Godliness and Contentment

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 Ending as we read God's Word From First Timothy Chapter six, verses three through 2 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:21.899 ten. First Timothy Chapter six, versus three through ten. If anyone teaches 3 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:26.300 a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus 4 00:00:26.339 --> 00:00:32.259 Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit 5 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:38.770 and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about 6 00:00:38.770 --> 00:00:44.210 words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil, suspicions and constant 7 00:00:44.210 --> 00:00:50.280 friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining 8 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:55.240 that godliness is a means of gain. Now, there is great gain in 9 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:02.000 godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take 10 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:04.870 anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with 11 00:01:04.950 --> 00:01:11.030 these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into 12 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:17.629 temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people 13 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:21.659 into ruin and destruction, for the love of money is a root of all 14 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:26.060 kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from 15 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:34.489 the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. The word of the Lord you 16 00:01:34.569 --> 00:01:51.920 may be seated. George demestrol was a Swiss inventor who lived about a hundred 17 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:57.959 years ago, seventy five years ago, and this Swiss inventor loved to take 18 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:02.189 long walks in the woods and he would go out into the woods often and 19 00:02:02.870 --> 00:02:12.110 enjoy those long strolls with his dog. But the thing that bothered George about 20 00:02:12.189 --> 00:02:19.819 these long walks through the woods was that he and his dog would come back 21 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:24.620 covered in burrs, that he would have to spend hours digging birds out of 22 00:02:24.699 --> 00:02:30.449 his dogs fur and off of his wool pants. And so, being the 23 00:02:30.530 --> 00:02:36.849 man that he was, this inventor, this curious man, he examined the 24 00:02:37.050 --> 00:02:46.080 burr under a microscope and discovered all of these small microscopic hooks at the end 25 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:53.400 of each pointy part of the Burr, and he thought to himself, well, 26 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:58.520 I think perhaps I can make something useful out of this, and so 27 00:02:58.870 --> 00:03:05.349 he constructed an artificial fabric that had, on one side thousands of little loops 28 00:03:05.710 --> 00:03:12.110 and on the other side thousands of microscopic hooks and when put together, these 29 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:17.500 two pieces of fabric would hold tenaciously and in one thousand nine hundred and fifty 30 00:03:17.539 --> 00:03:23.580 one, he received a patent for this invention. The official name is Hook 31 00:03:23.699 --> 00:03:34.169 and loop fastener, but you probably know it as velcrow. Now velcrow is 32 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:38.129 a very useful article. In fact, you probably have something with you that 33 00:03:38.210 --> 00:03:43.560 has velcro on it tonight. Maybe the clasp on your Bible cover or something 34 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:47.319 on your purse or on your kids clothing or your kids shoes. Lots of 35 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:55.310 useful applications for VELCRO. And it's so simple and so effective and hold so 36 00:03:55.509 --> 00:04:02.710 tenaciously, and all of this coming from God's creation, God's example of this 37 00:04:03.069 --> 00:04:12.780 burr that demestro was able to replicate. Now the problem is that we have 38 00:04:14.819 --> 00:04:25.490 on our hearts all these tiny little hooks that want to cling tenaciously to the 39 00:04:25.769 --> 00:04:30.490 things of this world, that want to want the the hooks in our hearts 40 00:04:30.730 --> 00:04:38.879 want to hold onto the the things of the world that that are not meant 41 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:46.319 to be held onto so so tenaciously. We allow some of the issues of 42 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:50.000 this world, the things of this world, to become overly significant in our 43 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:54.149 lives. You might even be able to think of a few in your own 44 00:04:54.149 --> 00:05:01.069 life. One