also causes dissension or strife.

In other words, it breaks unity within the body.

And then what happens?

Well, people slander one another.

And this word can also mean they slander the name of Jesus himself.

So if somebody ever slanders the name of Jesus or the teaching of Jesus, you've got to run away from them.

People develop evil suspicions of others and the teachers.

This would also destroy a church through the constant friction.

And that constant friction is placed last because it sums up what results from this unsound teaching.

There's constant friction within the church.

So do you see the result of an unhealthy spiritual diet?

Church, beware the worldly cravings that result from unsound teaching.

That if somebody is telling you something you want to hear in your flesh, be skeptical of that person.

He now offers three negative results from this unhealthy activity.

First, he says their thinking is corrupted.

They're depraved in their mind.

See, when you're surrounded by constant bickering and backbiting and quarrels, how easy is it for you to think?

Second, they are deprived or robbed of the truth.

And that verb means to cheat someone out of what is rightfully theirs.

Have you ever been robbed?

I have, ironically, on a mission trip.

On my first trip to Senegal back in 2014, Paul Wilf, I was telling Paul before this, he remembers this.

We went to Senegal, and at the end of our trip, we were preparing to visit Goree Island in Dakar, Senegal.

And it was just the two of us, and to get out there, to get out to this tourist site, you have to take a boat, and you've got to wait for a while.

And so we decided, well, let's go out and explore.

Let's walk up to this public square.

And we were there during the time of the year where apparently petty theft was encouraged.

And so what would happen is you'd have two people that would come up to you, and one would try to distract you, and the other would pickpocket you.

So we made our way up to this We were on our way back to where the boat was and these two guys came up to me and they were trying to get me to get distracted.

And so they were doing that verbally and we just tried to ignore them and we kept walking.

But eventually one guy grabbed my pants and pulled it down and the other guy pickpocketed me because I foolishly left my phone in my pocket rather than putting it in my money belt under my clothes.

But I still remember as the guy walked away from me looking back and realizing, my phone is gone.

I was robbed.

I was robbed.

And in that moment, I felt violated.

I felt angry.

I felt scared.

And that's what Paul's describing here.

We can be robbed of the truth by a craving for controversy.

That earlier in the letter, chapter 2, verse 4, Paul told us that God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the what?

Of the truth.

He also told us that the church is the pillar and foundation of what?

Of the truth.

These false teachers are robbing people of the truth.

Now don't miss, third, Paul ties this all to the pursuit of financial advancement.

He says they imagine that godliness is a means of gain and that where gain has a financial meaning.

But it does not refer to opulence or extravagant wealth.

In fact, commentator Robert Yarborough sums it up well.

He writes this.

He says, it's not a fixation with obscene wealth that Paul rejects.

His objection here is more subtle.

Now listen to this.

Wherever people think that the gospel message is primarily about better quality of life, personal well-being, or gain as measured in a materialist human consumer society...

then they run afoul of Paul's strictures here.

Now, the modern application of this false teaching is most clearly seen in the health and wealth prosperity gospel peddled by so many teachers, which is often followed by a plea for extravagant giving to their ministry and a promise of blessing.

For example, you're probably familiar with Jill Osteen, who leads the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, a well-known television preacher who makes statements like this.

Believe in yourself and God's favor will be upon you.

Have faith in your abilities and the universe will conspire to bring you abundance.

Universe will conspire somehow to bring you abundance.

Is that what the scriptures say?

Or take Joyce Meyer, another popular preacher with a following.

And here's what she says.

Generosity is a seed that yields a harvest of blessing.

Give with a joyful heart and watch how your resources grow.

Now, I agree we should give with a generous heart, but should our motivation for giving generously be grounded in what we will receive in return, thinking it's a guarantee?

In contrast, Paul tells us this in Ephesians 1.

He says, We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight.

Friends, Paul exalts our wealth in Christ.

Our riches lie in Him.

Now, verse five begins Paul's transition into this application for love of money.

But after reading those quotes and before we move on to verse six, it's worth asking ourselves the question, have I been ingesting false teaching?

Has it given me indigestion or has it altered my mind?

Or do you know anybody in your life who's been listening to false teaching?

This is an important question to answer because it can and it will impact your view of money and wealth.

So many people find their identity and security in wealth and resources.

Why?

Because money touches everything.

Again, when the bank account is full, we feel good.

