Full Sufficiency & Contentment In Christ

Transcript

GR1776
9/21/2014
Full Sufficiency and Contentment in Christ
I Timothy 6:6-10
Gil Rugh

We are going to I Timothy chapter 6 in your Bibles as we come to the closing sections of this letter of Paul to Timothy. It is amazing how God has communicated His truth to us, had it recorded in written form and preserved it so that over these many centuries of time God’s people could study it, the unbeliever could hear and believe the truth that it proclaims and we could grow as God’s people.

As we saw in I Timothy 3, the church is the pillar and support of the truth. It’s to be the place, the center where God’s truth is proclaimed. It is disseminated. It’s carried to the lost as the Gospel is proclaimed not only when the church meets together but then as the church is disseminated and we go out through the week to the various places that God leads us and have opportunity to talk to people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We come together as a church to be nourished and nurtured in the truth of God. That being the case it is the unrelenting work of the devil to infiltrate the church with unbelieving, false teachers who will take the truth of God and corrupt it and in that corrupted mixture bring confusion and conflict to God’s people in his attempt to undermine the work of God.

In chapter 6, verse 3-5 which we looked at in our previous time together, Paul warned Timothy about these teachers. It is an ongoing concern. Already the church at Ephesus had been infiltrated by false teachers. We looked back earlier when Paul visited with the elders in Acts chapter 20 of this church and warned them that false teachers would arise among them and it happened.

Turn back to chapter 1 again, verse 3. The reason that Timothy is at Ephesus: “I urge you upon my departure from Macedonia remain on at Ephesus that you may instruct (command) certain men not to teach strange doctrines;” doctrines contrary to the revealed truth of God.

Down in verse 20 he mentioned two of these false teachers by name, men that would be well known in the church at Ephesus, Hymanaeus and Alexander. “I have handed them over to Satan that they be taught not to blaspheme.” And that expression “handed over to Satan” refers to their being put out of the fellowship of believers in the church. So Paul evidently had handled that when he was there but it wasn’t done. It’s amazing. Here’s a church established under the ministry of Paul. He spent three years here but it doesn’t take long for the devil to do his work. And how do these false teachers get ahold? The devil is very good. They don’t come in saying they don’t believe the Word of God. They come in mixing the Word of God with error and attempting to lead people astray. That evidently was somewhat successful in the church at Ephesus.

Back in chapter 6, verse 3: “If anyone advocates a different doctrine, does not agree with sound words, (healthy words; health producing words) those of our Lord Jesus Christ with the doctrine conforming to godliness” and it’s that teaching that develops us and matures us as God’s people so that we manifest the character of God. Those kinds of teachers are conceiting and understand nothing.

Down in verse 5: They produce and bring about “constant friction. They suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” And that becomes a transition where in the following verses, 6 through 10, he is going to talk about the issue of corrupting the ministry by doing it and using it as a way to enrich yourself.

Turn back to II Corinthians before we get into the details here; II Corinthians chapter 2. I mean here we have a different church but the same kind of problems because they have the same source as we have seen, doctrines of demons.

In II Corinthians chapter 2, look at verse 17: “We are not like many, (or the many, the polus) peddling the Word of God.” You have in the margin “corrupting.” This word referred to making changes in something you were selling to make it more saleable. Then it was more profitable to you, missing the wine, diluting it. You know we have the same problem. Things are corrupted. Well here already. Paul says, “The many.” He’s not talking about necessarily pagan Greeks and Romans who had nothing to do with the Word of God. He is talking about those who take the Word of God and corrupt it and distort it to make it more saleable. This goes on under the guise of reaching more people and so we have that corruption of God’s truth goes on in the church today but we are going to reach more people. We say, "well that can’t be bad and especially if we see people coming and we say well it looks like God is blessing." Maybe it’s the devil blessing, corrupting the Word of God. And he writes to the Corinthians, “We are not like the many.” We are corrupting the word God. Already it becomes a tide. The devil doesn’t sit back and wait. He immediately moves to undermine what God is doing and a key way to do that is to corrupt the Word He has given.

