and help us to be edified in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Right, 1 Timothy chapter six.
Let's just look at a few verses before we get going.
1 Timothy chapter six and verse six.
From verse six reads, 1 Timothy six and verse six.
But 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 raiment, let us be there with content.
And the title of my sermon today
is The Contented Christian.
The Contented Christian.
I'd like to pray before we continue with the message.
Father, thank you for your word, the clear teachings
you give in your word teaching,
such as how to be content, how we should be content,
and to avoid things like covetousness
and all those things that go along
with not being content, Lord.
Help us to just, help me to preach this message
that you laid on my heart over the last few weeks,
just clearly and boldly and accurately, Lord,
just from with your spirit,
help everyone to have attentive ears
to hear what your word's got to say.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Right, so look, often in the Bible we're told to be content.
Yeah, I would say a lot of believers are discontent in life.
Discontent with their job, with their spouse,
with their home, with their roles in life,
their finances, unanswered prayers.
And the problem with discontentment
is that it leads into other sins.
So covetousness being the obvious one,
envy, murmuring and complaining about God,
and we covered that before fairly recently as well.
However, in a world where we seem to be constantly
encouraged to chase a dangling carrot,
being content is easier said than done, isn't it?
It's easy to say be content,
but I think a lot of people have difficulty with this.
You've got, you know, and the world, I believe,
does dangle these carrots a lot,
and it shouldn't be surprising.
Everything pretty much is opposite and inside out.
You've got the sort of zero to riches stories everywhere,
don't you?
I mean, you're constantly being bombarded
with that sort of stuff.
I was thinking about it recently with things like
the antiques roadshow and things like this,
where all these people are like,
it's old, it must be worth money.
And I realized a while back,
the lot of stuff that's old
isn't actually worth much money either.
No one really wants it,
but you're constantly thinking everything's gonna,
you're gonna suddenly make this money from this, that.
And obviously you've got those people
I went from nothing to this.
And all of them are in the public eye, aren't they?
How real that really is,
how true some of those stories are is debatable.
The constant exposure to the celebrity lifestyles.
I mean, that's just in your face everywhere, isn't it?
Their homes.
I mean, most people probably at least have an idea
of what some rich and famous people's
inside of their homes are like.
And think about it in, you know,
pretty much all of history,
you would never have had an idea, would you?
Pretty much.
You might have known a little bit about one person,
maybe, but nowadays it's just constant, isn't it?
This sort of, what did they have years ago?
It's MTV Cribs, wasn't it?
And just, I mean, but it was popular stuff, wasn't it?
And people are kind of interested
in what these people have.
And then obviously you've got the semi-clad
airbrushed model wife alternative, you know, everywhere.
And then you've got the understanding, charming,
pinny wearing husband alternative, you know?
And that stuff is just constantly just being pushed
and promoted all the time.
And it's not just Hollywood and Satan's music industry,
is it, that pushes this stuff
and the rest of the mainstream media.
The average social media user is usually depicting
this fairytale world where all their dinners
look like Michelin star creations.
Do they still do that?
Because when I was on Facebook years ago,
like everyone was just taking pictures of their dinner.
And a lot of the time it didn't look that great,
but I think they thought it did, you know?
And there was like this kind of thing
where people are just constantly trying to show off,
weren't they?
And act like they were just eating
this amazing food all the time.
And often with this stuff,
their homes are always pristine, aren't they?
So you get these people constantly just showing pictures
of videos of their homes and stuff.
And the homes are always perfect.
And the parents seem to have perfectly behaved kids,
don't they, all the time.
So the ones who are constantly trying
to advertise their parenting, you know,
you'll only ever see the pictures when the kids
are all sitting doing something quiet and not, you know,
sort of 30 seconds before where they're ripping each other
to shreds and things like this.
But the days, you know, with these guys
are kind of seem to be full of perfect tidy joy, don't they?
But I think for many, it then start,
makes them feel a bit discontent with their life,
doesn't it?
A bit discontent to what goes on
behind closed doors with them.
However, just a heads up with this,
what goes on behind the camera is always very different.
Okay.
I remember years ago we were at a church
where they had a live stream service, I think.
It was at the very beginning of COVID.
And it wasn't, the people weren't trying to pretend
to be this model family like many do on social media,
but we felt really gutted for them
because everyone was kind of on this live stream
and it was kind of rotating around people.
And then this poor family just,
I think one of the kids grabbed the phone
or did something, whatever they had.
And suddenly it just showed this huge mound of mess
and rubbish, dirty laundry and stuff.
And we were like, ah, the full things.
Expose it to the whole church.
But had they never moved the phone,
you would have thought, oh, they've got a nice tidy house.
They're sitting on their sofa and everything else.
But that's the reality, isn't it?
And the truth is those people that are advertising
their lives all over social media,
a lot of the time they're advertising a false life.
However, because people look at it a lot
and are exposed to it a lot,
it still cons them, doesn't it?
At least it makes them feel maybe a little bit insecure.
And look, for me, I'm constantly,
I'm wary of people that do that, okay?
That want to advertise their whole lives on Facebook,
Instagram, photos and videos of their kids
all over the place.
That's weird, isn't it?
Obviously we've had people like that here before
and there's people like,
there's many people like that around.
An old colleague of mine once said something
really interesting to me about this.
This is probably the most profound thing she ever said.
She said, when, this was years ago,
I was moaning about something to do with Facebook
and that sort of thing.
It's always wound me up, this stuff.
She said, there are two types of people in this world here.
She said, there are those that plaster their lives
all over Facebook,
and there are those that then read and look all about.
And there is a bit of a truth there, isn't there?
Because if you're not doing it,
a lot of people are watching and looking at this stuff
and you could argue that if you wanted them to stop doing it,
maybe stop watching and viewing all their stuff, you know?
Because, you know, you're kind of part of the problem.
But if you want to find contentment in life,
avoiding being one of those two people
is probably a good thing, you know?
Because a lot of the time, those people,
they're trying to seek something by promoting that
and get this sort of adoration and the stuff
that, you know, is obviously lacking in their life
that they're never going to be fulfilled with.
Or people are just looking at all this stuff all the time
and feeling discontent
because they're being conned by this sort of
model image of life, which usually isn't the reality.
But here in 1 Timothy 6,
Paul teaches us some things about contentment
and how to avoid discontentment.
I think pretty much in most of this chapter he does,
because I believe that the lesson starts from verse one.
So 1 Timothy 6 and verse one,
because we're going to look at what he has to say
about being content.
And verse one, he says here,
"'Let as many servants as are under the yoke
count their own masters worthy of all honour
that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.'"
