Have you ever played the game called "Would You Rather..."? We played it as kids and I played it just the other day with one of the youth. You make up your own questions but it goes something like this. Would you rather be fat and have a nice face or have a nice body and be ugly? Would you rather fight Superman or Batman? Would you rather have hiccups the rest of your life or feel like you need to sneeze and not be able to the rest of your life? You get the point. It's always something horrible and every time somebody asks me that question, I think, "I don't want to do either one. I would rather you quit asking me those questions."
What is it about kids that like to come up with those horrible scenarios and make you choose which one you would rather do? Well, I have one for you. I want to ask you a question and I want you to think about which one you would rather do. But I will just go ahead and tell you that only one of these is a horrible scenario and yet it is usually picked. The question is, would you rather serve God or serve yourself?
Now, that sounds like a pretty easy question to answer sitting here in church this morning, doesn't it? Nobody would dare answer anything except serve God. And the rewards of serving God are so great and the consequences of serving yourself are so bad that I'm sure we would all say that we would rather serve God. And yet, if you think about it, both are going to be difficult sometimes. Both are going to involve a struggle. Serving God sometimes means doing without something or giving something up.
Whereas, serving yourself can be pretty fun sometimes. Even the Bible admits that sin can be fun...for a season. So, you really have to look at the long-term benefits to make an intelligent choice. And unlike the kids' game, this is real life and you have to make a choice. And choosing not to make a choice is still choosing and the default setting is always serving yourself. So if you say you are not going to make a choice then you have chosen to serve yourself and not God.
The problem with serving yourself or going after only what you want in life is that it's sort of like trying to fill up a bucket that has a hole in the bottom. You can get everything you want and as you get it you are putting it in that bucket but the bucket never ever fills up. In fact, the more you put in, the bigger the hole gets and then you need more and more and more but you are never content. You never will be.
But Luke 6:38says that when we serve God, "A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap." Some of you understand that more stuff, more possessions, goodies, toys, clothes and things do not have anything to do with your contentment. And some of you have learned that the hard way by having stuff and then losing it. And some of you have learned it...also the hard way by not having it and then getting it. And either way you have learned that it is not stuff or lack of that defines your happiness and contentment. It is your relationship with Jesus that brings contentment.
Because I love you, I am going to preach a brief, traditional Christmas sermon this Tuesday night, Christmas Eve. It will be great to bring a friend or neighbor to. But also because I love you, I am not preaching a typical Christmas sermon today. Because I love you and I am desperate for all of US to learn the secret of contentment, especially at this Christmas giving season, I want us to continue in 1 Timothy chapter 6 at Paul's writings about money, stuff and contentment.
You can spend a lot of money and time preparing for Christmas and have a miserable time if you are expecting the gifts under the tree to bring lasting happiness and contentment. Christmas day won't even be over yet and you will be wondering, "Is this all there is to it?" You'll say, "All that work and all that money and this is all I have to show for it? That wasn't worth it." But next year you will get sucked into the advertising and the guilt of not giving your loved ones the latest and greatest and Satan will just sit back and let you go, laughing all the way.
So, let's turn to 1 Timothy and read chapter 6, verse 11 and 12.
"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses."
Just like water runs downhill and follows the path of least resistance, most people want to take the life path that is easiest that will get them to the place they want to be. All things being equal, people will take the shortest and easiest route to their goal. The problem is...all things are not equal. Some people have higher goals than others. Some people are born with more or better resources to help them reach their goals.
Some people don't want to be obedient to God's standards because they think it is too hard. They think you can't have fun and that the Bible is just one big book of "No! Don't do that!" True believers, those who have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus, feel the same way about those who don't. I don't understand how people can get through this life without the help and encouragement of the Holy Spirit that lives inside us. How can you have joy and peace outside of faith in Jesus? I don't know how people get through the difficulties that hit all of us without knowing God and fellowshipping with a local body of believers like this church.
But whichever way you go; whichever route you choose it is going to be a struggle if you want to reach your goals. The passage we just read tells us that there will be work involved. It will require some effort to reach our goal of --as Paul might say -- knowing Jesus better and better. The good news for us is that the more and better we know Jesus the more contentment we have whatever our present circumstances might be. And doesn't everybody want that, to be content?
There are three things we need to see and do in this passage and they all require that we put out some effort. There is a time to be still and know He is God and there is a time when we are seeking the prize of contentment that we need to flee, follow and fight.
