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Salt + Light Community is a SOMA church plant in the heart of Fort Worth, TX. Here you’ll find teaching and discussions from our gatherings on Sundays.
All right, we're gonna be
in one Timothy five and six.
If you have a Bible or an app,
you're free to turn there with me.
Um, as you turn though, just shout it out.
What's the most famous line
in the Spider-Man movies?
Great power responsibility.
With great power comes
great responsibility.
So that's so quick.
I didn't even look up.
You're just looking down with great
power comes great responsibility.
Yes, with great power
comes great rain, man.
Uh, with great power comes
great responsibility.
Um, that is something that
is, is is in Spiderman.
It's been true in different themes
of power and authority, uh, in
different nations and this kind
of stuff, and also equally true.
Is that through history?
Some people who have power use their
power for good and some people who
have power use their power for evil.
Yes.
Um, so last week if you were here,
we started to, uh, see Paul describe
different relationships within the
household of God, um, and in the
depth that he calls followers of
Jesus to have with one another.
And so if you weren't here, here's kind
of how we said this in one Timothy five.
Paul says, love everyone.
I love everyone and then
care for each other.
Especially we focused a lot on widows
and kind of extrapolated that out to
other vulnerable persons in our midst.
And then we mentioned this third
theme, which is honor servant
leaders, um, in the household of God.
Um, but we, but we didn't dive into
it because it's kind of a bridge
that could have fit with that, but
it also like really introduces some
of the, the topics in today's verses.
Um, so we're gonna kind of just pick
up, uh, where we left off last week
and continue this theme of loving
folks in the household of God.
Um, because power and, and you know
this both in the first century,
in, in, in, uh, biblical times, in,
in places where Paul was writing.
And today in North Texas, power
is so commonly tied to wealth.
Yes.
Power is so commonly tied to wealth.
And so that is one theme in these verses.
And concurrently, a second theme
runs through these verses, which
is a lack of power, which then
and now is, is often tied to a.
Lack of wealth.
Right?
And here's the deal.
People can, can use their power
and wealth for good and for evil.
People can also use their, their lack of
power and wealth for good and for evil.
Um, the way we serve, the way we
interact with each other, the, the
base level, as Paul says, is either
we're we're content and accepting what
God's given or we're striving for more.
And so it turns out like sin runs deep.
Right in all of us.
Um, and what we wanna do today is
kinda look at these, these two, two
groups of power full and powerless.
You have church leaders and then
kind of those in the church, okay?
There's one dichotomy and
then you have masters.
And the word Paul uses here is
bond certains power dichotomy.
There.
And in both of those images, Paul
brings three charges that apply then
and apply today, uh, that, that relate
to power and wealth and responsibility.
And so the, the, the three charges we're
gonna look at, and again, we're just gonna
continue on where we left off last week.
So three, four, and five here, um, are
first picking up where we left off, honor
servant leaders in the household of God
and also leaders in society, honor people
with power and wealth and position.
Do you bristle at that a little bit.
Hang on, hang on.
Um, second, if you don't have power
or wealth or position God's charges be
content, do you bristle that a little bit?
And then finally, everyone
power, no power money, no money
position, no position, be content.
So super easy, right?
All three of these charges,
uh, be godly, excuse me.
Um, but it all starts and ends.
With the last verses of one Timothy five.
So I wanna start there and then
talk both forward and backwards from
there, and then come back to these.
But this is the foundation from the rest.
It's the hinge for all
these groups of people.
Church leaders, not leaders,
uh, rich, powerful, not rich,
powerful slaves and masters.
The sins of some people are conspicuous,
which if that's a new word for you, just
easily seen the sins of some people are
easily seen going before them to judgment,
but the sins of others appear later.
So also are good works, conspicuous
or easily seen, and even those
that are not, cannot remain hidden.
So father, would you help us to hear
from you today and would you help us
to, to be content with the role you've
given us in church and broader society,
and would you help us to rightly
understand the biblical concept of honor?
And would you help us be satisfied
with our station in life?
Those are big asks.
Lord, we need your help with that.
Amen.
All right, so we're gonna dive right into
Paul's charges about those with power,
both inside and outside of the church.
And you can see what the
related word here is.
But he says, within the church will
the elders who rule be considered
worthy of double, what's the word?
Honor.