So the title is The Contented Christian.
And point number one is The Contented Christian
honours their boss.
The Contented Christian honours their boss.
Because that can be a big problem for many, can't it?
Is contentment with their job in life.
He said here that servants,
and by the way, it's not talking about butlers,
this is just employees, okay?
People that are employed in life.
He says, "'As many servants as are under the yoke
count their own masters worthy of all honour.'"
So he didn't say just give a little respect, did he?
Or just kind of, you know, do as you're told.
He said to count them worthy of all honour, okay?
And all honour means basically to really respect them,
to put your bosses up here.
And you go, well, that's a bit strange.
Well, firstly, because you're representing Christ
the Bible believe in Christian, okay?
We should, when we're in the workplace,
we want to behave as what we are doing.
And what we are doing is we're represented Jesus Christ.
You're a Christian in the workplace,
you should be the best possible employee you should be,
shouldn't you?
Okay?
And you're working ultimately as unto God anyway.
But what has this to do with being content in life?
Well, for me, look, this is a mentality shift as well.
So the rest of the workforce
is ammonia and complaining about the boss, am I right?
Yeah, anyone in the workplace?
Most of the workforce,
usually ammonia and complaining about the boss, okay?
He's just the one to complain about.
That's what they do.
Well, are those people content?
Are they content?
Any of your workmates who are just spending half the day
finding fault with the boss, finding issues,
are they just happy in all areas?
No, they're just discontented.
And it manifests in that, but they're not happy, are they?
Stop complaining, stop joining in with that.
And that's outside of there as well.
Well, I don't join in with them at work,
but then I go home and complain about the boss.
Well, maybe if you don't,
you might find that you start to be a little more content.
Because what you're complaining about,
what you're focusing on is going to manifest, isn't it,
in terms of whether you're content or not, right?
So maybe there's a good idea there,
but keep a finger here and turn to 1 Peter 2,
because some people will say,
well, you don't know my boss.
He's the most ungodly so-and-so, he's this and he's that.
Well, first he does complaining about it help.
Does complaining about him help?
Does that make him a better person?
And here's the thing, if you really can't stomach your job,
look for a new one, yeah?
I mean, either be the best employee you can
or be the best employee you can.
If you think, I can't do this in the long term,
then get another job.
But in the meantime,
you are commanded to be a good worker, aren't you?
1 Peter 2 in verse 18 says,
servants, be subject to your masters.
This is 1 Peter 2, 18, with all fear.
Yeah, fear your boss.
You have to turn to Ephesians 6, 5 says,
servants, be obedient to them
that are your master according to the flesh
with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart
as unto Christ.
So we're to treat our boss basically
like we're working for Christ.
Yeah, fearing.
Yeah, if you were working for Jesus Christ
and the real Jesus Christ of the Bible,
I don't think you'd be kind of whispering
about him behind his back.
I don't think you'd be kind of, you know,
raising your eyes when he asked you to do something
and other things like that.
You'd be serving him with all fear, wouldn't you?
Well, that's how we're to behave
with our bosses in the workplace.
He said, be subject to your own masters with all fear,
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
So also to the froward.
Froward are the ones that are hard work.
They're unyielding, okay?
This is a tough boss.
This is someone that's not the model boss, yeah?
Still, behave as if you're working for Jesus Christ.
He said, for this is thank worthy
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief,
suffering wrongfully, for what glory is it
if when you're buffeted for your faults,
sorry, when you be buffeted for your faults,
you shall take it patiently.
But if when you do well and suffer for it,
you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
Now, go back to 1 Timothy 6.
The truth is that even those working for saved bosses
will still find a problem.
So some will go, oh, well,
it's just because of who the boss is.
But look, the truth is that people seem to do that
with, if in theory, a saved boss as well.
And you might think,
well, there are that many of those around in this nation.
Well, he said here in verse two, back in 1 Timothy 6,
and they that have believing masters,
let them not despise them because they are brethren,
but rather do them service
because they're faithful and beloved,
partakes of the benefit these things teach and exhort.
So people, look, the truth is
they just end up despising their bosses.
It's not necessarily because they're saved,
although they'll find a reason, you know,
it could be the sort of, how dare they be in charge of me,
we're all brothers,
they shouldn't be talking down to me or whatever it is.
But the truth is, look, they're your boss, yeah?
They're your boss.
Just deal with it.
And so many people end up hating the boss, don't they?
Who's the most hated person in the workplace,
the boss, isn't it?
Poor guys, just trying to run a business or whatever else.
But that's the truth, isn't it?
People just, it's people who are above them,
people that are in charge.
And of course, look,
the chance of this happening in your workplace
in this nation is probably slim,
but you could apply it to many things.
You could obviously apply it to church work.
So if this church grew and there'll be eventually
maybe people on the payroll here, people working here,
maybe there'll be deacons in the future, things like that.
Look, at the end of the day,
a lot of people you'll find,
I bet if you went around and looked at churches
around the world, you'll find people despising the boss,
hating the boss for whatever reason.
And you can, look,
you can also apply this to just all areas of life.
So you can apply this for women, for example, at home.
And yeah, I'm not saying your husband
is like your boss at work,
but you are still to submit to your husband.
And a lot of, I would say a lot of the discontentment
in life with many wives
is their disrespecting of their husbands.
They disrespect their husbands
and then they're discontent with life
because they're not giving a husband
the respect that they should.
And it's a vicious circle because you show them the respect
and maybe you might find that they then show you
the leadership skills that you want to see.
They kind of, they go hand in hand a lot of the time,
don't they?
But look, there are many areas of life with this
where if you just basically just,
I believe it could be liberating for many.
I've found this myself.
When I started working for people,
having had a long period of being self-employed,
I loved it.
It's just great to just be able to just submit to someone,
just let them tell me what to do, work,
you know, not have to deal with all the other issues,
not have to deal with all the struggles
and issues and burdens that come with leadership.
And it can be nice just being,
just submitting to authority.
Same with kids, isn't it?
A lot of the time they're unhappy
because they're just not obeying their parents.
So they're kind of frustrated and unhappy,
but maybe a lot of it would be solved
if they just got their mentality right.
So a lot of contentment, I think, is mentality.
And this is something in life,
in the world where the opposite's taught, isn't it?
People are taught not to submit, obviously, to their boss.
How dare he speak to you like this and everything else?
Not to submit to their husband, to their parents.
But are these people happier?
Do we live in a world of contented people?
I don't see that at all.
I see a world of discontented people.
