1 Timothy 6 Lesson

THE LOVE OF MONEY

The love of money is one of the most powerful tools of the devil!

In 1 Timothy Chapter 6, the Apostle Paul issued a stern warning about the trouble we can get in when we place too much value on money and material things:

• “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith.” – 1 Timothy 6:10.

It is a dangerous thing to get caught up in the pursuit of money ! 

The Devil understands that if we are not careful, our selfish ambitions can consume us and take our focus off of God.

Advertisers have gotten very skilled at making us feel that we “have to have” something, when in fact we do not.  

The world bombards us repeatedly with messages that suggest that life is more about where we vacation than how we serve the Lord.  

But is that what the Bible says? 

No, it is not!

The Bible teaches us that we are here for two reasons:

1. To glorify God,
2. To serve others.

BEING CONTENT NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES

Paul’s letter to Timothy teaches us to be content in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.

This will not always be easy.

This type of attitude requires aspirit of humility and a realization that the glory that awaits us in Heaven is far greater than any suffering that we might experience while on earth. 

Consider the following instructions that the more experienced Paul gave to the younger Timothy:

• “If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.  But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.” – 1 Timothy 6:8-9.

DO NOT CONFORM TO THE WAYS OF THE WORLD

As Christians, we are not supposed to conform to the ways of the world, we are supposed to be transformed and rise above those superficial things! 

Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Romans:

• “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformedby the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” –Romans 12:2.

There is an old expression that says:

“If you win the rat race, you are still a rat.”

Jesus said:

• “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” – Mark 10:25.

Knowing this, why would we spend our time trying to get rich?  

That does not make sense if our hope is in Jesus, and our goal is to get to Heaven.    

HOW GOD WANTS US TO SPEND OUR TIME

As discussed, our time on earth is not meant to be spent chasing after earthly treasures. Instead, our time is to be spent doing two things:

1. Glorifying God,
2. Serving others.

To please God, we need to spend less time doing what the world thinks is important and more time doing what God tells us is important.

Listed below are four scriptures that tell us how God wants us to spend our time:

1. “You shall love the Lord your guard with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.   This is the first and greatest commandment.” – Mathew 22:37-38.  Jesus tells us that nothing is more important to God than us showing our love for Him, and we do this by keeping His commandments.  Jesus said in John 14:15. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
2. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Mathew 22:39.This is the second most important commandment, behind only loving God.   To love our neighbor means taking the time to get to know them.   There is an old saying, “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”   The more we demonstrate the love of Jesus, the more receptive people will be to hearing the gospel.  
3. “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” – Philippians 4:8. God wants us to think about beautiful things !   We need to be careful what we are putting into our minds and make sure they would be pleasing to God.
4. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Mathew 28:19-20.   God wants us to share the Gospel.   He wants us to talk about Jesus with people that we meet and to tell them how important our faith is to us.   If somebody has a question about why our faith is important to us, God wants us to have an answer.   1 Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that youhave.But do this with gentleness and respect.”

CONCLUSION

God wants us to be content in whatever circumstances that we find ourselves in.

As Christians, we need to defend ourselves against the relentless attacks of the Devil who will try to tempt us into believing that money and chasing after selfish ambitions are what life is all about.

We need to know better!

God wants us to be transformed and for us to spend our time glorifying Him and serving others.

He also wants us to be thankfulfor all that He has blessed us with!

We will end today’s lessons with the following two scriptures about being content:

1. “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.” – Philippians 4:11,
2. “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He, Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” - Hebrews 13:5.