1 Tim 6.6-10 Godly Contentment

We're in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and I want to pose a question to you but don't draw a conclusion! You might have to think about it first. But the question is have you ever heard the phrase! that money is the root of all evil? Or have you ever heard anybody say that the Bible says that money is the root of all evil? So if you've heard it my question is is this saying true? Is that what the Bible says? Well certainly has been said but we're going to find out from our text if this is true or not. So if you'll turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6. Our verses today will be verses 6 to 10 but we will read 3 to 16. 1 Timothy 6 3 to 16. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness he is proud knowing nothing but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

From such withdraw yourself. Now godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out and having food and clothing with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith and their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you O man of God flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession of the presence in the presence of many witnesses.

I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ appearing which he will manifest in his own time. He who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone has immortality, dwelling in inapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

Now I said I'd read to 16 but I want to keep going till the end of 19 so let's keep reading. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good that they be rich in good works ready to give willing to share storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. Our great God we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Lord's day and thank you for the church. We thank you for the promise of the presence of Christ on the Lord's day where there is a true church and so we pray Lord that you would by your spirit enlighten our minds and that you would by your spirit and by your power make your word effectual to us according to our needs to live blessedly in this life and the life which is to come. I pray Lord that you would use even me and my preaching for your purposes and I pray that you would also bless the hearing of the word enable us to to hear from your word but also to continue to remember these things to contemplate on them and that our minds would be being renewed through the hearing of your word.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. So today our text is verses 6 to 10 and in in this passage in this text believers are warned believers are warned against a carnal pursuit of riches and to pursue godliness. Now maybe I'll define that a little bit more but by pursuit when I say pursuit a carnal pursuit is inordinate motions and affections. So a carnal pursuit is an inordinate motions and affections of riches. So say it again believers are warned against a carnal pursuit of riches and to pursue righteousness.

So we will divide into two parts the first part being the commendation of contentment in verses 6 to 8 and then secondly the condemnation of covetousness in verses 9 and 10. I want to make sure I get those words right. The commendation of contentment and the condemnation of covetousness. So first of all the commendation of contentment in verses 6 to 8. Remember the context right before when we get to this passage it's speaking about false teachers and false teachers they see godliness while godliness is something that's foreign to them they see it as a means of gain a means of exploiting people for their financial advantage. So coming out of that context we then shift to gain but a different type of gain.

It says now godliness with contentment is great gain. So here in verse 6 we have the benefit the benefit of contentment. True godliness is accompanied by contentment. True godliness is produces the fruit of contentment. So contentment is not something which can be acquired outside of godliness. However it is the fruit. Contentment is the fruit of godliness and contentment. There is benefit of contentment that is great gain. Godly contentment is profitable which is quite the contrast from that which we looked at previously about how false teachers see godliness as profitable but in a false way for exploitation for their own personal financial advantage whereas there is true gain in godly contentment. There's profit. It's profitable. And this even this this very way of thinking this concept is contrary to how we think by nature and the world thinks and our culture thinks of self-sufficiency.

By our nature before being saved in state of sin we have this idea of self-sufficiency. We are self-sufficient. We will build our empire. We we depend on ourselves. We have accomplished certain things and we are self-sufficient. We are self-reliant and we find our security in ourselves or mankind finds security and the empire in which they build in this world with the things the luxuries of this world.

But the contentment the the profit of godly contentment is satisfaction in Christ. And where there is a lack of godly contentment there is a lack of satisfaction in Christ. There's a lot of lack of satisfaction in God. And this satisfaction in Christ is regardless of one's condition.

Whether a person has a dollar in their pocket or a thousand dollars in their pocket a perspective of being satisfied in Christ is regardless of their present circumstance.

Remember 3 16. 3 16 says, And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.

So satisfaction in Christ is based on Christ's work of redemption. Not our current circumstances of whether we have one dollar in our pocket or a thousand dollars in our pocket or or or what additional luxuries we may have. Both situate both circumstances.

One can be satisfied in Christ and one can be dissatisfied in Christ. So this, to be satisfied in Christ, to be satisfied in what Christ is accomplished, the true prophet of godliness, great is the mystery of godliness.

It is in contrast with that which we saw of the false teachers. It's in contrast with the greed and the desire for more. And then when more is is achieved, there's desire for more still, and it still needs to be more. There's still not enough.