And look, for me, everyone would be much happier
if they just dropped the pride
and just accepted the chain of commands in life.
Because that's what a lot of it comes down to, is pride.
People just cannot deal with being told what to do,
cannot deal with submitting to the authority in our lives.
We all have authorities in our lives.
We just, when we learn and accept to submit to them,
I think a lot of the time we're more likely to be content.
Look at verse three.
He said, if any man teach otherwise,
he consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness.
So we're back in 1 Timothy 6 here.
He is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions
and strifes of words.
Where have cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmises,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds
and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness
from such withdraw thyself.
So the title is contented Christian.
Number one is the contented Christian honors their boss.
Number two, the contented Christian avoids the covetous.
The contented Christian avoids the covetous.
Where verse three said, if any man teach otherwise.
Now, obviously that would apply to those teaching you
to be a bad worker, et cetera.
I don't know how many are doing that,
but don't forget that this letter to Timothy
is to be read as a whole, isn't it?
Okay, the chapter divisions came later.
The whole letter is full of doctrine,
teachings for the ministry especially, okay.
This is known as one of the pastoral epistles.
And the previous chapter, for example,
just alone has instructions about which widows
to help out, about paying pastors,
dealing with accusations against them,
treating people fairly, not doing shotgun ordinations.
There's many teachings in this letter, okay.
Then we have these instructions for the workplace,
but for me in verse three, he's referring to all of it.
He's saying, if any man teach otherwise,
he's just been given this list, list,
remember the chapters weren't there before.
Then he says, if any man teach otherwise, okay,
and consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
into the doctrine which is according to godliness.
So he's basically here talking about false prophets.
Okay, he's talking about the false prophets,
which were referred to in 1 Timothy 4, 2
as speaking lies in hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
Okay, these are reprobates.
These are reprobates.
And verse four to five gives us some classic traits.
It says he is proud, okay, pride is a big one.
And look, pride, you see it all over these types of people.
Some are more obvious than others with it.
Some managed to keep it under wraps a bit more than others,
but a lot of the time, it's a pride, okay,
that's a big one, pride.
He said knowing nothing,
but doting about questions and strives of words.
Doting is to regard with excessive fondness,
like think about the doting grandparent, for example, okay,
who has maybe an excessive,
an excessive, not in a bad way with a grandparent usually,
but however, doting is to have this immense fondness
of something or someone.
These people dote about questions and strives of words.
Basically, they love debate, okay, they love debate.
They love a row, they love just some altercation,
some sort of strife.
Romans 1 says that they're full of debate, doesn't it?
They're full of debate.
Then he said, whereof cometh envy, strife,
railings, evil surmisings.
And you don't have to turn there,
but just think about, again, just to make it clear,
this is the types of people he's talking about.
Romans 1 29 talks about these people, it says,
being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy.
We've had envy here.
Murder, debate, okay, that's your strife.
Deceit, that's your railings.
Malignity, whisperers, backbiters, hates of God,
despiteful, proud, bozos, inventors of evil things.
That's your evil surmising.
He's just constantly trying to like, find the worse him.
He finds some sort of issue that they can accuse him of.
Disobedient to parents.
So he then said in verse five,
where you are perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds.
Again, clearly reprobates a destitute of the truth, okay?
That's your psychopath, your reprobate psychopath,
corrupted mind, seared conscience,
supposing that gain is godliness,
from such withdraw thyself.
And for me, like, the first thing you think about there
is the prosperity gospel type, yeah?
That's, for me, that's what I think about.
Supposing that gain is godliness,
they're trying to teach you that it's godly
to get all this gain, yeah?
That somehow you're not godly enough
if you're not as rich as them.
If you don't have the private jet,
if you don't have the yacht,
it's just because they're more holy than you, yeah?
Supposing that gain is godliness.
But there's, you know, for me there's,
well, there is something here that they all have in common.
So whilst they're focusing on money as a sign of godliness,
it's covetousness, isn't it?
Okay, all these people are covetous.
Turn to 2 Timothy chapter three.
Romans 1.29 said,
being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness.
So they're filled with all unrighteousness
and he includes with that covetousness.
2 Peter 2.3, your turn to 2 Timothy three,
but 2 Peter 2.3 says of these false prophets,
and through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise for you,
whose judgment now have a long time lingereth not,
and their damnation subvereth not.
2 Timothy chapter three and verse one says this,
this know also that in the last days perilous
time shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves.
We call them narcissists nowadays.
Covetous, second one on the list.
Boasters, proud, we just saw that.
Blasphemous, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
they don't have real empathy, they can fake it,
but they don't have that real empathy.
Truth breakers, false accusers.
Okay, we saw railers, didn't we earlier?
Incontinent, fierce, despised of those that are good.
Traitors, heady and high minded,
obviously we looked at pride, didn't we?
Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.
And usually it's the gospel,
there's some sort of works belief.
There's some sort of deep down,
still believing that you can lose your salvation
based on something that they, you know,
or be some extra way that you can really
lose your salvation.
Or be that you've still got to keep the penny of your sins.
Or you've got to at least ask forgiveness
every time you do sin.
Or you've got to at least do whatever it is,
they always will have something,
they have a form of godliness,
but they deny the power thereof.
They deny the power of the gospel,
they deny the Lord Jesus Christ.
They deny the real Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, some of them will make a fake Jesus Christ
through some sort of oneness god or whatever else.
It's ultimately, they deny the power thereof.
Did he then say, try to get them saved?
Hang around with them
because they call themselves Christians.
Well, they got a fish on the back of their car
or you know, something silly like that.
No, he said from such turn away, from such turn away.
And there are many reasons to turn away from these people.
But one of those reasons is the negative influence.
Okay, it's not just because they are the most wicked
of wicked people,
but it's also the negativity that they influence you with.
The pride, the boasting, the heady high mindedness
cons a week a lot of the time
into discontentment with their life,
their job, their home.
Okay, a lot of people feel insecure
around these types of people.
Oh man, they're just so great at this.
They just have such a great life.
They've just got so much of this and that.
And then people start to feel discontent.
And it's hard to feel content with life
when you're around people
that are constantly boasting and prideful, right?
But along with that is the covetousness
and it rubs off, doesn't it?
Covetousness rubs off.
And we had obviously, you know,
we've had people like that here in this church
and it does rub off on other people.
People start to feel a bit influenced by it.
I mean, I remember one of these guys,
I mean, he had a family, he had a baby on the way.
He had a good job.
He had money as well.
I think in the family, he had a good job.
He had a nice house.
He had a side job,
which he seemed to be making a lot of money out of then.
