The Bottomless Pit and Our Glorious God Pt.2
1 Timothy: Gospel Formed • Sermon • Submitted
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· 12 viewsProp: Since we were created for God, nothing else on earth will satisfy our hearts.
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The second church I pastored was First Baptist Church in Amite, LA. It was a good church and I made some wonderful friends there that I still have to this day. As a matter of fact, that was the church that Misty and I met Bro. Mike and Mrs. Allison. I want to tell you a story that happened there that didn’t work out so well. Misty had started teaching school. My car was in the shop. So, I figured I’d just hang around the office and get some studying done. But, as often happens, an emergency happened and I needed to go see someone in the hospital in Hammond which was about 30 minutes away. So, I needed a vehicle. So I decided call my good friend Wall McNeely. That’s his real name. He wouldn’t mind me telling you this story. He brought me his truck. But, as I was about to leave town I noticed that it needed some gas. So as a good friend, I thought I would go ahead and fill it up since he was letting me use his truck and all.
So, I jumped on the I-55 South headed for Hammond. For about 10 minutes that truck was running smoother than any truck I had ever driven. Until it sputtered to a complete stop. I pulled over to the side of the Interstate thinking, “What is wrong with this thing?” Until I realized this was a diesel truck. When wall picked up the phone, he didn’t say, “Hello,” or “Hey Bradley”. He said, “You put gas in my truck didn’t you?” I said “yep.” That was that. He came and brought me another car. And got his truck on a trailer to go get it drained. Believe it or not, he is still a very good friend to this day.
What had I done wrong? I put gasoline in a truck that wasn’t made to run on diesel, not gasoline. That mistake left me stranded on the side of the road.
The people in the church in Ephesus were making a similar mistake. They were living their lives striving for riches because they mistakenly believed that material wealth would satisfy their hearts and give them purpose and contentment in their lives. They were wrong.
In. v.10, Paul describes where that pursuit had left many of them.
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.
Like me, filling their hearts with a love for money and an expectation that it satisfy their hearts, left them stranded on the side of the metaphorical road. That’s true for many people day. And it won’t ever work. It won’t ever leave you with a fulfulled life. It will eventually leave you stranded on the side of the road wondering how you got here.
Here’s the reason. We were created for God, nothing else can ever truly satisfy our hearts but knowing and glorifying him.
Last week, we started studying this text. In it I believe we are presented with two types of lives a person can live, I)The Diseased Life, or 2)The Delighted Life.
I. The Diseased Life
I. The Diseased Life
We discovered the life that you live will be direct result of what you choose to fill your heart tank with.
Last week, we begin the process of looking a what it meant to live a diseased life. It starts by misunderstanding who God is and worshiping the wrong God. We do that when we place false doctrine and deceptive teaching in our hearts. When we see God wrong, we see everything else wrong and it leads to a immoral character and life that would cause you to wonder away from the faith and into destruction, (v.10 “many pangs).
It’s the result of misunderstanding what really brings “gain.” It is in our humanity to desire “gain.” Gain being what is truly beneficial to a person.
Here’s the mistake of the Diseased LIfe. You can see it clearly in v.4. They were people who were “imagining that godliness is a MEANS of gain.” (v.5)
In there case, they believed gain, what was truly beneficial was material wealth. And they viewed God as a means, a way to get material wealth and thus a fulfilled heart.
This is what we know today as the health and wealth gospel in the NT church. I spend some time railing on this last week. If you want to hear that, you can go back and listen to last week’s message. Today I want to turn to living the Delighted Life.
II. The Delighted Life
II. The Delighted Life
God wants us to live with joy, contentment and satisfaction. He is not some sadistic God who wants his children to live empty meaningless lives. We see this many places in Scripture.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
So, God wants us to live a life full of joy and peace and contentment. There is one truth that people who live a delighted life know that people live a diseased life don’t.
+Nothing can ever substitute for God as gain.
Paul makes this clear in 1 Timothy 6:5-6.
