Sermon Tone Analysis
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“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 content.
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.
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.”
[1]
I concluded a previous message by citing the fifth verse of this chapter, but without commenting on what the Apostle meant in the final phrase.
[2] Paul had just exposed those individuals who were creating such grief in the congregation in Ephesus; he stated that these individuals (likely false teachers) were “depraved in mind and deprived of truth.”
The evidence offered for this view was that these individuals were especially denoted as warped because they were “imagining that godliness is a means of gain.”
The first verse of today’s text is a conjunction that should be considered adversative; the verse should not be separated from what has preceded.
This means that the verb is emphatic.
Thus, Paul’s intent was that readers would read, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Some translations have sought to demonstrate this emphasis by adding words to indicate emphasis.
One translation reads, “Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment.”
[3] Another translation treats the verse, “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied with contentment.”
[4]
Paul is contrasting the attitude of the false teachers with true godliness.
He is urging Timothy to embrace true godliness while rejecting succumbing to the allure of immediate gratification.
In doing this, he has performed a great service for contemporary Christians.
However, if we are not confronted with the Apostle’s teaching, we will find ourselves drawn toward self-destruction; and in the process, we will congratulate ourselves that we are godly.
Paul has anticipated Peter’s censure of false teachers.
Remember what Peter said about such individuals.
“In their greed [false teachers] will exploit you with false words.
Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” [2 PETER 2:3].
Just as Paul has condemned the false teachers as “depraved in mind and deprived of truth” and motivated by a love of money, so Peter exposes the primary motivation of false teachers as an unbridled love of money.
In fact, Peter says these individuals “have hearts trained in greed” [2 PETER 2:14].
Eugene Peterson has captured the scathing power with which Peter condemns these men in that second letter to the Diaspora, “Their specialty is greed, and they’re experts at it.”
[5]
As a significant aside, the word translated “false” in Peter’s Letter is the Greek word plastós.
The word sounds much like our English word “plastic.”
Like plastic, false teachers can make their words appear to be anything they want.
They can accommodate any expectation because; they can twist and distort their teaching such that it sounds plausible and even true.
Thus, the unwary are easily deceived.
The false teachers “traffic in” separating Christians from their money.
The practise of enriching oneself off the goods of the believers evidently became a problem among the early churches.
In an ancient work known as The Didache we are given these instructions, “Concerning the Apostles and Prophets, act thus according to the ordinance of the Gospel.
Let every Apostle who comes to you be received as the Lord, but let him not stay more than one day, or if need be a second as well; but if he stay three days, he is a false prophet.
And when an Apostle goes forth let him accept nothing but bread till he reach his night’s lodging; but if he ask for money, he is a false prophet.”
[6]
Compare what is written and the tenor of the Apostles’ stern words with the emphasis in some religious circles today.
From earliest days in my service before the Lord I have heard people equate acquisition of wealth with righteousness.
Wealth is presented as evidence of God’s favour—and it is.
However, the absence of wealth is not indicative of God’s disfavour!
Wealth is not the sole evidence of God’s blessing.
In fact, accumulating wealth often blinds the eye to what is truly valuable.
No better evidence of the veracity of that statement can be given than to recall a story Jesus told.
“Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’
But he said to him, ‘Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?’
And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’
And he told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?”
And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’”
But God said to him, “Fool!
This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God”’” [LUKE 12:13-21].
Focus on the cautionary statement the Master delivered to those listening to His words: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
We tend to focus on what a person has rather than who a person is.
We are more aware of an individual’s possessions than we are aware of an individual’s spiritual condition.
In too many instances, we promote people within the assembly based on their material wealth rather than their spiritual wealth.
What is worse, we are prone to sacrifice our spiritual position to pursue the acquisition of goods.
We do this to our own detriment.
Let me emphasise the parable we just read with an account related by the Master.
What is related here is more than a parable—it is a factual account of a man who actually lived in ancient Israel.
This does not appear to be a hypothetical situation; Jesus was familiar with the individuals in the account and with their final condition.
He names names, which would not be the case in a parable.
He indicates that the individual continues to exist in a state of torment, which would be known only to the One who judges.
Therefore, this account must be taken quite seriously by each of us.
“‘There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table.
Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side.
The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
And he called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.”
But Abraham said, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.”
And he said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.”
But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.”
And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”
He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead”’” [LUKE 16:19-31].
I read the full pericope, but I want us to focus on a generalised concept—this rich man was condemned because his wealth had caused him to shut his heart to the needs of others.
Clearly, an absence of repentance figures in his dark destiny.
He is quite eager that his brothers repent and avoid the torments of Hades.
Again, wealth blinded the rich man to the needs of others; he was so focused on acquiring wealth and using that acquired wealth for his own comfort that he failed to see that he was accountable to God who gives wealth.
If I live as though the accumulation of wealth is the summum bonum of life, then I must be prepared to accept that I am not rich toward God.
Thus, I must accept the consequences of my own actions when I pursue wealth to the exclusion of God’s will in my life.
I have taken care to emphasise this at the outset precisely because it is distressingly easy to become enamoured of money.
Jesus warned, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” [MATTHEW 6:21].
Before going any further in our study this day, I encourage you to take a brief test.
Do you wonder what your treasure may be?
You may quickly determine what your treasure is by a simple four-part test.
Write down the test and apply it to your own life.
Your treasure is that which you would most hate to lose should it be taken from you.
Your treasure is that to which your mind turns automatically when you are free to think of anything you wish.
Your treasure is that which engages your sincerest attention and occupies the majority of your free time.
Your treasure is that which you most love.
The great tragedy surrounding our treasures is that we are oftentimes ensnared by our treasures, and we soon become slaves to the very things we treasure most.
[7]
With this admittedly extended introduction, let’s explore together the instruction provided to Timothy concerning godliness.
Let’s caution ourselves from the outset not to focus on the things which are destined for dust as though they can make us happy.
Happiness is not joy, and joy comes from a living relationship with the True and Living God—not from things.
*GREAT GAIN IN A WORLD OF DISCONTENT* — “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 content.”
As I already noted, the conjunction is adversative.
Paul is expanding on what he has said concerning the false teachers.
He has exposed them by pointing out their motives and moral/ethical character.
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