Bible Talks - Family Church (9:45am)
Material Possessions
Sunday, 12 December 2004
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Money and property continue to be matters of conscientious concern to all committed Christian people. This is partly because of Jesus' challenging teaching on the subject, and partly because of the gross economic inequality between various gropus of people in our world. Approximately ¼ of the inhabitants of our world are destitute, lacking the basic necessities for survival, while a small minority of people live in absolute luxury. What should be a Christian's attitude to material possession?
Having given Timothy instructions about three groups in the church widows, elders and slaves, Paul comes to a fourth group, the false teachers, whose evil influence is at the back of his mind throughout this letter. In 1:3‑7 he has noted their speculations about the law, and in 4:1‑5 their denial of creation. Now in 6:3‑5 he characterizes them as deviating from sound doctrine, dividing the church, and being motivated by greed. It is this last characteristic of theirs which leads Paul to give instruction about covetousness and contentment (7‑10), and wealth and generosity (17‑19), in doing this the Apostle Paul gives important teaching about a Christian’s attitude to material possessions.
He does this by a series of five charges or instructions to different groups of people:
· first, to or about the false teachers (35),
· secondly to the Christian poor (6‑10),
· thirdly to the 'man of God' (11‑16),
· fourthly to the Christian rich (17‑19) and
· finally to Timothy himself (20‑21).
Running through it all is that sharp antithesis between the true and false teachers and their true and false teaching.
1. A charge about false teachers 6:3‑5
If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
Paul evaluates the false teachers in relation to questions of truth, unity and motivation, they deviate from the faith, they split the church, and they love money.
Once again Paul implies that there is a standard of Christian belief which in this chapter he calls variously the 'teaching' 'sound instruction', 'the truth' , 'the faith, the 'command' and 'what has been entrusted'. In contrast the false teachers have turned aside from the norm deviating from the sound, healthy apostolic teaching, which consisted firstly of the words of our LordJesus Christ and secondly of the 'sound instruction' or teaching which accords with godliness'.
Two essential marks then of sound teaching are that it comes from Christ and it promotes godliness. Anybody who disagrees with it, therefore, is conceited and understands nothing. One translation says he is a ‘conceited idiot' while another calls such a person 'a pompous ignoramus'. This is actually quite strong language, but then the false teacher is guilty of a serious offence, for to disagree with Paul is to disagree with Christ. In the final analysis there are only two possible responses to the Word of God. One is to humble ourselves and tremble at it; the other is to harden our hearts, stiffen our necks and reject it.
In addition to being arrogant and ignorant, the false teacher is divisive. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words or has a morbid enthusiasm for mere speculations and quibbles'. Paul portrays him as 'sick', as opposed to apostolic teaching which is 'sound' or 'healthy'. The false teachers' relish for profitless argument is positively pathological. We used to have a friend, a minister, who just to argue. You could find yourself having a real heated argument with him, then as you thought about it you were both on the same side.
Petty quibbles and quarrels of this kind lead to a complete breakdown in human relationships. Paul lists five results: envy (the resentment of other people's gifts), strife (the spirit of competition and contention), malicious talk (abuse of 'rival teachers'),' evil suspicions (forgetting that fellowship is built on trust, not suspicion), and constant friction (the fruit of irritability). When people's minds are twisted, all their relationships become twisted too.
Next Paul turns to the false teachers lover of money.
Another symptom of the false teachers' depraved mind and loss of truth is that they think that godliness is a means to financial gain. They have no interest in godliness itself, but only if it proves to be financially profitable. Precisely how the false teachers whom Timothy had to combat were exploiting godliness for gain is not divulged.
The history of the human race has regularly been stained by attempts to commercialize religion. It was when Simon Magus in Acts 8 thought he could buy spiritual powers from the apostles that the term 'simony' was coined, to denote the purchase and sale of spiritual privilege or ecclesiastical office. Paul himself found it necessary to declare that, unlike many, he did not peddle the Word of God for profit," that he had never coveted anybody's silver, gold or clothing," and that he had never used religion as a cloak for greed.
During the Middle Ages the church was discredited on account of the disgraceful sale of indulgences; religious cults still charge exorbitant fees for personal tuition in their particular tenets; some evangelists appeal for 'love offerings' which are never publicly audited; and some television preachers promise their viewers personal prosperity on condition that they send in enough 'seed money.