The first part of verse 11 says, "But you, man of God, flee from all this..." Flee from what? Paul tells Timothy in previous verses to be on guard against greed, the love of money, material possessions and the desire to be rich. And it is these things that he is saying to flee from.
I looked up the word "flee" in my mongo-jumbo concordance and do you know what? I didn't really learn a thing. It means to run. Get away. Put some distance between. Put up barriers to. Do whatever it takes to get away from and not be a part of the slightest shadow of impropriety when it comes to earthly possessions or money. It's not wrong to have stuff or money. It's wrong to lust after it or to go after it in ways that don't honor God. And if it doesn't honor God then FLEE from it.
Have you ever heard of the curse of the lottery? If you track past big lottery winners there is a definite pattern of suicide, divorce, depression and even bankruptcy for the winners and their families. It has become so obvious that people have called it a curse. It's not a curse. It's what naturally happens to people who do not flee from the trap of the love of money.
Paul says earlier in verse 10, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." They have pierced themselves with the lottery. Flee from it. Stay away. Paul wasn't telling Timothy to flee from this stuff because having possessions was bad. Paul didn't want Timothy or the church there or this church to get hurt in the quest for more and better things.
In Mark chapter 10 Jesus talks to the rich young ruler. The man was sincere in wanting to know how to be saved. He sincerely wanted the contentment that came from following Jesus. And what did Jesus say? He didn't take him through the Roman Road or use Evangelism Explosion or say what Kirk Cameron says. He didn't even tell him the Gospel. Isn't that odd? He told him to sell all of his possessions. Not because possessions were bad. But possessions had possessed him and Jesus knew that you can't serve God and money.
That rich young ruler walked off with all of his stuff but no salvation and no contentment. And if he was like most people, he didn't start off wanting to be filthy rich. He just wanted to have enough to be happy and content. But as always happens, one thing led to another and the man was caught in the trap. The trap, as it says in verse 9, which plunges men into ruin and destruction. Now isn't he just the picture of ruin and destruction? Jesus told him to flee from all that stuff but it was too late for him. He couldn't give it up. It was too much to ask.
So, Paul tells Timothy not to even go down that path. He tells him to flee from that kind of thinking and lifestyle. But he also goes on to tell Timothy that not only should he not go that way but he tells him which way he should go. If you wanted to get instructions on how to get to Fort Worth, would it be helpful if I told you not to go that way? Well, yea, but it would be more helpful if I told you how to actually get there. That's what Paul does in the next part of verse 11.
The King James says to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. In our quest for contentment, we are to flee from the love of and lust for money and stuff and we are to follow after these things. Some of you know what it means to pursue or follow after. Some of you guys are only here because at some point in your life you followed a cute little girl to church. You were pursuing her and wound up in church. It happens all the time.
But your pursuit took some effort, didn't it? You got dressed up when you went to see her. You washed the car, put on cologne. You probably even put cologne on the car, right? You spent some time and money on her. You listened to her. You looked deep into her eyes. You laughed at her jokes. You would call her up just to say you were thinking of her. You complimented how she looked even if it wasn't her best. Aren't you glad all that is over with now? ļ
An older couple was sitting on the couch when the woman gently took the man's glasses off and said, ""You know, honey without your glasses you look like the same handsome young man I married." "Honey," he replied, "without my glasses, you still look pretty good too!"
For too many, marriage means you can quit trying or at least you don't have to work so hard anymore. You got her. Now you can relax and be yourself. But it doesn't really work that way does it? It doesn't work that way with your relationship with God either. If you want to be content with your life and with what you have or don't have, then the secret is to have a vital and growing relationship with God through His Son Jesus. And to do that, it takes some effort.
Paul is telling us the secret to contentment right here. He says to flee from the pursuit of stuff and, instead, to pursue righteousness. Do you want righteousness? Righteousness, for us, means to live according to God's will. If you want to pursue living according to God's will then you will do what it takes to stop doing that thing or things in your life that God calls sin.
I want to give you some advice that my uncle gave me years ago. I want you to think about that favorite little sin of yours; that thing you do or think or whatever it is you do that displeases God. You have struggled with it for years but it's so hard to stop. You want to but well, you know...