of these hook equipped issues is identity, right. How do 45 00:05:01.110 --> 00:05:10.620 you identify yourself. What is the basis of your identity? Another hook equipped 46 00:05:11.019 --> 00:05:17.300 issue that is rampant in our world is that of sex sexual addiction. Other 47 00:05:17.899 --> 00:05:27.970 heart grabbing, Hook equipped issues are position and prestige and power. You know, 48 00:05:28.089 --> 00:05:32.209 your climb up the corporate ladder, or even the social ladder, or 49 00:05:32.250 --> 00:05:41.800 even the church ladder can be driven by these kinds of pursuits. So what 50 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:46.439 are these hooks? Well, if we really think about it, we understand 51 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:51.189 that these hooks are idols. They're the idols of our hearts. There the 52 00:05:51.670 --> 00:05:56.389 good things that God has given us that we make into ultimate things that we 53 00:05:57.110 --> 00:06:02.750 put in place of God in our lives. The idols of our hearts pursue 54 00:06:04.939 --> 00:06:10.779 us and we they hook into those loops on our hearts, or the hooks 55 00:06:10.819 --> 00:06:15.740 on our hearts hook comb to the loops on those idols and they drag us 56 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:19.810 away, they entice us, they take us away from God. So every 57 00:06:19.850 --> 00:06:26.209 single one of us will struggle throughout our lives to not allow these idols to 58 00:06:26.290 --> 00:06:34.600 become hooked into our soul. We don't want them to become over important, 59 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:44.639 to begin to smother us. And in God's word we find a remedy for 60 00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:48.470 these kinds of Hook and loop fasteners on our hearts. We find an answer, 61 00:06:48.670 --> 00:06:54.589 we find instruction about these idols. And in the passage that we look 62 00:06:54.589 --> 00:06:59.110 at today we look at two, two primary idols that we struggle with in 63 00:06:59.269 --> 00:07:04.540 our lives, and I'm going to call them the idol of words and the 64 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:11.860 idol of wealth. And I really think probably the idol of words could probably 65 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:18.730 be better described as an idol for knowledge or an idol that battles with the 66 00:07:18.850 --> 00:07:30.000 truth. But an idol of words and an idol of wealth, and the 67 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:36.560 false teaching that Paul speaks about mm in this passage is involves a battle for 68 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:42.920 the mind and the love for money involves a battle for the heart. And 69 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:46.430 so that's our road map for the next few minutes. These two idols, 70 00:07:46.470 --> 00:07:51.670 idols of the words, idol, idol of words and idol of wealth. 71 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:58.350 And what the Holy Spirit teaches us today through a servant, the Apostle Paul, 72 00:07:58.470 --> 00:08:05.660 is that the preventative agent for both of these is contentment. There is 73 00:08:05.779 --> 00:08:16.810 a formula for prevention of heart disease and it's found at the theological and spatial 74 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:24.810 center of this passage, in verse six. Now there is great gain and 75 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:33.320 godliness with contentment great gain, and godliness with contentment, living a life that 76 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:39.440 is fully satisfied with God and with what God provides, is what it means 77 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:45.830 to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This is what sets us on a 78 00:08:45.950 --> 00:08:50.509 trajectory toward the fullest expression of contentment with our God and King in heaven. 79 00:08:52.110 --> 00:08:58.100 Paul says that godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness is the manner in 80 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:05.740 which redeemed centers reflect the image of God. As he continues his work in 81 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:09.019 us, we are transformed more and more into the image of Christ and we 82 00:09:09.139 --> 00:09:16.610 begin to live out the righteousness that he has imputed to us. So a 83 00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:24.759 while back couple in our church came to me and held up their newborn baby, 84 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:30.200 which I had seen in the neck you at the hospital but hadn't seen 85 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.440 in a few weeks and they were finally able to come to church with their 86 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.240 new baby and they proudly held the baby up to me after the service and 87 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:43.230 said doesn't she look