Honor, especially those
who labor and preach.
And in teaching for the scripture says.
You shall not muzzle an ox when
it treads the grain and the
laborer deserves its wages.
And then jumping forward, let all who
are under a yoke as bond servants regard
their own masters as worthy of all honor.
There's the T so that the name of the
Lord and the teaching may not be reviled.
What's, what does Paul say
do to both of those groups of
of folks in authority Honor.
Okay.
Now to be clear, honor is
different than blind obedience.
That's important.
Honor is different than blind obedience.
We'll come back to that in a minute.
Um, and at the same time, Paul's
point fits within a broader theme, a
broader truth that is, that is seen
throughout the New Testament and that
you know to be true in your life.
And is this, everyone
is under some authority?
Yes.
Yes.
We don't like it, but
everyone's under some authority.
And so there's two things
we gotta understand here.
One is, is we have to put aside
our kind of US history image of
what slavery is or the, the chattel
slavery that is objectively evil.
It is part of our nation's history,
but throughout many societies, across
many parts of the world, there have
also been bond servants, slavery,
household servants, this kind of stuff.
And it looks different in
different parts of the world.
Not saying it's right, but
it does look different.
Um, at the time Paul's writing estimates,
say about a third of the people in
the Roman Empire were bond servants.
A third of the millions of people in
the Roman Empire were bond servants.
Uh, their servanthood
wasn't based on ethnicity.
Um, if anything, if anything, it
was based on war captivity or it was
very common for people to volunteer
themselves into bond servanthood as a
means of providing for their family.
Um, there are situations where even
bond servants had bond servant.
Uh, and so there was a degree, in
some cases, lots of disclaimer, some
cases where this was a voluntary
thing to provide for their families.
The Roman Empire did not have
societal means to care for
slaves who were able to be free.
They didn't have government programs and
this kind of stuff to come and help out.
And so in some ways, and there's records
of this bond, servanthood was the safest
way for folks to provide for their family.
Now, does that make it great?
It still does not.
There's still a power dynamic there.
There's still a wealth dynamic there,
but it's not necessarily the image that
comes to mind because of who we are
in our society and this kind of stuff.
It at least can, could and often
did look a little bit different.
Paul still did not love
the concept of slavery.
For the record, we'll see him in
another verse here in a minute.
Say that very clearly.
But, but Paul also realized, and this
is important maybe for some of us.
He was not in a position to change the
concept of slavery, and the first Century
Church was largely not in a position
to change the concept, the construct
of slavery across the Roman Empire.
And so instead he focuses on what
he can address and what the church
can do, which is to help people
live for Jesus under some authority
and even in a less ideal situation.
Does that make sense?
And, and maybe for some of us, that's,
that's part of the message today is
going, Hey, there's things that we
would love to change by all means.
Like, take whatever steps
you can toward that.
But, but, but when you can't change
a societal construct, maybe ours
is to ask the question, what does
it look like to live for Jesus?
Even in this non-ideal situation?
Even in this thing that I would
love to change, but I can't.
What's, what's my lot, what's
my responsibility here?
Because again, in Ephesians five, there's,
there's an authority code in the home.
There's spouses and there's parents.
In Romans 13, there's a, there's an
authority code In the Roman Empire,
the concept of authority is not bad.
The construct of authority is not bad.
It's good.
In fact, the concept of authority,
the construct started with God.
Who, since Genesis one has involved
people in his plan to reflect him to
the world and he's involved people
in his plan to cultivate creation and
to, to spread his image throughout
the earth, that's what the construct
of authority's supposed to do.
Again, some people in the
church and outside the church.
Some people in different realms of
different societies throughout history
have used their authority for good.
Some have not.
Some have used it for
God's intended purpose.
Many have not.
It's a question of, are you using
your authority to be responsible for
people with great power comes great
responsibility, or do you use your power,
authority, and wealth for selfish gain?
Is that fair?
That's some disclaimers there.
And so with, with that, like that, that
leads to Paul's charge as it relates
to church leaders and quote, masters
leaders in society, leaders in church.
On one hand, bond servants
had different roles.
Many masters, again treated their
servants well, even if they weren't free.
And so bond servants are called to
honor and serve their masters well.
On the other hand, within the church,
first Timothy, a few weeks ago,
we saw that Paul talked through
the roles of elders and deacons.
