Devotion + Contentment = Great Gain

Alright, well we are almost at the end of our series through the New Testament letter of 1 Timothy.

If you have your Bible with you, you can open it up to 1 Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

And we will have the words on the screen as well for you to follow along in case you don't have your Bible.

Here in chapter 6, Paul touches on three significant issues.

First of all, he gives some instructions for slaves about how they should treat their masters.

That's in the first two verses.

Then he moves on to giving Timothy some wisdom about false teachers and divisive people.

That's in verse 3-5.

And finally, we will only go as far as verse 10 today, he gives some wisdom concerning money and materialism.

Now each of these subjects could probably be its own sermon.

And my first draft of this sermon was 45 minutes long, so the good news is I cut a fair amount out.

We're going to move very quickly over the instructions to slaves.

Linger a little longer on the words of wisdom concerning false teachers.

And spend most of our time on the subject of money and materialism.

Let's start with these instructions to slaves.

Let me read the passage for us.

Paul writes,

All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect,

so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered.

Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they're fellow believers.

Instead, they should serve them even better,

because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers,

and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves.

These are the things you are to teach and insist on.

So this is a whole discussion and topic within the Bible that we're just going to summarize this morning.

So what follows are a number of statements that we can see when we look at all that the scripture has to say about slavery.

Slavery was a normal part of the society and culture back in the first century,

and even before that, all the way back through the history that is in the Bible.

Many were not slaves because they had been kidnapped or stolen away from their families,

but because they had sold themselves into slavery to pay off their debts.

The instructions of God in the Bible about slavery do not condone it or recommend it as a good thing.

God's word does not call for the immediate release of all slaves by their owners,

but it does contain the words that point towards the abolition of slavery as a good thing for all.

Christ instructs both Christian masters and slaves to treat one another well,

with dignity, kindness, respect, and love.

This kind of conduct between Christian slaves and their masters honored Christ.

This kind of conduct between Christian slaves and their masters upheld the established authority and laws of the day.

And this kind of conduct between Christian slaves and their masters protected the gospel message from slander.

It allowed it to spread further and faster, meaning many more people saved from an even worse kind of slavery,

which is slavery to sin and death.

And finally, the way that God handles human slavery on earth,

as we see all through the Bible,

reveals his ability to bring good out of human evil.

And it highlights his transforming love and power

over against man's tendency to hurt and abuse and take advantage of one another.

That's all I'm going to say about it this morning.

Let's move on to the next section and consider Paul's wisdom for Timothy about divisive people and false teachers in the church.

Verse 3.

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ

and to godly teaching,

they are conceited and understand nothing.

They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words

that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions,

and constant friction between people of corrupt mind

who have been robbed of the truth

and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

So this is a long thought from Paul with a lot of stuff baked into it.

What is Paul saying here?

First of all, who is he talking about?

He says, if anyone teaches otherwise.

So Paul's talking about people who are teaching,

people who are advocating things,

people that are seeking to influence others with their words.

And what defines these people?

They're teaching otherwise.

They're teaching contrary to the things that Paul's now saying to Timothy.

And if we're listening carefully to the flow of Paul's thought here,

Paul's actually saying that the instruction that he has right now been giving

to Timothy in the letter is the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me just read it one more time and see if you hear that.

He says,

These are the things you are to teach and insist on.

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction

of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching,

and we'll finish the thought in a moment.

So Paul knows that Jesus Christ himself is speaking through him

as he is writing this letter to Timothy.

And essentially he's saying,

Timothy, the way that people respond to these words

is to be a litmus test for you.

People that rise up against these instructions,

which come from Christ himself,

they are,

and then what follows is a list of things that they are.

Paul says,

If anyone does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ,

they are conceited.

Conceited means exceedingly proud.

Probably the original word here also includes not just the idea of pride,

but also the blindness and foolishness that goes with being exceedingly proud.

Pridefully deluded.

He goes on,

If anyone does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ,

they understand nothing.

So Christ's words are the very foundation of the truth.

They are the words that the household of God should be built on,

or that the life of a person should be built on.

And if we're rejecting that foundation,

then it doesn't matter what we build on top of it.