Come back to Timothy and as you come to Timothy just keep going through II Timothy into Titus and in Titus, a letter to another man that Paul had representing him in the churches at Crete and in Titus chapter 1, verse 11: the elders and those responsible for the Word of God and the teaching of the Word of God in verse 9 “Must be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.” You have to do both to be faithful. Exhort with healthy teaching and refute those who contradict." Why? Come down to verse 11. In verse 10: “There are many rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially the Jews (in this context) who must be silenced because they upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not reach for the sake or sordid gain.” They turned the ministry of God’s Word into a business. They corrupt it to make it more saleable. They are looking for the profit of it and it is effective. Whole families in the churches of Crete were being unsettled and brought into confusion by these false teachers.

So you know you think the church over time would learn but the tactics of the devil continue to work and at the root of it is that God’s people are not taking seriously the Word of God, being satisfied with a superficial understanding and looking to fit more into the world. These teachers are motivated by selfish desire for gain.
Keep going back past Hebrews. Hebrews is the next large book as you move back and right after Hebrews, James, I and II Peter. Look at II Peter chapter 2: “But false prophets also arose among the people (talking about an Old Testament history, the Jews history) just as there will also be false teachers among you.” There is the danger, false teachers among you, you believers “who will secretly introduce destructive heresies.” Destructive heresies, secretly introduced, disguised in such a way by teachers with good personalities, good communication skills presented in such a way that they seem to have a positive impact, these destructive heresies are disseminated among God’s people. “Even denying the master who bought them and the result is the truth will be maligned because of them in verse 2. And you will note in verse 3: “In their greed they will exploit you with their false words.”

How much money from Christians is given to support teachers and ministries that are not faithful to the Word? Oh I think they are doing good things. I read to you just a couple portions of a book earlier today in our study about what is going on in evangelical seminaries, disseminating error and men being sent there to be trained for the ministry of God’s Word? They are being corrupted at the very source. So what are they going to teach when they come out? The devil does his work extremely well.

The seminary I attended, solid, sound, Biblical place is not the same place anymore. It just spreads and the devil’s work continues to be effective. “In their greed they will exploit you.” Peter is writing to believers. You see the effectiveness of what is going on.

Come back to I Timothy now, chapter 6. So the end of verse 5 these false teachers suppose that godliness is a means of gain and they sell their books and they promote their teaching and it becomes a profitable business for them.

Years ago we had radio programs and I spoke to the owners of radio stations, a meeting and my warning to them is you must be very careful you don’t turn the ministry of God’s Word into a business and you put on your stations what people want to hear rather than what is faithful to God’s Word. It is a constant battle.

So, they suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Now what Paul is going to do is show that godliness is profitable but not in the way that false teachers promote it and say that it is and he is going to put wealth and riches in proper perspective for the genuine believer in verse 6 to 10.

So in verse 6 you read: “But godliness is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.” So the false teachers suppose that godliness is a means of gain. They are thinking of it as financial benefit. Paul turns to them and says, “Yes, there is an element of truth there. Godliness is a means of great gain.” And godliness refers to that cleansing from sin and the new life that we talked about in our earlier study today. That’s what is being produced. That is what happens. That’s godliness. That is a great benefit. Godliness in and of itself is a great benefit to us. We would all testify to that as God’s people but not for financial gain. “It is a great gain when accompanied by contentment.” A person who is satisfied, content, and sufficient in what he has in God and the salvation God has provided. That is the point; that contentment, self-sufficiency, not in the wrong sense of self but in light of what God has done in my life; what He continues to do. That brings me great contentment. I am not constantly driven by the desire for more. You know the wicked, the prophet who wrote Isaiah: “Are like the waves of the sea. They are constantly churning. There is no peace says my God to the wicked. But godliness is a means of great gain. To have that contentment, that peace of heart and mind, that inner satisfaction of knowing things are fine. I am at peace with God and I have the peace of God standing guard at my heart.