Um, and just as last week's
principles expanded from widows
to other vulnerable populations.
These, uh, the, these, these verses
expand to various church leaders as well.
And so Paul shows three ways to
honor men and women who shepherd
and guide, or his words rule.
Teach, which again is internally
equipping and preach, which is
external proclamation of the gospel.
Three ways to honor the church
leaders first financially.
It's never weird to stand up here
and talk about this just for the
record, especially those who labor
and preaching and teach each, which
kind of what I'm doing right now.
So not weird, but here's what Paul says.
A laborer deserves his wages.
Is that fair?
Yeah.
Like that Feels like we could
take off whatever hat and go,
yes, that's objectively fair.
Laborer deserves his wages now.
That points both ways.
Um, many of you know, like the other
side of my life is working with different
pastors and church leaders across the
world, and there have been multiple
times where I tell church leaders, I
only hear this verse used to justify a
raise, but a laborer deserves his wages.
Goes both ways.
Like you gotta work, right?
If it's fair on one side, it's gotta
be fair on the other, like this.
For you teens in the room.
See, I'm hip.
I'm with it.
Nobody knows.
Nobody knows what it is.
It's okay.
It's not.
I know.
Yeah.
You think you do?
Uh, anyway.
Okay.
So it goes both ways.
Um, at the same time,
in the first century.
We have to again, kind of get out
of our current worldview today.
Like most churches do
not have set budgets.
Most churches do not have
full-time church leaders.
Even Paul, who's writing this letter,
um, at times was working by vocationally.
He made literal tents.
Uh, to support himself and at times
he fundraised and was supported
by multiple local churches coming
together for the sake of the kingdom.
And, and it seems like if you read
the New Testament, the times that he
was supported by churches were more
of the times when churches needed more
of his help, when he needed to pour
out more of his effort, when he needed
to give more time to the churches.
And so at those times, he would
take up collections to help support
the work and free up that time.
And I think that's the
point of this verse.
Of this principle is that church
leaders are not called to be rich.
I just saw a a, a reel this week of a
church leader defending why he needed
to park his Bentley inside the church.
So, you know, whenever
y'all are ready for that,
just like, no, no, no.
That's, that's not what he's,
that's not what he is saying here.
That's not what he is saying.
He goes, this is, this is God's car.
So it belongs in God's house
and someone goes, well, if we
held funded, do I get to drive?
He goes, God would not approve of that.
It's like, there's a lot wrong with
that is what I'm trying to say.
Um, church leaders are, are,
are not called to be rich.
That's, that's not what Paul's
charging the church to here.
At the same time he's saying
Help him not be poor either.
Again, this is where it kind of ties
into some of last week's, take care of.
Each other if you're being well
served a laborer deserves his wages,
her wages, um, maybe it's finances.
Maybe again, at the time for Paul
it was, Hey, provide him with a
meal and lodging 'cause he's there
for seasons and coming to help.
Those are ways to honor a church
leader with finances, with, with
provision, with, with material goods.
Second form though of honor is, is trust.
Now, to be fair, there's a lot of
untrustworthy church leaders in history.
Um, there's been a lot of untrustworthy
church leaders making the news, um, in
and around our part of the country and
around the world over the last decades.
And so Paul's gonna give a process
for, for rightly disciplining
and bringing sin to light.
We'll come back to that in just a
sec, but honoring church leaders
at least starts with trust.
Uh, he, he, he says, to be
slow in laying on of hands.
Be slow to affirm your leaders.
And so if you did that, if you took
proper time to kind of test and prove
different leaders, then at least
start with the benefit of the doubt.
Here's what he says.
Don't don't admit a charge against
an elder except on the evidence
of two or three witnesses, as for
those who persistence and rebuke
them in the presence of all so
that the rest may stand in fear.
In the presence of God in Christ
Jesus and of the elect angels,
nobody knows what that means.
I charge you to keep the rules without
prejudging, doing nothing from partiality,
do not be hasty in the lane on of hands.
Again, be slow.
Be careful in appointing leaders
nor take part of the sins of
others, but keep yourself pure.
No longer drink only wine, uh, excuse
me, no longer drink only water, but
use a little wine for the sake of your
stomach and your frequent ailments.