And what they try and do is because they try to push
what they think of Jesus.
And then he's telling me how God would want him
to now do a new degree in engineering or whatever it was.
And it was really bizarre because it was like,
I don't really kind of understand why,
but it's like, no, I think it's really godly.
God wants you to like make the most of yourself
and everything else.
Ultimately, it was just money, money.
When you got to know him.
Now, just a quick caveat here.
If you want to train in something,
you train in something.
For whatever goal you have that reason.
But if your goal is money, if it's all about money,
if it's not because, well, so I can provide for my family,
it's ultimately so I can have more, more, more, more, more,
then you've got an issue, haven't you?
Because what was the result?
Well, it said here,
perverse disputings of many corrupt knives
are destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness,
from such withdraw thyself.
So he thought that that was godliness.
He was trying to push that at least.
He was supposing to others that doing this
and getting even more money,
and getting even better money was godliness.
But what was the result?
Straight away, he's missing church for exams.
He's suddenly, he's not coming in because I've got an exam.
I've got to revise for this exam.
I've got to do this, whatever it will, maybe not an exam.
It was some sort of paper he had to do on this or that.
And then that attitude's pushed on others.
It's all about money, money, money.
And then it starts to get normalized, isn't it?
Then others around the church start to think,
well, you know, that's fair enough, you know,
going for the money and trying to get, you know,
trying to get more and more what I can,
and, you know, swerving a bit of church
to get a bit of extra money,
trying to, you know, whatever it is,
you know, trying to earn what you can,
extra, extra, extra, that's okay, isn't it?
And it starts to become normalized.
What did verse five say?
Did it say, well, I'll tell you what it did say.
It said, from such withdraw thyself.
And it's not always obvious, is it?
It's not always people showing off the wads of cash.
Turn to Jeremiah chapter six.
Look, there are those that obviously have the money
and are constantly going on about the money
and constantly boasting about the money.
But turn to Jeremiah chapter six,
where the word reprobate is first used and defined, okay?
So this is the first use of the word reprobate.
Jeremiah 6, 30 says, Jeremiah six and verse 30 says,
reprobate silver shall men call them
because the Lord hath rejected them.
Okay, there reprobate silver shall men call them
because the Lord's rejected them.
Yeah, that doesn't jive with modern Christianity,
but yes, the Lord rejects people, okay?
These are reprobates, they've been rejected.
Well, earlier in verse 13,
Jeremiah said of these people, verse 13,
for from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them,
every one is given to covetousness.
From the least, even to the greatest,
every one is given to covetousness,
and from the prophet, even unto the priest,
every one dealeth falsely.
So even the poor ones, you know what?
You know there's a lot of covetous poor people around,
you know that?
I think a lot of people think,
oh, it's only the ones with the money,
it's only the one with the cash.
Now, even the poor ones, the unsuccessful ones,
the ones without the flash car,
they still have an inordinate desire for money, okay?
And there are poor reprobates and there are rich reprobates
and there's everything in between, okay?
And these people, do you know what defines them all?
From the least of them, even unto the greatest of them,
every one is given to covetousness.
They're all coveting what they don't,
they all want stuff that's not really theirs to have.
Now often, most of the time it's money, right?
But there's other things as well,
stuff, things, riches, wealth, et cetera.
Paul said to Timothy,
Paul said to Timothy back in where you are
in 1 Timothy in chapter six in verse five,
he said, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds
and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness,
from such withdraw thyself.
Okay, look, they're gonna influence you,
they're gonna negatively influence you,
and whether it's a false prophet preaching behind a pulpit
telling you that money somehow shows that you're more godly,
or whether it's the infiltrator,
whether it's the false brethren
who's just constantly talking about money,
everything's about money,
everything's about their wealth, their riches,
wanting to know what you earn,
wanting to talk about what you have,
what they have, et cetera, it's all negative.
He said withdraw yourself, keep away from these people.
When I'm around, when I see people that are clearly,
I don't wanna be around them, it's horrible, isn't it?
I don't wanna talk about what you're earning
and what I'm earning, yeah?
I'm not interested, I don't wanna talk about what you have
and what you don't, it's nonsense, it's ridiculous, yeah?
However, so many people, this is a big issue for them,
covetousness, he said,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,
destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness,
from such withdraw thyself,
but 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 raiment,
let us be there with contentment.
The title is The Contented Christian.
Number one, the contented Christian honors their boss.
Number two, the contented Christian avoids the covetous.
Number three, the contented Christian
appreciates what they have.
The contented Christian appreciates what they do have.
Verse six said that godliness with contentment
is great gain.
If you can find contentment along with godliness,
then that is real gain, okay?
That's real gain in life,
because isn't contentment what most people
are seeking in life?
Isn't that what most people in the world,
they want contentment, they want happiness.
They want to just be content, right?
Yet, there are these endless dangling carrots
that just prevent people from ever reaching it.
Everyone's chasing something that they think
is going to make them content,
but they'll never achieve it.
It's always a dangling carrot
and they never will be content.
This is the trick.
The trick is to be content with what you do have,
rather than your contentment being dependent
upon something you don't have, okay?
And that's a distinguishing point.
If you can be content with what you already have,
well, you're going to be content, aren't you?
Whereas if your contentment is based upon,
well, I will be content once I get this.
I'll be content once I get,
I'll be content once I achieve this.
I'll be content once I can buy that.
Look, you're never going to be content
because there'll always be something else.
There'll always be something else.
Hebrews 13, five, you don't have to turn this, says,
let your conversation be without covetousness
and be content with such things as you have.
Not such things as you think you can get,
such things as you have, for he have said,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
And look, ultimately it goes hand in hand with godliness
because without contentment,
there's going to be a list of sins, okay?
So without contentment,
you're going to see likely a long list of sins with it.
The obvious one is covetousness, okay?
So covetousness we talked about.
Without contentment, look,
the discontent are often just coveting things
that they can't have, okay?
And it's not just money, okay?
I've seen people that it's not just the obvious cash.
They just cover other people's stuff.
They want this of yours.
They want to get that from you.
They want to get this
because ultimately they're not content in their own life.
They're not content with what they have.
They feel they'll be content once they get this from you,
but it's never enough.
They always want more and want more and want more, yeah?
And covetousness is an obvious one.
But along with covetousness comes a green eyes of envy, okay?
The green eyes of envy.
And you want to avoid those green eyes of envy.
Turn to Proverbs 27.
Those that are content in life
aren't envying what others have, are they?
Yeah, if you're content,
are you envying what everyone else has?
And listen, envy is a powerful emotion, okay?
