1 Timothy 6:1-10 The secret of contentment

1 Timothy 6:1-10

Who or what masters you?
What dominates your thinking?
What determines how you run your life?

Could it be money?

Do you find yourself running after money and what it promises? Holidays, nice house, big car, boat, cabin? Is that what drives you?
Because money is a cruel master, promising what it cannot deliver – satisfaction, contentment – and delivering headaches, stress, and an ever-moving target.
Repairs, worry I might lose it, and Oh, you’ve got a new car… well you should have got THIS one, it’s even better, and just kr60 000 more. And you sit and look at your new car which you were so excited about.. and now it doesn’t seem so great.

10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

What masters us?
1. Are we a slave to slavery, or a slave to God?
2. If we’re a slave to God, do we obey him and so experience a godly life, or not?
3. Is money our master?

1. Am I a slave to slavery, or a slave to God?

All slaves should show full respect for their masters so they will not bring shame on the name of God and his teaching. 2 If the masters are believers, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. Those slaves should work all the harder because their efforts are helping other believers who are well loved.

Slavery is brutal. But it was (and still is) a fact of life. In the first century up to half the population worked as slaves. In many places in the world today, people live and work as slaves. We might joke that we are “slaves” to our bosses, or we “slave away” at home. But the reality is that we are extremely free!

Slavery was handing yourself over to total control by someone else. They could decide what you wore, what you ate, when you slept, who you slept with, even whether your family would live with you or if they would be sent off or sold off to someone else. Every detail of your life was subject to your masters whim. A slave had no rights.

So you were very dependent on your master. A good master would look after you. A bad master would abuse you.

So, as Christians, how should slaves of their earthly masters now act? They are free men and women in Christ – and if their master is a Christian, then brothers and sisters! Party!!

No. We are to respect our masters, says the Lord through Paul. What? And If the masters are believers, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. Those slaves should work all the harder because their efforts are helping other believers who are well loved!

Why? So that v1 they will not bring shame on the name of God and his teaching. What message would it send about Christianity if the slaves who became Christians became lazy, avoiding work, complaining about everything, and mouthing off to their master? Would that make people sit up and say “Oh, I’d like to become a Christian”. No!

Like Jesus, our focus is on the good of others, and on the life to come. What joy to serve, even suffer, in this life if through our suffering we can win one to Christ. How brief this life is – gone in an instant – compared to all eternity with our Lord!

And if your master is a Christian – well, then you should be motivated to work harder, not less! This is your brother in Christ. You should long to please him, to serve him with joy. It is a loving submission – I know we are equal, but I choose to serve you. It is the same joyful submission with which the wife submits to the husband – we are equal but I submit to you; the husband joyfully serves the wife – I will lay myself aside to do what is best for you; and how the Son of God submits to the Father – though equal, He chooses to obey.

See, who is the slave actually a slave of? Is he just a slave of his master? Or is he a slave of Christ, joyfully choosing to love God in the way that he serves his earthly master.
Are we ruled by circumstances – what is happening around us – or do we choose to serve Christ, to allow him to be our master in this situation?
To be a first century slave was not a great situation to be in. But instead of moaning and complaining about your work, your life, you could choose to serve Christ in the way you work, in the way you view your master. No longer is he your master, but a person who needs the gospel of Christ – or if already a Christian, a brother in Christ.

It is something that changes within us. I will not serve that thing, that circumstance. But I will serve Christ in this difficult time, at this job, with this thing. Maybe your child is sick – how can I glorify God in my suffering? Maybe your children have been taken away by Barnevernet? How can I cling to God? What difference does it make that I belong to Christ?
It is an attitude of the mind. I choose to see this through the eyes of Christ, not through my eyes. And as we turn to him, as we obey him, that produces godliness – we experience the wonder of the Spirit at work in us in that situation.
You know, when I became a Christian it was like the sun rose in my life. I woke up the next day, and everything was bright and full of life. Nothing had changed – except me. Gone was the shadow, the moaning, the complaining – because, no matter what happened, the Lord was with me – and nothing could change that. I belonged to Him, and that is a deep joy that has never left me.

We are not slaves to the world, but slaves to Christ.

2. As slaves to Christ, let us obey him: Obedience produces godliness

Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. 3 Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life.

Teach these things Timothy, for these teachings promote a godly life. What things? The gospel. Everything we’ve been learning in 1 Timothy! It’s hard to give yourself over fully to someone. Can I really trust God? That old selifishness and pride rise up within us. I don’t want to obey God.

So we need the gospel. What have we learned so far in Timothy. Let’s remind ourselves of that, and be encouraged to follow our loving master – the only master who will not lead us on the path to death. For every other master will.

Chapter 1 we saw the power of the gospel to transform sinners – even the greatest of sinners like Paul. Following the law does not work – keeping rules, being good. You can’t be good enough, it doesn’t work! The law is like a thermometer which measures if we have a fever. It diagnoses the problem. The law reveals our unrighteousness, our sin. But the thermometer is not the cure. Imagine if the doctor said, oh yes, you have a fever – now go home and every day take your temperature with the thermometer. You’d think what an idiot! That can’t help me. I need medicine! The gospel is the medicine. The gospel, that Jesus has swapped places with us, that he takes our sin, and he gives us his perfection… that’s the medicine. In Christ, we are declared righteous, perfect. So, let’s live like what we are.

Remember the key verses in 1 Timothy? Turn back to 3:14 I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, 15 so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.