So Paul has given us three practical tests by which to evaluate all teaching:
1. Is it compatible with the apostolic faith, that is, the New Testament?
2. Does it tend to unite or divide the church? And
3. does it promote godliness with contentment, or covetousness?
In vs 6‑10 Paul addresses the Christian poor.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. 'For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 'But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 'People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. `For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Godliness itself is great gain (6a), providing you mean spiritual gain, not financial, and providing you add contentment. Religion does yield high dividends, but only to those who are content with what they have.
Paul's word for contentment is the regular term used by the Stoics for a self‑sufficiency which is altogether independent of circumstances. Christian contentment also doesn’t depend on external things. In Philippians 4 Paul wrote, ‘I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." This Christian 'secret' of contentment is not to be found within ourselves, however, as Stoics taught and New Agers teach, but in Christ. 'I can do everything', Paul went on, “through him who gives me strength.' Thus genuine contentment is ,not self‑sufficiency but Christ‑ sufficiency'.`
Paul's contrasts two categories of Christian poor, the contented who have the necessities of life (7‑8) and the covetous, who love money and want to get rich (9‑10).
The contented poor are not the destitute, who lack the basic necessities for survival. Nobody can be content with destitution. Rather they have food and clothing and are content with that. He reminds us of a fundamental, though often ignored, fact of our human experience, relating to our birth and death. It is that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. Job's version of it is: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall depart.` A minister officiating at the funeral of a wealthy lady, when asked by the curious how much she had left, replied 'She left everything.' It is a perspective which should influence our economic lifestyle. The stuff we surround ourselves with in our lifetime is not the stuff of eternity. Jesus himself commanded us not to store up for ourselves treasures on earth, but rather store up treasures in heaven.
Paul is not defining the maximum that is permitted to the believer, but the minimum that is compatible with contentment. This is clear because he has already portrayed God as the good Creator, whose gifts we are to receive with thanksgiving (4:3ff.), and he later adds that God 'richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment' (6:17). So he is not advocating austerity or asceticism, but contentment in place of materialism and covetousness. This however does not mean that we are free to go to the opposite extreme of extravagance.
Next Paul addresses the covetous poor who 'want to get rich' (9) and are motivated by 'the love of money'(10). The Old Testament is full of admonitions against covetousness, especially the Wisdom literature. We are warned that money is addictive, since 'whoever loves money never has money enough'." We are told not to be 'overawed' by the wealthy, but to remember that they will leave their wealth behind them." It is also explicitly stated that 'one eager to get rich will not go unpunished'." So we should pray to be given 'neither poverty [i.e. destitution] nor riches', but only our 'daily bread', i.e. the necessities of life."
Jesus certainly endorsed this strand of Old Testament wisdom, telling us to beware of greed, and reminding us that our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions. Moreover, the warnings of Scripture are conveyed to us not only through verbal instruction and exhortation, but through cautionary tales as well. Adam and Eve, Achan, Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira all came to grief through some form of covetousness.
Paul now takes up the same theme and traces the downfall of the covetous. People who want to get rich:
· Firstly fall into temptation and a trap, multiple temptations like dishonesty and theft, and the 'trap' of materialism and moral compromise.
· Secondly, covetous people fall into many foolish and harmful desires. Of course greed is itself a desire, selfish and even idolatrous " but it breeds other desires. For money is a drug, and covetousness a drug addiction. The more you have, the more you want. These desires are foolish in that they cannot be rationally defended and harmful in that they captivate rather than liberate the human spirit. One commentator said, 'gold is like sea water ‑ the more one drinks of it, the thirstier one becomes'
· The third and final stage in the downfall of the covetous, is that their wrong desires plunge them into ruin and destruction or into disaster in this life and in the destruction of hell in the next. As Jesus asked, 'What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?`
In order to enforce his solemn warning, Paul now quotes what seems to have been a current proverb: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” This proverb is often misquoted as “Money is the root of all evil.” According to Paul the problem is not 'money' but 'the love of money'." it is not 'the' one and only root of evil, but only 'a' root. and money or the love of it is not the root of 'all evil' in the singular, as a composite whole, but rather a root of 'all kinds of evil' in the plural.