a lot like her dad? And and I looked at 88 00:09:43.269 --> 00:09:52.830 him and I said I sure hope not, but he she did. She 89 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:54.940 looked like her dad. She she had his nose. It was very clear 90 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:01.659 and she's just a little dolls. He's a beautiful little baby. But that's 91 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:07.019 the idea that Paul has in this passage about godliness. That godliness is that 92 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:11.850 that way that we reflect our heavenly father, so that more and more, 93 00:10:11.929 --> 00:10:16.490 as people look at us as we're we're so we're held up before others, 94 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:20.970 they would they would see God in us. They would say, doesn't doesn't 95 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:24.360 she look more and more like God? Doesn't he look more and more like 96 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:33.080 Christ? That's what Paul is after when he speaks of godliness. AS WE 97 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:35.909 GROW UP IN CHRIST, we look more and more like him, we're conform 98 00:10:37.029 --> 00:10:43.590 more and more to his image. When the good of my life, my 99 00:10:43.830 --> 00:10:48.110 happiness, my comforts, my glory, my riches are more in God than 100 00:10:48.149 --> 00:10:56.100 in myself, that is godliness. A Godly man trusts in God and relies 101 00:10:56.220 --> 00:11:03.610 upon the promises of God, and that's where contentment comes from. Jeremiah borrough 102 00:11:03.850 --> 00:11:09.730 was a seventeen century pureritan pastor and in his book the rare jewel of Christian 103 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:15.809 contentment, he defines contentment. Now I'm going to read to you is definition, 104 00:11:15.929 --> 00:11:20.480 but I just have to say that there are books that will read, 105 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:26.000 that will pick up where the title of the book sometimes is all you need 106 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:28.039 to read to get the message of the book. Now, certainly there was 107 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:33.830 a lot in borough's book that that teaches in destructs, but just that title, 108 00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:43.710 the rare jewel of Christian contentment. What a what a beautiful title, 109 00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:46.710 what a way to direct us to God, what a what a way to 110 00:11:46.029 --> 00:11:52.259 to tell our hearts how precious it is that that we would be content in 111 00:11:52.379 --> 00:11:58.820 God's promises and in his provision. And so borroughs defines Christian contentment this way. 112 00:11:58.860 --> 00:12:05.809 He says Christian contentment is that sweet inward, quiet, gracious frame of 113 00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:15.490 spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every 114 00:12:15.610 --> 00:12:22.159 condition. Let me just read that again. Christian contentment is that sweet inward, 115 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:28.440 quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's 116 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:37.549 wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. So contentment is an inner peace, 117 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:41.230 isn't it? It's a it's an inner piece based on the truth of God's 118 00:12:41.230 --> 00:12:46.740 goodness, not affected by our circumstances. And if that's the case, then 119 00:12:46.860 --> 00:12:54.059 in the strictest sense we can only purely attribute contentment to God. He's the 120 00:12:54.179 --> 00:12:58.539 only being that is truly content in all the universe. He is the self 121 00:12:58.049 --> 00:13:05.450 sufficient one. However, when he claims us as his and makes us his 122 00:13:05.690 --> 00:13:11.610 through faith in Jesus Christ, we become more and more satisfied in him. 123 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:20.519 Finding our sufficiency and satisfaction in Christ is the key to contentment. So the 124 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:26.080 two idols that Paul mentions in this passage attack our hearts and strive against our 125 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:30.269 contentment. They would sink their hooks into our souls, they would drag us 126 00:13:30.269 --> 00:13:35.509 away from finding satisfaction with God, and they are fed by unhealthy cravings and 127 00:13:35.669 --> 00:13:43.019 desires. And we can easily be deceived into thinking that contentment is having more 128 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:52.700 than what we already have. But as we dive into this text, we 129 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:56.330 discover that content it comes not from having more of what we want, but 130 00:13:56.610 --> 00:14:03.289 wanting less than what we already have. Contem it comes by subtraction of desires, 131 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:07.169 not by addition of more. It's a it's a focusing of our desires 132 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:16.360 upon Christ, upon God who provides for all of our needs. In our 133 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:20.480 hearts are always under attack. So the first idol that attacks our hearts from 134 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:24.629 this passage again is the idol of words. Me Read for you again, 135 00:14:24.669 --> 00:14:31.350 versus three through five. