September 12, 2004 GODLINESS with contentment
When a Christian really grabs hold of the promises of God, he will realize that God has given him everything - absolutely nothing has been held back. First and foremost, he has complete perfection in Christ. Hebrews 10:10 states that we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Second of all, God promises us that ALL THINGS work out for our good. (Romans 8:28) Therefore, he believes Paul when he promises that, “All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” (1 Co 3:22-23) This has a great effect on the way he lives. Obviously, he has to be content. You and I realize that if God has everything serve our good, and we are most importantly going to heaven - how can we complain? How can we really be unhappy with what God has given us? But it goes beyond just being content. Paul told Timothy that “godliness with contentment is great gain.” When we are content, it leads to living and pursuing a godly life. Today we’ll see how.
I. It frees us up to serve freely
Godliness with contentment - that’s God’s formula to stewardship. If anything in this formula is missing or reversed, it leads to disaster. For example, many people are driven to contentment WITHOUT godliness - which leads to disaster. It’s found in little kids who think, “I have to make the soccer team.” Or, “I have to get that new video game.” In high school they think, “I have to get a new car”, or “I have to get a date.” As you grow older, the have to’s become more expensive. People feel they have to get new furniture, a new house, more children, and a hundred other things. Others get plastic surgery on their bodies thinking that then they will be more acceptable to society. The problem isn’t necessarily that they are seeking these things - but that their world revolves around them alone. As a result, everything they seem to do in life - whether eating, drinking, working, dressing, or playing - never brings contentment.
Even we as Christians can get caught up in this mindset. Max Lucado wrote an interesting book called, “If I only had a Green Nose”, that wonderfully illustrates how this goes. It features two little wooden dolls - one by the name of Punichello . They lived in a village where everyone felt it was fashionable to have green noses and walk with their noses in the air. Punichello at first thought it was ridiculous to walk around with a green nose, but when a cute girl thought that Punichello should paint his nose green, he went ahead and painted it green. Pretty soon, the color changed to red, then yellow then another color and another. After they had spent several months trying to keep up with the other dolls, they finally gave up, went back to their maker, had him painfully rub off the coats of paint from their noses, and went back to being what their maker had made them be.
Another error that is made in looking to godliness FOR contentment. What I mean by that, is that they try to sacrifice themselves and meet a standard that they think will make God be happy with them - and then give them everything they want. They think that if they put ten percent of their money in the plate or pray every evening then God will have to be happy with them. They treat God like a vending machine of contentness - give God his quarter and He’ll give them what they want - making them content. In the end, this too was a selfish motivation - because it is based on wanting God to recognize you and appreciate you.
God’s ideal in giving us the Gospel - in telling us that God has already recognized us and accepted us in Christ - is to make us content - so we realize that in the long run - all of these things don’t matter. If you know God loves you in Christ and that is all important to you, then you have a single focus in life - to praise Him and have people glorify HIM. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. In comparison with heaven, it doesn’t matter if your classmates think you are out of fashion. It doesn’t matter if you end up broke. It doesn’t matter if you don’t’ get a promotion. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any friends and people think you are a loser. All that ultimately matters is what God thinks of you. As Paul said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. (1 Ti 1:15-16) As the song says, “Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me.” God already recognizes and accepts you as a son or daughter - before you do anything. No matter what the world thinks of you, God loves you in Christ. No matter how sinful you are, Jesus died for you. Through faith in Christ - you are going to heaven.
Do you see how this frees you up to serve? A real key to performing well in the Olympics or in big games or even at a musical recital is to first of all be able to relax. If you don’t know how to relax, chances are your muscles will tense up and not perform as they are capable. In the same way, how can you really serve if you are constantly tense and worrying about messing up? How can you give glory to God and serve Him in your life if all you ever worry about is how other people think about you - or whether God will punish you if don’t do it quite right? In the parable of the minas, there was one man who was too afraid of losing it - so he buried his talent in the sand. So what did the master say to him? “I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’ (Lk 19:20-23). He should have at least done SOMETHING with his mina - but he was too afraid. God doesn’t want us being so afraid to serve that we do NOTHING.
When you are content with what you have in Christ, instead of living in fear, you live in freedom. Some times in my ministry I find myself not speaking up as much as I should, out of fear as to how someone will react or what someone will think of me. I might think I have a good idea to reach out or help people to grow, but since it is different I am afraid that people will call me a wing nut or that it will fail. If we live our lives that way - afraid of failure and ridicule, we’re bound to be afraid to serve and really let loose. However, if I live with a confidence that I am accepted in Christ and doing things to give Him glory - according to His Word - why should I let these fears drive me? You can ask yourself the same questions. Are you not having friends because you are tensing up around people? Can you not get a job because you are too worried in your interviews? Go back to the Gospel - ask yourself - are these things really worth worrying about?
