Godliness With Contentment

The Three F’s: Flee, Follow, Fight

1 Timothy 6:6-19  Luke 16:19-31                                               Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas                                          September 26, 2004

Reflect for a moment on the following questions: what in life makes you content? Do you even consider yourself to be contented person? If not, what would it take for you to find contentment?

Contentment, by the way, isn’t quite the same thing as joy or happiness. It’s being satisfied, like with your possessions, status, or situation in life. One of the best definitions of contentment that I have heard concerning possessions is, “not having all you want but wanting only what you have.”

So how do we find contentment? As we will see from today’s Epistle Lesson, it comes, in part, from living a balanced life. We learn that there are certain things we must flee from, certain things we must follow, and certain things we must fight for. I call this the Three F’s of Contentment: Flee, Follow, and Fight. More on this later.

The Book of 1 Timothy is a pastoral letter from the Apostle Paul to his colleague in ministry, Timothy, who is a young, aspiring minister. Today’s sermon text comes from Chapter 6, Paul’s conclusion to his letter. It consists of many exhortations, which is a fancy term that means words of encouragement, advice, or warning. Much of these exhortations are about the danger of pursuing wealth. Like all scripture, however, it is best that we try to understand the context in which these words were written.

Immediately before today’s passage, Paul warns Timothy about false teachers in the church. He caricatures them as conceited ignoramuses fixated on stupid, meaningless controversies.

If you think this is overly harsh, listen to Paul’s actual words, “Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” Paul was never one to mince words.

But in that last line we get a clue as to why Paul goes on to warn about pursuing wealth. Evidently there were some in Timothy’s congregation that had the view that religion should turn a profit, that godliness would generate wealth. It seems that too many televangelists and some big-steeple pastors today have the same philosophy. Paul implies that no one should be in the ministry for the money.

It is in this context that Paul counters, “Of course, there is gain in godliness,” but adds “combined with contentment.” Religion does yield high dividends, but only to those who are content with what they have.

Our text sketches life that puts wealth on the periphery rather than at the center of things, that sees money as valuable but not as the ultimate value, as a worthwhile means to an end, but not an end in itself. One biblical commentator provides a good visual demonstration of this. Hold a penny at arm’s length, and it will appear as a dot against the sun; hold it next to the eye, and it will cover the sun. In our text, life is viewed with the penny held at a distance. In the first part of our passage, riches and wealth are viewed from this radically different perspective. There are four cautions.

First, “godliness combined with contentment” becomes the aim of our life’s pursuit. The word for godliness is also often translated as piety or religion. Today we might translate it as spirituality. It suggests a form of life whose ultimate quest is for God. That is the goal of any and all spirituality. Coupled with this is “contentment” – the capacity to be satisfied with what is ours rather than being driven to possess what is not ours. Long before Christianity, there was already a proverb in the Greco-Roman world, “Be content with what you have.” Perhaps that’s a good thing to remind ourselves of from time to time.

The second caution is that all the trappings of life fade before the double miracles of birth and death. In a very familiar scripture passage, Paul tells us, “we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it.” This echoes a line from Hebrew wisdom literature, Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.” And in Ecclesiastes 5:15, “As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands.”

Riches and possession are finally to be viewed as decorations along the way. Paul goes on to say that the only real necessities for contentment are food, clothing, and shelter. But how many of us would actually be content with just those minimal basics of life? Look at how many people in the world no more than these, and yet are still content.

Caution three is that riches are seductive. What begins as the innocent desire to make a fair profit becomes an obsession to own. Before long, we no longer own but are owned by our possessions. Look at what debt has done to so many. What begins as a modest desire to have more can actually “plunge people into ruin and destruction.” Paul states, “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation.”

The fourth caution is also one of the most famous, and most misquoted, lines in scripture. We often hear, “Money is the root of all evil.” That’s not what Paul wrote. The correct wording is, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” It’s not money itself that leads to evil, but rather the pursuit and love of money. And it’s not the root of all evil, but rather “all kinds of evil.”

That being clarified, the strong warning remains that the obsessive pursuit of riches should be seen as an enemy of the life of faith. At the very end of today’s passage Paul returns again to the issue of wealth, this time with a positive set of instructions for the rich. (Lest we need reminding, compared to the world’s standards, each and every one of us here is rich.)

First, the rich are charged not to be haughty. All too often the wealthy can become conceited, arrogant, self-important, with a “better than others who do not have as much money as I” attitude. A humble spirit is seen as the proper corrective.

Second, we are reminded of the uncertainty of riches and urged to rely on the God who is the source of all we have. Money in the bank, as many have experienced either because of a downturn in the economy or a personal tragedy, provides a false sense of security.

Third, riches can have positive value if they belong to persons who are generous. Paul writes, “As for those who in the present age are rich…they are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.” (Now there’s a good text for Stewardship Sunday.)

Bracketed by these instructions on riches in today’s Epistle Lesson are the imperatives to flee, follow, and fight.

After those cautions about the dangers inherent in pursuing wealth, Paul tells Timothy in verse 11, “But as for you, man of God, shun all this.” As Christians, there are times when it is best to flee from certain things. Earlier in this chapter, Paul mentions things such as conceit, combativeness (especially in connection with a church setting), greed, the love of money, and the hunger for material gain - all these will only create difficulty in life and can lead us away from God and contentment.

So in this regard, is there anything going on in your life right now that you think you should flee from? Anything you can think of that is leading you away from God and contentment? If so, the imperative to flee may be just the word you need to hear this morning.

Paul's second imperative to finding contentment, after “flee,” is tofollow.  He lists six things that relate to how we live our lives on a daily basis. Following them can indeed help lead to contentment. Paul tells us pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Going back to my days before seminary, I memorized this list and prayed for them regularly. “God, help me to live my life today marked by righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.” Perhaps this simple prayer can be of help to you.

After fleeing from those things that are harmful, and following godly virtues and behavior, Paul’s third imperative to Timothy is to fight. In yet another well-known scripture passage, Paul encourages him to “fight the good fight of the faith.” This is active, dynamic language. And although it is too militaristic for myself and many others, are there not indeed things we need to fight for, though not in a physical or verbally abusive way? In this presidential election year I especially think there are many things we should stand up and fight for. And believe me when I say that our ministry of justice and inclusion is often a fight, though most of you wouldn’t see that on a Sunday morning.

“Fighting the good fight of faith” should remind us that God is not only always with us, but also always for us. Faith is not a game that we play. It is often a struggle, sometimes even a battle. Perhaps the greatest fight for us is to hold onto our hope. For sometimes it is an uphill battle just to cling onto hope. In today’s scripture context, Paul especially wants us to learn that not riches but God alone should provide the basis for human hope.

The search for contentment in life, then, can be aided by the Three F’s: Flee, Follow, and Fight. “Of course,” writes Paul, “there is gain in godliness – combined with contentment.”

Amen.