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree 136 00:14:31.389 --> 00:14:33.950 with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with 137 00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:39.700 godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an 138 00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:46.179 unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, 139 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:50.500 slander, evil, suspicions and constant friction among people who are depraved in 140 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:56.210 mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 141 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:03.929 We look at this passage, we discover that the idol of words is 142 00:15:03.090 --> 00:15:09.480 all about what. What words can get me? What knowledge can get me? 143 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:15.120 How I'm benefited from this knowledge or these words that I'm able to use 144 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:20.470 and manipulate and construct thoughts from. It's it's a lack of contentment with the 145 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:26.750 truth. And yes, the world will send us all manner of messages that 146 00:15:28.389 --> 00:15:33.990 teach a different doctrine and teach a false way to understand the world and are 147 00:15:33.990 --> 00:15:39.220 in complete opposition to the sound worlds of our words of our Lord Jesus Christ. 148 00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:43.899 But the threat that Paul's talking about is not from the world, the 149 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:48.580 pet the threat that Paul is talking about is from inside. It's from inside 150 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:56.009 the church. He's talking about those who spell message, false messages, in 151 00:15:56.129 --> 00:16:02.009 the church. Now, if you're like me and you have an image in 152 00:16:02.049 --> 00:16:10.759 your mind of those who opposed Christ and his day, the kind of teacher 153 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:17.120 that Jesus faced, the false teacher, it would be those pharisees or Sadducees 154 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:21.669 or scribes that taught that religion was a was the way to God, that 155 00:16:21.750 --> 00:16:25.710 keeping the law was the way to earn your righteousness. And you can imagine 156 00:16:25.750 --> 00:16:33.340 them fairly identifiable by their their clothing perhaps, or their long beards or the 157 00:16:33.740 --> 00:16:41.980 phylacteries that they wore on their heads or their wrists, easily identifiable. And 158 00:16:44.820 --> 00:16:51.330 here in the wild, wild west of Tucson, we recognize the bad guys 159 00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:55.409 by their black hats. Right they wear the black hats. The good guys 160 00:16:55.450 --> 00:17:04.759 wear the white hats. So you might think that a false teacher is easily 161 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:10.720 discerned, easily detected, easy to spot, easy to stay away from, 162 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:15.269 easy to quiet. But in reality, from the outside the false teacher looks 163 00:17:15.349 --> 00:17:26.109 just like the one who speaks the truth. You can't spot a false teacher 164 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:29.910 by how they look. You, you fought. You spot a false teacher 165 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:33.299 by the words that they speak, the words that come falling out of their 166 00:17:33.380 --> 00:17:38.019 mouths. And a false teacher teaches something other, something different than the truth 167 00:17:38.700 --> 00:17:44.490 of the sound words of Christ. If anyone teaches a different doctrine, it 168 00:17:44.690 --> 00:17:48.809 is not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching 169 00:17:48.849 --> 00:17:56.450 that accords with godliness. He is puffed up, conceited, etcetera. So 170 00:17:56.170 --> 00:18:04.200 let me make sure we're clear on this. The sound words of Christ tell 171 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:12.390 us things, oftentimes that we don't want to hear. We're told that were 172 00:18:12.470 --> 00:18:22.829 sinners, that were rebels at heart. And we are sinners and we are 173 00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:30.819 