Godly attitudes to money Part 1 Contentment I want to continue with this theme on godliness that we have been following

g through 1 Tim and today begin what I think will amount to a 3/4 week series on Godly attitudes to money. READ: 1 TIM 6:3 -10 I have a lot of sympathy with something Philip Yancey, Christian author and speaker, wrote about money in his book entitled Money: Many Christians have one issue that haunts them and never falls silent: for some, it involves sexual identity; for others, a permanent battle against doubt. For me the issue is money. It hangs over me, keeping me off balance, restless, uncomfortable, and nervous. I feel pulled in opposite directions over the money issue. Sometimes I want to sell all that I own, join a Christian commune, and live out my days in intentional poverty. At other times, I want to rid myself of guilt and enjoy the fruits of our nations prosperity. Mostly, I wish I did not have to think about money at all. But I must somehow come to terms with the Bibles very strong statements about money. Which is something I want us to do over the next few weeks...! Money is a very important subject in the Bible. As Jonathan said in February when he spoke on the Grace of giving: There are twice as many verses devoted to the subject of money in the Bible than there are to faith and prayer combined. He went on to say that incredibly, a staggering 15% of Jesus' recorded words in the Gospels are on this one specific subject! Jesus had more to say about how we are to view and handle our money and possessions than about any other single topic. Very big subject. And because it is such a large subject it can sometimes be hard to know just where to start. So I thought a good place to start is where Paul starts here in this chapter with Contentment And as I hope you will all see there is considerable wisdom in Paul starting at this place. As I have studied this passage over the last week or so it has been my growing conviction that it is impossible to develop a godly attitude to money without first of all coming to a clear understanding of real contentment. So very simply work through verses 6, 7 & 8 asking two questions 1. What is great gain? 2. What is contentment? PRAY 1. What is great gain? 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. It is similar to what Paul has already said in 1 Tim 4:8 where he puts it slightly differently godliness has value holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. Great gain is literally great profit very valuable. But it isnt the same kind of value or profit that has been motivating the false teachers he talks about in verses 3 5 and in the rest of 1 Tim. These false teachers he says are those 5...who have been robbed of the truth and think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 1

Or as the Message puts it: They think religion is a way to make a fast buck! - kind of religious entrepreneurs scamming the church for money We dont know exactly how they did this presumably they charged for their teaching or for giving wise consultations or something whatever it was it had become very clear to Paul that the real motivation that lay behind their ministry was one thing: they wanted to make money. Just to be clear God has no problem with us making money. God is not even against wealth. Some of the richest people that ever lived were his followers: Abraham was incredibly rich the Hittites in Gen 23 called Abraham a mighty prince; It was said of Job in chapter 1 He was the greatest/richest man among all the people of the East. King David was incredibly wealthy King Solomon Davids son exceeded his father in fame and wealth. 1 Kings 10:23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom then all the other kings of the earth Money in itself is not the problem. Being paid to teach the Bible or to be in leadership in the Church isnt the issue either. You will remember when we looked at Godly attitudes to church leadership that Paul said that leaders were worthy of double honour has the twin meaning of respect and financial reward especially for those that are teachers of the Bible. So Pauls concern isnt that theres money involved. No - his concern is more to do with the love of money and how greedy for money they had become - that was the real problem. Now the sad fact is that even today some still try to make money - financial gain - from preaching the gospel. You will have heard the stories of various tele-evangelists and the like that have fallen from grace. These things make me angry and bring the gospel into disrepute In the small church I grew up in a so called traveling evangelist tried to fleece the church. The elders at the time just had a gut feeling and didnt give him any money things didnt quite add up. But he scammed a number of other churches that we were connected with until eventually he was rumbled when someone in the area decided to check him out with the missionary organization that he said he was part of! These people are still out there I struggle to understand how and why people do this. But the Paul doesnt argue against the idea that godliness is profitable to us . Actually he confirms it saying that godliness is gain even great gain. It is just their view of what profit is - what has value that he has an issue with. So Paul agrees that godliness has gain - providing of course you mean spiritual gain not financial or material and a further that you add contentment into the equation So what is contentment? 2. What is contentment?

Dictionary definition - The quality or state of being contented. Being contented means: 1 : appeased the desires of 2 : limited (oneself) in requirements, desires, or actions 2

