Introduction:
A. In Calvin Miller’s book Requiem for Love, he begins a chapter with the words: A beggar asked a millionaire, “How many more dollars would it take to make you truly happy?”
1. The millionaire, reaching his gnarled hands into the beggar’s cup replied, “Only one more!”
2. This is the trap of greed that promises that we will be content if we had just a little bit more.
3. Once there was an employee on strike who held a sign on the picket line that read: “Time heals all wounds. Time and a half heals them faster.”
4. George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, said: “The lack of money is the root of all evil, not the love of it.”
5. And Oscar Widle, the Irish poet and playwright, said: “When I was young, I used to think that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am older, I know that it is!”
6. The apostle Paul had a very different view of money and contentment, and today we will explore what Paul wrote to Timothy about money, greed and contentment.
7. Before we get into what Paul wrote, let’s think about our experience here in our country with money and materialism.
B. If you or I were to go to a counselor complaining of depression, anxiety, a sense of emptiness, uncontrollable headaches, and ulcers, what do you think he or she would say to us?
1. One thing that he or she probably wouldn’t say to us is: “I think a lot of your problem is greed and materialism.”
2. In our culture, greed and materialism aren’t considered “problems” and yet they are the cause of much of our discontentment and the problems that follow – depression, anxiety, emptiness, marriage and family breakdowns, etc.
3. Tragically, Americans are, for the most part, discontent, materialistic, and selfish.
4. Sadly, that is not just true of Americans in general, it can also be true of some of us Christian Americans as well.
C. If I were to ask you if you: “How content are you with what you have?” how would you respond?
1. If I were to ask you: “Are you materialistic or greedy?” then how might you answer?
2. I think most of us would say, “I’m not materialistic or greedy.”
3. What are some signs that we might struggle with contentment or materialism more than we think?
4. One sign is that Americans’ total credit card debt in the second quarter of 2022 is $887 billion.
a. The percentage of American cardholders who carry a balance month to month is 54%.
b. The national average card debt among cardholders with unpaid balances is $6,569.
5. An article from December of last year, stated that most American homeowners are “house poor” which means that their mortgage costs so much that they don’t have enough money left over for other necessary expenses, including home repairs which leads to higher credit card balances.
6. We all know that home ownership is expensive, but so are rent payments.
a. But when we are looking at buying a home or renting something, we tend to extend ourselves as far as we can rather than settling for something more affordable.
b. We have to ask ourselves, “Why buy a $500,000 house, or a $350,000 house, when a $200,000 one would meet our needs?”
7. And the same kinds of questions can be asked when purchasing cars.
a. What is causing my discontentment with the car I have?
b. If I need to replace my old car, why do I feel the need to get the lastest and greatest?
c. Why buy a $60,000 car, or a 40,000 car when a $20,000 car would be fine?
d. A July 2022 report showed that the average price of a new car topped $48,000, and the average car payment is $700 a month.
8. The sad reality of greed and materialism is that no matter how low or high our income is, we can outspend our income and end up in financial and crisis.
D. Another thing about our culture that makes it hard on us to be content is the way the advertising machine of our culture bombards us with daily with products and services that are guaranteed to make our lives better and more fulfilling.
1. Advertisers make their living creating discontentment in the lives of the masses so that we will spend more money.
2. We are taught the lie that we are just one more purchase away from happiness and we are only one more pay-raise away from financial security.
3. We think, “If I can have just a little bit more, then I won’t want any more.” But that is a lie.
4. We are like the child that promises their parent: “If you just buy this one thing for me, I will never ask for anything else ever again.”
a. Do you remember saying that to your parents?
b. How long was it before you asked again for something else? A week? A day? An hour?
E. The apostle Paul told Timothy the truth about these matters.
1. Timothy and the folks he was ministering to there in Ephesus needed these truths about contentment and materialism.
a. And we desperately need these same truths today.
2. Billy Graham was right when he said, “If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area of his life.”
3. Here’s an important point that I don’t want any of us to miss today: As people living here in the United States, it is likely that none of us have all we want, but all of us have more than we need.
4. I don’t think that there is anyone in our congregation today whose basic needs are not being met – the needs of food, shelter, and clothing.
a. We tray to be sure our church members have what they really need.
5. Yet, many of us might be challenged to think of ourselves as “blessed” if all we had was our basic needs being met – food, shelter, and clothing.