Envy is a really powerful emotion.
Proverbs 27, 4 says this.
Proverbs 27 and verse 4 says,
wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous,
but who is able to stand before envy?
You know why?
Because envy is more powerful than wrath and anger, okay?
Who's able to stand before it?
When you see someone's eyes light up with envy,
you've got big problems, haven't you?
And you see it in people sometimes.
When you're dealing with people and you see those eyes,
and sometimes it's just a little flash.
You talk about something, you mentioned something
and you just see the eyes flash for a second.
You're like, oh no.
Oh no, I've got myself a problem here now.
I've got myself someone who's gonna be an enemy,
someone who's gonna start to get angry
and start to hate me because of something they perceive
you have that they think they should have that they want.
Envy is a big problem, okay?
And do you know what the worst part about envy is?
I've noticed in my life, yeah,
is that most people don't admit to envy.
So they don't go, I'm just so envious of that person.
Now some do, okay?
A lot don't.
Instead, they'll just get a deep hatred for that person.
And they'll often justify it with something else.
So they'll find something else to blame their hatred on.
Now, sometimes it's something ridiculous,
sometimes it's not.
Sometimes they'll do a diligent search for something
that will justify their hatred, justify their anger,
justify their dislike.
But really the truth is it's because they're envious.
They're envious of something they perceive you have
that they want.
And what does it come down from ultimately?
Discontentment.
If they were content with what they had,
they wouldn't be envying what they consider you to have.
Even though most of the time they've got no idea
why and how and what you have and what you don't have.
Because a lot of the time there are other areas of your life
that they definitely wouldn't be envying.
But they'll find something, they see something
because they're not content with what they have,
then they start to envy and then the hatred comes out.
And then you've got a whole load of issues to deal with
because of envy.
Envy is massive.
And if they'd had the contentment,
then that ungodly covetousness and envy
wouldn't have been an issue.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
They go hand in hand.
For we brought nothing into this world
back in 1 Timothy 6,
and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
Do you know what you will carry out
if you want to call it carrying out?
The rewards in heaven from your contentment, right?
No, I'm talking about rewards after salvation.
Salvation's a free gift.
But you can earn rewards in heaven,
you can take them with you,
but without contentment, that's limited, isn't it?
Because without the contentment in life,
you're going to have problems
because you're not going to have the godliness
that goes with it.
And how do you get the contentment?
Well, you appreciate what you have
rather than what you don't.
Pretty simple.
Appreciate what you have.
He said in verse eight,
and having food and raiment,
let us be there with content.
Now, I might be wrong here, yeah?
It seems to me that everyone in this,
well, everyone at least has raiment in here.
And I reckon everyone probably has food in here.
I mean, everyone in this room has food and raiment, okay?
Therefore, we're told to be content.
Having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
And do you know what the truth is?
Everyone has more than that.
I would say everyone in here, I'm assuming here,
but I assume that everyone in here
has more than food and raiment.
So really, everyone should be super content in here,
according to what God says.
If we go by the word of God,
we should all be above content
because we have more than food and raiment.
The contented Christian appreciates what they do have,
which in turn makes them content.
And look, first off, obviously, you have salvation, okay?
Just that for a start.
You have salvation, you're saved.
If you put your faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation,
you're saved.
What a great thing, can't you be content with that?
You've got eternity in heaven.
Eternity in heaven.
You cannot go to hell.
You shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life
if you put your faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, that's great,
but the contented Christian not only has salvation,
but they have other things as well.
We have food and raiment.
So we should be content in this physical life as well.
And look, it's good to remind yourself of salvation,
but well, you have to turn there.
Psalm 37, 16 says,
a little that a righteous man hath
is better than the riches of many wicked.
Even if that's all you had,
even if all you had was salvation,
it's better than the many riches of the wicked.
Did you know that?
Yeah, you look at, I don't care.
You look at the multi-billionaires.
Where are they all going?
They're all burning in hell.
Let's be honest.
How many of those people are saved?
How many of these mega rich that you think,
oh, if only I had this,
oh, it's all right for them.
And then you start envying, coveting their stuff.
Where are they going to spend eternity?
Burning, burning.
And you have salvation and you didn't deserve it.
You got salvation
because you put your faith in Jesus Christ.
That's enough to be content, isn't it?
But turn to Proverbs 30,
because it might also help to remind yourself
how fortunate you are not to have riches.
And I'm talking about as saved as well,
not pre-salvation,
which seems to be such a hindrance to salvation,
but look at Proverbs 30 in verse eight.
Proverbs chapter 30 in verse eight says this.
Proverbs 38 says,
remove far from me vanity and lies.
Give me neither poverty nor riches.
Feed me with food convenient for me,
lest I be full and deny thee,
and say, who is the Lord?
Or lest I be poor and still
and take the name of my God in vain.
Now, as far as I'm aware as well,
no one here is poor enough that they have to steal.
Okay?
So we've all got enough that we need, right?
Yeah, we've got enough.
And the truth is there's more chance of you being full
and then denying the Lord.
There's more chance of people in this nation being full,
having too much and then denying the Lord.
Basically, no, we're not talking about salvation there.
We just talk about people that then stop relying on God,
stop thinking about God,
stop giving God the credit for things in their life
because they get puffed up,
they get pride for the fact that they have much.
Because godliness with contentment
is great gain, isn't it?
Okay?
We need the two, but we need to appreciate
what we do have and what we don't have, okay?
And learn to be content with whatever we have
in this short life.
Learn to be content.
And do you know a good way of doing that?
Just verbally thanking God.
I talk about this a lot, but it's really stuck with me.
If you just thank God, thank God.
Go through what you do have in life and thank him,
thank him, thank him, thank him.
And you know what?
You're more likely to be content.
It's a bit hard to be discontent
when you're saying thank you.
Think about it as a child on their birthday.
If they're just saying, thank you, thank you for this,
thank you for that, thank you for this,
they're thanking like for 50 different presents,
I think they're probably gonna be quite content in life,
whatever they got, right?
But if you're not, if they're not saying
thank you for a thing,
then maybe they're gonna be a bit more discontent, right?
And it's same with us, just thank him.
Find those things.
Start your prayers, you know, start your day maybe
with just thanking God.
Thank God for all those many mercies you have,
salvation for one.
But what about the rest of it?
What about the food of raiment?
What about the house?
What about the roof over your head?
What about all those things that we all have
that we should be content for, shouldn't we?
We should be grateful for, we should say thank you.
And when we do that, we're then gonna be content, aren't we?
And having food of raiment, let us be there with content.