II. Leads to generous giving
Could you imagine how free life would be if we actually physically lived that way? What if you lived with the realization that all you really need is food and clothing - a bare minimum. Think about what you would end up putting in your garage sale - your TV could go along with your cable bill. Over half of your clothes and shoes could go. Your computer could go, along with your internet service. Your air conditioning could go. Your new furniture could go. Your new car could go. You could really let loose and relax in your conversations with people - because you wouldn’t worry so much about what they thought of you. You don’t need those things to survive. Imagine how simple life would really be - if you actually lived by the motto of Job, “naked I came from my mother’s womb - and naked I will depart.” (Job 1:21)
When we really look at life - being content with food, clothing and Christ - it helps in the way of stewardship. For then we realize that a majority of our stuff is just an excess - more than we need or deserve. When we look at life this way - it helps us in a number of ways.
1. It helps to separate us from the view point of the world - which is never happy with what it’s got. We won’t constantly work and claw and wear ourselves out to get rich. When we already call ourselves rich, we save ourselves a lot of work and effort over meaningless stuff that rots. It makes it easier for us to follow Jesus when He says in Matthew 6:19, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”
2. If we realize that our stuff is not needed and is going to rot anyway, it makes us less possessive of it. If God gives it to us - that’s great. And if He takes it away, then we don’t stress about it. This past year we have had a tremendous amount of medical bills with our children having tubes put in or what not. At first, when they came I was pretty stressed about it. But when I tell myself, “that’s the way God wanted it - I can’t take it with me anyway,” I don’t stress over it as much or lose sleep over it. It enables us to ROLL with the punches and enjoy our possessions more.
3. In the parable of the shrewd manager, Jesus talked about a manager who used the responsibility he had to help prepare for his life without a job. Jesus then said, I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves. (Lk 16:9) Since we realize that our possessions and money are going to rot anyway, we naturally ask, “how can I do something meaningful with these gifts I’ve been given? How can I make it last an eternity? How can I spend and use it in a way that will glorify God’s name?”
4. When we remember that everything we have in excess to Christ is a LUXURY - it then also helps us to be generous. If I don’t need my money to get to heaven, I can offer more to church or to the needy. Instead of spending my time and efforts on myself and my toys - I can sacrifice my time and efforts on more noble efforts - children, church, family, friends and neighbors - instead of SELF.
True stewardship and godliness, then - revolves around viewing our lives in the light of the cross and the empty grave. If my salvation is not based on how well I use my money or on how many talents I have, then I can use them without fear.
III. Encourages God to give us more
God promises that godliness with contentment is great gain. In the parable of the Ten Minas, the master gave the one unused mina to the man who already had ten minas. This didn’t sit well with the other servants. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. (Lk 19:25-26) When the man with many talents was not possessive of his talents - but willing to take a risk with them and use them, God blessed him with more.
The easy thing to do is to be conservative with your gifts - to bury it - after all - at least you won’t lose it and nobody can ridicule you if you lose it. I know there is probably some skepticism out there over our new program called “Together Time.” Some of you are counting the dollars for advertising and saying to yourselves, “this is a waste of time and money.” You might think to yourself, we could be spending that money to pay down our debt or buy a new carpet. But how does a new carpet ultimately spread the Gospel or reach out to people? How does that get our name out? If we are too afraid to fail that we try nothing, we will soon find that our church is dying instead of growing.
When the devil told Jesus to jump from the temple so God’s angels could catch Him, Jesus told him, “it is written, don’t put the Lord your God to the test.” But there is one place that God tells us to test Him - and that is in our giving. In Malachi 3:10 the prophet encouraged the people to - Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. In today’s text Paul said, godliness with contentment is great gain. When you use your gifts in a contently generous way - to spread the kingdom of God - He promises great gain. The purpose in this promise is not to make us greedy - but to encourage us to be generous - with the promise from God that He will provide for us - somehow - in some way.
So how have you been? Have you been as generous with God as you have been with yourself? Have you spent more money on movies and furniture than you have on God? Have you been willing to risk your health and your retirement and your friendship to share the good news of Christ? Or have you been too afraid of failure to take any risk? Not one of us can stand straight up before God and claim that we haven’t worried from time to time over whether we’ll have enough to survive. Not one of us can stand here and say that we’ve been content with all that we’ve been given in Christ - that we’ve been trusting enough to take risks for Christ. We’ve been selfish - overly concerned about what other people think of us, and too greedy. Yet as Christians, we can always go back to the promise that God gives us in Christ. You can tell me to be quiet. For Paul declares -
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Ro 8:32-34)
A few days ago my daughter was given a handful of skittles. Joyfully she placed them on the table and started eating them one by one. It didn’t take long for her little friend to come by and ask her for one. Very forcefully she blurted out, “no!” She was then told, “but Maia, look at all of those Skittles that I gave you, couldn’t you spare just one.” She then agreed - seeing that she had plenty more for herself.
Unfortunately, even as we grow up we continue to act like my daughter. You’ve been given much more than Skittles - you’ve been given life and salvation in Christ. Your plate is full. Yet God has given you so much more - a house, a family, health, riches beyond what any of us deserve. When God comes to you and says, “could you share?”, how will you respond? Before you blurt out “no” - remember that God promises you that your plate will always be full of what you NEED - even if you can’t see it. Then take from your table and share it - risk what you’ve got and use what you’ve got to the glory of God’s name. That is what godliness with contentment does. Amen.