Uh, now as an aside, that last part,
uh, elder drunkenness is prohibited,
but here Paul come ins a little wine.
If you remember back in first
Timothy four, false teachers were
saying like, marriage is bad.
There's different foods that
are bad, and this kind of stuff.
So Paul's giving freedom here to go.
No, no, it's, it's okay.
Drink a little wine for your stomach.
Some, some traditions would
say these, this is grape juice.
You may have, have heard
of these traditions.
Um, they're wrong just for the record.
Um, and also if it's, if
it's grape juice here.
Then that same word that's used
throughout the Bible, it's gotta be
grape juice everywhere, which means
a lot of weird stuff that grape juice
does in other parts of the Bible.
Um, if you drink too much grape juice.
So Paul's recommending here some freedom,
but back to the point, um, some church
leaders again, use authority for good,
some use it for you, some cultivate.
Godliness in a church.
Some serve the church, some help
the church thrive, help you discover
your gifts and build up the kingdom.
So Paul's saying, honor those
by caring for those leaders,
by trusting those leaders.
Others though, and again, we've seen
this across our society and social
media feeds and news channels, others
abuse, money and power and position.
And so a third way that he charges
the church to honor leaders may sound
backwards, but it's to bring sin to light.
It is right in honoring
to bring sin to light.
Again, honor doesn't mean empty
obedience, blind obedience,
church discipline for everyone, including
leaders, exists because no church leader
is the ultimate authority over the church.
Who's the ultimate
authority over the church?
Jesus.
Jesus.
And so discipleship is meant to help
people look more like Jesus as we talk
about it here, as being with Jesus and
becoming like him and doing what he did.
Discipleship, you know, it has, you
know what word has the same root
word as discipleship discipline.
So discipline's a form of discipleship
that helps point people to Jesus and
bring people more in line to Jesus.
Our call churches to point all
people toward Christlikeness,
and that includes leaders.
And so Paul lines out a clear path here.
Verse 19 says, uh, don't admit a
charge against an elder except on the
evidence of two or three witnesses.
So there's corroborated problem,
like multiple people are experiencing
something, then bring it to the leaders.
That's part of why church leadership and
eldership in the Bible is always plural.
It.
No one is above reproach.
No one is above, uh, being reproved.
No one is above having something brought.
So if there's corroborated issues,
bring it to the other leaders.
And then like any other leader, they have
a chance to repent and correct themselves.
'cause no human is perfect and
all of us have blind spots.
And so it doesn't say bring,
bring, bring a charge, and then
automatically they're out forever.
It's, it's bring a charge.
And then they have an opportunity like
any other human to correct and repent.
Sometimes there's a formal or
informal process that happens, but
in verse 20, if, and again, only if
I can add they're unrepentant, then
rebuke them in the presence of all
public rebuke sounds strange in our
world of your truth and well, this is
your life and so I don't want to dis.
I don't wanna dishonor, I
don't want to over tread.
Public rebuke is right at times,
especially if there's corroborated,
unrepentant issues with a leader.
Why not to bring shame?
But as we said a couple weeks ago,
part of the role of an elder is
to be an example of godliness.
And so in discipline, even in sin, as
with other aspects of discipleship,
church leaders are called to be examples.
And so if there's something going
on, then, then that needs to be
brought out so that what's it
say, the rest may stand in fear.
Fear of what?
Fear of a holy God.
Fear of sin in our own lives.
If, if he or she who, who we affirmed and
were slow to lay hands on if, if they are
deceived and sinful and unrepentant, man.
Like what?
We all must stand in fear of sin.
Do you understand what he's saying?
If there's supposed to be an example,
and this could happen to them, it it, how
much more could it happen to any of us?
We saw this, some of
you were part of this.
Um, nearly 10 years ago.
We had, uh, two elders who, uh, came
to the rest of our team and told us
on the same day that they had, uh,
disqualified themselves in different ways.
One was very repentant, um, one was not.
Um.
And so we got to call a meeting of
all of our members, um, and we got to
celebrate the one who was repentant.
And with the one who is not.
We got to kind of share like,
Hey, here's what's going on, and
here's what we've tried to do
and here's what's been brought.
And, um, he doesn't seem
to, to want to change.
Um, and so we're asking him to step down.
Um, there's not, not a long meeting.
Those kind of things.
You don't want to, you know.