rebels until God makes us alive in Christ. He must regenerate our hearts or 174 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:37.380 we will only continue and rebellion and sin and we are consumed with ourselves in 175 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:45.769 our desires and what fulfills our fleshly desires apart from him, apart from his 176 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:49.809 work. So false teachers in the Church won't tell you that. False teachers 177 00:18:49.849 --> 00:18:55.009 in the church will tell you there's another way to be saved. In fact, 178 00:18:55.089 --> 00:18:59.400 you may not even need to be saved or rescued. You you're not 179 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:07.079 so bad, you're not all that bad, the little effort you can pull 180 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:12.069 yourself up or, as Paul reveals in this passage, their message may be 181 00:19:12.230 --> 00:19:15.710 more along the lines of I know this world's a struggle and you go through 182 00:19:15.750 --> 00:19:19.069 many difficulties and if you just buy my book on seven steps on how to 183 00:19:19.150 --> 00:19:27.500 get out of that, you'll be fine. They think godliness is simply a 184 00:19:27.660 --> 00:19:33.299 way or a means to financial gain. And the truth is that once were 185 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:38.450 set free from ourselves and these crazy cravings for more, our attention and our 186 00:19:38.529 --> 00:19:45.690 desires are finely focused on God. If anyone teaches anything that feeds our fleshly 187 00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:52.490 desire, they're teaching a false gospel. Any want any any time that someone 188 00:19:52.609 --> 00:19:56.799 tells you that life or happiness or salvation is about you or about something that 189 00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:00.480 you do, something that can be accomplished on your own apart from God, 190 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:08.269 they are teaching you a different doctrine. That kind of teaching, that false 191 00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:12.470 doctrine, will never satisfy. It will never fill you with what you want. 192 00:20:14.589 --> 00:20:19.789 You need the truth. Only the truth that Jesus alone saves you will 193 00:20:19.829 --> 00:20:25.420 truly satisfy your heart. Every false teaching will lead, as Paul says to 194 00:20:25.539 --> 00:20:32.180 be, for you to be puffed up with conceit and understanding nothing, having 195 00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:42.609 an unhealthy craving for controversy and quarrels. These quarrels and controversies producing envy and 196 00:20:42.809 --> 00:20:52.599 dissension and slander and evil suspicions and constant friction among people. And I know 197 00:20:52.759 --> 00:21:00.279 I've focused primarily on issues of salvation, but there are other ways that false 198 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:12.230 teaching enters into the church, through gossip, through slander, do other evil 199 00:21:12.509 --> 00:21:22.460 words, and then the promoting of those with others around you. These things 200 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:30.259 all tear apart. They tear down, they do not build up. This 201 00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:36.490 this use of words, this idol of words, trying to misuse words or 202 00:21:36.529 --> 00:21:42.250 misrepresent the truth or just completely lie, are imput that. It's all emptiness 203 00:21:44.089 --> 00:21:52.640 and it just creates a loud clamor in the church that is disruptive. I 204 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:57.759 liken it to this. In our office at the church over at Rencon, 205 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:03.869 we have a water cooler that uses those, think they're about three gallon blue 206 00:22:04.390 --> 00:22:08.029 jugs. You know that you have to put up on top and the water 207 00:22:08.150 --> 00:22:12.750 flows through. Well, one of our one of our members, had a 208 00:22:12.869 --> 00:22:18.900 toddler whoever time every time he'd come to the office, he would head straight 209 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:26.140 for those blue jugs, the empty ones, and he'd start banging them around 210 00:22:26.140 --> 00:22:29.900 and knocking them around and kind of like playing bowling with these big water bottles. 211 00:22:30.730 --> 00:22:33.849 And I always knew when that guy was at the church because I could 212 00:22:33.849 --> 00:22:38.450 hear him from my office because those were clangor clanging around in the hallway. 