I go back to 1 Timothy 6, where he said,
and having food of raiment, let us be there with content.
Verse nine says, and they that will be rich,
but they that will be rich, so they fall into temptation
and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil,
which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness.
The title is the contented Christian.
Number one, the contented Christian honours their boss.
Number two, the contented Christian avoids the covetous.
Number three, the contented Christian
appreciates what they have.
And number four, the contented Christian hates covetousness.
The contented Christian hates covetousness.
Paul said in verse 11, but thou, O man of God,
flee these things.
He said, flee, he said, run the other way,
get away from covetousness.
And the best way you can do that is by hating it.
Hate it.
Just get it in your heart that you hate covetousness.
And that's gonna help you be content in life.
Turn to Exodus 18.
Exodus chapter 18, where Moses is having a hard time
doing all the day-to-day pastoral type work
of what is ultimately a mega church in the wilderness.
For me, this is probably one of the few mega church
that's actually had a saved man of God leading it, right?
Okay.
And this, we've got Moses there
with his mega church in the wilderness.
And his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian,
we were talking about this recently.
For me, no doubt he saved you.
He gets him to basically ordain a load of deacons,
if you like, okay?
So he kind of, he comes along and he's like,
look, you're doing, you're doing a lot, Moses, yeah?
You need some help.
You need some deacons, okay?
So Exodus chapter 18 and verse 19 says this,
Exodus 18 and verse 19.
He said to Moses, hearken now unto my voice.
I will give thee counsel and God shall be with thee.
Be thou for the people to Godward,
that thou mayest bring the causes unto God.
And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws,
and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk
and the work that they must do.
Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people
able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating,
hating covetousness.
That's what he wanted.
He wanted people to help him that hated covetousness
and place such over them to be rulers of thousands
and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties
and rulers of tens.
That sounds like godliness with contentment,
these people, isn't it?
Men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.
He said, and let them judge the people at all seasons
that it shall be that every great matter
they should bring unto thee,
but every small matter they shall judge.
So shall it be easier for thyself
and they shall bear the burden with thee.
So these men hated covetousness.
And if you hate it, you're going to flee it, aren't you?
If you hate covetousness, you're going to flee it.
It's not going to be an issue in your life.
Go back to 1 Timothy 6.
Why should we hate it?
Well, he said in verse nine, 1 Timothy 6, nine,
but they that will be rich,
okay, that's people whose goal is riches.
He didn't say, but they that are rich.
He said, they that will be rich.
Okay, that's people whose goal is riches
fall into temptation and a snare
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts
which drown men in destruction and perdition.
Okay, so the temptation, a snare or a trap, yeah,
is those whose goal is money.
They end up in foolish and hurtful lusts.
And look, that's the reason they hate it, isn't it?
And you know what?
These things often prevent the unsaved
from getting saved, don't they?
How many of you have got like rich people saved easily?
It's hard, isn't it?
Like they don't even want to hear the gospel.
They're not even interested.
They're just too busy trying to plot and plan
how they can get more money,
polishing their cars or whatever else.
It's so hard for them to actually just hear the truth
and they actually want to hear the gospel.
And look, it's a snare, okay?
They, it drowns men in destruction and perdition.
Okay, and ultimately that's talking about hell, isn't it?
And obviously that's the unsaved there.
He said, for the love of money is a root of all evil,
which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Remember, by the way, that Jeremiah 6.13 said,
for from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them,
everyone is given to covetousness for fern of reprobates.
And from the prophet, even unto the priest,
everyone dealeth falsely.
For me, it just seems like this is
at the core of evil people, isn't it?
It's at the core of the wicked is the love of money.
I mean, all of it, every single one of them.
And it's a root,
if you think about so much evil in this world,
so much stuff goes on because of the love of money.
Because of the love of money,
that's why we have this just horrendous
big farmer industry.
The love of money is the reason that we have
so many of the atrocities in the world, don't we?
The love of money is the reason why a load of
pretty much the vast majority of this nation
were just lining up, getting injected with things
that I don't even know what,
because of the love of money was basically
a big cause of the fact that people were pushing it,
promoting it, lying about it,
getting all these people to take shots in their arms,
something they didn't even know what it was.
And what did it all come down to?
The love of money, the love of money,
money, money, money, money, money.
And it's at the core of so much, isn't it?
It's the root of so much, it's the root of all evil,
but it's also at the core of all these evil people.
The love of money is the one thing
which is a common denominator amongst all these people.
Whether they're successful at acquiring it or not.
Look, like I said, there are some very poor
covetous people, right?
There are poor reprobates out there.
They still love money though, don't they?
And that's enough reason alone to hate it, isn't it?
Let alone that it stops people getting saved
and can ruin a believer's spiritual life too.
Look, because look, every single person here,
just because you're saved,
doesn't mean that you can't start to covet money.
Doesn't mean just because it's a makeup of a reprobate
doesn't mean a saved person can't still deal with this.
The flesh is still weak.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, isn't it?
And look, everyone here can be pulled into this
and start thinking about money, seeking money, chasing money
and it will ruin your life.
It will ruin your life.
It's a snare, isn't it?
And to many hurtful lusts.
But is hating it easier said than done then?
How do you make yourself hate covetousness?
Well, I think the answer here is in verse 11
because you set your heart on the things of God.
Verse 11 says, but thou, O man of God,
flee these things and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Basically, they're in opposite directions,
which is, by the way, one of the reasons
that these frauds stand out so much.
Whether it's a mega church, you know,
sort of mega rich pastor,
or the ultra holier, the now false brethren
with his fake exterior of holiness,
where their covetousness just can't be contained though.
It's bizarre, isn't it?
You know, these people are like,
you know, they claim to be soul winning in the word
into all these things,
but they're just all they kind of can think about
and talk about and just everything about them
is about money and riches and wealth and everything else.
It's clear as day, isn't it?
But it's same with the so-called holy pastor
behind the pulpit, who all he can think about is money
and all his riches and everything else.
He's a man of God, why does he need a private jet?
Why does he need any of this stuff?
Why does he need a Ferrari?
Why does he need any of that stuff?
Why does he need, you know, thousand pound suits and stuff?
You know, it's madness, isn't it?
Absolute madness.
But it makes them stand out, doesn't it?
But for those that can and want to flee it,
to hate it, to run the other way,
you need to set your affection on the things above,
don't you?
Okay, so the way you do that
is by setting your affection on the things of God,
then you're gonna hate the things of this world
and the big one being covetousness.
Turn to Matthew 6, and while you turn,
I'm gonna read Colossians 3, too.
