Thursday, August 6, 2009
How Much Do You Need? The Danger of Coveting, Part 42 of 60
TEXT: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Deuteronomy 5:21).
IDEA: The best of life comes from godliness with contentment.
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that both experience and the Scriptures show the fraud in a covetous life.
One of the maxims I teach students is that a thing is not true because it’s in the Bible; a thing is in the Bible because it is true.
While the Scriptures are inspired by God, they often speak to issues that thoughtful non-Christians would address.
In 1 Timothy 6:6-10, we have one of those passages as it applies to covetousness:
"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
I. The main idea of this paragraph is that godliness with contentment is great gain.
Even pagans understood that if you can be content with what you have, there is a great advantage. That kind of philosophy is spelled out by many Greek and Roman thinkers.
Many people in our culture crave contentment and strive to get it. They do simplify their lifestyle.
But Paul adds to that “godliness,” which settles our relationship with God and provides for a loving relationship to others. That contentment is thrown in is a great advantage to living life.
Paul supports that statement, godliness with contentment is great gain, in two ways:
You can’t take wealth with you. At the beginning and end of life, we have nothing. The emphasis here falls on the end of life: we take nothing out of it.
One way to measure the success or failure in life is what we have when we die. One thing is certain: it is not money. There are no safe deposit boxes in caskets.
If you have enough provision for your day (food and clothing), that ought to make you content. If you want more than that, it produces discontentment.
“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”: It will plunge you into all kinds of misery and grief.
People who want to get rich fall into a trap which plunges you into ruin and destruction.
When you make money the aim of your life, you’re tempted to do anything to get it. You simply have to look at a newspaper or newsmagazine to see the evils that come upon people who want to be rich.
The love of money can lead to temporal destruction (consult your newspaper), but it can lead to eternal destruction, 1 Timothy 6:10b.
[So what?]
II. Paul’s counsel on the basis of this practical observation (that godliness with contentment is great gain) is strong advice for those of us who are Christians:
Flee all of this–the desire to have more and more of what I have enough of already.
Pagans could do that because they would say that contentment is what life is about.
But Christians are to have a positive attitude toward godliness.
Pursue the life that is pleasing to God: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness.