213 00:22:40.490 --> 00:22:45.279 Well, he didn't. He didn't go to the full jugs. He wasn't 214 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:49.359 big enough to knock him over for one thing, thank goodness. But he 215 00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:52.799 also they wouldn't make noise. Right, you hit a full jugging that goes 216 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:56.960 thud, Thud, thud, but you hit those empty ones and they're like 217 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:00.029 a Bongo drum there just you can go crazy on them, and he did. 218 00:23:02.829 --> 00:23:07.430 Well, that's that's what these evil words are, that's what these this 219 00:23:07.910 --> 00:23:12.259 these empty words do, is they make a loud, clamoring noise, this 220 00:23:12.539 --> 00:23:22.500 loud disruption in the church and they bring they disrupt the piece and they bring 221 00:23:23.420 --> 00:23:33.289 an uncertainty and in an anxiety to the body of Christ. Once false teachings 222 00:23:33.410 --> 00:23:38.930 gets its hooks into the church, it will divide family and friends and the 223 00:23:40.009 --> 00:23:52.039 church. Quarreling over words, creating controversy straining at theological GNATS. Not that 224 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:55.990 there's not a need for Orthodoxy and correct theology. There is, in fact, 225 00:23:55.990 --> 00:24:00.829 that's the way these things are combated, as with the truth. But 226 00:24:00.950 --> 00:24:07.430 there's a balance that needs to be maintained. So we have to be careful 227 00:24:07.950 --> 00:24:18.500 with our words and to come back always with the sound words of our Lord 228 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:26.609 Jesus Christ, teaching doctrine, using words, using thoughts, concepts that accord 229 00:24:26.769 --> 00:24:33.130 with godliness and the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ. We just keep 230 00:24:33.210 --> 00:24:37.890 coming back to that, coming back to that. That's where our contentment comes 231 00:24:37.970 --> 00:24:41.680 from, that's where our godliness comes from. Not a longing for something new, 232 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:48.799 not a longing for something fashionable, something that's the hottest idea in the 233 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:57.269 theological market, but for the sound words of Jesus Christ, to come back 234 00:24:57.390 --> 00:25:03.869 to the words of Christ in in the preaching of the word and in Sacrament, 235 00:25:03.950 --> 00:25:06.950 the Gospel and word, the Gospel and Sacrament, to come to the 236 00:25:07.109 --> 00:25:11.380 means of grace. They are our place, they are our source of contentment. 237 00:25:14.660 --> 00:25:21.730 Godliness, with contentment is great gain. And there's a second idol that 238 00:25:21.809 --> 00:25:26.609 Paul addresses in this passage, and that idle is equally destructive the idol of 239 00:25:26.690 --> 00:25:33.609 wealth versus seven through ten. For we brought nothing into the world and we 240 00:25:33.650 --> 00:25:37.440 cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, 241 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:41.359 with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich 242 00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:45.640 fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmless desires that 243 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:51.190 plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root 244 00:25:51.190 --> 00:25:53.670 of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered 245 00:25:53.710 --> 00:26:03.859 away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs greed, avarice, the 246 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:07.259 desire to be rich, the love of money. It's one of the Ten 247 00:26:07.380 --> 00:26:19.329 Commandments. It's one of the seven deadly sins. When asked once how much 248 00:26:19.329 --> 00:26:25.210 money is enough money, John Dee Wrecka Rockefeller, perhaps the richest American to 249 00:26:25.329 --> 00:26:33.440 ever live, replied just a little bit more. The desire to be rich, 250 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:36.400 the love of money, is a root of all kinds of evil. 251 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.599 It causes those who are hooked by it to fall into temptation, into a 252 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:45.960 snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 253 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:52.349 A few years ago, my family. Part of my family was, 254 00:26:52.990 --> 00:26:57.069 well still are, living in southern California. My older two older kids were 255 00:26:57.109 --> 00:27:03.259 living out there. One had graduated from college and one was still in college, 256 00:27:03.980 --> 00:27:07.819 and because they were there and a lot of events were happening in their 257 00:27:07.940 --> 00:27:11.859 lives, we knew that we were going to be in southern California a number 258 00:27:11.859 --> 00:27:19.009 of times and so I purchased for myself and my then sixteen year old son 259 00:27:21.569 --> 00:27:30.880 annual passes to Magic Mountain and I love Thrill Rides. I think they're blast 260 00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:33.839 and and he and I would go every time we were out there. is 261 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:38.880 