There's a greed to continually have more and more. But this desire, this greedy desire for more, it leads to the exploiting of others.

When you have more and it still doesn't satisfy and thinking that if I only had more, then that will satisfy me. You acquire more, it still doesn't satisfy. Then the measures to acquire more come to the point where it leads to the exploitation of others.

And that's what we see of the greed and the false teachers of their willingness to exploit others for the purpose of their own financial gain. But godly contentment, in contrast, godly contentment is great gain, but the gain of godly contentment is not material gain.

The false teachers desire after material gain, but godly contentment, which is gain, is not a material gain. And this is contrary to the prosperity gospel.

And we're going to see this kind of woven in through the rest of this sermon. But the prosperity gospel puts the focus of the hearer on material possessions in this life.

That God's will for you is health, wealth, and prosperity in this life. For you to live your best life now. And as we work through this text, we're going to see the significant problems of this thinking.

And really how these false teachers use this messaging for their own personal gain. But what is great gain?

If godly contentment is great gain, but not material gain, then what is the great gain of contentment, which is the fruit of godliness? Jeremiah Burroughs, he wrote that, Now what Jeremiah Burroughs wrote about godly contentment is very counter-cultural.

And that's typically the thing about godliness, is that it usually is counter-cultural. It's counter-cultural in the way that the culture seeks to promote and to push and to sell luxury and excessive debt, consumerism, and that your status is based on your possessions.

You've probably even heard that. Did you hear that so-and-so wears this kind of shoe, this $500 shoe? Or did you hear that so-and-so drives three Bentleys? You hear people identify a person's value or their identity based on the possessions that they have.

This celebrity just bought a new mansion in Costa Rica. Or you see that mansion? That belongs to so-and-so. The cultural luxury, debt, consumerism, and status is based on possessions.

I remember one time I was, I think I was waiting in line to go into a restaurant. I was standing outside of the restaurant to go in, and I overheard a conversation right beside me. And the entire time that I overheard the conversation, one man was giving an inventory to the other man of the things that he had in his house.

And the duration that I was standing there, he didn't even cover everything, but what he talked about in the duration I was waiting was just the ties. He was telling him about the silk ties he has in his closet and the different brands of all the silk ties that he has.

And then he was telling about the silk ties that he has in the drawer under his bed and all the different brands and the hundreds of silk ties he has. And he was just giving an inventory of all of his possessions as though that's what his value is and that the other man should probably respect him because of all the silk ties that he has, let alone whatever else he told him about.

But in history, who's considered, in the record of history, one of the most wealthiest persons to have lived in the record of history is Manza Musa.

And he lived in the 14th century and he was ruler of the Empire of Mali. And he was considered to be one of the wealthiest persons, mostly based on the gold production that occurred and he being ruler of the Malian Empire.

And he, of course, died. And this is the 14th century, 1300s. So you have to take into account the difference of inflation. A dollar today would be different than a dollar then.

The average person's annual salary then was probably two to eight dollars a year. So taking into account inflation, when he died, the wealthiest man in the record of history, how much money do you think, how much wealth do you think he left behind when he died?

All of it. He left all of his wealth. Everything that he had, he left behind. Notice verse 7. In verse 7, we see the reason for contentment.

For he brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. This shows us the temporality of this world, the temporality of this life, the temporality of riches and of wealth of this world.

And it gives us compelling reason for contentment. Consider, of course, Job. Job lost almost everything he had.

He lost his possessions. He lost his children. He lost, he didn't lose his wife, but he lost his wife's support. She told him to curse God and die.

And his response, if you remember, after losing everything, was that he worshipped. He tore his robe. He shaved his head. He fell on the ground, and he worshipped. And he said, We come into this world with nothing, and we go out of this world with nothing.

Could you imagine if there was a bank, and you went to the bank, and you put all your money into this bank, and everything you made, you continued to put money in the bank, and then once the bank had all your money, you went to take some out, and you found out that the money that goes into the bank is tethered to the bank.

And if you try to leave the bank with the money, there's a tether onto it, and you can't actually take it out of the bank. So you devise a scheme, and you think, Well, I'll just, I'll get as much money as I can.

I'll put in as much money as I can, and then I'll take that money, and I'll bribe the bank manager to then let me take it out. So you bribe the bank manager, but even still, the money still belongs to the bank, and it's tethered to it.