Drag out and we were in a room with a
bunch of round tables and told people,
if you have questions, come talk to us.
We gave them both an opportunity to share.
One did, one didn't.
The non repentant one didn't,
and she said, if you have
questions, come talk to us.
And some people started to leave and
there were, there were three tables
of folks who were, um, who stayed,
stayed longer and we're, we're,
we're praying the table's together.
Um, and I was so, I was so, so happy
that their response was to pray for the.
Pray for the two guys, for their
families, for their households.
That's what I thought was happening.
Um, but I went over to each table
as they were kind of wrapping
up and I was like, thank you so
much for, for praying for them.
And every table, all three said, we, uh,
we did pray for them, but also as soon as
you said like, Hey, here's what's going
on, here's why we're bringing this to you.
As soon as you dismissed us at
each table, someone said, Hey,
by hearing of that person sin.
God's convicting something in my heart
and I need to bring it out to the light.
And so at each table, people were
praying, yes, for the elders, but also
for something going on that would not
have come up, except that they saw the
public rebuke of an unrepentant elder.
And it just, it was emotionally
charged day for a lot of reasons.
But in that moment, it's
like, gosh, like God's word.
Even in the hardest thing, this is true.
Like something happened.
They, they, they, they saw someone be
rebuked and, and the fear of the Lord
came on them and caused them to confess
what was going on in their own lives.
God's word's, true church.
Bottom line, honor looks different.
There's various ways to honor
a leader, but it all starts
and ends with God's authority.
And so through that lens, we
get to honor church leaders.
In different way, and we get to honor
leaders in society in different ways.
So it leads to the second charge,
and especially this one's written
for those who do not have money
and position and power and, and
Paul's charge is be content.
How easy is that?
You know how money, you know,
how position you have power.
Be satisfied.
Now he's already charged all Christians.
We just saw care for leaders
guard against sin be pure.
And so he, he speaks
directly to bond servants.
Here he says, those who have believing
masters must not be disrespectful
on the grounds of their brothers.
Rather, they must serve all the
better since those who benefit by
their good service are believers and
beloved teach and urge these things.
Can you imagine how
difficult this would be?
Like there weren't multiple churches in
these towns, and so if someone became a
believer and you were joining together
in a community of believers, then as
much as we celebrate like there's neither
rich nor poor male, nor nor female
slave, nor free, that kind of stuff, you
had servants and masters who were part
of the same small body of believers.
That would be awkward.
Yes.
And so this is what Paul charges here.
He says, even if both bond, servant
and master are followers of Jesus,
don't use equality to to, to
shirk your duty, to behave poorly.
And so like the other one, this
charge fits a, a new testament truth.
That that is, that is this,
whatever your station of life is.
And again, most of us aren't in a bond
servant situation, but all of us are in
a station of life with some authority.
Whatever station of life you're in,
trust that God has put you there.
Be satisfied and serve well,
that would be the charge.
Here's how he says it in
one Corinthians seven.
He says, let each person lead the life
that the Lord has assigned to him or
her, to which God has called him or her.
This is my rule in all the
churches, and then he chooses
to go with this as the first.
Division.
Was anyone at the time of his call
already circumcised, do not seek to
remove the marks of circumcision?
Was anyone at the time of
his call becoming a follower?
Jesus, that's what he means there.
Uncircumcised.
Let him not seek circumcision for
neither circumcision, counts for
anything nor uncircumcision, but
rather keeping the commandments of God.
Each one should remain
in the condition of what?
Of, of, of which he was called.
Were you a bond servant
when you were called?
Don't be concerned about it.
And then here's what he says.
If you can gain your freedom,
avail yourself for the opportunity.
Again, Paul's not forced slavery.
If you can do it, do it.
But he who was called in the Lord as a
bond servant is a freedman of the Lord.
Even if you're a slave,
you're free in Christ.
Like likewise, he, he was free when
he was called, is a slave of Christ.
You were bought with a price, do not
become a bond servant of other people.
So in summary, brothers and sisters
in whatever condition each was
called, let him there remain.
He goes on to talk about
singleness and marriage.
We all have these
different stations in life.
We all have these different roles.
We all have these
different responsibilities.
Again, Paul's not commending slavery.
He even tells slaves to be free if they
can, but he also can't fix slavery.
