Godly Contentment

We are inundated with messages to pursue the good life. TV programs, lotto, social media. All are telling us that the good life is filled with riches and pleasure and that we deserve it. There are some even, who claim that Christianity is a means to this good life.

The false teachers were teaching that godliness was a means of gain. A means to get this good life. Ancient prosperity Gospel. In contrast to this, Paul says to Timothy that the Gospel itself is the good life. Taking hold of eternal life is true godliness and resting in Christ’s work alone is contentment.

As Paul encourages Timothy in his task as a pastor, he encourages him towards a godly contentment. He also encourages us to not be led astray by a love for the things of this world and instead desire true godliness which comes from Christ our Lord. Since we are to do this, we should

1. Run from temptation (6-10)

2. Take Hold of Eternal Life (11-16).

3. Desire to do Good (17-19)

Run From Temptation

Explain

Those who said that godliness was a means of gain were partly right. There is indeed great gain to be had from godliness, but they missed one thing, contentment. And by that contentment Paul does not mean contentment in ourselves, but contentment in Christ. As one writer puts it, “contentment is not self-sufficiency, as the Greeks understood it, but Christ-sufficiency.”

The pursuit of riches in this life is vain and futile “for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.” Instead, we should be characterised by contentment with our station in life because, we have been brought with a price by the blood of Christ. That is why Paul in the letter to the Philippians says,

“For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. 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. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

What Paul is getting at is the contentment we are to pursue is spiritual. The false teachers sought to say that belief in Christ would lead to material, physical comfort. Indeed there are many today who teach similar things, those who pursue such things will never be content. Contentment rises from a focus on Christ and Him alone.

It was Paul’s happiness in Christ supplying all he needs, ultimately Spiritual, that fostered his contentment at his physical state. As we will see as we go through the rest of the text, it is our Spiritual state breaking in that changes our focus from temporal to eternal.

He goes on to say, “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” Philippians 4:19, my God will supply your every need in Christ Jesus. This goes along with what Christ says to us in the Sermon on the Mount, we need not be anxious about what we will wear or what we will eat, our heavenly Father knows our every need. Look at the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, look how richly your Father cares for them, how much more, will he care for you who are His children? He has proved this for us for us as He took care of our greatest need, that we would be reconciled to Him. If He has supplied for our greatest need, he will also supply our needs for us while we are here.

“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation.” This desire for wealth results in a corrupt nature. Notice here Paul’s logic. It starts with a seed, with greed which grows to temptation then to a snare and finally into many senseless and harmful desires tat plunge one into death. The desire for wealth is like a mousetrap.

Money entices us with the prospect of having more in this life, we see that that is good just like the mouse sees the cheese. That results in temptation to sin, to do what we can to get that money. We do things we wouldn’t normally do; we venture into danger. We cheat, we swindle. And just as that mouse ventures out from safety for the sake of a piece of measly cheese, we risk not only wellbeing, but our very lives for the sake of some measly wealth.

Notice that Paul doesn’t say, that money is the root of all evil, but all kinds of evil. It is not that that money inevitably leads to death, as we will see later, there is a way to have money and be godly, but that the lure due to greed is immense and we should run from it at all costs.

As Christ said, we cannot serve two masters, we will love one and hate the other. We cannot serve both God and money and to serve money and the pursuit of money will only end up in death as “some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” The life that money held out is an ever-shifting horizon, a mirage in the desert. It promises contentment and instead causes us to cast off godliness.

Take Hold of Eternal Life

“As for you, O man of God, flee these things.” It is unbecoming of a Christian to be characterised by greed, we are instead to be characterised by the character of Christ.

How are we to pursue true contentment.? We can only be happy in our station of life when we are resting in Christ alone. The great gain for godliness with contentment is Christ Himself. Paul encourages Timothy,

Read vs 11b-12.

These things are true godliness. We know that our hearts often lead us astray, we often need reminding of the things that truly for our life. As the pursuit of riches leads to death and so can be said, “godliness with greedy discontent is of great loss,” the pursuit of all things good and perfect will be of great gain to us.

We are to therefore flee from that which leads to death and pursue that which leads to life.

Where are these things ultimately found? It is not an inward focus that Paul is encouraging. Not through “self-sufficiency” that we will gain. Rather, he is pointing outwardly. He says to Timothy, “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.”

Take hold of Christ and all he has given you. This eternal life is not only that which is held out ahead of us, reserved for the age to come, but has a current breaking in in this age now.

Paul urges the Colossians that they are to set their minds on things above where Christ is because we have died with Christ. Our identity now is with Christ and where he is. That is what Paul means when he tells Timothy to take hold of the eternal life about which he made his profession.

Just as Christ has brought us into this new life, he also carries us along in this new life. The benefits Chrsit bought for us are ours now. Christ is the great fountain of riches. Who then desires these things? Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness? Christ Himself, will supply your every need. Take hold, then, of the eternal life to which you were called.

Paul charges Timothy in the presence of God who gives life and Christ who made the good confession. We are to be encouraged by this. As we pursue godly contentment, take comfort in the fact that God the creator of all things goes with us, and Christ has gone before us.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. He gives life to all things and holds all things together.

Christ goes before us as the author and perfector of our faith. He is the one who has truly pursued righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. Therefore, as we seek to pursue this godly contentment, we have one who has gone before us who was perfectly content in all things as he sought to do the will of His Father.

This is true godliness. This is true riches. All the treasure in the world cannot compare to the riches found in Jesus Christ.

Read vs 16

Though the calling is immense, the who calls you is far greater, and he will enable you to do it. We, like Paul, may lose everything, though we may not even have the clothes on our backs, we can hold the treasure of true contentment, godliness that is ours in Christ.

Desire to Do Good

Paul fires a hefty shot across the bow of those who are wealthy. Remember, he said earlier, that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. He has not said that money itself is inherently evil, nor does he desire to say such a thing. We shouldn’t take that away from this passage. But those who are wealthy have a great responsibility.

He calls these people to a certain kind of lifestyle. Read vs 17.

Those who trust in what can be destroyed by moth and rust, set their hope on things that lead to death. Everything that we have, whether rich or poor, comes from the gracious hand of our God. Riches may be here today but gone tomorrow, but the Lord our God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, and the end. Everything comes from him who is above all things.

He has also given us these things for us to enjoy. They are not therefore ours. True contentment focuses on the fact that we have received these things as a gift from our God and is ready to give as the situation calls. Those who are rich in wealth have the great opportunity to also “be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,” Paul says.

This attitude among us, to be generous and ready to share, inevitably fosters humility. The things we have are from God Himself and to think otherwise is highly arrogant. Being generous recognises the gifts that God has given us, and it pushes us on to humility and godly contentment.

Good works are the outcome of a life redeemed by Christ. The only riches that survive this world are those in keeping with the good works of sanctification. A generous giver has taken hold of this eternal life, for they recognise that we came into this world with nothing and we will take nothing away. We give as God has so richly provided for us in salvation and thus “take hold of that which is truly life.”

May we be a generous people, content in godliness in Christ Jesus our Lord. Eager to good works as we await the coming day of salvation.