Good to see everyone here this morning.
Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to 1 Timothy.
Sorry.
First Timothy chapter six, we're nearing the end of our study of First Timothy.
Let's begin with a word of prayer and then we'll get started.
Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you've granted to us, the blessings that we have and the opportunity that we have to serve you.
Lord, we're grateful for the...
congregation that we're surrounded by the people who encourage us, exhort us, provoke us to love and to good works on a daily basis and a weekly basis.
Lord, we pray that you will be with each and every one of them.
Lord, we pray that you be with the nation that we live in and the nations throughout the world.
We pray that you will be with their leaders.
The choices they make might be those which promote good and peace, that we might have doors of opportunity.
to reach the lost and peace while doing so.
Lord, we also pray that we might have boldness to speak the truth no matter what comes in this life, no matter whether it is looked upon as favorable or that which is opposed.
We pray that we might always be bold to declare the truth in love.
Lord, we pray that you be with those who are struggling with illness, struggling with difficulties.
Lord, especially pray
for those who are struggling spiritually.
We pray that you give them strength and that they might look for that strength in your word and your will.
They might know both how to walk and how to live on a daily basis.
Lord, help us to always be diligent, to grow in wisdom and knowledge and in understanding.
to always remind ourselves of the settled and basic matters that we might be reminded of both how to live and how to serve you acceptably.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
Paul writes to Timothy as he is instructing him concerning how he is to teach, what he is to teach, the things that he is to do in the church there in Ephesus as Timothy is working
with that congregation.
He says to him, if verse three of chapter six, if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
and to the doctrine which accords with godliness.
He is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, revilings, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt
minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain from such withdraw yourself.
Now, as he goes into this discussion concerning those who desire to be rich, he's doing so out of a primary context of those who desire to be rich who are teachers of the gospel.
He points out to Timothy that there are those who would trade the truth for something other than the truth if it was more profitable, if they'd make more from it.
If they would be able to have more income from teaching falsehood or from teaching error than from teaching the truth, they'd teach falsehood.
because they consider the very act of godliness to be a monetary purpose.
They consider their actions to be those which they can leverage into profit instead of being right in the eyes of God.
So.
As you consider this, and I will make mention just because we didn't get a notice up on the class, if anybody's looking for the new converts class this morning, it's down the
hall by the ladies restroom, it's the next door down from the ladies restroom uh in the double room that's in there.
So you're welcome to go to that class if you were intending to do so.
uh You won't interrupt us at all, but that's where that's located.
uh that's getting started this morning.
So in verse six, he says, now godliness with contentment is great gain.
Paul is going to set in opposition to some people's desire to use godliness for gain.
He's going to set in opposition to that the fact that godliness is gain.
He's taking the very motivation and the very mindset of these individuals who he is instructing Timothy, not only do you not let them teach, you withdraw yourself from them.
You don't associate with people of this nature.
But he says to Timothy as he is instructing Timothy regarding this, he says the problem is not just their action, it is their motives.
It is the fundamental thought of their heart because they see godliness not as something of value but as a tool for profit.
Paul will tell Timothy that when you marry together godliness, godlikeness, that is being in a right relationship with God in such a way as to share His character.
Paul says when you have the image of God in you, the character and the nature of God in you, and then you live that out and you're content with that, now you've found profit.
Now you've found real gain.
There was a woman in the days of Jesus who was a widow.
Jesus was standing there by the gate of the temple as individuals would come in and they'd bring their offerings in and they'd drop them into the treasury box and he was standing
there with his disciples observing this practice and he observed and they observed individual after individual come in and
give out of their abundance.
They gave and they gave plentifully, but they had an abundance to give from.
And as Jesus observed this, here comes a widow who gives to mites.
When you think about that amount, number one, it's pretty insignificant, even in that day and time.
but also consider something that was pointed out by Brother Scott Cain in a class I was in recently, that this very well may have been all she brought into her marriage as her
dowry.
There's an indication in the Greek and in the original text that could actually be what this was.
And when a woman brought into marriage what she had in her dowry when...
her marriage ended, she did not, in Jewish society in first century, she did not automatically receive all the things that her husband had.
And there was a very real possibility that all she would have coming out of that marriage when her husband dies was the dowry she brought in.
So you have Jesus pointing out, whether this was from her dowry or this was just simply all that she had, Jesus knowing her situation points out to the disciples,
that she gave more than everyone because she gave all that she had.
Question, how rich is a person who has nothing?
Okay?
The answer is you can't answer the question based upon the facts you've been given.
because riches are not determined by monetary assets.
You could have an individual who has everything, but Jesus will say, what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and what?