6. But that’s what Paul said when he wrote to Timothy.
a. So, let’s look at what Paul had to say about these matters, and let’s make sure we are thinking about money and things in a spiritually mature way.
I. THE DECISION OF CONTENTMENT
A. Let’s start where Paul started with this basic truth: 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. 8 If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. (1 Tim. 6:6-8)
1. This is the inspired Word of God, right?
2. What an incredible basic truth: we came into the world with nothing, and we will exit the world with nothing.
3. Where then did we get the idea that the person who dies with the most things wins?
B. Paul’s point is that the wealthiest person in the world is the person who is content with what they have – Paul wrote: “for godliness with contentment is great gain” – is priceless!
1. The richest person isn’t the person who has everything they want, but is the person who only wants what they have.
2. Contentment is not a place or a station in life, rather contentment is a decision.
3. It is the decision that if my simple needs are met, then that is enough.
4. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we wrote: For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (What is that secret?) I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Phil 4:11-13)
5. The decision of contentment means that we decide that life is not wrapped up in things.
a. There is nothing wrong with having and enjoying things, but that is not what life is all about.
b. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.” (Lk 12:15)
6. Paul reminds us that we came into the world with nothing and we will leave this world with nothing, so we should not spend our whole lives focusing on and amassing things.
C. Now let’s consider this question: Does that mean that Christianity requires a vow of poverty?
1. Is there any special virtue in being poor, or in having a constant struggle to make ends meet?
a. No, that’s not the requirement nor the point.
b. The point is that true happiness is found in contentment.
c. And true happiness and contentment are found in focusing on the aspects of life that are truly valuable and that are eternal.
2. A writer in the Wall Street Journal wrote: “Money is an article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider for everything except happiness.”
3. While it may be nice to have two cars and a swimming pool and these things can be used in service to God, the truth is that these things are not what life is about.
a. After the initial excitement of owning something has passed, life goes on, just as bewildering as it always was, and the great problems of life and death once again come to the forefront.
b. In the end, having things and money don’t solve or remove the real problems of life.
4. What is life really about?
a. It’s about loving and being loved.
b. It’s about savoring the beauty of moments that don’t last, the sunsets, the leaves turning colors, the laughter of children, the rare moments of true human connection.
c. And most of all, it is about having a relationship with God.
d. That is the most important thing and the only thing we can take with us when we die - our relationship with God.
D. Therefore, contentment is a decision.
1. Paul decided that if he had food and clothing, he would be content with that. (Vs 8)
2. Contentment comes when we escape the servitude of things and find our wealth in love and fellowship, and when we realize that our most precious possession is our friendship with God.
II. THE DESTRUCTION OF DISCONTENTMENT
A. Paul moved from the positive statement of contentment to a stern warning about discontentment: 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Tim. 6:9-10)
B. This is one of the most misquoted sayings in the Bible.
1. Scripture does not say that money is the root of all kinds of evil, rather it says that the love of money is the root of all evil.
2. Money itself is neither good or bad; but the love of it is what leads to evil.
C. What then are the special dangers involved in the love of money?
1. First, the desire for money tends to be a thirst which is insatiable.
a. There is a saying that wealth is like seawater; rather than quenching a man’s thirst, it just intensifies it.
b. For people who love money, the money they get, the more money they want.
2. Second, the desire for money is founded on an illusion of security.
a. We all think we are more secure if we have money in the bank, and yet money cannot buy security.
b. Money cannot buy health or love, nor can it protect us from sorrow and death.
c. Security founded on material things is doomed to failure.
3. Third, the desire for money leads to greater anxiety.
a. We think the more we have, the more secure we will feel, but the opposite is what happens.
b. The more we amass, the more potential there is for breakdown and loss.
c. Someone said, “Possessions are chameleons that change from fantasies into responsibilities once you hold them in your hands.”
4. Fourth, the desire for money tends to make a person selfish.
a. The desire for wealth often fixes a person’s thoughts on himself or herself, and others become merely means or obstacles in the path to their own enrichment.
b. This, of course, does not have to happen, but in fact it often does.
c. Most of the time, people want things for themselves, not for others.
5. Fifth, the desire for money may lead a person into the wrong ways of getting it.
a. I knew a woman who had a good job at a hospital and her husband had a good job also, but that was not enough.
