Godliness With Contentment, 1 Timothy 6:3-10 (Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost, August 19, 2018)

Transcription

1 Godliness With Contentment, 1 Timothy 6:3-10 (Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost, August 19, 2018) 3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. PRAY We are studying the book of 1 Timothy this summer. Lord willing we will finish our study next Sunday, then after Labor Day begin a new study on the life of Abraham from the book of Genesis. In our passage for today, the apostle Paul warns Timothy, a relatively young pastor of a church in the city of Ephesus, about false teachers. We ve encountered these false teachers before in our study of 1 Timothy. These teachers were misleading the people in Timothy s church for financial gain that s verses 3-5. The temptation to use religion to get rich has always been a problem. It was a problem two thousand years ago and it s a problem today. But, Paul says, no one ever managed to find happiness just by having a lot of money. If you think money will bring you peace and contentment, you will never get peace and contentment, no matter how much money you make. But, boy, are we tempted to believe that we can. Paul examines this temptation in our text for today, and we ll walk through it under two headings: first, why money can t bring contentment. Second, the only thing that can. First, why money can t bring contentment. Let s be clear up front: the reason money can t bring contentment is not because money in and of itself is evil. 1 Timothy 6 contains one of the most misquoted verses in all the Bible. Verse 10: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Now, haven t you heard that verse quoted as saying, Money is the root of all evil? Money is not the root of all evil. Paul says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. Big difference. Always remember that God made this world and made it good. Money, and virtually all the things money can buy, aren t inherently bad things. Money can be used to bless people and help them to flourish. God is not pleased with poverty. It does not honor him when people go to bed hungry or cold or sick because they can t afford to food or shelter or medical care. ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 1

2 Paul says in verse eight: 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. For a long time I read that verse as Paul saying, Even if you re homeless and have no money, but you have clothes on your back and a meal in front of you, you should be happy. But Paul can t mean that. Luxuries are not essential to Christian contentment but certain necessities, like housing, are. The Greek word translated as clothing literally means covering, so we should probably take Paul as including shelter as a basic human need without which we should not expect someone to be content. Owning a house is not, in and of itself, bad thing. Further, back in 1 Timothy 5:8 Paul writes if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Money is not so evil that Christians must divest themselves of all of it so that they only have enough money for food and the barest amount of clothing. No, Paul says that if we are able we should save enough of it to prepare for the future to care for ourselves and, when necessary, our loved ones. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children s children, but the sinner s wealth is laid up for the righteous. Proverbs 13:22. I ll go far as to say this: if you re a Christian, and you have the ability to make a lot of money, then you should strongly consider making all the money you can. Last week I read an interview with some pastors in San Francisco. Thanks to Google and Facebook and Apple, the Bay Area is a notoriously expensive place to live, and these pastors say their biggest need is for Christians to just live there for 20 or 30 years and be faithful church members. But it is so expensive and the pressure is so great that few Christians end up sticking it out, and the church there (one of the most unchurched cities in the Western world) can t grow. They are begging Christians who can afford to live there to move there. It s a problem in all the global cities, including New York and London. I am not saying everyone who can must move, but it should be considered. Yet I don t think many of us are tempted to give up a big salary because we think it s evil. There is a strain of Christian teaching that says, If you save money or buy insurance you are basically failing to trust God. I ve run into it before in my ministry, but no one thinks it is a dominant view in Oxford, Mississippi. We have the opposite problem here, don t we? We live, not just in Oxford but in the United States, the most materialistic culture the world has ever known. We have to fight not to sin in order to get or to keep our money. The other day I was in a store in town. I had received a discount through a promotion this store was running, but through an oversight I d lost it. But while I was waiting on a salesperson, in my mind I started thinking, You know, if admit I just lost the coupon code, they may not give me a new one. I better tell them I never got one in the first place. What happened? Money was exercising control over me, tempting me to lie so that I could get just a little more of it. By the way, I did tell the truth. But why does it feel like money is controlling us? Why do we so easily compromise or just lose our heads altogether when it comes to money? Because money isn t neutral. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says, No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. But the ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 2