Come back to II Corinthians chapter 9. Look at this word contentment in a couple of passages, what it means; contentment. II Corinthians chapter 9 and we are going to look at verse 8. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency.” And there is the word we have translated “contentment” in our verse in I Timothy 6. So we could say, “Having all contentment,” a word that we know, sufficiency “in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed;” that contentment that comes in the context of God’s grace overflowing to me. I have a contentment of heart and mind that I have everything I need to do everything God wants me to do. I don’t have to sit and think, “Oh boy, if God would only bring me wealth and riches think of what I could do for Him.” God has the ability to bestow whatever He chooses on me. I have everything I need to do everything He wants me to do. That is that contentment. God is able to make all grace abound to you. Where does that sufficiency come from? “So that always having all sufficiency,” the contentment in knowing I have everything that God intends for me, everything that I need to be pleasing to Him so that I can do everything that He wants me to do that you may have an abundance for every good deed. I am sufficient in Him.

Come over to Philippians. II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, chapter 4. We spent some time recently in the first part of Philippians 4. We want to look toward the last part. I remind you that Paul was in prison in Rome when he writes this. Come back to chapter 1. And it’s not easy to be in prison even in the best of conditions and here he is. People are doing what they can to make his life more difficult even believers, professing believers. Look at verse 15, chapter 1.

Verse 15: “Some to be sure are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, some from good-will. The latter do it out of love knowing I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.” Think of that. Here are people Paul says that are presenting the Gospel but their real motive in presenting the Gospel is to try to make Paul’s imprisonment more burdensome. There is a reflect. Paul, you are so limited, you are so confined. Yes, we were out. We preached the Gospel to people here and there and other places. Their motive was to make Paul’s imprisonment more burdensome. It didn’t work. Paul says whatever their motives are that’s between them and God. I am just happy the Gospel is being preached in the next verse and I rejoice in that.

So come over to chapter 4 of Philippians, verse 11. The Philippians had sent him some material gifts to help him which would be an encouragement to him but verse 11: “Not that I speak from want for I have learned to be (and there’s our word again, content, sufficient, self-sufficient if you will) content in every circumstance I am.” Because why? God’s grace makes him sufficient. That doesn’t mean God doesn’t use other people. He’s using the Philippians here but Paul’s point is, I am content in Christ and the sufficiency I have in Him and I have appreciated what He has sent to me but I want you to understand. I wasn’t here frustrated thinking I couldn’t be and do what God would have me be and do because I didn’t have enough. I have learned to be content, sufficient in whatever circumstance I am in. I know how to get along with humble means. I know how to live in prosperity and that is true maturity in Christ, godly character. I can live with little or nothing. I can live with a great amount. Sometimes a great amount becomes more of a stumbling block than a little amount. Paul says that is not the thing that determines my contentment and sufficiency in Christ. I have learned the secret of being filled, going hungry, having abundance, suffering need. I have been in all kinds of situations where I had far more than I needed and living on the edge, suffering need. I know what it meant to go without meals, being hungry. It didn’t mean that God had failed. It didn’t mean that I wasn’t content and that I didn’t know the sufficiency of Christ. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Look at the balance Paul keeps. “Nevertheless you have done well to share with me.” That was good for them. It was to their benefit to share with him. That was a sacrifice offered to God. So Paul is not sitting there thinking, boy what I could do if people would only be thoughtful enough to send me some material things. You don’t realize that God has put me in this situation. This is where I am, this is what I have. Is He sovereign or is He not? Do I find my sufficiency and contentment in Him or do I not?

Verse 13: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Verse 19: “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Paul, here he is in a Roman prison and he talks about the riches, his riches that God supplies; not only to me but to you because in that prison he was rich in Christ. He was fully sufficient to do everything God would have him do and that’s what brings contentment to the heart. That is the beauty of it all.