Loses his own soul.
Or what shall a man give in exchange of his soul?
Jesus is pointing out to those who are willing to hear and listen
that the things which you determine in life to value, those are the things you're going to work toward.
And as you assemble those things, as you bring together those things, ultimately the question will be, have you gained any value?
What did Solomon describe as the problem of the individual in Ecclesiastes who strived to gather gold and silver?
You remember what he said?
their vanity, but he also said that they won't be satisfied with gold or silver.
Here's the individual who they strive to gather the riches.
They gather the riches and when they've got the riches they figure out they need more.
That this didn't satisfy them.
That this wasn't actually enough.
They've spent all this time trying to get this and now it's not enough.
Notice what Paul points out is that godliness with contentment is great gain.
Does that mean that we should reach a point where as we think about our character and our life and our relationship to God, we get to a point where we're like, all right, I'm
content, I'll just say this level of spiritual.
I'll just be content with this amount of godliness
I'm good.
Is that what he's talking about?
No, because that wouldn't be like God, would it?
We certainly wouldn't evaluate ourselves and go, well, I'm perfect.
If we decided we were that, then we'd be liars, right?
1 John chapter 1 verse 8, any man says he has no sin, he's a liar and the truth is not in him.
So you cannot evaluate yourself and come to conclusion you're perfect.
Rather, you evaluate yourself and realize, need to become more and more and more like God, but in matters of this world, I'm content.
Paul says, now godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
Consider this idea.
that Jesus would say in Matthew chapter 6,
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What does He, as a result of that statement, exhort and admonish the people to do by way of where they place their treasure?
All right, a little bit later he says, seek ye first the kingdom of God.
When he questions why are they worried about what they shall eat, what they shall wear, where they shall sleep.
He says, do you not realize that these are the things the Gentiles worry about?
Now does that mean that Jesus is encouraging His disciples, encouraging those who will listen to Him to never plan for the future, to never set plans in motion to provide for a
family or anything like that?
No, he's not talking about what you do and what you work for.
He's talking about where your thoughts are.
He has come out of a discussion of you cannot serve two masters.
For either you will hold to the one and despise the other, or you will love the one and hate the other, you cannot serve God and money.
He's talking about the motivation.
He's talking about the heart.
He's questioning, where is your focus?
And what do you serve?
If you serve money, if you serve riches, if you serve wealth, if you, as Paul says in verse 9, but those who desire to be rich.
Jesus says if you've supplanted God as your priority, godliness as your focus, seeking the kingdom as your drive, if you've supplanted those things and replaced them with this
world's goods as your drive, your motivation, and your focus.
then Jesus said, you've become like the Gentiles.
and you will hate God.
you will abhor God.
Someone says, well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I know many rich people who every day is focused on riches and they're very religious.
Question, are they godly or are they religious?
because the people who Paul was talking about here in verses three through five were religious.
But they wouldn't listen to wholesome words.
They wouldn't continue in the things that were righteous.
They would promote those things which were for their own benefit.
Paul is pointing out that having the necessities of life, we should be content.
Verse 8.
What, we've kind of batted this around for a little while, but what does the word content mean?
Satisfied?
What else?
Happy with what you have.
Turn over to Philippians chapter four.
Philippians chapter four verse eight we read, finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever
things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.
The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do and the God of peace will be with you.
Paul has just described, characterized, and turned into an active process that you can do what it means to be godly.
What it means to have godliness.
To think on these things and do these things.
But then he says, verse 10, but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.
Paul is going to describe the livelihood, the life of a content person.
He says, in regards to the gift and the support, the monetary gift that they sent to him, he says, I do not speak in regard to need, for I've learned in whatever state I am to be
content.
I know how to be abased.
What does it mean to be abased?
Huh?
To be brought low.
All right, to bring something down to its base.
We call it a basement, right?
It's the area below the floor of the house.
He says, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry.
both to abound and to suffer need.
Is Paul saying
that contentment is always seeing everything you have and don't have and considering yourself as abounding in it and seeing everything you have and don't have and needing it.
Notice what he said again.
I know how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
what Paul's pointing out.
is that when there was a need, and you're going to see it, he's going to say this in just a minute.
When there was a need, it was what needed to be done for someone else.
If there was abundance, it was what could be used to the benefit of someone else.
Always to the glory of God.
So when he had abundance, he needed to find those who he could help with it.
When he had abundance, he looked for abundance to help those who needed it.
When he had nothing, he needed
out of a need to help those who needed it.
And to abound more and more in the work.
Watch what he says.
He says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Nevertheless, you have done well that you have shared in my distress.
Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed for Macedonia,
no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only.
For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities, not that I seek the gift." Paul was not in need in the focus of he wanted them to send him money.
He says, rather, he says, not that I seek the gift.
but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account."
Indeed, I have all and abound.
I am full.
Having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God." Now, why is it that Paul could say, if I had
abundance, I had a complete need,
and a complete abundance at the same time, and if I had nothing, I had a complete need and a complete abundance at the same time, and I was content.
Didn't matter which state I was in." Notice what he says.
He says, verse 19, and my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Paul sitting in a Roman prison.
had needs.
He had things that needed to be taken care of.
He had things that needed to be done.
But he knew that God was able to provide for those needs.
And some days he'd do that through a church in Philippi.
And some days he'd do it through the Roman government.
You know, Paul needed to go to Rome.
How did he get there?
as a prisoner after spending nearly three years in prison in Caesarea.
and yet he made it to Rome.
Didn't cost the church a dime.
even got shipwrecked along the way and converted people.
Did Paul figure that out?
Did Paul put one and one together and come to two and realize if I could just get arrested I could get to Rome?
Paul realized that all along the way, his focus had been to seek first the Kingdom.
when Paul was journeying back to Jerusalem at the end of that third missionary journey, every single city he stopped in, every group of Christians he met with, someone came up to
him with the gift of prophecy and told him by the word of the Holy Spirit that he was going to be chained and imprisoned if he continued to Jerusalem.
So why did he continue?
He continued because he had an obligation he had set himself to do.
He had obligated himself to bring funds that he had raised from the churches in the Gentile region to Jerusalem.
and he refused to back down from the obligation to serve the Church in Jerusalem.
even if it meant he was going to be in prison, in bonds, in chains, or killed.
Paul knew how to abound.
Paul knew how to be abased, and he knew it had nothing to do with his physical possessions.
because he knew God had the ability to handle that.
Turn back if you will, 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Paul says, verse 9, But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
Listening recently to an individual who was a financial advisor and he was talking about one of the struggles that he continues to have with people as they grow their wealth.
And one of the pitfalls that they often, he often finds people in when they're
income has gone up.
They've gotten a better job or they've gotten a raise and they've continued to make more money, make more money, make more money.
He said the biggest issue you have is they start living and increasing their lifestyle in accordance with their increased money,
so that they're not actually any better off.
And then when something happens and they lose that job and they can't get another one of the same stature, of the same income, guess what?
Now they can't pay their bills.
Now they're losing money instead of making money.
Why?
Because their lifestyle increased with their income.
And he points out.
that if someone does that on a continual basis, they're always as poor as they've always been.
Except they're more at risk than they've ever been.
because the moment they lose that one thing that made all of that lifestyle possible, all of those things instead of being beneficial become a drag on everything else they can do.
Paul points out that when you desire to be rich, you start putting your focus on things and your attention on things that don't matter.
You ever know someone who grew up poor and now they won't wear anything but a certain level of clothing?
If they were desperate, might go find that level of clothing at a thrift store and not tell anybody they bought it there, but they're not buying and wearing anything less.
What's happened?
They took their focus and their affections off of the things of God and they've put them on things of the world.
As you consider what Paul is saying, Paul says in verse 10, for the love of money.
Now notice he's all, the entire time he's been talking about the mindset and the affection.
the disposition of heart, not the bank account number, not the amount that's in any account, not the possessions that you have, not the assets that you have, none of those
things.
He's talking about the heart.
He says, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and have
pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
It's...
sad to watch the struggle of a person who because of their mental anguish
starts doing harm to their own body.
They start doing things that hurt themselves.
There's been a trend for 20 years among young people who have a lot of problems with anxiety, cutting themselves.
causing scars and issues with their own body because of their mental anxiety.
but it's not a young people problem.
says it's a focus on wrong issues problem.
because Paul says the person who loves money is going to be shooting themselves, piercing themselves.
The visual here in the original language is as if someone was drawing back a bow and letting it go and piercing a target, and the target is themselves.
He says, when some have strayed from the faith to follow after the love of money, he says, they start shooting themselves over and over and over and over again and piercing
themselves through with many sorrows.
A rich man once came to Jesus.
and he came asking the right question, what must I do to have eternal life?
and Jesus tells him to obey the commandments in the law.
and Jesus enumerates many of the commandments that are in the law.
And says, I've kept these for my youth up.
What lack I yet?
Jesus tells that rich young ruler go sell all that you have give to the poor come and follow me
What was the circumstance and the demeanor of the person to whom Jesus told that?
He went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.