5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
But Paul corrects that in v.6.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain,
I hear people say, “I tried Jesus, he doesn’t work.” I’ll say, “What do you mean he doesn’t work?” My life didn’t get easier. I didn’t get a better job. My financial pressure didn’t go away. My relationship with my wife didn’t get better. Jesus doesn’t work.”
Do you see the mistake? If that is the way you feel, you are using Jesus as a means to what you really think is valuable. You think money, houses, cars, are a life with no financial pressure will give you peace. Some of you are blaming your unfulfilled life on your spouse. “If he or she would just be more attractive or stop nagging me so much my life would be fulfilled and I could have peace.” Or, “If he would just make more money or help around the house more or pay me more attention then I would be satiesfied and at peace.”
If that is you, Paul has something to say to you.
8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
Which kind of begs the question, “Who is content with just food and clothing?” Here’s the answer, the person who has God as their treasure.
If you are looking to money, or status, or relationships to give your life meaning, you are asking them to do what only God can do.
Your spouse is not God. I know that they may think they are, but they aren’t. Stop expecting them to be. Stop expecting money to be.
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.
Notice that Paul doesn’t say that “money is the root of all evil.” He says that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” I think we should all work hard with the gifts that God gives us and if money comes with that use it to bless others, bless the church, bless the Kingdom.
The problem is loving money in a way that we should be loving God. By the way, you don’t have to have a lot of money to love it. Most people don’t, but still pursue it like it is the ultimate meaning in life.
What we have to do is to stop living like God is a means to gain and start living like God is gain.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain,
Going back to Psalms 23.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
David doesn’t want because he the Lord is his shepherd. It is the Lord that provides for him. It is the Lord not money or relationships that makes him lie down in green pastures and gives him rest. It is the Lord not money that leads him beside the still waters that he can drink deeply from and come away refreshed and satisfied. It is God, not a raise or a new girlfriend or boyfriend that restores his soul.
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Money and relationships don’t show us the path of life, God’s presence does. It’s not in money’s presence that we find fullness of joy. It’s at God’s right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Remember what Jesus said about what we treasure.
13 No servant 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.”
In v.9, he warns us about living life desiring to be rich as if riches. Why? Here’s a few reasons that John Piper points out in his work, “Desiring God.”
1. There are no U-Hauls behind a hearses.
1. There are no U-Hauls behind a hearses.
That’s the point of v.7
7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
*Piper offers this Illustration:
Suppose someone passes empty-handed through a turnstile at a big city art museum and begins to take the pictures off the wall and carry them importantly under his rm. You come up to him and say, “What are you doing?” he answers, “I’m becoming an art collector.” “But they are not really yours,” you say, “and besides, they won’t let you take any of those out of here. You’ll have to go out just like you came in.” But he answers again, “Sure, they’re min. I’ve got them under my arm. People in the halls look at me as an important art dealer . And I don’t bother myself with thoughts about leaving. don’t be a killjoy.” We would call this man a fool! He is out of touch with reality. So is the person who spends himself to get rich in this life. We will go out just the way we came in.
The problem is earthly riches are not eternally valuable. You can’t keep them. But, you can keep what is truly valuable forever. Your relationship with God that grows and never stops filling with assurance and joy in him never goes away. It just finds fuller fulfillment in eternity.
2. We are freed to live simpler lives.
2. We are freed to live simpler lives.
When a Christian finds his purpose and joy in God alone, they don’t have to fill their lives with stuff in order to find meaning. We can find contentment with the necessities of life.
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Piper said, “No matter which way the market is moving, God is always better than gold.”
And when you think about it, the really valuable riches in this life are free. We can’t buy the true love of a spouse or real fellowship of friends.
Piper says finally, “There is a deep difference between the temporary thrill of a new toy and a homecoming hug from a devoted friend. Who do you think has the deepest, most satisfying joy in life, the man who pays $240 for a fortieth floor suite downtown and spends his evenings in the half-lit, smoke-filled lounge impressing strange women with ten-dollar cocktails, or the man who chooses the Motel 6 by a vacant lot of sunflowers and spends his evening watching the sunset and writing a love letter to his wife?
Many a man has found at the end of their lives emptiness and a wasted life. But the person who loves God, finds that godliness with contentment is what is truly gain.