Turn over to II Peter chapter 1. I was going to read it. I have it written down here but I want you to go there. II Peter chapter 1, verse 3 and he says in verse 2: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ.” God’s enabling grace, His securing peace, “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us. He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises.” I have everything I need. I am not dependent upon material wealth. That will not make me more secure, more content or more sufficient. Paul was just as much in the position to accomplish everything that God wanted him to accomplish in the poverty of a prison than he was when he had abundance and when he was doing without he wasn’t churning wanting what he didn’t have and when he had wealth he was careful not to let that get ahold of his heart because that was what was making him effective.

Come back to I Timothy. These false teachers know nothing of this. They don’t understand true godliness. They don’t understand the sufficiency and contentment that comes when you have a true abiding relationship with God, but the danger of false teaching it can be begin to confuse us. Remember what we read in Titus? Whole families are being upset by this false teaching. It would naturally affect families because the unsettledness comes with those close to us and often families get unsettled and it spreads to other families.

Verse 6 of I Timothy 6: “Godliness is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment” and that sufficiency that we have in Christ; then an explanation. “For we brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either.” These things are external. Peter wrote and said, “Knowing that all these things will be destroyed what manner of people ought we to be in all holiness?” I mean for the world these things are important. These are everything, your net worth, how much you have set aside, the kind of job you have, the kind of income you have.

We brought nothing into the world, we are taking nothing out of it either. The worlds’ richest men will go to the grave in the same condition that the worlds’ poorest man do. They may have a more elaborate tomb but they will be laid out on the slab just like anyone else. They are going to go out the way they came in. No babies are born out of the womb with diamond rings or anything and you may put a ring on the finger of the corpse but he is not taking it with him. You put them in the ground, you dig them up the ring will still be there. You don’t take anything with you when you go. You didn’t bring anything with you when you came. That is the point, simple truth.

Come back to Job, chapter 1. You know, as we were talking about earlier today, the truths of Scripture are simple and clear. That doesn’t mean there aren’t parts of Scripture that take more study but the basic teaching of Scripture is meant to be understood all the way back in the days of Job. Job chapter 1, verse 21: here’s how Job handled it; one of the richest men of his time. Now he has lost everything. What does he say? Verse 21: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And in all this Job didn’t sin and blame God. I mean you know, isn’t that the perspective we ought to have? It doesn’t mean we can’t be thankful and enjoy the riches God gives but we have to be very careful we don’t become attached to those riches and they get ahold of our heart and then we become dependent upon them. Then we begin to fear less something happens to them. Oh, I don’t want to spend my closing days in poverty. None of us do. No, I don’t want to be dependent upon my kids. Oh, I don’t mind that. I mean you know, if I turn up on their step with a suitcase, I ain’t leaving. You can close the door but I will keep knocking. We came naked, we are going out naked; simple truths.

Come over to the book of Ecclesiastes. Just emphasizing God has stressed this through the history of His people in the Old Testament. Psalm, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes – after the book of Job and we are going to Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 15, and this in the context where the folly of riches is the title of the section in my Bible. Verse 10 starts out: “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money.” Abundance doesn’t fill the void of the heart and there is no future in that and the rich, they don’t have to work so they eat rich food and don’t sleep well at night so we take antacids and sleeping pills. The poor man, he has worked so hard through the day he can’t wait to hit the sack and he sleeps well. That is the point here.

Verse 12, all this to say in verse 15: “As he had come naked from his mother’s womb so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. This is a grievous evil. Exactly as a man is born thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind?” Amazing people devote their lives to acquiring of riches and they die. They don’t take any of it with them. They don’t think about what the emptiness of this is. So what’s the purpose? If you have one billion or you have two billion or you have ten billion or you have ten thousand. We don’t have anything. When you are on your death bed it’s not going to matter.
I remember reading of one of the richest men in the world a number of years ago as I read his biography. They had put the closing years of his life and a room in his mansion calling around offering half of his fortune to anyone who could extend his life. What good is it? And then he left it all and his family fought over it and on it goes.

Come back to Timothy. Now the warning in this, yes we say, “that’s silly.” The danger is believers get impacted by these things and we are bombarded by the world and then you have those who claim to be teachers of the Word come and have this corrupt mixture and pretty soon the church has been confused. “We brought nothing into the world. We can take nothing out of it either.”

