First Timothy, part 7
"Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth.
After all, we didn’t bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we
certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die. So if we have enough food and
clothing, let us be content. 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. For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of
evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:6-10, NLT)
Paul
closes his letter to Timothy with some final warnings about false teachers in
the church and the true source of happiness.
The final warning against false teachers is their motives. One sure sign of a false teacher is that they
are motivated by material gain (whether monetary or prestige). In 1 Timothy 6:5, Paul tells Timothy, "These
people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they don’t tell the
truth. To them religion is just a way to get rich." The false teacher will always cause trouble
because their minds are corrupt. They
lie as a means to get what they want.
Conversely,
Paul tells Timothy that, "true religion with contentment is great
wealth." What does this
mean? The phrase "true
religion" in the New Living Translation is translated as
"godliness" in other translations.
"Godliness" carries the notion of true piety towards God;
reverent respect. So godliness and contentment
is what? Great wealth! If you want true wealth--the kind of wealth
that Jesus refers to when He says "store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven"--then you need to couple godliness with contentment. In other words, a true reverence toward God
and a contentment in what God has graciously provided for you is the pathway to
true wealth. The false teachers were
anything but content; they are characterized by Paul as greedy and actively
searching for ways to increase their material wealth. Paul instructs Timothy to do the opposite.
Why does
Paul instruct Timothy (and by extension, us) to godly contentment? Because, "After all, we didn’t
bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot
carry anything with us when we die." Basically, we came into this world naked, and
naked we shall leave. This reminds me of
the saying, "There are no trailer hitches on hearses." All this activity to increase our wealth, and
the sobering truth is: We can't take it
with us. This is the other side of
Jesus' teaching: Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth where moths eat up, rust destroys and thieves
break in and steal. If we are content
with what God provides, then we don't worry about what we leave behind because
we realize it wasn't really ours to begin with.
Paul
continues: "So if we have
enough food and clothing, let us be content." Our contentment should be such that we are
completely satisfied if we have enough to eat and are properly clothed. This sounds a little spartan for American
culture. We're spoiled and used to so
much more, but what more do we need if we're properly fed and
clothed? Jesus said, "So I
tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink,
and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing?...So don’t
worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who
are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows
all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live
for him and make the
Now this
is not the case with unbelievers. They
are constantly worried about having enough food, clothing, etc. They are not content with having their
day-to-day needs met; they constantly want more and more. As Paul says:
"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." The desire to
be rich can be a consuming desire. If we
are overly concerned about accumulating wealth, then we are also going to be overly
concerned about keeping our wealth. This
desire for wealth soon becomes an obsession, and as with any obsession, the
ends justify the means. Anyone obsessed
with obtaining wealth will soon sink to immoral and unethical means to get
wealth. There are enough stories that
corroborate this truth from corrupt CEO's raiding the company's 401K to corrupt
union bosses dipping into the union dues.
The desire to be rich corrupts.
Paul
closes this section with a verse that has been widely quoted (and often misquoted): "For the love of money is at the
root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from
the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." This is often misquoted by saying,
"Money is the root of all evil." Obviously, this is not what Paul said. Paul says, "The love of money is one
of many things that leads to all kinds of evil." In other words, there is nothing inherently
evil about money, nor is money the sole root of all evil. However, loving money does lead to evil. Is it the only thing that can lead to
evil? No. But as we saw above, loving money can lead
one to do evil things to obtain it. And
it is that love of money which is at the root of those evil acts
committed. The word "craving"
in the quote above is a very strong word in the Greek. It gives the impression of someone stretching
out to touch or grasp something that is just out of reach. Such a person will do anything to get their
hands on it. And as Paul warns, this
love of money has led people to abandon the faith in order to satisfy their
craving.
Paul
exhorts us to not be like this. In verse
11, he tells Timothy, "But you, Timothy, belong to God; so run from
all these evil things, and follow what is right and good." We who are God's children should avoid these
desires at all costs. We should be
content with what God have given us and pursue holiness.