about a forty minute drive from from Pasadena, and we would enjoy the day 262 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:42.319 and a couple Times Melissa and Jonathan got to go with us as well and 263 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:48.069 we made a family day of it. My wife never went. She doesn't 264 00:27:48.069 --> 00:27:51.829 care for that sort of thing. It would make her sick. So we 265 00:27:51.910 --> 00:28:00.900 enjoyed we enjoyed the time without her, but our past allowed for I don't 266 00:28:00.900 --> 00:28:03.140 know if it was more than once, but we only did it once. 267 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:07.660 We went to we went to Hurricane Harbor, which is the the the water 268 00:28:07.819 --> 00:28:14.849 park that's part of six flags magic mountain and there's a ride there called better 269 00:28:14.890 --> 00:28:21.730 check this the tornado and the tornado was was this kind of ride. So 270 00:28:21.930 --> 00:28:26.359 my son and I got on the same raft and you your launched down this 271 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:32.079 a hundred thirty two foot tunnel and you come out of the tunnel into this 272 00:28:32.279 --> 00:28:36.319 big, giant, huge funnel, and so you spin around the funnel and 273 00:28:36.359 --> 00:28:41.430 then you finally drop through the hole in the middle and plunge to your destruction. 274 00:28:44.950 --> 00:28:52.630 Well, so, in this passage, Paul describes a truly destructive downward 275 00:28:52.910 --> 00:29:00.579 spial, spiral caused by greed. He you can hear it in his words. 276 00:29:00.660 --> 00:29:03.299 You can hear what happens, he says in verse nine. But those 277 00:29:03.339 --> 00:29:10.289 who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many 278 00:29:10.450 --> 00:29:18.450 senseless and harmless desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. Read and the 279 00:29:18.569 --> 00:29:21.849 love of money is the and the desire to be rich is a denial that 280 00:29:21.970 --> 00:29:26.519 God will provide for you all that you need. The idol of wealth is 281 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.559 about more than just the desire for more money, isn't it? It's about 282 00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:38.430 you controlling your circumstances. It's about the lack of contentment with present circumstances. 283 00:29:38.470 --> 00:29:48.150 It's desiring less of something, that, something, that which is difficult and 284 00:29:48.309 --> 00:29:51.910 more of what is comfortable. Right, we want to avoid the things of 285 00:29:51.990 --> 00:29:56.700 life that are difficult and we want to really have a lot of the good 286 00:29:56.819 --> 00:30:03.019 things. The love of money, greed, gets its hooks into us, 287 00:30:03.980 --> 00:30:07.690 and when it does, there are two things that happen. We get our 288 00:30:07.730 --> 00:30:15.529 hooks into more things and those hooks pierce our hearts with many pangs. You 289 00:30:15.609 --> 00:30:21.440 know, the greatest judgment that God can give to us, could bring upon 290 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:26.079 us in this life, is what Paul mentions in Romans. One the greatest 291 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:30.440 misery of all is for God to give you up to your hearts desires and 292 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:37.309 lust, to turn you over to your own counsels. God has set eternity 293 00:30:37.470 --> 00:30:41.789 in our in our hearts, and we were meant for eternity. And when 294 00:30:41.829 --> 00:30:45.990 we settle for the temporal, our hearts break and grieve. Our hearts were 295 00:30:47.029 --> 00:30:52.619 meant to be inhabited by God and accepting anything less plunges us into despair and 296 00:30:52.859 --> 00:31:02.619 destruction. So here's a good question to ask to yourself to determine if this 297 00:31:02.700 --> 00:31:08.089 is something you might struggle with. When you meet people in the course of 298 00:31:08.170 --> 00:31:18.880 daily life, do you search after their's or them do you? Do you 299 00:31:19.079 --> 00:31:23.720 start thinking about their how they can and benefit you, what they have that 300 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:29.200 might benefit you, what they offer that might benefit you, how knowing them 301 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:33.509 is a good thing for you? or or are you after them? Are 302 00:31:33.589 --> 00:31:37.430 you searching after them? Are you wanting to know them? Are you wanting 303 00:31:37.470 --> 00:31:44.589 to be in relationship with them and and enjoy the fellowship of a saint, 304 00:31:44.869 --> 00:31:48.059 if they're a believer and not, if not, then then to share with 305 00:31:48.099 --> 00:31:51.980 them the love that you have for Jesus Christ. Are you more after there's 306 00:31:52.059 --> 00:32:00.450 are you more after them? So let's go back a minute and think about 307 00:32:00.970 --> 00:32:07.049 hooks and loops, velcro. So what? What is your heart stuck on? 308 00:32:09.849 --> 