3 old King James version, which transliterates the Aramaic word Jesus used, says it better. It reads, Ye cannot serve God and mammon. My first semester of seminary I read a book by Richard Foster called Money, Sex, and Power, and in it he says the reason Jesus uses the Aramaic word mammon to refer to wealth instead of the Greek word for money to make it clear that behind wealth are spiritual forces: invisible rulers, principalities, dominions, and powers. Money, Jesus says, can t bring you contentment because the spiritual forces behind it don t want you to have contentment. Instead, they want you. This is spiritual warfare. Money does two things to us to try to win the war for our hearts. Money blinds us and lies to us. First, money blinds us. How so? It blinds us as to how much money we have. If you are sitting in this room, it means you are among, at least, the wealthiest 5% of the people on the planet. You heard about Occupy Wall Street and the one-percenters? Well, you and I are at least five percenters, and a few of us may be one-percenters as well. Many of us in this room are doing great financially, way better than we ever thought we would, way better than we had any right to expect. Some of us are actually wealthy. But it often doesn t feel that way, does it? You know why? All it takes is knowing a couple of people who have more money than you do and who spend it a little more extravagantly than you do, and all of the sudden you don t feel so blessed financially anymore. You may even feel poor. You see how they spend their money, and you say, We could never do that I can never buy that, we could never go there on vacation, and you feel poor. It s crazy for us to feel that way, but money has that power. Money blinds us as to our abilities. One of the most deceptive things about wealth is that, once you get it, it makes you feel as if you can do anything. It can make you feel like you are an expert in everything. If you have a lot of money, maybe it is because you are good at business. But the power of money is so strong that now you feel like you know more than the doctors about medicine, more than the attorneys about the law, more about education than your kids teachers, and more about theology than the preachers. It gets to where you won t listen to anyone because you just think you re right all the time. Finally, money blinds us to our own greed. No sin hides itself nearly so well as greed. For example, you know when you re committing adultery. No one is surprised when they commit adultery. No one says, Oh my goodness you re not my wife! You know when you re committing adultery, you know when you re lying, you know when you re stealing, you know when you re jealous. But greed is like carbon monoxide it s odorless, colorless, and before you know it greed has taken over your life and you re spending all your money on yourself. When greed takes over what were once luxuries are now necessities. We don t ask if we can give more to our neighbors, to the poor, to missionaries. We don t ask if we can give more to the church. We don t want to ask those questions, so we don t ask them. We don t want to think about our giving because the power of money has taken over. ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 3

4 Money blinds us to our wealth, leaving us to wallow in self-pity because we know people who have more than we do. It blinds us to our abilities, which leaves us arrogant, unable to take criticism, and feeling no need to pray. And it blinds us to our greed, so we refuse to be generous. Can you see now why money is such an effective weapon in spiritual warfare? But second, money doesn t just blind us, it lies to us. That s verse 9: 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. Most people who want to get rich don t feel that way because they want to trample on the poor or they want to lord their money over their family and friends and show off. No, most people who want to get rich simply want to be safe. And money lies to us and tells us that if we could just get our hands on enough of it, then our futures will be secured. Don t we think that? Don t we daydream and say, If I could just make this much money, or have this much socked away for the kids college and for retirement, I d be set. Nothing could trouble me then. But friends, all the money in the world cannot stop cancer, cannot prevent car accidents, and won t keep your heart from being broken. All the money in the world can t keep your kids from making self-destructive decisions or protect you from being betrayed by those closest to you. In fact, it might make those things worse. All the money in the world can t keep you from tearing your life apart with your own two hands. Money lies about its ability to secure your future, but it also lies about its ability to bring contentment in the present. Money can bring you temporary jolts of happiness. In that respect, it s like a drug. Drugs can make you feel really good for a short period of time. But, over time, you develop a tolerance for the drug, and need more and more of it to get the same high. And as you take more of the drug, it stops being this recreational thing you control and you do once a week or once a month. As you take more and more of it the drug controls you, and your life is all about the drug. About ten years ago there was a huge scandal in the Mississippi bar a prominent lawyer pled guilty to attempting to bribe a judge. It was really sad. At the sentencing, the judge quoted William Barclay, the Bible scholar, to the attorney, and said, The Romans had a proverb that money was like sea water. The more you drink the thirstier you become. Money will never bring contentment. If you set your heart on money, all you ll want is more money. I want to speak to the students directly for a moment. You are at a pivotal time in your life when it comes to money, because you are making decisions now about the kind of work you re going to do the rest of your life. Some of you will be tempted to choose certain majors solely or primarily because you think you ll make a lot of money with those jobs. I promise you: if you choose a career primarily because of the money you will wind up miserable. Money has to be a factor when you decide on a major. But don t let it have the final say. Don t refuse to do something you think you might love just because someone told you, You can t make any real money doing that. Money can t bring contentment. Second, the only thing that can bring contentment. Philippians 4:11b-13: I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 4

