Sermon Tone Analysis

I Timothy 6:3-10, 17-19

 

! I.     Introduction

Start playing song before I get up, with words on the screen on a background of money related images including casinos, banks, etc.

 

“Money, money, money it’s a rich man’s world.”

I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay \\ Ain't it sad \\ And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me \\ That's too bad \\ In my dreams I have a plan \\ If I got me a wealthy man \\ I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball...

 

Money, money, money \\ Must be funny \\ In the rich man's world \\ Money, money, money \\ Always sunny \\ In the rich man's world \\ Aha - ahaaa \\ All the things I could do \\ If I had a little money \\ It's a rich man's world \\ \\ A man like that is hard to find but I can't get him off my mind \\ Ain't it sad \\ And if he happens to be free I bet he wouldn't fancy me \\ That's too bad \\ So I must leave, I'll have to go \\ To Las Vegas or Monaco \\ And win a fortune in a game, my life will never be the same... \\ \\ Money, money, money \\ Must be funny \\ In the rich man's world \\ Money, money, money \\ Always sunny \\ In the rich man's world \\ Aha - ahaaa \\ All the things I could do \\ If I had a little money \\ It's a rich man's world \\ \\ Money, money, money \\ Must be funny \\ In the rich man's world \\ Money, money, money \\ Always sunny \\ In the rich man's world \\ Aha - ahaaa \\ All the things I could do \\ If I had a little money \\ It's a rich man's world \\ \\ It's a rich man's world

 

This song is typical of many people in our world.

They desire to have more money and think that they will be happy if they get it.

As the song says, “always sunny in a rich man’s world.”

Of course, we don’t believe that.

We know it isn’t true, or do we?

I have often wondered, “Why does the Credit Union have door prizes so people will attend the annual meeting and why do we attend because of the door prizes?

Why do hockey teams have a 50~/50 draw as a fund raising event?

Why do some of you put $5 into a pot in order to make playing poker more fun?

This morning, we want to look at another writing which also speaks about money and gives us a very different perspective.

Please read with me I Timothy 6:3-10,17-19.

Once again as he has in other parts of the book, Paul addresses the problem which this church seems to have had, a problem with false teachers.

The root cause of their false teaching was that they did not pay proper attention to Jesus Christ and his teaching.

Paul says in verse 3 that their teaching “does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He attacks the false teachers and warns people to stay far away from them.

One of the results of their false teaching is, as he says in verse 5 that they “think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”

Did they teach, like some do today, that if you are a believer, you should expect God to bless you with wealth?

This is unlikely.

It is more likely that they received money for their teaching and became wealthy in that way.

I have heard some say that if you want to get rich, start a religion.

This statement about godliness and gain launches Paul on a discussion of how a believer ought to think about money.

!

II.

Godliness And Contentment I Timothy 6:3-10

!! A.  Godliness and Gain

As he begins, he does an interesting play on words to force us to shift our thinking.

In verse 5 we read about the false teachers, “who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”

Although in the Greek original the word “financial”, which appears in NIV, is not there, I think that is a good interpretation.

The idea that “godliness is a means of financial gain” implies that having financial gain is the highest goal a person can have.

That is an idea that many of us share.

The play on words, however, is between “godliness” and “gain.”

In verse 6, these two words appear again when Paul says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Now the implication of such a statement is that it is not financial gain that will give us satisfaction, but rather that if we are godly people and godliness is our primary goal, and if we are content, then we will have “great gain.”

What a radical shift in thinking that is!

It forces us to grapple with the truth that perhaps financial gain is not the highest goal we can have.

It makes us think about the truth that money is not the thing that will truly make us happy.

Instead, we are forced to realize that godliness is the highest goal and if it is accompanied by contentment, then we will truly find happiness.

Instead of merely using the word “gain” the second time, he uses the words “great gain” to help us realize that what we are really looking for – happiness, satisfaction, peace – are found in a completely different place than with money!