And, and again to the point
everyone's under some, some authority.
Everyone has some
responsibility for other people.
Yes.
Bosses to employees, childs to parents,
teachers to students, churches.
As we saw last week to
widows and vulnerable people.
All the point is all of you,
whatever station God has you in,
he says, serve that station well.
And here's the deal.
Human nature always thinks grass is
greener on the other side of the fence.
Yes, social media certainly
does not help with that.
And so even job to job, every single
job has some perks and some downsides.
Yes, yes.
No job or role has all
the perks or downsides.
Teachers have long summers and zero pay.
Some get to travel and also means you're
away and it adds hardship to the family.
There's some very high paying jobs
that come with very high hours.
I mean, all, there's all these like.
Levers, pulls, pros, cons.
Every job has some perks.
No job has all the perks.
And so as charge as Paul's charging
church leaders and masters and bosses
and people with wealth and power and,
and position to use their authority
for God for good, he also charges
the rest of us serve your role.
Well be content where God has you.
If it changes, it changes.
But the bloom where you're planted
kind of thing resonates here.
If your boss is a follower of
Jesus, don't take advantage of the
relationship you have in Christ.
We said last week we're all, we're all
primarily sisters in brothers in Christ.
That doesn't give you freedom
to shi your responsibility.
Serve even better Pauls 'cause you're
serving a brother or sister in Christ.
If your boss is not a follower of Jesus,
he would say, show true honor and work
as for the Lord, not for that person.
Like shock him with grace and generosity
and the sacrificial service and love
that reflects the way Jesus first
sacrificed and served and loved you.
What would it look like if we
did that every day in our jobs?
Does that make sense?
Mm-hmm.
Whatever role, whatever job,
whatever responsibility you have,
whatever station in life, that's
what contentment can look like.
And there's likely plenty more to
say specifically to folks without
money and power and position.
But since Paul's charge, final charge
is about contentment, we're gonna fold
back in the other groups, the leaders
in the church, the masters, the people
with money and power and position.
Because he says true contentment is godly.
And so his charge to
us is in being content.
Be Godly.
Contentment is Christlike.
Be like Christ.
Contentment is from the Lord.
Be like the Lord.
If anyone teaches a different doctrine
and does not agree with the sound word of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching
that accords with godliness, he is puffed
up with conceit and understands nothing.
He has an unhealthy craving for
controversy and quarrels about words
which produce envy and dissension
and slander and evil suspicions and
constant friction among people who
are, I love this phrase, depraved
in mind and deprived of the truth.
That's some great wordplay.
Because they imagine that godliness
is a means of gain, but godliness
with contentment is great gain for, we
brought nothing into the world and we
cannot take anything out of the world.
But if we have food and clothing
with these, we will be we content.
But those who desire to be rich, the
grass is greener, are the perks of
every other job, but yours, et cetera,
fall into temptation, into a snare,
into many senseless and harmful desires
that plunge people into ruin and
destruction for the love of money is a
root of all kinds of evils, not money.
It's a way to steward money and
do a lot of beautiful things.
The love of money, the love of hoarding
money, the love of wealth, and selfish
gain is the root of all kinds of evil.
Just through this craving that some
have wandered away from the faith and
pierced themselves with many pangs.
So there's times in the New
Testament, you all know this, when
Paul writes and kind of meanders
and is super vague in second Peter.
In fact, uh, even Peter says,
Paul's hard to understand at times.
It's kind of funny here
though, he's very, very clear.
He says, black and white.
There's two paths.
Of godliness and contentment or not.
That.
Verse three, he says, if you're
not content, you're not godly.
Hard stop.
That leads to false teaching, largely
probably a prosperity gospel like I'm
teaching you in order to gain, in order
to get money and, and power and positions.
Today, we would call it
the prosperity gospel.
He says that leads to conceit and
controversy and quarrels and envys and
dissensions and slanders and suspicions,
and frictions, all because you want more
and more and you crave money and power
and position, and you abuse authority
and you despise your station in life.
That's one very clear,
very softly worded path,
or verse six, if you are godly.
You'll be content
and that leads to gain the,
the, the path of discontent.
Dis un ungodliness leads
to all these other things.
The path of contentment and godliness
leads to one thing, gain not to be clear,
gaining power and money and wealth and
position, but rather gaining more of what.