But would you imagine if somebody thought that if they were wealthy enough in this life, and they accomplished enough that they could use that to bribe God to find favor, to have treasure when they come out of this life, and when the veil of the flesh is removed.

We cannot bribe God with our good deeds. We cannot bribe God with our wealth. So, we see the benefit of contentment in verse 6.

We see the reason of contentment in verse 7. And in verse 8, we see the essentials of contentment. The essentials is this, And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

And this really brings it to perspective, that everybody here, we have quite a bit of luxury. If you have the essentials of food and clothing, clothing could be covering, so that includes a shelter, a house.

Those are the essentials, and we have the essentials. We have the essentials today, and we will have the essentials tomorrow. Anything on top of that is beyond the essentials. So, we have much.

So, we have much to be thankful for and much blessing. And I think actually that would probably be a pretty good test of where our affections are.

Because remember, if a carnal pursuit is an inordinate affection towards riches, if what we have, if you have more than one vehicle, I'm not saying that it's not wrong, but it's above the essentials.

And if we had merely the essentials, we can be content with that. So, more than that is a blessing. So, if that which we have, are you able to thank God for that?

Or do you think, no, I'm not going to give God the credit. I worked hard to have that. That's mine. I accomplished that. I deserve the credit. That would demonstrate, if you have an inordinate affection of the riches of this world.

Because if you have 10 cars, you can't take any of them with you out of this life. And it is by God's providence that we are in the condition that we are. Every, you think, well, I worked hard to make money to buy that, and it's good to work hard.

That's for sure. But when you worked, every single breath that you took in order to accomplish that work is God upholding your life.

Every breath that we take, we're sucking in. Thomas Watson said, you suck in the mercy of God with every breath that you take. We could have been born in a third world country, and we could have been hit by a vehicle and not had any health care, and be left sitting on a street corner with a rusty can, hoping to make enough money to eat by the end of the day.

It's by God's providence that our circumstance, that our condition is as it is. So having food and clothing with these, we shall be content.

These are the essentials. And there is a good use of God's gifts in creation. There is a good use of God's gifts in creation.

All of creation, God created for man to use to enjoy God. Now, Proverbs 10, 4, it says, he who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

And these, this is wisdom literature. This is a principle of wisdom. The hand of the diligent makes rich. It is wise to be diligent and work in order to accumulate wealth.

So then how do we, how do we reconcile these two things? How do we rightly understand with the unity of all of scripture, what is being said here?

Because we, that's why I wanted to continue to read, um, the, um, the verses 17 and 18, that command those who are rich.

So it's not condemning being rich, but those who are rich, command them in this present age, not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who, and here's this part, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

And that is the main focus of the purpose of these things of which we have. So it's a disordered affection of creation.

It's not that creation in itself is evil or wrong or, or sinful, but having a disordered affection of creation, the things of creation, which brings us to the second point.

And the world in opposition to godly contentment is drowning in idolatry of discontentment. So our second point is the condemnation of covetousness.

And this is verses 9 and 10. So in verse 9, we see the trap, the trap of covetousness, or you could say the seduction, the seduction of covetousness.

Verse 9 says, Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

Now the Baptist Catechism, in question 85, it speaks of the Ten Commandments. That's in the section that speaks of the Ten Commandments, and the right use of the law, and what the Ten Commandments teach us.

And in question 85, it says, The Ten Commandment requires, remember the Ten Commandment is you shall not covet. The Ten Commandment requires full contentment with our own condition, with the right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor and all that is his.

So discontentment is a violation of the Ten Commandment. And we'll unpack a little bit further what discontentment looks like or what it is. But Thomas Manton writes on this, and Thomas Manton, in explaining what contentment is, he says, Contentment is a quiet temper of mind about outward things.

And so it is opposed to three things, murmurings, distracting cares, and covetous desires. So really to summarize that, contentment is opposed to murmurings, distracting cares, and covetous desires.

So what does discontentment look like? Discontentment is a violation of the Ten Commandment, you shall not covet. Discontentment, to unpack these three things that Thomas Manton explains.

First one is murmurings. Murmurings is, of course, to murmur, or complainers. And the word, to murmur or to complain, it signifies blaming of others for someone's portion.

