“Self-Sufficiency versus Christ-Sufficiency”
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Open with Prayer:
Read the Text:
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Tonight I want to help you see the difference between self-sufficiency versus Christ-sufficiency. What Paul gives us here in verses 6-10 are meant to help us see that our personal life cannot be separated from what we teach. They go together. While false teachers think and even believe that godliness is a means to financial gain or wealth, Paul wants us to understand that real true godliness is all about contentment and thankfulness for the provisions from God. Yes, we must pursue and desire godliness, but not on the basis for only financial gain, but on the emphasis that because we love God and have God, we have everything that we need.
I want to begin to tonight by asking this question, what is it that you treasure?
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Let me just say a few things about money before we dig into our text tonight. How do you look at wealth or money? Do you see it as evil and wrong, or as a blessing from God? We know from God’s Word that having money is not wrong in and of itself. Let me give you 2 key verses.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
So, having money or even being wealthy is not a sin as some people believe or teach. We know as we look into Scripture that there were some godly men who were in fact wealthy. Men like Abraham, Jacob, Job, Joseph, and Solomon.
We should also realize that money is a gift from God. God gives us the mind and the ability to earn an income or resources so ultimately it all comes from the Lord.
One other quick thing that I need to mention is that if God has blessed us with money or financial resources then we can use that money to be generous with. We can help those who are in need and give a tithe to the church.
38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
1. As we come to verse 6 there are several things that stand out to us here.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain,
The first thing that Paul is trying to help us see here is that the true sign of godliness is being content. The false teachers here saw that their religious deeds were a way for them to get rich or at least make some money. Paul’s main point here is that true godliness is profitable, but not just in ways that most people think about. We talked about this last week, but here in our text the word godliness means piety, reverence, or likeness to God. When you put together a godly life with a contented life there is great gain.
Contentment was defined as “self-sufficiency” and was considered a virtue in Greek philosophy. But this is not was Paul was advocating. In fact Paul thought the very opposite of self-sufficiency and wanted other to see the importance of being sufficient on Christ or content in Christ.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Godliness is not an avenue or a means for material gain but for spiritual gain. This is so important for us to understand in our very materialistic culture. I think that in our world today it is easy even for Christians to be drawn into a pattern of materialism and of excessive debt. Christians if not careful can find themselves spending money they don’t have because they want to have a certain status or look a certain way to others.
John MacArthur says, “A godly person is not motivated by the love of money but by the love of God.”
The once famous John D. Rockefeller once said, “No amount of money will make up for a lack of contentment. I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” We know many others who would say the same thing.
Ecclesiastes chapter 5 sums this verse up well.
10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
2. Let’s look at verse 7 here.
7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
We come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing. Here is how Job put it.
21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
You can look at some people today and their whole lives are focused on making money. They spend so much time and effort on things that in eternity won’t matter. The church that I grew up at in Iowa use to have a bumper sticker on their church bus that said you never see a hearse pulling a U-haul trailer behind it. In other words you can’t take your wealth and riches with you. Here is how Matthew puts it for us in his Gospel.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
We can be so focused on the temporary things of this earth that we miss out on heavenly treasures.
3. Let’s look at verse 8.
8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
Paul says here that if we have food and clothing or even shelter we have everything we need to be content. Paul does not condemn earthly possessions or even having money here if God has graciously provided them, but the end goal for us as believers is too love God and glorify Him, not build up a mass fortune. A great picture of what this is all about come from the gospel of Matthew.
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
4. Let’s now look at verse 9.
9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
Paul helps us to see here that there is a desire by many to get rich. The sin of loving money can be so dangerous not only because of it’s nature but also because of it’s effects.
1. The first effect is that people who want to get rich are tempted or caught in a trap like an animal does. They become guilty of the sin of greed. Greedy people are continually trapped by their desire for more and more. Their pursuit of what they want is their passion, and their sinful behavior controls their lives. Don’t become entrapped by material things.
25 The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.
2. The second effect is that people who want to get rich give into harmful desires. Paul is speaking here of evil desires. They are evil or foolish because they are irrational and even senseless. If not careful these desires can even lead to violence or harm because people will do whatever they can to get something. These desires lead to the opposite of true happiness because they have nothing to do with love for God or serving Him. There is no joy or peace behind this.
3. The last effect that Paul mentions here is that people who want to get rich are blinded to the fact that it can lead to ruin and eternal judgment or destruction. The word plunge here means to sink, submerge or drag to the bottom. The pursuit of chasing after wealth and riches ultimately drowns men and women. The word destruction here means or refers to the eternal ruin of the soul. All of these effects here pain the picture of someone who is destroyed in both body and soul. The love of money destroys people. Think with me about all the examples in Scripture of this.
-Achan brought defeat to Israel and the death of himself.
-Judas betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver.
-James condemned those people who had a love for money in James chapter 5.
5. We now come to verse 10.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
For the Apostle Paul, such ruin can be traced back to the root cause. The root issue here is the love of money. The love of money is a compound word here that literally means an affection for silver. You see that the love of money not money itself leads to all sorts of evil. What kind of evil are you talking about???
I am talking about evil when people indulge themselves in certain sinful pleasures, when people show off with their money, when people distort justice or even take advantage of the poor. We see evil when people lie, cheat, steal and murder all because of money.
Paul closes this passage here by showing us the actual danger of loving money. When we crave or long for money it can cause some to wander away from the faith. Paul does not share names here but he may of had Demas on his mind because when we come to 2 Timothy chapter 4 we see that he turned aside to follow the things of the world and we know that there are many like him even in our own day and age. For these people they have replaced God with gold. Psalm 32 and verse 10 tell us that many are the sorrow of the wicked. For those who do not turn from sinful ways Paul says here that their pangs may well be eternal punishment in hell.
Conclusion: The importance here that Paul wants us to get is that believers must follow after God and not the things of this world like material possessions. Will we be self-sufficient on the things we can get and earn or will we be a people who lean unto the Lord and be sufficient in Him?
(Close in Prayer)