There's a problem.

The way that Paul says it is very strong.

He says your understanding amounts to zero.

I mean, what good is the whole framework and structure of religion

that is built on what is false?

What at its core is not true is a lie.

They understand nothing if they reject the clear instruction of Jesus, says Paul.

They have an unhealthy interest in controversies

and quarrels about words.

Some of the other translations bring this out a little stronger.

Unhealthy interest is a very soft way of saying it or translating it.

A little more accurate probably is that they have a sick craving for controversy

or speculations.

Disputes over words?

They love that.

This isn't just an unhealthy interest.

These people are vocally teaching otherwise to Paul and to Timothy.

They're vocally disagreeing with the Lord Jesus' own apostle.

And they're promoting controversies and speculations

and deviating from the sound teaching, from the godly teaching.

They're listening to the words of Paul

and then they're quibbling over them and twisting them.

Well, he probably doesn't mean that.

He probably means this.

Paul says that the problem with controversies and speculations

is that they result in envy, strife, malicious talk,

evil suspicions, and constant friction.

This is quite the list.

What's the result or the fruit of these pridefully deluded people

and the controversies and the speculations

and the arguments that they're promoting?

It's causing envy to arise in the church.

We heard in chapter 1 that they were making a big deal of genealogies,

perhaps suggesting that some are superior to others

because of their ancestry

and causing envy to arise between the members of the church family.

It's causing strife, conflict, rivalry between members of the church

or factions within the church.

The things that they're advocating are stirring up malicious talk.

Malicious talk includes things like slander,

saying things that are untrue about other people,

insults, or just disrespectful words that are spoken to lash out or to hurt.

These pridefully deluded people and the controversies that they're advocating

are causing evil suspicions between people.

It's leading members of the church to suspect things about one another that aren't true

and to distrust one another.

And all this is causing constant friction.

The sense here is that this is an ongoing thing.

That relationships in the church are now characterized by irritation

and arguing and fighting and tension.

This is quite the impact that these teachers are having.

How would you like to be a part of a church that's characterized by all these things?

Envy.

Conflict.

Constant arguing.

Insulting.

Disrespect.

Slander.

Where everybody is suspicious about one another.

We get the sense here that there were real factions in the church.

This is not a good thing.

This is not a good testimony to the Lord Jesus.

The good news is that it's not everybody in the church who's getting sucked into this stuff.

In verse 5 he seems to shift back to attributing these things to those people who are promoting them.

The bulk of this bad fruit is owing to the teachers themselves.

And perhaps to their closest followers.

They are the ones who have corrupt minds.

Who are devoid of the truth.

And these are strong words.

We get a sense that these false teachers and their most devoted followers maybe even weren't born again.

Somehow they had gotten into those positions in the church.

But now they're unresponsive to the instruction of the Lord Jesus himself that's coming through Paul.

And through Timothy.

Now we don't know how bad it got in Ephesus before Paul wrote this letter.

It was bad enough that right out of the gate in the first chapter Paul said command these men not to teach these things.

But we also notice that here in the passage he says if anyone responds in this way.

And so it sounds like Paul has encountered a lot of these kinds of people before as he's been ministering to the already established churches traveling around.

So what are we to take from this?

I think the Lord Jesus wants us to be wise to this today.

It can happen in the local church.

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

It's not happening in our local church.

But here's the danger that Timothy and Ephesus never faced.

In our day and age a false teacher doesn't need to be in the local church.

And yet can still influence and lead members of the church astray.

A false teacher today doesn't even need to attend church.

And yet there's the real potential for him to cause division and conflict and strife within a local church.

How many of you have ever fallen for clickbait on YouTube?

Probably all of us have if we've figured out how to get on there and use it.

And some of those YouTubers, some of those self-appointed discernment ministry people online,

they know exactly the kinds of titles and exactly the kinds of questions and graphics to put on there

to get people to click here and to watch and to listen and to read.

And if we get listening to these people who we don't really know,

we can easily welcome the false teacher right into our home.

And we can carry the false teacher around with us in our pocket

and even get dinged when he has something new to say to us.

But is that person on the screen trustworthy?

