I Love Jesus But Hate...That It's All About Money

Intro

Week three of four in this series

Looking at some of the things that people object to when they consider the Church

Week one: Hypocrisy

Week two: Leadership and the failure of leadership both in but also of the Church.

This week we are looking at Money.

56.7% say that we are too focused on money

So what am I going to do?

Talk about money!

Why do something that is seen so negatively?

Mainly because money and conversations about money are found all through scripture.

To ignore, to refuse to preach it, would be to ignore part of the whole council of God.

Also, money is something that really, really affects us!

And if there is biblical wisdom to be found about it, why would we ignore it?

Also, finally, I think that we all know that this is not what people are talking about. Talking about

1 Timothy 6:3–12 CSB

If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called and about which you have made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Text

False Teaching creates a climate of spiritual disease that has three elements: godlessness, social strife, and a corrupt inner life.

Godlessness (verse 3)

It points people to something other than Jesus

Jesus, as we saw last week, is the standard for godliness

social strife (vv. 4-5)

“envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth”

Corrupt inner life

flows from people who are deluded about their own importance

“conceited” v. 4

driven by an appetite for gain v. 5

“imagine that godliness is a way to material gain”

Thus, Paul is drawing a straight line from Greed to godless and false teaching.

The motivation of these false teachers in ministry was the money that they were/could make.

Godliness + Contentment (v. 6)

Contentment is being at ease where you are and being thankful for what you have

Not complacency, but being happy with whatGod has given you until he gives you more.

Lack of contentment will stifle godliness

content people know that God is acting on their behalf.

Everything that we have comes from God.

“We brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out.”

Why concern ourselves with the over accumulation to things that we can not take into eternity with us?

Instead let’s be focused on eternity

“If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.”

Godliness with a full stomach and clothes on your back and a roof over your head is enough

Everything else is bonus.

Godly people are content when their needs are met.

What are you chasing?

chasing money? Want to be rich?

Those we are are saying that riches are life’s priority.

This is deception

Deception leads to temptation

When riches become all important, people succumb to foolish and harmful desires, prioritizing the material over the spiritual.

“The Love of Money is the Root of all kinds of evil”

Everyone, no matter the balance in their account can “love” money

Those who don’t have dream about what it would be like to have

Those who have can find that what they have is never enough

We can seek the material and temporary at the expense of the spiritual and eternal.

When we make time to grow our material lives we can allow allow our spiritual lives to decline

cutting back on church participation, prayer, bible study, fellowship

So, what do we do when we are confronted with greed and false teachers and leaders that pursue it?

FLEE!!

Pursue the things of God’s Design

godliness,

faith

love

endurance

gentleness

Application

One of the points of hypocrisy often pointed out is the materialism that is so rampant in corners of the church.

that’s that 56.7%

When materialism arises, it is clear that the church, from the leadership down, are not truly content in Christ as is publicly proclaimed—and thus, charges of hypocrisy are warranted and understandable.

We have to be careful in our own selves about this.

At some point Greed became a virtue in our culture.

Gordon Gecko and “Greed is Good Speech”

Important to note Gecko talks about “evolution” twice in this minute and half speech.

“Survival of the fittest”

This is why false teachers, pushing a “greed is good” prosperity gospel are so attractive to people.

We’ve been conditioned by our culture to think that the pursuit of riches is the best thing that we can do.

We sometimes even associate the making of money with a virtuous life.

He must be a good/smart/hard working person because he has a lot of money.

Paul is emphasizing the all-sufficient Jesus as the source of contentment that our lives truly crave.

This is akin to when God speaks through Jeremiah, when he tells the Israelites that when they are seeking contentment in other gods they are abandoning God, and rather than God being an all-sufficient source, they are looking to “hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Jeremiah 2:13 CSB

For my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves— cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.

This comparison is meant to evoke the idea of someone being incredibly thirsty, and rather than going to a cooler full of cold water, they are trying to drink soda from a small cup full of holes.

We must identify the areas in which we are discontented, where we are seeking from the world what only Christ can give; by being aware of these areas and combatting them, we can avoid harming others.

Greed isn’t good.

Greed can’t satisfy

Greed can’t, won’t bring contentment

Only Jesus can do that.