What their portion is in life, to be blaming others for it. The second one, distrust, and distracting cares. Men who are fearful and anxious for the future and doubt whether God will allow them the necessities of life, food, and raiment, tossed about without consistency or fixedness of mind by an impatient suspense or anxious solicitude about God's providence.

God remains to be God, God who created all things, upholds all things by the word of his power. He is sovereign over all things. He governs all things, limits all things, controls all things, and we are his creatures.

And as his creatures, God, according to his design, numbers our days and supplies us, and particularly God's people, the benevolence of God.

Now we might think that what is good for us is our comfort. Or what's good for us is our pleasure. Or what's good for us is our ease. And that my current life situation isn't tailoring to what I desire for my comfort.

But what is good for us, what is good for God's people according to God's fatherly disposition isn't our comfort. There is much more value in the purpose of pilgrims in this life on our way to our celestial home than merely comfort in our present circumstances.

Take the Fox's Book of Martyrs. If you have that, take that down and read through it or grab a copy and read through the Fox's Book of Martyrs and you see a record of martyrs who were killed, who were persecuted for being faithful to God, for being faithful to Christ.

And you will see in reading that that those who are faithful to God, who are faithful to Christ, even on to death, what is good and for God's glory is not primarily the person's comfort.

You can look back to the early church, even recorded the martyrdom of Stephen or the early church after the New Testament, the persecution. And that persecution caused the church to spread.

And by the spreading of the church, more people heard the gospel and having heard the gospel, more light was shone in darkness and the kingdom of Christ advanced or in the Reformation or following after that.

Read about the Huguenots. The Huguenots were faithful Christians and because of their faithfulness and unwillingness to compromise to Roman Catholicism, they were slaughtered. There was a false, an invitation sent out of a false royal wedding for the purpose of slaughtering Christians.

And that happened. Thousands of Christians were slaughtered on St. Bartholomew's Day based on this false invitation to a wedding. They were faithful and their faithfulness, what was good, it wasn't their comfort.

There's more than just our comfort or there's more than just ease in life or the Scottish Covenanters, if you're familiar with the Scottish Covenanters and read their stories and the character sketches of those Covenanters of how they suffered for being faithful and how they were persecuted in horrendous and barbaric ways.

So what is best for God's glory and good for the body of Christ isn't always our comfort. So sometimes we have that perspective is that what is good for me, what is best for me is my comfort and that is what my chief end will be but that is not what Christians are called to.

And that is why you see it as such an error of the prosperity gospel saying that God's will for your life is health, wealth, and prosperity in this life. And if you only have enough faith, you'll have health, wealth, and prosperity and then when there is not health, wealth, and prosperity then what do you do?

You doubt your own faith. You doubt God. You doubt God's goodness. But getting back to contentment and discontentment, an impatient suspense or anxious solicitude about God's providence.

God's providence in your current situation for those Huguenots or for those Scottish Covenanters, a trust in God's providence even in persecution and in suffering unto death.

And then third, covetous desires. They that are greedy for more forget or dislike what they have already. And he goes on to say what considerations are offered and implied in the text as most apt to breed it.

When he gives 10 reasons, I'll just give you the first one and the 10th one they're I think the best but that God is a sovereign Lord and dispenses these outward things at his pleasure.

And then 10, we must be contented with a competency but yet we ought to be fitted and prepared for eternity. So in verse 9 we see the seduction of covetousness or the trap of covetousness.

And then in verse 10 we see the disorder. The disorder of covetousness. The verse 10a it says, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

So to go back to the introduction, that statement that you've probably heard where somebody says money is the root of all evil, that's not what the Bible says. It's the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

So what's going on here is that it's not talking about what you have. It's not talking about the money that you have. It's talking about the money that you don't have.

To not be content with what you have but to have an inordinate emotion and inordinate affection to have more for that what you don't have in a way that is discontent or covetous.

The Baptist Catechism, the next question, 86 on the 10th Commandment, it says, the 10th Commandment forbids. So 85 was what the 10th Commandment requires. 86 is what the 10th Commandment forbids.

It forbids all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.

So to see what our neighbor drives as a car and think, I should be driving that car. I wish I had that car. Or to see our neighbor's success and think, I should be having that success. It's not fair.

And then blaming others for our portion in life for not having what our neighbor has. Maybe living in the past and blaming others in the past for our current lot in life.

An example would be to be thinking if Coach had only put me in the fourth quarter, we'd have gone state, we'd be champions, things would be different, I'd be making millions of dollars and live in a big old mansion somewhere, blaming others in the past for our current portion and place in life.