I know we're doing a lot of turning today,
but it's worth it.
Matthew 6, you're turning, too.
Colossians 3, too, says exactly that.
It says, set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth.
So while affection should be on the things above,
not on the things on the earth,
money being a big part of that,
how do we do that by being in the word?
In church, soul winning, praying,
focusing our thoughts on him,
not on the things of the world, right?
In Matthew 6, Jesus says exactly that.
He says this in Matthew 6, 19.
He said, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.
Now, it's clear as day, isn't it, in the Bible.
I don't even know how these guys claim
to be Bible preachers,
and then they're just preaching about somehow getting rich
and everything is a sign of their godliness.
He said, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal,
for where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.
The light of the body is the eye,
if therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil,
thy whole body shall be full of darkness,
if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness,
how great is that darkness.
Look at verse 24.
No man can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.
Mammon basically being the god of money, okay?
Look, you have to hate the god of money, okay?
Again, you've got to hate it.
Yeah, that's what he said.
You're going to hate one, you've got to hate one.
Who are you going to hate?
Because do you know what people start doing?
They start hating the things of God
when they're chasing money.
And he's talking to believers here, okay?
Christians will do that.
They'll start chasing the cash, chasing the money.
Then church becomes an inconvenience.
Soul winning becomes an issue.
And all those people are constantly going on
about soul winning,
because really it's affecting their wealth,
it's affecting them being able to work more, earn more.
You know, do more deals, do whatever it is, yeah?
Look, you're going to love one
and you're going to hate the other.
You're going to start hating the word of God,
because it's constantly telling you
that covetousness is wicked,
when really you're a covetous person.
So you start to avoid those verses, avoid the word of God.
Look, either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and Mammon.
And there is no room for love in both, okay?
The contented Christian hates covetousness.
He does that by loving the things of God.
Love the things of God.
How do you love the things of God?
Get in the word, make sure you're in church,
make sure you're soul winning,
make sure you're praying to God,
make sure you're reading your Bible,
make sure you're listening to preaching,
make sure that you're doing the things of God,
you're focusing on the things of God,
you're thinking about the rewards you can get in heaven,
and that should, therefore, when you're going that way,
that makes you go away from the other way,
which was the covetousness, which was the love of money.
He said in verse 33,
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow,
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself,
sufficient unto the day is it evil thereof.
So before that, he talked about not focusing
on the things of the world,
focusing on God first, and he'll look after you,
and then he confirms that in verse 33.
He said, seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Now go back to 1 Timothy chapter six.
1 Timothy chapter six, and from verse 11, he says this.
He says, But thou, O man of God, flee these things,
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
patience, meekness.
Okay, we should flee, we should hate it, run the other way.
Fight the good fight of faith.
Did you know that following after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness,
is, there we see it's followed by fighting.
It's not weak.
Being meek, being humble isn't weak, it's being strong.
Yeah, following righteousness, faith, love, patience,
they're signs of strength.
Whereas the world will tell you
that's a sign of weakness, isn't it?
Some sort of pushover or something else.
No, it's a sign of strength.
He said, fight the good fight of faith, yeah?
Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art
also called in this profess a good profession
before many witnesses.
I give thee charge and a sight of God,
who quickeneth all things before Christ Jesus,
who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,
that thou keep this commandment without spot,
unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which in his times he shall show,
who is a blessed and only potentate,
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
who only have immortality,
dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto,
whom no man have seen, nor can see,
to whom be honor and power everlasting, amen.
Look at verse 17, he then says,
charge them that are rich in this world
that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches,
but in the living God who giveth us richly
all things to enjoy, that they do good,
that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
So the title is a contented Christian.
Number one was a contented Christian honors their boss.
Number two, the contented Christian avoids the covetous.
Number three, the contented Christian
appreciates what they have.
Number four, the contented Christian hates covetousness.
And number five, the last one,
the contented Christian gives of their abundance.
A contented Christian gives of their abundance.
He said in verse 17 to charge,
or you could say command those that are rich in this world.
Who's he talking about?
Well, believe it or not,
even though they can be harder to get saved,
rich people get saved too.
With God, all things are possible, aren't they?
In fact, by most of the world's standards,
all of us here pretty much are rich, yeah?
By most of the world's standards, we're all rich.
So don't get too carried away with the whole,
you know, if they're rich and then we get saved.
Well, it depends by what standards you're comparing it to.
Paul said in verse 17, charge them that are rich
in this world that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches.
He's talking to all of you lot here, yeah?
Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
Basically, we don't want to get all puffed up
if we do have money.
And you could say regardless
whether these are saved people or not,
put your trust in God or the money will ruin you, won't it?
He then said, he then said to charge them,
basically, that they do good, verse 18,
that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
Now, I'm sure many of us here have known
some very rich people in life.
Are they content?
I've never met any of them that are content.
I've met some pretty wealthy people in the world
and they're never content.
All that money making, does it make them happy?
It never does.
Are they satisfied with what they have?
No, they're just always chasing more.
I've known people that are so mega rich
and even get to a fairly elderly stage
where they could easily retire.
Everyone claims they just want to retire and they don't.
They just carry on trying to earn more money.
They just keep, it's just this never ending,
just basically carrot dangling in front of them.
And they just always want more.
They're always trying to get more.
It's never enough.
Well, and by the way, that's across the board, okay?
That's whether they're saved or not, okay?
It's not just sold because they're unsaved people.
Look, storing it up for a bigger bank balance
for the latest purchase, whatever,
it doesn't make people happier, okay?
It never does.
And the best way to avoid coveting more,
to avoid it becoming a god in your life, is to do good.
To be rich in good works, it says here,
ready to distribute.
And I don't just mean giving it all away, okay?
But those with higher paying jobs
should have more time to serve God as well, shouldn't they?
They should have more time to serve God.
They should be more able to help others to do good things.
Look, if I'm getting a ridiculous amount of money
for my day job, then I should have the time
to do more things for God
because I shouldn't have to do the overtime then, should I?
I shouldn't have to work the extra job
to provide for my family.
I shouldn't have to do all those extra things.
I should be able to afford things
that make my life a little bit easier,
which means I have more time to do things for God.
I should be able to do more good.
I should be able to be rich in good works.
I should be ready to distribute.
I should be willing to communicate.
And willing to communicate is basically
willing to give as well, okay?
It is willing to give.
And of course, look, that requires some discernment, okay?
If you've got money, you think,
well, I've got an abundance.
Probably the best idea is not to go up
to Charing Cross or something
and just start bunging wads of 50
to homeless, reprobate drug addicts, yeah?