Here are some questions we can ask to evaluate and to discern.

Questions to reflect on.

Is this online teacher pulling me back into the word of God

and helping me see what's been here all along?

What's the effect of this online teacher on me?

How is this online teaching affecting the way that I relate to people in my church?

Is it making me more like this verse 4?

Or is it whetting my appetite for controversy and speculation?

Is it making me more contentious, more critical of others, more suspicious of others?

Or is this online teaching me helping me to love the people in my church more?

Is it encouraging me to strive for peace with them,

to forgive them as the Lord has forgiven me,

to extend grace and compassion towards them?

Is this online teaching revealing my own pride?

Is it humbling me?

Is it giving me eyes to see the needs of others?

These are some questions that we can ask.

I think if we look at the overall message of this wisdom that Paul gives to Timothy,

the message is this.

When it comes to false teachers,

just like Jesus taught to his disciples about false prophets,

you will know them by their fruit.

At this point, Paul flows into a discussion of money and materialism.

One of the hallmarks of these teachers is that they're greedy.

They're after money.

They think, says Paul, that being devoted to God isn't the goal.

It's a means.

It's a means to what they really desire,

which is financial gain.

This is maybe another hint that, as we talked about last Sunday,

that all of the elders in the church were receiving some form of financial compensation from the church,

perhaps an honorarium of some sort.

And so it seems some of these men,

which Paul has run across in his travels,

are pretending to be devout

in order to get themselves the honor,

the gain,

the profit that goes with the position in the church.

And so Paul now offers Timothy some wisdom

about this particular ungodly desire

and attitude of greed.

He says,

they think that godliness is a means to financial gain,

but godliness with contentment is great gain.

Being devoted to God,

that's what godliness means,

being devoted to God with contentment

is great gain.

These teachers have the opposite attitude,

the opposite desires to what they should.

The true gain,

the great gain that we should strive for

is not financial or material.

And it comes to us by being devoted to God

while being content with what we have.

And now Paul

adds some more

to back this up,

to explain why.

Well, I'm missing the verse there.

Verse 7.

He says,

for we brought nothing into the world

and we can take nothing out of it.

Godliness with contentment is great gain

for we brought nothing into the world

and we can take nothing out of it.

These are powerful words.

We all started in this world with nothing.

Think of that.

completely naked.

Completely naked.

No possessions.

No money.

Completely dependent on others for everything.

Which means that life in its greatest meaning

is not about how much you have.

This kind of entrance into the world

reveals that we were made more

for relationship

than for ownership.

It points to the reality

that life is not about

who has the most.

Paul says,

we brought nothing into the world

and we can take nothing

out of it

when we die.

This is one of the most powerful truths

that there is

to fight against greed.

Do you realize

that the way we all started out in life

with absolutely nothing

is the way that we're going to end

our time

on this earth?

When it comes to money

and when it comes to possessions,

death separates us

from everything that we have.

Our possessions,

our money,

they don't come with us

when we die.

And it's true

for everyone.

And so money and possessions

really only matter

for that span of life

between birth

and death.

For us in Canada,

that's an average of 80 years

unless there's some kind of accident

or tragedy.

Here's another perspective

to work into this.

Most of the money that we have

is earned.

Meaning that we put time

and effort

into working

in order to get those dollars.

We give a certain portion

of our lives

to doing certain jobs

and tasks

in exchange

for that money.

And so that money

represents a part

of our time.

It represents

a piece of our life

put in at work.

Which means

that with most

of the money

that we spend,

we're actually exchanging

a piece of our lives

for that thing

that we're buying.

which means

that if I spend

lots of my money

on stuff

that I don't need

for myself,

for my comfort,

for my pleasure,

for my entertainment,

for good looks,

for status,

if I spend

lots of my money

on things

that I don't need,

I'm trading

lots of my life

for things

that I'm going

to lose someday.

Things that I can't keep.

This is a sobering thought.

How much of our

working lives

have we already

exchanged

for things

that we don't

really need?

Greed

leads us

to waste

our lives.

We put a lot

of time and effort

into working

to earn money

only to spend it

on things

that we don't need

or that don't

really matter.