In the Bible, in the book of Revelation, it uses metaphor to describe two things. Really, it's two kingdoms or two cities or it metaphorically refers to two women.

Okay? The Babylon and the New Jerusalem. If you've read Revelation, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. And Revelation uses terminology, terminology metaphorically to unveil to unveil realities behind what is seen.

So it uses terms not literally but metaphorically to symbolize what it signifies. So when you hear the word, think, what does that word signify?

And then understand it that way. So it speaks of two women, one being Babylon and one being the New Jerusalem. Or these are two kingdoms. And it's the collective or the corporate citizens of that kingdom.

So Babylon would be the corporate citizens of the world. The New Jerusalem are those, all those who are born again. The new creation citizens of the kingdom of Christ.

And both coexist on this earth and this life. And Babylon, do you recall, the word, the metaphoric word which is used to describe Babylon?

It's the harlot. And what's the metaphoric word that's used to describe the New Jerusalem? It's the bride. So two words to reference women.

And you think of what those words signify and apply that spiritually to the understanding of Babylon, the world which rejects God and uses God for the purpose of seeking of seeking after pleasure and luxury of this world versus the bride, the New Jerusalem and what the bride signifies of love and commitment and joy.

Now with Babylon, the harlot, compare the splendor of each, the splendor of Babylon and the splendor of the New Jerusalem. So to put it another way, compare the splendor of the harlot with the splendor of the bride.

Okay? Babylon, her splendor is seduction and an empire of exploitation. And the New Jerusalem, which is the bride, her splendor is the glory of God.

Now what, we're, we see things visually by our senses in this world, but there are spiritual realities behind that and when you unveil the spiritual realities behind that and you see that the, the splendor of the things of this world is nothing but seduction and exploitation, but the bride, the New Jerusalem, the new creation, citizens of the Kingdom of Christ, her splendor is the glory of God.

Contrast those two things in your mind as we consider the, the, the pursuit of, the carnal pursuit, the inordinate affections of this world.

Now, we are surrounded in this world, in this life, we are surrounded in this world by the seductiveness of wealth and the ethos of Babylon, the ethos of this, of this harlot, the ethos of Babylon is people captivated by wealth and power divorced from God.

The key word there that I want you to, to grasp is the word divorced. The ethos of Babylon is people captivated by wealth and power divorced from God.

T. Desmond Alexander, he writes, and I think he captures it very well, he says, the influence of Babylon's spell has bred a new malaise in Western society. Affluenza, a growing and unhealthy preoccupation with money and material things where identity and sense of place in the world is derived through our consumptive activity.

Our value, our worth, our identity, our status is based upon our consumption. Like I said before, how much do you, do you hear people talking about what celebrities wear or what they bought or how much money they spend on certain things?

It's the consumption activity. And if you've read Pilgrim's Progress, if you hadn't read Pilgrim's Progress, you should. Read the Bible first, but then also read Pilgrim's Progress.

you probably remember when they passed through Vanity Fair and what the vanity of what the pleasures of the world they tried to forcefully sell upon them but they would not purchase of these things and so faithful ended up being faithful on to death.

But continuing on in verse 10, 10b, for which some have strayed from the faith and their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Of course, read of Demas and his love for the world. But the world and its culture seeks to make you discontent. The culture doesn't seek to make you content in what you have and to be satisfied in it but it's what else you can have, what more you can have, what you have isn't enough.

You must buy more, you must partake more, you must buy of this world, the things of this world, and then the flaunting of these things, the selling of luxury, a luxury that you too could have but it does it in a way that's a carnal pursuit, inordinate affection of luxury and this carnal pursuit of luxury is not gain because it does not satisfy.

A carnal pursuit of luxury as though that will finally satisfy me, it will not satisfy. There's always more that could be had, more that could be bought, more glamour, more luxury, more possessions and it's not supposed to satisfy.

Wealth, riches, as a highest good is not supposed to satisfy. Only Christ can satisfy. Now, Alexander continues by saying, affluenza causes overconsumption and think of this luxury that the world tries to sell and celebrityism and what you see in our current state.

But he says, affluenza causes overconsumption, luxury fever, consumer debt, overwork, waste, and harm to the environment.