1. She wanted more, and without anyone knowing it, she began to embezzle money from the hospital.
2. In the end, she was caught, and the total that she had taken was in the thousands.
3. Fortunately, she repented and repaid her debt, but it took a terrible toll on her family.
b. But her story is not unique.
1. You have probably noticed the recent story of the local man who killed himself after shooting his wife and son; the son died, but the wife survived.
2. He had been embezzling money from his workplace, and now it appears that his wife was also in on it.
c. Christians and non-Christians alike have been sucked in by greed and have been willing to do all kinds of evil things to get the money they wanted.
d. Paul was so right when he said that the love of money has caused some to wander from the faith and pierce themselves with many griefs.
e. Sadly, in the end, the love of money can destroy lives and reputations, marriages and health and ultimately souls.
f. I don’t want that to happen to me, or to anyone else.
III. THE DEMANDS OF ENDOWMENT
A. So, how do people who have money (which includes all of us to one degree or another), keep from letting money destroy their lives and souls?
1. Here is Paul’s instruction: 17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share, 19 storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life. (1 Tim. 6:17-19)
B. We notice that the people who are richer are not condemned for having money, but they are told what to do with their wealth and what not to do with it.
1. First, We are told that our riches must not make us proud.
a. We must not think of ourselves as better than other people because we have more money.
b. Nothing in this world gives any person the right to look down on another for any reason, least of all the possession of wealth.
2. Second, We must not set our hope on wealth.
a. We have already mentioned that wealth does not offer security, but God does.
b. In the chances and changes of life a person can be wealthy today and a pauper tomorrow.
c. But God is a solid rock who never chances.
3. Third, We are told to use our wealth to do good.
a. We must use our wealth to do good to others and use it for the kingdom of God.
b. If God has allowed us to amass wealth, then He doesn’t intend for us to just use it for ourselves, rather, God wants us to use it to bless others and build His kingdom.
4. Finally, We are told that such wise and generous use of wealth lays up treasure in heaven.
a. The only way we can be rich in the way that really matters is to use our wealth to store up treasure in heaven.
b. That may sound self-serving to you, but God doesn’t see it that way.
c. I don’t know how all that works or what it means to have been a person who stores up great wealth in heaven, but I trust that God knows how it works and what it means.
d. And I trust that whatever it means it is for our best that God has told us to store up treasure in heaven.
C. Through the teachings of the New Testament, we realize that having wealth is not a sin, but that it is a very great responsibility (sounds like Spiderman).
1. If a person’s wealth ministers to nothing but his own pride and enriches no one but himself, then it becomes his ruin, because it impoverishes his soul.
2. But, on the other hand, if a person uses their wealth to bring help and comfort to others or provision for God’s mission, in becoming poorer, the person really becomes richer.
3. That’s why Jesus said: “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Conclusion:
A. So how does today’s sermon impact you or enlighten you?
1. Are you presently content?
a. Have you learned to be thankful and grateful for what you have, not wanting anything more?
b. Are trying to live simply, without amassing things, so that you can be free in time and money to do other good works?
c. Have you been laying up treasure in heaven, or are you amassing treasure here on earth?
2. Or on the other hand, are you presently discontent?
a. Do you fantasize about winning the lottery or some winning in some other kind of gambling whether it be at the casino or on the sports betting app?
b. Do you envy and judge those who have more than you?
c. Do you need to some help to bring your spending under control and to get out of debt?
d. Some of us can come along side and help you in that process if you would like.
B. Our attitude about money is a serious matter.
1. What we do with our money will make a difference for eternity.
2. Jesus said that you cannot serve both God and money.
3. Paul tells us that the key attitude with regard to money and things is contentment, and he warns us about discontentment and the danger of the love of money.
4. When we focus on God and put our hope and trust in God, then we can be thankful for what we have, and can live on less so we can have more to share.
5. Let’s be sure we get this matter straight so that we can avoid the traps and dangers of discontentment and the love of money, and so that we can do what Paul said, “to take hold of the life that is truly life.”
a. That true life is found in Jesus, not in money.
b. When we put our hope and trust in Jesus, then we can lean on His everlasting arms.
Resources:
• 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, Commentary by David Roper, Truth For Today Commentary
• Just a Little Bit More, Sermon by David Owens
• Charles Swindoll’s “Insights For Living” Radio Program Study Guide on 1 Timothy
