From the ministry archive
But godliness with contentment is great gain
"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 therewith content. But they that will be rich 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. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called" (I Tim. 6:6-12). Whoa! Wow! What a mouthful of the holy Ghost! If you didn't get it, then by all means read it again. 'It' is definitely there to get. I have long said that this is one of the most powerful, and most overlooked passages of scripture in the Bible. The apostle Paul starts us out here with the true meaning of 'divine prosperity,' which is simply, "godliness with contentment." You may also note that the 'contentment' part means to be "content with food and raiment." Since most of us have more than just our necessary food and raiment, we should probably be running around most of the day hooting and hollering praises to God continually, wherever we go. Paul tells us something here that is obvious to all, but few ever think much about it. That is that we arrived on earth bringing nothing with us, and we will surely depart from the earth taking none of it with us. That's a really sobering thought, and it certainly punctuates everything else in the passage. Translation: There's nothing in this world worth losing out with God over. Mainly this passage tells us what to 'follow after' while we're in this life, and what not to follow after while we're here. Oh yeah, he also tells us why we should choose to follow after God and the things of his kingdom, citing the result of our choice either way in the matter.
The apostle gives us some spiritually graphic details of what comes from pursuing money and the things that money can do for us. Being "drowned in destruction and perdition, erring from the faith, and being pierced through with many sorrows;" is not a road map to the glory world. Neither is it a recipe for peace and joy while living in this world. But the great apostle doesn't leave us there. He shows us what IS the road map to glory, and what WILL provide us with peace and joy while we are here. Let's look at that part again: "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called." If we expect to have "godliness with contentment," and if we expect to inherit eternal life when it's all done and finished here, then the first thing we must do is FLEE from putting the things of this life in priority. That is the snare that the people in the third class of soil were entrapped in, in the parable of the sower and the seed that Jesus told: "He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful" (Mat. 13:22). These are people in the kingdom of God who gradually get focused too much on the things of this life, and become deceived about money, believing that it has the power to be their source. It doesn't mean that they know that they're doing that, just that they ARE doing it. But what does it actually mean to "follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, [and] meekness?" This is where the real goods are at, in understanding that the righteousness of God and the elements thereof, are truly infused into the hearts, and souls, and minds of those who fully believe in Jesus. Not sure who said it best, but this verse from Peter gets the point across very well: "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently" (I Pet. 1:22).
We have also a stellar quote from Paul that continues that train of thought very nicely: "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom. 5:5). So the things that are in the heart of God and his Son are administered literally into our hearts by God's Spirit that is received by all who truly believe on Christ (Jn. 7:38,39; I Cor. 6:11; Gal. 3:14). In other words this is not a Gospel of word only, but this is a Gospel with REALLY POWERFUL RESULTS! I do believe that Paul may have coined that one the best: "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power" (I Cor. 4:20). So here's the punch line of this article: We receive the things of God's very heart and mind into our hearts and minds, when we are baptized by Jesus with the holy Ghost (I Cor. 6:17; Gal. 3:14; II Cor. 3:17). What we do with all of this glory AFTER we receive it is what it's all about. And one and all would do very well to always keep in mind that God's only begotten Son had to suffer greatly, and die a very cruel death in order for this amazing grace to be available to us. That shouldn't be a difficult thing for us to keep in mind actually, seeing it is our faith in his death and his resurrection to glory that brings us into this wondrous experience to begin with. What it all comes down to, and what will determine whether we are going to remain blessed and be saved ultimately, is whether or not we fall in love with Jesus, and we don't fall out. Here is what I'm talking about: Being in love with Jesus is far more than the idea of loving Jesus. Everyone who truly loves Jesus loves what he is about; and what he is about is the righteousness of God that we receive into our hearts through the holy Ghost. Jesus is not here in person, and neither is the Father; but the Spirit that indwells them both and makes up their nature has been sent back from heaven to be received by all who believe in Jesus, according to his terms of believing. Again the apostle Paul explained: "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (II Cor. 3:17).