When the bank account is empty, we panic.

It's only then that we cry out to God when we should have been thanking him all along for his abundance and his blessing and his provision in our lives.

Money can easily become a snare, a trap.

And that's the application for this section.

Don't forget it.

In fact, say this with me.

You have to beware the snare.

Let's say that together.

One, two, three.

Beware the snare.

Turn to your neighbor.

Tell him it's time to wake up.

Beware the snare.

Oh, you've got to beware the snare.

That's right.

Get excited today.

We all will face it.

And one day, money has a way of getting into our hearts that all of us, especially right now, we're acutely aware of money.

Right?

Inflation's rising.

Do you remember those$10 eggs?

Can't afford a home?

A car?

Yet all of us wish at some level, as Rockefeller once said, we had just a little bit more.

Just a little bit more.

And so Paul closes with a warning about the desire for wealth.

Verse 9, if you skip down there.

He says, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation.

Into a what?

Into a snare.

into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Now, do you notice anything about this verse?

Yeah, it's tempting to read this verse and think, oh yeah, Paul's coming after those millionaires and those billionaires and pretty soon those trillionaires.

That's right, he's giving those one percenters the business.

But is that who he's talking to here?

Now, perhaps it applies to people in those categories, but does Paul say the rich fall into temptation?

No.

He says those who desire to be rich fall into temptation.

And my friend, that could be anybody.

You could have a negative net worth and simultaneously desire to be rich.

In fact, John Stott argues that these verses directly apply to the covetous poor.

So what's Paul saying here?

Well, first, all of us, regardless of socioeconomic status, can and probably are tempted by material things.

Second, Paul has in mind the people obsessed with the worldly cravings that he depicted in verses three to five.

Now, specifically, he's attacking the false teachers of Ephesus again, because remember, in Ephesus, it was the home of the temple of Artemis and the goddess Diana, where religion was lucrative.

Big religion, as it were, was everywhere in the city.

And while get rich sounds like over-the-top wealth, Paul's rebuke here is for people who have not grasped the riches of their sufficiency in Christ.

Third, when you don't find your sufficiency in Christ, you will be tempted by riches of the world.

And your actions then may seem senseless, leading to potential harm and ruin.

But notice again, in the middle of the verse, Paul issues that warning, beware the snare.

Or as Admiral Ackbar famously said, it's a trap.

It's a trap that when you're tempted and consumed by the allure of worldly riches, if you think they will save you, you will quickly find yourself caught between the Death Star and a Star Destroyer.

Friends, has the desire to be rich ensnared you?

Again, this is not to say that material things in and of themselves are evil.

But what Paul is describing here is a scenario where Christ has been moved to the side for the sake of our lesser desires.

Why does this happen?

Why do we feel trapped?

I'll give you a couple scenarios.

First, I think sometimes people prioritize the temporal over the eternal.

That we are impatient.

We want blessings here and now, and we will do anything to get it.

And the second, when you prioritize the temporal, it puts you on a hamster wheel to achieve it.

That if you work harder and harder and harder and harder, eventually you can't get off the wheel because you've developed a lifestyle where you need to be there.

Does anybody feel that way?

And then, finally, when you work so hard to make all that money, you're on this wheel, you're going and you're going and you're going, and eventually your relationships may suffer.

You may lose family and friends.

You lose what really matters.

And then at the end of your life, if you're not careful, you may be left with that big empty house, but you're all alone.

Friends, don't get trapped.

Beware the snare.

So how can we avoid the love of money?

First, recognize the problem.

There can be an obsession with worldly cravings.

But second, you need to move towards the solution, and that is to focus on eternal contentment.

Focus on eternal contentment.

So helpfully, Paul does not leave us hanging with all our problems.

In verse 6, he does offer a solution.

And before I read this verse, I want to say I believe this is an extremely important verse for all of life.

In fact, the topic raised in verse 6 is one my wife and I speak about regularly.

That when I get the idea for a new project or a new endeavor, she will challenge me with this topic.

And if you're an achiever out there, you know what I'm talking about.

You never feel like you have enough money.

You always feel like there's more to do.

You feel like there's the next mountain to climb, problem to solve, challenge to conquer.

1 Timothy 6.6 is for us.

And so Paul, in grand fashion, gives us the solution to so many of our problems.

What is it?

He just simply says, godliness with contentment is great gain.