Things that we

can't keep.

Contentment,

on the other hand,

is about

being satisfied

with having

the basics.

Look what Paul

says in verse 8.

If we have

food and clothing,

we will be content

with that.

This is probably

one of the hardest

things for us

to accept

in our North

American culture

which is so

deeply consumed

and motivated

by greed

and by

self-pleasure,

self-entertainment.

Do we really

need that thing

that's on sale

for Black Friday?

Or do we just

want a new one?

A better one?

A shinier one?

A more comfortable

one

for a good price?

For many of us,

we're so far

beyond this

simple statement

in verse 8.

If we have

food and clothing,

we will be content

with that.

I'm convicted.

Are you?

Paul goes on

in verse 9.

He says,

Those who want

to get rich

fall into temptation

and a trap

and into many

foolish and

harmful desires

that plunge

people into

ruin and

destruction.

It's hard to

imagine how

Paul could have

stated this

any more

strongly.

He just piles

on the words,

six words,

which all together

paint a picture

of how the desire

to get rich,

to grow your money,

to have more

than you need

is dangerous

and deadly.

That desire

leads you to

fall into

temptation,

he says.

And it's a trap.

The more

that we give

into greed,

the less free

we are.

We become

caught up in it

and it's difficult

to get out of it,

almost like an addiction.

We're so used

to scratching

that itch

whenever we feel

it,

that we just

can't stop.

We just can't

bring ourselves

to let that itch

go unscratched,

that desire

to go unsatisfied.

And it leads us

to do foolish

things,

says Paul.

Stupid things

and things

that are harmful.

Now,

of course,

these things

don't look

or feel stupid

or harmful

at the outset.

We think,

yes,

having this

thing,

that'll make me

happy,

that'll make life

better.

Or working

even more hours

or getting a

second or third

job,

or changing

to this much

higher paying

job over here,

it's gonna make

everything better.

But giving

into greed

always comes

with a cost.

cost.

It takes

a toll.

It exacts

a price.

It does

damage

and harm.

Whole families

have blown

apart

because they

spent

without restraint

on all kinds

of things

that they

didn't need.

Spending even

more than they

had,

going deep

into debt

to have

the bigger

house,

the nicer

car,

the holiday

trailer,

and the truck

to go with

it,

and the

expensive

toys,

and gadgets,

and suddenly

we're back

at the beginning

of this passage.

We've become

slaves

to our own

stuff.

And we have

to work

more,

longer hours,

two or three

jobs to make

the payments

in all these

things,

or to cover

the upkeep

of all these

things.

And as we

work more

and longer,

what happens

to the relationships

in our family?

We see each

other less

and less,

a toll

is taken.

Fathers

are absent.

In some

cases,

both mother

and father

are absent.

Husbands

and wives

don't see

each other,

don't spend

that quality

time together,

and the little

time that

families have

together is

scarcely

enough to

have good,

strong,

healthy,

loving

relationships.

Throw a little

conflict in

here,

which we all

have from

time to

time,

and it's a

recipe for

disaster.

Families,

marriages,

are blown

apart.

Paul isn't

kidding here

when he says

that these

desires do

harm.

Even more,

he says,

they plunge

people into

ruin and

destruction.

Sometimes we

look at the

devastation and

damage in

people's lives

and we see

them spiraling

out of control

and maybe we're

just wondering

like,

what's happening

in that family?

What's going

on?

How did

they get

there?

Could it

be that in

some families

and some

people's lives

there was a

silent killer

that they just

kept making

payments to,

not realizing

the damage it

was doing

until it was

too late?

Greed.

Discontentment.

It's not just

a bad thing.

It's not just

a sin that we

need to repent

of.

It is that.

It's a deadly

thing,

says Paul.

It's an itch

that if we

keep scratching

could completely

undo our

lives and

destroy everything.

And we're

not just

talking about

excessive

greed.

We're talking

about desiring

and going

after more

than the

basics,

as we heard

Paul say

in verse

eight.

Paul goes

on in verse

ten.

He says,

for the love

of money

is a root

of all kinds

of evil.

Some people

eager for money

have wandered

from the faith

and pierced

themselves

with many

griefs.

