Faith, Money, and Contentment

Today’s Reading: 1Tim. 6:3–19

Here in 1 Timothy, Paul is warning about those who preach in order to become wealthy.
* There are some preachers today, who claim to be Christians but also say that, if you are a believer, you should be wealthy.
* The rationale goes like this: God wants you to be wealthy; all you have to do is “believe.”
* Therefore, if you are not, the only reason could be that you don’t have enough faith.

It’s called the “prosperity Gospel,” and it is a lie!
* As Paul writes to Timothy, “If we have food and clothing, we will be content” (v. 8).
* God doesn’t necessarily want all believers to be wealthy; but he does want us all to be content.
* Besides, I would hesitate to declare something about God’s desire for all Christians that cannot be said about Christ himself. Was Jesus wealthy?

Elsewhere, Jesus warns about making money a master, because there can only be one master in our hearts (Matt 6:24).
* Along those same lines, money can also replace God in other ways.
* If wealth is what we see as the source of our happiness and even our worthiness, it is the object of our faith.
* If our ultimate goal is to grow in worldly riches, money has become the object of our hope (v. 17).

Even if God does want us to be wealthy, which is possible, still we do not want worldly wealth to be the distinguishing mark of God’s favor in our lives.
* Contentment would be a better testimony to our satisfaction in God himself than even a healthy gratitude for financial prosperity could be.
* We want our hope in spite of hardship and persecution and suffering to be how we show the truth of the work of God in us.

That said, it is not wrong to be wealthy.
* It is wrong to put hope in money and possessions.
* But it is actually a good thing to be wealthy and generous (v. 18).
* After all, everything we have is the Lord’s, and he may give and take from us as he chooses.

I would add that, if you are reading this at your leisure, on an electronic device you own, using an internet connection you have paid for (and for a million other reasons), you are among the wealthiest in the world (along with me).
* What I mean is that we are already among those who are targets of Paul’s warning in verses 9 and 10.
* We must be aware, especially during this materialistic time of year, that our desires, or “cravings,” reveal whether God is our Master and whether he is the object of our faith and hope.

Godly, Blessed, Faith-Filled Work

Today’s Reading: 2 Thess. 3:6–15

The subject of work is related to many Biblical themes. Here are a some biggies:

Work is God-like.
* God’s creation of the universe is referred to as work (Gen 2:2); it wasn’t “hard” for God, mind you, but it was called work.
* In John 5:17, Jesus explains, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
* In other words, when God rested from creation, he did not stop working. If God is always working, how should we behave?
* In short, when we work—when we are productive and creative—we are following the example of the Lord.

Work is not a punishment, but a blessing.
* Before the fall, Adam and Eve worked.
* They were given all the plants and animals as their own, to take care of (see Gen 1:28–31 and 2:15).
* And it was “very good.” Work was a part of paradise.

Not to get into it too much, but I do understand that the curse of the Fall did relate to work, especially Adam’s consequences (see Gen 3:17–19).
* Still, the curse was not the institution of work, however.
* Rather, the inherent fruitfulness of work was affected.

Work and faith go together.
* Throughout the Scriptures, people try to work up to salvation; it cannot be done.
* The only work that accomplishes salvation is Christ’s work on the cross.
* Trusting in Christ alone for salvation is often compared to rest.
* But resting in Christ’s saving work does not mean rest from all kinds of work.
* Actually, the Bible indicates that we will and should “work out” our salvation (Phil 2:12).
* Famously, James writes that faith without works is dead. (I just wrote about this a few days ago.)

Now, a couple of observations about work, specifically in this passage:

The issue of laziness in the church is so serious that Paul says, if believers are not willing to work, they should not eat (v. 10).
* We should never take advantage of the generosity of others in order to be lazy.
* Paul even makes the point that working is not about rights (v. 9), but about being and following examples (see especially my first point above about following God’s example).

Additionally, laziness also leads to other problems, particularly when those who are lazy get in the habit of meddling and gossiping.
* If you didn’t already know, gossiping is forbidden for those who follow Jesus (Rom 1:29; 2Cor 12:20; 1Tim 5:13).
* Taking the time to get into other people’s business means you are most certainly avoiding doing something that is your responsibility—something that would build up the kingdom of God.

If we can learn to invest our time in godly, blessed, faith-filled work, not only will we enjoy greater fruitfulness, but we will also avoid the temptations the flow out of idleness.

The Test of Thanksgiving

Today’s Reading: 1 Timothy 4

Now here’s an interesting thought: Since God has created everything and pronounced it all “good,” we can freely receive it all with thanksgiving.
* I would be quick to point out that the message here is not that we can eat anything and drink anything, without condition.
* One condition is plainly stated, that we mustn’t reject anything “if it is received with thanksgiving” (v. 4).
* Another implied qualification would be that, yes, we can receive anything, but only for its intended purpose.

The latter condition first: what I’ll call the test of purpose.
* Paul is arguing that people do not have the authority to prohibit the enjoyment of the gifts of God; his examples are marriage and food.
* He is not claiming some kind of absolute autonomy regarding romantic relationships and diet.
* Rather, he is arguing against Church-mandated abstinence from those things that were given by God to be enjoyed in certain ways.

Now, this all may seem obvious—and I hope it does—but allow me a couple of examples:
* While Paul would encourage freedom to marry, he would not condone sex outside of marriage; one fulfills the intended purpose, the other corrupts it.
* Likewise, Paul would defend a believer’s freedom to eat pork, for example, but not freedom to ingest, say, plastic or poison.

I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t much more that could be said about what we are free to eat and drink (and smoke).
* But I will say that much of it boils down to either enjoying God’s gift or corrupting God’s gift.
* And I do think that the answer is, more often than not, as obvious as the difference between eating pork or eating plastic.

Now, for the other condition: the test of thanksgiving.
* Two days ago, we read, “Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17).
* Well, to eat with thanksgiving would mean that you recognize the food as a gift from God, given to you for that purpose (which is why I dealt with the test of purpose first).

But this principle also has some heavier implications.
* As I’ve mentioned in previous readings, you can’t thank God for food if, ultimately, you don’t think he gave it to you.
* But, notice, you aren’t likely to thank God for something you know you are misusing—say, while you are eating something God has not given you for food, or perhaps something God has given for someone else’s food.
* If you do thank God in the midst of rebelliousness, however, you are spending your thanks disingenuously at best, mockingly at worst.

Assuming faith in the God of the Bible, thankfulness becomes a good test of motivations in anything, not just eating.
* “Do all things with thanks” means receiving everything as a gift and using it according to God’s purpose.
* Therefore, if you can’t do something with thanksgiving to God, you either don’t understand that God deserves thanks or it’s a sign that you simply shouldn’t do it!