For example, I have just had some building work done. You start and if you are not careful it will never stop always more to be done. But I had decided set my mind on a budget for the work this gave me a boundary which meant that when I had reached that figure that was it - we would stop. This was as far as I was content to go. So contentment is really about living within the confines of the values that you have determined to live by. And Pauls description of Biblical contentment in the context of money and possessions is based on two values which I want to talk about now: 1. That we just passing through 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. This is based on the simple logic that when people die they leave all of their earthly possessions behind. The reality of life is that we enter it with nothing and we leave it with nothing. Howard Hughes was a Texan who became the richest man in the world back in the 70s. Following his death a fellow Texan was asked how much did he leave? All of it was the blunt response. Death is the great leveller. When you die it makes no difference whether you are rich or poor - we all get out with nothing. Which begs the question as to whether earthly things are worth accumulating at all doesnt it? I like this story about an American tourist's visit to the 19th century Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim: Astonished to see that the rabbi's home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench, the tourist asked, "Rabbi, where is your furniture?" "Where is yours?" replied the rabbi. "Mine?" asked the puzzled American. "But I'm a visitor here. I'm only passing through." "So am I," said Hofetz Chaim. And this is the reality for all of us that as far as this world is concerned we are just passing through But so often we forget this and act as if we are here to stay. And so we accumulate and we accumulate we invest, we store, we hoard. Dont misunderstand me I am not saying that there is anything inherently wrong with investing your money and making good financial choices in fact Jesus encourages us to be good and wise stewards of our money. The problem arises when our money, possessions and the accumulation of them becomes our all consuming preoccupation and purpose in life. Because when this happens we neglect the more important issue of seeking God first - investing in heaven which - as Jesus said - is to: Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.(Lk 12:33) So the question I want to ask you today is your treasure? Where is the focus of your earthly lives investment? Are you living with an eternal perspective and acquiring stocks and shares in heaven? The second value that describes Biblical contentment is this: 2. Wilful satisfaction determining to be satisfied with what we have. 3

8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Materialism in our culture makes this impossible. There is always the constant pressure to upgrade the car, get the latest HD screen TV, the latest ipod or gadget. Modern advertising makes this impossible. The total aim of advertising is to make you dissatisfied with just about everything your whites are never white enough, your holiday is never exotic enough, your car is never sleek enough, your house is never clean enough, your body is never thin enough Credit cards and the availability of buy now regret later makes this impossible. Decisions to buy just dont need to be put off when you have plastic. We might think why bother saving up for something when you can have it now? In any event by the time we saved up for most things these days it wouldnt be worth having - it would be out of date. My own preference is to wait for things to come down in price and buy out of date things and not be a slave to having to have the latest of everything. How can we ever be content with our lives in the world today? Well listen for a moment to where Paul was coming from in the world in which he lived because he had no earthly reason for contentment for very different reasons (long reading but worth it): READ 2 Cor 11:23 28 And yet despite all of this he was able to say in Phil 4:11 not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Phil 4:1113). This is what Paul meant by contentment. Paul learned to be content not because he has some kind of superhuman strength or even because he had a nice life. The opposite - Pauls contentment comes out of a place of total and complete reliance on the all-powerful God. I can do all things in him who strengthens me- Pauls contentment was not based on the security that is found in worldly riches and favourable circumstances but in God and God alone. For Paul dependence on God alone started right at the beginning with his own salvation which he states in chapter 1 is not the result of any merit on his part but is a sovereign act of grace on an undeserving sinner, a blasphemer, a persecutor, a totally insolent person. He was saved by Gods mercy and grace to be an example to all who are to believe (1 Tim 1:1217). It is the same for all of us. Pauls logic seems to be that if we have a God who can save us from punishment and the hell that we truly deserve is it not a small thing that he should also provide our basic physical needs? What then should be our attitude to material things? Well according to Paul if we have food and clothing*, we will be content with that (NB. *Pauls word for clothing means more than just clothes the word is covering which includes shelter such as a house.) And of course this follows Jesus teaching in MT 6 in which he forbids us to worry about food or clothing promising that our Heavenly Father will give them to us. This doesnt mean that it is wrong for us to have more than this Paul is not saying that the most a Christian can ever have is food and clothing. So as John Stott commenting on this passage says: Paul is not advocating austerity or asceticism, but contentment in place of materialism and covetousness

So the emphasis is actually on where contentment starts - so that if we have enough food and clothing a shelter over your head this is something to be content with. Anything less than this would be destitution more than this is a bonus a sign of Gods extravagant blessing to us. Now the majority of us in the West today have considerably more than such basic necessities as food and clothing. We should be more than content with what we have. We certainly have no reason to complain and bearing in mind that Jesus only promised that the Father would provide the basics of food and clothing - we should hold these things bonus items - very lightly. Conclusion This is just an introduction today. I realise that I may have raised questions in some of the things I have said. But I wanted to focus on contentment so that we could get this firs tof all. I started by saying that it is impossible to develop a godly attitude to money without first of all coming to a clear understanding of real contentment. This is because real contentment: helps us to keep the things of this world in perspective. We are just passing through and the reality is that one day we will die and nothing of what we make down here will have any value up there - we really cant take it with us! Also real contentment keeps us from falling into greed. This is because it starts much earlier in our acquisition of possessions then the greed say of materialism which is insatiable in its desire to accumulate - stuff. If we are to take to heart the teaching of the Bible we will will be satisfied with what we have and not always be straining to get the next thing. As we have seen godly contentment starts when our basic needs our met. Happier with our lot!

These are the Biblical values that make up godly contentment. This is where a godly attitude to money starts. So then let me repeat my earlier question: where is your treasure? What are you investing in for your future? Are you living purely for your life on earth however long that might me or do you also have eternal perspective and acquiring stocks and shares in heaven? I want to challenge us to think seriously today about our own covetousness and materialistic attitudes in the light of what we have been seeing here today. Some of us need to ask ourselves some hard questions about the difference between what we need and what we want and to start curbing our lust for more and more. Many of us just need to stop and reflect and say thank you and be little more generous in the future.