That's not doing any good.
You're not helping anyone with that,
however much it's the latest fashion
in the world right now to just give money
to drug addicts, okay?
No, you're not probably doing any good with that.
In fact, you're doing worse, right?
But that's not what we're talking about.
Look, you should be discerning with it,
but it's gonna change the mentality, isn't it?
So if you're giving to good cause,
you're giving your time, your effort,
your resources, whatever they are,
to the things that God, to good causes in life,
if we're kind with our resources,
if we're focusing on God,
if we're just being generous in general,
you know, you've got money, you've got time,
you've got the ability to help people out,
to do things for people, et cetera,
to go out soul, when you're gonna have more time
to do those sorts of things,
well, we're less likely to then be worshiping money,
and then we're less likely to then have
the eternal discontentment that comes with that.
I hope that makes sense, yeah?
Look, if when the money comes in,
you're using that to be able to then do more
to then maybe not have to work so many hours,
to maybe be able to give more money
to whatever cause it is to do these things,
then you're likely to be probably
less focused on the money,
which means that you're likely to be more content in life.
You don't go, oh, I just need more and more,
because, well, what's going on,
what's happening when you're getting more?
Well, you're just giving more out, aren't you?
But that's what he said here,
he said clearly in 1 Timothy 6,
he said, charge them that are rich in this world
that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches,
but in the living God who giveth us
richly all things to enjoy,
that they do good, command them to do good,
command them that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
Now, Turn to Ecclesiastes 5,
while I read Proverbs 23,
because, look, the money you'll never be happy with, okay?
Proverbs 23, you're turning to Ecclesiastes 5,
Proverbs 23 says, labor not to be rich,
cease from thine own wisdom.
It says in verse five,
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not,
for riches certainly make themselves wings,
they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
You know, you'll never be content
if your goal is riches, seriously.
I've never met anyone who is, they're never content.
It's always just easy come, easy go as well.
The more they get, the quicker it just goes.
But Ecclesiastes 5, 10 says exactly the same,
it says, he that loveth silver
shall not be satisfied with silver,
nor he that loveth abundance with increase,
this is also vanity.
When goods increase, they're increased to eat them.
And what good is there to the owners thereof,
saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet,
whether he eat little or much,
but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
That's the truth in life, isn't it?
When you work hard, when you're grafting,
when you're busy, you sleep well, don't you?
Yeah, sleep's easy, it's sweet.
And you feel satisfied when you do sleep, don't you?
You know, I've put in a shift today,
I've put in some graft today, going to sleep.
All these rich people, they're chasing it.
They're chasing sleep, they're chasing contentment,
they're never happy.
Yet, they're just chasing this dangling carrot,
they've been sucked into it, it's a trap, it's a snare.
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver,
nor he that loveth abundance with increase.
Okay, it's vanity, it's emptiness, it's nonsense.
Okay, it'll never happen.
True contentment comes from godliness,
and part of that, well, is according to Paul in 1 Timothy 6, 18,
part of that contentment is,
part of that godliness at least is that they do good,
that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation
against the time to come
that they may lay hold on eternal life.
And there'll be some good rewards waiting for them
to really make the most of that eternal life to come, right?
There's contentment that comes from that, isn't there?
Yeah, when you're doing good,
there's contentment that comes from knowing,
look, I've done, you know, I feel like I've done well,
I've done well this week, you know?
I haven't just been focusing on money and cash,
I've been focusing on just trying to do good,
do good things, you know?
And yeah, for me, look, there's some good rewards,
and you're really laying hold on eternal life with that,
aren't you?
The contented Christian gives of their abundance, yeah?
And that's something that we should all have on our hearts,
shouldn't we?
We want to, look, and again, I'm not,
this isn't like, pass me on the offering plate now, guys,
okay?
We've had a real successful message,
that's not what it's about, like, in every area of life,
right, whether it's just being generous
with your neighbor, whether it's helping people out,
giving them a lift, giving them things,
whether it's, you know,
you have something you don't need anymore,
instead of, what can I get for it on Facebook Marketplace?
Give it to somebody who does need it, you know?
It doesn't know, like,
it's not just how much money can I get,
what can I, you know, cash, cash, money.
And so many people are like that,
and they don't have to be rich to be like that,
where all they could think about,
all they could focus on is money, money, money.
And he said, don't be like that.
And ultimately, we are all rich in this world, right?
Okay, compare with the world, we are rich,
and we should be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
The title is a Contented Christian.
Number one, the Contented Christian honors their boss.
Number two, the Contented Christian avoids the covetous.
Number three, the Contented Christian
appreciates what they have.
Number four, the Contented Christian hates covetousness.
And number five, the Contented Christian
gives with their abundance.
And it's something that, just last point on this,
it's just something I've been thinking about a bit recently,
because I just, I just rarely just find people
that are just content.
They're just happy, just content with life.
I'm just chasing something, always chasing.
And a lot of the time it's money, but it's not always.
Just chasing prestige, chasing it.
There's nothing wrong with having some ambition in life.
However, often it's just the opposite.
An ambition separate to something
which you're not content without, you know?
And I see that with a lot of people,
and not just talking about the church,
but just in life, you know?
And it's something that I think is a problem in the world.
How many people, like I said,
how many people do you know that are just content?
It's rare, isn't it?
And people are sucked into this kind of rat race
of just chasing things to think
that's going to make them happy, and it never does.
And ultimately, having food arraignment,
let us be there with content.
If we can get our hearts right on that,
we're going to be much happier in life, aren't we?
On that, we're going to pray.
Father, thank you for your word, thank you.
That you just make it clear
about what we shouldn't be chasing in life,
what our focuses should be on, Lord.
Help us to all get that right.
Help us to, you know, to want to be content, Lord,
to want to follow how you tell us to be content,
not to be conned by the world,
the world's advertisements for so-called contentment,
and understand that, ultimately,
it comes from godliness, really.
It comes from just serving you.
It comes from just being the children you want us to be, Lord,
that we're going to be content with that spiritual life
if we can just get rid of that other junk,
those other issues.
There's other things which kind of contend with you
in our hearts and in our minds, Lord.
Help us to just focus on you, the things of God, Lord.
Help us to reject the covetousness,
reject those covetous people,
just get away from all of that
and just put our focus on you and serving you, Lord.
Help us do that this afternoon.
Help us to get out there, soul-winning.
Help us to, you know, just be led to those receptive people,
the people that want to hear the word,
want to hear the gospel, Lord.
Help us to return for this evening's service.
In Jesus' name, for all of this, amen.