There's an

important distinction

in this

verse.

Paul doesn't

say that money

is evil.

Money itself

is not

inherently evil.

It's just

bills and

coins

that are

used to

exchange

the value

of service

for goods

or for

other services.

The currency

is not

evil.

Having money

is not

evil.

And we're

going to

hear more

about that

in this

chapter

as we

go on

in the

weeks ahead.

But loving

money,

loving money

is a root

of all

kinds

of evil.

evil.

And it's

not just

loving the

money itself

like I

love to

run my

fingers

through the

bills and

the coins.

It's loving

also the

material things

that money

buys.

Or the

security,

the sense

of peace

or power

that money

gives when

you have a

lot of it

piled up

there.

You may

love a

certain kind

of material

thing and

have this

desire to

collect all

of them or

to have

several of

them even

though you

really only

need one or

maybe you

don't even

need any

of them.

So you

put down the

money again

and again

and again

to get more

and more

and more of

that thing

that you

love.

That too

is the

love of

money.

For most

of us,

money is a

means to

an end.

We love

what it

enables us

to do.

And just

in case we

haven't caught

the seriousness

of this

warning yet,

Jesus adds

in one

last warning.

He says,

some people

eager for

money have

wandered from

the faith

and pierced

themselves with

many griefs.

Not only is

there the high

price and the

damage and the

harm that it

can do to

you or to

your family,

but some

people have

left off of

following Jesus

because of

that love.

they've

wandered from

the faith.

Now we're

not going to

speculate about

whether these

people were

born again or

not or whether

they repented

and came back

or not.

It doesn't

say.

All we know

is that at

one time they

were here

saying,

I believe,

and now

they're gone.

And what

led them to

leave?

Paul says it

was greed.

It was the

desire for

other things

that came in

and choked

out the

word,

making it

unfruitful.

All of this

calls for

sober reflection

and prayer.

The good

news is that

Jesus died

to cleanse

us from

all sin

and from

all guilt,

from all

greed,

and from

all the

guilt that

we have

incurred

through our

lives,

because of

greed.

And so

we run

to the

cross.

It's there

that we

find complete

forgiveness.

But now

I wonder

if even

on the

other side

of the

cross,

for those

of us

who believe,

I wonder

if some

of these

words expose

for some

of us

maybe a

sin in

our lives

that we've

been blind

to,

that even

as Christians

we've been

blind to,

a pattern

of desires

or behaviors

that we've

been giving

into.

Everybody

else in

our world

around us

is doing

it.

We see

all the

advertisements

that promise

happiness and

pleasure,

if we get

more and

have those

things.

Could it be

that some of

our griefs and

sorrows right

now,

some of the

stresses in

our lives

right now

actually trace

back to

this?

choices in

our lives

that we've

made about

money or

for money,

for material

things that

we don't

need,

that we've

gone after

just out of

the greediness

of our

hearts,

in an effort

to scratch

that itch

and just to

make our

lives more

comfortable,

more pleasurable.

the good

news is

that however

much we've

blown it,

however far

down we've

fallen,

the Lord

is gracious

and compassionate.

He's slow

to anger,

he's abounding

in love,

and so let's

turn to him

and let's

repent,

let's find

freedom from

the trap of

greed,

and forgiveness

from the guilt

of greed,

and healing

from the damage

of greed.

Let's do

that now

together.

Father in

heaven,

we are

stirred deeply

by these

words,

and convicted

deeply.

We confess

to you

for every

time that

we have

scratched

that itch

of greed,

we ask

for your

cleansing

and for

your forgiveness.

Thank you

that Jesus'

blood

atones

for our

sins

and truly

wipes

our

slates

clean.

Lord,

we don't

want to be

slaves to

anything

or anyone

but you.

We ask

that you

would teach

us in the

midst of

this culture

that we

live in

to be

content

with the

basics

as we

live for

you.

May knowing

you

and having

you

and walking

with you

be the

end

goal

of our

lives

and not

just a

means.

We want

you,

Lord,

to be our

treasure

and to

have all

the love

of our

hearts.

We pray

this in

Jesus'

name.

Amen.