And this leads to psychological disorders, alienation and distress, causing people to self-medicate with mood-altering drugs and excessive alcohol consumption.

And this is what living in Babylon does to some people. This is the effect that living in Babylon or living for Babylon or being a citizen of Babylon has.

It does not satisfy. It's not supposed to satisfy. It's worshipping creation instead of the created order. And we were designed to only be satisfied in worshipping the creator and not creation.

So I want you to flip over to Revelation just to put into perspective unveiling the spiritual realities behind Babylon and the carnal pursuit of Babylon.

But Revelation 17, Revelation 17, 1 to 6. And remember, words are used metaphorically to symbolize, to signify something else.

Okay? Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

And on her forehead a name was written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. Now flip over to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, 1-7.

After these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God.

For true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth! and those who fear him, both small and great.

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering saying, Hallelujah, let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory.

so this unveils the spiritual realities behind not only in 17 of this life on this earth, the world will hate Christians because the world hates God and wants to sell the pleasures of this world.

But also we see the reality behind all of this is that God wins and that Christ is reigning and we can have contentment in our current situation because this is what all things are working to words.

Christ, God wins, Christ is reigning, he will vindicate his name and the saints who are persecuted will be vindicated and in a state of glory perfectly blessed for all eternity.

So some concluding uses that we can take from this text. First of all, it should be clearly understood with that introduction, the phrase that you hear people saying, money is the root of all evil.

That's not what the Bible says. The problem isn't money, the problem is sin. The world and its culture seeks to make you ungodly and to make you discontent.

Ungodliness, discontentment, that is the issue. It's not money. So what the world offers is not gain. Again, vanity fair in Pilgrim's Progress, the vain pleasures that it tries to sell to not continue towards the celestial city, but to stop and to make your residence in this world, the pleasures of this world, thinking that that will satisfy, but it doesn't, so you need more and more and more.

And then when that doesn't satisfy and you need more, then driving to greed or driving to be willing to exploit others for the sake of more, a carnal pursuit with inordinate emotions and affections towards the riches of this world, which we cannot take with us out of this life.

Now the world, the world believes, well the world wants to believe, the world wants to believe the lie that there is no destination after this life, that this is as good as it gets, and that's the message of prosperity, gospel, preachers, live your best life now.

If this is it, then this is your opportunity, this is as good as it gets to make the most of this opportunity. So the world wants to believe the lie that there is no destination, this is as good as it gets, so eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we're annihilated and cease to exist.

There is no destination. There is no account to give after this life. So there is really no compulsion for the ends to go to, to try to satisfy those carnal pursuits.

So if tomorrow you're annihilated, then live your best life now. And that is the messaging of the world. And when under the cloak of the church of Christianity, when false preachers preach the message to live your best life now, that is driving people towards the world and the seductiveness and the snare of the world instead of the kingdom of Christ.

The world says to build your personal empire at all costs, even the destruction of others and the destruction of yourself. You've got to think, why do people sell drugs? When you see the effects of drugs, how addictive it is, people get addicted and it destroys them, it destroys their life and not only destroys them, it destroys their families and it destroys people who are friends or affected by them.

And when you see the effect that drugs have on people, why would anybody want to inflict that on society? Why would somebody even want to sell drugs? It's because they can get rich off of it.

They can exploit others for the purpose of advancing their empire, their, in this life, without accountability, without a sense of accountability, their carnal pursuit of riches, inordinate motions and affections towards those riches.

Now, we keep going back to the Ten Commandments and understanding the use of the Ten Commandments, the right use of the Ten Commandments and how for Christians, for believers, it is a rule for how we can live godly lives.

And the first commandment speaks of idolatry. You shall have no other gods before me. But there's another commandment that speaks about idolatry, and that's the Tenth Commandment. The Tenth Commandment speaks about idolatry.

You shall not covet, but Ephesians 5, 5, if you remember, it says, no covetous man who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

So Ephesians 5, 5 tells us that covetousness is idolatry. First Commandment and Tenth Commandment speak about idolatry. And idolatry, the idolatry of covetousness is a carnal pursuit of the things of creation as the highest good.

God. So we need to put things in the right categories. Money is not the root of all evil. Money is not evil itself. But we are to, putting things in the right category, seek first the kingdom of God.