Let me just read you what Jesus said in Luke chapter 12, verse 15: “Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed. Not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” A reminder, it doesn’t mean we aren’t thankful. I am thankful that I was born in a prosperous country and we do not have to deal with some of the things that people in countries that are characterized by abject poverty have to deal with. I thank God that I was blessed to be born and can enjoy things; that we come and study the Word in a comfortable place but we need to be careful. That’s not what makes the contentment in a heart. We can be no more content than the person who has nothing in another country of poverty and sometimes we forget that. We get attached to these things.

So you have verse 8: “If we have food and covering with these we shall be content.” Food and clothes, I mean we get down to the bare necessities. You do have to eat but Paul says, “I know what it is like to go hungry.” We read that in Philippians 4. But we have to have enough food to sustain us and we have to clothe our bodies and if we have that we will have contentment, satisfaction in our heart. It keeps it simple, doesn’t it; keeps life simple.
That doesn’t mean we don’t work hard. It doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy what we have but we have to be careful. What brings contentment to my heart? If God took away everything that I have and all I had were the clothes on my back and the food to carry me through the day could I say, “I will be content?” If His grace supplies for me and I find my sufficiency in Him that should certainly be. That doesn’t mean I can’t plan for tomorrow and if He gives me extra plan accordingly. All those, there is wisdom. “Go to the ant,” the book of Proverbs and see how it plans and organizes but my contentment and satisfaction in life is not tied to these things. That is the key and when believers get confused on this then false teaching, infiltrates, confuses. We become unsettled, we become unhappy.

Jesus said, “You know, God feeds the birds of the air. You are more valuable than the birds.” He knows you need food. He knows you need clothing in Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. So what do I have to fear? The Lord knows I need a job and you go through times and sometimes we have to help one another when going through difficult times. That is not a burden. That is a blessing. Paul says it was a privilege God gave the Philippians to send him a gift to help him during this time but his contentment was not dependent upon that gift but it was good for them to give the gift in being faithful to God; so the things that work together.

“Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare; many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.” Contrast to being content and having that satisfaction of what I have in Christ and what He has given me, that relentless desire to get rich and we sometimes cover it over. That will enable me to do more for the Lord and if He has given me a job, an opportunity and put me in a position where I can make, I don’t have to turn it down and say, “No, I have a vow of poverty.” But that desire to get rich as a motivation of life has fatal results and he says, “They fall into temptation.” Pictured here is an ongoing condition. This persons’ life is beset by temptations because if he desires to get rich he is always looking for that. You fall into a snare. This word “snare” is only used two other times in the Pastoral Epistles and it both times refers to the snare of the devil. Chapter 3, verse 7 of I Timothy and chapter 2, verse 26 of II Timothy. A snare, it’s something that takes hold of you and entangles you and you can’t easily get free. You know when we don’t function Biblically sin has a way as we talked about of enslaving, ensnaring. This is a trap of the devil and once he gets you in a trap it’s not easy to get out. We know what a snare is for an animal. He’s trapped. It’s not easy to get out of it. That’s the point here. You know it’s easier in God’s plan for us is to heed His Word and not get into the snare. Once you are in a snare then we say, “How did I get into this mess. How did I allow myself to be so foolish?”

“We fall into many foolish and harmful desires.” They are foolish. They are harmful. They don’t bring contentment. They don’t bring happiness for God’s people; they don’t bring it for the unbeliever. They are transitory but they are always pursuing something more, something else. There is never a settled contentment of heart and for the believer who gets caught in that trap the desires go on. They don’t satisfy. So we have turned away from finding our contentment and satisfaction in Christ and the provision He makes for us to being deluded by the world to adopt their way of thinking and now confusion comes to our life and these are foolish and harmful desires. “They plunge men into ruin and destruction.” You are on a sinking boat.