I do know so let me give you some advice. Are you ready? STOP IT! Just stop. Do whatever it takes to pursue righteousness. Your stiff neck and hard heart are an offense to God and people who offend God are not going to be content. Pursue righteousness.
Pursue godliness. Do you want to please God? Then become more like Him. What is God like? That's a big question because He is a big God but for one thing, God is holy. And do you know we are commanded to be holy? We are commanded to be different than non-believers. We don't do the same things. We don't go the same places. We don't use the same words. We don't even think the same thoughts because our minds have supposedly been transformed.
Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Don't conform to the pattern of this world because the world has proven itself to not be content. Pursue godliness and holiness.
Paul also says to pursue faith. He says to follow after faith. Forget acquiring stuff and pursue faith. And how do you pursue faith? You pursue faith by putting yourself in position for God to do something that only God can do. What would happen if you doubled your tithe? This is one thing that God says you can test Him with. And I don't bring up money because the church needs it. I don't bring it up because God needs it. I bring it up because you need it. You need to pursue faith and money is where your heart is. So pursue faith.
He continues by saying we are to pursue or follow after love. And that sounds easy enough, right? We love everybody, don't we? We even love non-Christians. Except when they say something bad about Duck Dynasty!!! Then the gloves come off! Now they messed with the wrong guy! Now comes the fiery wrath of the righteous!
Ok, look. I have a lot to say about the whole Duck Dynasty flap going on with the gay and lesbian crowd all worked up but I don't have time to talk about it now. So, I will just say: stand up for what you believe, speak the truth, but do it in love. And don't be surprised when non-Christians act...like non-Christians. They will know you are a believer when you pursue love.
Uh, oh! Do you see what the next one is? Paul says to be content, we have to pursue, or follow after, endurance or patience. Thomas a Kempis described patience in these words: "He deserves not the name of patient who is only willing to suffer as much as he thinks proper, and for whom he pleases. The truly patient man asks (nothing) from whom he suffers...But from whomever, or how much, or how often wrong is done to him, he accepts it all as from the hand of God, and counts it gain!"
Did you catch that? He accepts it as coming from God. If God is truly in control then your lack of patience in anything is really a lack of patience with God. To be content, we have to be patient with God, knowing that He loves us and wants more than anything for us to be like Him. Because, as we have already learned, when we are godly...we are content.
And Paul ends this list with the word "gentleness". We are to be gentle if we are to be content. It's sort of like the chicken or the egg question. Is a person content because they are gentle or are you gentle because you are content? I don't know but they obviously go hand in hand. And do you know where gentleness comes from? It comes from confidence.
Some people might think it's just the opposite, that a gentle person is a scared person, but that's not true at all. A gentle person has confidence, not in themselves necessarily, but in the fact that they are a child of the one true King and as such they are highly favored and greatly loved, protected and provided for. And no matter what comes their way, they don't have to get upset and call names and throw a fit because God is at work in their life, giving what they need and taking away what is not needed to make that person more like Him. And when you realize all of that, how can you not be content?
Let me end with this one last point. We have seen that we are to flee from the love of money and possessions and those they do not make a person content. But that contentment comes from following after things that make us more like Jesus. And lastly, we are to fight the good fight of the faith as he says in verse 12.
Do you think of this life as a fight? Ephesians 6:12 says that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against Satan and his schemes. People we should be gentle and loving with. Satan we have to fight. And every fight is a struggle. It's a battle. There are no time outs, no vacations and you have to put out some effort or you will lose that hard-earned contentment.
The good news is that it's really God's fight. That same passage in Ephesians never says we are to attack or do anything except to prepare ourselves and then to stand. Stand behind God and His Word. Stand on the promise of contentment that comes from serving God and not yourself this holiday season.
In the fifth century, a man named Arenius determined to live a holy life. So he abandoned the conforms of Egyptian society to follow an austere lifestyle in the desert. Yet whenever he visited the great city of Alexandria, he spent time wandering through its bazaars. Asked why, he explained that his heart rejoiced at the sight of all the things he didn't need. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/contentment.htm
Do you know what God wants for Christmas this year? He wants you to be more like Him. And that does not happen sitting in front of a new TV or iPad or iAnything. There's nothing wrong with those things. There's nothing wrong with having nice things or lots of stuff. And not having all that stuff doesn't necessarily make you content. Only a growing relationship with Jesus will ever do that. It's not about the stuff. It's about Jesus.