· What then are the evils of which the love of money is a major root or cause? You could compile quite a long list: Avarice leads to selfishness, cheating, fraud, perjury and robbery, envy, quarrelling and hatred to violence and even murder. Greed lies behind marriages of convenience, perversions of justice, drug‑pushing, pornography sales. blackmail, the exploitation of the weak, the neglect of good causes, and the betrayal of friends. But Paul concentrates on only two evils which spring from covetousness:
· First, some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith It is not possible to pursue truth and money, God and mammon, simultaneously. People either renounce avarice in their commitment to the faith, or they make money their god and depart from the faith.
· Secondly, they have pierced themselves with many griefs, such things as worry and remorse, the pangs of a disregarded conscience, the discovery that materialism can never satisfy the human spirit, and final despair.
Next Paul gives a charge to the “man of God”, which refers to any mature Christian who becomes 'thoroughly equipped for every good work'." The man of God, Timothy in this case must flee from the love of money, and all the many evils associated with it together with 'the wayward passions of youth and everything else which is incompatible with the wholesome will of God. Instead. he is to pursue righteousness and godliness, faith and love, endurance and gentleness. He is to 'fight the good fight of faith'; he is to ‘Take hold of ... eternal life. Some fight for truth but neglect holiness. Others pursue holiness but have no comparable concern for truth. Yet others disregard both doctrine and ethics in their search for religious experience. The man or woman of God combines all three.
Paul finally gets around to the Christian rich (6:17‑19)
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 191n this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Of course wealth and poverty are relative terms. Neither can be neatly defined. Among the poor some are poorer than others, and among the wealthy some are wealthier than others. Nevertheless, in every culture there is a recognized difference between them. The first thing to notice about this paragraph (17‑19) is that Paul does not direct the rich to divest themselves of their riches. Instead, he gives negative and positive instruction, first warning the rich of the dangers of wealth, and then laying down their obligations.
So firstly the negative instruction or the dangers of being rich.
The first danger to which the wealthy are exposed is pride. The Old Testament clearly warned people of this Wealth often gives birth to vanity. It tends to make people feel self-important, and so 'contemptuous of others'. Wealthy people frequently boast of their house, furniture, car, yacht or other possessions.
The second danger to which the rich are exposed is a false security. Wealth is so uncertain. Jesus warned us of the ravages of moth, rust and burglars and to that list we can add fire and inflation and taxation as further hazards.
The two dangers, then, to which the rich are exposed are a false pride (looking down on people less fortunate than themselves) and a false security (trusting in the gift instead of in the Giver). In this way wealth can spoil life's two paramount relationships, causing us to forget God and despise our neighbour.
Secondly, the positive instruction or the duties of being rich
Timothy must seek to develop in the rich a sense of responsibility. Wealth can make people lazy. Since they already have everything they want, they have no need to exert themselves or work for their living. It is not for nothing that some people refer to 'the idle rich'. So Timothy is to command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share, using their wealth to relieve want and to promote good causes. In‑doing so, they will be imitating God. For he is rich, yet out of his riches he richly provides us with everything we need." Since God is such a generous giver, his people should be generous too, not only in imitation of his generosity, but also because of the colossal needs of the world around us. Many Christian enterprises are hampered for lack of funds. And all the time our conscience nags us as we remember the one fifth of the world's population who are destitute.
Timothy must seek to develop in the rich a sense of proportion: In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. This treasure for themselves which the wealthy lay up by their generosity is clearly not material treasure, for Jesus specifically told us not to do this.' It is rather spiritual treasure, which is (literally) 'a good foundation for the future', enabling the generous rich to lay hold of the authentic life which begins now and ends in heaven."
Against materialism Paul sets simplicity of lifestyle. Against asceticism he sets gratitude for God's creation. Against covetousness he sets contentment with what we have. Against selfishness he sets generosity in imitation of God.
This first letter of Paul’s to Timothy finishes with a charge to Timothy himself. “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, `which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.
Grace be with you.”
In Paul's concluding prayer, Grace be with you the 'you' is plural. It indicates that Paul is looking beyond Timothy, as he has done throughout the letter, to the congregations he is supervising. They would not be able in their own strength to reject error and fight for truth, to run from evil and pursue goodness, to renounce covetousness and cultivate contentment and generosity, and in these Christian responsibilities to remain faithful to the end. Only divine grace could keep them. So at the letter's conclusion, as at its beginning, the apostle wishes for them above all else an experience of the transforming and sustaining grace of God.
Let us pray.