How we behave matters! We need to know the truth – hear it preached, get to Bible study, read the Bible, know the real truth, so false teachers cannot turn your head. You need to see the truth lived out in the lives of your church members. So often we see how someone deals with a situation and we think “ah, that’s how it’s done”. We see how they deal with sickness, or tragedy, or how they use their money or their possessions. We see how they parent. How they use their time. See the truth. And we ourselves need to live the truth. Chapter 2 showed how we as men and women should behave in church – learning quietly and in joyful, willing submission. Chapter 3 our leaders, who we are to submit to. Those following the Lord, obeying Christ, and who can teach the Bible – they should lead. Men need to take responsibility in leading the church as in leading the family. As chapter 4 says train yourself to be godly. We work hard at obeying Christ. Not to earn salvation – that would be trying to use the law – the thermometer – as our salvation. No, we work hard at obeying Christ because we are already saved. We are children of God. Chapter 5 went through how we deal with each other and particularly the problem the church at Ephesus had with the widows, and, indeed, church leaders.
Basically what Paul is writing to Timothy and his churches, inspired by the Holy Spirit is this: in Christ live like Christ.
We are not our own. We belong to Him. He is our new master, and we follow him.

These teachings produce a godly life – that is, a life in line with God. What a joy!
You want to grow as a Christian? Listen. Listen to the Word of God. And then obey it (or at least try to!) Jesus says the same thing over and over again in Luke. Listen. Be careful how you listen. Those who hear my words and put them into practice are the wise. Luke 8:18 “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.” Lk 8:21 (NLT) Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”

Pay attention indeed. Because if you listen to the wrong people, to false teachers…what is the result? 4 Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.

A church not full of loving submission, joyful service, looking out for the interests of others and pointing each other to Christ – but arguments, jealousy.

Is it going too far to suggest that the reason many of our churches are marked by arguments, jealousy, division and so on is because they have stopped teaching the gospel? That they have stopped proclaiming the sinfulness of man and the glory of forgiveness in Christ. So that it becomes a competition in piety – who can follow the rules the best and get one up over everyone else.

Listening to the gospel produces godliness. Listening to lies produces ungodliness.

What you listen to, matters. Who you listen to, matters.

Hear the truth and obey it.

3. Is money our master? Beware the siren song of greed

5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. 6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. 9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Why would these teachers become false? Why would they, as 1:19 say “deliberately violate their conscience”? Why are they 1:4 wasting their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. And v4 stir up arguments. Why would you do that?

v5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.

Day after day we read or hear stories of corruption, nepotism, favouritism – people using their power, their leadership positions, not for the good of the people but for their own selfish gain, and their family members. And the church is not immune! We are a club for sinners, not a holy huddle.... J

In the old days of seafaring, sailors used to talk of the sirens. Those were mythical creatures who sang such beautiful bewitching songs that the sailors would steer the ship towards them – and then be smashed to bits on the rocks, and die either from starvation or from the sirens feasting upon them, depending on which myths you read! In Greek mythology there were only two who avoided the sirens: one was Odysseus, who stopped his ears (and the whole crew) with wax so that he could not hear the siren song.
The other who avoided the sirens was Jason (Jason and the Argonauts) who hired Orpheus to play a more beautiful song and drown out the siren song.

Brothers and sisters, let us cling to Christ. Be so filled with the gospel that these lies do not lead you astray. Only by knowing the genuine, the real, can we be kept safe from the false. There’s an old song which goes “Keep your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face; and the things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”

Our society shouts at us: happiness is through buying things. Accumulate things. Have this experience, that experience – there is true happiness, true contentment. But what does God say? And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

How many do we know who have done this? How many of us are in danger of this? And as for Christian ministers.... just turn on a “Christian” TV channel and all too often you’ll find false teacher peddling their wares – send me money and I’ll send you blessing. It is a wicked corruption of the gospel.

Who you listen to, matters. Beware of the wealthy or those who are always going on about money. 5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.

Beware of “Christian” ministers who have become exceedingly wealthy through the ministry. Be especially wary of those who tumpet their wealth as a sign that they are blessed by God. Because I think 1 Timothy 6 would see it as a sign that they are false teachers? And what about the constant theme in Luke of care for the poor, of selling your possessions, of not serving two masters God and Money?

Many Christians have shipwrecked their faith on the rock s of greed. It’s easy for us to be lured in by greed because our society is immensely greedy. You may find that siren song in your heart as you are dissatisfied with what you have now. Always looking to buy the next new thing. Never content.
Do you thank God for your daily bread – the food you have, the job you have, the home you have – or do you think “of course, that’s what I deserve” or “but I work for this” not realising everything we have is a gift from our Heavenly Father? In the next Bible study we’re going to look at the Lord’s prayer in Luke 11, where we ask God for his daily provision. It comes from him!
Do you find it difficult to be generous, gripping on to what you have, unwilling to share, to give?

The antidote to this poison of money-love is found in v17-18 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.

Giving money to gospel work kills the greed in our heart. We show ourselves that we trust God to provide for us. We don’t have to store up wealth – trust God. We show that we serve Him, not Money, not the World.
Hospitality (having people in your home, for meals, etc) is another great way to counteract that call of greed. Sharing what you have – food, cars, tools, whatever.

Thanksgiving and praise for all that we have is essential. If we do not recognise that all we have comes from the Lord’s generosity, we will be angry and disobedient when He asks us to share it! So go through what you have and thank God for it. Thank him for his many blessings. And then be generous and bless others as you have been blessed. And, since we all live in Norway, we have all been MASSIVELY blessed! And the result of all this. Ironically, as we share, as we give away, as we set our sights not on things, but on Christ, we will finally be content with what we have. V6

Take a moment now to ask the Lord to examine your heart for that call of greed. And let us fix our eyes on Jesus, and be filled with him instead of filled with greed. Let us give ourselves to him as willing slaves, joyfully submitting, and let us see the fruits of godliness he will produce in our lives!