Godliness with contentment is great gain.

Now, what did Paul just say?

See, I want us to sit with this verse for a few minutes here because it's not just that godliness is great gain.

Paul pairs it with contentment.

So let's talk about contentment.

How many of you sitting here today, or if you're listening at home or listening to this later on, how many of you are content with your life?

And how many of you are discontented with your life?

Why?

Why are you content or discontent?

Now, I'll give you a definition.

Contentment is simply the state of being satisfied, the state of being satisfied.

So what we're really asking is, are you satisfied with your life?

Now here is why I think this verse is so important and the solution to so many of our problems, because many seemingly good godly people are just not satisfied with their lives.

But in 1 Timothy 6.6, Paul qualifies, again, godliness with contentment.

And the reason he does this is super important.

And so I want you to hear this.

The Greek word translated as contentment is the Greek word autarcheia.

And it's used only one other time in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 8.

2 Corinthians 9:8

The giving passage we covered a few months ago in our 2 Corinthians series.

Now look how the New Living Translation translates this verse.

It says, So here's what I want you to see.

In 2 Corinthians 9a, Paul is talking about material needs.

But in 1 Timothy 6.6, he's talking about inner contentment.

And what's the connection?

That in both cases, Paul is finding his contentment in Jesus Christ and his provision from him.

More than that, that contentment seems to be directly related to what we think we need or what we think is sufficient for the good life.

Now, again, that word autarchia was used in Greek philosophy at the time to describe a person who had all their resources in themselves.

They were self-sufficient.

But a Christian should never be self-sufficient.

They should be Christ-sufficient.

And yet so much of our discontent stems from a lack of satisfaction in Jesus.

We're like little toddlers sometimes, right?

In fact, Phil Reichen offers a helpful illustration.

He says, our discontent begins in childhood.

He calls it child property or toddler property law.

And he gives, this is how the reasoning goes.

If you have little kids, you can resonate with this here.

Think about a kid arguing over a toy.

This is what it's like.

They say, if I like it, it's mine.

If I can take it away from you, it's mine.

If I had it a while ago, it's mine.

If I say it's mine...

Now that may sound childish, but some people remain childish their whole lives.

Never learning the secret of being content.

So Christian, you have to ask yourself this question.

If this is you, why are you not satisfied with your life?

Is it perhaps because you think you need more than you have?

Or is it because Jesus himself is not sufficient to bring you contentment?

And if that's the case, you will always be seeking contentment in other places.

Does Jesus need to reorient our heart towards him?

See, friends, my prayer today is that you would find contentment in Christ, in Christ alone.

Because what we need in the church is more Christ-sufficient contentment.

Now, how do we get that?

You've got to tap into the blessings you have in Christ that we spoke about earlier.

Do you know that as a Christian, you have been united with Jesus Christ?

All his riches are yours.

He opened up access to heaven for you.

And he left a deposit in your heart, the Holy Spirit, until the day he returns to the earth.

You are rich in Christ.

Paul continues this challenge in verses 7 and 8.

He says, Now is that verse as mind-blowing for you as it is for me?

No.

Think about your life for just a moment.

Do you realize that so many of us, especially in central New Jersey, so many of us spend our entire lives acquiring stuff.

If you ever sell your house at the end, imagine how much stuff is in your house that you've acquired.

Over the course of our lives, we acquire grades in school and degrees and professional accolades.

And we acquire cars and homes and clothes and books and toys and trinkets and knickknacks, so many other things.

In fact, there are things that are important to us.

We will sacrifice time and money and effort to acquire the resources to get these things because at some level they're a prize to us.

By the way, none of those things are not necessarily bad.

But the crazy part is this.

One day, you're going to die.

I'm going to die one day.

We don't know the day or the hour.

One day we will die.

And all of those things we worked so hard and spent so much time and so many resources to acquire, you can't take it with you.

It's gone.

As the famous play said, you can't take it with you.

What Paul is saying in this verse is just that.

The eternal reality of our lives should reshape our contentment and our satisfaction.

We brought nothing into the world, we can take nothing out of the world.

Now, like most of you, I was present on the day of my birth, but hopefully like most of you, I don't remember that day, which probably would have been traumatic.

But I was there and I do very much remember the days each of my children were born.

And I can tell you from that experience that they came into the world with nothing but a naked body and a loud scream.