Gaining more of Jesus,
so Paul himself will write
to the church of Philippians.
I've learned in whatever
situation I'm in to be content.
I know how to be brought low.
I know how to abound.
In every circumstance, I've learned
the secret of facing plenty and
hunger, abundance, and need.
Elsewhere.
He encourages or praise.
Forgive me for remembering the details.
God, don't make me too rich or too poor
if everything is stripped away.
Church, you know what you're left with.
Only Jesus.
If you don't have power and wealth and
position, you know what you're reliant on.
Only God
if you have nothing, you
need God for everything.
Yes.
And while we do not like to live
that way, it is objectively good.
Paul says that God met him and said to
him, my grace is sufficient for you, for
my power is made perfect in weakness.
That's a word we love in 2025, weakness.
Therefore, Paul says, I'll Bo boast all
the more gladly of my weakness so that
the power of myself, no, the power of
Christ may rest upon me for the sake of
Christ than I'm content with weakness and
insults and hardships, and persecutions.
And calamities for when I am weak.
I'm strong.
Why?
'cause he is relying on his
strength outside of himself.
And if you're like me, you
only do that when all the other
places you try to clamor for
strength let you down or crumble.
We saw last week that God
provides for at least basic
provision at times in one Timothy.
He does that through your own finances,
through a widow remarrying, through a
family, taking care of someone through a
church, providing for vulnerable persons.
Through Masters treating Bond
servants well, today it looks
a lot like that same thing.
Plus there's also means that in common
grace, God takes care of people through
things like Social Security and 4
0 1 Ks and nonprofit organizations.
The point is God is endlessly creative,
but gives people what they truly need.
Do people always take advantage of that?
They do not.
Does God give us what we truly want?
That's a different story.
Would Maslow say there's
different layers of needs?
Yeah, absolutely.
But it all boils down if all
these things, other, other,
other things get stripped away.
It all boils down, boils down to
contentment and all boils down to one big
question today, which is, is Jesus enough?
Is Jesus enough?
You don't have to answer that out loud,
but in a minute when we say like, God,
what do you want me to pay attention to?
Maybe, maybe that's the, the
question you might wrestle with,
because I wanna go back to
this, this hinge verse, this
foundation that we started with
at the end of one Timothy five.
The sins of some people are seen, are
clear going before them to judgment.
The sins of others appear later.
So also good works are seen.
And even those that are
not, cannot remain hidden.
It's very clear that for some followers
of Jesus that Paul's writing to and
every church and every city and every
country sense for some followers of Jesus,
those with wealth and power and position
and those without Jesus is not enough.
And, and these are those that he's
writing to that clamor for more
power and wealth and position.
Those that abuse their authority and
those that despise their station,
those that don't serve well.
Others are so good.
It is so, it is so clear in some
people that Jesus isn't enough.
There are others that are very good
at hiding their lack of godliness,
hiding their lack of contentment.
But Paul says it'll be seen later.
And either way, good at hiding it.
Clear, not seen for a while.
It all boils down to the fact that
for them Jesus is not enough and the
promise of God is that sin and lack
of contentment and lack of godliness
will be revealed one day, but he
doesn't end on this ominous note.
He ends on this, this note of grace, okay?
It's not just sin that'll be seen one day.
What else will be seen one day?
Good works.
Contentment and godliness.
Again, you can look at some
people and just know it's so clear
and, and there's times when it's hidden
in your life and in the lives of others.
But the promise is that one day,
your good work, your godliness, your
contentment, your moments thereof
in the midst of a lot of discontent,
that'll all be seen one day.
And that should be really good news.
So I wanna close with this for, for
both people with wealth and power
and position and those without,
um, whatever sin, whatever lack of
contentment, whatever lack of godliness
you feel or face, whether it's today
momentarily, or any day or every day.
And no matter if that lack of
contentment and godliness is
is currently seen or hidden,
here's the good news that Jesus' best
good work covered your lack of good work.
Yes, his best good work covered
your lack of good works.
The good news is that Jesus alone
was perfectly content in God.
And that Jesus alone perfectly
embodied all godliness.
And the beautiful truth is that
Jesus who has all authority in the
church and in the world, chose to lay
it down to become a bonser to you.
You serve a good master,
and even when you fail him,
he covers up all that failure.