The 'liberty' spoken of in the quoted verse is certainly liberty from sin, which liberty the Spirit of God imparts to us, as Paul explained yet again: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8;2). But really it was the part about "the Lord is that Spirit," that I wanted to highlight. Jesus is not here, but his and the Father's Spirit is, and the Spirit is everything that both he and the Father are; in nature, in life, and in everything. So if we love what the Spirit has imparted to us, then we love Jesus. It's that simple. It's actually impossible to NOT love these things initially upon receiving the Spirit, seeing that the experience truly makes us "a new creature," consisting of a peace and a love that we never imagined possible (II Cor. 5:17). But that brings us back to the part of our text passage where Paul warned us what NOT to follow after in this life, and it also comes back around to the third class of soil in the parable of the sower and the seed. Seeing we are living in this world, and there are so many different kinds of temptations and distractions that can catch us off guard, and that can turn us off the right path if we aren't diligent; it becomes a fight to the finish actually after we are born again. That is why Paul admonished Timothy, as well as us, to "fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life." We are literally fighting against everything that this world is about, not to mention an innumerable host of demons on every hand, so as not to be overcome and lose the heavenly treasure and birthright of the kingdom that God has given to us in our hearts and souls through the new birth experience. There really is a good reason why Peter gave us the following instruction: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8). There is equally as good reason why he said the following just before the quoted verse: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (I Pet. 5:6,7).
We "cast [our] care upon him" by humbling ourselves to him continually in prayer. It's that simple, and there is no other way of doing so. Do you remember what Jesus said "choked out the word" from the third class of soil? "the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches." In this life we have many cares of many kinds to deal with, and we also have the reality that we can't eat or have raiment or housing unless we have money. So if we are not very diligent about casting all of these cares on the Lord in prayer, we will eventually be overcome by the spirits of this world who want our focus to be on the things of this life. The most dangerous temptation in this life is not some woman or man getting us entrapped in fornication or adultery. It is not that we may want to kill someone because they wronged us in a big way. It is not that we might steal our neighbor's new 75 inch 4K UHD TV. Our greatest temptation to overcome are the things that we have to deal with continually. Our housing and it's payments, our need of food, our job, our family, and probably most of all, our time. These are the things that we are challenged by at all times, and if we develop a pattern of failing to give our time to Jesus in much prayer every day; we will gradually be overcome and slowly switch our focus to this life rather than "the kingdom of God, and his righteousness (Mat. 6:33). That is exactly what happened with the third class of soil. They overcame the 'quick and out' love of the first class that caused them to resist God soon after believing, and they got past being overcome by the persecution that discouraged and turned aside the second class; but it was the test of time, and the failure to "cast all of [their] care" on the Lord continually, that took them down eventually. As far as that parable, something many people do not understand is that the fourth class of soil that Jesus spoke of, was and is the ONLY category of people in the kingdom of God who will be ultimately saved. So let's see what Jesus said about this fourth class, and see what is special about the people in that category: "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience" Lk. 8:15).
There it is, the "honest and good heart." Everyone begins the race with that element, because without and honest heart we could never come clean with God and be born again to begin with. Note that this class of believers "brought forth fruit with patience," which is to say they did not "become unfruitful" like the third category. So again, it's all about taking care of our heart and what God has placed within it, that will determine whether we finish the race the same way we started it. I love the following proverb, in regard to these things: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23). And again, it comes down to us not allowing the things and people of this life to crowd out our desperately needed time with Jesus every day, where we "cast all of [our] care on him." Those who do not pass that test on an ongoing basis, are the ones Peter warned us of when he said that Satan is "seeking those whom he may devour." So the absolute bottom line on the whole matter is that we simply must love Jesus more than anything or anyone, and we must keep that preference in tact till the end. We need to remember also that loving Jesus means that we simply refuse to live in a state in our heart apart from the "righteousness, and peace, and joy" that he filled us with when he baptized us with his Spirit into his body and his kingdom (Rom. 14:17; I Cor. 12:13). What we have seen here is what it truly means to "flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." It is also what it takes to "fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life." I can also say that we are living at a time, and are entering into a time when the failure to do these things for any duration of time at all will be more dangerous to our salvation than at any other time in history. Jesus definitely told it best about this time that is now upon us: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mat. 24:9-13). I believe that says it.