And I've been in the room with people moments after they died.

And whatever they are holding or they are wearing in that moment stays here.

It's not eternal.

What do you actually need?

Food?

Clothing?

Shelter?

And yet so many of us are living discontented, unsatisfied, disgruntled lives because we can't have all the things we think we want.

And what Paul is calling for here is a reorientation of the heart towards the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It will revolutionize the way you live and give.

Are you content, Christian, with your life?

Is Jesus enough?

And if the answer is no...

I would challenge you this week to go home and talk to the Lord and ask him and say, Lord, make me satisfied with you and you alone.

But if you're not, at some level, we're buying into a sort of false gospel.

And that message is all over the place.

In fact, I came across a recent article from Money Watch by Hannah Lang, and it captured this narrative, and this is what she writes.

She says, maybe money does buy happiness, after all, especially if you can afford more of it than your pals.

So she cites a paper published from the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the paper surveyed Dutch households to determine whether they were believing, whether believing you're in better financial standing than your peers can impact your belief or behaviors.

And this was the finding they found, that believing that you earn more than your peers, whom researchers defined as people of similar age and education and marital and homeowner status, believing you earn more than your peers actually makes you happier.

And that impact is evident regardless of actual income, researchers said.

In other words, it didn't matter how much respondents made.

You can make$25,000, you can make a million.

It doesn't matter how much you made, only compare it with others' earnings.

And so one of the lead authors of the study said, when you realize your relative position is good, then you're more happy.

It's not about that absolute number.

Now, I would just say, how does that compare to the words of Paul in 1 Timothy 6, 6-8?

See, when Paul writes godliness with contentment is great gain, why is it great gain?

Because you don't care what other people think.

You only care what Jesus thinks.

Are you building his kingdom, giving generously, serving him?

That's all that matters.

And when your eyes are focused on Jesus, money cannot be your master.

And so now we come back to verse 10.

which makes a whole lot more sense in the context we've just explored.

He writes, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

It is through this craving, this craving, right, that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

And so do you see now that money is not evil in and of itself.

It is our attitude, our obsession with money, and dare I say our potential worship of money that causes many to wander from the faith.

Now the Greek word that Paul uses here for love is the word philargia and that's intentional.

Paul is quoting an ancient proverb which called philargia the capital city of all evils.

The level of depravity here is equivalent with Adam and Eve taking the fruit and thinking they can become like God.

That the love of money is so tempting, it's as tempting as that initial fruit in the garden.

And Paul says that is the root because it serves a hidden motivation driving our behaviors.

Indeed, that axiom, follow the money, is very true of many evil actions in this world.

Actions which lead to destruction in so many cases.

Now again, I will say this.

Those of us who have been blessed with the gift of wealth...

who have the ability to make a lot of money, it requires great spiritual maturity.

Because the temptation is real to flaunt wealth, to leverage wealth for our own gain, and to allow wealth to take the place of Jesus in our hearts.

It is a spiritual battle for the rule of our hearts.

And how does that battle play out?

Money promises answers to three powerful desires.

First, security.

Security.

Money promises you security.

Money says, if you have more of me, you're safe.

No one can touch you.

Any problem that comes your way, you can pay your way out of it.

Second, power.

Money promises you power.

That when you have money, you call the shots.

When you have money, no one tells you no.

You get whatever you want.

And it's pretty intoxicating.

You know what I hear from people many times?

They'll look at somebody who they perceive has more money than them.

And do you know what they'll often say?

It'd be so nice to have that much money.

Why?

Security and power.

Third, meaning.

Money promises to give you meaning.

That when you wake up every day, you will always find ways to make more and more and more.

And you get to the top of your field and you want more money.

The promises of money are so alluring, but they can so easily take your eyes off the true prize.

But now if you read the Bible and you listen to the words of Jesus, you might start to see that the gospel speaks to each of those promises as well.

And it turns them upside down and it elevates them to eternity.

Security?

Jesus says the greatest security you could ever have is the love and salvation you receive when you believe in me.

That on the cross, I secured your future forever.

Power?

What does that mean?

It means you recognize the one who actually holds all the power in the world and you submit to him.

The power comes from Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and the presence of his spirit in your life to live a life pleasing to God.

Meaning, oh, you were made by the creator of the universe, friend.

And you were made to love and to worship Him.

And you only find real meaning through His Son, Jesus Christ.