5 abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through [or because of] him who strengthens me. When Paul says in verse 11, I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content, the Greek word translated as content is the word autarkeia, which literally means self-sufficiency. It s the same word Paul uses for contentment in 1 Timothy 6:6. Paul is saying, I have learned in whatever situation I am to be self-sufficient. At first that sounds like the most unchristian thing you could say. We re taught in church not to be self-sufficient, not to depend on ourselves, but depend on God. However, self-sufficiency makes perfect sense once you think about yourself the way Paul thought about himself. In Romans 6:3-4 Paul writes, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Paul says the first thing you must understand about yourself when you are a Christian is that you are dead. Now when we think of death, we think it s something bad. We don t want to die. We don t go to the visitation line at the funeral home and say to the widow in front of the casket, I m so glad this to finally happened to him! Of course physical death is an evil thing. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. But Paul says in Romans 6 that when you are baptized in other words, when you become a Christian (for Paul is baptism shorthand for becoming a Christian he s not talking about water baptism here) you die to yourself and get a new life in Christ, and this kind of death is a good thing. Think with me: if you die, it does mean your life is taken away. But what else is taken away? Your responsibilities are gone. No one expects a corpse to do anything anymore. Your worries about your life are gone. What s there to worry about? You re already dead. Your need to impress others and the desire to win the approval of other people is gone. And whatever you ve done in your life that you feel guilty about or ashamed about, that s gone too. Why do you think so many people fantasize about and there are so many movies and tv shows about people faking their own deaths and running away and starting a new life somewhere else? Because we want to be rid of these things in our lives. When you die in baptism by becoming a Christian, your heart still beats, your lungs still breathe, your mind still works. You re still alive, and you are still you. Christianity isn t Hinduism where the goal is to lose all individuality or, for that matter, Star Wars, where the goal is to become one with the Force. You are still you. But when you die in Christ the stuff that keeps you from joy is gone, so now you can live with real contentment. By the way, dying to yourself doesn t mean you just give up on life. You still work, for example, but once you die to yourself in Christ your job can t define you anymore. It can t make you think too much of yourself when things are going well and make you insufferable to others, ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 5

6 nor can it crush you when things fall apart. Work can just be about work, so you can work at it with all your might and enjoy it, instead of using it as a way to feel good about yourself. So, in the context of Philippians 4 and 1 Timothy 6, contentment, or self-sufficiency, simply means Christ-sufficiency. Paul did not think of himself the way we often do, as a free agent: running around the world living his own life, trying to make it on his own. Paul thought of himself as dead, and the only life he had to live was the life Jesus gave him and that life is more than enough. This is precisely what Jesus meant when he said, For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke 9:24. A lot of people in our world think becoming a Christian means trying to be a better person. Nothing could be further from the truth. Becoming a Christian means realizing you needs to die. There must be death before there can be life. There s a hymn that goes, Just as I am though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without. Becoming a Christian means the eyes of your heart are opened and you see that s you. You are a sinner, you re a wreck, you ve blown it over and over again. But then you see Jesus, and that he lived the life you were supposed to live, but didn t. Then you see Jesus on the cross, where he died the death you deserved to die, but didn t. You see Jesus had to take your place and be your sacrifice. You see how foolish it is to live for yourself anymore and now you re ready to live only the life Jesus gives you because you know that s the only way to be content. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20. This doesn t happen automatically when you become a Christian, because of what Paul calls the flesh, this part of our old nature that refuses to completely go away. It keeps drawing us back into anxiety, pride, lust, the desire to feel important and impress others. But you can be sure that you are a Christian when you know you ve got to die to yourself or you re never going to find the contentment you re searching for. You may be worrying about something right now in this room, but you can be sure you re a Christian when you know it s foolish to worry like you do and you re longing to slip back into the life Jesus gave you. Practically, what might this dying to yourself look like? I ve heard Elisabeth Elliot tell the story of a friend of hers who years ago traveled through Europe. She was getting on a train when two well-dressed, attractive young men came up to her on the platform and offered to help her load her bags onto the train. She said, Yes, thank you, so they hauled her bags on board. She went to her seat and sat down, and the men jumped off the train, but when she went to her shoulder bag she found, of course, that those two well-dressed, attractive young men turned out to be thieves. They stole her cash, her tickets, her passport, her American Express travelers checks. So this Christian woman began to pray and said, God, I don t what you re going to do about this, but I m going to trust you. My life is yours, after all. Thank you for whatever it is you re going to do with this. And as it turned out over the next few days she got everything back except $60 in cash. ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 6

7 That does not mean that if you re a Christian when thieves steal your stuff you ll get it all back. But it does mean this: if you ve died and the only life you live is the life Christ has given you, then when good things come into your life (and they will come, because your Father in heaven has promised to provide for you and he loves to give you good gifts), you can say, Thank you, Father I m going to enjoy this. I m not going to live for this, I m not going to turn this thing into an idol, but I am glad you gave me this and I m going to try to enjoy it in a way that pleases you. Thank you. And when hard times come your way you can say, Thank you, Father I don t know what you re doing, I don t know how you re going to turn this into good for me. But it doesn t matter. It s Jesus life I m living anyway, not mine. It s not my job to get me through this. I trust you. Thank you for loving me. When you can face life like that, then you will find that you are content. Because when you know you are dead then really, who cares what happens? God is in control. Paul has this great place in Romans 8:31-32: 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? That s the secret of Christian contentment. Do you know it? I pray you do. AMEN. ã 2018 J.D. Shaw 7