You don't have to have great possessions to have misplaced your heart on your possessions.
you can have almost nothing and hold on to that last dollar with everything you have so nobody can pry it out of your hands.
and it won't matter.
because one of these days, you're going to die.
And then, whose will it be?
Yes.
And they evaluate people by what do you have.
And it becomes a do you have this?
Then if you don't, you're not my friend.
And it becomes hard because we want to be accepted where we are.
And in the world, that's not how it is.
I also think it's hard because it requires a lot of trust.
And trust sometimes is not easy.
And trusting God in the most dire of circumstances is not easy.
But I think it's interesting because Paul draws the comparison only because he had already been in those situations.
Which means if we're going to learn contentment, we will find ourselves in both situations at some point.
We will find ourselves in need.
and we will find ourselves in want.
And we have to be prepared for when that comes.
And to not just expect that we will always have plenty because you can't learn contentment if you're never in that situation.
Absolutely.
You know, one of the things that you see people, an interesting comparison or evaluation is a lot of people who build great wealth,
have also been incredibly poor because they've lost it all before.
They have learned through both the cycles of being successful and losing everything that you can still be successful so long as you are still cognizant, you are still capable.
Generally speaking, those who have built great wealth at some point in life were incredibly poor.
And yet they didn't let that stop them from building the wealth and the things that they desired and thought that they could do.
Yet you have others who have very little and they're afraid to do anything because they might lose something.
And yet as you consider this disposition of here's someone who has maybe a great fortune before and has nothing now and builds another one, the thing they don't have is fear of
losing.
Yet, in both of those circumstances, you can find people who their only focus is their wealth, is their money, are their possessions.
Now, in all of this discussion, Paul has at no point judged the rich man to be ungodly or the poor person to be godly.
He's not judged the rich person to be godly or the poor person to be ungodly.
He has pointed out that it doesn't matter which one you are if you're godly.
That godliness is the priority.
That godliness with contentment is the priority.
Then he says to Timothy, but you, O man of God, he's set this contrast.
He said this is what these people who you're gonna have to deal with are.
This is what their motivation is.
You're going to deal with people, and again, we're in a context of teachers, those who are influential in the church.
He says you're going to find those who are influential and the only reason they're influential is it's beneficial for their bottom line.
But he says, you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
as he addresses Timothy, his son in the faith, as he builds the defenses of his son who is separated from him, his spiritual son, he says, you flee these things.
You run away from these motivations.
He's already said you run away from these people.
He said you find someone who's like this and you withdraw yourself from them.
Then you look at their motivations and you run the other way.
He says, flee these things, but rather pursue.
Whenever I read a passage that says, flee this, pursue this, my mind always thinks concerning Elijah.
When Elijah was threatened by Jezebel and he started running, he had just performed on Mount Hermon one of the greatest miracles of
Old Testament history.
in not only calling down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, but praying and it raining again after three and a half years of no rain.
And yet on the eve of that victory, he learns that Jezebel is seeking his life and he turn tails and runs, not out of the area, not out of the city, out of the nation and keeps
going.
and out of the next nation and keeps going.
Till he reaches Sinai.
And having reached Sane, having fled.
to save his own life.
God talks to him at Sinai.
and tells him turn around and go back.
with this purpose in mind, you're going to anoint this person, you're going to anoint this person, you're going to anoint this person.
He fled something that was a danger, but he needed to replace it with something that was a purpose.
Because at the end of the day was if Elijah had lived a normal life, was Elijah going to see death one way or the other?
Whether it came by Jezebel's hand or somebody else, yes, if he had lived a normal life.
Now, Elijah was an exception.
But his time on this earth was still going to come to an end, didn't it?
So was fleeing for the rest of his life what God would have him to do?
No.
No, he wanted Elijah to pick up the purpose.
He wanted Elijah to fulfill his role and mission.
And then he wanted Elijah to prepare the next generation to do the same thing.
You see, when we focus on riches, focus on possessions, focus on wealth, number one,
that people around us will know.
They'll know.
They'll know what motivates us.
Even if we try to hide it, they'll see it.
They may not know how bad it is, but they'll know.
But even more so, our children will know.
They'll understand.
They'll get it intuitively.
And more often than not, they'll become much worse at it.
than we are.
And you know how Paul said that those who desire to be rich and those who love money will shoot themselves and pierce themselves through with many sorrows?
You look at the sadness and the sorrow and the circumstance of so many wealthy families.
And they build great wealth.
And yet the experience of their children and their grandchildren are sorrow after sorrow after sorrow after sorrow because they have been led down a path of self-destruction.
Thank you for your time and your attention.