You believe in Him.

But the danger is real for everyone.

You have to beware that snare.

So, how do we avoid money love?

Well, let me leave you with four diagnostic actions for this week, rooted in our points this morning.

And what I encourage you to do this week is find a space in your journal, take some time to pray, listen for the voice of the Spirit.

First, get out that journal and list your cravings.

List your cravings.

Now, let's just be honest.

We all have them.

We can all just look around.

Everybody's got cravings.

It doesn't need to be In-N-Out Burger, okay?

There are things of this world that we are drawn to which become preeminent in our lives.

They can take the place of Jesus.

And those cravings are inflamed by the narratives of this world.

Just like certain foods are addictive, so are the world's stories.

And many of today's narratives are focused on our individual desires where we become the center of the universe.

What are your cravings?

List them and recognize where you're tempted.

Second, pray and ask Jesus for contentment.

Pray and ask Jesus for contentment.

Now I'm giving you that action because I am assuming all of us wrestle with this point.

And as I mentioned, Many of us live discontented lives, but if you're a follower of Christ, there is a better way, the road to Jesus.

Phil Reichen writes, discontent is life's burglar.

Don't let comparison of others and obsession with your wants rob you of joy.

Ask Jesus for a content heart.

Third, act.

Act, remove those traps from your life.

This is the beware the snare.

Now, some of us know our snares.

We know our traps, the places where our desires are tempted.

Maybe it's a circle of friends you run with.

It could be the investment or gambling websites you visit or the apps you look at.

Where do you feel tempted to get rich at the expense of following and trusting in Jesus?

Remove those traps and place your eyes back on the Savior, the one who is sufficient to bring you contentment and provision this week and always.

And then finally, I would just say aspire.

Orient your lives towards simplicity.

Now, have you noticed that the reason we often need more money is because our lives become more complex?

When I was in college, like Felicity who got up here before, I was pretty happy with water and ramen noodles.

Like anybody else?

That's kind of all I needed.

Some friends to hang out.

Now, I got a hundred things I got to pay for every month.

Right?

Everybody wants more money.

My kids come up.

I want to buy this.

I want to do this.

I make more money than I ever have in my life.

And I'm always finding ways, things to use that money for.

Anybody else deal with that?

What if I simplified my life?

And what if you simplified your life?

Perhaps then money would have less chances to grab a hold of your heart as you seek simplicity this week.

So can we avoid the love of money?

First, recognize the problem.

It's worldly cravings.

Second...

Pursue the solution.

It's eternal contentment.

And then, with the finished work of Christ on the cross and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, we can.

Amen?

Let me invite the worship team to come back on stage and lead us in one last song.

And as they come, I want to just go back to the beginning of the message where we began with that fire movement, that financial independence, retire early.

That movement had a key principle that we can learn from.

Sacrifice now, enjoy life later.

Sacrifice now, enjoy life later.

And as I mentioned, that's actually a very biblical principle.

But we have a vastly different motivation.

Jesus wants us to have fire in our lives, but a very different kind of fire.

He wants us to set our hearts on fire so that we will sacrifice now for the sake of the kingdom.

And then...

We will enjoy an eternal retirement with Christ.

So give, and give generously.

And then later, more people will enjoy the benefits of eternal life with Jesus, because this life is not the end.

One day we will be with Him.

And so Paul comes back to this theme later in chapter 6, and he develops it.

He writes this in verse 17.

He says, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Did you hear that?

Sacrifice now.

Don't focus on the riches now.

Focus on God, the one who provides for us.

Instead, do good.

Be rich in good works.

Be generous.

Share your blessings.

And as you do this, you are laying up a foundation for when?

The future.

The future.

The future when we take hold of eternal life.

And when you get that truth down in your heart, you can avoid money love now.

as you focus on the forever love of Jesus Christ.

And that will bring the greatest satisfaction ever.

Amen?

Amen, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word, which challenges us, which convicts us, Lord.

And yet I pray, Lord, for all of us here today that we would lift our eyes up to you and see that you are the provider of all that we need.

In those times when we are discontent, Lord, help us to recognize we're taking our eyes off of you.

And bring us back, Lord.

Bring us back.

And as we are blessed, may we bless others as you have blessed us.

And may we do that for your glory and for the sake of your gospel.

We ask that in Jesus' name.

Amen.