That word, “plunge” used like in Luke chapter 5, verse 7 of a boat that is beginning to sink. That is the picture. You are plunged. You are going under, ruin, destruction, total devastation. Whole families being affected by this Paul told Titus, remember? We understand the seriousness of this. I wonder how did Christians, you know, it seems like Christians have the same problems. Well certain things are part of being in the world but certain things are brought when we don’t function Biblically and that ruin and destruction.

You know he doesn’t sort out here, believer and the unbeliever. The word destruction is often used for the ultimate destruction in hell of the unbeliever. This is what the end of the world’s thinking is. Why do we want to adopt that because everything ties to this. I mean I read the daily paper. What do they say? What you have to plan for retirement, what you have to have. Again there is nothing wrong with planning. You don’t have to spend everything you have today and then you have nothing tomorrow. There is wisdom. You budget because you know your paycheck is going to have to last to the next paycheck and so on. You have responsibility. We are not talking about that. We are talking about getting ensnared and entrapped in the desire for things and wealth, that treadmill – a nicer house, a better house, a nicer car, a better car, a bigger salary, more income, more money to do this, more money to do that. God prospers some believers with more. We can thank God for that. He entrusts them with more. That doesn’t mean I could be more effective if I had what they have. I’d be more content and satisfied if I had that. We have to be careful. My contentment is in the Lord. We say we are to hold the things of this world loosely.

I shared with you that John Wesley said whenever he got extra money he quickly gave it away lest if find its way into his heart. That’s what we have to be careful of in our prosperity.

Jesus said, Luke chapter 16, verse 13: “No man can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

I have shared with you many years ago I was in a program where we studied churches and they had studied churches around the world, looking at the statistics. They found when Christianity moved into a new area, a new country its impact was with the poor and that fits I Corinthians – “Not many wise, not many noble are called.” But as people got saved they became more responsible, more diligent in their tasks and they would begin to rise in income and in the social status but the passion of their Christianity began to decline as they became more successful and more prosperous. It is hard as a Christian to live in prosperity. It just wants to take ahold of us. No, I don’t want to be rich. I just want to have enough but enough in our prosperous society would make us wealthy.

I shared with you when we were in China many years ago staying in a hotel and all these Chinese people are standing, (it was a gated place) with their faces pointing through the gate. You say, "why is everybody staring at us because we are Americans?" No, because the people staying in here are paying as much for one night as they make in a month and they are just looking at the filthy rich. That’s me I guess and you know, it’s all relative isn’t it?

“The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith.” That is what Paul is concerned about here writing to Timothy at the church in Ephesus. “The love of money;” it doesn’t say money but there is a close connection here. “And the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.” A root is something from which growth comes and all shoots come out. All kinds of evil are promoted by the love of money. So when believers begin to have their affection turned from all they have in Christ to the things of this world they wander away from the faith and the result of that, “they pierce themselves with many grief’s.”

Look over in II Timothy chapter 3, verse 2. In the last days here’s what men will be like. “Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money.” Note the context. We are talking about lovers of money and the love of money is a root of all evil. “Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.” You see where the love of money is put in the context of all of these other ungodly things.

You see the devil doesn’t quit when we become believers. It’s just like he didn’t give up on Israel he had all the other nations of the world. The devil didn’t decide well God’s chosen Israel. I’ll just concentrate. I’ve got the rest of the world. I’ve got most of the nations. No, what was his goal, to corrupt Israel? He’s got the world. “The whole world lies in the evil one.” But he’s got to work on the church and we are believers. He can’t undo that but he can try to nullify the effectiveness of our lives, stunt our growth, turn us away from the purity of devotion to Christ and finding in Him our contentment and satisfaction. Well you know, there is nothing wrong with money and you know it would be helpful if you have enough and if you have a little extra you can help others and pretty soon we are being turned over here and led astray, some by longing for it.