It's not that it is wrong to work hard because if somebody doesn't work, they shouldn't eat. So it's not wrong to work hard to make money to feed your family.

but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Pursue godliness in Christ. Understand that material blessings are from God to use in this pilgrimage on our way to our celestial home.

We cannot take it out of this life with us. God gives these things to us as blessings to use on this pilgrimage to enjoy God, to glorify God.

All this is left behind so ask yourself where is your treasure because where your treasure is, there is your heart. So here's the big question. What is your highest good?

What do you pursue as the highest good? What is your chief end? What do you use to enjoy your highest good?

So if your highest good is the luxuries of this world, good, then you will use God in your pursuit of obtaining and enjoying those things as the highest good.

And this is idolatry. This is covetousness. But if you use the things of this world which God gives as good gifts for the purpose of enjoying God and glorifying God, then your affections are rightly ordered.

God is, God alone, is the highest good and chief end. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Next is be thankful for what God has given you for your use to enjoy him.

So I brought it up before. If you, when you, can you thank God for the blessings he's given you? The riches of this world, of this life. If you can thank God because he's, as a good gift which he has given you to enjoy him and glorify him?

Or do you say, no, God doesn't deserve the credit. This is mine. This is my empire. I am self-reliant. I am self-sufficient. And that is an indication of a disordered affection and what you see as highest good and chief end.

So use material possessions to glorify God. And that's why I wanted to continue to read in 17 and 18, which we'll look at not today but later.

But it doesn't condemn being rich. So those who are rich, then this is how you are to be rich. It doesn't condemn it. But in whatever condition you are in, be content in that.

Don't be discontent. Don't be covetousness and enjoy God and glorify God in the condition that you are in. So one more thing is that contentment is not merely a principle or an outlook.

contentment is worship. We all worship something. We are designed as creatures to worship something. The question is what is the object of our worship?

So contentment is not merely an outlook. It is worship. It's worship of who you trust. Do you trust yourself, your empire, your self-reliance, your self-sufficiency?

Or do you trust in God, the giver of all good gifts? Where do you see your ultimate security? What do you hope in?

Who do you obey? What do you pursue as the highest good and chief end with confidence in his trustworthiness? Do you have confidence in the trustworthiness of your bank account, of your empire?

Or do you have confidence in the trustworthiness of God, who is the creator of all things, the sustainer of all things, the upholder of all things, and really the one whom is our only trust and confidence when we leave this life and can take nothing with us?

So I ask the question, what fits this description in your life, or who fits this description in your life? There is nothing in this world, in this, in Babylon, luxury, and riches that can bring us into a right relationship with God or that can gain God's favor.

We cannot bribe God with our riches or with what we do with our riches in life. We can't bribe God by how much fame we get, by, you see celebrities virtue signaling about how much they give to such and such a charity.

Thinking, I don't know what they're thinking, but we cannot bribe God with our riches in this life. It is only in Christ. It is only trust in Christ. After this life, we can take nothing from this world with us.

We cannot, and when, it doesn't matter how much we accomplish in this life, if that is our sense of security for eternity, it will only disappoint us.

And this world will not satisfy. We can only be satisfied in Christ. And when we leave this world and we're brought to account before God, the only way to be right with God is to be in Christ, to have our trust in Christ, to have our trust in the gospel, to apprehend Christ as freely offered in the gospel.

So if your trust is in the things of this world, the things of Babylon, of wealth, of your personal empire, that will not put you in a right relationship with God.

And it is but a mere trap, and it is a seduction, which is to keep you from being heavenly-minded, from being focused on Christ, focused on God, who is the giver of all good gifts, who gives you all these good things to enjoy, him.

So if you have not trusted in Christ, if you have not apprehended Christ as the only highest good and chief end of your existence, of your purpose, of your soul, nothing else will satisfy, nothing else will deliver you safely out of this life to eternity to be blessed, but only in Christ.

It is only by the blood of Christ to wash us from our sins and the righteousness of Christ accredited to us to be right with God. And union with Christ is by receiving and resting on him alone for salvation.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you are with us as we sit under your word and we pray that you would help us to grow in our knowledge and understanding of your word and that as such it would form how we think about this life, that we would rightly see the seduction and the trap that this world tries to sell us through consumptive activity, but that we would find our true satisfaction and trust and joy in you and that we would use that which you give us as good gifts in this life to enjoy you and to glorify you.

And I pray that you would help us to indeed be content in you and your providence over our lives. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.