What a radically different way of thinking for people whose minds are fully set on “money, money, money.”

!! B.  What Is Contentment?

Of course to really understand this radically new way of thinking, we need to understand what contentment means.

The Greek word means “a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed.  2 sufficiency of the necessities of life.  3 a mind contented with its lot, contentment.”

(Strongs) So in other words, contentment means that we are happy where we are.

Can you imagine what would happen if we thought like that?

Our entire economic system would fall apart.

The retail industry would fall apart because it is built on dissatisfaction.

People buy a pair of pants, but two months later they are tired of those pants and need a new pair.

Recently I was thinking about cars.

They build highway tractors which travel over a million miles.

Why can’t they build cars that do the same?

They would last 30 years, but that would never do because by that time the car would be hopelessly out of style and most consumers would never stand for that because they would not be content without something new every few years.

This is a radically different way of thinking, and yet this is what the Bible calls us to.

In verse 8 it says that “if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

Who of us is content with food and clothing?

We all want much more than that.

But notice what the text says.

It does not say, “if we have food and clothing, we should be content with that.”

It says, “if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

Is that possible?

That is what contentment means.

It means that we realize that if we have food and covering, we have everything to satisfy us and we have all we really need and it is OK.

!! C.  Why Godliness & Contentment?

How in the world is that possible?

!!! 1.

The Long View

It is possible when we understand what Paul says in verse 7 when he says, “For we have brought nothing into the world and we can taken nothing out of the world.”

This wording which appears in most translations tries to deal with what is a rather difficult verse in Greek.

The original wording is “For we brought nothing into the world because we can take nothing out of it.”

The problem is the word “because.”

Does it mean simply that our life is bracketed by having nothing?

Or did he get it backwards meaning because we brought nothing into the world therefore we can take nothing out either?

Or could it be that it means exactly what the Greek wording says, that we brought nothing into this world because we can take nothing out?

I think we are probably on the safest ground taking it the way it is written, but what would that mean?

What it teaches us is that we need to take a lesson from our birth.

In the end we can take nothing out of this world.

We will go into eternity with empty hands and that is the reason why we came into this world with empty hands.

We entered with empty hands and we should therefore live content with what is provided for us.

One writer says, "the reason why we brought nothing into the world is because we are not going to be able to take anything out."

The implication of this is that we are built for eternity and that gives us a powerful reason for contentment.

If this present world is our whole life, then by all means let us accumulate as much as possible, but it is not.

Since we are built for eternity and will live by the provision of our eternal benefactor, why spend a lot of time gathering what will mean nothing.

To be consumed with possessions, when we have this eternal perspective is like looting the Titanic and putting all your hoarded treasures in your cabin which is quickly sinking into the ocean.

I like the joke about the man who was determined to take his possessions to heaven and gave instructions for his possessions to be converted into gold bars and put in a bag and placed in his hand when he died.

As the story goes, he died and his instructions were carried out and he came to the gates of heaven with his bag of gold in his hand.

When asked what was in the bag and why he wanted it, he showed the angel his bag of gold, with a smug look on his face.

When the angel saw what was in the bag, he was rather puzzled and asked him “why do you want to take pavement into heaven.”

We came with nothing and we leave with nothing because we will inherit something much better, and that is why we will be content with food and covering.

!!! 2.    The Dangers Of Discontentment

The other reason we will be content with food and covering is because we discover that there are terrible dangers associated with discontent.

In verses 9,10, he talks about those who desire to get rich and all the trouble they get into when they pursue getting rich instead of godliness and contentment.

First of all, there is the trouble of temptation.

If we want to get rich, we put ourselves in the path of temptation.

If we want to get rich, we put ourselves into the path of the temptation to covet what others have.

We set ourselves up to be jealous of what others possess.

It puts us into the path of temptation to cheat and steal.

I bet half of the movies about crime are about people wanting to get rich and committing a crime because they yield to those temptations.

Wanting to get rich also leads to a trap.