00:32:14.049 Is it the idol of words, being the smartest person in the room, 309 00:32:14.089 --> 00:32:19.319 raising controversy and division wherever you go, teaching or practicing something other than 310 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:24.359 the truth? Here's one that I struggle with. You always have to fix 311 00:32:24.519 --> 00:32:31.990 someone else's speech, the words that they say, or fix their understanding about 312 00:32:32.029 --> 00:32:36.069 something, stopping in the middle of a conversation and making sure they'd got it 313 00:32:36.269 --> 00:32:44.339 right. Or are you hooked into less trial and more comfort, more stuff, 314 00:32:45.220 --> 00:32:52.900 more power, more influence? The An adulte the preventative medicine to these 315 00:32:52.980 --> 00:32:57.980 hooks is contentment. So think about this for a moment. When when we 316 00:32:58.140 --> 00:33:05.529 travel, we we put up with some inconveniences. We know that. We 317 00:33:05.650 --> 00:33:07.809 know that the room at the air BNB is not going to be the same 318 00:33:07.809 --> 00:33:14.519 as our bedroom at home. Shower might be a little tighter, they might 319 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:22.359 not have the same soap. Traffic is bad, airlines run late. We're 320 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:27.670 we put up with convenience as while we're traveling. But how about when we're 321 00:33:27.750 --> 00:33:32.789 traveling through life? How about the inconveniences that are we content and what God 322 00:33:32.829 --> 00:33:40.349 has provided is fitting that we saying whatsoever God or Daineth whatsoever. God ordaineth. 323 00:33:40.430 --> 00:33:44.700 It'll come to pass and God is in control of it and God is 324 00:33:44.740 --> 00:33:49.299 providing for us and God will carry us through the various trials of various struggles, 325 00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:55.289 the various setbacks that we experience, where we're pilgrims headed toward a destination 326 00:33:55.410 --> 00:34:05.970 that's worth any convenient inconvenience that we might experience. The destination is not simply 327 00:34:06.490 --> 00:34:15.880 heaven, but it's who we get when we get there. We get Jesus, 328 00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:22.719 and you find contentment in Christ. The writer of Hebrew says, fix 329 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:25.590 your eyes on Jesus. The author and perfector of your faith, who, 330 00:34:25.670 --> 00:34:30.190 for the joy set before him, endure the cross scorning its shame that he 331 00:34:30.349 --> 00:34:34.590 sat down at the right hand of the father, so that you might be 332 00:34:34.750 --> 00:34:37.739 strengthened, that you might not grow weary in your walk, that you might 333 00:34:37.780 --> 00:34:45.619 not lose heart. So if you can think this way, and I I 334 00:34:45.739 --> 00:34:53.369 want to be careful, I don't want to be theologically incorrect, but we 335 00:34:53.650 --> 00:35:04.809 we should understand our whole source of contentment is the fact that Christ was put 336 00:35:05.010 --> 00:35:12.440 on the hook so we could be taken off the hook. So he was. 337 00:35:12.679 --> 00:35:22.150 He was literally impaled to a cross. This one who who defines godliness, 338 00:35:22.829 --> 00:35:28.190 this one who was content to do his father's will all his life. 339 00:35:28.230 --> 00:35:31.349 He even said it is my food to do the will of the father, 340 00:35:34.630 --> 00:35:39.340 this one who was sinless, was impaled, was hooked, was stuck to 341 00:35:39.539 --> 00:35:45.420 a cross, so that you and I, all that would all that would 342 00:35:45.420 --> 00:35:50.369 have faith in him, all who would come to him by faith, would 343 00:35:50.369 --> 00:35:53.570 be set free from the hooks of our lives. We would be taken off 344 00:35:53.769 --> 00:35:57.610 the hook for our sin. We would not have to go through death, 345 00:36:00.530 --> 00:36:07.199 because he was willing to. He who is God, did not cling to 346 00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:10.480 equality with God, but emptied himself, covering his glory for a time. 347 00:36:10.920 --> 00:36:21.590 He left perfect contentment behind to enter into our discontent and to offer his life 348 00:36:21.590 --> 00:36:31.269 as a sacrifice in order to bring us into contentment. HMM. So he 349 00:36:31.590 --> 00:36:43.780 he unhooked from the Glories of Heaven, became a man and then was put 350 00:36:43.900 --> 00:36:50.610 on the hook, put on the Cross to free us from the things that 351 00:36:50.769 --> 00:36:53.210 hook us, the things that would drag us away from God, so that 352 00:36:53.329 --> 00:37:00.639 we could be brought into perfect contentment. This is the one who we trust, 353 00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:04.599 this is the one we come to for contentment, this is the one 354 00:37:04.679 --> 00:37:13.880 where we find our hope. He is worthy of your trust. Trust him 355 00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:17.510 for your contentment, trust him for provision.