Come back to Timothy. You know in the context of that passage I read you from Luke chapter 12, “Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” The next verse says: “The Pharisees who were lovers of money were listening to these things and scoffing at Him.” There you have the false teachers, the attachment. Here you have the Son of God in a human body walking the earth teaching them the truth and they are scoffing. The love of money leads people away from faithfulness to Christ. They wander away from the faith. They pierce themselves with many grief’s. Just like the false teachers had infiltrated. They have to be dealt with so verse 10 says: that “some by longing for the material things have wandered away from the faith.”

What happens to be in our prosperity? You notice, we don’t have more time for the Lord. We have less time because our prosperity has provided for us – we need time to get away, we need time to relax, we need time to play. You note in our prosperous society how we shrink the time for the Lord; even the evangelical church. By and large less is better.

You know we used to talk about the Catholics. They like to have Saturday night mass that way they have Sunday to themselves. We are pretty much like that today, aren’t we? Isn’t it easy how quickly Christians adjusted not to have Sunday night service. Again I mention this. That is not the test. It used to be when I was a young person they would say, “Well if you move to a new place get the phone book. Look for a church that has Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service and Wednesday night and that is a good place to start because that is a Bible teaching church.

Now Christians are happy to have less. I realize we would probably have more people, I have been reminded, on Sunday mornings if I had 30 minute sermons instead of 60 minute sermons. You know, I’ve got a great job if I would take advantage of it. I could get paid more for less. You know if we quit Sunday night I wonder how many people that used to be part of Indian Hills and are now happy to be in churches that don’t have Sunday night. Now I have Sunday free, Sunday night. If we had Saturday night service, boy get it out of the way, Saturday night and then I have all day Sunday to myself. I wonder what their kids are going to cut out. We cut back to what? Pretty soon it’s not worth any of my time. Maybe I will just tune in the radio before I go to bed at night and catch a program. That will cover it. Well, how far are we away from being like what we call the liberal churches? Get in and out. Less is better and on with our lives and somewhere along the lines the seriousness of commitment to Christ and the gain and benefit that comes from the riches of His truth having our lives filled with His truth that like the Psalmists that he desired the truth of God’s Word more than his daily food. We are in serious trouble when we begin to lose that desire, that passion. I know I have been in the Word a lot and you know I just don’t have as much time for it. One of our former members said, “You know it just becomes easier to stay home, have a cup of coffee and read the paper. That’s sad isn’t it? What has happened? How have we drifted? It was already happening at the church at Ephesus, the church that Paul started, the church that Paul ministered to, the church that Paul has sympathy at.

A word of warning, we are blessed materially. We live in a country we have many benefits. We must be careful that does not begin to overtake our lives. It happens in little ways. You notice as we have talked about before, all the kids athletic programs somehow have made their way to Sunday because the world doesn’t want them interfering with their Saturday plans. Now we do them on Sunday so now I have to decide do I want my kids in a good thing like athletics or to go to church. And pretty soon it just doesn’t fit in because the world is not planning on people who have time for the Word of God in their lives and we just sort of get drawn away with that and then we are not in the Word as much and then we get weaker and then we become susceptible pretty soon we are led off track.

So the Spirit of God put this here for us not just for the church at Ephesus but it’s been preserved for us for 2000 years so God’s people could learn, be prepared and maintain their purity of devotion to Christ. Isn’t it wonderful to know we have full contentment, full sufficiency in what we have in Christ? Whatever else we have or don’t have physically and materially we can have contentment and sufficiency in what we have in Him.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for what You have done for us in Christ. We are unworthy, we are undeserving but You have called us to Yourself. We are Your children, children of the living God. You have blessed us with everything necessary for life and godliness. We are not dependent upon the things of the world for our contentment, our satisfaction, our sufficiency. We have all we need in You. You have blessed us in this country with prosperity with many things that we are privileged to enjoy but Lord we would not want them to become the focus of our heart. They would not become the center of our attention. Lord we want to know how to live with humble means and to live in prosperity because our lives are lived centered in You and what You have done for us in Christ. Use us in the days of the week before us to faithfully manifest Your character in all we do. Give us boldness with the Gospel with friends and co-workers that they might have the opportunity to hear and believe the Savior that we love and serve we pray in Christ’s name, Amen.